Category: Singapuraku

Masagos Zulkifli: Government Closely Watches Emerging Drug Abuse Trends Among Young

Emerging drug abuse trends among the young, particularly those that see youths ordering drugs online and experimenting with narcotic substances while travelling overseas, are being closely watched by the Government, said Senior Minister of State (Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs) Masagos Zulkifli today (March 6).

The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) will maintain tight enforcement amid a “rapidly evolving operating environment”, he added.

“We will intercept suspicious packages and prosecute those who conduct drug transactions online,” said Mr Masagos during the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Committee of Supply debate in Parliament.

While conducting checks at checkpoints and airports, the CNB has also taken action against individuals found to have consumed drugs overseas.

Following the deaths of several young adults from drug overdose at music events held in the region last year, Mr Masagos said the CNB was also keeping an eye on music events.

The Ministry of Home Affairs today rejected an appeal by the organisers of the Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) to hold the event in Singapore on March 13-14. The organisers had made the appeal after their applications for a permit were rejected twice, with the police citing serious concerns over potential drug abuse at the event.

CNB statistics showed that last year, two-thirds of new drug abusers arrested were below 30 years old. In 2013, those in the same age group made up half of new drug abusers.

Mr Masagos said the educational profile of youth abusers was also changing, with more of those arrested coming from institutes of higher learning. Over the past five years, the number of cannabis abusers have increased by 50 per cent, he added. Out of the 184 cannabis users arrested last year, a majority were under 30 years old.

Mr Masagos said new recommendations on how to more effectively tackle the problem among youths will be rolled out later this year.

The recommendations will be based on findings by the Taskforce on Youths and Drugs, and also build on existing approaches to combat the scourge, such as preventive drug education, effective enforcement and early, targeted intervention for youth abusers.

Mr Masago said Singapore must continue its zero-tolerace stance towards drugs, especially as regional networking has allowed drug syndicates to increase supply, thus making drugs cheaper.

Source: www.todayonline,com

March 7, 2015
Singapore Has Done Relatively Well In Social Mobility

As part of its move to build a fair and inclusive society, and enhance social mobility, the Government has made a deliberate tilt towards supporting the lower- and middle-income group over the past five years, through a progressive tax system, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as he wrapped up the Budget debate in parliament on Thursday (Mar 5).

This is where higher income earners contribute the bulk of taxes, the lower-income group receives the most benefits, and the middle-income group receives more than they used to.

SINGAPORE HAS DONE ‘RELATIVELY WELL’ IN SOCIAL MOBILITY

Mr Tharman said that social mobility is the defining challenge of every advanced country today. But he said that Singapore has done relatively well, staying more fluid than most other countries.

In the US for example, among those who were in their mid-20s and early 30s, and who started off in the bottom 20 per cent, only 7.5 per cent eventually moved up into the top 20 per cent of the population. In contrast, Singapore saw 14 per cent of those who started off in the bottom 20 per cent, move up to the top 20 per cent of the population.

But Mr Tharman acknowledged that with each decade, it gets harder to improve social mobility. The Government has introduced a range of measures to address this. These include investing in education, diversifying pathways and promoting home ownership.

There have also been “significant moves to temper inequality”, such as the introduction of Workfare and the progressive wage model to raise the salaries of low-wage workers.

Mr Tharman added the Government has also shifted significantly to permanent schemes such as GST vouchers and the Silver Support Scheme. In fact, he said 90 per cent of transfers last year comprised permanent schemes.

PROGRESSIVE TAX SYSTEM

The progressive tax system also means that most benefits flow to those who truly need it.

To illustrate, he said that the top 20 per cent of households pay 55 per cent of all taxes and receive 12 per cent of benefits. The middle 20 per cent pay 11 per cent of all taxes, and receive 20 per cent of benefits. Correspondingly, the lowest 20 per cent of households pay 9 percent of all taxes, largely through GST, and receive 27 per cent of all benefits.

Said Mr Tharman: “The system is not just about redistributing from the rich to the poor. It is also about the middle income. The middle income group in Singapore are net beneficiaries of our system and there has been a significant increase in the amount the middle-income group has received over the last 10 years.”

He said that for every dollar of tax paid by the middle-income group, they now get back S$1.70 – a sum that has been increasing over the years. That is much more that what the middle-income group in countries like Finland, US and Britain gets back in benefits.

Mr Tharman said: “The benefits that our middle income get are not what you see like in the Scandinavian countries or the UK or many other advanced countries. Some of them have free healthcare, free tertiary education, free many things. But they are paying for it. It is not free, it is never free.

“And in most of these societies, with the Scandinavian countries being the classic example, in fact their tax system are not particularly progressive. They rely mainly on the VAT and high income tax for everyone to be able to flow back the benefits. Everyone is paying for the free benefits that they are getting.”

STRENGTHENING VALUE OF FAIR, INCLUSIVE SOCIETY

But while the Government is playing a more active role in redistribution, Mr Tharman noted that what is important is how it goes about strengthening the value of a fair and inclusive society.

He said: “The key to building a stronger society is not how much we are doing to redistribute, it is about how we strengthen the values that undergird and sustain a fair and inclusive society. It is not how much we are doing but how we do it, and whether how much we are doing strengthens the value of a fair and inclusive society.”

He said the Government is seeking to build a stronger social compact, where personal and collective responsibility go hand in hand. And it is doing so by empowering people and aspirations as well as rewarding responsibility throughout life.

“Our whole approach therefore is to avoid a zero sum game between personal and collective responsibility and get a compact where personal and collective responsibility reinforces each other,” he said.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

March 6, 2015
Tan Chuan-Jin: Single-shift Drivers Can Earn More Than $3,000 A Month

Responding to a parliamentary question about the salaries of taxi drivers, Manpower minister Tan Chuan-Jin said that a driver in 2014 earned an average of $3,173 for single-shift drivers while those working double-shifts could earn an average $5,933 a month.

