REACH :- Singapore Together Movement
3-4 January 2020


https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-together-movement-good-progress-12227914

DPM Heng Swee Keat announced the Singapore Together movement in June 2019, when he outlined the 4G leaders’ new strategy of working with Singaporeans to design policies and create more community-level partnerships.

Through the Singapore Together movement, the government and Singaporeans would work together to design and implement solutions across a range of issues and policy areas. These include environmental sustainability, housing, youth and social mobility.

What are your views on the Singapore Together movement?
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(1) Singapore Together Movement is a good initiative and a good way of engagement with the citizens by the 4G leaders.
(2) The merits are aplenty :-
a. it help to buy-in on the Government policies - with participation from the citizens.
b. Citizens feel engage as they feel they can take part in National policies formulation and Nation building
c. Govt can tap ideas from a bigger pool of brains besides the Government and the civil services.
d. it prevent "groupthink"
e. it can feel the pulse of the citizens on how the policies affect them.
f. As Government policies are "jointly make" by the Government, Civil Service together with the people - People will more likely to support the Government and its policies. And this will ensure votes for the Government.
g. Citizens will feel a sense of belongings that the Country belong to them - as many take part in idea generation, contributtion and the final implementation.
(3) Particularly, I support the ideas of Whatsapp REACH forum - as it is free flow, in a large group where ideas can be challenged, supported, complemented or can be snowball -- at our own lesiure.
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As the topic is very wide, let us do some categorisation :-
HOUSING
(1) Enhancing the values of the HDB flat is an important policy to ensure that HDB when the leases end in 99 years - the HDB values will not be zero. Thus will like to hear more about VERS when this policy are crystallised.
(2) Will like to suggest some enhancement to the HIP (Home Improvement Programme) - for high rise flat - where falling windows or falling debris can cause fatality to people below :-
REACH - High rise windows
(1) To prevent windows from dropping out and injured someone below for high-ise flat, condos or apartments - HDB, private house developers should consider designing windows that open inwards than outwards.
(2) This will prevent windows from rotting at the hinges and drop out of the windows - and hurting someone below due to lack of maintenance.
(3) Good design can prevent alot of mishaps - as it is difficult for house owners to ensure all windows are at good condition all the time - as matter will decay and not visible to raw eyes.

REACH - High rise building design - to catch high rise killer litter
(1) Government should consider a mandatory safety catchment latch or cover shelter - where all 1st floor should be built for all high-rise HDB flats, condos or apartment.
(2) This mandatory safety catchment latch or cover shelter - will "catch" all killer litter that are thrown at high floor, or dropping windows, aircons etc due to decay or poor maintenance - and protect lives on those people walking below the high rise buildings.
(3) A good building design will prevent many mishaps from falling debris or killer litter.
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Concerning about difficulty of getting jobs as voice by some people here, thought there are a couple of job programme developed by the e2i, NTUC, WSG that are useful :-
(1) Train and placement
(2) Internship
(3) Skillfuture
that will help citizens to get jobs - and these programmes success rate of matching jobs seems to be getting better and better.
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Others: yes, the Adapt and Grow programme has helped some 30,000 singaporeans

https://www.unscrambled.sg/2019/08/06/ntuc-labour-mp-asked-mom-if-employment-assistance-schemes-are-effective/
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(1) Someone mention why Paya Lebar airbase and Pasir Panjang Ports want to reclaim and shift to Tengah airbase and Tuas MegaPort respectively.
(2) It is not entirely true that the airbase and ports make way to accomodate residential development and destroy nature. There are more critical justification than this.
(3) Why Paya Lebar Airbase shift to Tengah Airbase.
It is not difficult to guess :-
a. Paya Lebar Airbase is situated right at the heart of Singapore - and this have cause some problems :-
- It impose height restriction to all surrounding buildings - at least 5 km radius - thus affecting residential industrial, commercial buidlings all around it.
- This will greatly limit the economic potential of developing the whole central of Singapore.
- Loud noise impose on residents and industry at the heart of Singapore - when our F15SG scramble for training, patrolling, exercise and mission.
- Thus, it make very good sense to shift Paya Lebar Airbase to Tengah Airbase - by consolidating all airbase resources, manpower and support in one place - and this will be cost effective to manage the airbase in expanded spaces in Tengah - as Tengah is sparsely populated and have bigger land space.
- The Southern coast of Singapore (current Pasir Panjang ports) and Paya Lebar Airbase - face the risk of rising sea level when Global climate sets in. All the Southern coast need to be reinforced from rising sea level by dykes and other means.
Thus shifting Paya Lebar Airbase to Tengah is imperative.

