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Former Deputy Prime Minister and People's Action Party (PAP) Chairman Toh Chin Chye died Friday morning, aged 90.
Together with Old Guard Leaders Lee Kuan Yew, S Rajaratnam and Goh Keng Swee, Dr Toh had helped lay the foundation for future generations of Singaporeans.
In November 1954, the PAP was formed with Dr Toh as its Founding Chairman.
Dr Toh served as Deputy Prime Minister till 1968 and later as Minister for Science and Technology as well as Health Minister. He left the Cabinet in 1981 to make way for younger ministers as part of the political renewal process.
All details in our special report.
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Parliament has voted after a three-day debate to accept the revisions to political pay as outlined in a report by a review committee.
In summing up the debate on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean noted that the WP and SPP members agreed with the government on the principles guiding the salary system and were not far in their final numbers on pay despite different computations. He was also heartened by the thoughtful debate on the motion moved on Monday.
On Tuesday, the debate saw the Prime Minister shedding light on his worries and options in finding good men and women for a sound government. In his speech, Mr Lee Hsien Loong said it is vital to get a pay system which works for Singapore.
The debate comes a week after the first 2012 sitting of Parliament on 9 January which saw a focus on the December disruptions of the MRT train services with a Ministerial Statement being made by the Transport Minister in response to questions raised by MPs.
All the news and updates in our special report. |
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It was a year of change and political upheaval, a year of sad goodbyes and joyous celebrating, and a year where Mother Nature showed her powerful wrath.
A look back on the year 2011 in pictures.
All the news and updates in our special report. |
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After 12 days of competition, Singapore has ended the SEA Games 2011 campaign with a haul of 42 gold, 45 silver and 73 bronze medals.
The Singapore swimming team continued to be the dominant force in the region, as they won a record 17 gold medals, seven of them coming from swim queen Tao Li.
The table tennis team also dominated the SEA Games, sweeping all five gold medals on offer at the games. Feng Tianwei emerged as the women's singles champion while Gao Ning won the men's competition.
There were also a number of firsts for Singapore at the games. Shuttler Fu Mingtian won Singapore's first-ever SEA Games gold in the women's singles badminton competition. Bridge and roller sports, which made their SEA Games debut this year, also contributed to Singapore's medal haul with nine medals each.
All the news and updates in our special report. |
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Opening of The First Session of Singapore's 12th Parliament
The 12th Parliament has been opened by President Tony Tan Keng Yam who noted in his inaugural address that the diverse views and vigorous debates in the House is positive for Singapore but all sides must take a long-term, national perspective.
He also called for unity, reminding Singapore of the need to prevent a new fault line from forming between local-born Singaporeans and recent immigrants, asking Singaporeans to do their part and work with one another to shape the nation's future.
Earlier in the day, the 90 Members of Parliament took their oaths of allegiance and elected lawyer and MP for Punggol East, Michael Palmer as the 8th Speaker of the House.
All the details in our special report. |
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National Day 2011
Delivering his National Day Rally speech on Sunday evening, PM Lee Hsien Loong said the government needs to get both its politics and policies right - by addressing the stresses and strains of the population, while keeping track and responding to external challenges.
He said this is the way to engage Singaporeans and build the country together. He added the thrust of the government's policies would be a Singaporean-first approach, even as the country stays open to the world.
In taking care of Singaporeans first, Mr Lee announced new initiatives in three areas - housing, education, and jobs.
The initiatives include raising the income ceiling for couples to buy new flats to S$10,000, and increasing the number of university places for local students by 2,000 in 4 years.
Addressing concerns that foreigners are taking away jobs from Singaporeans, Mr Lee said he will tighten rules on the employment of mid-range foreign workers.
All the details in our special report. |
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Presidential Election
Dr Tony Tan won 35.2 per cent of the total votes cast for Presidential Election 2011 to become the 7th President of Singapore.
It was a hotly contested election which saw four candidates coming forward for the first time.
At the polls on August 27th, Dr Tan Cheng Bock took 34.85 per cent of the votes, Mr Tan Jee Say received 25.04 per cent and Mr Tan Kin Lian had 4.91 per cent.
These figures include the overseas votes cast for this election.
