Sunday, December 31, 2023

Those we love don’t go away

"Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day, unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear."

Source: Internet 

人性潜规则

转发:

人性潜规则

1、冷漠,可以省去80%的麻烦。


2、金钱,可以解决99%的问题。


3、没有通知你的事,一律装作不知道。


4、没有邀请你的饭局,一律不打听。


5、发消息不回的人,一律不发第二次。


6、发消息两次不回就算了,因为你没有价值性,人家才不当一回事。


7、任何时候,都少提建议,闭嘴的鱼最不容易被鱼钩钩住。


8、很多人对你的关心,其实都是想看看你过得有多惨。


9、一个很久不联系的人突然找你借钱,大概率是他身边的朋友都已经被他借遍了。


10、所有伤害你的人,基本都是故意的,因为在伤害你之前,他已经权衡利弊了。


11、一群人大笑时,每个人都会不自觉的都会不自觉的看自己最在意的人。


12、你被人拿捏的关键,是你对他透露了太多自己的信息。


13、人只会对自己喜欢的东西,才会特别的上心。


14、你对这个社会了解多少,你的财富就有多少。


15、社会中,谁胆大,谁的机会就越多。


16、亲人中,谁最富,谁的亲戚就越多。


17、办事中,谁尽量,谁就不会帮你。


18、谁过来和你说公道话,谁就和你不是一个立场。


19、谁过来劝你大度一点,谁就是不安好心。


20、当有人和你谈感情的时候,就是要让你牺牲利益的时候。


21、当一碗水端不平的时候,牺牲那个善良的就会被平息,如果那个善良的不愿意,就会被扣上不懂事的帽子。


22、不要花太多时间去处理关系,有了钱,有了本事,一切关系都很顺畅,如果不顺畅,那是因为钱,和本事还不够。


23、世上只有两样东西靠谱:一是你的身体,二是你赚钱的能力,其他都是扯淡。


24、说话,要留有余地,不要把话说满。逢人只说三分话,知人不评人。


25、装傻,就是看破不说破,揣着明白装糊涂。


26、别人说话为难你的时候,不必解释,学会反问。


27、人与人相处,最舒服的关系,都符合“三七定律”。


28、跟同事,不要互相聊工资,一旦平衡的局面被打破,恐怕不是你走,就是他辞职。


29、虽然同事之间关系良好,但最好不要混成朋友。保持一定的距离可以避免工作和个人生活互相干扰。


30、再聊得来、再投缘的同事关系,在利益冲突面前都是脆弱的。


31、欺负你的人,都是因为你的软弱而来。


32、欣赏你的人,都是因为你的自信而来。


33、所谓的,同学聚会,不过是,相互炫耀的场所。


34、所谓的,失言,不过是,一不小心说了的实话。


35、能花钱解决的事,就不要用人情,人情比钱更贵。


36、恨你有,笑你无,嫌你穷,怕你富,人性不过如此。


37、要警惕别人无缘无故的赞美,思考其背后的动机。


38、没有突然升温的友情,如果有,那就是对方正在利用你。


39、赚钱和开心的事情少和别人分享,除非是你的父母和你的爱人。


40、一个人问你做什么工作,本质上在确认对你的尊重程度。


41、你的故事在别人的口中,不是添油加醋版,而是断章取义版。


42、让人闭嘴的永远不是道理,而是你的身份。


43、以前对你不好的人,突然对你好,不是他良心发现,而是他正好需要你。


44、这个社会上,没有人会因为你的懦弱和自卑而对你网开一面,只会因为你的强大而尊重你。


45、人性的本质就是,你越是做事果断、我行我素、不服就干,就越有人欣赏你;你越是老实、善良、心慈手软,就越是有人欺负你。



Mao Zedong's Photos

毛泽东:毛主席1929年留下的唯一照片, 80年后才被发现。


这张照片是毛主席1929年留下的唯一照片,80年后才被发现,当地的博物馆都想要。左起:朱良才,谭政,毛泽东,陈毅。据朱良才的儿子朱新春,女儿朱小秋介绍,这张照片是父亲从龙岩寄回老家湖南汝城的。当时,老家人怕被民团搜到,就把它裱在中堂壁板上,2009年翻修老屋时才偶然发现。

(来源: 网上)

2023年即将到站


 

Excessive use of 10-year series can be bad for students

Excessive use of 10-year series can be bad for students

https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/excessive-use-of-10-year-series-can-be-bad-for-students

2023-12-30

Jason Tan

As the new school year draws near, it is time for industrious students to obtain copies of their 10-year series.

