Nearly 1,000 cartons of illegal cigarettes found on towed bus

By 938 LIVE | Posted: 08 June 2009 1740 hrs

Cartons of contraband cigarettes

SINGAPORE: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers have arrested a Malaysian man for trying to smuggle contraband cigarettes into Singapore at midnight last Wednesday.

Close to 1,000 cartons of cigarettes were found under the floorboard of a broken down Malaysia-registered bus. It was being towed by a Singapore-registered tow truck via the Woodlands Checkpoint.

ICA said potential customs duty and GST payable for the cigarettes amounted to more than S$76,000.

When questioned, the 31-year-old Malaysian claimed that he was a relief driver. He said another Malaysian by the name of "Louis" had instructed him to take some passengers from Jalan Skudai to Singapore.

After clearance at Woodlands Checkpoint, he was supposed to leave the bus at the mosque near the checkpoint and await further instructions.

The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations.

Upon conviction by the court, first-time offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded and are liable to a jail term of up to three years.

- CNA/so

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

MOE's decision to drop AWARE as external vendor regrettable: AWARE President

By Tan Yew Guan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 May 2009 2219 hrs

AWARE President Dana Lam

SINGAPORE: AWARE said it is regrettable that the Education Ministry has decided to drop it as a sexuality education provider.

While it understands the ministry's decision as it has been under considerable pressure from some parents on the matter, AWARE said it still believes that its comprehensive sexuality education programme is a much needed resource for youth.

Dana Lam, president, AWARE, said: "I think it is grossly unfair that the programme has been so misrepresented to the public by a few people who have picked up isolated phrases and then brandied it around. So parents out there may now have a skewed understanding of what the programme is about."

AWARE said it will continue to review its programme in consultation with parents, teachers, counsellors and other relevant parties. It will offer the programme to MOE again "at the appropriate time".

But AWARE is not the only vendor affected by the saga. Other vendors, whose programmes have been suspended for the time being, hope this saga will blow over soon.

Edware Ong, president, Singapore Planned Parenthood Association, said: "For us, this is our core programme and service. We are very concerned that this continues to be ongoing. As it is, our current programmes have already been affected."

On the streets, many welcome MOE's move to tighten its oversight of sexuality programmes. But there were mixed views on whether AWARE's programme has lost the public's trust with its neutral stance towards homosexuality.

"Whether AWARE should be teaching in schools, there should be a neutral stance to it. Given that they are a secular organisation, I think that's fair," said one Singaporean.

"We have to get the right message to our children and that's very important. Like AWARE getting involved and all that, they may send the wrong message to the kids, which is not acceptable by Asians generally," said another.

"I think you have to take into consideration that we import a lot of culture. You want to appear that you are upholding the traditional cultures that we as Singaporeans hold very dear to us, but also you do not want seem like you are backwards," said one man in the street.

But most agree that educating the young about sex is a must. - CNA/vm

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Was official response needed?

You can’t please everyone… and certainly when it is about being “free”, free to express and think for yourself, and to decide on your own…

-----

AWARE SAGA

Letter from Gavin Lee

I WAS very disappointed with Today’s decision to feature a four-page answer to the Aware saga from Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.

I believe civil society has shown unprecedented maturity over the past few weeks. First, the media caught wind of the unsavoury takeover of a women’s advocacy group and reported on it. Second, Singaporeans were alarmed by the religious slant in a civil rights group. Then, Singaporean women voted out the new Exco who had orchestrated a coup to oust several longtime, well-respected figures.

All this has shown that civil society is capable of regulating itself. It is clear that the majority of both Christian and non-Christian Singaporeans wish for a clear separation between civil and religious space. And they took action to ensure that this separation is preserved.

Why is it that in this scenario, Today felt the need for an official conclusion, and Mr Wong still felt the need to step in?

Undoubtedly, the issue of homosexuality did a lot to obfuscate the bigger issues at hand. But if Singaporeans have already shown that they are mature enough to handle the prickly topic of religious versus civil space, why can’t we be trusted to handle issues like sexuality?

I bet many students are memorising Mr Wong’s responses for use in their General Paper works. Bear in mind that these are Singapore’s future leaders.

I, for one, don’t see any point in blaming the youth on being apathetic if society is bent on spoon-feeding them. Let society find its own outlets for handling these tricky issues.

