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Austin’s Soros-backed DA faces Dem challenger pledging to ‘return power’ to crime victims: ‘Enough is enough’

A former prosecutor in the office of a progressive district attorney in Austin, Texas is running as a Democrat against his former boss and told Fox News Digital the Soros-backed DA’s policies have been “hurtful to the community” and based on political ideology rather than upholding the law. “I noticed that there were simple things that weren’t being done and I knew that the expertise level had been so diminished with all of the prosecutors who left,” Jeremy Sylestine, a defense attorney and Travis County prosecutor for 15 years, told Fox News Digital when asked why he has decided to run against Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza.  “It just became apparent that the DA’s office wasn’t maintaining its basic functions and it seems to me that we’re seeing that in the results of cases and the numbers that we are experiencing in terms of crime right now.” DA Garza has been widely criticized in the community for alleged soft on crime policies and labeled a “rogue prosecutor” by those who say his office has focused on “reimaging policing” and prosecuting police officers rather than taking criminals off the streets and honoring the wishes of the families of crime victims. FAMILY OF MURDERED TX MAN SAYS SOROS DA IGNORED THEIR WISHES, CUT DEALS WITH SUSPECTS: ‘ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED’ Sylestine, who left Garza’s office to start his own practice in December 2021, roughly a year after Garza was sworn in, told Fox News Digital he has heard the concerns of those families and aims to “return power to the victims.” “It seems like every day there’s a new story that comes out where someone has been left holding the bag and disrespected by the DA’s office,” Sylestine said. “I know from being a prosecutor that there are tough decisions you have to make, but the cases that I’m seeing in terms of domestic violence and sexual assault are just very incongruent with what my experience was and what I want to do is return that power to the victim because the system isn’t designed to protect their rights. “It’s the DA’s job I think when the case is right, when the evidence is there to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward and I think that that’s what victims and survivors want to see, is that somebody is willing to stand up and fight those hard fights.” Sylestine, a Texas native and member of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, pointed to the fact that he is a “proud Democrat” and believes in progressive reforms but said good can come out of the system only if the tools are used “properly.” SOROS DA PUT MURDER CASE ON ‘BACK BURNER’ BECAUSE IT DOESN’T ‘FIT’ LIBERAL AGENDA: VICTIM’S FAMILY “What I’m seeing now are those tools being used in a way that’s hurtful to the community. So, you know, ignoring crime that is happening is not the answer. Going light on sentencing is not the answer. The reason I know that is I’ve tried over 75 cases to jury here in Travis County and I know how thoughtful and intelligent they are and I know that they care about this stuff.” “So when we start taking those decisions away from them, we really don’t have the feedback that we need to prop the system up. The juries that come in and hear these cases are the backbone of the entire system and if we’re not willing to put those cases in front of them, then we are saying that their opinions don’t matter and that’s the wrong way to go about this and I think that’s exactly what this DA’s office is doing, is assuming that it knows better than the citizens here in Travis County and I want to return back to a system where we rely on the citizens to speak into it.” Sylestine pointed to one specific example of a case where he says DA Garza ignored his obligation to protect the people of Austin which involved a homeless man named Hilario Adrian who was let back out on the street, despite violent assault charges, and then arrested once again for allegedly stabbing another homeless man to death.  AUSTIN’S SOROS-BACKED DA SLAMMED AFTER WOMAN CONVICTED IN PLOT TO MURDER IN-LAWS DODGES PRISON “The guy was in jail for aggravated assault and he was alleged to have been swinging a golf club and a hatchet at someone and he went to jail,” Sylestine explained. “During that time, the DA’s office had 90 days to get a case indicted and they failed to do that. They missed their deadline. So by operation of law, he gets a dollar bond and after that gets out and commits a murder. I just think that’s so egregious that it needs to be highlighted, and it needs to be spoken about. And, you know, Mr. Garza’s going to say, well, there were other considerations. There really wasn’t. He missed his deadline. He dropped the ball and now there’s a dead man on the other side.” “My question to Travis County is how many more of those stories do we need to hear before we say enough is enough and it’s time for change?” Garza has pointed to the coronavirus pandemic in response to criticism about the current backlog of cases his office faces and a recent KXAN report casting doubt on the conviction rate numbers his office has put out. Sylestine says part of the problem is that Garza “ran off so many experienced prosecutors” leading to a “dearth of experience” in his office. “Now what we see is a backlog of over 7000 cases that are now piled upon those same prosecutors who are tasked with keeping track of those deadlines and making sure that they are keeping in line with the criminal procedures that are in place,” Sylestine explained.  AUSTIN POLICE PAST AND PRESENT SOUND ALARM ON RIPPLE EFFECTS OF DEFUNDING POLICE: ‘IT’S CRUSHING MORALE’ “That is all feeding on itself and it creates