Often, the question is not whether one needs a 10-year series but whether one should get both the topical and the yearly formats. 

The answer is usually yes, when schools and tuition centres increasingly require both for revision.

So common is this local practice that Wikipedia lists an entry for “Ten Year Series” by defining it first as a term used by many Singaporeans to refer to compilations of past national test papers. 

These days, the use of the 10-year series has assumed epic proportions. Beyond the major national examinations, the papers now include tests for other levels of school, even in the face of the Ministry of Education (MOE) scaling back examinations at primary and secondary school levels. 

The longstanding underground practice of compiling and printing other schools’ examination papers also persists despite official warnings of possible copyright infringement from the authorities.

Self-help group Yayasan Mendaki publishes past examination papers for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and the N-level and O-level examinations, along with the answer keys. Various publishers have also made available a host of assessment books that provide students with topical practice.

Many national examination boards provide online syllabus documents outlining the objectives, knowledge and skills to be tested, as well as examination formats and topic weightages. Some also provide sample papers or past examination papers. 

A few, such as the Central Board of Secondary Education in India and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, go even further by supplying answers, marking schemes and examiners’ reports, with the latter also publishing model responses at three levels of attainment: achievement, achievement with merit and achievement with excellence.

The intent
That the 10-year series practice has gone into overdrive, however, should not blind us to the benefits and its original intent of sharpening strategies for revision.

Students of various ages naturally want to be well-prepared for examinations. Nothing could be worse than walking into an examination venue completely ignorant of the skills and topics to be tested, the testing format, the number of questions to be answered and the time limit for the examination. Using the 10-year series to determine if one has reached a prescribed level of learning or competence in relation to some pre-determined standards can help.

Cambridge Assessment International Education, which jointly examines the N-level, O-level and A-level examinations with the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, states unequivocally that “administered effectively, past papers are the best way to prepare students for the experience of an examination”. 

Teachers are recommended to use them throughout the school year to acquaint students with the examination format and build their confidence in meeting the assessment objectives. These papers, in turn, can help teachers monitor their students’ levels of understanding and identify individual areas of weakness for improvement.

Equally importantly, Cambridge advises teachers to help students consider how much time to spend on each question and how to choose the right question to answer. The intent is to establish familiarity, develop time management skills and therefore reduce anxiety in students.

There is consensus among other reputable institutes of higher learning on the importance of practice tests. The McGraw Centre for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University recommends that students predict examination questions and practise answering them, along with other advice that urges students to think of examination preparation as an authentic rehearsal for examination performance. 

Examination preparation need not be undertaken in solitude. The Singapore Management University libraries provide examination revision tips, one of which is to organise group review sessions with friends to “complete your notes, (and) discuss possible examination questions and solutions”.

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The trouble
Nevertheless, there’s little escaping the tendency to focus on the high-stakes consequences of examination performance, which in turn leads many students and teachers to pay an inordinate amount of time to examination requirements.

A real possibility is that many teachers tend to pay particular attention to the tradition of past examinations and gear their teaching to content and skills featured in previous examinations rather than to equip students with skills in future demand, in line with broader national curriculum objectives. 

Both students and teachers may end up ignoring topics or skills not explicitly tested. For instance, if language examinations exclude testing of oral fluency, these critical communicative skills may be de-emphasised or even ignored. 

Likewise, if examinations largely test the recall or recognition of factual information, the focus will likely be on rote memorisation and algorithmic practice in answering examination questions – like when students memorise a series of stock sentences that could be used when writing essays or responding to oral examination questions. 

Because of the strong element of extrinsic motivation involved, examinations may not provide optimal conditions for developing or sustaining intrinsic interest in learning. At the same time, students may not appreciate teachers who explore topics or skills that do not appear directly relevant to examination preparation.

