Dr Beh Swan Gin will be appointed as Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)’s Managing Director from August 1, succeeding Mr Ko Kheng Hua who will be joining private sector, EDB said yesterday.

Dr Beh Swan Gin (below) will be appointed as Managing Director of EDB with effect from 1 August 2008. He will succeed Mr Ko Kheng Hwa, who will be joining the private sector after 29 years of distinguished service in the public sector. This change is part of EDB’s leadership renewal and succession plan.

Dr Beh is currently EDB’s Assistant Managing Director with responsibilities for the Corporate Development, as well as Planning and Policy Groups. He is also formerly a director of the Energy Planning Division at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Beh has held “various portfolios within EDB, ranging from industry development to global operations, from planning & policy to corporate development,” said EDB Chairman Lim Siong Guan. “As such, he has been immersed in many areas of EDB’s work, and is intimately familiar with the challenges and opportunities that we face in developing Singapore’s economy.”

Under Mr Ko’s leadership, manufacturing fixed investment exceeding SGP $ 10 billions to 16 billions, service investment totaling record SGP $ 3 billion, and create 28,000 jobs.

Also see the news in Channel News Asia

Mr Beh Swan Gin is appointed as Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)’s Managing Director from August 1, succeeding Mr Ko Kheng Hua who will be joining private sector, EDB said yesterday.

Dr Beh Swan Gin will be appointed as Managing Director of EDB with effect from 1 August 2008. He will succeed Mr Ko Kheng Hwa, who will be joining the private sector after 29 years of distinguished service in the public sector. This change is part of EDB’s leadership renewal and succession plan.

Dr Beh is currently EDB’s Assistant Managing Director with responsibilities for the Corporate Development, as well as Planning and Policy Groups. He is also formerly a director of the Energy Planning Division at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Beh has held “various portfolios within EDB, ranging from industry development to global operations, from planning & policy to corporate development,” said EDB Chairman Lim Siong Guan. “As such, he has been immersed in many areas of EDB’s work, and is intimately familiar with the challenges and opportunities that we face in developing Singapore’s economy.”

Under Mr Ko’s leadership, manufacturing fixed investment exceeding SGP $ 10 billions to 16 billions, service investment totaling record SGP $ 3 billion, and create 28,000 jobs.

Mr Beh Swan Gin is appointed as Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)’s Managing Director from August 1, succeeding Mr Ko Kheng Hua who will be joining private sector. Under Mr Ko’s leadership, manufacturing fixed investment exceeding SGP $ 10 billions to 16 billions, service investment totaling record SGP $ 3 billion, and create 28,000 jobs

Trisha Lin

July 09, 2008

The first stage of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) in Yangon was announced in  the 3rd Meeting of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force . The Tripartite Core Group (TCG) of ASEAN, Government of the Union of Myanmar, and the United Nations has been meeting regularly to monitor, coordinate and facilitate the flow of international relief aid into the cyclone-hit areas. More than 300 people from international aid agencies, government officials, Red Cross Movement, INGO and NGO members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and volunteers took part in the exercise.

According to Dr. Puji Pujiono in the task force, the PONJA that used rigorous protocols and methodologies to implement the assessment with both scientific and international standards was conducted jointly by TCG components and partners to assess comprehensively all sectors through unimpeded access to more than 300 villages throughout the Delta. 

Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Chairman of the Task Force and Secretary-General of ASEAN stated that the exercise will be the basis for further cooperation and collaboration. “We want to ensure that the conditions and reservations expressed by the representatives of 51 countries, the international institutions, international NGOs who attended the ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference on 25 May 2008 in Yangon – issues related to transparency, accessibility and the issue of reaching the affected people – are addressed through this community-based assessment”, Dr. Surin said.

In the past week, the TCG learnt that swift action taken by the Ministry of Health of Myanmar with the support of the United Nations, ASEAN, the Red Cross, and international/national NGOs has prevented mass outbreak of disease that was feared after the cyclone. ”Judging the progress at the eights week so far, the TCG efforts in managing response and preparing the recovery has placed Myanmar Nargis in much more advanced stage compared to Aceh Tsunami then. No doubt, the journey to recovery will be uphill and arduous.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Daniel Baker said,”The preliminary findings provide us with the impetus to intensify our ongoing relief and early recovery efforts. The findings will provide critical inputs to the Appeal Revision scheduled to be released both in the UN in New York and Geneva on 10 July”.  The full report is to be released by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Singapore on 20 – 21 July 2008. The TCG also welcomed Singapore’s donation of Ground Handling Equipment on 26 June 2008.