Parents’ rights group rips ‘astonishing’ BLM Week of Action curriculums promoting ‘queer-affirming’ principles

FIRST ON FOX – As the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Week of Action kicks off this week in liberal school districts across the country, one parents’ rights group is taking aim at the controversial principles it seeks to impart on young students, including “fostering a queer-affirming network,” and “disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.” The BLM Week of Action, which runs Feb. 5-9, is driven by the left-wing organization Black Lives Matter at School. The group says it’s founded on a list of four demands, including mandating Black history and ethnic studies courses, as well as 13 guiding principles, such as promoting trans ideology and globalism. A report released Monday by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting indoctrination in the classroom, details the various BLM Week of Action curriculums being promoted by a number of school districts in various states, as well as the past repetition of Hamas terrorists’ talking points by Black Lives Matter at School. SWING DISTRICT DEMOCRAT WITH CLOSE TIES TO LARGEST TEACHERS UNION SILENT ON CALLS TO RESCIND BIDEN ENDORSEMENT The PDE’s report rips many of the curriculums’ critical approach to Israel, which appears to stem from Black Lives Matter at School’s statement following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists that resulted in the murder and rape of more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children, including babies. In the statement, the group blamed Israel for the attack. “BLM@School wants to be clear in our recognition that this unfolding loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives is the direct result of decades of Israeli settler colonialism, land dispossession, occupation, blockade, apartheid, and attempted genocide of millions of Palestinians. Palestinians are reminding us that decolonization is not a metaphor or abstraction, but requires real, daily struggle,” it said. The report shows how that concerning sentiment reflects within the principles of BLM Week of Action, including in the curriculum being pushed by the Chicago Teachers Union that plans to promote a 10-point plan from The Black Panther Party, a radical organization most prominent during the Civil Rights era. GOP HOUSE CANDIDATE SERVED ON BOARD OF PREP SCHOOL PUSHING CONTROVERSIAL LGBTQ, WOKE BOOKS ON YOUNG STUDENTS That 10-point plan originally included a reference to “robbery by the White man” of the Black community, but other versions replaced “White man” with “Capitalists,” including the version that will be taught to Chicago school children this week. According to the report, in California, the Berkeley Unified School District’s teaching resource guide includes one resource titled, “4 Things We Can Do to Prepare to Teach BLM at School Week,” that calls upon teachers to “reflect” how they are “implementing restorative justice practices, demanding mandated Black history and ethnic studies curricula, and ensuring classrooms are ‘Trans affirming and Queer affirming.’” The report also points to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s plan to teach Black Lives Matter at School’s 13 guiding principles, which includes a goal to work “towards a queer-affirming network where heteronormative thinking no longer exists.”  STACEY ABRAMS’ ONCE-POWERFUL VOTING RIGHTS GROUP FACES MASSIVE LAYOFFS AS IT STRUGGLES WITH MILLIONS IN DEBT The principles also promote a belief labeled as “Black villages,” which the group describes as “the disruption of Western nuclear family dynamics.” Other schools across the country plan to promote the BLM movement as a whole, as well as anti-“whiteness” and anti-Israel principles. In a statement to Fox News Digital, PDE President Nicole Neily said, “It’s truly astonishing that districts around the country are still choosing to hold BLM Week of Action.” “For years, parents have been concerned about a week of activism that prioritizes ‘queer affirming’ and ‘disrupting the western nuclear family’ over remediating learning loss – but BLM’s unabashed support for Hamas should have been the nail in the coffin of this abysmal curriculum. The best way to set all students on a path to success is to teach them reading, writing, and math skills – not to encourage division and victimhood.”