The proliferation of the 10-year series also often conjures a tangential discussion over the educational arms race and raises calls to abolish milestone examinations. Such debate ignores the reality that standardised testing serves a crucial function of enhancing social equity. 

Examinations are a meritocratic way of opening up access to educational and employment opportunities, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. By imposing transparent, objective and impartial standards, they limit the effects of family status, parental occupation or random selection in determining access to education and social mobility.

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Reforms to testing
Rather than abolish standardised testing to address a fixation on gaming the system, tweaking how testing is conducted can dilute the competitive element of testing and help foster a love of learning. 

Irish education researchers Thomas Kellaghan and Vincent Greaney used the term “washback effect” in their book Public Examinations Examined, published by the World Bank in 2020. The term refers to the effects that examinations have on individuals, policies or practices within a classroom, a school, an educational system, or society as a whole, which may have wider implications on access to education, social mobility and employment opportunities. 

Examinations can focus students on clear goals to strive for, along with tangible incentives and rewards. Assessments can be a tool to change teacher behaviour and classroom instruction, and in turn improve student learning. 

For instance, questions that require candidates to demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to novel problems or situations can signal to teachers and students the need to link classroom learning to the real world.

This intricate relationship between assessment, on the one hand, and teaching and learning, on the other hand, has been at the forefront of education reform efforts in Singapore. 

Since launching the Thinking Schools, Learning Nation policy initiative in 1997, the MOE has recognised that teaching and learning behaviour would not change substantially without any change to assessment modes.

An external review team commissioned to review the school curriculum so as to better prepare students for the 21st century made a disconcerting discovery: While about 40 per cent of PSLE questions tested higher-order thinking skills, teachers tended to resort to “over-drilling”, or repetitive practice in answering such questions, in order to help pupils anticipate and prepare for such questions. 

The study felt that such questions would “become predictable to a certain extent” and less useful in testing pupils’ creative thinking or skill application.

Similarly, the review noted the practice in secondary schools of “drilling students in examination using the 10-year series” and how students’ commendable examination scores might be the result of teachers’ adeptness at “cramming, spotting questions and preparing students for examinations”.

The MOE has attempted to address this overemphasis on examination preparation by, among other things, promoting efforts in all schools towards holistic development that emphasises the importance of non-academic areas such as 21st century competencies. This resulted in the implementation of character and citizenship education programmes in schools in 2014, and the launch of applied learning programmes progressively across primary and secondary schools since 2013.

Over a quarter of a century later, major reform still centres around shaping testing to improve learning.

Recent changes in the PSLE scoring system and the progressive reduction of tests and examinations in schools are structural reforms that speak to this focus.

A reform under way in all schools is the idea of “assessment for learning”, which enables students, with their teachers’ assistance, to monitor their own learning and take active steps to move in the direction of their desired education targets.

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing has argued on numerous occasions for the need to strengthen an intrinsic motivation to learn among students, while highlighting that many worthwhile goals in life cannot be measured by test scores.

While announcing changes to the A-level examination scoring system in May, he championed the joy of learning while urging students to follow their passions instead of picking only subjects to score well in.

In a similar vein, director-general of education Liew Wei Li spoke in November at an Educational Research Association of Singapore conference of moving beyond preparing students for “a static certificate”. She also announced a greater emphasis to be placed on adaptive and inventive thinking, communication skills and civic literacy.

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A never-ending pursuit 
The balance between retaining major national examinations for their important functions, and concomitantly the use of the 10-year series, while moving away from an obsessive focus on them to the point of distorting teaching and learning, will likely remain for the foreseeable future.

Even while the authorities and educators attempt to dampen the effects of learning for the sake of examinations, there are news reports of parents turning to the burgeoning private tutoring sector for mock examinations after the reduction in testing in schools.

A look at various tutoring agency websites and online videos reveals this emphasis, with mention of repeated mock examinations, predicting both written and oral examination questions, identifying key words in questions and crafting answers to best meet examiners’ expectations. 

