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Scottish Boyband Singer Suffered Heat Exhaustion Wearing 12 Layers Of Clothes

LONDON (AFP) – A British boyband singer collapsed with heat exhaustion during a flight while wearing 12 layers of clothing in a bid to beat the excess luggage fee, he said Saturday.

James McElvar, 19, from the Scottish group Rewind, was about to board an easyJet flight from London Stansted to Glasgow on Wednesday when he was told he had one carry-on bag too many.

Staff said he was allowed to take only one bag on board, so would have to pay a £45 (S$90) excess charge or bin his second bag.

With his bandmates already aboard and just minutes to spare, he made a foolhardy snap decision, emptying his rucksack and donning the entire contents.

McElvar was wearing six T-shirts, four jumpers, two jackets, one pair of shorts, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of jogging bottoms and two hats.

“There was a lot of clothes,” he said on the band’s Twitter feed.

“It was very difficult to walk onto the plane. I managed to sit in the seat for a minute or two. But I just couldn’t take the heat.”

Barely able to move, he could not even get the seatbelt round him.

“I was sweating and they kept asking me to put the belt on but I couldn’t sort it,” he said.

“It was just a nightmare I was having.”

As he was drenched in sweat and feeling sick, cabin crew laid him out, stripped down, on an empty row of seats, where he was violently sick and then fainted.

The singer has no memory of the rest of the flight and was taken off the plane at Glasgow Airport to a waiting ambulance.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

July 12, 2015
Postman Wins ‘Turban Battle’ Over Disney

MIAMI • A Sikh postman at Disney World in Florida has won a legal fight against the global entertainment giant after he said he had been made to work away from customers so they would not see his beard and turban.

Lawyers for Mr Gurdit Singh said he had been segregated from staff and customers at the Florida theme park because he violated a “look policy”, the BBC reported.

Disney now says Mr Singh can deliver post on all routes, in full view of customers. It says it does not discriminate based on religion.

Mr Singh, who has worked at the theme park since 2008 but always out of sight of visitors, said he was “incredibly thankful” Disney had decided to change course.

“My hope is that this policy change opens up the door for more Sikhs and other religious minorities to practise their faith freely here at Disney.

“My turban and beard serve as a constant reminder of my commitment to my faith… these articles remind everybody that we’re all equal. That is not just a Sikh value, that is an American value.”

In May, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and The Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group for the religion, wrote to Disney expressing their concerns over Mr Singh’s treatment.

They said he had been assigned to only one delivery route which kept him away from customers, while other staff were rotated through different assignments where they were visible to guests, the BBC said.

They argued this was “specifically, because of his racial/ethnic and religious appearance”, and was a violation of his civil rights.

Disney has now put him on all the routes and said it is “committed to diversity and prohibits discrimination based upon religion”.

Mr Singh remains in his job, delivering post at the park, and says he is happy to work for the company.

Ms Gurjot Kaur, a lawyer acting for The Sikh Coalition, said her client first applied for a job at Disney in 2005, and was told he would have to work in the back, cleaning the carpark or in the kitchen. “The interviewer indicated that he could not work in front of guests because of his turban and beard,” she said.

Mr Singh did not take up the position, but applied again in 2008, initially to work as a doorman.

Despite extensive experience in hospitality, Ms Kaur said her client was denied the job “because his ‘costume’ did not match the ‘costume’ necessary”, and Mr Singh took the word “costume” to mean his turban and beard.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

July 12, 2015
Ngiam Tong Dow: Civil Servants Must Understand Ground Before Making Policies

Young civil servants should first walk the ground and understand the problems before they formulate policies, said former top mandarin Ngiam Tong Dow at the DBS Asian Insights Conference today (July 10).

Mr Ngiam, who had served 40 years as Permanent Secretary in various ministries, was one of the panellists discussing the topic, How Can Singapore Future-proof its Relevance for the Next 50 Years.

Responding to a question from the audience on whether high salaries in the civil service are diverting talent and growth away from the private sector, he said that civil servants are worthy of their salaries but the way they are trained is important.

