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Debbie Yong Wed, Jun 04, 2008 my paper Club mad He had planned a night of revelry with friends at St James Power Station last Saturday, but when National University of Singapore student Matthew Rao flashed his identity card (IC) at the door of the popular nightclub, he was requested to pay the $20 cover charge. His four friends - from England, Germany, France and Finland - filed in for free. The reason: They were foreign students on exchange in Singapore, while he was local. "I thought the IC was for age verification, but the bouncers said I had to pay because it was proof I was Singaporean," Mr Rao, 25, recalled. He was upset because the policy seemed unfair and discriminatory. "Why should foreign students get different treatment? If they live here, why shouldn't they pay as well?" he added. Ms Cheryl Khong, marketing manager at St James, confirmed its policy of giving foreign guests free entry any day of the week if they produce a valid foreign student pass. The little-publicised policy has existed since St James opened in 2006, but it only applies to Powerhouse, the nightspot's main dance room. Ms Khong said the policy aimed to "encourage a cosmopolitan party atmosphere for our young partygoers" and added that St James regularly hosts parties thrown by local tertiary institutions and students. Still, Mr Rao said that the incident has changed his mind about frequenting theclub. "I like rules that are fair and open. If the club can at least publicise those rules on the door, then I'll respect them."

1. Scribble notes 'I would answer calls from clients when I'm driving and then scribble down notes on my legs since I wear shorts most of the time.' - MR TAN JEE TOON, 54, a renovation contractor who drives frequently to different sites in the course of work 2. Eat 'I gobbled down some char kway teow while driving a few months back. I balanced the styrofoam pack with kway teow on my legs and drove with one hand.' - MR J.L. LEE, 28, a sales officer who always eats his lunch in between appointments with clients 3. Read 'Sometimes, when I'm rushing for appointments, I'll read my reports in the car. I've been honked at by drivers behind me.' - MR KARUNANITHI, a financial consultant in his 40s 4. Shave 'I sometimes shave while I drive in order to save time. I can sleep in longer then.' - MR H.C. ANG, 40, a site supervisor 5. Smoke 'I'm on the road all day and sometimes don't have time to stop for smoking breaks. On such days, I will smoke while driving. It's no issue because I still have two hands on the steering wheel most of the time.' - MR S. GOPAL, 44, a lorry driver 6. Kiss 'My girlfriend and I once decided to kiss while I was driving. But I took my eyes off the road for just a short while.' - MR E. LEE, 29, a marketing executive 7. Watch DVDs 'When I'm alone in the car, I'd watch movies from a portable DVD player. It keeps me occupied, especially when I'm caught in traffic jams.' - MR M. SAAD, 38, a technician 8. Apply make-up 'Whenever I'm late for work, I will put on my make-up in the car when I'm driving. Putting on powder and lipstick is simple enough, but I usually wait for the red light to apply mascara.' - MISS SANDRA TAN, 31, a manager ARE U 1 OF THEM ??

Dear all, Thru some chatting I have realised that quite a handful of the pple here have other halfs that's not local Singaporean. For this poll, if he/she is Singapore PR, pls opt under option 2. PS : This is just for polling purposes with newspaper reporting that there's a growing trend that Singaporeans man marrying wife from overseas. So pls don't take it with a -ve impression.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...24/wsing124.xml Newspapers all over the world are reporting this. Singaporeans need help to get it on. "An 18-year-old mechanical engineering student, Isabel Seet, told the local Straits Times newspaper: "My teacher said if a guy looks into my eyes for more than five seconds, it could mean that he is attracted to me and I stand a chance." Wonder who Isabel Seet is?