International aid given to Myanmar, which was hit by a cyclone in May killing over 100,000 people and displacing millions, has reached more than 1.3 million people, said the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) set up to monitor and co-ordinate relief aid yesterday.

The group, comprising ASEAN, the Myanmar government and the United Nations said it has facilitated additional capacity to be deployed to the Delta , and provided support for the transit of relief items into Myanmar and down into the Delta, according to an assessment update.

It has also authorised entry visas and extension of stay permits to 294 officials and individuals coming to Myanmar for extending assistance to Cyclone Nargis.

The efforts come two months after international humanitarian organisations complained of lack of co-operation from the Myanmar government which limited their accessibility to the disaster-stricken areas.

The full report is to be released by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Singapore on 20 – 21 July 2008.

More than 300 people from international aid agencies, government officials, Red Cross Movement, INGO and NGO members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and volunteers took part in the joint assessment exercise.

Chairman of the Task Force and Secretary-General of ASEAN Dr. Surin Pitsuwan said the exercise will be the basis for further cooperation and collaboration.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Daniel Baker said,”The preliminary findings provide us with the impetus to intensify our ongoing relief and early recovery efforts.

Tan Kheng Meng

In the past week, The Tripartite Core Group (TCG) of ASEAN learnt that swift action taken by the Ministry of Health of  Myammar with the support of the United Nations, ASEAN, the Red Cross, and international/national NGOs has prevented mass outbreak of disease that was feared after the cyclone.

Ten medical teams from ASEAN and other countries participated in a Medical Missions Feedback Workshop, held in Yangon on 23 June 2008, to provide feedback to the Myanmar Minister of Health, ASEAN and the WHO/Health Cluster.

Subsequently, in the ASEAN Roundtable, also held in Yangon on 24 June 2008, the TCG members noted experiences of ASEAN and neighbouring countries in post-disaster response and recovery as presented by experts. Heru Prasetyo of Tsunami Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Aceh and Nias, Indonesia, was optimistic. ”Judging the progress at the eights week so far, the TCG efforts in managing response and preparing the recovery has placed Myanmar Nargis in much more advanced stage compared to Aceh Tsunami then. No doubt, the journey to recovery will be uphill and arduous”, he said. 

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Jeremy Wagstaff

Here’s a piece from the New York Times that shows off how useful links can be in a story. I counted 13 links in a 570 word piece.

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Jeremy Wagstaff

Here’s a piece from the New York Times that shows off how useful links can be in a story. I counted 13 links in a 570 word piece.

4 M’sians arrested in first cross-border movie piracy crackdown

By Chua Hian Hou

FOUR Malaysians selling pirated movies to Singapore buyers have been nabbed in the first joint operation between law enforcement agencies from both sides of the Causeway against pirated movie syndicates.

Last Thursday, a Malaysian man delivering pirated movies to Singaporeans was caught in an ambush by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department intellectual property rights branch (IPRB) near Bukit Merah.

The 37-year-old Chinese man was charged in the Subordinate Courts last Saturday for bringing in pirated materials, said a police spokesman. He is being remanded.

The Straits Times understands that the suspect was driving a Malaysian-registered car with 300 pirated movie discs. He is also believed to have given police some information on the buyers, but the authorities usually go after those selling pirated materials.

In separate raids, officers from Malaysia’s Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, the IPRB’s Malaysian counterparts, hit four retail outlets in the notorious pirate haunt of Holiday Plaza, a mall popular with Singaporeans.

They arrested three individuals and seized 4,000 pirated discs. One of the retail outlets had been running a website offering Singaporean buyers pirated movies; the site has since been taken down.

Malaysian pirate syndicates have been offering delivery services to Singapore shoppers for some years now, to avoid customs checks at the Causeway.

It is illegal under Films Act to bring in uncensored movies. Those convicted face penalties of up to $500 in fines and six months jail. Those in possession of large quantities of pirated materials can be hauled up under the Copyright Act.

In recent years, syndicates have launched websites to allow buyers to order online. A minimum order of about 20 discs is usually required for delivery. Buyers must pay by cash. Some syndicates pre-arrange the drop-off time and location through e-mail, while others ask for the buyer’s mobile number.

Mr Mike Ellis, president (Asia Pacific) of movie industry watchdog Motion Picture Association said the operation ‘demonstrates both the Singapore and Malaysian governments’ commitment in taking aggressive actions in clamping down on pirate syndicates.’