He explained that about 98,000 Singaporeans held a current Vocational License in December 2014 and about 56,000 were presently registered with taxi companies.

In terms of the demographics of taxi drivers, over 80% of them were aged over 50 years old. In terms of their educational qualifications, 90% of drivers possessed at least a secondary school education.

MP Irene Ng had asked specifically about how many were former PMETs but Mr Tan said that they do not have such data.

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

March 6, 2015
AHPETC Paid Highest Rates To Managing Agent In Three Out Of Past Four Years

Among all the town councils, the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) paid the highest rates to its managing agent (MA) — for both residential and commercial units — for three out of the past four years, figures from the Ministry of National Development (MND) showed.

Ms Sylvia Lim, Workers’ Party (WP) chairman and Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament, had filed questions for written answers, asking the MND for the MA rates of each of the town council for residential and commercial units in 2011, 2012 and 2013. She also asked for the names of the firms that were appointed as the MA of each town council for those years.

In response, the MND released figures for the rates between 2011 and last year. For residential units, AHPETC paid the highest rates to its MA, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), for the four years, except in 2013 when its rates was behind what Potong Pasir Town Council paid its MA, EM Services.

For commercial units, AHPETC’s MA rates were the highest in 2011, 2013 and last year, but its rates were topped by those paid by the East Coast and Pasir Ris-Punggol town councils in 2012.

The ministry also highlighted that all MA contracts charge a “clean MA rate” for each property type, with the exception of the FMSS’ 2011 MA contract with the town council. Unlike other MA contracts, FMSS’ MA fee comprises three separate cost components: The MA rate, a fee to cover the costs of existing staff of the former Hougang Town Council, and a fee to cover the costs of new staff.

During last month’s parliamentary debate on the Auditor-General’s audit report on AHPETC, which found several accounting and corporate governance lapses, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam cited the MA rates of each town council last year to show that the fees paid by AHPETC to FMSS were significantly higher. Among other things, Mr Shanmugan charged that the town council made inflated payments to FMSS — whose directors were also key office holders in the town council — without transparency and accountability.

Ms Lim questioned the figures cited by Mr Shanmugam, asserting that MA rates for commercial and residential units are usually different. In response, Mr Shanmugam said the figures were accurate.

The ministry has since clarified that the MAs of all town councils, with the exception of FMSS, have done away with the practice of charging differentiated rates for residential and commercial units. The ministry also said Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council had called for a fresh tender last year, which adjusted its rates for commercial units from S$11.50 to S$5.50.

Ms Lim also tabled a question asking the ministry what were the rates charged by the MA for the former Aljunied Town Council — which was then run by People’s Action Party — for 2010, 2011 and 2012. The ministry noted that the contract which the former Aljunied Town Council signed with its MA, CPG Facilities Management, is in fact in AHPETC’s possession. CPG’s rate per commercial unit was S$12.80 in those three years. Its rate per residential unit during the period was between S$6.03 and S$6.73.

Taking into account various components in FMSS’ MA fee, the town council’s payments to FMSS in 2011 were effectively 20 per cent higher than the amount paid to CPG Facilities Management in 2010. By last year, AHPETC was paying about S$1.6 million more to its MA than other town councils, the ministry reiterated.

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar Nair questioned the additional fees that the town council paid to FMSS in 2011. “Since the work of running the enlarged Aljunied-Hougang Town Council fell on former Hougang staff — some of whom became owners of FMSS — as well as the new staff whose salaries were provided for, why were additional MA fees payable for that year to FMSS?”

Source: www.todayonline.com

March 6, 2015
German Vandals Sentence To Nine Months Jail And Three Strokes Of Cane

SThe two Germans who trespassed on Bishan Depot last year to scrawl graffiti on an SMRT train have each been sentenced to nine months’ jail and three strokes of the cane.

Andreas Von Knorres, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, each pleaded guilty yesterday to two charges of unauthorised entry into the depot, as well as to a third charge of vandalising the train.

In announcing the sentencing, District Judge Liew Thiam Leng said it had to serve to deter others from committing similar offences.

The court heard that at about 2.20am on Nov 7, the duo entered Bishan Depot through the drainage system. To reach the level where the trains were located, they had to scale a wall. They observed where the trains were and left the depot the same way they had entered.

The next day at about 2.48am, the men entered the depot again, using the same route, and climbed to the level where the trains were located. There, they took a selfie of themselves in front of a train. They then began spraying graffiti, 10m in length and 1.8m in width, on the left side of the train, using 12 cans of spray paint they had bought two days earlier. The duo later threw the cans under some wooden crates near the rail tracks and left the depot the same way they had entered.

Von Knorres and Hinz reportedly left Singapore on Nov 8, but were arrested on Nov 20 by the Malaysian police at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where they were about to board a plane to Australia. The two men have been in remand in Singapore since Nov 22 and their prison sentences will be backdated to that date.

Further investigations showed that Von Knorres and Hinz worked in Australia and that they had committed the offences while on their first visit to Singapore.

The duo’s case — the second security breach to hit Bishan Depot last year — brought to light security vulnerabilities at the depot, arising from a network of canals and drains running underneath it.

SMRT had stated earlier that it was working with the authorities to “urgently address the identified points of vulnerability to further safeguard the depot and its transport assets”.

The maximum sentence for vandalism is up to three years’ jail, and/or a fine of up to S$2,000, with between three and eight strokes of the cane. Those who trespass on protected areas may be jailed up to two years and/or fined up to S$1,000.

Source: www.todayonline.com

March 6, 2015