pe bulletin - july 2014
DESCRIPTION
PE Bulletin - July 2014TRANSCRIPT
[email protected] Punggol East SMC
Ramadan Porridge Distribution
Date: 20 July 2014 (Sun), 5pmVenue: Blk 182 Rivervale Crescent
Punggol East BulletinJuly 2014
What’s Coming Up
Meet-the-People Session
Blk 135 Rivervale StreetEvery Monday except public holidays7.30pm to 9.30pm
Welcome!
Dear Residents of Punggol East,
Most of you are probably aware of my pregnancy. You have either read about it from the news or saw me physically. Thank you for the many well-wishes and advice I’ve received during this period. I would like to take this opportunity to share my joy with everyone; I have smoothly delivered my baby girl on 1st July.
During my confinement period, both MPs Low Thia Khiang and Png Eng Huat will take turns to cover me for Meet the People Session (MPS) duties. Like always, I am contactable via email at [email protected] or if you prefer to speak to me please call 6686 6221 during office hours and leave your contact details. I will do my best to get back to you in 3 working days.
The Chinese lunar seventh month is around the corner. The Town Council seeks your cooperation to exercise greater caution when conducting religious activities such as the burning of incense papers and joss sticks. To help minimise potential hazards during this period, the public is advised to always use the incense burners or metal containers provided by the Town Council when making religious offerings in public areas.
I trust that the June school holidays have been a fruitful and enjoyable one. School has started and here’s to a very fulfilling second half of the year: all the best, young friends!
I hope to resume my house visits from mid-August and I look forward to meeting more residents.
Thank you,
Lee Li LianHari Raya Celebrations
Date: 23 Aug 2014 (Sat)Venue: Blk 186 Rivervale DriveTickets: $8 each, please call Azman (90907901)
1. Free parking on Sundays and Public Holidays, Blk 180 Rivervale Crescent.
Residents of the new BTO flats at Rivervale Arc have been asking for Free parking on Sundays and Public Holidays (FPS) for the multi-storey car park, Blk 180 Rivervale Crescent.
Responding to our request earlier this year, HDB said it wanted to monitor the car park for 6 months to better de-termine its usage. We finally got the good news on this and residents were already notified by the HDB circular that, with effect from 25 May 2014, FPS from 7am to 10.30pm would be implemented at the car park.
Town Updates (Continued on page 2)
National Day Flag Distribution
Date: 9 Aug 2014 (Sat), MorningVenue: Rivervale Plaza
Tea with Li Lian
Date: 31 Aug 2014 (Sun), 4pmVenue: To be announced
Punggol East Bulletin July 2014
Punggol East SMC 2
Town Updates (cont’d)
2. Pathway between St Anne’s Wood and Rivervale Mall
Some motorcyclists and cyclists have been using the pathway between St Anne’s Wood and Rivervale Mall as a shortcut. This is a potential danger to pedestrians, especially young chil-dren and elderly folks who use the playground in the area. We alerted this issue to the Public Utilities Board, which replied they would be installing staggered bollards by end May to pre-vent motorcyclists and cyclists from using the pathway as shortcut. PUB advised that the bollards would not
impede baby pram and wheelchair users from using the pathway.
3. Illegal parking outside Rivervale Mall (video)
A resident emailed this video to Li Lian. When we create convenience for ourselves, let us not forget that sometimes by doing so we are creat-ing inconveniences for others. LTA re-ceived repeated complaints and have stepped up efforts on enforcement in this area.
4. 2015 Calendar Photography Competition
Participate in the Town Council’s 2015 Calendar Photography Competition, themed: “Neighbourhood Stories @ Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East
Town”! 12 Winners will each stand to win prizes worth $200 each and the winning entries will be featured in the 2015 Calendar, which will be distrib-uted to all the HDB households in our town. Click on the image below to go to the Town Council page for more de-tails!
5. Wheelchair-accessible bus ser-vice 371
From Sunday, 29 June 2014Four more Wheelchair-accessible Bus* Services
will be launched
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26,
27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 43, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53,
54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63/63M, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70/70M, 72, 73,
76, 78, 79, 80, 82, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98/98M, 99,
100, 101, 105, 109, 111, 112, 113, 116, 119, 120, 123/123M, 124, 125,
128, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143/143M, 145,
147, 151, 154, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162/162M, 163/163M, 165, 166,
168, 174, 175, 181, 182/182M, 183, 185, 186, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197,
198, 199, 222, 225, 228, 229, 231, 232, 235, 238, 240, 241, 242, 243,
261, 265, 268, 269, 272, 273, 275, 282, 284, 285, 291, 292, 293, 315,
317, 325, 333, 334, 335, 354, 358, 359, 372, 400, 402, 403, 410, 502,
506, 513, 518.