Kristi Noem shares vision for America in new book amid speculation about running as Trump’s VP

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem will outline her vision for America and detail why she believes the Republican Party is the way forward in a new book set to be released later this year. Noem said her new work – titled “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward” – will center on the new age of conservatism and Republican principles being here to stay. “So many times, almost on a daily basis, I hear people talking about wanting to go back to the old days of Mitt Romney, Cheney, the Bushes, you know, when Republicans could reset themselves back to these people that were steady and spoke perfectly. Yet they’re the ones who created the swamp that we have to deal with now,” Noem told Fox News Digital. “So this book is almost like a get over it and grow up book and the to-do book for the average citizen on what they can do to embrace the fact that we’re not going back to that,” she added. “There’s no going back. They need to adjust their perspective and realize that Trump broke politics – he just did – and that that’s a good thing.” SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. NOEM SEEKS TO BOLSTER TEXAS SECURITY EFFORTS AT US-MEXICO BORDER Noem said former President Donald Trump moved “candidates to be bold, to say things candidates have never said before” and proved that you can succeed in the world of politics if “you’ve got courage, you’re strong in your convictions, and you love America.” “This book has got some stories that reflect that of people that the readers will know, but it’ll also give a lot of examples of things and action plans that they can take to really move the needle on resetting our country back on its foundation,” she said as she previewed the book. “I have a different perspective because I’ve been a business person,” Noem said. “You know, these people running for governor, running for Senate, running for president even, most of them never ran businesses. They pretend they’re perfect, they think they’re better than everybody else, and this exposes that and tells stories about them that people need to know.” In addition to her experience with running businesses, Noem said her book will also highlight her time representing South Dakota’s at-large congressional district in the House from 2011 to 2019, as well as her career in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. “I served in Congress for eight years, so I got to see the swamp from the inside,” she said. The new book from Noem, which is available for pre-order now, is slated to be released on May 7 and received high praise from the former president on his social media platform. “‘No Goin Back,’ a great new book by Governor Kristi Noem, is a hard hitting story of a very interesting life. Get it now,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social last week. HEADING TO IOWA, NOEM SAYS SHE’LL DO ‘WHATEVER I CAN’ TO HELP TRUMP GET ‘ACROSS FINISH LINE’ “That was fantastic,” Noem said of Trump’s endorsement of her book. “I had called him and asked him if he’d be willing to write an endorsement for the jacket of the book, and the next thing I know… here he was putting it out on social media, which was wonderful.” “That’s what I love about him. I love the fact that he’s a man of action,” she added. Discussing the fact that they “know each other so well,” Noem said Trump is “thrilled with the fact that this is going to be a very unfiltered political book that talks frankly about what’s broken in D.C.” “The reason Trump has resonated so much with the American public is because he doesn’t think he’s better than anybody else,” Noem said. “He just is who he is. He doesn’t pretend, and he really does love the average American out there that gets up every day and goes to work. He values them just as much as he does the millionaires and billionaires that he has meetings with.” Regarding Trump’s campaign for president, Noem, who endorsed Trump in September, said, “He knows that I will help him however he would like me to. He knows that I’m always a person that will do whatever I can to help him win. I just believe in him.” Last month, Noem traveled to Iowa to stump for Trump after saying Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley would be a “mistake” as Trump’s running mate. While in Sioux City, Noem told voters that Trump is the best choice for Republicans moving forward. When she endorsed Trump in September, speculation soared about Noem serving as Trump’s running mate. But she told Fox News Digital in January that’s not a topic she brought up with Trump in their recent conversations. “He knows he has my support. I know I have his. We work really well together. We’re friends. We’ll talk about that when it’s time to make a decision on that,” Noem said at the time. “I’ve known the man for years now,” Noem said at the time. “I worked with him when he was in the White House on tax cuts, worked with him on policies and trade agreements. I served on the Armed Services Committee, worked on foreign policy with him. He helped me build my economy in South Dakota.” As for future campaign events with the former president, Noem said she’s “sure” the pair will team up again in the near future. “He’s asked me to do a couple surrogate events for him that he can’t make it to. We’ll see what happens. There’s no plans on a lot of campaigning together yet,” she said. Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Pakistan elections 2024: By the numbers

