Singapore firm wins deal to sell Obama portrait

A Singapore investment firm has clinched an exclusive deal to sell a painting of United States President Barack Obama.

Estimated to be worth a few million dollars, the portrait in oil was done by renowned African-American artist Gilbert Young last year.

It is said to be the only portrait that the President has endorsed with his signature.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong receives top jurist award

CJ Chan Sek Keong has become the first Asian jurist to be given the 2009 International Jurists Award by the International Council of Jurists (ICJ).

ICJ President Adish Aggarwala said the award, given out annually since 2007 is a recognition of CJ Chan's outstanding contributions to the administration of justice and that his achievement has enhanced the dignity of the judiciary in Asian countries.

CJ Chan received the award from Indian President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi last Saturday, at a two-day conference on International Terrorism and the Rule of Law.

The ICJ, which has a London-registered office, convened the meeting, which drew more than 3,000 delegates from about 60 countries.

Source: The Straits Times (November 26, 2009)

Singapore on IMO Council for 9th term

Singapore has been re-elected to the council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for a ninth term.

The election was held at the 26th session of the IMO Assembly in London last Friday.

Singapore was first elected to the council in 1993 and has been re-elected at subsequent biennial assemblies.

Source: The Sunday Times (November 29, 2009)

Singapore 5th easiest place to pay taxes

Singapore has maintained the same ranking as last year in the latest survey of 183 economies by the World Bank Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The top four economies are the Maldives, Qatar, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the economic downturn, governments have generally remained focused on tax reform.

For Singapore, the report noted that it was during the 1990s, when the Asian financial crisis struck, that the Republic bit the bullet and undertook reforms to combat the economic downturn.

Singapore lowered business costs through a series of tax cuts, rebates and exemptions introduced over the course of the crisis.

Singapore comes second on media access to government info

Singapore has come out second in a global study on how accessible information is to the media.

Topping the list is Australia, with the maximum score of 120 points while Singapore chalked up 115, according to the study by the Austria-based International Press Institute (IPI).

The pilot project, done in June, required media organisations to ask their governments a set of six questions.

The countries were awarded points based on how quickly the officials responded, with the maximum 20 points given for an answer that arrived within three hours of the query.

The score decreased gradually over time, with 2.5 points given to a response that took more than two days. A reply after one week was not counted.

Points were deducted for incomplete answers, while full marks were given if the information was publicly available.

Britain came in at No. 6, followed by United States.

The IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and journalists dedicated to press freedom, free flow of information, and the improvement of practices of journalism.

Shenzhen wants to be clean, just like Singapore

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has chosen Singapore to be its guiding light in environmental improvements, particularly public sanitation, Chinese and Hong Kong newspapers have reported.

A Singapore consultancy company had earlier spent two years working with the southern boomtown's environment and sanitation bureau and compiled a report on the challenges it faced and how they should be tackled.

Shenzhen has also sent officials to Singapore on study trips in its ambitious aim to turn itself into a garden city like the Republic, the paper added.

Last month, the city announced it would continue hiring a Singapore consultancy to help it in its public sanitation quest.

As Shenzhen will be celebrating next year its 30th anniversary as a special economic zone - a designation that helped it become a modern investment hub, it is now keener than ever to move closer to Singapore's environmental standards hoping to achieve a drastic change in image by then.

Most of the changes being carried out are refurbishment and upgrading works, such as repainting the facades of buildings along the thoroughfares and re-fashioning rooftops of high-rises, like what is often done in Singapore's housing estates.

Shenzhen also wants to learn from Singapore's experience in involving the private sector in sanitation and private sector in sanitation and garbage management, and how it put and runs a mechanised public sanitation system.

Guangdong's acting Mayor Mr Wang Rong decided that it should learn from Singapore.

Mr Wang was previously the party boss of Suzhou, where he was very much exposed to Singapore's ways of management in the Suzhou Industrial Park, in which the Republic holds sizeable stakes.

Explaining why Shenzhen did not choose neighbouring Hong Kong as its model, Mr Hu Zhen Hua, a spokesman for the city's urban management bureau, said: "Hong Kong is the efficiency expert, but Singapore is a unique garden city, and nobody would be better than Singapore for environmental improvement."

The Sunday Times (15 Nov 2009)

MM Lee receives top Russian award

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was presented with Russia's highest civilian award, the Order of Friendship at the Istana by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is here on his first official visit.

The Order recognises those who have made a signficant contribution in strengthening friendship, cooperation and relations between nations.

A citation for the award stated that Mr Lee was receiving it for his "outstanding contribution to the development of the Russia-Singapore relationship".

Mr Lee has been a strong supporter of the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, Russia's first dedicated business school, since its inception in 2006.

Mr Lee became a member of its international advisory board in 2007.

Mr Lee is the second Singaporean to be conferred this award. Businessman, Sudhir Gupta, received the award in 2000. He was the founder of Amtel group, a company which makes tyres, tea, juices and vodka in Russian and the Ukraine.

