COMMENT

Last month, we learnt that journalism associate professor Cherian George's tenure at the Nanyang Technological University was denied for a second time.

But I want to take a step back, to more than two years ago, when the university made a hasty decision not to renew George's term as head of journalism in the Wee Kim Wee School.

Hasty — because there wasn't even a replacement lined up for him at the point the decision was made.

Instead, what happened was a series of temporary replacements.

Today, almost two-and-a-half years after his term as head of journalism was not renewed, there remains no permanent head of journalism.

Quite the contrary, we now have the head of the broadcast and cinema studies division, professor Stephen Teo, doubling up as acting head of division at journalism and publishing.

What is most perplexing about this is that Teo's profile lists neither any background in journalism and publishing, nor any research interest in this field. In fact, Teo was not even

Read More »from COMMENT: Why didn’t NTU renew Cherian George as journalism head?

Cooking at home gives you better control over your health. (Getty Images)

One of my friends has a successful family business. They are distributors of fruits and vegetables in Singapore. I'm happy that they are successful because they do a great job of making sure that their suppliers provide high quality produce for us to eat.

The boss of this company is also a very ethical businessman who tries to see how he can help meet the needs of his clients (restaurants, food retailers, supermarkets, hawkers etc). So sometimes he simply walks around to his customer's location to see what they do with his products.

Unfortunately, he told me that many of them don't actually wash or store the produce as much as he would like. Most notably veggies and chili.

This is a problem for hygiene purposes obviously, but also because there may be pesticide or herbicide residue (brain toxins) on it.

Most of us can't actually tell by taste, if a piece of food has been washed, or if it has a toxic substance on it.

The reason is simply time. Food sellers have to produce multiple

Read More »from 4 easy steps to start cooking at home

There are rules for navigating matters of the heart and a number of courtesies that can make a break up more graceful. (Thinkstock)Whether you’ve signed a lease together or it’s date number five, pulling the chord on a relationship can be a tricky, awkward and painful act.

But there are rules for navigating matters of the heart and a number of courtesies that can make the process more graceful and you more gracious. A look at how to call it off, regardless of what stage you’re at in coupledom.

Date number one

You went for coffee with your friend’s co-worker’s cousin’s sister that everyone thought you would be just perfect for – but there wasn’t even a hint of a spark between the two of you. If you know for certain you’re not interested, there’s no need to commit to a second date just to be nice and get her hopes up. Conversely, dropping off the face of the earth is a jerk move, especially if she shows interest you can’t reciprocate. At this point, an email or text explaining you had a lovely time but don’t see things progressing is acceptable.

The “getting-serious” mark

The L-word has been dropped,

Read More »from The gentleman's guide for breaking up

Foreigners in Singapore are perceived as more driven than their local counterparts. (Getty Images)

(The title of this article isn't a rhetorical question. And it's definitely not a spiteful one either! Please read the entire article to see the point I'm driving at.)

I don’t have anything against foreigners, and I don’t hate them. In fact, I have plenty of friends who are foreigners.

Furthermore, I spent four years living in the U.S. (I’m a Singaporean), so I know what it’s like to be a foreigner.

I understand why some Singaporeans have negative sentiments toward foreigners, but I empathize with them.

I also think that foreigners have many admirable traits.

Many foreigners have an excellent work ethic

Through the work I do, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to and interacting with thousands of students.

One thing has become clear to me: Foreign students tend to be more motivated, driven, focused and hardworking than Singaporean students.

Foreign students set goals for themselves and are willing to make sacrifices to achieve those goals.

They spend less time socializing, watching

Read More »from Should we change our immigration policy?

SINGAPORE, 5 March 2013 – Singapore’s leading property portal, iProperty.com Singapore (http://www.iproperty.com.sg), a brand under The iProperty Group, owner of Asia’s No. 1 network of property portal sites has partnered Ascendant Assets Pte Ltd as one of the exclusive content providers for the year 2013.

“As Singapore’s property market matures and consumers get savvier, we believe that it is no longer enough to just provide property listings; more needs to be done for the discerning public. We have noticed that consumers are starting to use online portals like ours to do their research. Naturally they want to be sure that they are getting the best possible deal as properties are one of the largest purchases anyone can make. Hence, we have decided to partner Ascendant Assets Pte Ltd as one the exclusive content providers for the coming year so that we can provide more value added services to property consumers.“ said Sean Tan, General Manager of iProperty.com Singapore.

Read More »from iProperty.com Singapore Partners Ascendant Assets Pte Ltd as One of the Exclusive Content Providers to Give More Value Added Services to Property Consumers

COMMENT

By Getty Goh

In early Feb 2013, iProperty.com came out with a Consumer Sentiment Survey. In the survey, one of the questions asked was whether the Singapore government should take more active steps to cool the property market. Out of the 2,000 plus respondents, about 67% felt that the government should do more in the year ahead (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Should the government take more active steps to cool Singapore’s property market in 2013

Figure A

Source: iProperty.com

Since 2007, there were more than seven rounds of direct and indirect measures to control the property market. Even the Singapore Budget 2013 saw the government introduce yet another measure to douse interest in the property market by raising property tax to as much as 20% for properties that have high assessed value (AV). It is interesting to note that even after so many rounds of measures, the URA Property Price Index (URA PPPI) is still at an all time high and many feel that more could be done. Naturally this begs

Read More »from Why the average Singaporean may not find the recent property measures effective

The parody has garnered over 40,000 views since it was first uploaded. (Youtube screengrab)

A creepy but wonderfully creative parody of Derrick Hoh’s “Forever” is going viral online.

The 4-minute story-within-a-music video entitled “Dead Girl Seeks Meaningful Relationships” is based on the dance-pop debut number by the Mandopop star, who shot to fame in the talent competition Project Superstar.

Last month, his first English single “Forever” climbed onto the Singapore iTunes chart for five consecutive days. And now this wildly popular parody, which has already been viewed 40,000 times since it was first uploaded last week, is sure to revive the hit song.

The creepy spoof echoes his lyrics of eternal love but puts a wicked twist to the idea of “till death do us part”. It begins with a morbid suicide crime scene where a ghost-like lady dressed in white lies lifeless next to a river.

The tale soon unravels into a comical chase for eternal love where the coroner at the crime scene falls in love with the dead body while the misunderstood dead girl looks for companionship

Read More »from Creepy spoof of local singer’s hit song goes viral

Ray Pang's short film 'Closer to Me' will be playing on the Cannes screen in May. (Youtube screengrab)

Singaporean Ray Pang’s short film “Closer to Me” has been selected to be part of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2013 in May.

The local film – which was also shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award and Jury Award for the Louis Vuitton Journey Award – is about the fragility of life and was inspired by Pang’s cancer-stricken friend. It will be screened under the Short Film Corner category to an audience of potential film distributors.

Pang, who’s been a filmmaker for six years, told Yahoo! Singapore that being part of the festival is nothing short of surreal.

“It’s a dream for a filmmaker to be at Cannes. I didn’t expect it to get selected,” said the 28-year-old Pang, who hopes the nomination will help open doors as he hopes to “rub shoulders with big names in the industry”.

A second entry from Singapore to be featured on the Cannes screen this year is from 34-year-old Christina Choo who teaches at Glasgow School of Art - Singapore Institute of Technology.

She wrote and directed

Read More »from S’pore short film makes it to Cannes Film Festival