According to the latest report by the Singapore department of Statistics (SingStat), the Median household income in Singapore in 2014 was $8,290, a 5.3% increase from the year before.

In 2013, the Median household income was $7,879. After taking into account inflation which was 1.2% last year, the real income growth was about 4.1%.

When dividing up the stats in terms of income per member of the household, the stats were $2,380 in 2014 compared to $2,247 in 2013, a Real increase of 4.7%.

The report from the government's statistics arm found that overall, the resident households in Singapore received up to an average $3,370 per household member in government payouts from various schemes in 2014, slightly lower than in 2013 when $3,650 was handed out.

We all know what will happen if things cock-up at WP managed events and town councils.

Just like the ceiling gate in 2013, the PAP made use of English press and Chinese vernacular press to launch an artillery barrage on WP.Those medium were relatively muted over the losses of Bukit Panjang Town Council sinking fund and AIM matter.

WP had mismanaged its accounts. If WP knew the Auditor-General set their eyes on them, then they should massage their account books to reduce the discrepancies. Did they? And telling the world that no one wants to work for you is a non-answer to the unanswered questions of your position and dubious relationship with FMSS. Am I going to defend WP? The issues are simply too glaring. What happened to SAF’s golden rule?

Despite WP’s shortcomings, I believe they should have the luxury of using the mainstream media to explain themselves. But will they be given the opportunity?

A huge crowd was seen at Jurong East MRT Station this morning as a train fault at the station disrupted several train services from Lakeside to Clementi.

The eastbound trains toward Pasir Ris were stopped and commuters were told to take bus bridging services. 

They were also told to expect about an extra 20mins travel time. 

SMRT updated the public through social media at 11:40am that train services had resumed. 

The problems started shortly before 11:30am when the company said "Due to a train fault at Jurong East, there will be 20-min delay from Joo Koon to Jurong East on the East-bound line towards Pasir Ris."

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board has announced that they will not be changing any of their interest rates.

Savings in the Ordinary Account will continue to receive 2.5% and the Housing Board mortgage rate will stay at 2.6%. These are the interest rates that will remain for the three months until June.

Similarly, interest rates on the Medisave and Special accounts will stay at the current 4% for the next quarter. This comes after the quarterly review of interest rates where it is calculated to be either the average of bank's interest rates or the legislated minimum rate.

Since the calculated average banks' interest rates was only 0.21%, the OA account interest will remain at 2.5% the HDB loan rate is always 0.1% above the OA interest rate.

An additional 1% interest will still apply to the first $60,000 in members' combined balances where up to $20,000 can come from the OA.

The Certificate of Entitlement premiums closed mostly lower with all categories except Cat D seeing a drop in prices.

Category A cars (those below 1600cc and less than 130bhp horsepower), now stands at $57,199, down from $62,002 in the last bidding exercise.

Category B cars (larger than 1600cc and 130bhp horsepower), closed at $66,751. Last bidding exercise, Cat B was $70,890. 

Open Category COEs fell to $67,901 from $71,921. Commercial vehicles fell from $53,202 to $52,101.

Motorcycle COEs continued to increase from $5,504 to $5,800, rising further from the last bidding exercise when Motorcycle COEs broke the $5k mark for the first time.

Related:

Price of Motorcycle COEs hit Record High of $5,504

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was in good spirits after his surgery on Monday to remove a cancerous prostate.

President Tony Tan Keng Yam had visited PM Lee and his wife on Tuesday and he shared that "We’re happy that the operation went well. PM was in good spirits and looking forward to being discharged. We hope that he will have a good rest before resuming his normal duties," he wrote.

PM Lee also "attended" a cabinet meeting by video link and received well wishes from other cabinet ministers.

In fact, the ministers even had time for a 'wefie':

The Singapore Department of Statistics on Key Household Income Trends 2014 has reported that the median household income in 2014 was $8,290, a 5.3% increase from the last year.

Read more:Government: Median Household Income in Singapore is $8,290

Interestingly, another thing that the report revealed was that there was a sharp increase in the number of unemployed households with 13% more in 2014 compared to the year before.

Income inequality also increased slightly from 0.463 in 2013 to 0.464 in 2014.

The amount of government transfers to the poor was also significantly lower in 2014 compared to 2013 meaning the gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, measured after government transfers was 0.412. The year before, it was 0.409.

Interestingly, these negative statistics were not reported in the mainstream media which only highlighted the increased median household incomes.

Cuddles Cat Cafe, which was recently in the news for the alleged ill treatment of their cats and the subsequent death of up to 8 of their resident cats, has reportedly re-opened with a new concept.

The new cafe is going to be rebranded as Santa's Igloo and it will be an ice-cream buffet and bean bag movie cafe.

The cafe will also feature the Virtual Reality Headset, Occulus Rift. The new cafe will have nothing to do with cats.

It is understood that the shop is still under the same management despite earlier advertisements that it was selling the business away. The shop located in *SCAPE mall hopes that in future, they can re-introduce the cat concept to the cafe however currently they do not possess the license to do so.