Some claim attention will be paid to mastering the art of answering higher-order questions, echoing concerns raised by the MOE external review team in 1997 of efforts to respond to new examination formats by devoting far too much classroom time to algorithmic learning of formulaic responses.

Examinations in various shapes and forms cannot be completely eradicated. Given their importance both for individual students and the rest of society, it makes perfect sense for students to want to enhance their chances of examination success.

Part of the route to this success invariably involves some degree of preparation and strategising. There is nothing wrong with attempting past examination papers in order to become familiar with the examination format, knowledge and skills that are tested.

Where it gets problematic is if learning goals are distorted to exclude anything perceived to be of little or no value in examination preparation, or when pre-rehearsed answers are slavishly memorised. 

Jason Tan is associate professor of policy, curriculum and leadership at the National Institute of Education.

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早安 2023-12-30

Friday, December 29, 2023

蚊虫滋生

'I am also the victim of the mosquito': Woman fined for mosquito breeding in toilet bowl after losing trial


'I am also the victim of the mosquito': Woman fined for mosquito breeding in toilet bowl after losing trial

When NEA officers visited her flat in the dengue cluster, Koh Ee Sian said she did not kill animals due to her religious beliefs and the officers had to boil water themselves to destroy the habitat.

'I am also the victim of the mosquito': Woman fined for mosquito breeding in toilet bowl after losing trial

File photo of a toilet bowl. (Photo: iStock)

29 Dec 2023 12:07PM

SINGAPORE: A woman who claimed trial to a charge of creating conditions favourable to mosquito breeding in her toilet bowl was convicted and fined S$1,400 (US$1,060) by a district court.

When National Environment Agency (NEA) officers found the breeding habitat in her flat, Koh Ee Sian would not boil water to destroy it, citing her religious beliefs.

She is appealing against the conviction and the sentence.

The woman, who was unrepresented, was accused of allowing mosquito breeding in a toilet bowl in her flat in May 2022. She stayed in the room next door but did not use the toilet bowl in question as she was waiting for tenants to move in.

According to a judgment released on Friday (Dec 29), two NEA officers went to Koh's unit that day because of a dengue outbreak within the Housing Board estate.

When they inspected the unit, they found mosquito breeding in the master bedroom toilet bowl, specifically Aedes larvae.

NEA prosecutor Harvinder Kaur said the condition that facilitated the propagation or habitation of mosquitoes existed in the flat owned by Koh, "otherwise, how else could the larvae exist in the toilet bowl?"

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"If the toilet bowl was flushed or cleaned every day, no larvae would be found," said Ms Kaur.

THE FLAT

Koh, who was self-represented, claimed that the officers had dragged a big bag of detergent into the master bedroom toilet and poured it into the toilet bowl.

Ms Kaur said the officers had in fact asked Koh for Clorox and detergent to destroy the breeding habitat, but Koh said she had none and she did not kill animals because of her religious beliefs.

When one of the officers asked for an empty bottle so she could collect a breeding sample, Koh asked what would happen next.

She was told that she "might get fined" if a vector was found in the sample, and Koh said it would be "unfair" for her to pay the fine as she "seldom" went back to the flat.

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One of the officers then asked Koh if she had boiling water, and Koh passed the officers a kettle. The officer had to boil the water herself, as Koh repeated that she did not kill animals.

The officer then poured boiling water down the toilet bowl and asked Koh to flush it 15 to 30 minutes later before leaving with her colleague.

The sample showed mosquito breeding of the Aedes species - Dengue, chikungunya and zika - at larval stage 4. It takes an egg four days to reach such a stage, the court heard.

Initially, Koh was offered a S$200 fine, but she said she did not want to pay it as she did not create conditions favourable to mosquito breeding as described in the offence.

"I didn't create it, because the master bedroom toilet was left like untouched and I also didn't know, I am also the victim of the mosquito, you know, breeding there ... so, that's why I came here," she said.

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HER ARGUMENTS

Koh was the only witness for her own defence. She said she had done what she could to prevent mosquito breeding according to NEA's Dengue Home Guidelines, and that if NEA failed to inform the public that mosquitoes could breed in toilet bowls, the public would not know. 

