Italy's Deputy Minister for Economic Development calls on SM Goh

SINGAPORE: Italy's Deputy Minister for Economic Development Adolfo Urso has called on Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong at the Istana.

Mr Goh and Mr Urso had wide-ranging discussions on the state of bilateral economic ties and the potential for closer collaboration.

Mr Urso expressed confidence in Asia's potential and said that Italy hopes to partner Singapore to explore opportunities in the region.

Mr Goh briefed Mr Urso on recent economic developments in Asia and said that Singapore can be a platform for Italian companies to venture into the region.

Mr Urso is leading a delegation of 80 Italian companies to Singapore from June 14 to 16.

Last year, Italy was Singapore's fifth largest trading partner in Europe, with total bilateral trade valued at S$5.8 billion.

- CNA/yt

Coffee with an Italian stallion

SINGAPORE: You could say this Italian has played quite a part in Singapore’s nation-building.

After all, Roberto Pregarz has been credited with single-handedly saving the Raffles Hotel — not the swish, super five-star establishment on Beach Road that it has become, but the iconic yet genteelly-going-to seed hotel it once was.

Famous it was, but with an owner who was unwilling to invest in it, business was poor. When the young Pregarz was made assistant general manager and handed the keys, his predecessor also told him: “Raffles will close in six months.”

His only chance at success then was his creativity. He exercised that to such an extent that despite his lack of prior hotel experience, Raffles not only survived the six months, Pregarz himself stayed and almost single-handedly operated the hotel for 22 years until it closed in early 1989 for extensive renovations.

It celebrated its centennial under him and in that year — 1986 — it was hailed as the “most famous hotel in the world”.

His achievements have been well-recognised all over the world and what he did to revive, resuscitate (and at times reinvent) the allure of what is arguably Singapore’s most well-known icon is chronicled in books and press reports. But how did an Italian man with a then shaky command of English do it?

The “human touch”, he says.

“My staff and I both spoke broken English ... (but) we had the same mentality. We understood and respected each other no matter what our jobs were. My job was not to give orders, but to help them. I had to prove to them that I could (help them).”

That is why during these trying times, Pregarz is fretting about how where everything is heading, as to his eyes it all seems to lack the “human touch” principle he operates by.

At Raffles, he wined and dined film stars and famous authors, but was also not above himself doing the dishes when the dishwasher broke down.

What is needed, he says, is a return to those days when everyone seemed to have a common purpose — nation building.

“The Minister Mentor and his colleagues were building the Singaporean,” he says. These days, he laments, some policymakers are “not down-to-earth with the bread-and-butter issues of most ordinary Singaporeans.

As he puts it, “their vision is so global that they cannot see their own housing estate. Investment and money seems more important to them than quality of life”.

“We have done extremely well for 40 years without casinos, why we need them now?” he asks. These will only create bigger problems for the new generation.

Singapore to him is home and Italy is a “place to visit to drink wine, eat pizzas, enjoy the sceneries, the arts”.

But Pregarz, 69, who married a Singaporean and is the father of two and a grandfather of one, wants to know: Who will be the Singaporean in 10 years time?

“We are now importing unskilled labourers while our skilled ones are being exported,” he says. “Singapore is still one of the best countries to work, to live and to raise a family, but for how long more if the present trend continues?”

The higher-than-forecasted revenue from the goods and service tax and the money from fines should be used to help ordinary Singaporeans.

“Why these extras cannot be used to help the citizens during a crisis? Why do we need to charge GST on essential food items?” he questions passionately.

At the heart of his activism — Pregarz writes to the media regularly — is the Singapore he wants his children and grandchildren to live in. He treasures the Singapore that allowed for him and his wife, Helena to save part of their modest salaries to buy their own first home.

“My hope is that our leaders will study and follow the path of their predecessors, the builders of Singapore. Do not experiment. Stop and ponder on what we have achieved. Do not follow the Western style democracy. This is made to protect the delinquents, not the law-abiding citizens.”

He does not let up even when he is on his annual sojourn to Italy. Pregarz — who has been twice bestowed the title of cavaliere (roughly the equivalent of a knighthood or the Legion d’ Honneur) by the Italian government — takes that government to task as well.

His wife, a retired teacher, says: “It could be graffiti on the walls, beggars in the streets... When his friends start seeing his letters in the local newspaper, they say ‘Oh, Roberto is in town again’.”

Pregarz even had a part to play in giving Singapore the famous violinist Vanessa Mae. It was at Raffles Hotel that she was conceived.

“Yes, yes,” he says delighting in relating how it came about. “Her mother Pamela was playing the piano at the Palm Court that time and her father was the food and beverage manager.”

Ah, the human touch... - TODAY/ar

Singapore beat Italy at WCG2008 Finals

Singapore strikes gold in World Cyber Games (WCG)
Team also wins a silver at World Cyber Games
By Tham Yuen-C


A silver, came from Mr Danny Koo (left), 28 in the fighting game Virtua Fighter 5. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF RAPTURE GAMING

A SINGAPORE gamer has delivered the Republic's first gold medal from the World Cyber Games (WCG), considered the Olympics of the cybergaming world.

Mr Jared Beins, 19, beat Mr Steven Anderson from the United States to become the top player of mobile phone game Asphalt 4.

Another medal, a silver, came from Mr Danny Koo, 28 in the fighting game Virtua Fighter 5.

'The best part was waving the Singapore flag for the first time ever,' said Mr Beins, whose gaming name is Slyfoxlover.

The national serviceman was representing Singapore for the first time at an international meet, and had set aside two hours every day in the last three months to practise the car racing game.

It was the first year that mobile phone games were played at the WCG, in a bid to attract a wider range of competitors.

'They're very simple,' said Mr Beins, of mobile phone games. 'Anybody can figure them out.'

Aside from those, casual games such as Guitar Hero III and Fifa 2008 were also introduced this year.

Singapore fielded 19 gamers in nine games at the annual tournament's grand finals in Cologne, Germany. Some 800 players from 78 countries competed in 14 computer, console and mobile games such as Warcraft III and Halo 3.

Singapore's other medal, from another WCG newbie, Mr Koo, was hard-fought.

'When my teammate Wilson [Chia] lost against the US, I was really nervous,' he said.

Players assume different characters with different skills in the hand-to-hand combat game. The business development manager of a fine-dining restaurant lost in the final round to Japan's Hiromiki Kumada, the country's top player.

'He's won a lot of national tournaments,' said Mr Koo, who went to Japan in August to spar with the gamers there.

To compete on the world stage, players first have to win their regional championships.

The wins put Singapore in the top seven of the medal tally - behind gaming powerhouses like first place-winner South Korea which was followed by the Netherlands and the US - and more than made up for the disappointing performance at last year's tournament.

At the WCG finals in Seattle last year, all but one of Singapore's top gamers crashed out after the first round.

'We're an underdog, no one expected us to get two medals,' said Mr Herman Ng, managing director of Rapture Gaming and manager of the Singapore team.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_300906.html