Escaped terrorist helps Singaporeans bond Wah, let a terrorist escape can actually be a GOOD thing! Help the people bond! Maybe we should let a few more escape then. Once a year, have an Allow a Terrorist to Escape Day to facilitate national bonding. From the Straits Times: "S'poreans' response as 'one people' lauded THE response by Singaporeans to Mas Selamat's escape from detention is a good example of how the community should respond in such a situation, said Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed yesterday. He said people's reactions to the incident at the grassroots-level Inter-Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs) have been the same, regardless of race, and that it is good the community is taking the matter as seriously as the Government. 'It shows we are responding as one people and in times of need, we are there to help Singapore, which is reassuring,' he said." Even Finance Minister Tharman weighed in: "S

Means testing likely to be implemented later part of this year: Health Minister By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 January 2008 2036 hrs Photos 1 of 1 Mr Khaw Boon Wan SINGAPORE : Means testing will likely be implemented in the later part of this year, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Saturday. He also added that his Ministry does not rule out tweaking MediShield coverage. Mr Khaw was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community event at the Biopolis. Led by the Health Minister, some 600 residents of the Sembawang GRC learned more about life sciences. But there is another area Mr Khaw hopes the public can better understand - means testing. So over the next 8 weeks, there will be more dialogue sessions with Singaporeans on the subject. Mr Khaw was also asked if his Ministry will consider reviewing the MediShield coverage to those beyond 85 years old and making it compulsory. Mr Khaw said: "We will continue to raise it especially when Singaporeans live longer. But at the moment, the number of people more than 85, who are affected by MediShield is still small, but nevertheless it's an issue. We want as many if not 100 percent of Singaporeans to be insured, but in practice I think so far so good through the opting out system." The MediShield medical insurance scheme currently covers more than 90 per cent of workers. - CNA/ch

I was travelling ard 12 noon on PIE towards Changi Airport. I was in lane one when suddenly the vehicles infront of me all braked. I was travelling 110km/h at that time,and had to jam brakes to ard 20km/h. I was wondering what happened! I realised that all the vehicles infront braked just to see the massive jam on the opposite lane(PIE,towards TUAS). For god sake! Its so dangerous!!

Are some locals so desperate? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/7048698.stm Chinatown to protest against raid About 60 raids on illegal workers are taking place in London weekly . Chinatown's businesses are to hold a strike on Thursday in protest at the recent raid on illegal workers. More than 30 people were detained when immigration staff and police stormed West End premises on 11 October. The London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA) said it "strongly condemns" the Border and Immigration Agency's (BIA) operation. "Years of hard work and dedication have been undone by the incident," the LCCA said in a statement. The stoppage will take place between 1430 and 1730 BST to coincide with a visit by Rolf Toolin of the BIA to the Chinatown Community Centre. Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean nationals were arrested in the raid and documents relating to illegal employment seized. The raids were part of a wider strategy by the BIA to clamp down on illegal workers.

I have recently come across loads of interesting blogs about sex...and they are all written (purportedly) by Singaporeans...and what's more, by women . Reading their blogs is like reading some kind of porn novel man! I'm curious to know if these are genuine or are they really manned by 40 something men with too much time on their hands? Anyone knows for sure?

Situation I face everyday. Traffic lights are red on all four direction. Green arrow lights are on for the Blue and Yellow lanes of cars to turn right. I am red car coming out from the filtering lane with zebra crossing onto the major road. The string of Blue cars mostly(70%) of them turn into lane 2 immediately, not even touching lane 1. While the ramining 30% of Blue cars like to turn into lane 3 immediately. During the morning peak period, many Blue cars will still cross the junction even after the green arrow has ended while the Pink cars starts moving straight. I know its dangerous for me(Red) to cut out to the major road lane 3 because there are 30% of the blue cars coming into lane 3 immediately. But if I don't move off then the Pink motorcycles/car will prevent me from moving out, and I will have to wait till the Pink cars to stop. Sometimes I will get stuck in a string of cautious red cars, and will have to wait a few cycles of traffice light.