She argued that NEA's checklist on actions to take to prevent mosquito breeding in homes did not explicitly include the reference to toilet bowls, but NEA prosecutor Ms Kaur called this "absurd".

Koh said she followed NEA's advisories but claimed that there was no mention of cleaning or maintaining toilet bowls. In response, NEA said the guidelines were general and non-exhaustive, and that everyone is advised to frequently check and remove stagnant water.

Koh said although NEA's guideline graphics showed toilet bowls, nothing was said about them.

She said the kitchen toilet was bigger than the one in the master bedroom and there was no mosquito breeding there, and that it was unfair for NEA to charge her over it. She said she was "also a victim" as her area was a dengue cluster.

She said she did not know where the mosquitoes came from and told the officers during the inspection that mosquitoes "just like fly in to breed there".

Koh said that she was unsure if she would have taken any action if she had found mosquito breeding. However, she would have done something about it if someone had been stung.

For example, if someone had contracted dengue and was very ill, Koh said she could "take a lot of actions, like, lock the mosquito up".

In response to NEA's point that she would have seen the part about keeping the toilet bowl lid closed if she had read all of NEA's guidelines, Koh said she had read the ones for home users and that there was "no need to read" all of the guidelines.

The judge said the crux of Koh's defence was that no one used the master bedroom toilet and she "didn't give any permission for the mosquitoes to come into, breed in (her) toilet bowl".

As the mosquito "just flew in", she could not be held responsible for the breeding.

"The accused effectively attributed the offence to the mosquitoes, and not herself," said District Judge Brenda Chua. "I rejected this purported justification."

Judge Chua said if nobody used the toilet bowl or cleaned or flushed it, the water would be stagnant, and mosquitoes breed in stagnant water.

The judge convicted Koh, saying that if everyone used Koh's reasoning that what was left untouched was not their responsibility, mosquitoes "would be left to breed rampantly in households".

The prosecution sought a fine of S$1,500 based on the time and effort taken for the trial and how unrepentant Koh was.

Koh said NEA "should not even charge her with this offence" and added that the decision was one-sided as the court had chosen to believe the testimony of the NEA officers.

Noting that the danger caused by the Aedes mosquito could be serious and fatal, the judge fined Koh S$1,400. Koh has paid the fine.

She could have been fined up to S$5,000 and jailed up to three months or both as a first-time offender. Repeat offenders face double the fine and jail term.

Source: CNA/ll(gr)

“诈”当选年度汉字 字述一年吸票逾21万

“诈”当选年度汉字 字述一年吸票逾21万

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20231222-1457750

2023-12-22



在形形色色欺诈骗局防不胜防的2023年,“诈”字概括了本地读者的不安情绪,当选本届“字述一年”年度汉字。


由《联合早报》主办的2023年“字述一年”年度汉字投选活动,12月展开了为期约两周的网络和邮寄票选活动,反应踊跃,吸引超过21万张选票。


其中3万多张票来自本地读者,超过18万张票则由海外读者投下。

本地读者投下的3万3000多张票中,“诈”字共收到超过1万1700多张票,占总票数超过35%。

“战”共获超过7500张票(约23%),“难”则获得5500多张票(约17%),分别当选第二和第三热门汉字。

延伸阅读
“字述一年”汉字投选结果 星期五中午揭晓
逾15万人次投选字述一年汉字 “诈”“战”“难”暂领先

新报业媒体华文媒体集团社长李慧玲在星期五(12月22日)的“字述一年”揭晓年度汉字直播节目中指出,“诈”是全球各地都出现的行为,是道德败坏的问题。

“科技的猛进,在改善人们生活的同时,展示的是人作为人的观念意识,正在崩坏之中。抢劫的人举刀威胁,还会看到抢劫对象惧怕与哀求的眼神,做坏事在一念之间。现在的诈,连受骗对象都不必看一眼,诈骗更加无感。”

她说:“人类现在花许多精力和资源在研发新科技、探讨气候暖化问题等,但是对于人作为人基本的反思,对于更根源的问题,我们的投入远远不够。” 