EXPLAINER As 128 million voters prepare for the February 8 elections, Al Jazeera decodes the key numbers shaping Pakistan. On February 8, as Pakistan votes in national elections, the country’s democracy will face its latest test. It is an election that will decide the next government of the world’s fifth-most populous nation. Befittingly, it is also an election of large numbers – very large numbers. From voters and parties to the economy and more, here’s a guide to Pakistan’s election and to the nation itself, in those numbers. What’s the election about? In all, 128 million people registered to vote in the elections to pick 266 representatives on February 8, forming the 16th parliament in a first-past-the-post system. (Al Jazeera) Pakistan is a country with 241 million people, of whom two-thirds are under the age of 30. A citizen becomes eligible to vote at the age of 18. It is also a vast country, spanning mountainous terrain in its north, multiple deserts and a 990km (615 miles) coastline. On February 8, 90,582 polling stations will service voters who want to cast their ballots. In the contest are 5,121 candidates. They belong either to Pakistan’s 167 registered political parties or are independents. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been barred from using its election symbol, the cricket bat, so its candidates will also be contesting as independents this time. Only a little more than half of Pakistan’s electorate voted in the 2018 elections. With a crackdown against Khan’s party ongoing, it is unclear whether the February 8 elections will see a lower turnout, or a surge in the form of a silent protest vote in favour of PTI-aligned candidates. How is the country doing? (Al Jazeera) The elections are taking place amid an ongoing economic crisis, with inflation running at almost 30 percent and a weakening currency, which has shed more than 50 percent of its value against the United States dollar in the last two years. Meanwhile, the county entered into a nine-month $3bn bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund in July last year, which is set to expire around the same time as a new government will take oath. In addition to these economic woes, attacks from armed factions have increased in past months adding to the instability of the country. The struggling economy has allocated 243.6 million rupees ($850,000) for the cost of the elections, which many critics believe has effectively been engineered to keep Khan out of power and instead usher in a leader the military is comfortable with. Pakistan’s powerful military establishment has ruled the country directly for more than three decades of its independent history. It is the most powerful institute in the country: 12.5 percent of the government budget goes towards military spending, according to government documents. The run-up to the poll has seen Khan sentenced to jail in at least three different cases, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – who was previously jailed and then in exile – return and emerge as a leading contender again. While the economy is teetering, Pakistan is also on edge on the security front, amid heightened tensions with three out of its four neighbours. Internally, there has been a dramatic surge in violence, while marginalised communities, geographically as well as religiously, have accused the state of mounting persecution. With a deeply polarised society and uncertainty about the future, many see this election as a referendum on the military’s involvement in politics. Who are Pakistan’s voters and candidates? Of the 128 million voters, the largest number – 44 percent – are below the age of 35, making the youth vote critical in these elections. The second largest group of voters are between the ages of 36 and 45, constituting 22.3 percent of the electorate. Women form 46 percent (59.3 million) and men 54 percent (69.2 million) of the registered voters. More than 5,000 candidates are contesting for 266 seats, and among them are 4,806 men, 312 women and two transgender people. Adblock test (Why?)

