Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Pavanemusic After hearing these, I am quite afraid of what’s to come for my son. He has dual citizenship (Sg and US). I am intending to send him to Canada where my sister is living before he turns nine. At the moment he is studying here in a govt school. But it seems now, that even so, he may not get to defer his NS! Even though it is stated black and white the rules, they can bend it anytime, anyhow. Frankly speaking, I am not unsupportive of NS and I think it is a good training for young men and to serve the nation. But to force it upon us and leaves us with no alternatives, I think that really is against human rights. I think they should look at this issue on a long term basis. Forcing one to do NS does not equals patriotism. Comment on Why I enjoy reading ST Forum letters - this is one good example :) by rx_seller According to Steven Heffner, pilot of the associates “Kalorama”, the fabulous sell of biological medicines, which are the sum total of existing proteins, is in a trice evolving, giving no touch of slowing down and, tells the British issue of ” elidil cream for acne . This happens be means of the stupendous sum total of sales of drugs such as what is aciphex used for , as cooked through as innovative cytostatic, immunodepressantov and anti-drugs. According to a exchangeing inquire into unflinching “Kalorama”, by 2010 the amount of achievement of these drugs last wishes as reach 87 billion dollars. That last wishes as be credible at bottom due to great requisition and drugged sales in the U.S. and Europe, which currently pretend to be more than 80% of this buy nolvadex online of the retail exchange. Comment on Maybe Singapore should ban this as well… by Oswulf Hi everyone, Thanks for the generous sharing. Sad to say that I am also one of the victim to this time-share scam… since we had already bought it, we might as well use it and enjoy it. Lets be more positive! (^.^) Just like to find out from those who had been paying the maintainance fee… are you entitled for a 1-wk stay in the resort every year? For those who has fully paid for the membership, do you receive any acknowledgement from the developer/HCAP? FYI, ERI no longer markets for HCAP. Any idea how will ERI issue the HCAP membership once the fee is fully paid up?? Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Frederic Chopin hey I have the same problem too… I have left singapore with the age of nine and ever since I have unfortunately not been back yet. I do not have an exit permit but I have obtained the German citizenship. Well, my question is now, whether I will be detained in Singapore and not allowed to leave the country, do you think that they will do this? because I intend to go to Singapore at the end of September,but after all I am still a citizen of another country and NORMALLY they are not allowed to hold me.. right? Comment on Just how far will you go to get your en bloc? by Jwong That, or these guys can apply to be one? Comment on Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party by personal021 wow its very interesting article. Nice post. realy gj thx Comment on Maybe Singapore should ban this as well… by Angie Hi Everyone Thanks for your feedback, I wrote in July when Viva Connect first called and claimed that I was the last batch to qualify for this “buy back scheme”. Since then have been calling weekly and I when I tell them that they have called before, each one of the caller claims that this is their first call and they don’t know each other. This is real crap!!! We must share all our experiences so we are not taken for a ride again. Thanks again for all who have shared, you are greatly appreciated Comment on Just how far will you go to get your en bloc? by Vandalin Maybe loansharks should outsource… Comment on Are you “naughty by nature”-d? by Potluck We were given a complimentary family shoot as well as part of a credit card promotion. We were told to bring our attire instead. The makeover was ok only..it’s really the basic. The shoot was pretty rush, nothing fanciful. When we finished we were ushered to a monitor where they downloaded the photographs. They took like an hour literally showing me how they touch up the pictures which we were obviously not interested. They really hard sell their package telling us they giving us a good discount blah blah..and I kept pressing them how much is the package. Finally they revealed which nearly cost me my dear life, close to $4K. No way am I going to pay $4K for an album. It’s as costly as a wedding album and those are personalised service. Told them not interested can’t afford, they said can pay for instalment via credit card. I told them I want to purchase the ala carte pictures of my kids, they said they don’t sell them. I need to purchase the whole package. In the end I stood firm and asked for my complimentary shots and left. Trust me, the makeover and overall service doesn’t worth the $4K! and you look around the studio, it’s so dodgy. No fixed assets..everything is mobile, which means they can disappear overnight. The photograhper and makeup artist are probably all part-timers! Another place to watch out, Wax in the City. A newly open nail/wax parlour just next the the makeover studio. I recognised one of the partners. Same selling tactic, the pedi/mani package cost $1K over. I went for the trial it was good though but certainly overpriced to sign up for the package. Comment on A taxi driver earns S$9858 per month before expenses; how much are you earning? by CamryLimo mitlancer, good luck to your new endeavour. LTA, I just want to let you know that I still pick and choose my passengers, so what the