ICYMI: Roy Ngerng – A Showdown for Truth

In case you missed it, Roy is going to court tomorrow to continue his defamation hearing against the Prime Minister. Roy fervently argues that his intention was never to defame the Prime Minister and that he has always fought for the CPF, the pension funds of Singaporeans.

He insists that there needs to be more transparency in the government and it should start with the PM.

In light of tomorrow’s defamation hearing against the PM in open court, we reckon that transparency is definitely coming . . . but from who?

Here are the facts on the two men embroiled in a showdown for the truth.

PM Lee Hsien Loong

The Prime Minister of Singapore. He is the obvious fall guy for everything that is going wrong in and out of the country, from environmental problems caused by Haze to narrow corridors in housing units.  During the most recent elections, the majority of Singaporeans placed their trust in his team to lead Singapore to a better future. Their greatest take-away from his leadership was that there was zero tolerance for corruption and that he championed a meritocratic system in a multi-racial society.

There’s no real point listing what Mr Lee has done over the current term of government. We’ve all heard enough praises and complaints about current government policies since naturally it usually does not benefit everyone. For this case, Mr Lee is suing Roy on a personal basis because Roy had accused Mr Lee of mismanaging CPF funds in several articles.

Roy Ngerng Yi Ling

Activist and human rights blogger who was recently fired from his job because of “conduct incompatible with the values and standards expected of employees, and for misusing working time, hospital computers and facilities for personal pursuits”. Roy has written numerous articles and staged multiple protests in Hong Lim Park to rally the public to his cause. Several of his articles leave much to be desired in terms of policy changes, especially suggesting that wages be increased with no consideration for the economic implications of that simple move.

After legal action was commenced, Roy began taking donations in order to fund his defence as well as prepare for any potential damages he may have to pay to the Prime Minister. Roy has reasoned that he has used the money to conduct research. His former lawyer M Ravi has also indicated he has used the money to fund trips to Europe for personal reasons and to attend/speak at workshops to propagate his messages further. (Source: Youtube & Youtube)

Of course, one must also remember the infamous stunt of approaching a charity carnival for special needs children to capture the audience and heckle his messages across. (Source: The Straits Times)

In November 2014, Roy was found to have indeed defamed Mr Lee by comparing him to City Harvest Church leaders and a reasonable ordinary person could have believed Mr Lee had committed criminal misappropriation after reading Roy’s articles. Roy later claimed he was not receiving support from Singaporeans in his battle with the government, stating that he had hoped “Singaporeans would join in the fight” but questioned “if this was ever going to happen”. He also later mentioned that he may stop blogging in December 2014.

Time for truth

The open court hearing will definitely attract a lot of interest for various reasons. Apart from the verdict of how much damages Roy must pay the PM, the public would also want to know

• What happened to donations that were meant to help him in his court case? Roy did a fantastic job appealing for those funds but the updates as to how he has been spending those funds stopped cold late last year.

• How is he funding these trips if he is not employed? Where is the money coming from? Is someone funding him and if so what is his agenda?

A quick look at Roy’s blog thehearttruths.com shows that he is currently collaborating with opposition parties, especially the Reform Party, to challenge the PAP in the upcoming elections.

• Is this whole incident a charade and that we were all non-the-wiser? Were we hoodwinked when Roy placed the victim card and asked for donations? Are we all pawns in this political tussle between the PAP and the Opposition?

Tomorrow’s court hearing will open our eyes and ears as we see Roy for who he is and not what his articles tell us to.

ICYMI: 2G mobile services to cease in April 2017

The local telcos announced that they will be stopping 2G service from April 2017. According to the telcos, only about 250,000 users remain on the older network. Most of these 250,000 users are apparently foreign workers and senior citizens.

Must they upgrade to a 3G plan by April 2017? Apparently not, according to the telcos. All they need to do is to change their phones to a 3G-enabled handset by that time.

Don’t worry! It’s not as difficult as it sounds. We’ve shortlisted a few affordable phones that you can consider, especially if your parents need help choosing a 3G handset.

1) The iNO Simple 3G Phone  – $98

As its name implies, this phone is a simple 3G phone that targets the older generation who may not be so tech-savvy. The phone comes with elderly-friendly features like bigger buttons, bigger phones, FM radio and even an SOS button for emergencies.

2) LG L60 – $160

If your parents need a bit more functions, you can consider the LG L60. Running on Android, the phone would allow your parents to install different apps or games that they want. The only shortfall for this phone is that it lacks a camera, but if your folks don’t intend to take any pictures they would probably be quite happy with this.

3) Xiaomi Redmi 2 – $168

This phone, in our opinion, probably offers you the best value for your money. At only $8 more than the LG, Xiaomi’s Redmi 2 offers an 8MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary camera on the front for video-calls. The phone also supports 4G, and has a better screen resolution compared to the LG. Not bad for $168!

4) HTC Desire 510 – $190

Of course, if your parents are like mine and have deep-felt disdain for anything related to China, they can consider the HTC Desire 510. However, almost every spec on this phone is worse than the Xiaomi Redmi 2, so we would strongly suggest that you convince your parents on how good Made-in-China products can be nowadays. The only saving grace of this phone is that it has expandable memory with a micro-SD card slot, so you can load the phone up with the Taiwanese soap operas that everyone’s parents seem to love.

(All prices from MobileSquare. Your neighbourhood ‘ah beng/ah lian’ shop may sell the phones cheaper, especially if you flirt with them a bit.)

 

 

4 reasons why you’ll regret eating Makcik’s curry puffs from the streets

Madam Robiah Lin Caniago, who was charged and convicted of selling curry puffs without a licence was actually the operator of a foreign syndicate mass producing curry puffs in her house.

ICYMISG is here to share why this seemingly harmless business is… scarier than you think.

1. They prepare their ingredients on… virtually anything.

Some facts from a study from Hygiene Council showed that the kitchen floor just in front of the sink actually has more bacteria than the trash can, and the kitchen counter has more germs than the toilet seat.

Um, what? We think our curry puffs would have morphed into monsters by now, given how much time they sit around on these surfaces.

This brings us to our next point…

2. E. Coli and Salmonella are some of the most commonly found bacteria on these surfaces.

The bad news? Both bacteria can survive on surfaces, with the Salmonella bacteria surviving up to 4 weeks on floors.

The E. Coli bacteria can result in bloody diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, and in some cases, kidney failures, while the salmonella bacteria may give you diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, fever, vomiting, and even typhoid fever.

I think I’ll give it a pass.

3.  The frying pot is right next to the rubbish chute.

This is probably a no-brainer – but we’ve just gotta put it out there, man. Cockroaches – all the cockroaches you can wish for in the chute right beside the frying pot.

Oh and speaking of our six-legged friends…

4. Cockroaches

What? We gotta pay some tribute to our lovely house pets.

They’ve been known to spread at least 33 kinds of bacteria, including E.coli, Salmonella, parasitic worms and human pathogens.

Maybe next time you’ll think twice about buying a curry puff from the streets.