This is the front page of The Straits Times on 27 May 2025.
The main story focusses on Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's speech at the 46th ASEAN Summit (Plenary) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday.
Did none of the heads of government of the remaining nine ASEAN countries including the ASEAN chair Malaysia say anything newsworthy or more newsworthy than what PM Wong said?
Surely not.
The other report on the front page is about the National Day Parade in August.
So inward looking!
Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Janil Puthucheary, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling and Director of National Trades Union Congress's U SME and Women and Family Unit Yeo Wan Ling toured the Punggol Coast Bus Interchange on 20 May 2025.
Mr Chee is Minister for Transport. It seems justifiable for him to tour the interchange. But is it necessary for a Cabinet Minister to tour a soon-to-be-opened interchange? Isn't it a waste of several hours of his time that could have been better spent looking after transportation matters?
Or, could it have been that Mr Chee had been informed by the Prime Minister that he would within the next few days relinquish his transport portfolio (this was announced on 21 May 2025), so no better time than now to spend a few hours touring the facility?
Neither Mr Janil nor Ms Sun was representing their respective ministries (at least I don't see the connection); they were present in their capacities as Members of Parliament for Punggol, within which the interchange is located. Did they take annual leave from their paid full-time jobs to tour the interchange?
(I won't comment on the relevance of Ms Yeo's present, other than that she is also a Member of Parliament for Punggol, since I am not familiar with NTUC's U SME or its Women and Family Unit.)
If Mr Chee, Mr Janil and Ms Sun can take time off from their work at their respective ministries to tour the interchange, is it any wonder why our Cabinet is so bloated with so many senior ministers, ministers, senior ministers of state, ministers of state, senior parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries.
The Straits Times published a report entitled MP Jeffrey Siow being considered for new Cabinet line-up on 17 May 2025.
MediaCorp's news also reported on 17 May 2025 that Mr Jeffrey Siow said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had spoken to him about joining the Cabinet.
Neither mainstream media seem content to wait for the official announcement.
Mr Siow gave up his position as second permanent secretary for trade and industry and manpower to join the People's Action Party and contest General Election 2025. Isn't it plainly obvious that he will be appointed to the Cabinet once he is elected (he was). Otherwise, why end his civil service career to be a backbencher?
What is so newsworthy about Mr Siow's being considered for a position in the Cabinet?
Why not speculate about other MPs, whether new or existing, whose inclusion in the Cabinet may not be so clear cut?
Updated 11:30 pm 19 May 2025
The Straits Times reported on a case in which a commercial unit at D'Leedon condominium in which the ceiling area (818 square feet) is much larger than the floor area (619 square feet) (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/property-buyer-loses-590k-suit-against-real-estate-agent-era-in-rare-case-of-size-disparity, 9 May 2025).
The difference arises because at least one of the walls of the unit is not vertical.
However, under the law, the lot area is the bigger of the ceiling area and the floor area.
If a buyer thinks that the lot area is floor area, he will be in for nasty surprise.
Firstly, the buyer will have overpaid for the lot if he simply looks at the price per square foot of the lot area. For comparison purposes, should the price per square foot be based on the lot size or floor area or neither?
Secondly, the buyer may end up with a much smaller lot, in terms of floor space, than he thinks.
The problem is not limited to lots in which the ceiling area is larger than the floor area.
If the floor area is much larger than the ceiling area, it is also difficult to utilise the floor area adjacent to the non-vertical walls; it's essentially wasted space.
Even two vertical walls meeting at an acute angle can give rise to a small area that is of no practical use to the occupant. Such tiny spaces count toward the area of a lot and helps the developer to maximise his income-generating gross floor area of the land.
Conclusion: architects should not design buildings in which the walls are not vertical or the walls meet at acute angles. They serve no useful purpose to buyers or occupants.
Isn't it somewhat unusual for President Tharman Shamugaratnam's wife Jane Itogi to be in the photo together with World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Indonesian Minister for Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Singapore Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung?
What was her role, if any, in a "high-level networking" dinner (as described by The Straits Times) hosted by Temasek Foundation to address global pandemic preparedness.
If I'm not mistaken, none of our former presidents' spouses were included in official photos in similar functions.
Updated: 12:20am on 8 May 2025
