News Stories

[SaintessHeart]

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong Resign From Cabinet

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, Singapore’s first two prime ministers, will leave the cabinet to make way for new leaders after the ruling party retained power with the smallest margin of popular votes since independence.

“The time has come for a younger generation to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation,” they said in a joint e-mailed statement yesterday. “After a watershed general election, we have decided to leave the cabinet and have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation in shaping the future of our Singapore.”

The People’s Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since before independence, won 81 out of 87 parliamentary seats and 60.1 percent of the popular vote in the May 7 polls. The best- ever showing by the opposition prompted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to pledge his party will change the way it rules. The elder Lee, who’s the father of current premier, holds the title of minister mentor, has been a cabinet member for more than five decades and is 87. Goh, 69, is senior minister.

“Perhaps it’s time to turn the page and turn the leadership over to the next generation,” said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore. “The move signals that politics in Singapore is evolving and I think most people would view this as a positive evolution.”

The elder Lee was Singapore’s prime minister when it gained independence in 1965 and handed over to Goh in 1990. The younger Lee took over from Goh in 2004, who stayed in the cabinet as the senior minister.

Election Aftermath

Prime Minister Lee, 59, faces pressure to be more responsive to criticism of government policies. He said his party will engage the population more in decision-making after the election. A reduced monopoly on political discourse may mean increased attention to calls for reining in housing costs and tightening immigration policies that boosted the island’s population by about a fifth since 2005.

The PAP’s diminishing vote signaled that the success of the party in nation-building is less of a lure to younger voters. The elder Lee, a Cambridge University-trained lawyer, was returned to office in last week’s election after his constituency was the only one that went uncontested.

Foreign Minister George Yeo, a two-decade veteran of the ruling party, was the biggest casualty in the elections as the opposition captured its first-ever multiple-seat district. Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore’s first woman minister who helps oversee the finance and transport ministries, also lost last week.

Founding Father

Lee and his party built Singapore, an island with no natural resources, into a Southeast Asian manufacturing and financial hub with a focus on education, homeownership, business friendliness and strict laws to boost citizens’ wealth. Singapore has seen a 41-fold jump in gross domestic product since independence.

The island that former economic adviser Albert Winsemius once said was considered a “poor little market in a dark corner of Asia” is now ranked by the World Bank as the easiest place to do business, has the world’s second-busiest container port, and boasts the highest proportion of millionaire households, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

Lee, who had a heart pacemaker implanted in 2008 after suffering from an irregular heartbeat, lost his wife Kwa Geok Choo in October. Kwa, who was 89, had suffered a stroke two years earlier.

Ministerial Salaries

Singapore’s ministers are among the world’s highest paid, earning millions of dollars annually as the government benchmarks their wages against salaries of chief executive officers and other top earners in the country. The government says such earnings prevent corruption and help attract and retain talent.

Opposition parties in this month’s elections decried the amount of ministerial compensation and compared their wages to those of ordinary Singaporeans who are facing rising cost of living and depressed wages as a result of an influx of foreign workers.

Prime Minister Lee last announced changes to his cabinet in October.

“The prime minister and his team of younger leaders should have a fresh clean slate,” the elder Lee and Goh said in yesterday’s statement.

I think it is a good time to find a place to emigrate to. After the recent election with idiots for candidates and fools for voters, it is time to save up lots and lots of cash before this country collapses its younger generation's general ignorance.

[ganbaru]

Gunmen kill Saudi diplomat in Pakistan's Karachi
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...74F0SU20110516

(Reuters) - Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a car belonging to the Saudi Arabian consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday killing a Saudi diplomat, police and the Saudi ambassador said.

[Vexx]

Get your Mandi-Latino-Engli-Nihonjin spruced up in the early glimmerings of the 'brave new world' of Bladerunner/Firefly:

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/98649/7381525.html
Beijing aims for massive influx of overseas talent in 2011

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Get your Mandi-Latino-Engli-Nihonjin spruced up in the early glimmerings of the 'brave new world' of Bladerunner/Firefly:

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/98649/7381525.html
Beijing aims for massive influx of overseas talent in 2011

Is this another way to say we want to headhunt foreign experts and integrate foreign know how? This approach is so limpid that it hurts.

[Ithekro]

Creole languages exist for trade reasons generally. However English still tends to outweigh most others (like say in air traffic controllers and the like) because not only is it wide spread, but also so the terms are universal (this happens when you invent things...also why (I suppose) you hear a lot of English in Japanese productions that have a lot of science or engineering in them).

While Chinese may become more popular over time due to economics and that they are a huge part of the world population...they don't cover more territory than the English speaking world. China is the third largest country in the world. But Canada is the second largest, and the United States is the fourth largest. That combined with Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Guyana, the United Kingdom, and several former British colonies leads to a huge amount of territory that speaks English. Add to this Europe that speaks English as a primary language and you have Chinese beat for the time being.

