1. "MH370 - Malaysia declares all on board MH370 dead, angering relatives AFP Jan 29, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia on Thursday formally declared the passengers and crew of missing flight MH370 to be presumed dead, a step that it said opens the door for compensation payments but which was angrily rejected by distraught relatives.
Malaysian authorities and the airline had until now refrained from drawing firm conclusions about the fate of the plane and its 239 passengers and crew, as many desperate next-of-kin continue to insist it may have landed safely somewhere."
Thought there was the other report that the Aussis and Malaysian governments were calling for a tender for one more search at the seas? This disappearance of the flight MH370 is REALLY unacceptable and gives credence to the 'seemingly outrageous conspiracy theory of Chinese government trying to 'smuggle' some exotic weaponry system and was taken by the Americans!
2. Parliament: There will be no commercial columbarium in Fernvale, says Khaw Boon Wan - AsiaOne Jan 29, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia on Thursday formally declared the passengers and crew of missing flight MH370 to be presumed dead, a step that it said opens the door for compensation payments but which was angrily rejected by distraught relatives.
Malaysian authorities and the airline had until now refrained from drawing firm conclusions about the fate of the plane and its 239 passengers and crew, as many desperate next-of-kin continue to insist it may have landed safely somewhere."
Thought there was the other report that the Aussis and Malaysian governments were calling for a tender for one more search at the seas? This disappearance of the flight MH370 is REALLY unacceptable and gives credence to the 'seemingly outrageous conspiracy theory of Chinese government trying to 'smuggle' some exotic weaponry system and was taken by the Americans!
2. Parliament: There will be no commercial columbarium in Fernvale, says Khaw Boon Wan - AsiaOne Jan 29, 2015
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in Parliament Thursday that there will not be a commercial columbarium at the proposed temple site at Sengkang.
According to Channel NewsAsia, Mr Khaw said the Ministry of National Development is "in discussion" with Eternal Pure Land to "ensure that the land is restored to the original plan of a Chinese temple".
The Straits Times reported that this is the first time that the Government had awarded a place of worship site to a company that was not affiliated to a religious organisation.
Said Mr Khaw: "We now understand that the winning tenderer for this site, Eternal Pure Land, is actually a private company without any religious affiliation. From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site," the minister said. "This is not in line with our plan for the Places of Worship site."
Mr Khaw said a review to improve land tender process for Places of Worship was launched late last year, reported Channel NewsAsia."
While I applaud the Minister to DO the RIGHT THING, it is a bit concerning HOW did the TENDER gets through?
Lessons for me are:
1. mistakes are MADE. Besides correcting the mistakes, it is GOOD and decent to at least EXPLAIN WHY the mistakes were made! So that the PEOPLE can have SOME confidence that the mistakes SHOULD NEVER had happened WIIL NOT happen again!;
2. is this an one-off mistake OR the KPIs of HDB is to be 'profit-oriented' and awarding to the HIGHEST bidder in the FIRST place WAS TOTALLY proper! The 'mistake' was subsequently discovered ONLY WHEN someone pointed that 'the successful bidder intends to build a commercial columbarium' AFTER some of the buyers of the HDB flats around the 'temple' were CHIDED for being disgraceful to insist on 'not-in-my-backyard'!!
THIS DISTINCTION is important! Was it a 'RIGHT decision based on KPIs' that NOW becomes a MISTAKE?;
3. IF the KPIs are WRONG in the first place, it will be great to FIX it immediately. If HDB is only about profit-making, we will have a problem as the state land CAN be valued at 'market price' and hence the 'total cost of a HDB flat' CAN be higher than what is affordable to young Singaporean couples starting a government exhorted 3-kid family and raise them to age 18 years old!
p/s: The 'NIMBYism' is still a VALID concern for the nation to address despite the revelation of this 'out of standard operating procedure' issue of a commercial entity with NO religious affiliation winning a bid for 'Places of Worship' against the 'rules'!!
According to Channel NewsAsia, Mr Khaw said the Ministry of National Development is "in discussion" with Eternal Pure Land to "ensure that the land is restored to the original plan of a Chinese temple".
The Straits Times reported that this is the first time that the Government had awarded a place of worship site to a company that was not affiliated to a religious organisation.
Said Mr Khaw: "We now understand that the winning tenderer for this site, Eternal Pure Land, is actually a private company without any religious affiliation. From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site," the minister said. "This is not in line with our plan for the Places of Worship site."
Mr Khaw said a review to improve land tender process for Places of Worship was launched late last year, reported Channel NewsAsia."
While I applaud the Minister to DO the RIGHT THING, it is a bit concerning HOW did the TENDER gets through?
Lessons for me are:
1. mistakes are MADE. Besides correcting the mistakes, it is GOOD and decent to at least EXPLAIN WHY the mistakes were made! So that the PEOPLE can have SOME confidence that the mistakes SHOULD NEVER had happened WIIL NOT happen again!;
2. is this an one-off mistake OR the KPIs of HDB is to be 'profit-oriented' and awarding to the HIGHEST bidder in the FIRST place WAS TOTALLY proper! The 'mistake' was subsequently discovered ONLY WHEN someone pointed that 'the successful bidder intends to build a commercial columbarium' AFTER some of the buyers of the HDB flats around the 'temple' were CHIDED for being disgraceful to insist on 'not-in-my-backyard'!!
THIS DISTINCTION is important! Was it a 'RIGHT decision based on KPIs' that NOW becomes a MISTAKE?;
3. IF the KPIs are WRONG in the first place, it will be great to FIX it immediately. If HDB is only about profit-making, we will have a problem as the state land CAN be valued at 'market price' and hence the 'total cost of a HDB flat' CAN be higher than what is affordable to young Singaporean couples starting a government exhorted 3-kid family and raise them to age 18 years old!
p/s: The 'NIMBYism' is still a VALID concern for the nation to address despite the revelation of this 'out of standard operating procedure' issue of a commercial entity with NO religious affiliation winning a bid for 'Places of Worship' against the 'rules'!!
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