Category: Singapuraku

1,395 Ultra High Net Worth Individuals With Combined Net Worth of S$234 Billion in Singapore in 2014
The ultra high net worth (UHNW) population in Singapore saw the addition of 40 individuals in 2014, according to a wealth report released on Wednesday (Nov 19).

There are now a total of 1,395 UHNW individuals in Singapore – a record high. Their combined net worth is US$180 billion (S$234 billion), an increase of 12.5 per cent over the past year, according to the Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report.

UHNW individuals are defined as those with US$30 million and above in net assets. The size of Singapore’s UHNW population ranks sixth among Asian countries and 19th globally, according to the report.

This year, while Singapore’s UHNW population grew slower than both the global and Asian average, the combined wealth of its UHNW individuals has grown significantly faster.

“Such strong growth is reflective of the city-state’s growing international appeal with regards to the strength of its financial sector, and the ease of both establishing and conducting business in the country, allowing for rapid wealth accumulation” the report stated.

The report also found that:

Singapore’s UHNW population controls almost 17 per cent of the country’s total wealth of US$1.08 trillion.

More than 20 per cent of Singapore’s UHNW population is engaged in the finance, banking and investment industry

60 per cent of Singapore’s UHNW population is fully self-made.

25 per cent of Singapore’s UHNW population inherited their wealth and went on to grow their fortunes through businesses or other ventures

15 per cent fully inherited their wealth

Singapore’s female UHNW population accounts for a much larger share of its total population than the global average. But the average net worth of female UHNW individuals in Singapore is 45 per cent lower than that of male UHNW individuals in the country.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
November 20, 2014
Public Transport Fare Set To Increase Again: “Review” Underway

The Public Transport Council (PTC) on Wednesday (Nov 19) announced it has started the annual fare review exercise.

Public transport operators may submit their applications for fare review to the PTC for consideration by Dec 19. The decision will be announced in the first quarter of 2015, according to the press release.

Responding to media queries, SMRT’s Vice-President for Corporate Information and Communications Patrick Nathan said: “We seek a better alignment of fares and operating costs, and will be submitting our application for a fare review in the coming weeks.”

To evaluate applications robustly, the PTC will take guidance from the fare review mechanism and fare adjustment formula recommended by the Fare Review Mechanism Committee and accepted by the Government in Nov 2013.

The new fare adjustment formula is now based on core inflation (excluding property and car prices), average wage increase and an energy component.

“This will ensure a good balance between meeting the needs of the commuting public and keeping the public transport system financially sustainable. In discharging its responsibilities, the PTC will pay particular attention to fare affordability for the more vulnerable groups of commuters,” the PTC said.

Public transport fares were last adjusted in Apr 2014 as part of the 2013 fare review. There was a fare increase of 3.2 per cent – just half of the total fare cap of 6.6 per cent. It means the remaining 3.4 per cent will be brought forward to this year’s fare review exercise.

Mr Cedric Foo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: “If you look at the new formula, it has a new component called the Energy Index and that constitutes 20 per cent of the formula.

“As we have seen lately, fuel prices are coming down. Therefore, they hope that if you apply this formula, and core inflation is also not high, wage inflation is also not high, they hope that this may be zero or even negative. So I am hopeful that the full 3.4 per cent rollover from last year will not be implemented in full.”

INSULATING VULNERABLE GROUPS

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew commented on the fare review exercise, stating that public transport must continue to be affordable for all Singaporeans.

“I hope that the Public Transport Council will study if we can insulate vulnerable groups such as senior citizens from a fare increase, or at least mitigate the impact on them,” he wrote. “In the same regard, the Ministry of Transport will also study how we can similarly enhance the concession schemes Government introduced for lower-wage workers and persons with disabilities earlier this year.

Mr Lui added that this exercise builds on the improvements of last year’s fare review, and he has received “positive feedback” from Singaporeans who have benefited from new and enhanced travel concession schemes.

These include monthly concession passes for polytechnic students, and the introduction of the Adult Monthly Travel Pass, which frequent commuters can purchase to cap their transport expenditure.

“I hope the PTC can consider not raising the prices of these travel passes,” wrote Mr Lui. “I have also asked the Land Transport Authority to study whether we can strengthen our ongoing travel demand management efforts, and encourage more commuters to travel during the off-peak hours. Perhaps the Government can introduce off-peak monthly passes; which should also help reduce the travel expenditure for this group of commuters.”

Still, Mr Foo said that one still has to look at the overall trend of fare increases: “If you look at it over the last six years, actually the compound annual growth rate in fare is well below half a per cent.

“If we look at wages, wages have clearly increased by more than half a per cent at each point. So, in the context of long-term fare trend, fare increases cannot remain at zero for good. That’s unrealistic because it’s not sustainable. But let me stress at even if there is a modest increase in fares, we have to look after the vulnerable groups.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

November 20, 2014
Bags Of Raw Chicken Left Unattanded Outside Buffet City International Buffet Restaurant

Every morning around 8am, you can see bags of raw chicken left unattended, outside the door of Buffet City International Buffet Restaurant! This restaurant is near Pinnacle@Duxton.

I took some pictures. The restaurant was still closed when I took them. Look at this:

This is very unhygienic! What if stray animals or pests play around with the chicken?

The restaurant has to do something about this. It’s unfair for the patrons to eat food that was left outside like this. So unhygienic.