US rapper Killer Mike taken away by police at Grammy Awards

Police spokesperson says hip hop artist was arrested following an altercation at the awards show. US rapper and activist Killer Mike has been detained and escorted by police out of the Grammy Awards. A video posted on social media by The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner showed Los Angeles police escorting the rapper in handcuffs on Sunday after he had earlier picked up three of the music industry’s biggest prizes for hip hop. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman was quoted telling the Associated Press that the hip hop artist had been arrested following an altercation inside the Crypto.com Arena in LA, where the awards show was being held, at about 4pm. Breaking: Rapper Killer Mike has been taken away in handcuffs in https://t.co/aF2yiyTHol arena after winning 3 #Grammys during telecast (Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” Best Rap Album for Michael) “Free Mike” someone shouts as he walks past. pic.twitter.com/4epfmzqMt8 — Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) February 5, 2024 At the 66th edition of the annual awards show on Sunday, Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Santiago Render, and collaborators won the Grammy for best rap song and best rap performance for Scientists & Engineers and best rap album for Michael. The awards were Killer Mike’s first Grammy wins since he was honoured for best rap performance by a duo or group in 2003 for his work on hip hop duo OutKast’s The Whole World. Killer Mike, who made his recording debut on OutKast’s 2000 album Stankonia, is known for his outspoken views on social justice issues, including race relations and the treatment of Black people in the United States. In 2019, he hosted Netflix’s Trigger Warning with Killer Mike, a documentary series examining issues  affecting the Black community. Adblock test (Why?)

Analysis: India’s 2024 interim budget shows a changing economy

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s interim budget last week marked nearly 10 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Sitharaman showcased the government’s achievements over the past decade, rather than shower freebies, ahead of national polls due in a couple of months. A careful analysis shows the changing patterns in the Indian economy. Sitharaman reduced the food subsidy by 3.3 percent to 2.12 trillion rupees ($25.5bn) in 2025 from 2.05 trillion rupees ($24.6bn) in the current fiscal year. The fertiliser subsidy was also reduced while keeping up capital expenditure at 1.3 trillion rupees ($15.6bn). Keeping such spending in check allowed her to announce that the fiscal deficit would be 5.1 percent for the year ending March 2025, lower than market expectations of about 5.3 to 5.4 percent. The “fiscal deficit was one of the most surprising things in the budget”, said Suman Bannerjee, the chief investment officer at Hedonova, a global hedge fund. “This was lower than we had expected.” The reduced subsidy also indicates India’s “move away from agriculture towards manufacturing”, Bannerjee said. The government had earlier announced free food supplies to India’s poorest, shielding them from potential food price rises. In her speech, Sitharaman said the average real income has risen by 50 percent, more than 250 million people have been lifted from poverty while the economy has catapulted to the world’s fifth-largest from the 10th in the last decade. These numbers were disputed by the opposition Congress party. “COVID and this government’s GST [goods and services tax] have dealt a double blow to the country’s poor and small businesses, which this government has not addressed,” said Manickam Tagore, a Congress member of parliament and party whip. Demand for the country’s Food for Work programme had grown just in the last year, indicating distress among the country’s poorest, he said. In her speech, Sitharaman said the lower fiscal deficit was also enabled by growing private investment. “We had looked at whether private sector capital expenditure is reviving and some green shoots are being seen,” said Sunil Sinha, the principal