b. Pasir Panjang ports, Keppel ports, Sembawang ports etc are facing capacity problems as our trade and port activities grow. Spagatti development of the ports don't make sense as it will cause more disparate maintenance, support, manpower resources scatter so many ports.
- Thus shifting and consolidating all these disparate ports to Tuas Megaport make sense as Tuas is a much bigger capacity port that can house more ships, more advanced technology to manage the port, more services can be offered to World trade route.
- Also Tuas Megaport are situated at the Western tip of the Country along the World sea route to the Indian Ocean, along Singapore Straits and to South China Sea.
- All the current southern ports face the risk of rising sea level and will be submerged. Thus protection such as building dykes, southern front residential buildings --- will be a good way to finance the sea protection.

So to conclude, it is not true that Paya Lebar airbase and current ports shift and consolidation is to accomodate more people.
There are more critical and pertinent reasons to it.
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Others: Hi I'm the someone
Others: Did you know Paya Lebar Airbase also accommodates a facility for maintaining commercial aircraft?
Paya Lebar also has quite a long runway to accommodate heavies as compared to Tengah
Correct me if I'm wrong
Ricky Lim: 1. Seletar airbase is for commercial aircraft.
Tengah airbase has taken more land, renovate and will be building more runway.

Others: No, you don't understand what I'm saying. In fact, no one does.
Paya Lebar does have a facility that maintains aircraft.
I've seen Air Canada and I think several JAL aircraft land at Paya Lebar for that
That's just one of the many functions of Paya Lebar other than accommodating VIP guests

Others: It's a little known fact that only aviation enthusiasts would be aware of
Not surprised if you thought I confused Paya Lebar for Seletar

Ricky Lim: Seletar airport is taking over commercial.
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Others: There you go, you don't understand what I'm talking about
Others: I believe the most Seletar can accommodate, runway wise, is a 757
You see light aircraft there often don't you, but if I'm not wrong, it can accommodate to a certain extent, some bigger aircraft
Ricky Lim: Commercial will split between Seletar and Changi.
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Ricky Lim: Commercial will split between Seletar and Changi.
Others: Understand I'm not talking about commercial operations but MRO

Ricky Lim:
Singapore's aerospace district at Seletar Airport is home to more than 30 companies. Here is a rundown of some of the commercial MROs operating at the site.
 START SLIDESHOW

Ricky Lim: Changi airport T5 will have more space for MRO.
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Ricky Lim: (1) Reading the many posts here, sounds like people want recognition for their contribution in REACH.
(2) As there are many feedback forum held online, offline or in person to person focus group, there could be more than 1 person contributing to the same idea.
(3) Thus to attest recognition to contribution will be a difficult task.
(4) Using data science, AI, natural language, machine learning, using technique such as topic modeling etc to arrange topic, according to author, date and time stamp of contribution etc will be the best tool and then publish it through the REACH platform to recognise contribution.

Ricky Lim: But there are some people who uses anonymous name in REACH contribution.
Identifying the true Author will be a challenge.

Ricky Lim: And bear in mind that the Government could have been in the midst of formulating similar ideas.
So should the author in the Government be published as well?

Ricky Lim: Eg. Singpass idea arise from 1 incident a few decades ago.
When World Wide Web was 1st develop and then web transaction introduce into banking.
Only user id and password is used for bank transaction.
Then one anonymous guy warn about the danger of people able to steal the userid and password remotely and need a second factor authentication to access the bank transaction.
True enough, one foreigner did manage to steal the userid and password via internet from 6 accounts in dbs and run away to his own country and was never caught.
Then singpass was coin as an authentication tool for web access by multiple agencies.
but as singpass is also a web access - it is still not safe.

NAF is introduce as a real 2FA using sms or secure token as OTP (one time password) - to enable secure web access.

This is how singpass and naf come about.

Ricky Lim: so how to identify and recognise that anonymous guy who snowball the idea of 2fa?

Others: I think just need to identify him as a Singaporean is enough. If he wants to take credit, he can leave his name
Others: 👍

Ricky Lim: then this come to the point of giving true credit when due.
how to find out who are the first and true contributor of the idea?
it can be one person, or multiple person or it can be a few person who arrive at the same idea about the same time.
or it can be an idea that is rudimentary, more other snowball the ideas to something bigger.

