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A contingent of search-and-rescue personnel and disaster relief experts left Singapore yesterday for Nepal, to help in what is said to be the Himalayan nation’s worst earthquake in 80 years.
Two Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) C-130 aircraft left Paya Lebar Airbase yesterday carrying a 69-member search-and-rescue team comprising officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Singapore Police Force — including officers from the Gurkha contingent — and four dogs. An advance team of six from the Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre (RHCC) was also deployed to assist the Nepalese national disaster management authorities and military with their attempts to coordinate relief efforts. Also on board was a United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs representative. The team is expected to arrive in Kathmandu around noon today. A 16-person Singapore Armed Forces medical team is also on standby and ready to depart, said the Ministry of Defence yesterday. In a Facebook post, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said: “We know that there are risks of further aftershocks but are confident that these men and women will do Singapore proud and perform their utmost to help our Nepalese friends in need.” These efforts come after the Government on Saturday said it would contribute S$100,000 as seed money to kick-start the Singapore Red Cross’ appeal for donations. The Singapore Red Cross, which will be sending $50,000 worth of relief items and emergency supplies to Nepal, said it will accept donations in both in cash and cheque, which will be channelled towards emergency relief and recovery assistance for the affected communities. It is also in contact with its partners in Nepal and plans to send disaster response personnel to the affected areas. Humanitarian organisation Mercy Relief said it will set aside an initial tranche of S$60,000 to support acute relief efforts. It is also set to deploy a two-man preliminary disaster response team to Kathmandu to ascertain ground needs and procure initial batch of relief supplies. Mercy Relief chairman Michael Tay said: “From experience, we are directing our acute relief efforts at shoring up the supply and distribution of shelter, food and water for the survivors.” Its rapid response team on the ground on Monday will determine how it can most effectively assist with recovery, he added. The group will also call for donations for quake victims starting today. More than 500 people, many new citizens, celebrated Vishu, the Malayalee New Year, at the Sembawang Community Club yesterday. The Malayalees form the second-largest ethnic Indian group here after the Tamils.
The event featured the traditions of the Malayalees and a traditional Vishu vegetarian feast was also served. The celebrations were originally scheduled earlier this month, but were postponed to a month after the death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, out of respect for the former Prime Minister. XUE JIANYUE; PHOTO: DON WONG Malaysia remains keen on the prospect of a new bridge replacing the Causeway, and Malaysian Minister for Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin said he hoped the Prime Ministers of both countries will discuss the issue at the leaders’ retreat in 10 days’ time.
A new bridge would be a symbol for future bilateral relations, said Mr Khairy at a media interview before a talk on Singapore’s need to balance relations with its neighbours. The talk was organised by think tank Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) yesterday. “I think it’s an important symbol as well for future bilateral relations, that we’re no longer trapped by the whole notion of having to have that Causeway — we can demolish it and build something,” he said. “And before we even talk about a rapid transit system between Johor and Singapore and the high-speed rail link, I think we should explore the possibility of whether we can have a bridge. It’ll be nice and I’m sure on both sides they’ll be happy to have the water flow through the Straits,” he added. Mr Khairy said a new bridge could provide a wider thoroughfare between Singapore and Malaysia, potentially reducing jams. But he was clear that the current Malaysian government is not pursuing the idea of the “crooked bridge” mooted by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The “crooked bridge” project involves tearing down Malaysia’s side of the Causeway and replacing it with a six-lane bridge connected to Singapore. The Republic had opposed the work, arguing that it would be a costly affair that would bring few economic benefits. The Causeway is jointly owned by both countries, and “if you want to replace the Causeway, you should replace it with a straight bridge where there’s agreement on both sides”, said Mr Khairy. He added that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has raised the issue of a new bridge with his counterpart, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The crooked bridge is one of the issues recently raised by Dr Mahathir against Mr Najib. Asked about Dr Mahathir’s criticisms of Mr Najib and whether this has affected investor confidence in his country, Mr Khairy pointed to the oversubscription of the Malaysian government’s US$1.5 billion Islamic bonds by six times. Mr Najib has the backing of the Malaysian Cabinet and the ruling party’s senior leadership, he said. Mr Najib has met with the women’s wing, youth wing, young women’s wing as well as the division chiefs of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the ruling party. “We’ve all given our support to the Prime Minister and party president,” said Mr Khairy, chairman of UMNO’s youth wing. He noted that every administration faces challenges, and that Dr Mahathir had also attacked