The Elections Department says the total number of votes cast is some 2.156 million.
This is 94.80 per cent of the registered electors for this election.
Follow the results, news reports, videos and photos of the entire campaign period.
All the details in our special report. |
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Singapore Votes 2011
The PAP is returned to power in the 2011 General Election. Follow the results, news reports, videos and photos of the entire campaign period.
All the details in our special report. |
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Singapore Grand Prix 2011
At the world's first and only night race,Sebastian Vettel maintained his scintillating form to take the Singapore race bringing him closer to being crowned the youngest ever double world champion in Formula One.
The German took on the 5.073km-long street circuit set against the spectacular city skyline to win the 61-lap night race at the Marina Bay street circuit by a controlled 1.7 seconds.
Briton Jenson Button finished second in his McLaren to keep the title race just about alive with five races remaining. Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished third.
All the details in our special report. |
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Royal Wedding
On April 29, a romance that began at St. Andrews University in Scotland nearly eight years ago was celebrated in style at London's Westminster Abbey as millions across the globe witnessed Britain's biggest royal wedding in almost 30 years.
Billed as the wedding of the year, the eagerly-awaited royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton has captured the hearts and minds of many Britons and also brought back the magic of the royal wedding.
Street parties, a particular British tradition for centuries, were held across the country to celebrate this joyous occasion while thousands turned up in numbers to follow the royal wedding route as the royal carriage makes its way across some of London's most iconic landmarks.
All the details in our special report. |
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Obituary: Kwa Geok Choo
A celebration of the life of Mdm Kwa Geok Choo was how the Lee family chose to say goodbye to the Prime Minister's mother and wife of MM Lee Kuan Yew.
The funeral of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew (Mdm Kwa Geok Choo) took place late Wednesday in a private family ceremony at Mandai crematorium.
The cortege made its final journey from Sri Temasek on a ceremonial gun carriage, an honour the Government decided to accord Mrs Lee in recognition of her exceptional and unique contributions to Singapore for more than five decades, beginning before Singapore became independent.
Mrs Lee died on Saturday and thousands of people visited Sri Temasek on the Istana grounds to pay respects during the two day wake.
Mdm Kwa, who died at the age of 89, had been seriously ill since suffering two strokes in 2008 -- the first in May which was the most serious, and another in June.
She first suffered a stroke in 2003 while visiting London. The second series of strokes in 2008 left her bedridden for the past two years.
A special documentary on Mdm Kwa is available here.
All the details in our special report. |
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Goh Keng Swee Obituary
A state funeral was held on Sunday, 23 May for former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Goh Keng Swee who died early Friday morning, 14 May, after a long illness.
The state funeral at the Singapore Conference Hall heard five eulogies, delivered by family members as well as the Prime Minister, Minister Mentor and the Chairman of Temasek Holdings .
After the state funeral service attended by Singapore and foreign dignitaries, the family held a private farewell at the Mandai Crematorium.
Before the state funeral, there was a lying-in-state of Dr Goh's body at Parliament House from 20–22 May, where some 18,000 members paid their respects.
Serving as Singapore's first Finance Minister and later Education Minister, Dr Goh was an instrumental figure in the development of Singapore from its first steps at nationhood through to the 1980s.
Dr Goh, who was 91, is survived by his wife, son, daughter-in-law, two grandsons and three great grandchildren.
All the details in our special report. |
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Singapore Budget 2011
A week of debate on Budget 2011 ended on Thursday after the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts unveiled several measures to promote arts & culture in Singapore, including funding to interest groups and having more arts & culture content on free-to-air television.
The government also assured the House that public broadcast programmes will not be affected by the removal of radio and TV licence fees because they have national and social objectives. Other measures include promotion of cyber wellness, developing traditional arts, and preserving heritage institutions.
The announcements came during the debate on the 2011 Budget unveiled in February.
The Budget speech outlined by Finance Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam was a "Grow and Share" Budget with S$3.2 billion set aside to focus more on the lower-and middle-income families and another S$3.4 billion for longer term social investments.
At the same time Employer CPF contributions and CPF Salary Ceiling were raised while $4.0 billion that was drawn earlier for the Resilience Package was put back and investments were made to fuel productivity and business development.
All the details in our special report. |
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