economist at Fitch Ratings. “There is not yet a broad-based corporate investment revival but investment in steel, cement, renewables and other sectors are growing due to increased government investment in infrastructure.” The government’s improved tax collection may also have helped reduce the fiscal deficit, Bannerjee said. Higher tax realisation had come by increasing the ambit of luxury tax, such as including restaurant spending. While India’s economy is expected to grow at a robust 7.3 percent in the year ended March 2024, there is concern that it is urban-centric [Manish Swarup/AP] All of this allowed the finance minister to keep to her capital expenditure allocations while keeping the fiscal deficit in check. India has been building public infrastructure such as roads, metros and ports at a record pace, driving economic growth. “She has not diluted her capex focus,” Fitch Ratings’s Sinha said. Rural India The finance minister also announced several schemes aimed at shoring up the rural economy such as for building rural housing, free food for the poor and boosting aquaculture. While India’s economy is expected to grow at a robust 7.3 percent in the year ending March 2024, there is concern that it is urban-centric. “She lives in an ivory tower. She doesn’t know the pain of the people,” the Congress Party’s Tagore said. “Across small towns, I see medium and small enterprises have closed due to the implementation of GST.” Thursday’s budget measures could help bring the benefits of urban growth to boost the rural economy.  “Some of these are like an indirect income transfer,” said Fitch’s Sinha. “So far, the benefits of growth are accruing to the top 50 percent in urban India. Some investment had to be done so benefits could reach rural areas.” Gender focus The finance minister also announced several initiatives to boost women’s skill-building and entrepreneurship, including the expansion of a scheme to train rural women on skills such as bulb-making and plumbing. Female participation in the rural workforce has been growing, although it is largely in agriculture. This is often marked by low wages and seasonal work. Acquiring such skills could help transition women to manufacturing jobs. “Data shows that while [the] unemployment subsidy has fallen, female unemployment is down and male unemployment is up,” Hedonova’s Bannerjee said. India has had low female participation in the workforce, with only 37 percent of women in formal employment in 2023. The finance minister said women’s enrolment in higher education, as well as STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] courses, had risen sharply in the last decade. India has been building public infrastructure such as roads, metros and ports at a record pace, driving economic growth [Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo] However, Raghuram Rajan, India’s former central bank governor, recently told the BBC that not enough attention had been paid to creating “human capital” in India. Sinha and Bannerjee underscored that detailed employment data had not been collected in the last decade. “We are flying blind without credible data on jobs,” Rajan had told the BBC. Renewable energy The finance minister announced a household rooftop solar energy scheme that will allow 10 million households to claim 300 units of free energy a month. These households could also sell back the surplus energy they generate. She also announced an expansion in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and viability gap funding for wind power projects. India has announced a target of getting to net zero by 2070 and these schemes lay out a roadmap towards that. “The southern states are largely self-sufficient; this will help the northern states where there is a deficit. It will also help develop wind energy, which has lagged other renewable energy,” Hedonova’s Bannerjee said. Sitharaman also set off the poll season by announcing a white paper to be tabled in parliament, which will look at where the country was until 2014, during the previous government, and where it is now, to draw lessons from the “mismanagement of those years”. The careful spending

