Imposing in its neo-Gothic grandeur, St Joseph’s Church has watched over Victoria Street since 1912.

But plans for the church were initiated some 70 years earlier by the first Catholic priest to permanently reside in Singapore.

Reverend Francisco da Silva Pinto e Maia, a native of Porto, had founded the Portuguese Mission in Singapore in 1825 and conducted mass at the house of Dr Jose d’Almeida, a prominent doctor, until a small chapel in Bras Basah Road was consecrated in 1833.

This was the first Catholic place of worship in Singapore.

In July 1827, Father Maia secured the spiritual jurisdiction of Singapore from Pope Leo XII, upon which he was formally recognised as a leader of Catholics in Singapore in matters pertaining to the faith.

Father Maia managed to secure land and the bulk of funding for the church in Victoria Street but died in 1850, aged 65, before construction started.

His successor, Reverend Vincente de Santa Catharina, oversaw construction of the first St Joseph’s Church. It was completed in 1853 and stood till 1906, when it was demolished to allow the construction of the current edifice, which is laid out like a Latin cross.

As St Joseph’s Church was established under the auspices of the Portuguese mission, it naturally became a gathering point for Portuguese Eurasians in Singapore.

Many Catholics then could trace their lineage back to mixed marriages between settlers and the indigenous people in 16th century Malacca, which was a practice encouraged by the Portuguese administration.

Prominent Portuguese Eurasians such as Hermogenes Desker, eldest son of property magnate Andre Filipe Desker (the namesake of Desker Road), donated generously to the church.

In fact, the younger Desker’s estate funded the marble flooring in the current church.

The church building was gazetted as a national monument in 2005.

In typical neo-Gothic style, the church is adorned with crockets (carved ornamentation of leaves, flowers or buds on an inclined surface) on its towers.

Carvings of leaves can also be seen along the exterior walls.

Reverend Ignatius Yeo, administrator of the church, told The Straits Times the garden theme was deliberate. “It is a reflection of the kingdom of God and the eternal Garden of Eden,” said Father Yeo, who has been working at the church since 2013.

The octagonal central tower, which rises to nearly 20m, is capped by a dome rather than a sharp spire. Such domes are rarely seen in Singapore, he added.

“The eight sides of the tower symbolise the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he added, as Christians believe Christ rose from the dead eight days after entering Jerusalem. The garden theme extends to the interior, with carvings along the walls and on furniture such as the pews.

Stone fruit hang off the top of arched alcoves in which statues of the apostles reside.

The alcoves were built into the church’s pillars to symbolise the apostles’ pivotal role in the religion.

At the end of the nave (the central aisle-like walkway) within the church, one can find the main altar, which is dedicated to Joseph.

An altar with Our Lady of Fatima can also be found to the left of the main altar.

Our Lady of Fatima refers to apparitions of the Virgin Mary that appeared in Fatima, Portugal a century ago in 1917, on the 13th day of every month from May to October.

The apparitions were first witnessed by three children but the final apparition, called the Miracle of the Sun, was purportedly seen by tens of thousands of Catholics in the area.

Officially deemed a miracle in 1930, Catholics worldwide dedicate devotions to the Lady to this day.

The church was the first to promulgate the devotions locally, a reflection of its Portuguese heritage, though there are smaller-scale devotions at other churches here.

In 1950, azulejos – painted porcelain tiles, which in this case depict the various apparitions of Mary at Fatima – from Portugal were even installed onto the exterior walls of the church and its adjacent parochial house, itself a national monument that was gazetted last June.

The devotions remain well-attended; as many as 5,000 people turn up for the October procession.

A regular attendee is parishioner Marian Morier, 48, who is also pastoral coordinator at the church.

Her father’s side of the family has long been associated with the church, and she is an alumna of St Anthony’s Convent, which was located in the church’s vicinity when she was a young schoolgirl.

“I feel St Joseph’s Church is like home,” she said.

In the meantime, the familiar landmark in pastel blue is set for change. Father Yeo said the current colour scheme was painted over the original white more than 15 years ago.

Come next year, the facade will be coated in deep shades of grey befitting of its distinguished history.

hytay@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Mar 02, 2017.
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The authorities are investigating a case involving an imam who allegedly made insensitive comments about Christians and Jews.

