Singapore's 2013 - annus horribilis or annus mirabilis?

This is a special issue of Newzzit, a look back at 2013, albeit with a twist.

The stories are not arranged chronologically. Rather, I have picked an important event in a particular month. Assigned the topic the event deals with to that month, and woven everything that happened in Singapore related to that particular topic in the story of that month.

For example, the story of January (month) deals with politics (topic) and narrates every important political event that made news in 2013. Be it the Punggol East by-election in January, empty ballot boxes found in August or the PAP's Convention in December.

Even though some stories might have been left out due to paucity of space, I sincerely hope that after reading our 11th issue, you will have a general idea about what happened in Singapore in the past one year.

Readers who want to share more stories, which they think mattered in 2013, are welcome to do so on Newzzit's website.

May 2014 be the best for all of us!

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The year started with defeat for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC) on January 26, and ended with a resolution at party's convention calling to “transform the PAP”. In between, there was also the discovery of empty ballot boxes used in 2011 Presidential Elections.

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On February 16, a protest rally was held against the 6.9 million projected population of Singapore in 2030, as indicated in the Population White Paper put forward by the government. Another protest followed up in May. The government reacted by introducing the new Fair Consideration Framework, which requires employers to consider Singaporeans “fairly” before hiring overseas workers. 

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The death of a young American engineer, Shane Todd, which occurred in 2012 came into spotlight again, when Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a Singapore government research agency, rebutted in March an article published in the Financial Times (FT) a month earlier. A coroner's inquest was held and the death was ruled a suicide. Later in the year, the police department was shaken when Iskandar Rahmat, one of their own, was accused of double-murders on July 10 in the Kovan area. 

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The PM launched a National Dengue Campaign (NDC) with the slogan “Do the Mozzie Wipe Out” on April 28, as the country witnessed a rise in the number of dengue cases and dengue clusters. By the year-end over 22,000 cases were reported with seven patients loosing their lives. 

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Three cases hit the headlines this year. The trial against the six City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders accused of embezzling more than S$50 million began on May 15. On May 29, former National University of Singapore (NUS) law professor Tey Tsun Hang was found guilty of corruption in the “sex-for-grades” case. Two days later, on May 31, former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) chief Peter Lim was also found guilty in “sex-for-contracts” corruption case. Earlier on February 14, former Central Narcotics Bureau chief Ng Boon Gay was acquitted of all corruption charges by the District Court.

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June 21, 2013, was immortalised in Singapore's environmental history as the date when Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 401 – the highest in country's history, beating the previous highest PSI reading of 226 witnessed in 1997 by a comfortable margin. The reason was the fires caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance method adopted by poor farmers in Riau province, Sumatra Island, Indonesia. Palm Oil companies in the region came into controversy as a result.

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July brought the best sports news of the year. On July 2, Singapore's LionsXII won the Malaysian Super League (MSL) title at Jalan Besar with no less than the PM in attendance. Later, in September, Ng Ser Miang made an unsuccessful bid at the coveted presidency of the International Olympic Committee, followed by National Service (NS) deferment to Singapore's top swimmer Joseph Schooling in October. Schooling later shone for the city-state at SEA Games held in Myanmar in December. Singapore also remained in news throughout the year for allegedly being the base of an international football match-fixing syndicate. 

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Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave, what some have called his most impressive National Day Rally (NDR) speech over the last decade, on August 18. While announcing few “strategic shifts”, he also drew curtains to the fourth year-long Singapore conversation in just over 20 years. 

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This month drew attention to the fact that while Singapore has come a long way forward in terms of racial harmony, there is still some work that needs to be done in this regard. The Suara Musyawarah report and survey findings published by the Institute of Policy Studies in September were a testimony to that. Moreover, the issue of poverty and how the “bottom-fifth” low-income Singaporeans are struggling to survive amidst growing inflation was a persistent discourse all through out the year. Interestingly, a study by the National Institute of Education of over 3,000 students from 18 secondary schools across the Island revealed that they don't have a strong grasp of democracy and its principles.    

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Declining tourism, rising inflation, fluctuating exports, dropping property prices, unsure COE prices, and allegations of being a tax-haven. These dominated the business headlines in Singapore this year. Singapore Airlines, one of country's success stories, went for an business overhaul and entered into a joint venture with India's big business house Tata. Finally, when on October 22, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the Chinese decision to extend its prized offshore renminbi scheme to the city-state, it highlighted Singapore's success in balancing its economic relationships with China and Taiwan. Singapore-Taiwan free-trade agreement was signed two weeks later.   

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In a irony of sorts, the same year government launched a five-year National Cyber Security Master-plan 2018 “to further secure Singapore's cyber environment”, the country faced it's biggest-ever hacker attack in November, where government, town council and media websites were compromised within days. Even school websites were not spared. Reports of sensitive financial data belonging to Standard Chartered bank being stolen also surfaced. The Edward Snowden saga reached Singapore's shores as well when leaked NSA maps published by few international media organisations in November alleged that Singapore is a key “third player” supporting the United States “Five Eyes” surveillance network; which the Singapore government denied. Also, the government's new licensing regime for online “news” websites announced in May remained controversial throughout the year. 

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The year ended with a bang, quite literally, as Singapore witnessed its first riot in over 40 years, bringing the issue of foreign workers conditions in the city-state to the forefront again. Amid reports that not many in Singapore are giving a weekly rest day to their maids, the traditional sources to bring maids in the city-state such as the Philippines and Indonesia dried up, which lead to maid recruitment agencies turning to new sources including Myanmar and Cambodia. For construction workers too, new countries such as Sri Lanka were being explored. In a positive development, about 7,500 Marina Bay Sands employees were offered union membership in October after two-year-long lengthy negotiations. 

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