President Tharman’s first state visit to Malaysia
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam met with King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar on his first state visit to Malaysia.
Both leaders encouraged the countries to expand ways to strengthen people-to-people relations, including among younger generations of Singaporeans and Malaysians, as well as forge deeper cooperation in areas such as renewable energy and sustainable development.
Singapore and Malaysia are “leaning forward” on ASEAN matters and share a vision for the regional grouping to become a powerhouse for green energy and data centres, said President Tharman to Singapore media on the last day of his visit.
AGO’s report reveals several lapses by government agencies
Singapore’s public accounts watchdog, the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO), flagged lapses and irregularities across government agencies in its latest audit.
Some of the issues include banned individuals allowed in casinos, issues with construction contracts for the National Cancer Centre Singapore building and HDB flats and grants allocated to ineligible applicants.
In a statement on July 15, the Ministry of Finance said the Government takes the AGO’s observations seriously and has taken steps to address them.
GovTech retrenches 93 staff, with more jobs to be affected from restructuring
The Government Technology Agency or GovTech, has retrenched 93 staff and expects a total of seven to nine per cent of roles in its workforce to be affected by restructuring in the next two years.
GovTech chair Chng Kai Fong said, “This is not an AI-driven downsizing exercise. This shift began years before the current AI wave.”
The restructuring is meant to take GovTech from managing projects delivered by vendors to running products itself, said Mr Chng.
The union, which represents GovTech’s workers, the Amalgamated Union of Statutory Board Employees (AUSBE), said, “While we have explored redeployment and retraining pathways, a small number of officers will transition out of GovTech.”
Bloomberg Defamation suit ends with $230k awarded to each Shanmugam and Tan See Leng
Cabinet Ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng will both be awarded $230,000 in damages after their nearly two-year-long defamation suit against news company Bloomberg.
Justice Audrey Lim found that real estate reporter Low De Wei, who wrote the article headlined “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, in which the ministers were mentioned, knew certain information used was false, or had published without caring whether it was true.
The judge said Bloomberg’s conduct in removing the paywall for the article also demonstrated malice, adding that it was done to make the article accessible to the broader public.
RTS Link to spur S’poreans to spend $1 billion more in JB a year
When the Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link begins passenger service in January 2027, Singaporeans are projected to spend $1.05 billion more across the Causeway – nearly 40 per cent higher than the $756 million increase in spending by JB visitors in Singapore.
The projections come from a joint study released on July 16, examining how the RTS Link could reshape consumer spending, tourism flows and business competitiveness in Singapore’s retail and food and beverage sectors.
The study projects a 51 per cent annual increase in Singapore consumers crossing over to JB once the railway shuttle opens, with groceries, pharmacies, dining and beauty currently topping the list of categories Singaporeans spend on.
2027 school year to begin from Jan 4
Pupils entering Kindergarten 1 and Primary 1 in Ministry of Education (MOE) schools in 2027 will start their school year on Jan 4, along with secondary school students, the ministry said on July 14.
Pupils who are in Kindergarten 2, or Primary 2 to 6, in 2027 will report to school a day later, on Jan 5. The final day of the school year for MOE kindergartens and primary and secondary schools will be Nov 19. However, schools serving as venues for the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate written examinations will end earlier, on Oct 29.
There will be no school on the following days: July 4 and 5 (Youth Day and the day after), Aug 10 (Day after National Day), Sept 3 (Teachers’ Day) and Oct 8 (Children’s Day, only for primary school pupils).
