UPDATE
Cecilia Sue Siew Nang lost her job at Oracle Singapore?
According to chinese daily Wanbao, Cecilia Sue Siew Nang may have lost her job at Oracle Singapore due to ongoing court case
The intrigue over the unseen letters of Archbishop Nicholas Chia - the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore - has been a subject of much attention online.
Read our report: Church & govt respond to blogger's claims of "hidden events"
As it generated talk on the issue of discretion and respect of private correspondence, and whether blogger Alex Au inadvertently sabotaged the intentions of activist groups, the other two parties involved have expressed disappointment over the government’s and the archbishop’s statements.
Function 8 - a group focused on facilitating the sharing of social, political and economic discourse - has asked the archbishop to reveal his letters, to which his office has replied to say he will not. In a Channel NewsAsia report, the archbishop said his letter to the group was intended as a private communication and if the group was going to publicise it at a political event - which he did not intend to do - then it should have asked for permission first, but it did not.
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Archbishop refuses to release letter
The saga over a letter written by Archbishop Nicholas Chia (picture) continued yesterday with the leader of Singapore's Catholics steadfastly refusing to release it, while the group at the centre of the episode accused the Government of setting it on a collision course with the church.
The Archbishop will not and "had never intended" to release a letter he had sent purportedly expressing support for an anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) rally because it was "intended as a private communication", a statement from the Archdiocese communications office said yesterday.
This comes a day after the rally's organiser, Function 8, pressed Archbishop Chia to make public his purportedly "unsolicited" letter that was supposedly "warmly-worded" toward the event, in the face of accusations that it had acted irresponsibly by leaking the episode to blogger Alex Au
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Church & govt respond to blogger's claims of "hidden events"
Archbishop Nicholas Chia, 74, the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore, is not sitting back as a blogger writes about events related to him based on second-hand information.
And the government is also weighing in on the issue, calling the action of publicising the matter as being “disrespectful” to the archbishop.
Mr Alex Au, 60, who writes the “Yawning Bread” blog, suggested in a post on 18 September that based on second-hand accounts, the archbishop may have been pressured by the government to withdraw a letter he had sent to a rally he had initially supported.
read more
Group seeking to use church for political aims: Govt
Civil society group Function 8 has been taken to task by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for being 'disrespectful' to the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore, Archbishop Nicholas Chia.
The Straits Times reported today that MHA accused Function 8 of publicly involving the Catholic Church and the Archbishop in their political agenda.
The ministry also stressed in a statement that the Government values its longstanding relationship with the Catholic Church and community in Singapore.
read more
Group calls on Archbishop to publish letters
Function 8, the social activist group accused by Archbishop Nicholas Chia of leaking private communication between them to blogger Alex Au, has challenged the leader of the Catholic Church here to make public the letters that are at the heart of a furore that erupted on Wednesday.
The group's challenge came as the co-organiser of the event, Maruah, also hit out at the Archbishop, calling his remarks disappointing.
In a blog post on Tuesday, Mr Au charged that Archbishop Chia had sent a letter to Function 8 of his own accord to express support for a rally against the Internal Security Act (ISA), only to later retract it in a second letter, after pressure exerted by the Government.
read more
Group disrespectful of the Archbishop: MHA
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has criticised the organisers of an anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) rally of being "disrespectful" of the head of the Catholic Church here, suggesting that the group had deliberately leaked the decision by Archbishop Nicholas Chia to retract a letter in which he allegedly expressed support for the event.
The organisers are challenging the ministry's accusation of being the source of the leak.
Nevertheless, in a statement yesterday, the MHA said the group's actions to "publicise the matter" through a blogger, Mr Alex Au, is "disrespectful of the Archbishop, and contrary to his views and intentions as conveyed to the group after he had decided to retract his letter".
read more
Archbishop retracts document due to fear of social disharmony
The head of the Catholic Church in Singapore has confirmed that he wrote to an activist group backing its call to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) – but withdrew the letter later fearing it could affect the country’s social harmony.