Delhi-NCR Weather update: ‘Yellow alert’ issued for Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad, check rain forecast

Light isolated rainfall on 05th February, 2024 is predicted in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

‘Reputational damage’: Singapore’s ruling party grapples with scandal

Singapore – Hamilton in the West End, Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This might sound like the itinerary for a fun weekend in London but in Singapore, they are part of a rare corruption case involving a senior politician. Former cabinet minister S Iswaran is alleged to have received more than 380,000 Singapore dollars ($283,000) worth of gifts from Malaysian billionaire Ong Beng Seng, including tickets for West End shows and football matches, some of them in exchange for advancing Ong’s business interests. Ong was the driving force in bringing the Singapore Grand Prix to the city-state in 2008 and owns the rights to the night race. Tickets to the Grand Prix were listed on the charge sheet as gifts that Iswaran allegedly received. Appearing in court last month, Iswaran denied all 27 charges against him and later quit the government. In a resignation letter to Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Iswaran said he would “focus on clearing my name” and return all salary and allowances he had received since the investigation into his alleged corruption began last July. While Lee has promised to uphold Singapore’s “reputation for honesty and incorruptibility”, the case has rocked the tiny Southeast Asian nation, renowned for its political stability. S Iswaran leaving court last month. He denied all charges against him and resigned [Kelvin Chng/The Straits Times via Reuters] With an election looming and a much-anticipated leadership transition scheduled for November, the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has dominated the country’s politics since independence, is keen to reassure voters that it can weather the storm. “There is no doubt that the government has taken a hit. It has suffered reputational damage, to say the least,” said Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore’s Management University. “The full impact remains to be determined,” Tan added. Hefty pay packets Singapore’s political system has maintained a squeaky-clean reputation throughout the PAP’s nearly 65-year rule. Just last week, the country was ranked as the fifth-least corrupt in the world, according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. The city-state’s ministers are paid handsomely, with a starting salary set at just more than 45,000 Singapore dollars ($33,500) a month at the last pay adjustment in 2012. The government argues such enormous pay cheques, among the highest in the world, are necessary to stave off the risk of corruption. But according to Singapore-based political scientist Ian Chong, the country needs to find new ways to tackle this issue. “Singapore is still taking the approach of punishment [towards corruption] which, in some respects, is a bit like playing whack-a-mole, because of the large amounts of money now going around. “It isn’t, in my opinion, getting to the root of the issue with more public declaration of assets and income by political appointees,” said Chong, noting that declarations need only be made to the state. The case against Iswaran first came to light following his arrest last July. He was suspended while under investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and his monthly pay was reduced to 8,500 Singapore dollars ($6,300). It was just one of a number of scandals that hit the PAP last year in a surprisingly dramatic 12 months of Singapore politics. Iswaran is accused of receiving gifts worth more than 380,000 Singapore dollars ($283,000) from tycoon Ong Beng Seng. Ong (left) and Iswaran (second left) at a groundbreaking ceremony for the F1 pit building, in 2008 [Vivek Prakash/Reuters] In July, two lawmakers were forced to resign after having an affair. One of them, Tan Chuan-Jin, was the speaker of the parliament at the time. Lee described the relationship as “inappropriate”. That saga came just months after two senior government ministers were publicly scrutinised for their rental of state-owned colonial-era bungalows. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing, but prompted some to question how the ministers were able to rent the properties, given that contracts are awarded through a bidding process. “It’s creating a sense that there needs to be more transparency and restraint on authority, especially on people who hold political authority,” Chong told Al Jazeera. The scandals are in stark contrast to the image that the PAP has tried to project throughout its years of governance, with stable and trustworthy leadership portrayed as a hallmark of the ruling party. “I think the PAP is becoming a normal political party,” said Bilveer Singh, the deputy head of political science at the National University of Singapore. “Under [former Prime Minister] Lee Kuan Yew, regardless of incidents of corruption and scandals, people still held it [the PAP] in very, very high regard. I think the party has started to decline over the years. “We are seeing evidence of that in terms of scandals of this nature and integrity issues surfacing,” said Singh. While Lee and incoming Prime Minister Lawrence Wong have looked to react swiftly and strongly to the Iswaran scandal, the turbulence of the last year will provide an unwelcome backdrop to a momentous new chapter in Singapore politics. Late last year, Lee said he would hand over to Wong by the PAP’s 70th anniversary in November. But only if “all goes well”. Looming election The transition will be closely watched, with Singapore’s top job handed to somebody from outside the Lee family for only the second time in history. “For the public, there is some degree of worry about the next generation of leaders. While they look impressive on paper, there is no real sense of who they are and how they will perform when tested,” said Chong. Given the challenges facing Lee and Wong, both at home and abroad, some are even questioning if Lee’s stint in charge may be extended. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong votes at the last election in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has said he plans to step down [Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information via AFP] “We’re going to have a new president in