former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. The Cabinet decided not to respond to criticisms of a personal nature, but to address in detail matters of public interest, such as allegations about the government-owned investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd. “I think people have been fed a lot of allegations in great detail, so we really have to ensure that each and every allegation is answered in a comprehensive way. That’s why we’ve asked for a (comprehensive) audit to be done ... on all the allegations from the PetroSaudi deal, to how the liabilities have accumulated,” said Mr Khairy. The audit will make its way to Parliament and to the public accounts committee made up of opposition and government lawmakers. Mr Najib has said he would make sure that anyone found to have embezzled or committed criminal breach of trust would be punished, said Mr Khairy. Asked about his interest in taking the reins as Prime Minister, Mr Khairy said: “Not all of us are trained and brought up in the party to be interested in the top job. We’re just interested in playing our part.” Meanwhile, issues on ASEAN identity, geo-political rivalry between China and the United States, nationalism in Indonesia and Singapore-Malaysia ties going forward were discussed at the SIIA’s talk titled Future50: Connecting Singapore And Our Neighbours. Mr Khairy was joined by former Indonesian Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Dino Patti Djalal. SIIA’s executive director Nicholas Fang moderated and SIIA chairman Simon Tay provided additional comments. In his opening remarks, Mr Khairy spoke on the need for bilateral relations to “move forward”. “We cannot continue to exist as a counterpoint to one another,” he said. “I think there is an excessive juxtaposition in Malaysia of where we are , and where Singapore is, vis-a-vis the other. “The choices we have made respectively in terms of structuring our economies and our society, we cannot compare and we cannot continue to obsess about which path the other one took,” he added. “One, it sometimes comes across as condescending, but it also continues to internalise an ‘us and them’ world view between Singapore and Malaysia.” Amid ongoing business restructuring, last year saw a 40 per cent jump in the number of non-resident workers retrenched, figures from the Ministry of Manpower show.
A total of 12,930 workers received the pink slip in 2014, 12 per cent higher than in the year before. This represented 6.3 lay-offs per 1,000 employees, up from 5.8 in 2013. Last year’s higher redundancy numbers were caused by more non-resident workers being let go — 5,690 versus 4,050 in 2013. In comparison, the number of residents made redundant fell from 7,520 to 7,240. These led to resident workers making up 56 per cent of retrenchments, the lowest since 1998 and the first dip in three years. In 2013, the proportion of resident redundancies was 65 per cent. Resident workers laid off also found new jobs more quickly, with half of them finding new bosses within one month. The percentage of residents who re-entered the workforce within six months of redundancy also rose for the third straight quarter to 59 per cent in December last year. The services sector — mainly wholesale trade, financial services, legal, accounting and management services, and retail trade — accounted for most of the retrenchments (56 per cent). Manufacturing as a whole made up 31 per cent of the lay-offs, while construction was responsible for the remaining 13 per cent. The increase in construction lay-offs was caused by a decline in private sector construction output. Despite forming the majority of those retrenched, PMETs comprised a smaller share of the lay-offs last year (51 per cent) compared to 2013 (56 per cent). The top reason cited for lay-offs was “restructuring of business processes for greater efficiency” (32 per cent), followed by “reorganisation of businesses” (24 per cent) and “poor business or business failure not due to recession” (22 per cent). Commenting on the statistics, analysts said the higher number of retrenchments was caused by a combination of modest economic growth last year, tightened foreign labour supply and economic restructuring. The higher Dependency Ratio Ceiling — the maximum ratio of foreign employees permitted — in the services and construction sectors led to increased redundancies, said DBS economist Irvin Seah. “The services sector finds it difficult to find more local workers to support that additional one foreign worker. As a result, companies have to downsize operations, trim their headcount and increase productivity,” he said. Higher foreign-worker levies could have caused a shift in preference towards retaining resident workers, said UOB economist Francis Tan. OCBC economist Selena Ling said the higher redundancies are “not too alarming for now”. “As restructuring continues, and as companies and industries try to adapt to the new normal — improving productivity and making do with less manpower — you could still get a fair bit of churn,” she said. Noting the low unemployment rate and high re-entry rate for resident workers, she added: “If overall unemployment rate is still fairly low, then a certain amount of churn is not a bad thing because it means there is labour mobility, which is what you need for a fairly efficient, market driven economy.” Experts said they foresee redundancies rising further in the near-term. The services and construction sectors will continue to be vulnerable this year due to weak productivity, which could affect firms’ overall business performance, said Mr Tan. “If a company in a particular sector is not seeing growth, then naturally they may shut down. Then, there will be increased redundancies,” he added. XUE JIANYUE A new justice division to oversee community and relational disputes was launched at the State Courts this morning (April 24).