83 121
155 371
*Passengers-in-wheelchairs should only board buses with the wheelchair decal displayed on the windscreen.
168 Wheelchair-accessible Bus Services are already available:
For feedback on our bus services, please call our Customer Relations Centre at 1800-287 2727 or visit our website www.sbstransit.com.sg
如欲反映巴士服务情况如欲反映巴士服务情况如欲反映巴士服务情况如欲反映巴士服务情况，，，，请致电我们的顾客联络中心请致电我们的顾客联络中心请致电我们的顾客联络中心请致电我们的顾客联络中心 1800-287 2727 或查阅我们的网站或查阅我们的网站或查阅我们的网站或查阅我们的网站 www.sbstransit.com.sgCompany Registration Number : 199206653M
Features
This is an excerpt from Li Lian’s speech for the Parliamentary Debate on the President’s Address, 29 May 2014. Please click on the image be-low to access the full speech.
Divorcees and Home Ownership
I would like to propose that the Minis-try looks into further shortening or to do away with the debarment period especially for rental flats for divorcees with children, given the challenges they face with their existing options. The Ministry should also consider ex-panding the number of 3 room flats under Parenthood Provisional Hous-ing Scheme (PPHS). Under PPHS, the take-up rates for 4 and 5-room flats are much lower due to high rent-al costs and most families looking to rent under the scheme may not be big enough to be able to justify renting a larger flat. ... The Government under-standably takes a pro-family stand in
the development of our policies. How-ever the breakdown of a marriage is difficult enough for most parties, especially where there are children involved. What the state should do to support these Singaporeans is to make it easier for them to be able to find housing, so that they can move on with their lives and provide their children with an element of stability amidst an already tough situation.
Low Income Singaporeans and Their Foreign Spouses
Priority should be given to applica-tions by Singapore family units. This was outlined in the WP Population White Paper, which states that the process of new citizenship naturaliza-tion should prioritize foreign spouses of Singaporeans. This is especially with regard to “resident foreign spous-es who have settled in Singapore […] Many of them are parents of children
who are citizens. They are a group that is naturally integrated in the Sin-gaporean core, and priority should be given to them when granting new citizenships”. ... We need to be able to distinguish foreigners who want to make a home here with their Singa-porean family from those who want to use Singapore as a stepping stone. It is important to recognize that it is the Singaporeans and their Singapor-ean children who suffer most in such situations. I urge the Government to review this to keep the family unit in mind.
Availability of Student Care
While it is good to learn from the Min-ister for Education at the last COS that MOE will increase the number of school-based student care centres by 50%, or 40 more, this number is still
Supporting Young Families and Vulnerable Groups
(Continued on page 3)
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Supporting Young Families and Vulnerable Groups (cont’d)
not enough to meet the growing de-mand for such centres. Unlike child-care, student care operators are not subjected to Ministry’s supervision for quality. In the last COS, Minister for Social and Family Development said that MSF will work with WDA to offer training and potential courses to either new entrants or existing teachers in the student care services. I would like to urge the Government to put in more effort into the expansion of student care centres as well as enhancing the quality of our student care teachers.
Flexible Work Options
Work-life harmony has been tackled exclusively in the domain of manpow-er policy. This clearly has not worked. As work-life harmony is associated with business performance and pro-ductivity, there is a need for closer coordination between ministries that are concerned with productivity. The
National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC), which brings together representatives from the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Education, Manpower and Finance, is a very appropriate body to ad-dress work-life harmony. The council
should integrate work-life strategies into its industry-specific productivity strategies and campaigns. This will also have the advantage of customis-ing work-life strategies to the specific work processes, contexts and needs of different industries.
PECC volunteer Yudhishthra Nathan caught up with Mr Chia Lai Soon for an interview in May. The resourceful Mr Chia has been generously sup-porting our welfare outreach to vul-nerable families and other community grassroots events. He is an inspira-tion to PECC volunteers for his sincer-ity, humility and, most of all, big heart.
YN: How did you first get involved in charity work? What made you want to give back to the community?