Good morning all: Yesterday "TODAYS" newspaper forum got 2 woman write in to complain about the new ERP regulations. The gist of it is they dun wanna pay ERP to use CTE, so they gotta leave home earlier to send their kids to school, then go to work. If day in day out early go out and late come bac, will affect their family life. The women are Connie Kum and Jennifer dun noe wat. I got few points that i pondered and wat say you. 1. The road conditions are worse now since GOV gave green light for easier car affordability, almost every family owns a car now. There is a need to regulate the traffic flow. 2. Why send the kids to school? Why not school bus or register in a school nearby? Its not the Gov's fault that parents have to send kids to school. Thats a privilege not an entitlement. 3. If say u take 1.5 hours to take train to work, and 1.5 hours to drive to work, why not take the train? 4. Without the ERP, we all noe, that the roads would have come to a full stop during the peak hous. 5. My take is, if u wana drive in Singapore, pay to do it. It should be a privilege since land is scarce. No point complaining about road-vehicle related increase because it will only continue to do so. Before getting a car, one should think carefully whether the usage is justified, whether u can afford all kinds of increase and of course, the road bullys and jams on SINGAPORE ROADS. Tats just my personal view on some thorny issues like this. No offence will be taken for your views, dun worry.

If you read this article, will you feel singaporean are hopeless ? didnt even dare to protest ? Mon, Aug 27, 2007 AP (Associated Press) Protesters keep marching over fuel price hikes YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Dozens of pro-democracy activists kept up a rare show of defiance against Myanmar's military regime Monday, marching to protest the rising cost of basic goods in the impoverished nation following a fuel price hike, witnesses said. They said about 50 people, wearing white, marched in the bustling township of Bago, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the country's commercial center, Yangon. Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for lower consumer prices, as plainclothes police watched from a distance without intervening or making arrests, the witnesses said. The demonstrators dispersed without incident after marching along a busy street in Bago for more than half an hour. News also emerged of a protest in Mogok, about 680 kilometers (420 miles) north of Yangon, in an area famous for gemstone mining. Mogok residents said more than 200 people, including members of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, marched Saturday to protest the fuel price hike and dispersed peacefully without any arrests. Earlier this month, gas pump prices doubled after Myanmar's military junta slashed state subsidies that had kept domestic oil prices low for years. The hikes resulted in increases in prices of public transport -- some since rolled back -- and also higher prices for some basic commodities due to higher transport costs. The move triggered a number of small, peaceful protests last week, mainly in Yangon. Police subsequently detained at least 65 activists, including several leaders of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Myanmar's ambassador to the Philippines, Thang Tun, told The Associated Press on Sunday that Myanmar could no longer afford to subsidize fuel so heavily due to steep oil price increases worldwide. He said cutting the subsidies was not a political move. Myanmar activists have speculated that the government needed to slash the subsidies to remedy a cash shortage. Some analysts said the measure could be a prelude to privatization, or that it may even reflect conflict within the junta -- and could be a deliberate attempt to provoke unrest, further stalling the approval of a long-awaited constitution and embarrassing military ruler Gen. Than Shwe. Myanmar's ruling junta has been widely criticized for human rights violations, including the extended detention of Suu Kyi and more than 1,200 other political prisoners. Economic dissatisfaction sparked the country's last major upheaval in 1988, when mass demonstrations broke out seeking an end to the military rule that began in 1962. The army violently subdued those protests. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were killed. The current protests are nowhere near the scale of those in 1988, and the junta appeared to be taking no chances in trying to clamp down on them. The military rulers held a general election in 1990, but refused to honor the results when the National League for Democracy won in a landslide.

There are very few things we promise to world infront of so many people and the law I do yet people just break them like they do when they break dancing is there any left that is worth keeping anymore http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...0724-19569.html

Despite having no traffic fines, not having shown the finger, not having being horned at, never tail gate, never turn without signalling and no accidents for many many years why am I a bad driver? http://motoring.asiaone.com.sg/motorworld/20070701_001.html

Hi guys, would like some advise on this matter... Will be going to SFO to work for a year and definitely need a car to get around. Currently I drive a modeset Kia so with my scenario don't know if I should buy or rent. Thanks.

