It has been 17 days now since the Singapore General Elections. Enough of time to put thoughts into electrons and share it with the rest of the world but importantly, to help me remember what […]
Category: Singapore
All about living a life one degree north.
Hiding in plain sight
[photo from https://rangerrick.org/ranger_rick_jr/hiding-in-plain-sight/%5D In the Inconvenient Questions interview done by Viswa Sadasivan (recorded 3rd July 2020, and released 5th July 2020, i.e., during the campaign period), I mention that there are lots of information that […]
Seriously? NRIC for TraceTogether?
[Image from https://www.solarwindsmsp.com/blog/what-pii-and-phi-and-how-do-you-secure-them and added NO to it using gimp.] I wrote earlier that asking for a phone number when registering the TraceTogether app on the mobile phone was about the only useful and barest […]
Looking forward to a recyclable, open sourced, wearable, contact tracing device
So, the other shoe is about to drop. Gov is planning on providing everyone a wearable contacting tracing device to counter the limitations of apps that run in mobile phones (from the Apple ecosystem) – […]
Jit.si if you care and Zoom if you don’t.
So, last week, from 8th April onwards, the Singapore Government imposed a partial lockdown (PL) – or as they say euphemistically “circuit breaker” (CB). The Singapore Ministry of Education introduced Home-based Learning (HBL) that they […]
Mailed in ballots
[photo above from https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2018/04/08/california-counties-testing-voting-centers-to-boost-anemic-turnout/%5D With all of the talk and tentative actions by the ruling party in trying to hold the general elections in Singapore, it is now the right time to look at mail-in […]
No. Internet voting is still a No Go.
I was asked by a friend why is it that we can’t do voting over the Internet. With all of the digitisation being done globally, and the ongoing COVID-19 issue, shouldn’t Singapore – the Smart […]
BuildTogether – data, code, people for the world
The Singapore Government Technology Agency released, at the end of last week (Friday 20 March 2020) a mobile phone app, called TraceTogether which uses the bluetooth of the mobile phone to establish tiny database with […]
Handwaving. No surprises.
So, the Singapore Parliament and the Ministry of Communication and Information replies to my question about the plan to track MPs in parliament. This reply appeared in the 22 November 2019 of the MSM. Many […]
Fa(r)cial Recognition + Parliament = Smart Parliament?
If the Singapore Parliament aspires to be a smart Parliament, it should live stream proceedings in full on the Internet with no delay (Facial recognition system to track MPs’ presence in Parliament, Nov 8). By doing that, MPs’ attendance can be tracked using software that is already available.
And Election Kakis gets underway
I am really pleased to have been able to hold the first (or many, many more) training sessions of volunteers that Election Kakis has been seeking. Today’s session was attended by 20 people from various […]
Majulah Singapura
I truly love how Ramli Sarip delivered the national anthem at this year’s National Day Parade. It was stupendous, visceral, raw and tugged at the emotions. I truly love this rendition. Terima Kasih, Ramil. […]
Democracy is a participatory sport, not a spectator sport!
Over eight years ago, I helped out a political party by volunteering to being their Polling Agent. It was a wonderful learning opportunity in addition to having a chance to participate. The lessons I learned […]
Railway Records
My sons and I had a chance to attend a wonderful evening play written by my wife’s sister-in-law’s sister, Sharmila. Location: the north end of the black-painted steel bridge near the old Bukit Timah Railway […]
Electronic voting and trust
There was s series of letters published in one of the daily papers here in Singapore about the apparent anomaly that we do lots of stuff electronically, but voting is not one of them. There […]
Defending my country
As a former reservist officer, I am deeply concerned with the kind of language and propaganda that is being put out by our government leaders around the issue about marine incursions in the seas off […]
Simple life hack
Turn your mobile data to the OFF as a default when out and about. Why? Read on. Since about October 2017, I’ve been quite conscious about how my phone connects to the data network via […]
NASA Space Apps Challenge 2018 – Singapore
It was wonderful that Red Hat’s Open Innovation Labs is a sponsor of this year’s NASA Space Apps Challenge event that is being held in Singapore. It was held at LEVEL3‘s offices at the Mapletree […]
A healthcare IT foundation built on gooey clay
Today, there was a report from the Solicitor General of Singapore about the data breach of the SingHealth systems that happened in July. These systems have been in place for many years. They are almost […]
What I’ve learned in 15 years at Red Hat
[image credit: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Spock-shades.jpg%5D In September 2003, I was asked by Gus Robertson to consider joining Red Hat – essentially to kickstart the Red Hat office in Singapore/ASEAN. I was at that time running my own […]
Why is 10 million people the target for Singapore?