Archbishop Nicholas Chia, 73, on Wednesday said he had retracted the letter to Function 8 after he reflected on it and became concerned it could be used “in a manner that I did not intend”.
The response came a day after blogger Alex Au wrote on his site “Yawning Bread” that the Archbishop had written to Function8 ahead of an anti-ISA rally in June.
read more
Ancient scrap fans debate on Jesus’ marital status
(BOSTON) A previously unknown scrap of ancient papyrus written in ancient Egyptian Coptic includes the words "Jesus said to them, my wife," -- a discovery likely to renew a fierce debate in the Christian world over whether Jesus was married.
The existence of the fourth-century fragment - not much bigger than a business card - was revealed at a conference in Rome on Tuesday by Karen King, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim," King said in a statement released by Harvard.
read more
Singapore Boosts Tourism Spending With F1 Amid Slowdown
Cecilia Sue Siew Nang lost her job at Oracle Singapore?
According to chinese daily Wanbao, Cecilia Sue Siew Nang may have lost her job at Oracle Singapore due to ongoing court case
Wanbao, 22 Sep 2012
Related:
Just who is Cecilia Sue? - Yahoo! News Singapore
read more
Activist groups call for an internal dialogue with govt
Related:
Just who is Cecilia Sue? - Yahoo! News Singapore
read more
Activist groups call for an internal dialogue with govt
The intrigue over the unseen letters of Archbishop Nicholas Chia - the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore - has been a subject of much attention online.
Read our report: Church & govt respond to blogger's claims of "hidden events"
As it generated talk on the issue of discretion and respect of private correspondence, and whether blogger Alex Au inadvertently sabotaged the intentions of activist groups, the other two parties involved have expressed disappointment over the government’s and the archbishop’s statements.
Function 8 - a group focused on facilitating the sharing of social, political and economic discourse - has asked the archbishop to reveal his letters, to which his office has replied to say he will not. In a Channel NewsAsia report, the archbishop said his letter to the group was intended as a private communication and if the group was going to publicise it at a political event - which he did not intend to do - then it should have asked for permission first, but it did not.
read more
Archbishop refuses to release letter
The saga over a letter written by Archbishop Nicholas Chia (picture) continued yesterday with the leader of Singapore's Catholics steadfastly refusing to release it, while the group at the centre of the episode accused the Government of setting it on a collision course with the church.
The Archbishop will not and "had never intended" to release a letter he had sent purportedly expressing support for an anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) rally because it was "intended as a private communication", a statement from the Archdiocese communications office said yesterday.
This comes a day after the rally's organiser, Function 8, pressed Archbishop Chia to make public his purportedly "unsolicited" letter that was supposedly "warmly-worded" toward the event, in the face of accusations that it had acted irresponsibly by leaking the episode to blogger Alex Au
read more
Church & govt respond to blogger's claims of "hidden events"
Archbishop Nicholas Chia, 74, the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore, is not sitting back as a blogger writes about events related to him based on second-hand information.
And the government is also weighing in on the issue, calling the action of publicising the matter as being “disrespectful” to the archbishop.
Mr Alex Au, 60, who writes the “Yawning Bread” blog, suggested in a post on 18 September that based on second-hand accounts, the archbishop may have been pressured by the government to withdraw a letter he had sent to a rally he had initially supported.
read more
Group seeking to use church for political aims: Govt
Civil society group Function 8 has been taken to task by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for being 'disrespectful' to the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore, Archbishop Nicholas Chia.
The Straits Times reported today that MHA accused Function 8 of publicly involving the Catholic Church and the Archbishop in their political agenda.
The ministry also stressed in a statement that the Government values its longstanding relationship with the Catholic Church and community in Singapore.
read more
Group calls on Archbishop to publish letters
Function 8, the social activist group accused by Archbishop Nicholas Chia of leaking private communication between them to blogger Alex Au, has challenged the leader of the Catholic Church here to make public the letters that are at the heart of a furore that erupted on Wednesday.