Investment associate Terence Nunis, 40, posted a video on a Facebook page last Friday of what appeared to be an imam saying a prayer after a sermon at Jamae Mosque in South Bridge Road.

The video, which Mr Nunis said was taken in early January and sent to him by a friend who had attended the sermon, showed the imam – who is believed to be from South India – using the Arabic word “fanswurna” when he spoke about Christians and Jews.

Mr Nunis, who is a Muslim, said the use of the word “fanswurna” – which means “to overcome” or “to grant victory over” – in relation to other religions is problematic.

“In this case, the flavour is far from benign and the implicit meaning is more than just being better than them… but to dominate them,” Mr Nunis told The Straits Times.

He also said in his Facebook post that the imam had made similar comments last Friday.

The police confirmed that a report had been lodged over the imam’s remarks.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said it is aware of the case.

It is assisting the police with their investigations.

“As part of due process, the individual has been placed on leave while investigations are ongoing,” added a spokesman.

The spokesman also said that Muis takes “a very serious view of any behaviour or speech which promotes feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different faith communities”.

This article was first published on March 2, 2017.
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Kindergartens will have more requirements to adhere to, after a new law regulating pre-schools was passed on Tuesday.

But those whom The Straits Times spoke to said they already meet most of the requirements and have had guidance from the authorities on what needs to be improved.

While they acknowledged that they would incur additional costs to comply with the rules, they noted these are minimal and unlikely to lead to fee increases for parents.

The new Early Childhood Development Centres Bill governs about 1,300 childcare centres and about 500 kindergartens. Currently, these come under the Child Care Centres Act – which will be repealed when the new Bill takes effect – and Education Act respectively.

Under the new law, kindergartens, which are now registered in a one-off process, will have to get licences that are renewed regularly, as is currently done for childcare centres. The new Bill also gives the authorities more investigative powers and flexibility in handling less serious offences, by providing a wider range of regulatory sanctions.

Kindergartens said having a single regulatory framework for the two types of pre-schools is a step in the right direction. Khalsa Kindergarten principal Santi Devi noted: “The new Bill is comprehensive and will help to upgrade the standards of kindergartens… It’ll give parents more peace of mind and confidence in kindergartens.”

Kindergartens said they do not have to make many adjustments, and in areas where they have to, on-site guidance from staff of the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) over the past two years had been helpful.

Paper Scissors Stone Montessori Kindergarten director Cheryl Ng said: “I was initially unclear if a foldable sofa bed in a corner is suitable for a sickbay.

“I clarified this during ECDA’s visit and learnt that it is. I was also given a draft of the new licensing requirements, which gives us a feel of what it will be like when the licensing checks take place.”

Chinese Kindergarten principal Wong Lay Choo said she previously gave particulars of only teaching staff to ECDA. But she learnt that under the new requirements, all staff would have to be registered.

St James’ Church Kindergarten senior principal Jacqueline Chung said her staff have been going for health check-ups, which were previously not required, but added that the Government has helped in subsidising these costs.

The principals said the extra costs to be incurred to comply with the requirements are likely to be minimal or one-off so these are unlikely to be passed on to parents.

However, Dr Chung suggested that pre-schools with the quality certification from the Government should be automatically licensed.

She said: “This would save time and resources for both pre-schools and ECDA. The requirements to get the quality certificate are already stricter than those to get a licence.”

The new law is expected to take effect over the next year after other detailed regulatory requirements are gazetted by early next year.

Kindergartens will have up to a year, after the gazetting, to get licensed under the new law.

goyshiyi@sph.com.sg

raynoldt@sph.com.sg

1,300

Number of childcare centres the new Early Childhood Development Centres Bill governs.

500

Number of kindergartens it governs.

This article was first published on March 2, 2017.
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There is only a finite amount of resources to go around, so the latest fiscal budget should be seen in the context of how it can help tackle future challenges – even as previous measures continue to provide support, Singapore’s Parliament heard on Wednesday.

This line of reasoning came in response to a call from some quarters of the House for the government to go deeper in its engagement for Budget 2017 so that trust in society is preserved.

