| Defense & Security
Singapore in 'no particular hurry' for F-35 Janes 16th Dec 2013
Singapore is continuing its assessment of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter but is in "no particular hurry" to purchase the aircraft, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on 12 December. The comments followed a meeting in Washington between Ng and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. During a joint news conference, Ng referred to a statement he made in March in which he indicated that the F-35 is being considered as a replacement for the Republic of Singapore Air Force's (RSAF's) Northrop F-5s and Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds. Ng said: "I've said in parliament during the last budget that Singapore is seriously looking at the F-35s to replace our F-5s.
Singapore Airshow 2014 to feature strategic conferences on aviation, defence, technology Straits Times 19th Dec 2013
Next February's edition of the Singapore Airshow will feature three conferences that address the latest developments and challenges in civil aviation, defence and technology. These conferences will bring together hundreds of industry leaders, military and government officials, regulators and academics from around the world. For instance, the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit on aviation issues will feature key speakers such as Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director-General Tony Tyler. The Asia Pacific Security Conference will gather defence experts, military officials and other industry leaders to discuss security topics including the emergence of China as regional military power and its impact on the East Asian security environment. The third conference is the A*STAR Aerospace Technology Leadership Forum, which will focus on aviation technologies.
U.S. Coast Guard, Navy Partners with Singapore Sailors DoD 18th Dec 2013
U.S. Coast Guardsmen and Navy sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 came together with the Singapore Navy outside of Guam for a joint operation known as Exercise Miata. This training was set to improve interoperability as well as increase explosive ordnance response times in potentially possible scenarios. - See more at: http://www.dodlive.mil/index.php/2013/12/u-s-navy-eod-team-partners-with...
Singapore: Is the Lion City a den for Western spies? Asian Correspondent 10th Dec 2013
What are the regional foreign policy consequences? asks Asia Sentinel’s Murray Hunter Singapore is an anomaly in Southeast Asia. It has staunch connections with the US and Israel and a network of varied corporate interests all around the world. It is a small, primarily non-Muslim city-state surrounded by much larger, occasionally antipathetic Muslim countries. Sovereignty disputes on the South China Sea are continuing, and unpredictable events like Sulu militants invading Lahad Datu in Sabah continue to occur. Singapore’s security is of prime domestic importance. The potency and effectiveness of Singapore’s intelligence services was seen in the 1990s with the successful recruitment of Australian intelligence officers to pass on sensitive information to Singaporean intelligence at the DSD (now Australian Signals Directorate) listening station at Cabarlah, near Toowoomba, Queensland.
Singapore defense officials to view F-35B while visiting Air Force base in Arizona Daily Journal 10th Dec 2013
Singapore defense officials visiting an Air Force Base in Arizona will get a look at a type of U.S.-built fighters that the Asian nation may purchase. Luke Air Force Base officials say at least one F-35B from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma on Tuesday will fly into Luke, a pilot-training base located in the Phoenix area. Luke officials say the Singapore officials are at Luke for a training exercise being conducted at Luke and at the Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona. The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing version of the F-35. It was developed for the Marine Corps and is configured differently than the F-35A version used by the Air Force. F-35As to be assigned to Luke are expected to arrive in early 2014.
Financial Services
Armstrong’s Asia Fund May Lure $1.2 Billion to Renewables Bloomberg 10th Dec 2013
Armstrong Asset Management, a Singapore-based private-equity company, expects investments from its first Southeast Asian clean-energy fund to total as much as $1.2 billion. The fund will focus on the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand where renewables policy support is “more advanced,” Armstrong Managing Partner Andrew Affleck said by e-mail. While chiefly interested in solar and mini-hydropower, it’s looking at about 30 projects that also span wind and energy efficiency. Armstrong is seeking to exploit the growing market for renewables in Southeast Asia as more countries cement targets for emission reductions and incentives for clean-power output. Thailand in July started premium payments, or feed-in tariffs, for solar energy, a system already in place in Malaysia and the Philippines. In June Indonesia opened a solar auction program. The company’s interest in the region is driven by the “clear need for capital and the gap in the market,” Affleck said. Government targets for clean power and policy measures to strengthen energy security amid rising costs for fossil-fuel power also make the countries attractive, he said.
Standard Chartered Says Bank Client Data Stolen in Singapore Bloomberg 6th Dec 2013
Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) said wealthy clients’ confidential information was stolen in Singapore from a printing company, underscoring the vulnerability of global banks to attacks from hackers and thieves. Singapore’s central bank plans to consider regulatory action against Standard Chartered after reviewing the bank’s investigation into the incident. The London-based lender said it hasn’t found any unauthorized transactions since the theft from Fuji Xerox Co., which was hired to print statements for the 647 clients, and is contacting affected customers. The city’s police discovered statements for February on a laptop seized from an alleged hacker. The security breach threatens to undermine Singapore’s reputation as a private-banking hub for Asia. The city is Asia’s largest wealth management center with about $800 billion in offshore assets, according to Boston Consulting Group. Shares of Standard Chartered, which this week forecast that earnings from its consumer-banking unit will drop, fell to the lowest in five months in Hong Kong trading.
