Category: Singapuraku

Reverend Kang Ho Soon Preaches Inclusivity

For more than 40 years, Reverend Kang Ho Soon has preached the message of inclusiveness.

He has welcomed homosexuals to his services, invited religious leaders from various faiths to speak to his Christian flock and reached out to prostitutes and migrant workers.

The Methodist preacher, who retired this month at the age of 65, said: “I’ve been open to friendship with anyone in any station or walk of life, from all religions.”

His retirement service at Paya Lebar Methodist Church on Nov 22 was testament to this.

Among the 1,000-strong crowd were Catholic nuns, a Taoist priest, imams, Sikhs and a representative from atheist group the Humanist Society Singapore.

Rev Kang, a 30-year member of the Inter-Religious Organisation Singapore (IRO), said he does not set out to change people but to “accept them for who they are and to be their friend”.

At 23, in his first role serving the Methodist Church as chaplain of Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) and pastor of the Barker Road Methodist Church, he gave his “full blessings” to a Muslim caretaker – known to him only as Madam Saminah – to hold Islamic classes in her living quarters at the church.

Their friendship blossomed and he would visit her and her family every Hari Raya. Her grown-up daughters were present at his retirement service.

Instead of pursuing an engineering degree, Rev Kang studied theology at Singapore Bible College and Trinity Theological College.

He spent a decade at Paya Lebar Methodist Church, five years at Wesley Church and 17 years at Kampong Kapor in Little India – his longest term. There he reached out to prostitutes and migrant workers in the community.

He said: “Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, sex trade workers and migrant workers were welcome to attend our services at Kampong Kapor. If we don’t reach out to them, we end up neglecting them.”

He credits his openness to having spent his youth growing up in a kampung on the southern isle of Pulau Bukom.

There, he learnt Jawi, an Arabic alphabet for writing Malay. It was something his late father, a labourer from China, encouraged him to pick up so he could interact with his Malay peers.

Rev Kang is married to former St Andrew’s Junior College teacher Kang Yeok Lung, 65, and brought up his three children in the same way.

His elder son, 35, a deputy public prosecutor, has four children of his own. Rev Kang also has a 29-year-old son who works in the communications field and a 26-year-old daughter who is an officer at the Economic Development Board.

Another friend, Imam Habib Hassan of the Ba-Alwie Mosque, an IRO member, said Singapore needs more open-minded leaders like Rev Kang.

“One time he wasn’t well in hospital, I went to see him. He asked me to pray for him,” said Imam Habib. “We pray for each other… This is the spirit of inter-faith relations that he has been building up.”

Bishop Wee Boon Hup of the Methodist Church Singapore said Rev Kang’s approach to reach out to those who might have a “less favourable view of the Church” has been well received.

“It is difficult to move forward in inter-faith relations unless someone first starts to reach out to another,” he said.

“Ho Soon is one of those who reach out… He makes friends with people from all walks of life, engages in conversation with them and, in the process of hearing them share their faith journey, he is also able to let them hear of his faith.”

Rev Kang, who admitted that his approach has not been “fully accepted” in some Christian circles, believes it is time for the Church “to speak more words of love, hope and peace to marginalised communities, instead of words of condemnation and judgment”.

While he has retired from the Methodist Church, Rev Kang said he will be a pastor till the day he dies.

He said he will devote his time to people, rather than institutional or organisational concerns.

He aims to be a “listening ear” and counsellor to people from all walks of life, including pastors, people of all faiths or no faith, and people of all sexual orientations.

“We’re a conservative society, but everyone can have a place and equal standing,” he said. “We look to try to understand and accept one another, with no agenda to convert.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

December 23, 2014
More Foreigners Contribute To Higher TB Incidence In Singapore

A greying population and a rise in the number of foreigners have contributed to an increase in the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Singapore since 2008, a study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found.

The incidence rate of TB — the number of new cases per population at risk, at a given time — had been on a downward trend in Singapore since 1998, even hitting a historic low of 35.1 cases per 100,000 people in 2007. But the number began to climb to around 39 cases per 100,000 people from 2008.

In their study, which was published in BioMed Central Public Health journal in October, the NUS researchers looked at more than 40,000 TB cases reported to the Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (STEP) registry between 1995 and 2011. They found that the higher incidence of the infectious respiratory disease among the elderly partly accounted for the increase in incidence of TB among Singapore residents; the resident elderly population here in 2011 was almost double its population in 1995.

