Two pieces of news this morning caught my eye. Both of which give me the déjà vu feeling that PAP’s foreign relations is causing Singaporeans much pain both economically and politically.
It appears that our well-paid ministers don’t learn from past mistakes. I have mentioned in my blog about Singapore’s poor foreign relations before. Looks like our leaders never learn.
News #1 – from the Straits Times dated 23 July 2008
Govt defers projects worth $1.7b
Move to ease pressure on building costs
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
THE Government is deferring another $1.7 billion of public sector construction projects to ease pressure on red-hot building costs in the next two years.
This is the third time since November that public projects have been postponed amid high demand for building contractors and materials.
A total of $4.7 billion of public sector projects will now be pushed back to 2010 and beyond, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said in a statement.
'That's good news,' said the chief executive of property firm Overseas Union Enterprise, Mr Thio Gim Hock. 'Construction costs have more than doubled in the past year. It's hard to find contractors to bid for a job. When I tender, a lot of them decline because they are too busy.'
The latest move means projects such as the Jurong General Hospital will be deferred to 2010, although the hospital will still be ready and open as scheduled by 2015.
Other delayed projects include less urgent improvement works, but public housing and upgrading programmes will not be affected.
Remember the sand ban imposed by Indonesia? Remember how PAP ministers confidently (and arrogantly) told us that we would find alternative sources of sand and that our construction sector won’t be affected?
This sand ban stuff actually started when Singapore haboured some Indonesians suspected of corruption in their country. Indonesia wanted those guys extradited. However, Singapore not only allowed those corrupted guys to stay here and use our home as a safe haven for them, it also allowed the ill-gotten money to be kept in Singapore banks.
Small wonder Indonesia was not at all pleased with Singapore – and even stated clearly at a later stage that Mas Selamat won’t be extradited either, if caught in Indonesia.
Although PAP leaders never admit it, those who follow the news about the rocky relations Singapore has with Indonesia (actually Singapore has rocky relations with about everyone), know that the sand band is a direct result of Singapore's harbouring of Indonesia's wanted.
So our economy now suffers because of some very poor foreign relations, no thanks to our overpaid ministers.
News #2 – Again from the Straits Times (online) 23 July 2008
M'sia disappointed with S'pore minister's statement to claim waters around Pedra Branca
SINGAPORE wants to claim a territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Pedra Branca - going back on its word to discuss with Malaysia territorial issues and activities around the rocky outcrop.
Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim did not hide his disappointment with the announcement by Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan on Monday that the Republic had a territorial sea limit that extended up to a maximum of 12 nautical miles and an EEZ, claiming that this was consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Singapore was a party.
Aren’t Malaysia and Singapore supposed to discuss the above issue bilaterally? Wasn’t that what was agreed by both partes? Why is Singapore (the leaders of course) now trying to unilaterally make a claim?
More foreign relations boo-boo?
If there is a fallout between Singapore and Malaysia because of this, you can expect PAP leaders to once again, beat the bogey-man drum, and scare Singaporeans that we are just a little red dot and everyone is trying to bully us.
Perhaps below is the real reason why PAP leaders are so bent on getting Pedra Branca on Singapore's map. Ha ha.
It appears that our well-paid ministers don’t learn from past mistakes. I have mentioned in my blog about Singapore’s poor foreign relations before. Looks like our leaders never learn.
News #1 – from the Straits Times dated 23 July 2008
Govt defers projects worth $1.7b
Move to ease pressure on building costs
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
THE Government is deferring another $1.7 billion of public sector construction projects to ease pressure on red-hot building costs in the next two years.
This is the third time since November that public projects have been postponed amid high demand for building contractors and materials.
A total of $4.7 billion of public sector projects will now be pushed back to 2010 and beyond, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said in a statement.
'That's good news,' said the chief executive of property firm Overseas Union Enterprise, Mr Thio Gim Hock. 'Construction costs have more than doubled in the past year. It's hard to find contractors to bid for a job. When I tender, a lot of them decline because they are too busy.'
The latest move means projects such as the Jurong General Hospital will be deferred to 2010, although the hospital will still be ready and open as scheduled by 2015.
Other delayed projects include less urgent improvement works, but public housing and upgrading programmes will not be affected.
Remember the sand ban imposed by Indonesia? Remember how PAP ministers confidently (and arrogantly) told us that we would find alternative sources of sand and that our construction sector won’t be affected?
This sand ban stuff actually started when Singapore haboured some Indonesians suspected of corruption in their country. Indonesia wanted those guys extradited. However, Singapore not only allowed those corrupted guys to stay here and use our home as a safe haven for them, it also allowed the ill-gotten money to be kept in Singapore banks.
Small wonder Indonesia was not at all pleased with Singapore – and even stated clearly at a later stage that Mas Selamat won’t be extradited either, if caught in Indonesia.
Although PAP leaders never admit it, those who follow the news about the rocky relations Singapore has with Indonesia (actually Singapore has rocky relations with about everyone), know that the sand band is a direct result of Singapore's harbouring of Indonesia's wanted.
So our economy now suffers because of some very poor foreign relations, no thanks to our overpaid ministers.
News #2 – Again from the Straits Times (online) 23 July 2008
M'sia disappointed with S'pore minister's statement to claim waters around Pedra Branca
SINGAPORE wants to claim a territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Pedra Branca - going back on its word to discuss with Malaysia territorial issues and activities around the rocky outcrop.
Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim did not hide his disappointment with the announcement by Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan on Monday that the Republic had a territorial sea limit that extended up to a maximum of 12 nautical miles and an EEZ, claiming that this was consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Singapore was a party.
Aren’t Malaysia and Singapore supposed to discuss the above issue bilaterally? Wasn’t that what was agreed by both partes? Why is Singapore (the leaders of course) now trying to unilaterally make a claim?
More foreign relations boo-boo?
If there is a fallout between Singapore and Malaysia because of this, you can expect PAP leaders to once again, beat the bogey-man drum, and scare Singaporeans that we are just a little red dot and everyone is trying to bully us.
Perhaps below is the real reason why PAP leaders are so bent on getting Pedra Branca on Singapore's map. Ha ha.
Our leaders never learn from past mistakes that poor foreign relations will ultimately affect us both politically and economically.
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1 comments:
"It's hard to find contractors to bid for a job. When I tender, a lot of them decline because they are too busy" - I believe this statement implies that the rise in cost is not primarily due to increased sand costs.
"So our economy now suffers" - Rising demand and insufficient supply = inflationary growth. I do not see how our economy is suffering. Rather, if the constructions go ahead, we might very well end up with a construction boom yet again.
However, your comment on the real reason for indonesia's sand ban is interesting. Though I wish you didn't back it up with such inflammatory comments.
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