Food & Agriculture
Alcohol ban hits businesses in Little India Channel NewsAsia 15th Dec 2013
Businesses in Little India have taken a hit since the alcohol ban was implemented on Saturday. And it's not just affecting shops which sell liquor. Fruit and vegetable sellers are feeling the heat on the second day of the liquor ban in Little India. One of the shops, Shahina Trading, saw a 40 per cent drop in business. "Usually it's very crowded on Sundays and Saturdays. Today, very little are coming," said Jo Matthew, owner of Shahina Trading. Others fruit and vegetable sellers in the vicinity shared the same sentiments. Some shop owners said what concerned them most was the suspension of bus services which ferry workers into Little India as the workers make up the majority of their customer base. These workers usually buy items such as food and other necessities. Businesses licensed to sell alcohol were hit hard. One shop owner said he suffered an 80 per cent loss in business on the first day of the liquor ban.
Health & Life Sciences
Singapore team closes in on malaria vaccine PPP 19th Dec 2013
A team at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has developed an antibody that prevents malaria parasites from entering human blood cells, rendering the deadly parasite effectively “harmless”, researchers announced on Monday. The findings of the five-year NTU study – which were published in the journal Nature Communications – could lead to the development of the world’s first effective malaria vaccine, said professor Peter Preiser, the chair of NTU’s School of Biological Sciences, who led the study. “What we have identified is a region of the malaria parasite which it uses to attach to a healthy blood cell then pushes itself into the cell,” Preiser said in a release announcing the results of the study. “To prevent this invasion, we developed antibodies which can interfere with this invasion process,” he continued. “So imagine the parasite has the key to unlock a door to the red blood cell, but we muck the key up, so no matter how hard the parasite tries, the door just refuses to open.” If the process were accelerated with the help of vaccine-developing pharmaceutical companies, Preiser said, a vaccine could be produced in as little as five years.
Infrastructure
Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines begins assembling top team Live Mint 18th Dec 2013
Tata Sons Ltd and Singapore Airlines Ltd have started to put together a team that will execute their new joint-venture airline in India, the South-East Asian airline’s third attempt to tap the Indian aviation market. Tata-SIA has now appointed several members of its top leadership team, said two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. These include Phee Teik Yeoh, who is likely to lead the Tata-SIA project and is currently divisional vice-president (IT application services) in Singapore Airlines. Yeoh has been joined by Giamming Toh, who has shifted from his position of GM India for Singapore Airlines to the new team. Besides these, Singapore Airline’s captain of the A330 fleet Mandesh Singh and Quah Lin, regional maintenance manager, will also help with the project, one of the two people said.
National Affairs
Govt intervention to keep housing bubbles in check is right move: Khaw Boon Wan CNA 23rd Dec 2013
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has said that while the property cycle cannot be completely eliminated, the government can try to keep housing bubbles "less bubbly" by intervening. Writing on his Facebook page on Monday, Mr Khaw said that is the right thing to do, even if it may make some developers and home sellers unhappy. Ireland's property prices peaked in 2007 in tandem with a booming economy. But according to an article in the New York Times last weekend, prices have fallen by nearly 50 per cent since, as the country's housing bubble burst.
Outcome of programmes is the ultimate test of success: PM Lee CNA 19th Dec 2013
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that the government will do more, but whether Singaporeans are able to cope with new challenges does not depend on how much the government does or spends, but on how effective programmes are in dealing with these challenges.
Singapore to deport foreign workers over 'Little India' riot CNN 18th Dec 2013
Singapore plans to deport dozens of foreign workers who were involved in the country's first major riot in more than 40 years, authorities said Tuesday. Some 52 Indian citizens and a Bangladeshi national will be sent home soon for their role in an attack on emergency services crews and their vehicles after a fatal traffic accident in Singapore's Little India district earlier this month, according to the police commissioner, Ng Joo Hee. Most of the 53 individuals, who were being held in prison on Tuesday, have been in Singapore for less than five years, Ng said in a statement. About half are construction workers. "They have been served with stern police warnings and immigration removal orders, and will be repatriated to their home countries shortly," Ng said. Another 28 people, who were directly involved in the violence, have been charged and could face up to seven years in prison and caning.