The group's challenge came as the co-organiser of the event, Maruah, also hit out at the Archbishop, calling his remarks disappointing.
In a blog post on Tuesday, Mr Au charged that Archbishop Chia had sent a letter to Function 8 of his own accord to express support for a rally against the Internal Security Act (ISA), only to later retract it in a second letter, after pressure exerted by the Government.
read more
Group disrespectful of the Archbishop: MHA
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has criticised the organisers of an anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) rally of being "disrespectful" of the head of the Catholic Church here, suggesting that the group had deliberately leaked the decision by Archbishop Nicholas Chia to retract a letter in which he allegedly expressed support for the event.
The organisers are challenging the ministry's accusation of being the source of the leak.
Nevertheless, in a statement yesterday, the MHA said the group's actions to "publicise the matter" through a blogger, Mr Alex Au, is "disrespectful of the Archbishop, and contrary to his views and intentions as conveyed to the group after he had decided to retract his letter".
read more
Archbishop retracts document due to fear of social disharmony
The head of the Catholic Church in Singapore has confirmed that he wrote to an activist group backing its call to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) – but withdrew the letter later fearing it could affect the country’s social harmony.
Archbishop Nicholas Chia, 73, on Wednesday said he had retracted the letter to Function 8 after he reflected on it and became concerned it could be used “in a manner that I did not intend”.
The response came a day after blogger Alex Au wrote on his site “Yawning Bread” that the Archbishop had written to Function8 ahead of an anti-ISA rally in June.
read more
Ancient scrap fans debate on Jesus’ marital status
(BOSTON) A previously unknown scrap of ancient papyrus written in ancient Egyptian Coptic includes the words "Jesus said to them, my wife," -- a discovery likely to renew a fierce debate in the Christian world over whether Jesus was married.
The existence of the fourth-century fragment - not much bigger than a business card - was revealed at a conference in Rome on Tuesday by Karen King, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim," King said in a statement released by Harvard.
read more
Singapore Boosts Tourism Spending With F1 Amid Slowdown
Singapore will encourage tourists to spend more by offering marquee events and attractions such as the Formula One night race as a faltering global recovery threatens to curtail growth in visitor arrivals.
The country’s five biggest tourism markets are located in the Asia-Pacific region where there’s “steady growth,” said S. Iswaran, Singapore’s second trade minister who oversees the tourism industry. This has offset concerns that Europe’s protracted sovereign-debt crisis may limit travel, he said.
Singapore forecast arrivals to rise to 17 million and tourism spending to S$30 billion ($24.5 billion) by 2015. The opening of two casino resorts that include a downtown convention center and a Universal Studios theme park spurred a 13 percent increase in visitors last year after a 20 percent climb in 2010. The country expects the number of tourists to rise as much as 9.8 percent to 14.5 million in 2012.
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Blacklisted Myanmar tycoon seeks salvation in Singapore
(Reuters) - As Myanmar implements reforms and foreign investors jet in, most find precious few ways to make money. There is no stock market. A new foreign investment law is delayed. And the biggest local companies are entangled in U.S. and European sanctions.
Zaw Zaw, one of Myanmar's most powerful businessmen, wants to change that in a complex transaction in Singapore that would blaze a path for foreign investors into a company at the heart of Myanmar's economy - and help Myanmar's sanctions-hit tycoons rebrand themselves.
In an interview in his Yangon office, he said the transaction - a planned S$70 million ($57.1 million) reverse takeover of Singapore bed linen maker Aussino Group - was moving forward and he expects Singapore regulators to complete a review of his books in three to six months, clearing the way for Aussino's transformation into a Myanmar-backed company harnessed to Zaw Zaw's energy division.
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Young S'poreans 'will have adequate CPF savings'
Compared to the previous generation, young Singaporeans today have to work longer as life expectancy increases. Coupled with the rising cost of living, there are concerns that "work till you drop" could become the motto for the working class here.
But the findings of an independent study commissioned by the Ministry of Manpower could go some way to allay those worries.