This is a number that keeps coming up every now and then. Sometime in January 2013, a white paper released by the then government (which happens to be the same now) about pegging the […]
The value of independence
As we approach the 53rd National Day on 9th of August 2018, Singaporeans have all reasons to be happy and cheerful. The economy is doing well (enough), we all have a roof over our heads, […]
SingHealth, PDPA, Smart Nation, sigh!
Looks like I am clear from the data breach at SingHealth. My Mom’s data, however, is not. This is the SMS received: Yes, I’ve redacted her name, and yes, I use Signal as my SMS […]
About that data breach at SingHealth
PSA Notice Please go to https://datacheck.singhealth.com.sg/ and click on the log in button to check if your data was exposed by the breach at SingHealth. The login needs your SingPass account and verification. I was […]
And, they are online now
Over a week ago, I was pinged by @l00g33k on twitter with a picture of a description of a piece of code I wrote in 1982. That lead to a meet up and reliving a […]
You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep**
Lots of what we take for granted found expression in the thoughts and writings of John Perry Barlow. He crafted “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” back in 1996. It held lots of truths […]
Seeking a board seat at OpenSource.org
I’ve stepped up to be considered for a seat on the Board of the Open Source Initiative. Why would I want to do this? Simple: most of my technology-based career has been made possible because […]
My submission to the proposed changes to the Films Act
[The submission deadline is 5pm Singapore time Saturday December 30, 2017. Image above from http://www.newlovetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/the-godfather.gif ] I have sent the following to the IMDA as per their requests for comments for the proposed changes to […]
It takes time to apologise. I get it. But …
It has taken full NINE days for the CEO of the SMRT to come out and take ownership of the flooding incident of the North South Line that happened on October 7th. In addition to […]
Transparency is good. Really.
I got a call from Christopher Tan, the Senior Transport Correspondent of a local MSM earlier this afternoon. Kudos to him in tracking me down (not that it was difficult). He was doing a follow […]
Is this a failure of leadership?
Saturday, October 7, saw heavy rainfall and as expected, rain water got into everything. That’s what water does. We know that. And we design for it. We engineers have figured out how to manage this. […]
The ongoing spinning
PAP ministers and surrogates spinning the racially oriented presidential election.
No, Halimah, You Are Mistaken
I just saw this article online on one of the MSM sites. In it, the former speaker of parliament, Mdm Halimah Yacob is being interviewed as a potential candidate for this year’s presidential elections. Let […]
What if no one came?
So, there was this shop that was set up to give a chance for those who like pancakes to go there and claim their pancakes. People found out that anyone can go to the shop […]
The next president and Singapore at 200
So, we are now in the silly cycle of “electing” the next president. This year’s election is very controversial. The parliament approved a change in the rules for election of president and added a clause […]
Some updates on “who’s my MP”
I have not received any reply from the person who is supposed to be the MP for my place on what I sent to the person on 8th July. I am not expecting a reply, […]
On being an engaged and responsible citizen
I sent this to my MP on July 5 and am awaiting a reply (if there is a reply, I will post it here as well but leaving out the identity of the MP if […]
Thank you, Uncle Sar, and Rest In Peace!
I’ve always known him as Uncle Sar. He was a teacher, a biology teacher no less. When he used to visit us at home when I was 7 or 8 years old, he would always […]
A better model to work with citizens
I have been putting off installing the SGSecure application on my phone. I finally decided to do it via the Google Playstore. It got downloaded and installed and when I started the app, it needed […]
Congratulations NUS Engineers Class of 2016!