fark you want to do? Cheapskate Pax, cabbies are not interested to have cheapo pax around. We do not want quantity but rather quality trip. If you think our taxi fare are expensive, my advice is PLEASE use the damn farking public transport as encourage by your heavyweight ball carrying championship PAP and its cohorts. Comment on Indonesia seeks special treatment for Indonesians who are Singapore PR by Capt. O.M.Bugge What is Singapore’s policy on Singaporean serving in Foreign Military Forces? I don’t know if any Singaporean has taken it up, but America is offering citizenship to those who enlist and serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. The next question is; if a Singapore citizen is FORCED to serve in a foreign army, does Singapore approve? Israel is the only country, other then Singapore, who practices this, I believe, but since there are few males with dual Israel/S’pore citizenship I don’t know if it has ever occurred? Also, has anybody heard of any Singapore citizen who is/has served in the French Foreign Legion? Does Singapore approve? FYI two of my sons are serving on active duty in a “foreign” army and has done so for many years. They are regarded as Singaporean by the Singapore Authorities, but they have actually been Norwegian citizen from birth, although born in Singapore. As such they must then be regarded by Singapore as dual citizen, which is not allowed under Singapore Law after the age of 21. How can this be? Does anybody know the answer to any of the above? Other countries may not accept that their citizens serve in a foreign army and may ban their citizens from doing so. We already have problems with Indonesia and, for those with long memories, Mahatir jumped in the fray when a dual Malaysia/Singapore citizen was arrested and forced into SAF some years back. If Singapore intend to attract foreign talents Singapore must start to look hard at the draconian NS Laws and how they are applied to foreign nationals and dual citizens. Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Capt. O.M.Bugge I am the Father of these three Norwegians who are the subject of much of this tread and would like to set a few facts straight. They were born in Singapore in the middle of the “Two is Enough” or “Stop at two”-period (1975-78). As such they had to follow the Father’s citizenship and was included on my passport within weeks after birth to avoid being deported as “illegal aliens”, although the Singapore Constitution gave them the right to a Singapore Citizenship. As they got older they got their own Norwegian Passports, which had to be endorsed with a “Dependent Pass” to allow them to remain in Singapore. A letter from the Norwegian Embassy here confirms the facts.I was running my own small P/L company in Singapore at the time and held an Employment Pass. We left Singapore in 1980 and moved to Norway in order for the boys to learn how to be Norwegians. They arrived there at the tender age of 4 1/2, 3 and 2 years. None of them spoke a word of Norwegian but, thrown into a Kindergarten with all Norwegian kids, they quickly learnt. Within 6 months you could not hear the difference between them and their playmates, but we kept them speaking English at home. In 1990 we moved back to Singapore to give them a grounding in their other identity. They arrived here as Norwegian Citizen and received a Social Visit Pass in their Norwegian Passport, like any other visitor. This was renewed a few times as we applied for places in Government Schools for them. But that stranded as they were not Singapore Citizen and required Student Pass to be accepted. They actually lost a full year of schooling in the process. One day an Immigration Officer asked; “why do you apply for Student Pass for your sons, they are entitled to dual citizenship until 21, which give them the right to stay and study in Singapore until they are 21″ A few minutes later they had a stamp in their Norwegian passport to the affect. Nothing said that they would expose themselves to NS liabilities, or be refused their right to choose. We managed to enrolled two in a private, but government sponsored school here. (Seventh-day Adventist School) The oldest studied for his O-levels as a private candidate. Now we made a big mistake. They were offered Pink ICs, which we accepted on the understanding that they would be able to choose which citizenship to hold and which to renounce at 21 per Singapore Constitution and Citizenship Laws. Little did we know that this would be interpreted as an acceptance of NS liability later. As the first son finished his O-levels, he left to further his study in Norway as a Photo Journalist. While he was there the first letter from MINDEF rolled in. I replied that he was a Norwegian Citizen and was studying in Norway and to please defer him from NS registration until he returned to Singapore, which was granted. At the time it was not clear to me which citizenship he, or his brothers, would chose at 21 as they had been groomed to make up their own mind when the time came. On completion of the one-year course he enrolled in the Norwegian Army to do his National Service. Shortly after we were informed that he had volunteered for service in the Norwegian peace keeping contingent in Bosnia. He has later served in Lebanon, Kosovo and Afghanistan and is due to go back to Afghanistan to train the Afghan Army soon. His youngest brother has followed in his footsteps and are due back in Afghanistan for the fourth time. He has also been in Kosovo twice earlier. It therefore became quite clear that he had made up his mind which citizenship he wanted to retain and which to renounce. As he became 21, he sent in an