b8 home saturday, august 3, 2013 a ‘threat to total defence’ and events/sji in the new… ·...
TRANSCRIPT
By DAVID EE
DEFENCE Minister Ng Eng Hen yesterdaywarned of a new threat to Singapore’sTotal Defence efforts – distorted or false in-formation, rumours and smears that sur-face on the Internet.
Those who intend Singapore harmwould spread such misinformation “toweaken our resolve and cause disunity”, hesaid in an address at the Total DefenceSymposium. Online misinformation couldspread widely during tense or volatile situa-tions, causing confusion and chaos.
“(They may try to) divide you, so thateven if you want to mount a response, youcan’t,” he said.
During the recent haze – Singapore’sworst ever – blogger Ravi Philemon’s alle-gation that none of the Government’s ninemillion N95 masks was for the publiccaused a stir online.
Minister for Communications and Infor-mation Yaacob Ibrahim later cited it as an
example of online rumour-mongering thatcaused unnecessary public anxiety.
Dr Ng said that Singaporeans “them-selves must be more discerning about theinformation they read on the Internet”,and that they can help counter and stopmisinformation from spreading.
Earlier, he spoke of the times when Sin-gaporeans united to pull through, such asthe recent haze and the 2003 Sars crisis,which showed that the country’s Total De-fence efforts were working.
More than 500 organisations receivedawards yesterday for their contributions toTotal Defence – for instance, adjustingwork so that NSmen employees could gofor in-camp training without worry.
“Without your strong support and un-stinting commitment to National Service,we won’t have a strong SAF as we have to-day, capable of defending Singapore,” DrNg told the gathered employers at TheRitz-Carlton Millenia hotel.
MINDEF will consider helpingemployers pay their NSmen-employeeCPF contributions during in-camptraining periods, Senior Minister ofState for Defence Chan Chun Sing saidyesterday.
He was responding to a question at aforum with more than 500 employersat the Total Defence Symposium.
But he added the country “must becareful never to monetise” the TotalDefence contributions made by NSmenand their employers. “No matter whatwe pay, this is but a token of ourappreciation,” he said.
Some companies respondedfavourably to the possibility.
Mr Gary Haris, senior businessdevelopment manager at KH SecurityAgency, said the gesture of supportwould be appreciated by employers,not just financially but symbolically.
Managing Director of SyntaxEnclosure System Cheng Koon Huasaid: “If (it happens) it’s a bonus. Ifthere isn’t, I’m okay with it.”
President of the Association of Smalland Medium Enterprises Chan ChongBeng said such a move would help thefirms he represents. But he said heconsidered such contributions to bepart of companies “playing their part”for the Total Defence of Singapore.DAVID EE
By KASH CHEONG
THE hawker trade needs to be “sexi-fied” so that good street food does notdie out with the older generation, saidfood guru K.F. Seetoh at a Fullerton-StJoseph’s Institution (SJI) Leadership lec-ture yesterday.
“We need new hawker heroes,”urged the 50-year-old, best known forhis local food guide Makansutra. “Weneed the young hawker who is up there,who is given gigs to perform at, who is
featured on food shows.”Education is key, he pointed out.The culture of Singapore food can be
taught in schools, said Mr Seetoh. Andyoung food entrepreneurs need to knowwhere they can go to set up shop andwho they can partner.
Right now, the hawker trade is unap-pealing to the younger generation, headmitted. The previous generation en-tered the trade in the late 1980s andfew younger people want to take over.
But while there are those who say
that being a hawker is not lucrative, MrSeetoh suggested otherwise to an audi-ence of about a hundred SJI alumni andstudents at the Fullerton Hotel. TheStraits Times is the media partner forthe Fullerton-SJI Leadership Lectures.
With a good product and a goodsales pitch, customers will come, hesaid, pointing to Boon Lay Power NasiLemak, where queues can extend to ahundred for a $3.50 plate of nasi lemak.
In the hour-long session, Mr Seetohalso recounted his time as an SJI stu-dent from 1974 to 1978 and the fightshe had. “I was probably not the best ras-cal, maybe the third- or fourth-best.”
He grew up in the red-light Geylangdistrict where even-numbered streetsoffered “kamasutra” while other streetsoffered “makansutra”. “If my fatherhad not bribed St Michael’s School(now SJI Junior) to take me in, I proba-bly would have become a top gangsterthere,” he joked.
After tasting the best hawker food inSingapore, a meal of simple salted fishand rice remains his comfort food, eat-en with chopsticks from a bowl. “WhenI eat that way, I have that comfortingfeeling inside of me,” he said. “At theend of the day, no matter how cheap orexpensive a plate of food is, food mustmean that to you. It’s not only eating,but partaking in your culture.”
On NSmen-employee CPF contributions
‘Make hawker trade sexy’ to save street food
The audience reacting to food guru K.F. Seetoh’s speech during the Fullerton-St Joseph’s Institution Leadership lecture yesterday. Mr Seetohsaid Singapore needs “new hawker heroes” and that Singapore food culture can be taught in schools. ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
Rumours cause chaos, says Ng Eng Hen
False info onlinea ‘threat toTotal Defence’
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