My speech at the Commencement of NUS Faculty of Engineering on July 12, 2016 at 3:00 pm. Mr Neo Kian Hong, Member, NUS Board of Trustees, Distinguished Guests, Friends and Families of Graduands, Graduating Class […]
As the silly season starts
By noon on September 1st, we will know who are running for the 89 seats in the parliament. As voters we are all keen to know who the candidates are. The irony is that the […]
He probably is indeed telling the truth! (info graphic updated on Aug 29)
It would appear that ESM Goh Chok Tong is indeed telling the truth that “checks and balances are a seductive lie”. He says in that article that: “the check comes from the “integrity of the […]
The need for a independent Electoral Commission
I am reading the Candidate Handbook for Parliamentary Election 2015 for the first time. I don’t have any of the earlier versions so I cannot tell what the changes are (yes, no edit history/change log; […]
What I want for the future of Singapore starting today.
Fifty years of being an independent country and having seen how we have evolved over the years with my fellow Singaporeans is just amazing. Yes, the political hand did play a significant part in the […]
Here be the dragons!
I cannot believe that the MCE planners did not think things through. Of how the traffic is to flow from East to West and vice versa as well as all the other exits from the […]
Sparks of brilliance and WTFs!
The Land Transport Authority is the agency charged with all things land-based transport. 2013 is a busy year for them. Two major infrastructure projects came online. The first one was on December 22nd with the […]
First impressions about the new Marina Coastal Expressway
I decided to take a spin onto the new Marina Coastal Expressway today. And my first impression is that it is screwed up. Not the highway per se. The highway is top-notch. Five lanes in […]
I know more than you do
I cannot help but continue to be baffled by the way the G responds to some of the continuing challenges that the nation faces. Way back in 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced the […]
Will we ever have engineers?
As noted by Vivian, the first of three key ingredients before anything starts is to have engineers, engineers who are valued and who want to change the world by their work and their ideas. As […]
Things to be thankful for as we celebrate 48 years of independence. Majulah Singapura!
I’m thankful for: If we were ever at war, it was under the Union Jack, not the Crescent and Stars. Singapore has never been to war. While, yes, we have a small standing military setup […]
Getting a good grip on the haze conditions
I feel that with DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s speech this past Monday, June 17 2013, at the eGov Global Exchange event about the Singapore government going whole hog with 100% machine readable data on the data.gov.sg, […]
Proceedings from the “The Singapore Computer Society’s Internet Regulations Workshop” – August 1996
I used to head up the Internet SIG of the Singapore Computer Society back in the 1990s. When the then Singapore Broadcasting Authority (now known as the Media Development Authority) issued a directive that they […]
The Town Council IT System Tender
[This was originally written on March 26, 2013, but kept as a draft giving the powers that be time to revert. Looks like nothing is moving for a country that prides itself on efficiency and […]
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) aka Selling Out To Big Business talks in Singapore this week
I was very surprised to see two items that appeared right next to each other in the Straits Times on Monday, March 4, 2013. One was the story headlined “S’pore hosts Asia-Pacific free-trade talks” and […]
Tender for Town Council Management System – updates
Looks like the PAP-run town councils have put out a call for tender on February 4th with an advertisement in the morning newsletter. As can be seen in the ad, there was a briefing […]
It’s not about *taxing* anyone
By and large, Singaporeans accept the value and import of National Service. Yes, there are genuine situations where things can be done better with far less waste, but as a whole, the long-term benefits of […]
Walk the Talk!
“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” – Albert Einstein It is a mockery of the Parliamentary process when a Member of Parliament fails to exercise her right to vote on issues […]
“practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
I just love the heading of this post. It is from John Maynard Keynes who wrote it in his The General Theory (New York, Harcourt Brace and World, 1964), p. 383. I was prompted to check it […]
And “Parliament Passes Motion …”
Before my comment, I found this picture on a walled garden site and thought I should share it here: How appropriate the headline is and the accompanying photo. I can’t find where this appeared and […]
Finally, a PAP MP making a considered and sane proposal
I am really glad to read the speech that PAP MP Inderjit Singh gave in Parliament about the Population White Paper. Mr Singh, since I can’t find your speech anywhere else outside a walled garden, […]
“If there’s a war, why should we fight for Singapore?”