However, at the same time, the study highlighted the need for policymakers to "keep our eyes on" the needs of the older generation today - in the words of Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam - given that their wages were much lower in the past and they were required to set aside less money in their CPF Retirement Account
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How can a Singaporean compete with a foreign talent?
“Anyone Can Win the Game So Long the Rules are Fair".
It is true that the pace of life in Singapore is picking up really fast; homes are getting more expensive, trains are getting more packed, and most controversially of all, the job market has become highly competitive due to the influx of foreign talents.
This is the reality that we are facing today and we have to learn to deal with it tactfully.
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Singaporeans ‘satisfied with media content’
SINGAPORE, Sept 19 — About a third of Singaporeans interviewed in a recent survey believe that most or all of the information they see on websites such as blogs or Wikipedia are true, while the highest proportion of respondents who are undiscerning consumers of online news information — about 40 per cent — are in the 15 to 19 age category, the Media Development Authority (MDA) said yesterday.
The MDA’s first Consumer Experience Study also found that, when it comes to reality television, documentary and news programmes, younger Singaporeans — those aged between 25 and 29 — are slightly more critical compared with older Singaporeans, aged between 50 and 54, more of whom believe that these programmes show a true picture of what really happened.
The study was commissioned in order to gain consumer feedback on various aspects of media content and services across broadcast, print and online platforms.
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Confessions of an air stewardess: Guys get 'touchy-feely'after a few drinks
As she walked down the narrow aisle of the airplane, her thighs brushed against the protruding elbow of a male passenger.
The flight attendant with Singapore Airlines (SIA) felt uncomfortable, but she wasn't sure if the touch was intentional, or if it amounted to an outrage of her modesty.
Amy (not her real name), who is in her 30s and has been with SIA for more than five years, said the passenger would rest his elbow on the armrest whenever a stewardess walked past him
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One man’s dream job is another man’s nightmare
While talk surrounds the long and hard hours of being a dishwasher at a certain sushi chain in Singapore, a video of a man grumbling about his “annoying” job is also gaining steam online.
It is an advertisement that sells a job-search site, Everijob, and shows the man complaining about his work, which is a “nightmare” because he has to be a massage therapist for bikini-clad models
Think you hate your job like this massage therapist? Then you should see some of the real-life jobs people have to do.
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Sorry NUS, you're only second best in Asia
HKU is the region's top university, according to 2012/13 QS World University Rankings.
Overall though Asian universities still trail behind the higher-tier US, UK and EU universities. the University of Hong Kong (HKU) placed just 23rd worldwide, two nothches above NUS (25) and seven ahead of Tokyo (30).
There was no Indian university in top 200 while China has two in top 50: Peking (44) and Tsinghua (48) and other five in top 200, noted QS Quacquarelli Symonds in a release accompanying the ranking results.
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Howard Shaw drops appeal, to start 12-week jail sentence on Oct 5
HOWARD Shaw is not proceeding with a petition to appeal a 12-week jail sentence for one count of paid sex with a minor, BT has learned.
A Subordinate Courts spokeswoman confirmed to BT yesterday that Shaw has decided not to proceed with his appeal against his sentence, which was meted out on July 30.
In addition, the court has approved his application to defer the start date of his jail term to Oct 5 from Sept 14, she said.
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When does kissing cross the line?
The sight of many young couples kissing on trains and buses and in public places is not uncommon, judging by many online photos such as those posted on citizen-journalism website Stomp.
But for those who call for curbs on such public displays of affection, it is unclear if the law can do anything about them.
Kissing and groping another person against their will is clearly against the law. But the law governing consensual intimate acts in public is a grey area.
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Psy's not horsing around, he's rocking New York, Gangnam Style
But now New Yorkers are horsing around with a new style - Gangnam Style.
If you, for some strange reason, do not know what is Gangnam Style, click here
South Korean rapper Jae-Sang Park also known as Psy rocked the Rockefella Plaza hard on Friday with his LIVE performance of the viral breakout hit on NBC’s "Today" show which was televised nationwide.
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