去年8月至今年8月 诈骗团伙在全球骗走1.4万亿新元
全球反诈骗联盟和数据服务提供商ScamAdviser2023年10月间发布一项调查显示,2022年8月至2023年8月,诈骗团伙在全球骗走1.4万亿新元,新加坡人均损失约5538新元,是全球最高。


我国政府机构正持续采取措施积极应对,多管齐下打击诈骗,当中包括防堵和屏蔽诈骗者接触受害者的渠道、侦察和举报可能出现的诈骗案件,以及阻截诈骗团伙转移赃款。


华侨银行、大华银行、星展银行和储蓄银行也在11月推出新的反诈措施“Money Lock”,让客户把部分存款“锁”在指定户头,避免坠入骗局时被掏空。


《联合早报》总编辑吴新迪说:“今年有关诈骗的新闻频频出现,受害的人那么多,‘诈’成为年度汉字完全不让人感到意外。值得一提的是,诈骗事件引起了有关各方的高度关注,大家愿意齐心合力设法打击这些罪犯,而不是把防范的责任都推给老百姓。”

《联合早报》执行总编辑韩咏梅认为,“诈”这个字在2023年的新加坡特别接地气。

“在法律严明,治安良好的新加坡,它的当选反映出人们对诈骗案件的关注,希望这能转换成为一种防诈意识,别轻易上当。”

早报海外读者投选年度汉字:“难”
另一方面,早报也收到超过18万7000张来自海外和大中华地区的读者选票。

“难”字领头,共获7万6000多张票,排在第二和第三的分别为“战”(3万多张票)和“诈”(2万1000多张票)。


韩咏梅指出,国际用户选择“难”,相信是很多人感受到这一年中生活之难、复苏之难,还有更重要的是和平之难。“相比之下,‘难’字在新加坡排在‘诈’和‘战’之后的第三位,我想或许因为新加坡虽然也感受到生活不容易,可是相比之下,整体情况还比较好。”

各地读者从10个候选汉字,即:诈、战、难、智、热、丑、百、冲、洗、裂,选出一个总结2023年。


本地专业舞蹈编导张晓明以及No. 5 Dance Company舞者,以舞姿诠释每个字的含义,配合活动录制网络视频。在星期五播出的揭晓视频中,舞者时而露出真面目,时而以面具遮脸,配合音乐和灯光,表达“诈”字所延伸出对人心叵测的思考。

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早安 2023-12-29

Prices in S’pore seen moderating but likely to remain above pandemic levels in 2024

Prices in S’pore seen moderating but likely to remain above pandemic levels in 2024 

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/prices-in-s-pore-seen-moderating-but-likely-to-remain-above-pandemic-levels-in-2024

2023-12-29


SINGAPORE – The official data says inflation is on the way down, but bank officer M. Lee feels the numbers do not reflect her experience.

The mother of four has had to increase her children’s allowances over the past year, so they can have enough for school meals and so forth. The amount for her youngest daughter has risen by 50 per cent to $15 a week, while the teenagers have seen increases of between $30 and $40, up from $20 at the start of 2023.

“The biggest expenditure for the family is food; it’s the only thing I do not scrimp on,” said Ms Lee, 40, adding: “I want to make sure my three teens and the primary school kid have enough for recess and lunch.”

Still, eating out is now reserved for very special occasions, with more home-cooked meals the norm as she tries to keep within budget.

Ms Lee’s overall perception about the rise in prices seems spot on.

While inflation in Singapore has moderated over 2023, prices are still above pre-pandemic levels and expected to remain elevated in 2024, when the impact of a 7 per cent rise in public transport fares, a second round of goods and services tax (GST) hike and carbon tax adjustments kick in.

Headline inflation at 3.6 per cent is still well above the 2010 to 2019 average of 1.7 per cent, while core inflation, which excludes food and energy, is at 3.2 per cent compared with the 1.5 per cent average over the nine-year period.

Headline inflation reached 6.6 per cent while core inflation hit 5.5 per cent at their peak in January.

On the surface, the average price increases of the main components in the basket of goods making up the consumer price index appear rather well contained.

These averages range between 2 per cent or so for household durables and services, and just over 6 per cent for food, transport, recreation and culture in 2023.