These two questions have been asked before and I am sure my two sons will ask them again: “Do I have to do NS?” “Is Singapore worth defending and dying for?” My answer had been […]
In a word, wow!
I am not sure if this is a report that contains stuff taken out of context, but if its true that PM Lee thinks that his government did not have clarity in vision, what does that […]
It was obvious to me
Congratulations to Ms Lee Li Lian in winning the Punggol East seat on January 26, 2013. With 16,038 from 29,832 votes cast, she commanded a lead that was not assailable by the incumbent party’s candidate […]
The Value of Checks and Balances
The Punggol East by-elections will be on Saturday, January 26 2013. Let’s look at the choices Punggol East residents have: a) PAP’s candidate. I think the good doctor probably has his heart in the right […]
They don’t get it.
The Punggol East by-elections are underway with the polling happening on Saturday January 26, 2013. Today, January 22, at the Worker’s Party rally, the WP chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim, spoke about the AIM related issues. […]
Anonymity and Feedback
For the record, I will defend the right of anyone to engage in any discourse anonymously. Anonymity is a very potent and powerful tool that, as participants in a society, it serves to empower people […]
Doing the right thing and a proposal
I am glad to read the the Prime Minister has decided to probe the sale the applications (built and paid using tax dollars) by the PAP Town Councils to the PAP-owned company AIM. <stand up> […]
It’s not a contest per se, it’s a Sahana-moment!
So, my 3 am post from January 3rd 2013 is now on http://www.tremeritus.com, probably not a good thing, but then this is the way things move. For what it’s worth, going by the comments in that post, […]
Why Open Standards and Open Source Matters in Government
I have offered to the powers that be (TPTB) running the various Town Councils in Singapore an opportunity for the open source community to help build an application to manage their respective towns following the […]
My Conscience Is Bugging Me
I cannot let the media statement put out by the “Coordinating Chairman of the PAP Town Councils” regarding the sale of the town council management software system to a ex-PAP MP-owned company be left alone […]
Software for Public Sector Applications
The ongoing egg-in-the-face of the PAP over the “tender” (thanks to Alex for posting it via an anonymous source) awarded to AIM over the acquisition of a piece of software created for the use of the Town […]
Open Source and Government
[11:05 am Dec 26th: updated to reflect some clarifications given to me via other walled-garden social media] The recent events with the Worker’s Party-led Aljunied Hougang Town Council‘s financial management system needs to be looked […]
Much to think about
PSLE A week ago, my younger son got his PSLE results. I must congratulate him on doing very well – he even managed to score a B for his 2nd language. Like his older brother, […]
The Primary School Leaving Exam
On Thursday, September 27 2012, the Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE in short) will commence. Over a period of 4 days, students in primary six the public school system will sit for a common nationwide […]
What a disappointment
I am deeply disappointed with the announcement that the Media Development Authority has asked Google/YouTube to block access in Singapore to the absolutely worthless “Innocence of Muslims” trailer. Having watched it, I realized that I […]
Open Letter to Transport Minister Liu
This is a post that I am taking the liberty to include here. It was written by Steven Choy, but since it is in a walled garden, it might not reach enough people. I would […]
A helper note for family and friends about your connectivity to the Internet from July 9 2012
This is a note targeted at family and friends who might find that they are not able to connect to the Internet from July 9, 2012 onwards. This only affects those whose machines were are […]
A proud moment
This Hougang by-election was a foregone conclusion as far as I am concerned. I was only looking to see an increased victory margin. But even though the WP percentage went down 2%, I think it […]
Why the vote in Hougang matters
It might look like the by-elections in Hougang is not an important event; it is after all, an election of ONE member of parliament. What can the ONE member of parliament do after all? We […]
Who cares about the outcome of the decision of a mere 23,368 people?