Singapore in the White

The crucial step in the "grey to white" process was taken yesterday when the Government signed a protocol to amend the standing agreement for the avoidance of double taxation (DTA) with France.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam took time out from Apec meetings to ink the deal with French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment Christine Largade.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) requires a country to seal 12 such deals before it can join the white list.

Later in the day, the Minister from the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, signed a similar pact with Brunei.

Singapore has pacts with 13 countries - Belgium, New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Norway, Qatar, Mexico, Bahrain, France and Brunei.

Singapore schools lead the way in tech use

Singapore schools, lauded the world over for their maths and science curriculums, are now also serving as role models in the use of technology for teaching.

A group of education experts from software giant Microsoft told The Straits Times at a conference in Brazil last week that many countries have their eye on Singapore schools because they have managed to integrate the use of technology into lessons effectively - something which schools elsewhere do only superficially.

Microsoft vice-president for worldwide education programmes Anthony Salcito said one example of Singapore's success in integrating technology within the curriculum is BackPack.NET, a S$20 million project by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Microsoft Singapore. It was started in 2003 with the aim of transforming teaching through technology and allowing mobile learning.

Ms Jenny Lewis, an adviser to Microsoft's US$500 million (S$700 million) education initiative Partners in Learning, said Singapore schools are gaining attention for the way they use technology to teach "21st century skills" such as collaboration critical and creative thinking.

The Straits Times (14 Nov 2009)

SPH Chief Executive named as one of Isead's top 50 alumni

Singapore Press Holdings' chief executive, Mr Alan Chan, was yesterday named as one of the 50 alumni from top international business school Insead to have had an exceptional career and amde a difference to the business world.

He is the only Singaporean and Asian to achieve this honour.

The awards were launched by Insead as part of celebrations commemorating the founding of the graduate business school 50 years ago.

Mr Chan was among the second batch of 10 outstanding individuals cited by Insead's Dean Frank Brown during the school's Leadership Summit Asia held at the Singapore campus yesterday.

Hepatitis B Vaccination began in Singapore

Research in Singapore seeded a pioneering vaccination programme, supported by the World Health Organisation, which has spread successfully throughout the world.

The effort led to a drastic reduction of Hepatitis B Virus and Primary Liver Cancer, which it causes. It also identified how Singapore needed to change tack quickly to embrace higher technology, ahead of its competitors.

Source: The Straits Times (7 Nov 2009)

Temasek scores perfect 10 on SWF transperency index

Temasek Holdings has kept its position as one of the world's most transparent sovereign wealth funds (SWFs).

Temasek Holdings scored 10 out of 10 on the latest Linaburg-Maduell Transparency Index, published quarterly by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute in California.

There are 10 principles in the index, including providing up-to-date, independently audited annual reports; disclosing a total portfolio market value, returns and management compensation; and offering guidelines for ethical standards and investment policies.

Source: The Straits Times (9 Nov 2009)

Ngee Ann Secondary School honoured for use of technology

Microsoft has listed Ngee Ann Secondary School as a "Pathfinder School" - one of 30 schools worldwide so honoured this year. Ngee Ann is the first school in Singapore to bag the title since Microsoft introduced it in 2007.

The Pathfinder status is the second highest level of recognition given by Microsoft to schools.

The highest level of recognition is the "Mentor School" status, which first went to Singapore's Crescent Girls' School in 2007. SCGS still maintains that status and is now joined by another 11 schools worldwide.

St Andrew Junior College's principal Lee Bee Yann is now an adviser to Microsoft's US$500 million education initiative, Partners In Learning. She is the only school principal and Singaporean in the 14-member International Advisory Council, which is mostly made up of university professors and government officials.

Source: The Straits Times (6 Nov 2009)

Singapore is top immigration hot spot

Gallup index shows Singapore population would jump to 13 million if it takes in all who wished to come here.

Gallup uses the Potential Net Migration Index (PMNI) to derive Singapore's ranking. The PNMI is the estimated number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total adult population.

Singapore is No. 1 immigration hot spot, coming ahead of countries like New Zealand and Australia.

According to the United Nations' 2009 Human Development Report, Singapore is ranked No. 10 in the world in terms of the share of immigrants as part of total population, at 35%. The UN report also showed that Singapore had a relatively low emigration rate of 6.3%.

Singapore honoured for being peaceful nation

At a dinner kicking off the 3-day Global Symposium of Peaceful Nations in Washington on 1 November 2009, Singapore was one of the 18 countries lauded for being a "model for development and urbanisation" that has demonstrated its dedication to peace in a variety of ways.

The list includes Singapore's provision of humanitarian aid overseas, military and police forces to United Nations peacekeeping missions, laws to protect its multi-ethnic society as well as efforts to preserve the environment, such as building an eco-city with Tianjin city in China, according to a citation read out at the dinner.

The event was organised by the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Centre and Alliance for Peacebuilding.

The 18 nations were chosen based on their performance in the 2009 Global Peace Index, which ranks 144 countries by their peacefulness and absence of violence. Using the index, the symposium's organisers looked at nine different regions of the world, and identified two of the most peaceful nations from each of these regions.

Singapore was ranked the world's 23rd most peaceful nation. It moved up from 29th place in 2008's rankings. The index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think-tank.