In December last year, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) had not renewed the cafe's license to work with cats. However, Mr Jonathan Tan who is behind the cafe, said that he is trying to renew the license.

Foreign Workers have been seen sleeping outside the Lim Chee Guan Bak Kwa stall at New Bridge Road and netizens have quickly condemned the exploitation of the foreign workers.

It is understood that the workers were sleeping outside the Lim Chee Guan stall as they were asked to queue up to buy the bak kwa for their employers.

The photo uploaded online by netizen Anson Leong, at 2:42am on Monday morning showed 7 Indian workers sleeping outside the Lim Chee Guan stall at New Bridge Road.

The photo has since been picked up by other Facebook pages and shared widely online.

This is not the first time that such an incident has been seen, in fact, a similar incident was brought to light in 2012 but according to the bosses at Lim Chee Guan, it has been going on for many years. 

When those queuing at the store on Tuesday morning were interviewed, three foreign workers explained that they were asked to queue there by their employers. The employers appear to be buying in bulk as the workers were instructed to buy about 20kg each. 

One of the Editors who is involved in running The Real Singapore has been called up for Investigation by the Police along with about 4 others in relation to an article about the Thaipusam Incident which was an article compiled based on various witness accounts. 

​Some time in the future, we will be publishing a full story and explain clearly everything that we can share. This may also include how we work and who is behind the website but currently, as investigations are ongoing, such a full response would be inappropriate.

In fact, there appears to already be a bit of misinformation as very little information has actually been shared with the media. 

This lack of information has resulted in some misleading articles being published in the mainstream media in regard to this issue including a Channel News Asia article which suggested that the arrest (on 6th Feb) was made after an MHA statement warning the public about making comments about the Thaipusam Incident (statement made on 14 Feb):

(MHA: We'll Take Firm Action Against People Spreading Rumours about the Thaipusam Incident)

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been discharged from hospital and is going home today just 2 days after his prostate cancer surgery.

In a facebook post, PM Lee said that he just met his doctor on Wednesday morning and he had been told that he could go home for Chinese New Year.

PM Lee seems to be recovering well and was reportedly in good spirits following his surgery.

He dropped in on a cabinet meeting yesterday and was wished well by his colleagues. 

President Tony Tan and his wife also visited Mr Lee in hospital on Tuesday.

PM Lee has been given 1 week medical leave which is considered short for his surgery but his doctor said that it should be enough as long as he doesn't exert himself too much.

ESM Goh Chock Tong said PM Lee's diagnosis and successful surgery for prostate cancer should be a reminder to always "plan for uncertainty".

He explained that potential leaders should rise to the forefront.

He had commented that PM Lee and his own prostate cancer run-ins show the "unpredictability" of life. 

"Hence, all the more reasons to plan for uncertainty. I hope competent men and women of integrity will step forward to carry Singapore into the future. We have achieved much but much more can be achieved. Don't drop the ball, Singapore."

It seems that former Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong is suggesting that we need to get future leaders lined up in case the current leaders suddenly die.

TRS Statement: The Real Singapore Under Investigation for Sedition

UPDATE

We have read the "report" published by TNP on our website and those who are apparently behind The Real Singapore. 

Much of the information is false and several points are also defamatory. From what we understand, affected parties are seeking legal advice about whether it is appropriate to take action against TNP for these false and defamatory statements. 

We understand that no formal charges have been made at this time and those involved in investigations, many of whom are not actually even involved in our website at all, are cooperating with Police to clear this up as soon as possible.

Only one editor is actually involved in investigations and all others who have been "dug up" by TNP, from unverified and untruthful internet sources, are actually innocent family and friends or witnesses. 

Three people, 2 men and 1 woman were sentenced to jail for their part in the robbery of a Bangladeshi worker in Singapore.

Goh Soon Kim, 30, was sentenced to 4 years in jail ad 12 strokes of the cane for several charges including the robbery as well as the theft of cellphones, and three other charges.

The other two, Hoo Wee Yong, 27, and Nur Hartini Abdul Rahim, 26, were given 3 years in jail with Hoo getting 12 strokes of the cane as well. 

The three had been with a group of 5 when they robbed the Bangladeshi worker.

The incident happened on a backlane of Geylang Road at about 6am on July 31, 2014.

The victim, Mr Shohedul Altaf Shikder, 33,  had chanced upon an illegal gambling den shortly after midnight that day and joined in. ​

Chinese New Year Message 2015

“Our Family”

Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate with our families. It is a time to reflect on the blessings of having a family – to thank our elders for what they have done for us, to appreciate our spouses, to shower love on our children. It is a time to enjoy the simple goodness of family.

So even if we may be busy, travelling or living in far flung lands, unable to come together physically for the New Year reunion, let us make the effort to connect with one another. On this most important festival in the lunar calendar, let us pause and remind ourselves of what truly matters in life, of what it means to belong to a family.

The Government is doing all it can to help people build strong families. We are encouraging couples to have more children. The Marriage and Parenthood Package will support them, as will more affordable childcare and pre-schools. This year, we look forward to celebrating the birth of many Jubilee babies. We are encouraging three-generation families to stay close-knit, and making it easier for young couples setting up home to live close to their parents, through targeted housing grants. The Pioneer Generation Package, Silver Support and MediShield Life will lighten the burden on families taking care of elderly parents.