The Community Justice and Tribunals Division, which will be supported by five judicial officers and 29 court administrators, will comprise the Small Claims Tribunals and the upcoming Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals. The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT), expected to be set up in the third quarter this year, will hear cases involving spates between neighbours after other efforts, such have community medication, have been exhausted. The CDRT was envisaged under the new Community Disputes Resolution Act passed on March 13, neighbours who cannot settle disputes due to either party’s unreasonable behaviour can file a case with the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal. “Unreasonable behaviour” as defined by the Act includes causing too much noise, smell or smoke, littering at or obstructing a neighbour’s place. As parties will usually represent themselves, tribunal proceedings will be simplified, informal and held in private. Specialised tribunal judges will be appointed by the presiding judge of the State Courts. Tribunal judges can order parties deemed to have caused unreasonable disturbance to pay damages, specific performance and costs, or grant an injunction. The Community Justice and Tribunals Division will also administer matters and applications under the Protection from Harassment Act that came into effect on November 15 last year. Former President S R Nathan (picture) is recovering at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), after suffering a stroke last Tuesday.
In a statement issued last night, his family said Mr Nathan, 90, who served as President for two terms spanning 12 years, is undergoing therapy. Mr Nathan stepped down as President in 2011. He was elected in 1999 and was Singapore’s sixth and longest-serving President. President Tony Tan, who succeeded Mr Nathan after winning the presidential election in 2011, wished Mr Nathan a full recovery on his Facebook page yesterday. “My wife and I were both very concerned when we learnt that (Mr Nathan) was warded last Tuesday for a haemorrhage in the brain. We are relieved that his condition has since stabilised. When we visited him at the hospital earlier this week, we were happy to see that he was in good spirits and looking forward to being discharged,” he said. Last month, Mr Nathan was spotted going for a check-up at SGH, where the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew was then hospitalised for pneumonia. Before he became President, Mr Nathan was Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States until 1996. He began his career as a medical social worker before moving on to a 50-year career in civil service that included serving as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs. Some other milestones include his role in the Laju ferry hijacking in 1974, when he risked his life to accompany the hijackers to Kuwait to secure the safe release of the Singaporean hostages. In 2013, he was awarded The Order of Temasek (First Class) — Singapore’s highest honour given to a rare few — for his distinguished career in public service. The authorities are looking at piloting a public transportation service, which can be activated at the drop of a hat for deployment at places where demand for both taxis and buses heats up, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has revealed.
It is envisioning 20-seater mini-buses for this on-demand express shuttle service, which can run ad-hoc routes with limited stops and levies fares that fall between what commuters pay for taxis and buses — somewhere between S$5 and S$10. Pre-booking should also be an option. The IDA’s deputy director of Government Analytics Liu Feng Yuan floated the idea at the Smart Nation Innovations Forum yesterday, saying his agency is looking at engaging user groups to start a pilot. With big data, routes where express services such as this could be popular can be spotted, he added, noting that Finland already has something similar. “Why do we have fixed bus routes instead of flexible timings? It is because we didn’t have the data,” he told participants at a forum called Adaptive Transportation with Data Science. Flashing data of the number of taxi pick-ups and bus traffic in various areas on a screen, he cited one possible route plying from Marine Parade to OUE Bayfront, where demand for cabs and buses was heaviest between 8am and 8.30am. “I don’t know how many are willing to pay for an express shuttle, but I know there is a demand ... There are quite a lot of large areas where we can potentially run such an express shuttle,” said Mr Liu. No details were given as to who would oversee the service or when it could be rolled out. But several conditions are needed for something like this to work, said Mr Liu. For example, 20 passengers must be gathered within 15 minutes and the number of drop-offs must be kept to a minimum, so as to ensure a faster commute. Mr Liu added: “You need to know where (to deploy the service), because if it is going all over the island, it makes no economic sense. You need to know where all the popular corridors are.” Commenting on the idea, Dr Park Byung Joon, head of the Urban Transport Management programme at SIM University, said that while the idea is “great”, it is not working so well in Helsinki, where the service is run with public money. “They did not really think it through and used big data to identify the routes. They tried to cover too big an area with a small number of buses, and it became very random,” he said. “The result was that not enough routes were created and not enough people were pulled in.” Policymakers need to really utilise big data in order to make this work, he added. National University of Singapore transport analyst, Professor Lee Der Horng, also said the idea of using big data to plug service gaps works in theory, “but in terms of actual implementation, it’s a question mark”. “It will work in countries where public transport is really weak, but I think it is not the case in Singapore,” he said. “Big data also does not tell you the actual behaviour of people, whether they will take this up, although you can try to infer behaviour from data.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has filed a police report after being informed that scam callers impersonating Ministry officers have been calling members of the public.