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Add to this Europe that speaks English as a primary language

Wait.... what?

The terms being "universal" also doesn't solely come from the inventions being from native English speakers, but because it's today's lingua franca. People in non-English speaking (read: most of) Europe also give their inventions English names.

[Ithekro]

I think I change subjects half-way through the paragraph, so it sounds weird. I'd change it, but have no idea where the subject changed. (I was using the science and techology as an example, while the rest of that was about territorial coverage verses Chinese, and had nothing to do with science and technology)

Oh well. I'll fix it by breaking up the paragraph.

[sneaker]

Still, how is English Europe's primary language?

[Ithekro]

A primary lauguage. Not the only primary one, but one of many. However it is a language spoken by a majority of the population (51% of the population of Europe as of the last survey). The next largest being German (32%), then French (26%). Mind you their are a lot of bilingual and multilingual people in Europe.

In California, technically, I should be bilingual (English and Spanish) but my Spanish is terrible.

[Zakoo]

Officially, each country has its own language, unofficially, it's normal to know english. How do you want us to read manga otherwise?

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

A primary lauguage. Not the only primary one, but ones of many. However it is a language spoken by a majority of the population (51% of the population of Europe as of the last survey). The next largest being German (32%), then French (26%). Mind you their are a lot a bilingual and multilingual people in Europe.

Yes, but those are people learning English in school, just like they do in China or Japan . It's only the primary language of Great Britain and Ireland. (Maybe a few countries regard it as an official language, but it's not even remotely the mother tongue of any significant part their population.)

[sa547]

Amazing. Rwandan president exchange volleys with critics via Twitter:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...n-Twitter-feud

[Ithekro]

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches for the final time. (or at least we assume this will be the final time).

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...lane?GT1=43001

[sneaker]

"It's the final countdown" is now playing in your head.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by sneaker

Yes, but those are people learning English in school, just like they do in China or Japan . It's only the primary language of Great Britain and Ireland. (Maybe a few countries regard it as an official language, but it's not even remotely the mother tongue of any significant part their population.)

You forgot Malta.

Anyway, English is the most popular working language anyway, and it has the most youth cultural significance. Look at how many songs in the Eurovision are in English, and how few are in any other language. Furthermore, when they do choose a foreign language it's also, always English. Except Lithuania this year who seemed to choose French...

But on the other hand, a lot of continental Europeans don't speak English. I wonder how different the numbers are depending on age though.

Right now, English is the most significant worldwide language. Ithekro forgot India, where English is also used as the language of communication in an otherwise multilingual state, particularly by the educated middle class. Watch any bollywood movie set in contemporary times and watch how much english they use. Indian foreign students in my experience also tend to have some of the best English outside of Europe/america. Much better then most Chinese foreign students that come over. Legacy of colonialism I guess.

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

You forgot Malta.

Oh, the great nation of Malta - how did I ever forget?
(Although only a minority there would regard English as their mother tongue I presume. You are correct nonetheless, of course.)

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

China is the third largest country in the world. But Canada is the second largest, and the United States is the fourth largest.

The US is larger than China in land area. According to India at least.

To be accurate, whether China or the US is larger depends on how China's claim dispute with India is resolved.

[ganbaru]

U.S. accuses Syria of inciting Israel border clashes
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...74E0DM20110516

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Jinto

Is this another way to say we want to headhunt foreign experts and integrate foreign know how? This approach is so limpid that it hurts.

Actually.. .yeah. There are areas in the US that explicitly go out and create "zones of innovation" like this - Research Triangle in North Carolina, the "Green Forest" in Oregon, the Nano-tech zones scattered about in the US are historic examples. Areas that got tax breaks or special rules to attract talent, money, etc in new fields.

The "problem" (for the US) is that the Chinese haven't been half-ass going at this sort of thing. The US had a window of opportunity to be foremost in green tech and they've already lost the head start, Same for biogenics, nano-tech, etc. The US seems to be unable to align/synchronize its will like it did for the space race, the cold war, the Internet, etc.
Frankly, its why I'm making sure both my sons have *options* to go elsewhere.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Actually.. .yeah. There are areas in the US that explicitly go out and create "zones of innovation" like this - Research Triangle in North Carolina, the "Green Forest" in Oregon, the Nano-tech zones scattered about in the US are historic examples. Areas that got tax breaks or special rules to attract talent, money, etc in new fields.

The "problem" (for the US) is that the Chinese haven't been half-ass going at this sort of thing. The US had a window of opportunity to be foremost in green tech and they've already lost the head start, Same for biogenics, nano-tech, etc. The US seems to be unable to align/synchronize its will like it did for the space race, the cold war, the Internet, etc.
Frankly, its why I'm making sure both my sons have *options* to go elsewhere.

US didn't get their ass into the space race until Sputnik went BIP BIP BIP around the world. I imagine an event of similiar magnitude will be required for the US to gets it's act together.