Chan Chun Sing, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, said halfway through the eight-hour debate on Wednesday: “If we’re political leaders, we have to face the issue squarely: in every society, how do we distribute the finite resources?

“How do we make that statement that we, as a society, will lean forward to help those that need a bit more help?”

In her speech near the end of the day, Nominated MP Kuik Shiao-Yin said that in times of slower growth, such as what Singapore is going through now, the government will have to adopt a more empathetic outreach to explain why it prioritises certain segments of the economy and society over others.

Read also: Budget 2017: 5 things that may affect you directly

“When you are in that claustrophobic space of anxiety and scarcity, you don’t have enough mental bandwidth to deal with anything more than each day’s demands,” she said.

“That’s why compassionate communication of available solutions rather than a ‘Don’t know, go talk to your MP’ approach by front-line officers matters so much.”

Read also: Budget 2017’s water price hike: What you’re not hearing about the 30 per cent increase

Wednesday was the second day of debate in the House on Budget 2017; the perceived lack of short-term support in the fiscal budget unveiled last week continued to dominate the proceedings.

Budget 2017 was unveiled just after an economic restructuring report was issued; it also came at a time when Singapore’s economy had charted 2 per cent growth in 2016 – low by historical standards.

The confluence of structural and cyclical challenges has hurt businesses and households. Many who were looking for some immediate relief in Budget 2017 were disappointed.

On Wednesday, 32 Members of Parliament (MPs) and two Cabinet ministers attempted to contextualise Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s budgetary plans last week as a prudent one that focuses on future capabilities to help firms, workers and the economy grow stronger.

Read also: Water price hike hot topic on Day 1 of Budget debate

Mr Chan stressed that the government has to strike a very fine balance with the fiscal budget every year.

Thus, with external realities becoming more unpredictable and technological disruption cycles becoming more rapid, there is an urgent need to equip Singapore’s workers, companies and the government with the skills to ride through these disturbances.

This explains the lack of near-term relief in Budget 2017.

Speaking in his capacity as labour chief, Mr Chan said: “Grants and subsidies alone won’t create jobs – especially sustainable jobs. The crux must come from our businesses, our access to markets, our innovation.”

And in order to achieve these, Budget 2017 introduced measures to encourage innovation, help companies gain access to overseas markets, spur workers to upgrade their skills, and review Singapore’s regulatory environment to foster growth of new businesses and sectors.

Budget 2017 should also be seen in the context of previous budgets, which had put in place support measures, the benefits of which continue to be felt today, said Mr Chan.

These “long tails” of earlier measures continue to help Singaporean firms and households today, he said, echoing an observation by Minister for Industry S Iswaran on Tuesday. Examples include Workfare, the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Voucher, the U-Save rebates and the SkillsFuture framework.

But with each long tail comes smaller manoeuvring space for the government in the present too, said Mr Chan; this is because these earlier commitments continue to weigh on government’s coffers. For example, some 460,000 Singaporeans are expected to receive S$770 million in Workfare Income Supplement for work done in 2017.

He said: “So it is not just the new things that are important. It’s also what has been going on and will continue to go on that will define this Budget.”

Many MPs on Wednesday acknowledged the need for the government to stay prudent with its fiscal resources. This means that some areas of the economy and society will get more help than others, like the customised support Budget 2017 has lined up for some sectors.

But some MPs also said that more compassion should be shown when the government and public servants communicate with the public.

Nee Soon MP Louis Ng reminded the House that as the government fine-tunes its running of the country, it should also remember that its policies will not be able to cover all the ground.

“Our aim seems to be to process each case as fast as possible and to follow the book as strictly as possible.

“Unfortunately, many people fall through the cracks when the system is so rigid, when we view things in black and white and where compassion is not exercised regularly enough,” he said.

For Ms Kuik, a more understanding approach from the government will get more buy-in from the public, thereby ensuring that Singapore does not go down the fractious road that has led to the rise of populism in other advanced economies.

“I believe there are many taxpayers and voters on the ground who still need to be more honestly engaged and deeply convinced that this system’s story is genuinely about Moving Everyone Forward Together, not just Moving Some of Us Forward Together,” she said.

“We need more open and honest conversations on this front.

This article was first published on Mar 02, 2017.
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