Monday #sgroundup: Singapore’s ‘Pioneer Generation’ to benefit from special healthcare package
Here are today’s top trending stories in case you missed them.
Singapore's 'Pioneer Generation' to benefit from special health-care package
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong paid special tribute to Singapore's "Pioneer Generation" on Sunday, outlining a special health-care package that will benefit up to to 450,000 first-generation of Singapore citizens.
The package, details of which will be revealed on next Friday's Budget Day, will be for Singaporeans born in 1949 and earlier, and who received citizenship before 1987.
Meant to help older Singaporeans cope with health-care costs, the package is expected to include increased subsidies for outpatient treatment and annual MediSave top-ups, as well as help with premiums for new national insurance scheme, MediShield Life.
COMMENT: Can STOMP really teach good internet behaviour?
STOMP, Singapore Press Holdings' "citizen journalism" portal, is now taking it upon itself to teach the Internet good manners.
The citizen journalism portal is launching a "Don't be a Facebook Idiot" campaign. "Stomp will regularly highlight such errant behaviour in the hope that netizens will refrain from making offensive postings on Facebook," says an article on the campaign.
In other words: STOMP is going teach people manners by putting them up on the website for a good ol' session of shame-and-flame.
Indonesia officials to skip Singapore Airshow amid name row
Indonesian defence officials have pulled out of this week's Singapore Airshow, Jakarta said Sunday, as a row over the controversial naming of an Indonesian warship shows no sign of abating.
The Southeast Asian neighbours are locked in a bitter dispute over the Indonesian navy's decision to name a refurbished frigate after two marines who staged a deadly bombing in Singapore in the 1960s.
Former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian calls for NS to be shortened to a year
Tan Kin Lian, a candidate at the 2011 Presidential Election, has called for national service (NS) to be shortened from the current two years to a year.
The former CEO of NTUC Income also called on the government to reduce the call-up for reservist and remedial training. The online petition has gathered close to 900 signatures as of Sunday morning. His goal is to hit 10,000 signatures.
Singapore, the tiny state with military clout
Singapore, one of Asia's smallest countries thinks big when it comes to defence. The nation consistently allocates about 20 percent of national spending to defence, analysts say.
"The greatest fears for a small country like Singapore lie in two things - coercion by bigger powers and strategic uncertainty that arises from any conflict between great powers," said William Choong, Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia-Pacific Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "Singapore's defence spending should be seen in such a context."
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-tiny-state-military-clout-234301060.html
