Central Business District Petrol Stations Peter Chan, Good Morning YesterdayIn 1971, the Ministry of National Development met officials from the major oil companies in Singapore to announce a major decision. All petrol stations within the Central Business District (CBD) were to be phased out over a period of 30 years, with some having to quit immediately.Tweet Give Us HDB Flats at cost, not 30 Years Mortgage Enslavement! Goh Meng Seng, Singapore AlternativesWe just want an honest price from HDB for our young Singaporean couples, at least a COST PRICE of HDB for our young in return for the enormous power that we have given the PAP government in Land Acquisition Act which it has used to acquired huge land stock at dirt cheap prices.at+cost,+not+30+Years+Mortgage+Enslavement!+http://myapplemenu.com/a?K2Ogr000000-de4a7042b72eb63f">Tweet Pay-TV Changes: A New Distortion? Siew Kum Hong, TodayThe questions now are whether the proposed solution will work, and whether it introduces new distortions or problems.The author asserted that EPL is a 'critical content'. I disagree. Football entertainment is simply just that: entertainment. We shouldn't simply add layers and layers of regulations just to please football entertainment fans and gamblers. Remember: we as taxpayers have to pay for all these regulations, including the salary of that civil servant sitting inside MITA building watching television to ensure exclusive content are carried on competing operators with all the branding and logos intact.Tweet Developing World Has Launched 'Arms Race': Think-tank AFPDeveloping countries have embarked on a dangerous "arms race" with huge sums ploughed into combat aircraft in unstable parts of the world in the past five years, a top defence think-tank has said.South East Asia saw a dramatic increase between 2005 and 2009 with Malaysia ramping up its arms imports by 722 percent, Singapore 146 percent and Indonesia 84 percent. The increase in arms imports to Singapore made the island country the first member of ASEAN to make SIPRI's list of top 10 biggest arms importers since the end of the Vietnam war, giving the nation seventh place overall.Tweet Alternative Flat-booking System? Esther Ng, TodayIf about half the applicants offered a Built-To-Order flat reject it, is there something wrong with the system? Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak thinks a longer list of flats could be offered to home seekers, which they could bid or ballot for. That means paying more for a choice flat.Tweet The Strange History Of Productivity In Singapore Mr Wang Says SoThe policy had morphed, from a small-scale initiative to recruit highly-skilled foreigners, to a huge initiative to recruit any foreigner who would put his hand up. PM Lee wanted to admit, and yet not admit, that the policy had changed.Tweet Sexual Harrassment From A Superior Is Disgusting James Lam, TodayIf what the women said is true regarding Jack Neo's behaviour, then all right-minded people should censure him. Sexual harassment in the work place is bad enough, but coming from an employer or immediate superior is disgusting.Tweet 海南鸡饭 香飘东京 符祝慧, 联合早报十年前，要在日本吃一道正宗的新加坡菜不容易。记得，当时只有一家称为“梦饭”的小馆子卖海南鸡饭。历经十载，东京市内已能找到12家新加坡餐馆。这一阵子，属繁华区的惠比寿车站周围，连开三家海南鸡饭店，日本有了首个海南鸡饭激战区。Tweet 新加坡红灯区为何与中国人联系紧密？ 时光飞船的个人空间在新加坡生活的中国人没有一百万，也有几十万，如果想深入探讨一下这个社群的相关问题，恐怕很难回避红灯区这一话题。不仅因为红灯区里有许多中国小姐和陪读妈妈（陪伴孩子来读书的中年妈妈），也因为红灯区附近居住了大量来新加坡工作学习的人（房租便宜），还有这里的餐饮业吸引了大量的中国人前来消费，最近一些年许多中国人在这里当上了老板，开店赚钱。Tweet Time For Someone New To Drive Singapore The Online CitizenTweet PAP Nervous About New Media, Introduces "Guidelines" John Tan, Singapore Democrat PartyThe proposed changes to the election rules announced in Parliament yesterday are just another ploy by the PAP to instill fear in the people. As far as the Internet is concerned, citizens should be free to campaign for whichever party and candidate they choose.Tweet 教育部降低华文B门槛 学生欢迎学者反应不一 林诗慧 萧洁盈, 联合早报教育部降低选修华文B的门槛，受访学生大都表示欢迎，一些学者则对这调整有所保留。Tweet Who Do You Think You Are? Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenuYay! MDA have effectively banned exclusivity in the pay television market. I can now watch whatever I want on whichever operator I choose.Not really.Why? SingTel cannot sign any contract with the content owner that forbid StarHub from showing the same content.I own the content. I have the leverage. I decide how I want my content to be shown.But it's the law, man. You want to do business here, you have to obey our laws.Fine. I'll structured my licensing fees such that the first operator, if it so chooses to pay a larger fee, will get -- let's just call it first-comer-privilege -- a promise from me that the licensing fee for subsequent operators will be so expensive that no second operator will be able to pay and carry my content.Oooh ooh ooh, loophole. MDA can simply 'fine-tune' the law that forbids content owner from charging different prices and different terms to different pay TV operators.You do realize that this will effectively wipe out any new entrants and small players in the pay-TV market, right?So be it. You can't dictate the terms, you powerful content-owner, if you want to do business here in Singapore.Fine. I'll just treat the entire Singapore's pay television market as one operator since it doesn't matter who I talk to anymore, and I'll just raise my prices to take account into that. I'll treat all pricing negotiation effectively as though you are licensing my content exclusively.You can't do that! We'll just not pay for your content. You'll lose our market.Fine. You are just a tiny red dot with a tiny population. I'll rather have my lawyers spent their negotiation time with the Chinese government.We'll grow our population by importing foreign talents so that you can't ignore us. 6.5 billion? 