The researchers also found that another contributor to the overall burden of TB here came from the growing non-resident population, who were found to have higher TB incidence rates than residents. Since around 2005, the liberalisation of Singapore’s immigration policy saw a marked increase in the foreign population here, noted the study.

“As you grow older, you also have conditions that weaken your immune system, and it’s the immune system that controls the tuberculosis bacteria,” said Dr Hsu Li Yang of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, who led the study.

His colleague, Assistant Professor Alex Cook, said that though STEP — a programme started in 1997 under which a nurse or doctor supervises patients with their daily medication, while their relatives, friends and colleagues are screened — managed to better control the disease over the years, the effects of an ageing population remained bigger than the results of STEP efforts.

That is why the researchers noted that since 1995, the incidence rates of TB have been decreasing when compared across different age groups. This means that a 65-year-old in 2011 had a lower chance of getting TB as compared with an individual of the same age in 1995, for instance.

Meanwhile, the proportion of TB cases involving non-residents increased from 25.5 per cent in 1995 to 28.9 per cent in 2004 and 47.7 per cent in 2011.

“An increasing trend of non-resident TB cases contributing to the overall proportion of TB cases over the years could suggest that mass immigration from high TB incidence countries is increasingly contributing to the burden of TB in recent years in Singapore,” noted the study, which cited India and China as some of the countries of origin of these non-residents.

But while non-resident TB cases contributed to the overall TB rates here, the researchers did not find a direct link between the increase in the foreign population and the risk of TB among local residents.

With these findings, Dr Hsu noted that doctors in Singapore would have to be more aware of potential tuberculosis cases among the elderly. Already, foreign workers entering Singapore are undergoing stricter checks for TB, with their X-rays sent to the STEP registry, he added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that nine million people developed TB and 1.5 million died from the disease last year. Singapore sits within a region that accounts for 29 per cent of the global TB incidence. Though TB is slowly declining each year and it is estimated that 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and last year through effective diagnosis and treatment, the WHO noted that the death toll was still unacceptably high, given that most deaths from TB are preventable.

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 22, 2014
Malaysia Likely To Price VEP At RM20

The prospect of having to pay more than double what they are currently forking out to drive across the Causeway has jolted Singaporean motorists into saying they will drastically reduce the frequency of their trips up north.

Although the RM20 (S$7.55) Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fee that Malaysia plans to charge for foreign-registered vehicles entering the country from around the middle of next year is less than half the RM50 figure bandied about previously, drivers say cost savings from shopping in Malaysia — already slashed as a result of toll hikes imposed by both countries since Oct 1— will be negligible with the latest VEP charge.

Malaysian daily New Straits Times, quoting the country’s Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, reported last Saturday that the details of the VEP fee implementation for foreign vehicles, including the installation of charging devices, are being worked out. Once completed, the fee will be levied at the Causeway and the Second Link, said the minister, adding that Malaysia is also mulling over the implementation of the fee for vehicles entering from Thailand and Brunei.

The charges for Singaporean drivers crossing the Causeway recently increased by more than five times from RM2.90 to RM16.50, after higher toll rates kicked in on Aug 1 at the Johor Baru Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex.

Two months later, Singapore raised the toll charges at the Woodlands Checkpoint to S$6.50.

With the new VEP fee imposed by Malaysia, Singaporean drivers would have to pay more than S$20 for a round trip to Johor.

Freelance videographer Edwin Cheng, 32, who drives to Johor at least once a week to buy groceries and pump petrol, said he was shocked and disappointed by the third round of hikes.

“I used to be able to save up to 40 per cent for a full tank of petrol and up to 20 per cent for groceries in Johor. Now, it would make no difference if I pumped petrol and did my grocery shopping in Singapore,” he said.

Mr Cheng added that he would cut back on trips to Johor once the new VEP fee kicks in and would also stay there for longer periods so he can do more things.

Student relations officer Rosnah Hussain, 30, shared the same sentiment. Before the toll hikes, she would drive to Johor at least thrice a week to buy groceries, go for massages and pump petrol.

Ms Rosnah added: “After the (toll) hikes, I go (to Johor) only once every two weeks. Once the VEP fee is imposed, I don’t think I will go so often, it is too expensive.”

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 22, 2014
District Judge: National Servicemen Do Not Need To Follow Illegal Or Unlawful Orders

A former full-time national serviceman (NSF) who was driving a military jeep without a licence when it crashed and killed his close friend was sentenced to a 10-day short detention order (SDO) yesterday.