“When a young scholar comes back, he should not be sent to the Ministry of Finance’s Treasury division and become the regulator. He should really be sent to the Economic Development Board (EDB), or the Housing and Development Board, and serve an internship of a year to learn the problems of the ground,” said Mr Ngiam, who is an adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

“Unless the civil servant knows the problems on the ground, he would become just a regulator. And regulators, there are too many (of them) in Singapore,” he added, prompting applause from the audience of about 900 Government, business and thought leaders.

Weighing in on the question, Banyan Tree Holdings executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping said that while tweaks to the public sector’s pay structure may have to be considered along the way, it is better to “err on the side of overpaying”.

“It is better to tweak and reform the system from where we are today than to have a system where civil servants are all forced to be corrupt because they are so underpaid,” he said.

However, he noted the danger that this approach poses to the private sector. “(Companies) either have to keep up with the salaries, which are high, or you have an overbalance, or perhaps a hollowing out of the best and brightest in Singapore all going to the public sector. That may not be good for Singapore in the long run,” he said.

Mr Ngiam added that well-educated Singaporeans should be spread across various segments of society and not concentrated in the public sector. “If you just keep them within the Government, in the long run, (they) become an elite, become fossilised,” he said.

Source: www.todayonline.com

July 11, 2015
Mohd Khair: Pinkdot Agendas Undermine Familial And Social Fabric Of Singapore

Talking about intolerance, we Singaporeans have been a very tolerant society.

When a Muslim goes to a non-halal eatery and ask for halal food but none could be served by the eatery, we don’t see Muslims in Singapore suing the owner of the eatery for any form of distress caused by the rejection of the request. In fact, there’s no distress whatsoever.

Likewise, when a non-Muslim goes to a halal eatery and ask for pork or liquor to be served, we don’t see non-Muslims in Singapore suing the Muslim owner of the eatery for any form of distress caused by the rejection of the request. And really there’s no distress at all.

Why?

Because we respect each other’s beliefs and value systems.

Alcohol drinkers don’t go around suing Muslims just because the latter believe and say that drinking alcohol is wrong based on their religious belief.

Likewise, we don’t find Muslims in Singapore suing others who say that polygamy is wrong. We don’t. We simply don’t find that in Singapore.

Why?

Because this is Singapore, and we are Singaporeans who are very tolerant to different beliefs so long as they do not tear down our basic familial and social fabric. But the moment anyone or any activism is going all out to undermine that familial and social fabric, we Singaporeans will stand up and unite together to defend it at all costs. Defending that familial and social fabric that have been the bedrock of Singapore’s development and progress all these years cannot be deemed as intolerance, cannot be defined as bigotry and cannot be accused of propagating hate speech.

Instead, those labels should be directed at those who undermine that familial and social fabric that we Singaporeans cherish and protect.

Why?

Because they are the ones that are intolerant. Any form of disagreement will be immediately labelled as bigotry and accused of propagating hate. And that is happening now even with the 377A still around. It is not hard to imagine the kind of absolute intolerance we can face if 377A is abolished from the Penal Code.

How come?

Well, just look at what is happening right now in the US. Refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay marriage results in a legal suit. Refusing to solemnise gay marriages is now a crime. And yet lgbt activists here claim that legalising same-sex marriages will not affect anyone at all. It is instead absolutely clear from that legalising same-sex marriage will result in the absolute intolerance on the part of the lgbt activists. The slightest disagreement with them will result in lawsuits or even being charged in court for alleged crimes.

So, to those lgbt activists and sympathisers, don’t go round saying that we are intolerant as a society in Singapore. Singaporeans have been and will continue to be tolerant so long as the familial and social fabric are not threatened. Once threatened, we will defend it. PERIOD.

And Singaporeans are neither stupid nor illiterate. We know what the lgbt activism has done to other parts of the world once same-sex marriage is legalised.

Same-sex marriage has become the demon that is out to destroy the institution of marriage and family in those countries. If ever 377A is abolished and same-sex marriage is legalised in Singapore, the same level of intolerance or more will also set foot. SSM will then be used to knock out anyone, any organisation, any religion and any law (including AMLA – Administration of Muslim Law Act) that is against same-sex marriage.