Concerned Citizen

*Editor’s Note: When contacted, the restaurant indicated that it was aware of the situation and is working with its supplier to resolve the problem. The supplier is facing a shortage in manpower in terms of drivers and deliverymen. With the shortage, the current driver, based on the planned delivery route, arrives earlier than the restaurant’s receiving timing. The restaurant pleads for understanding from the public and assures that it prioritises food hygiene. All raw materials sent to the restaurant are also thoroughly washed before being cooked.

November 20, 2014
Is The PAP Government Being Selectively Pro-Family?

Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger, journalist and filmmaker. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own.

Singapore, we are told, is a pro-family country. The government actively introduces policies that will encourage young Singaporeans to get married and have children, and nuclear families are often given benefits in the form of tax rebates and subsidies.

Yet there are sometimes stories that make you doubt that stance.

The New Paper ran an article on 17 November about a family now torn apart: upon returning to Singapore and applying for a Long-Term Visit Pass, married couple Mr Y. C. Chen and Ms Li Qiaoyan realised that Ms Li had been served an entry ban. Her offence was not seeking permission from the Ministry of Manpower before getting pregnant and married. Ms Li is now back in China, while Mr Chen had to quit his job to care for their 10-month-old son.

Under Singapore’s current rules, existing and former work permit holders are required to obtain permission from the state before marrying Singaporeans. According to The New Paper, the Ministry of Manpower says:

“MOM reviews all marriage applications on a case-by-case basis. Factors taken into consideration include the economic contributions of the applicants, the ability of the applicants to look after themselves and their family without becoming a burden to the society or state.”

The New Paper also reported MOM’s position that “work-permit holders, as transient workers, ought to come to Singapore only for work”.

There are 980,8000 work permit holders in Singapore. It’s impossible that these men and women are here “only for work”; they don’t just come here to serve us food, work in our construction sites and clean our homes. They come here with all their likes and dislikes, their hopes, dreams and desires. They’re people. It’s hardly surprising that they might meet someone and fall in love.

Yet the state doesn’t seem to see them as the multi-dimensional human beings they are. It expects them to serve, and only to serve. When they fall in love and want to get married or have children, they are expected to apply to Singapore for permission, even though it should be none of the state’s business who anyone chooses to marry. The state will then decide if the work permit holder is a worthy (read: economically viable) spouse for the Singaporean.

This rule even applies to former work permit holders. Come to Singapore on a work permit and your desire to marry your partner – if he/she is a Singaporean – will always be dependent on special dispensation from the Controller of Work Passes.

Such rules and requirements show us that the state is, perhaps, only pro-a-certain-type-of-family. If you’re a non-Singaporean, if your “economic contribution” is deemed wanting, then maybe your family is not so important after all.

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

November 20, 2014
Wong Kan Seng: Singapore Not Immune To Threat Of Radicalisation

SINGAPORE: Former Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said there is no immunity to the threat of radicalisation for any society, including Singapore.

Speaking at a seminar by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies on Tuesday (Nov 18), Mr Wong said that the “vigilance of the security services must ultimately be augmented by the vigilance of the society itself.”

He said groups like Islamic State (IS) are savvy in their use of social media to propagate radical rhetoric and recruit fighters to their cause. He also urged governments in the region to step up efforts in the sharing of information and intelligence.

Mr Wong said: “13 years on from 9/11 and Singapore’s discovery of the regional JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) network, we are none the safer from the terrorism threat. The terrorism threat has not diminished, but has evolved and adapted to a more hostile security environment. It has also become more diffused with the rise of the phenomenon of self-radicalised or ‘lone wolf’ terrorists.”

He felt that the conflict in Syria and and the IS have given new impetus to existing regional jihadist groups like JI and the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), which have sent their members to Syria to fight.

Mr Wong said the manner in which foreign fighters flock to Syria reminds him of how Muslims around the world had similarly been drawn to fight in the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s.

He added: “The Soviet-Afghan war not only led to the creation of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation, but also a global fraternity of terrorist brotherhood. Many governments anticipate that the Syrian conflict will likewise lead to the emergence of a new generation of mujahidin and the perpetuation of the terrorism menace for many years to come.”

Mr Wong, who was also Minister for Home Affairs, recounted how Singapore had taken a multi-pronged approach to counter the threat of jihadist terrorism.

“Apart from investigations and exchange of intelligence with foreign security services, the Government held closed-door national dialogues with religious and community leaders to share our concerns on the terrorism threat and how we must not let it destroy our Singapore’s social cohesion,” he stated.

Mr Wong said there was also the awareness to go beyond the detention of JI members to counter the deviant religious teachings. A core group of religious teachers formed the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) to provide religious counselling for the JI detainees and their families.

To this end, Mr Wong said that for some “hardcore” detainees, results so far have not been positive, and that they will only be released once they are rehabilitated.

Overall, he said that while Singapore has been successful in keeping the terrorism threat at bay, the general public must continue to remain vigilant and stay united in the event of an incident.

“The irony is, the more successful we are in our counter-terrorism efforts, the more the urgency and cogency of the terrorism threat will diminish in the public’s consciousness,” said Mr Wong. “We need every resident to be vigilant against this threat. Should we one day be unable to stop a bomb from exploding or a murderous act by an ISIL supporter in Singapore, I hope Singaporeans will have the resilience to overcome the attack, cope with the crisis and maintain our social cohesion.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

November 19, 2014