Singapore accuses 4 firms of price fixing Japan Times 18th Dec 2013
Singapore’s antitrust regulators have accused four Japanese bearing manufacturers of fixing prices. The four companies are JTEKT Corp., NSK Ltd., NTN Corp. and Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. On Monday, the Competition Commission of Singapore issued a proposed infringement decision against the companies and their Singapore subsidiaries. They are suspected of meeting regularly in Japan and Singapore to set sales prices for ball bearings sold to their customers in Singapore, according to the CCS.
Even With a Low Birthrate and Full Employment, Singapore Has Doubts About Immigrants Straits Times 16th Dec 2013
Like Japan, South Korea, and other more-developed Asian economies, Singapore has a baby shortage. The birthrate is low, with the government reporting in September that the total fertility rate was 1.29 last year. That’s well below the replacement level of 2.1. While the government has tried to encourage Singaporeans to have larger families, the country for now relies largely on immigration for its population growth. But Singapore has another problem: In a country with a population of 5.4 million are 1.1 million foreign workers—and many Singaporeans aren’t happy with having so many foreigners in their midst. In February, thousands of Singaporeans gathered in a downtown park to protest a government proposal to allow more foreigners to work in the city-state. The opposition to immigration is putting pressure on the government, which has been tightening its policy on foreign workers for several years. In September, the government announced its latest move, a new policy to encourage white-collar employers to look for locals first. Now, a week after hundreds of foreign workers rioted in the worst unrest in decades, the government is sticking with a plan to make it more difficult for foreigners to work in the country, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin told Bloomberg Television today. “We are continuing to tighten our manpower policies,” he said in an interview, “because we do want to move to a leaner approach.”
Singapore foreign labor riot forces rethink Japan Times 15th Dec 2013
A riot by South Asian laborers has forced Singapore to take a fresh look at how it deals with the presence of nearly a million low-paid foreign workers in the wealthy city-state. An estimated 400 workers went on the rampage on Dec. 8 in a district known as Little India, injuring 39 people, including police officers, and destroying 25 vehicles. The riot — the first in more than 40 years in the country — erupted after an Indian man was killed by a bus in an area where tens of thousands of workers converge on weekends. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has ordered an investigation into the cause of the violence as well as a review of measures to manage areas where foreign workers congregate.
No Pacific Rim Accord by End-of-Year Target, Trade Negotiators Say New York Times 11th Dec 2013
The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations said they would not complete a sweeping deal to reduce trade barriers by their own end-of-year deadline. But participants in the latest talks, held in Singapore, expressed optimism about the prospects for the trade deal, one of the largest ever negotiated. The 12 ministers working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership said they had found potential “landing zones” for many of the remaining disagreements, which involve intellectual property and agricultural products, among other issues.
TPP ministerial meeting kicks off in Singapore ASEAN Investor 9th Dec 2013
A four-day Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial meeting kicked off in Singapore on Saturday, with the United States apparently pushing for the conclusion of the talks by the end of the year. The latest round of talks are important as leaders and senior trade officials of the United States have recently said that they are hoping for the talks to conclude by the end of the year. The meeting carried on with its tradition of negotiating behind closed doors. The participants include trade ministers and representatives of 12 countries such as Singapore, the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Vietnam. The TPP talks were initiated by Singapore, New Zealand, Chile and Brunei Darussalam in 2005, but dominated by the United States after it joined the talks in 2008. Japan joined the TPP talks earlier this year. Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said the TPP is envisioned as “a high-standard, comprehensive and forward-looking trade agreement that aims to address the challenges of the modern economy.” According to a statement, the agreement covers both new and traditional trade and investment issues, and seeks to create jobs and promote economic development, in “a bold step towards establishing a free trade agreement for the Asia Pacific.”
Documents leaked again amid secret trade negotiations Network World 9th Dec 2013
Global intellectual property (IP) legislation continues to be negotiated behind closed doors this week in Singapore where discussions are underway on a secretive international trade treaty that could have far-reaching effects on Internet services, copyright law and civil liberties. But texts of purported drafts of the treaty have been leaked to the public, most recently on Monday by Wikileaks, which published two documents said to show the state of negotiations after talks held in Salt Lake City from Nov. 19 to 24. One of the documents shows that the U.S. exerted "great pressure to close as many subjects" as possible during the meet. The chief U.S. negotiator, whose name was redacted from the document by Wikileaks, has met with all 12 countries saying they were not progressing according to plan. However, that's because of a lack of substantial progress by the U.S., according to one of the countries, which was not identified in the document. Even leaving aside the most difficult subjects such as IP and the environment, the situation after the November negotiations made it "very difficult to think of a complete closure in December," according to the document. The other leaked document highlighted the many differences between the countries on numerous topics, with 19 disputed topics in the area of IP alone. Among them are patentability criteria and the supplementary protection of patents, as well as a U.S. proposal on the length of time a copyright should be protected.
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