‘Nothing left’: Indonesia’s tourism industry fears wipeout under tax hike

Jakarta, Indonesia –  After spa therapist Murniyati survived COVID-19 on a sparse salary, she thought the worst was over. But after the Indonesian government’s announcement of a steep rise in taxes on entertainment services, she fears the salon where she works could be forced to close, leaving her unemployed. “My husband is just a taxi driver so our combined income is low. Our life, my life, depends on him and me,” she told Al Jazeera. Murniyati is just one of the countless workers across Indonesia who could be affected by the plans to apply a 40-75 percent tax rate to entertainment services such as spas, bars, nightclubs and karaoke joints. The proposed hike has sparked a fierce backlash from businesses, including a court challenge by spa owners in Bali. Hariyadi Sukamdani, the chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said in a press conference last month that the changes would lead to job losses in an “industry that absorbs a significant amount of labour and does not require higher education, making it essential for the general population”. Amid the blowback, the government announced it would delay the hike pending an evaluation. “We will collectively assess what the impact [of a higher entertainment tax] would be, especially for small business owners,” Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar said last month. Sofie Sulaiman, 55, left, said the spa worked hard to keep all of their staff during the pandemic, but they are not sure if they could get through a tax hike [Madeline Croad/Al Jazeera] Still, Sofie Sulaiman, Murniyati’s manager at Jamu Body Treatments in Jakarta, is angry. The spa provides jobs for many women, all of whom are from less well-off backgrounds. Many of them are widows and single mothers, and most have been working at the spa for more than 20 years. Sulaiman said her business would need to cover the cost of the tax hike, as it is too high to pass on to customers. “Our market is teachers. It’s not businessmen, it’s not tourists, it’s not honeymooners who spend money when they travel. They are just teachers, they are just housewives,” Sulaiman told Al Jazeera. Sulaiman said it would be impossible to make a profit under the new tax regime. “We will sacrifice ourselves,” Sulaiman said, adding that she might have to close down. “There is nothing left after that.” Revenue and incentives Bhima Yudhistira, an economist from the Center of Economic and Law Studies, said the tax hike could boost revenue for local governments and provide greater autonomy to communities, but the lack of consultation had left officials divided. “Some local governments which have huge tourism spots such as Bali see this as not a potential for revenue, they see this as a new tax burden after COVID-19,” Yudhistira told Al Jazeera. “They will lose because the number of tourists will drop and businesses will be affected.” COVID-19 had a devastating effect on Indonesian businesses and workers, with 2.67 million jobs lost in 2020 and more than 30 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) forced to close during the pandemic, according to the national statistics office. Other countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia could be new options for tourists, Yudhistira thinks, which could be another attack on Indonesia’s entertainment industry post-Covid [Madeline Croad/Al Jazeera] Under the planned tax revision, the rate is set by each local government, making November’s local elections especially important, said Yudhistira, who is sceptical about the government’s promise to provide relief measures and incentives to affected businesses. He believes businesses could be “cherry-picked” depending on their political connections. “We see that many of the local government incentives previously didn’t work well … The industry owners or business owners that have strong connections to the local government leaders, to the governors, they have incentives.” Indonesia has made a name for itself as an affordable destination, but some government officials have expressed their hope that higher costs will drive away visitors on a budget in favour of high-spending tourists. Gabby Walters, an associate professor of tourism and business at the University of Queensland, said that such an approach would be a mistake. More than one million Australians visited Bali last year, most of them looking for a cheap, fun holiday. They made up a quarter of all tourist arrivals, making them the largest visitor group, according to official statistics. “[Australian] Bali tourists want alcohol, they want to party, so you’ve seen a rise of beach clubs, nightclubs and that’s not what the high-yielding tourists are after,” Walters told Al Jazeera. “The way that the Bali tourism industry is structured, it’s set up to encourage and cater for that market.” It is a market that could be put off by higher prices, at a time when tourism numbers are only just over half of what they were before the pandemic, Walters said. “If there’s going to be a 40-75 percent increase to buy a drink in a bar or go to a nightclub or have a massage, then people are definitely going to look elsewhere,” Walters said, noting that other destinations in the region have been cutting taxes. Thailand dropped a related tax to five percent to attract tourists and has seen a boom in arrivals. More than 28 million tourists visited the country last year, while Indonesia attracted just over nine million. Moving forward, Sulaiman is unsure about the future of her spa, but she knows that shutting up shop and leaving her staff unemployed is a possibility. She is confused, like many others in the industry, about the lack of consultation. “I don’t think in any other country, you would find this kind of hike in tax,” she said. “They have never invited us to have a discussion.” Yudhistira said the tax revisions were made too quickly, with those most affected left out of the conversation. He thinks there are other ways to increase local government revenue without damaging the entertainment industry. “The burden for the entertainment industry

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