application to renounce his right to Singapore Citizenship, which was promptly refused by MINDEF. He has not been back in Singapore since and he will be 33 in a few days time (9. Sept) The other brothers also left on completion of O-levels and returned to Norway, as none of them found Singapore to their liking at the time. After all they had grown up with wide open spaces, mountains and the sea, and found Singapore to be too restricted to their liking. As the youngest brother turned 30 earlier this year, they all sent in an application to renounce their right to Singapore Citizenship again, with the same result. MINDEF insisted that they were defaulters from NS and should return to Singapore “to face the music”. I have had numerous meetings with the person in charge of such cases at CMPB, sent letters to the Minister of Defence through our MP at the time and later through a Lawyer. I have also sent letter to the Registrar of Citizen, the Prime Minister (then Goh Chok Tong) and the President (the late Ong Teng Chong) but all letters were replied by the same person at CPMB, with the stock reply, NO. This is NOT first and foremost a question of NS and where, or whether, it should be served. It is a question of the right of a person born with two citizenships to have the right to choose which to keep and which to renounce at the age of 21. Once he/she have made their choice they will have to comply with whatever obligations that goes with it, whether military service or others. To deny anybody this right is against UN Charter of Human Rights, and against the Singapore Constitution. As it stands, our three sons are unable to visit family in Singapore without risking 3 years jail and S$ 10,000 fine, although they have complied with the law and renounced one of their two citizenships as required, and served National Service in the country to which they belong. This may not affect all that many yet, but with the number of mixed marriages in Singapore today it will be more and more of a problem. I have spent most of my life here and has a very clear understanding of the need for a strong defence, but to force foreign nationals to serve in SAF does NOT improve military readiness or moral. We allowed the interview in Straits Times in the hope that we could get a discussion going on this subject, but the article published was angle in such a way the it appeared that our sons had left Singapore “just before they could be called up for NS” and joined the Norwegian Army to obtain Norwegian Citizenship. Nothing could be further from the truth, which raises a question about the agenda of the Journalist, and her Editor. Capt.O.M.Bugge, Proud Father. Comment on Maybe Singapore should ban this as well… by Chez Hi Baharin, You have a good heart Yup, the purpose of this forum is to share our experiences and avoid further “damage”. It’s strange, I asked Chan for some proof too but no reply so far…hmmm….he/she sounds fishy (my apologies if I am wrong). I sure hope he/she would proof me wrong. Anyway, another company just called me claiming that they can help rent my weeks out for very good price. Comment on Are you “naughty by nature”-d? by madwolfie Hmmm… I just went for the “freebie” makeover last night and the whole experience was not that bad albeit a tad uncomfortable. (it was also a third attempt on their end to get me to drop by for a “visit”) The whole session felt like a “mass production” rather than personalised service which I thought that was what a makeover session was supposed to be about. Then again, it IS FREE… When it was time to “reveal” the price package, it was a shocker for me! They did tell me they will give further discounts and try to help me work out a package. I had come “prepared” for I had learnt that there are not that many free meals in this world these days. They tried hard to sell the package to me and was quite nice about it but I was even more adamant to reject their “kidness”, citing that I am not financially able to afford it. They had to give up after a half hour tug-of-war. I have got to say that it was quite an experience and concluded that makeover sessions can be fun but it has to be more personalised IMHO. (^_^) Comment on Of EZ link cards, $100 million investments and my $5 deposit! by Jwong We’d take the local media a lot more seriously if the just left the original article intact and then published a retracting statement of some sort. In fact, for the sake of accountability, the system should be audited and made sure that published articles can not be edited. That might even make them more cautious of what they publish in the first place. News articles can have very wide-reaching consequences, you know? I mean, even people posting on blogs and being brought to court for the content. Dissent, discourse, anyone? Yes, I laugh at that too. But it’s time we held the media accountable for the stuff they publish as well, and not allow them to cover everything up. This is not the first case of media censorship we’ve seen being exercised here. Do they really expect people not to notice? Or in the words of my highly enlightened colleague, “What, they think we stupid, ah?” Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Singapore Kopitiam For more detailed discussions on these important topics, see: Singapore Kopitiam http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages/ Comment on Indonesia seeks special treatment for Indonesians who are Singapore PR by Filia Suryanti Chin Chye Lah, I’d suggest that you use your brain before commenting. Without Indonesian PRs here, do you think the value of your properties will go up? And without them, who will support the retail and private medical economies of Singapore? And what “free lunch” are you talking about? PRs who stay and work in Singapore pay full taxes! Staying here is not exactly a free lunch dude! Chin Chye Lah wrote: “Simple. Ask all these NS eligible Indonesian PRs to return to Indonesia permanently and this would definitely reduce the risk. Of course, Singapore should also revoke the PR status of these Indonesians. As the government always said, there is no free lunch.” Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Mick Singapore is but a small red dot vs the whole wide world. Nothing much will be missed if you don’t ever set foot here again. Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Uniquely Singapore Another uniquely Singaporean quality. Blame this state of affairs on Singaporeans who made a big hoo-ha when Melvyn Tan was fined when he returned to S’pore for a concert performance. Because of the protests from S’porean men who felt that a fine was too “cheap” for missing NS and reservists duty, Teo Chee Hean tightened up the rules and now no one gets disruption for NS unless they are Singapore govt scholars like PM’s son…. not even a 3 mth deferment to take an exam in SIM. My son left SG at 9 yrs. I made a mistake of extending his Singapore passport. He’s now taken NZ citizenship but is not allowed NS deferment to 21 because he extended his passport after age 10. He has no Singapore IC , not been to Singapore school. But what to do ? Let’s move on ….. Comment on Of EZ link cards, $100 million investments and my $5 deposit! by Singapore Kopitiam For more detailed discussions on these important topics, see: Singapore Kopitiam http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages/ Comment on Of EZ link cards, $100 million investments and my $5 deposit! by User U can also see http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=170269&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20#2205884 the person also captured, wanted… haha Comment on Of EZ link cards, $100 million investments and my $5 deposit! by reeneho Well, MyPaper this morning said that the trialists were pre-selected and when they go to the transitlink office to top-up their card between 29/8 & 12/9, they’ll be invited to try out the new card. Quoted: LTA已選出那些經常使用，並純粹只用ez-link卡乘搭巴士與地鐵的成人乘客。從本月星期五到下月12日之間，這些乘客如果到Transitlink售票處為ez-link卡添值。就會被邀請參與測試計劃。 Didn’t know that the same media company can have 2 vastly different reports.. XD Comment on Of dual citizenship, national service, exemptions and your CPF money by Richard Lewis Regarding the story of the three Norwegians: My son, now 14.5 years old holds dual Singapore / British nationality. He was born in the UK, has lived all his life in the UK and has only spend a total of perhaps 4 weeks in Singapore in his who life on short trips with family. His application to delay NS pending renounciation of citizenship at age 21 has recently been turned down, and he has been advised to travel to Singapore without delay (and disrupt his schooling) so that his NS offences (he has no exit permit currently as we have only just become aware of the rule changes in 2006) may be corrected. This I think beats the Nowegian story for a strange decision. Regards Richard Lewis Comment on Ban lifted; now you can talk all you want… almost by joehancl “Ban lifted; now you can talk all you want… almost” That will be the day, my friend. He is just blowing in the wind with DADDY watching over him. I bet you when the wind Blows strong his breath will be taken away. Comment on Ban lifted; now you can talk all you want… almost by Singapore Kopitiam For more detailed discussions on these important topics, see: Singapore Kopitiam http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages/ Comment on Nokia Singapore served with seizure notice by Serene Take a look at my experience. The nightmare is still ongoing and everything sucks. Comment on Maybe Singapore should ban this as well… by Paradigm Hi all, Am a victime of Timeshare also. Having contract with ERI. Can i know what you all mean by Maintenance fee? Are you all saying that after paying the membership fee fully, you still have to pay maintenance fee every yr even you did nothing? Or are you all implying of the monthly installment you had to pay for your membership fee? I am still paying my monthly membership fee. Feel like terminating. Anyone from ERI contact can advise? Comment on Sexing up the game by Jwong Bolt wasn’t wearing a skirt. How about Jordan? Tyson? Woods? Last I recall, golf was boring. Now parents are sending their kids for golf lessons. Whatever happened to bringing interest to your sport with a captivating athlete? No no no, that won’t work, they just need to look good. Man, what has the world come to? Wearing skirts to up the appeal of a sport? What happens when all sports take to this idea and every sport has their ladies in skirts? What then, since all sports will be equal. What do you do then to up your sport’s appeal? Dress up your athletes in bikinis? There’ll come a day when all female athletes will wear bikinis, and men in Speedos, irregardless of sports. Then you’ll have to set your sport apart from all the bikini-touting sports around. What do you do then? *Shudders thinking about female bodybuilders* Comment on PHP User Group brunch (the event-after) - Part 2 by chat bi bondage lesbian lesbian milfs chat bi shower lesbian chat bi Comment on Are you “naughty by nature”-d? by jaclyn I think it’s a good experience to make one look and feel good. After all, the Sales Consultant is just doing his/her job to promote their packages. He/she does not necessarily have to buy a package. Just enjoy the whole experience just for the fun of it!