From TODAY, Voices – Monday, 18-May-2009

GAY AGENDA ‘UNFOUNDED’

Their stand is clear: “Aware has never promoted homosexuality”.

In a statement yesterday evening, the 24-year-old Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) stressed that its stand has always “been identical to that of the Government”.

“We agree that the heterosexual family is the norm for our society,” the women’s advocacy group stated. “But homosexuals are also part of our society and they should be able to live freely and happily, free of any discrimination.”

Their comments come in response to Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng’s comment that homosexuality was “clearly a major issue to both sides” in the Aware saga.

While welcoming Mr Wong’s reminder of the need for restraint, respect and tolerance, Aware said it was “most regrettable” that some people now think it has a “gay agenda”, and that “wrongful allegations” continue to be perpetuated online and through other channels.

“This is totally unfounded,” it stressed. The allegations by Dr Thio Su Mien and those she “handpicked” to take over Aware’s leadership were based “on the strength of bits of information taken out of context and strung together to create an imaginary and inaccurate picture of Aware’s activities”, said Aware.

But, the current executive committee is moving on, they said. With an expanded membership, they are now putting together programmes for the year. ALICIA WONG

From TODAY-Weekend, News – 16/17-May-2009

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Gay agenda 'unfounded', says AWARE

By Alicia Wong, TODAY | Posted: 16 May 2009 0741 hrs

AWARE's new exco - elected at EGM on May 2, 2009

SINGAPORE: Their stand is clear: "AWARE has never promoted homosexuality".

In a statement on Friday evening, the 24-year-old Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) stressed that its stand has always "been identical to that of the government".

"We agree that the heterosexual family is the norm for our society," the women's advocacy group stated. "But homosexuals are also part of our society and they should be able to live freely and happily, free of any discrimination."

Their comments come in response to Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng's comment that homosexuality was "clearly a major issue to both sides" in the AWARE saga.

While welcoming Mr Wong's reminder of the need for restraint, respect and tolerance, AWARE said it was "most regrettable" that some people now think it has a "gay agenda" and that "wrongful allegations" continue to be perpetuated online and through other channels.

"This is totally unfounded," it stressed. The allegations by Dr Thio Su Mien and those she "handpicked" to take over AWARE's leadership were based "on the strength of bits of information taken out of context and strung together to create an imaginary and inaccurate picture of AWARE's activities", said AWARE.

But, the current executive committee is moving on, they said. With an expanded membership, they are now putting together programmes for the year.
- TODAY/so

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Homosexual groups, pro—family groups call for tolerance on gay issue

Channel NewsAsia - Saturday, May 16

Homosexual groups, pro—family groups call for tolerance on gay issue

SINGAPORE : Homosexual groups and pro—family groups may not see eye—to—eye on sexuality, but many in both camps agree with Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng’s call for tolerance and accommodation on the subject.

The AWARE saga brought many divisive issues to the forefront, and sociologists doubt these will be resolved despite their airing.

Associate Professor Paulin Straughan, a sociologist, said: "In a conflict, where values are involved, there is never a win—win situation. If you push on one side, the other side would have to retreat. So then you force the polarity, I don’t think that is very healthy.

"When you have these kinds of heated exchanges, especially when it goes into cyberspace under the cover of anonymity, strong words are heard, and there is always the danger that you push somebody who is normally apathetic to take a stand. And at the end of the day, it does polarise."

This is one reason why analysts said the government decided to give a response.

DPM Wong said that while Singapore is a conservative society, homosexuals are entitled to their private lives. He stressed the importance for different groups to live and let live — a view welcomed by many, including homosexuals.

Said Stuart Koe, CEO of gay portal Fridae.com: "The gay community is pro—family. We have families. We love our families and our families love us. But as a result of what’s been happening in the press and the public media, a lot of abuse and offensive words have been hurled with impunity and I think the people around us are quite hurt about that.

"I’m really concerned that the pendulum in Singapore seems to have swung so far to the right. What he (DPM Wong) said to the press is very important because it is what brings Singapore to the centre. That is very heartening for the gay community to hear because we feel like we are being cornered.

Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of Youth Services at the Singapore Children’s Society said: "I agree with the government that the two critical values we need to have is respect and tolerance. Just as much as the small conservative group’s views should not be forced on the mainstream, similarly, the liberal’s views should not be forced on the rest of us."

And all said it’s important to agree to disagree. — CNA /ls

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.