On May 26th, 23,368 eligible people in the Hougang constituency, will be casting their votes for someone to represent them in the Singapore Parliament for the next four years. Assuming all of them vote and […]
What’s at stake in the Hougang by-election
Now that the by-elections for Hougang has been called, it is interesting to see how the ruling party is trying to down play this by-election by characterizing it as a “local election, about local stuff“. […]
No, LHL did not listen to me!
What a pleasant surprise to be sent an email by a friend saying: Bro, They heard you very well. Pap call for hougang elections on 26 May LoL LOL indeed. Let’s kick butt here. Let […]
What changed?
It’s just over a year and a day since the Singapore General Elections 2011. Many things have been said about how we are in the “new normal” and that the PAP-led government has seen the […]
ACTA 2.0? Are more secret negotiations underway?
So, is the ACTA now failing and governments secretly doing a version 2? I don’t know and the fact that the 1st version was not known until leaks happened, it is hard to tell if […]
ACTA in Singapore
It is a little annoying to see the same acronym ACTA having two meanings in Singapore. A lot of people have been asking me what it is that I am talking about when I refer […]
What does it take?
I am an organizer of a programming contest that will be using some really cool technologies (HTML5, Python, OpenShift, just to name three). This will be a contest open to anyone but we would need […]
The Value of being Heard and Consulted
Some of you would know that I am employed by a company called Red Hat since September 2003, it will be nine years with the organization. That’s longer than I have been with any of […]
Really hard to fathom the naive logic of a PAP MP
I did not read this February 24th 2012 article written by a PAP MP, Hri Kumar Nair when it was first published. It was pointed out to by friends who asked me what I thought […]
By-Election in Hougang Constituency
The Speaker of Parliament has declared that the seat of Hougang vacant following the explusion of the MP from his party. So, for the first time in many years, we have a situation where a […]
Math 101 for Ministers
MEDIAN is NOT the same as MEAN also known as average. Mean is the average of a set of numbers. Let’s do some Math 101 here: Here’s a list of 10 numbers arranged in descending […]
O Captain, my Captain!
So, the see-sawing of leadership credibility of the SMRT has reached an interchange. The CEO has quit (or euphemistically “to pursue personal interests” – a heck of a time to go do personal stuff. She […]
Good Salary Review Report
I must confess that I was skeptical that the Committee to Review Ministerial Salaries would do a fair and good job. But, after reading their report released today, I am pleasantly surprised to see a […]
Public consultation on proposed Data Protection
I am really glad to see that call for public consultation for the proposed Data Protection act in Singapore. The closing date for submission is 5pm October 25th to the Ministry of Information, Communications and […]
Why bother voting for the president?
Indeed, why bother? The President of the Republic Of Singapore is 95% ceremonial and 5% custodial. Does it matter who then the president is? Does it really matter that for the 5%, the person has […]
Presidential Elections is August 27
As we get closer to August 27, it has been evidently clear to me that this presidential election will be a re-run of the general elections held in May in how the citizens of Singapore […]
I am Singaporean, humble and contented.
Tomorrow, August 9 2011, Singapore celebrates 46 years of independence. The fact that we’ve been able to have 46 years of economic progress going from a relatively impoverished island of about 1.5 million people in […]
Change and Opportunity
Change and evolution are hallmarks of any open source project. Ideas form, code gets cut, repurposed, refined and released (and sometimes thrashed). Much the same thing happens with teams of people. In the True Spirit […]
As the hats get thrown into the ring
So, we now have three persons officially vying for the post of the President of the Republic of Singapore. Mr Tan Kin Lian, Dr Tan Cheng Bok and now Dr Tony Tan (no blog, not […]
Mark of A Civilized Country and Society
It is really disappointing that there has to be an ongoing discussion whether the domestic helpers should have a day off on weekends. What is even more disappointing is to read some of the letters […]
The next Singapore president
With the elections for the next Singapore president due any day now, my decision making process will include the following considerations: That the candidate opposes the death penalty and that he would do something about […]