Others: If you are really doing it for the benefit of everyone else ie. for altruistic reasons, I don’t think you would care much for that. However, if it’s for “glory” or profit motives, then I guess it is the “inventor’s” job to make sure he/she guard his/her intellectual property properly so that he/she can reap the benefits later on.

Others: Isnt that ideas are to make Singapore a better place that in return benefit everyone here? For the greatest good in our community, our nation.

Ricky Lim: : Precisely, contribution for the greater good should be the goal.

Ricky Lim: : Another example.
A guy use an anonymous name to coin up the whole concept of ITM (Industry Transformation Map) in 2012 to tackle disruptive tech by transforming industries sector-by-sector and training workers to re-skill in order to keep their jobs.
But he did not use the term ITM. ITM is given by the Government and was announced in 2016 Budget.
Then how to recognise this anonymous guy?

Others: Recognition can be given in terms of National day awards. I felt that the recipients are mainly grassroots leader or people from civil service.

Ricky Lim: Scrambling for recognition miss the whole meaning.

Others: Some people just do it as a civic duty. Just like our first gen leaders. There were a crisis in so Singapore they step up to the challenge and they are intelligent and strategic and have for EQ too
Others: Just curious, PMD went thru this process? If yes. The. There's lessons to learn. Is the government really listening???

Ricky Lim: So how to inculcate the values of the 1st G leaders?

Others: Start from home

Ricky Lim: One statement round this up.
"One for All.
All for One."

One idea for Everyone.
Everyone's ideas for One Nation."

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Others: Correct me if I am wrong,  REACH 's aim is to reach all Singaporeans..  But the ultimate goal of our Maker is peace on earth and harmony amongst the world,  so we could call each other Brothers and Sisters and friends and companions...
Others: Fiction rather than fact in real life

Ricky Lim: People may think it is not possible. But it can also apply to foreign policy.

Anonymous
Singapore

We are consistent with our priniciple of :-
"Make friends with all and make no enemies".
"Forge mutual benefits with Win-Win outcome".

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People may think it is not possible. But it can also apply to foreign policy.

Anonymous
Singapore
We are consistent with our priniciple of :-
"Make friends with all and make no enemies".
"Forge mutual benefits with Win-Win outcome".

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And it is the official foreign policy of Singapore :-
Be friends with all and enemies with none, but don't compromise national interests: Vivian Balakrishnan
Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/.../be-friends-with-all...
By Liyana Othman @LiyanaOthmanCNA
17 Jul 2017 06:19PM (Updated: 17 Jul 2017 08:49PM

Anonymoua
Singapore
Singapore may be small.
But our Mind and our Heart - must be Big - and can accomdate the World to be our Friends with no Adversaries.

Anonymous
广结善缘。
善哉，善哉。

Anonymous
Singapore
发自内心，凡事以双赢为主，互惠互利 - 就有永远的朋友。
”朋友满天下，敌人无一个“  - 以这样的信念 - 就有永远的朋友。

Anonymous
Singapore
凡是以利益至上 - 当利益不在时 - 朋友便没有了。
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Ricky Lim: And what is the tangible outcome of this foreign policies:-

- we are able to make friends practically with every Countries in the World.

- we able to have FTAs, ASEAN economic community, CPTPP, the coming RCEP with msny Countries.

- we are able to forge many security partnership with many military powers eg. ADMM, US, China, regional Countries to safeguard our security and safety etc.

Ricky Lim: And the most important, we are able to unite diversity within our Country regardless of race, language, religion, diverse interest group - and not be splinter into civil war eg HK, Chile etc.

Just with this principle:-
"One for All.
All for One."

- our 1st G leaders values.

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Others: My impression of the Singapore Together movement is that it is a form of ‘crowd sourcing’ of ‘brainstorming’ of ideas for the public good. Sure, some people may want recognition whilst there are those who want to contribute anonymously, so there is a range of feelings about recognition but ultimately it is to benefit Singapore society at large. The government, being the largest organization and having most resources is the only entity that is capable of spreading the benefits of ideas and implementing them.

Others: We have all in some way or other benefited from the progressive ideas and improvements adopted, although some ideas may have ended with unintended consequences.

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Others: I just read the CNA news article on the Singapore Together movement. I believe it is a good initiative by our Government to include our diverse viewpoints in their decision making. The Government is telling us that they respect us and we are important in nation building. I am all for it. This is the way to go if we want to make Singapore achieve greater heights.

My concern is whether the Government is able to truly achieve this, because in doing so there needs to be transparency, and there are times when I’m not seeing this. Sometimes the G just brushed off our concerns. Sometimes the G just decided on certain initiatives without even consulting us. Sometimes when people object, they immediately moved to silence opposing views and even use the mainstream media as propaganda tools.