Cavin Tan, 22, had no Class 3 driving licence when he caused the death of NSF Tan Mou Sheng and caused hurt to NSFs Ow Yong Wei Long and Dickson Hong, who were all 20 then, at the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Marsiling training area in Mandai 21/2 years ago. He pleaded guilty to both charges.

It also emerged that he had been ordered to drive the jeep.

District Judge Low Wee Ping said: “Perhaps one positive outcome of this case is that national servicemen now know that they do not need to obey a manifestly illegal or unlawful order.”

He asked Tan’s lawyer Laurence Goh, a senior officer in the SAF, to get the message out that national servicemen need not obey any such order.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tang Shangjun said the four men – all instructors – were involved in a training exercise led by Master Sergeant Lee Kong Kean. The 33-year-old has been charged and his case is pending.

The Defence Ministry said that it does “not condone our commanders giving unlawful orders, and those who do so will be seriously disciplined”.

Tan was told by Lee to drive one of the jeeps in the exercise even though he had no Class 3 military licence and had not been trained to drive one.

On the morning of the accident, Tan lost control of his jeep while negotiating a downward slope with a left bend.

DPP Tang said Tan misjudged the bend and made a sudden, sharp turn. The jeep tilted, rotated around and overturned several times before landing on its side.

NSF Hong and NSF Ow Yong, who had not been wearing seat belts or helmets, were thrown out and injured. Tan unbuckled himself and found NSF Tan Mou Sheng pinned under the jeep at his left hip. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth and soon lapsed into unconsciousness. The soldiers managed to lift the jeep and pull him out. He died later from severe pelvic crush injuries.

Mr Goh said in mitigation that Tan, now an undergraduate, obeyed the order to drive even when Lee had been told that he did not have a Class 3 licence. Tan, he said, was truly sorry for having caused the death of his college mate.

He urged the court to give his client a second chance by imposing the SDO, a community-based sentence which came into place in 2011. These can last up to 14 days and are less disruptive and stigmatising than a jail sentence.

Said Mr Goh: “The accused’s decision to drive the jeep not only went against good sense, but also constituted serious breaches of SAF military training safety protocols.”

Judge Low urged Tan to put this behind him and look forward.

NSF Tan Mou Sheng’s father told Tan and his parents that Tan was not at fault because he was just obeying orders. Both fathers shook hands outside the court.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

December 19, 2014
Suicide and Heart Attack Main Causes Of Deaths Of Adults In Singapore

Suicide and heart attack were the top causes of deaths among 15- to 49-year-olds here last year, accounting for 337 lives, while the top killer for those aged 70 and older was pneumonia.

These figures, which did not go into greater detail, come from a global study published in The Lancet medical journal yesterday comparing causes of death and burden of disease in 188 countries between 1990 and last year.

In that period, global life expectancy went up from 65.3 years to 71.5 years – though people in Singapore fared far better with women living an average of 84 years and men 79.7 years.

The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with hundreds of collaborators from around the world led by Professor Christopher Murray of the University of Washington.

Prof Murray said collective action against potentially deadly infectious diseases such as diarrhoea, measles, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria has had a huge impact in reducing deaths.

But he added that some major chronic diseases have been neglected and are becoming increasing threats to life, particularly drug disorders, liver cirrhosis, diabetes and kidney disease.

In Singapore, deaths from chronic kidney disease and pancreatic cancer tripled between 1990 and last year. Pneumonia deaths also increased by 56 per cent.

Associate Professor Reshma Merchant, who heads general medicine at National University Hospital, said pneumonia in the elderly is often due to dementia or frailty that causes difficulty in swallowing. She said: “Swallowing problems can have devastating health implications, including dehydration, malnutrition and pneumonia which affects quality of life and increases caregiver burden.”

Deaths from congenital problems and asthma fell by 70 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.

The study noted gender differences with far more men in Singapore dying from lung cancer and women from stroke. Last year, 953 men and 550 women died of lung cancer; and 1,449 women and 1,044 men from stroke.

Dr Ross Soo, a senior cancer consultant at the National University Cancer Institute, said many studies show women with lung cancer do better than men – regardless of whether they have radiation or chemotherapy. He added: “The reasons for the gender differences are very complex and are not well understood.”

At a global level, standardised for age, deaths from some cancers have fallen since 1990: lung by 9 per cent, breast by 18 per cent and leukaemia by 20 per cent. Deaths from heart disease and strokes have fallen by over 20 per cent.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

December 19, 2014