Hi bros, just got my ride abt a month ago. However, i already have 2 chips on my paint... so deep that it's at least 1mm deep. Yesterday, just got another dimple on my side. When i park my car, i usually take the effort to avoid trucks and vans. And i choose parking lots which are to the side and squeeze as near as possible to the wall. I also buy door guards to protect others car doors in case my passenger opens the door too hard. This still happened. I am kinda disappointed despite knowing the fact that this is part and parcel of car ownership. Because it's only in the period of a month and it's a brand new car. I also take the effort to polish and wax to make it a gleaming ride. I'm sure a lot of you will understand how i feel. However, i just can't stop feeling that singaporeans do have an inferiority complex. My friend's 7 series too got a scratch from the front side panel till his back panel across both doors and his car is black, also onlyhalf a mth old. Will scratching others cars make these ppl feel better? So much for being considerate... i do hope that if any of the forumers are in this category of ppl ( which i hope none is) to reflect upon themselves because don't forget taht justice has long arms and ppl can also do 'worser' things to your car which will impede driving abilities. Btw, any suggestions to do up the paint chip and dimple w/o incurring too much of a cost? Thanks

From Yahoo, Malaysia 19 Mar 2007 Singaporeans pay up $3.4m in M'sian fines JOHOR BARU

I am saying this because I just came back from a Genting trip driving on the NS highway. I dare say Malaysian drivers have more etiquete and consideration for other road users as compared to us Singaporeans. Along the entire 300 odd kilometers of 2-lane carraigeway, I observed countless singapore registered cars blatantly hogging the fast lane (Is it because thats how they drive in Spore expressways? I wonder if they are they group of lane hoggers that we dispise). Throughout the journey, I dun see M'sian drivers (except for the Tour buses) purportedly hogging the fast lanes. Even if they were to be travelling on the fast lane, when they see a car fast approaching from behind, they instinctively pulled over to give way. S'porean drivers simply BO HIEW and continue to cruise at 110-120 km/h blocking everyone. They only reluctantly give way whenever someone starts flashing highbeam at them. Please, If you are one of those drivers, I beg u. Either you stay content hogging the lane 1s in Spore and dun venture beyond, or have some consideration for other road users when you do go up north. Remember, when you are overseas, you are an ambassador of your country. Please act as one. This incident really put the icing on the cake - a convoy of 5 Spore vehicles (all frens I presume) hogging the fast lane at 110km/h with a long tail of vehicles trying to pass them. They continued with their oblivious driving even though the left lane was clear. For once, I felt ashamed to be a Sporean. Sorry if I am blunt. The above outburst does not apply to all Spore drivers across the board but only to those who practices this disgusting driving behaviour.

4 outta 10 are related to car

Test drove over the last few days - Megane, Astra, Peugeot, Mazda3, Mazda6, Corolla, Civic, Optra5. My personal conclusion is that setting road tax increase at the 1600 cc level is a bummer. For continental cars, with their more rigid and heavier chasis construction, 1600 cc is not enough for a spirited drive unless you use a manual transmission. Even that does will not raise your blood pressure much. So, the Japs, in order to boost up pickup and pulling power reduces the weight of the chassis and thereby safety level. So, we, poor Singaporeans have to compromise safety with pulling power. I would not drive the auto versions of the continental cars above on the NS highway, overtaking 2 trucks at a time, I will probably get myself killed on the first trip out. The Astra, with its semi automatic geartrain is the exception, but its Easytronic transmission needs getting used to. The Civic is too light at speeds above 120Kmph, its double wishbone suspension is a joy to drive on turns and winding roads. The Corolla rolls too much on bends and turns, speed in a straight line is ok. The Mazda 3 exhibits good handling, but road noise is louder than what you find in a Corolla and the pulling power is sluggish. So, none of the above cars really meet my expectations. Does that means that we will never ever get a decent car here in Singapore at a 1,600 cc car price ?