CLS: It all started with the Lions Clubs of Singapore. I am a member of the Lions Club of Singapore Khatib Man-darin. It is an international service or-ganisation that focuses on giving back to the community through community service projects. I feel that it is time to give back to the society as we go along in life and that there is no right time to give. If everyone can just give a little help, it will create a more hu-mane society or community; but most importantly we must know there are no boundaries or limits to this kind of service.
YN: Do you think that Singaporeans are charitable in general?
CLS: There is quite a number. Singa-poreans are by and large a passive people who are not attuned to show-ing emotions, especially in public and to strangers, but we have shown and proven again and again that whenev-er there is a need or appeal for help, we roll up our sleeves and get down to work, making every cent and every effort count.
And this communal spirit extends to the non-Singaporeans and out of
Singapore as well. Take for example the recent rioting in Little India. Many charities and individuals have ex-tended help and services and stood up for the Indian nationals, in spite of the many voices speaking out against the foreign migrant influx into Singa-pore. We have also rallied around our neighbours in first-time response when disasters struck them, for exam-ples, Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines, Fukushima tsunami and nuclear plant explosion in Japan, and the 2008 Si-chuan earthquake in China.
YN: Do you perhaps have any future plans to help the community in your own way?
CLS: I think we have to continually build on what we have been doing every time we reach a certain stage so that we can extend help to more people and do more for the society. I hope I can encourage and inspire my friends and acquaintances around me to contribute to the community ser-vices I am involved in as they witness my personal hands-on participation in the projects and activities. We have to
Interview with Mr Chia Lai Soon
(Continued on page 4)
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Interview with Mr Chia Lai Soon (cont’d)
inspire more people or organisations to help one another and showing by example speaks louder than anything else.
YN: How do you think young people could be more involved in community work? What are some of the avenues available to get involved in such work?
CLS: There are many different chan-nels available in Singapore for the youths to get involved in commu-
nity work. They can start with their schools, participating in Flag Days and any social cause that the schools have adopted. For example, Repub-lic Polytechnic adopted a park nearby the school; students can make it a personal commitment to do something for the environment through their par-ticipation in the adoption. Otherwise there are many school and commu-nity based service organisations that they can join. For example, the Lions Clubs have a Leo Club Programme in
many of the local schools and tertiary institutions that the students can sign up for and learn how to get involved with community services and leader-ship qualities and skills at the same time.
YN: Do you have any advice for young people who are involved in community work to stay interested and involved?
CLS: It is about doing small things on a regular basis that makes the biggest impact on the community. Young peo-ple need not and should not be intimi-dated by the presumption that they have to take on a large undertaking or be involved big time in order to be considered giving back to the commu-nity. Start with what they know to do best. If singing is their forte, then vol-unteer to sing to the elderly and sick or young. If cooking is their passion, then make it a point to cook hot meals for the less privileged once a month. If computers and gaming is what they are into, then offer to teach IT classes to the elderly at one of the many activ-ity centres around the island catered to them. There is no limit to what they can do, as long as they want to be in-volved.
Madam, always good to see you and your mum!
Li Lian’s PE ExperienceTea With Li Lian (25 May 2014 and 22 June 2014)
Events
Punggol East Bulletin July 2014
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Events (cont’d)
The Punggol East Constituency Committee (PECC) aims to bring residents together to interact and know one another better through activities and community events.
The Punggol East Bulletin is published by the PECC editorial team, edited by Daniel Goh and Sng Poh Liang, with photographs by Jacky Koh. For enquiries and feedback on the bulletin, please email [email protected]
Preschool Learning on a Budget (22 June 2014)
Ramadan Food Distribution (29 June 2014)
Li Lian was invited to an event or-ganised by graduating students from Temasek Polytechnic’s “Early Child-hood Care & Education”. The event which took place from 10am to 1pm, at Blk 181 Rivervale Crescent, was aimed to generate greater aware-ness for pre-school education among
young parents. Craft and games stalls were set up to encourage children to participate and experience what is taught in pre-school. Thank you to the organizers for bringing this to Punggol East!
This is the 2nd year I am invited to participate in this event and it is the 12th year Mr Jani, family and friends are doing this. This event is made possible by warm-hearted neighbours and friends who come together to cook and give away 120kg of meat and rice on a weekly basis during Ra-madan. Distribution will usually start from 2pm at Blk 184C Rivervale Cres-cent. Here is wishing all our Muslim friends a blessed Ramadan!