Beyond our immediate family and relatives, we should also strengthen our larger national family. Singaporeans need to take care of one another, and especially of fellow citizens who are vulnerable or less fortunate. We are strengthening our social safety nets. We have made it easier for low-income families to own their homes, introduced MediShield Life to give more protection against large hospital bills, reviewed CPF Life to help families better prepare for retirement, and expanded Workfare to support low-income workers and their families. The state and the community are bearing more risk on behalf of individuals, to give those who need help more peace of mind. We are all in this together.

The Straits Times published a strange report on their website about a "clone of PM Lee" being discharged from hospital.

The report was published at 6:22am on Feb 19th and it was about PM Lee being discharged from hospital.

Curiously, the title was "Clone of PM Lee Discharged from Hospital":

Interestingly, despite the article being put up at 6:22am, it was still available on the ST website at about 1pm. 

Netizen Kirsten Han noticed the mistake and screenshot it and uploaded it online.

Most people found it very amusing and wondered how such a mistake could have been made:

According to the Straits Times news report “Budgets that built a nation” (Feb 7) – “In 1972, Mr Hon Sui Sen allocated $10 million to develop Sentosa as a tourist attraction.

In 1979, Mr Goh Chok Tong, standing in to deliver the Budget for Mr Hon, gave $393 million to develop Changi Airport and roads.”

CPF invested by Temasek

Since the Government had unfettered use of our CPF funds in the early years following our independence – much of such infrastructure development which were subsequently transferred to Temasek were derived from our CPF.

But, Temasek’s 16 per cent per annum returns in the last 40 years were not shared with CPF members.

Highest Budget surplus per capita in the world

The chart shows that we had four years of overall Budget deficits and 14 years of Budget surpluses, from 1997 to 2014.

The highest deficit was less than $3 billion, and the highest surplus was almost $8 billion.

Why is it that the 2-page article makes no mention of the Government’s “cash Budget surplus” (using IMF fiscal reporting guidelines) reported in the Department of Statistics’s Monthly Digest of Statistics?

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Grace Fu, noted that the slightly increased birth and marriage rates last year were a positive sign but more needed to be done to improve Singapore's fertility rate and encourage family life.

See: Total Fertility Rate, Marriage Rates Increased in 2014

Minister Fu, who looks after population issues, explained that there was still more to do.

She pointed out that Singapore already has good marriage and parenthood packages available to incentivise marriages but it is not yet holistic or supportive enough.

One of the biggest issues she pointed out was that many Singaporeans are career-minded and as a society, we still focus on productivity in the workplace. She said that there weren't enough flexible work arrangements making it hard for people to start families.

Miss Fu suggested that more should be done to get companies on board with flexi-work. "Not just in terms of leave but also work arrangements and also development strategies... sometimes they do not cater sufficiently for women, who from time to time, may have to take things a bit slower. If companies are able to take a more enlightened approach to talent development, identification and retention, I think that will put women at ease about having children and not see these two as either-or choices."

Another area that Ms Fu noted could help encourage family life included creating better three-generational arrangements. For example, better housing arrangements and family care leave instead of just maternity or paternity leave.

However, despite calling for more to be done, Ms Fu appears to still have a business focus in mind as she also said that "I think we can make some provision but as to what is the specific form, I think we have to study a bit closer," she said. "We have to be mindful that our companies are going through a difficult period in trying to restructure and adjust to the workforce growth rate. So in that sense, they need time to adjust and we have to move carefully."

The Chinese papers reported that 100 residents from Aljunied GRC had signed a petition calling on the WP town council to be accountable to them, the residents of the town council. However, it turns out that the residents aren't even from Aljunied and are actually from the neighbouring PAP controlled Marine Parade GRC.

The petition had raised that it was concerning that Syliva Lim and Low Thia Khiang had not answered to parliament about the AGO report.

It had also called on the WP town council to show the residents that their funds had not been misused.

According to the Chinese Paper, the petition was signed by 100 residents from Serangoon Avenue 1 and Serangoon Avenue 2:

According to constituency maps of the 2011 boundaries, these two roads actually belong in Marine Parade GRC, a PAP ward lead by Goh Chok Tong.

Blue = Aljunied GRC; White = Marine Parade GRC.
Map from: http://sgmaps.blogspot.sg/p/electoral-map.html

Even the Community Club located on Serangoon Avenue 2 is under Marine Parade GRC:

Almost half of total flats built in 2013 and 2014 are private condominium units.

Public housing 44,488 (58%) 

Private condominium 31,644 (42%)

Source.

Public housing includes Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and Executive Condominium (EC) flats, both of which are sold at a premium price because they are built by private developers. 

So it is possible that BTO flats may even be less that half of the total flat supply. Because BTO flat supply is limited, so they put in place BTO eligibility requirements. For those who exceeded the income ceiling for BTO flats, forking out more than half a million dollars for DBSS and EC (public housing by the way) is the remaining option, or go for private property.