So, don’t ever say that pinkdot is an innocent movement just for a group of lgbts and their supporters to celebrate diversity and the freedom to love. Pinkdot is a political movement that is intolerant of the familial and social values so dearly upheld by Singaporeans all these while. These are the very familial and social values that have seen us through the ups and downs of Singapore’s development and progress. Pinkdot wants us to abolish Section 377A and legalise same-sex marriage. And should that be allowed to happen, the pinkdot will transform itself into a demon that will be so intolerant to any form of disagreement to same-sex marriages and to its lifestyle choice of freedom to love anyone and anything at all.

And by the way, Singaporeans have long been tolerant of lgbts living in our midst. They live, work and play together with all of us for as long as we can remember. The Government also acknowledges that they are in almost every sector of the economy, including the public sector and public service. And for the record too, no lgbts have been persecuted in Singapore by the Courts just because of them being lgbts. But the lgbt activism at the level we are seeing right now, especially in the form of pinkdot, is a recent phenomenon fuelled by external parties, and has now become brazen and emboldened with the recent US Supreme Court ruling. We Singaporeans have been a tolerant society all these while. The very existence of pinkdot now in our midst is testimony to that. But that does not negate our right to say that it is wrong and that we are against pinkdot in Singapore.

And why are we against pinkdot in Singapore?

Because pinkdot is pushing for the repeal of Section 377A and the legalisation of same-sex marriage. These two pinkdot agendas will undermine the very familial and social fabric that Singapore has been based on in its years of development and progress. And if we can sum up what PM Lee Hsien Loong has said in recent weeks, it would be this: The society in Singapore is deeply religious. The social sphere has developed taking into account the religious and ethnic beliefs of the multireligious and multiracial societies found in Singapore. So don’t push it.

Mohd Khair

Source: We Are Against Pink Dot

July 11, 2015
HPB Steps Up Effort To Promote Healthy Lifestyle Among Malay Community

When the National Disease Registry (NDR) reported in December last year stating that Malays are the unhealthiest in Singapore, it drew a backlash from some people in the community.

“If a certain issue is indeed worrying and needs immediate attention/solution, why would identifying a certain enthic/community make any difference?” said Facebook user Zulkifli Yusof.

According to the NDR report, Malays are more likely to suffer from a stroke, undergo kidney transplants or go through dialysis.

On Thursday, the Health Promotion Board announced nation-wide efforts stepped up to promote healthy lifestyle, with tailored programmes for the Malay community.

These programmes consist of establishing health-promoted madrasahs, running the Ramadan “I Quit” smoking cessation campaign, distributing health calendars – consisting of healthy recipes and tips – to Malay families and organising healthy living programmes at mosques.

During a visit to Al-Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, one of the participating madrasahs, on Thursday, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Health responded to the reactions.

He said he has seen positive response on the programmes from madrasah teachers, students and people who go to mosques.

“The fact that they feel for it means that they are quite committed to their healthy habits and lifestyle.”

“I feel that those among the (Malay) community who have embraced it (healthy living) are doing their best to eat healthily.”

There are currently three madrasahs actively promoting healthy living in Singapore: Al Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, Irsyad Zuhri Al-Islamiyah and Wak Tanjung Al-Islamiyah. HPB plans to extend the initiative to three more.

These madrasahs now have health programmes permanently fitted into their school curriculum; some of these include health workshops and a student health ambassador-training programme. There are a total of 107 student health ambassadors across the three madrasahs, and their roles include leading health workshops.

These health workshops are designed to educate students on being mentally and physically healthy. Student ambassadors will hold talks sharing tips on maintaining a balanced diet, healthy stress levels and good self-esteem.

Faishal said that he is happy with the progress of the programmes, noting that at least 1,800 madrasah students have benefited from them.

The principal of Al-Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, Sukarti Asmoin, 61, welcomes the new initiatives as part of the school curriculum. Speaking in Malay, she says she feels that it is important to keep the students healthy so that they will not fall sick.

It is also encouraged in the religion to maintain good health, which is linked to having a healthy mind, she added.

The school has also changed the food served in the school. For example, the canteen vendors are only allowed to sell fried foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Other plans

For the wider Malay community, HPB aims to recruit 2,000 smokers for the 2015 edition of Ramadan “I Quit” 28-day programme. There were 1,500 sign-ups in 2014.

They also plan to increase health-screening sessions and venues — from six to 10 mosques.

The school has also changed the food served in the school. For example, the canteen vendors are only allowed to sell fried foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

July 10, 2015