Dive deeper, however, and there are 10 items that have, on average, seen double-digit price increases over the past 11 months.

These include chilled poultry, eggs, seafood, flour and other non-fish seafood, which have remained at persistently high levels for the year, as have cigarettes.

Medical fees at general practitioner clinics and polyclinics were also elevated, although the price increases seemed more intense in the first half of 2023.

Meanwhile, hotels and other expenses, and charges to places of interest, saw sustained price rises in the latter half of 2023.


Economists told The Straits Times that inflationary pressures in 2023 stemmed largely from external factors, such as the reopening of economies, the continuing impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and post-Covid-19 supply chain disruptions and restructuring.

“These showed up mostly as a rise in prices for food, energy and imported goods,” said associate professor of economics Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

On the domestic front, the economic reopening brought with it a slew of price increases.

These included higher wages due to the tight labour market, climbing home prices as returning expatriates pushed up rents, and the unleashing of prices that had been frozen because of the pandemic.

“Ultimately, it was a case of demand running ahead of supply as the domestic economy emerged from the pandemic,” said Professor Theseira.

OCBC Bank chief economist Selena Ling said: “Businesses also grew increasingly more confident about passing on their higher costs to end-consumers as the recovery took root.”

The Israel-Hamas conflict has added new uncertainty to energy prices amid fears of a wider escalation across the Middle East, Ms Ling added.

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Still, the economists are not overly concerned about inflation in 2024, crediting the central bank’s strong Singapore dollar policy as helping offset imported inflation. This should keep the incoming price increases manageable for most of the population.

Ms Ling expects a gradual decline in prices over 2024, “partly due to (2023’s) elevated base and also because the cumulative effects of monetary policy tightening – both at home and abroad – will exert a dampening effect on imported prices”.

DBS Bank economist Chua Han Teng agreed, saying that while the path is likely to be bumpy, inflation should trend lower on average in the new year. He expects headline inflation to hit 3.5 per cent and core inflation 3.1 per cent in 2024.

“Additionally, easing domestic labour cost pressures amid cooling wage growth should translate into lower prices for services, more so for discretionary items,” he added. 

Prof Theseira was more circumspect about the inflation outlook, citing “a cooling-off in key markets” juxtaposed against more persistent “geopolitical uncertainty and supply chain shifts”.

Still, he also believes that “domestically, there’s a sense that supply is finally catching up to demand, for housing and labour, while some policy factors, such as the supply of certificates of entitlement, are set to ease as well”.

Meanwhile, “the direct impact of the GST increase will be, as economic theory predicts, less than 1-to-1 because merchants with the ability to absorb or delay the increase have already declared they are doing so”, Prof Theseira noted.

He added: “It may be a marketing strategy, but it reflects the economic reality that tax hikes tend to be shared between merchants and consumers, so, effectively, the consumer doesn’t absorb the full impact of the hike.”

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Ultimately, however, the GST hike and the rise in consumer prices will affect individuals differently, depending on their income bracket.

Prof Theseira said mid-career workers have the benefit of wage adjustments that can mitigate some of the impact of rising prices.

The biggest jolt of price increases will hit older workers, retirees and low-wage earners hardest as their incomes tend to be static, while consumption makes up the bulk of their spending.

That is where government assistance comes in.

Measures from Budget 2023 and September’s Cost-of-Living Support Package aim to help Singaporeans, especially lower- to middle-income households, cope with high inflation and living costs.

However, Prof Theseira noted that wedged among the middle- to higher-income consumers is a sandwiched group that is neither able to shrug off ordinary consumer inflation, nor receive sufficient government payouts to offset their higher costs.

While this group would not be put into poverty by inflation by any means, they will still have to make some adjustments to their lifestyle, he said.

Ms Lee – who falls within this sandwiched group – concurred, adding: “This Christmas, for example, we avoided the in-demand festive fare and opted for Korean barbecue instead. And if we wait a few days after that, we can probably buy Christmas hams on discount.

“For the upcoming Chinese New Year, we’ll most likely have an Indian or Western meal instead of competing with everyone else,” she said.

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