In a statement released today (April 23), the MFA said these callers request that members of the public verify their personal particulars and pay a penalty for issues related to their immigration white card. “The Ministry wishes to clarify that MFA does not conduct such verification and does not seek payment of penalties,” an MFA spokesman said. The MFA says it takes a very serious view on such scam calls, and has also advised members of the public to file a police report immediately if they receive similar phone calls. IKEA Singapore has decided to continue promoting a magic show by Pastor Lawrence Khong, who has publicly spoken out against homosexuality in the past, despite the flurry of objections since it put up an advertisement on the event last week.
The furniture retailer said after reviewing the magic show’s content, it found the programme to offer “high family entertainment value” and thus decided to stick to its “informed decision” of continuing the promotional tie-up. “As a company, IKEA Singapore respects the diversity and equality of all people living in our community. We also respect that all individuals have a right to their opinions and personal choices, including the freedom to choose their preferred entertainment,” said IKEA Singapore’s assistant marketing manager Sandra Keasberry. In response to TODAY’s queries, Ms Keasberry said IKEA Singapore does not benefit financially from the tie-up with the show’s organisers. Since the Swedish firm posted an ad promoting Mr Khong’s show last week, some netizens have been up in arms, expressing their unhappiness to gay rights advocacy groups and on IKEA Singapore’s Facebook page. The furniture giant’s decision today (April 21), which it posted on its Facebook page, drew strong reactions from those for and against it — there were more than 500 likes and nearly 100 shares by 11pm, with some comments also sparking heated discourse. A Facebook user by the name Poh Wee Long wrote: “Thank you for not bowing to pressure. We cannot discriminate a person and organisation just because there is disagreement over certain values and views. True freedom means the right to disagree.” In contrast, writer Alfian Sa’at spoke out against the company, urging it to “perform due diligence the next time” before committing itself to certain personalities in Singapore. “Lawrence Khong is infamous for his anti-gay stance and has lent his voice to various homophobic initiatives in Singapore,” he added. Attempts to reach Mr Khong today were unsuccessful. Gateway Entertainment, the company that manages Mr Khong’s magic shows, declined to comment. While pro-family groups lauded IKEA Singapore’s decision, lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) advocates said it showed a need for greater awareness of LGBT rights. Ms Anita Fam, who is a member of family support non-governmental organisation Families for Life, felt it was a right move by IKEA Singapore. “It’s just a magic show and the person putting on the show is not making a statement. (Mr Khong) doesn’t have an agenda by putting on this show other than to entertain his audience. IKEA Singapore is doing the right thing by not taking sides,” she said. On the other hand, Ms Jean Chong, who co-founded women gay rights group Sayoni, said: “While I respect IKEA Singapore’s right to choose how it wants to conduct business, it is obvious it does not hold the same values as IKEA worldwide. A lot of awareness still needs to be done to promote the rights of the LGBT community.” Mr Bryan Choong of advocacy group Oogachaga, which provides LGBT counselling services, said he was disappointed by IKEA Singapore’s decision, given the firm’s “international track record” of being LGBT inclusive. “I am sure many LGBT people, families and supporters of LGBT people ... will feel the same.” Here is IKEA Singapore's statement in full: “Thanks to our loyal customers for your patience while we at IKEA Singapore took time to come to an informed decision on an issue that has raised sensitivities in our community. We were concerned about the questions raised and decided to do a thorough review. We have spoken directly with the organizers, reviewed the content and confirmed that the Vision show offers high family entertainment value and, on that basis, we are continuing our promotional tie-up. As a company, IKEA Singapore respects the diversity and equality of all people living in our community. We also respect that all individuals have a right to their opinions and personal choices, including the freedom to choose their preferred entertainment.” The niece of wealthy widow Chung Khin Chun has filed an application to appeal against the High Court’s decision to allow former tour guide Yang Yin to liquidate two life insurance policies for his legal and personal expenses.
Yang, 41, is being sued by Madam Hedy Mok for loss and damages arising from his alleged breach of duties under a legal document that gave him control of her 88-year-old aunt’s assets. Yang, a Chinese national, had his assets frozen last August via a Mareva injunction, which prevents him from disposing any assets in Singapore and overseas. In a closed-door hearing on April 13, Justice Judith Prakash allowed Yang’s application to liquidate two life insurance policies worth S$98,000 to pay for his legal fees. However, Justice Prakash did not allow funds from Yang’s OCBC bank accounts to be released. Mdm Mok, 61, who owns a travel agency, had opposed the liquidation of Yang’s insurance policies, arguing that they should be part of Mdm Chung’s estate. A hearing will be held on May 5 to determine if Mdm Mok’s application will be granted. Yang has been in remand since Oct 31 last year for a separate criminal case against him. He faces more than 300 charges for various offences, including faking receipts of his music and dance school. |
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