10 billion? 20 billion? No problem!Have you heard of the internet? We'll start selling our content exclusively on the internet. You want to be first country in the world to ban my website? And I'll charge whatever I want, without any middleman in your country to get any part of my revenue....Honestly, from where I am sitting, this whole pay-tv content-sharing policy from MDA looks drafted by a bunch of technocrats with no real-world experience, and no real vision on where the whole market is going. And when SingTel realizes it can't use exclusivity as a loss-leader, consumers will have to continue to pay hefty prices for entertainment from big name content owners.Tweet Singapore Bling: Is The City-State Ready To Party? Simon Calder, IndependentIf you can create a gambler's paradise amid the Mojave Desert, the thinking goes, you can create a casino amid a straitlaced state. Move over, Vegas; viva Sentosa.Tweet Singapore, The Misunderstood Child Silent EloquenceThe next time someone talks to me about Singapore, I just wish they would talk about not just the concrete buildings or the super clean streets or the democracy that doesn’t seem to be, but something less superficial.Tweet Netizens Can Self-regulate Jeremy Au Yong, Straits TimesThe internet community's reaction to the hoax by former Singaporean lawyer Gopalan Nair last weekend has been a good example of how it can self-regulate.Acting minister for information, communications and the arts Lui Tuck Yew yesterday praised local netizens for being sceptical about the blog post claiming that minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew had suffered a heart attack.Tweet Licence To Fish Grace Chua, Straits TimesLeisure anglers may soon have to pay for a licence before they can drop their line and bait into Singapore waters.Tweet HDB To Repossess 3 Flats Yeo Shang Long, Straits TimesIn a clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties.Tweet Some Singaporeans Are Real Bastards. Singaporean SkepticWatching the way Singaporeans treat their maids made me think that some Singaporeans are real bastards. Even the maid agency is crazy.Tweet Singaporeans Dreaming The Online CitizenSelective vision, perhaps? That’s understandable. As far as the Straits Times are concerned, we’ve well on our way riding off into a glorious Gattaca-esque sunset and living meritocratically ever after.Tweet The Opposition On Electoral Changes Zul Othman, TodaySeveral opposition parties without a current presence in Parliament have expressed concern over some of the proposed rule changes on Internet elections advertising, which were tabled in Parliament on Thursday.Tweet Pushed To The Side(walk) Richard Hartung, TodayClutter-free sidewalks for pedestrians seem to be a disappearing sight in many parts of Singapore.Tweet COE: Another Solution That May Make More Money, But May Not Solve The Problem? Leong Sze Hian, The Online CitizenNormally, most countries have to spend money to solve a problem, but in Singapore, too often, the solution makes more money instead, and the problem never seems to go away!Tweet Changes In Rules For Pay-TV Services Could Help Improve Business Climate For SingTel, Starhub Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsiaThe changes in rules for pay-TV services in Singapore could help improve the business climate for SingTel and StarHub. That's according to industry-watchers speaking to Channel NewsAsia.Tweet Licence Fees To Sell Cigarettes Could Increase In Sept Ng Lian Cheong & Evelyn Choo, Channel NewsAsiaIn an effort to discourage retailers from selling cigarettes, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) could increase retail licence fees for tobacco by September.Tweet No Evidence That MediaCorp Engages In Anti-competitive Behaviour: MICA Channel NewsAsiaSingapore's Information, Communications and the Arts Ministry said there's no evidence MediaCorp has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour that warrants functional separation of its business units. The acting minister in charge was responding to Nominated MP Calvin Cheng's suggestion to separate MediaCorp's broadcast and production functions to allow for competition.Tweet iPad Pre-Orders Are Now Live! Alexander Vaughn, App AdviceTweet ICA Stops Accepting Walk-in Customers For Passport Services Channel NewsAsiaThe Immigration & Checkpoints Authority stopped accepting walk-in customers for passport services at 3.40pm on Friday. ICA said it was experiencing an overcrowding situation at its Passport Section due to overwhelming demand for ICA passport services.Tweet Don't Be A Western Wannabe Straits TimesIn a hard-hitting speech in Parliament on Friday, NMP Calvin Cheng did not mince his words, asserting that Singapore is the 'only country in Asia with such an overwhelming hang-up with what is Western,' based on his own observations and experience in the media, entertainment and media scene.Tweet DBS Has Mobile Banking Plans. Seriously. Jimmy Yap, iMerlionWe're glad that DBS finally noticed that there are a few people in Singapore have iPhones and that these people would like to do online banking on their phones.Tweet