One example is 5G implementation. Some people feedback that there are no long term safety tests for the technology, expressing concern that 5G could be a health hazard. Some countries / cities have already stopped 5G implementation. But our G didn’t, they just referred to one science paper claiming that 5G is ‘safe’, and that we’re going ahead.

Another example is the HPV vaccination for secondary school girls. This was just sprung to us out of the blue, there was no public consultation.  Some parents have expressed concern on vaccine safety. Instead of explaining in detail why they believe the vaccine was safe, they immediately launched an attack on the parents, usually mothers. They declared that all those videos showing vaccine injuries were fake (how can they tell?) and CNA ran an opinion piece to insult mothers and insinuate that mothers are stupid and spread fake news. ST scrubbed out an old news that reported deaths caused by a dengue vaccine in Philippines. They did not inform parents that all vaccines come with package inserts that detail out the adverse reactions and ingredients and they can read about it. They quoted WHO on vaccine safety and kept silent about a section in the WHO website that listed all the adverse reactions vaccine by vaccine, drug by drug. (Gardasil has > 90+k reported adverse reactions, the last time I read.) They even wasted taxpayers money to engage Rui En to advertise for the measles vaccines (which are mandatory by law anyway) and insinuate that mothers who delayed the measles vaccination do not love their children. The G’s attitude in this case was “I am right you are wrong”, and they had no hesitation in attacking people who do not buy their propaganda.

The 5G and especially the HPV vaccine case are 2 examples where our G acted superior and do not respect the people. So, moving forward, our G needs to reflect on how such cases in future should be handled. If they are truly sincere in listening to diverse views, then they should be more transparent, stop the propagandas, and minimize laws that coerce people to act against their conscience. In the HPV vaccine case, they did well by making the vaccine optional instead of mandatory. In the 5G case, perhaps they could have advised the people on how the 5G effects can be mitigated.

In other words, initiative is great, but implementation needs more work.

Ricky Lim: Your concern about 5G health concern was address.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/5g-health-risks-cancer-concerns-radiowaves-radiation-faq-11727932

Others: My concern about 5G is how little we understand about it
A lot of people still think it's just another number (like 2G to 3G to 4G) but 5G has serious implications if not regulated properly

Others: 5G will become the backbone of autonomous systems
If the access to such a mainframe isn't guarded properly, just as shown in the countless data breaches we have already experienced, it will pose a serious security issue.

Ricky Lim: When digesting critics, we also have to access the geopolitical background about 5G.

China are far ahead on 5G while US is far behind after many of their telcos, bell labs and RnD are sold off for profit.

Hence there are sudden surge in paper critics to discredit 5G.

But the same critics sing praise on 4G when US has an unassailable lead in google, youtube, cloud, amazon etc.

Just like recreation drugs like majurina, cannabis, heroin where drug companies sing praise.

But US, UK and many Western countries have declared their legal drugs have go out of control and the harm they caused are tremendous.

Others: 5 minutes to go but I'd like to seek your opinion on the security aspect of 5G which I brought up

Ricky Lim: Cyber security is now within the CSA domain who is overseeing 11 to 12 CII (Critical information infrawtructure).

Others: I don't see a need for us to jump onto the hype train for 5G almost immediately

We must understand its repercussions

Others: But implementation takes a long time.  Look at wireless payment via QR code.  We lauded China for being so fast, but ours took time due to the risks involved.  Yet the G was blamed for being slow.

Others: China on the other hand is cuz of their surveillance methods
Others: That was tremendously fast
Others: Standardizing everything into a system they can easily control

Ricky Lim: whoever rule 5G rule the world.

just when US rule 4G rule the current tech world.

see hiw rich goggle, amazon, facebook, microsoft are.

Others: Their social credit system, heard of it? The QR code is part of that.
Others: I think that is the advantage of being a communist country 😂😂

Others: It's actually the truth
And then we have the rumours that Huawei is spying so it makes implementation all the harder

Others: I believe it's too tight but then again the PRC isn't 100% communist anymore
Others: By the time 5G is fully implemented, trust me all security and safety measures are in place.

Ricky Lim: china come out witj QR - a total new system becos they dun want to be held hostage by US financial system visa, mastercard.
we adopt US system and thus hard to change to QR overnite.
but now our SQ QR is in place.

Others: Good insight
And it's better for them to manage their internal affairs
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