Category: Singapuraku

  • Ibu Rayu Maklumat Orang Ramai: Kemalangan Boon Lay Ragut Nyawa Haziq; Separuh Badan Danish Pula Tersiat

    Ibu Rayu Maklumat Orang Ramai: Kemalangan Boon Lay Ragut Nyawa Haziq; Separuh Badan Danish Pula Tersiat

    Memang, berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul. Kemalangan jalan raya yang berlaku pada petang Khamis lalu (14 Sep) di simpang trafik Jalan Boon Lay dan Jurong West Avenue 2, mengubah nasib Cik Norazah Adam sekeluarga.

    Segala keriangan dan ketawa senda mereka sekeluarga bagai dirampas, malah hati mereka seakan-akan dirobek bertalu-talu.

    Tidak dapat dibayangkan betapa hancur luluhnya hati Cik Norazah sekeluarga yang terpaksa menerima hakikat bahawa dua orang anaknya ‘diragut’ dalam sekelip mata – seorang meninggal dunia, dan seorang lagi sedang menderita kesakitan akibat cedera parah.

    Muhammad Haziq Juraimi, 20 tahun, meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian dan adiknya Muhammad Danish Juraimi, 17 tahun, mengalami pelbagai kecederaan teruk setelah motosikal yang mereka naiki terlibat dalam kemalangan dengan sebuah lori pembawa kontena.

    ISI MUKA, BAHU & TANGAN BAHAGIAN KANAN TERSIAT HINGGA…

    BERITAMediacorp diberitahu bahawa arwah Muhammad Haziq sedang dalam perjalanan menghantar adiknya, Muhammad Danish ke sekolah. Mereka baru sahaja sekitar lima minit bergerak dari rumah apabila nahas itu berlaku.

    Muhammad Haziq meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian sementara adiknya Danish dan motosikal yang dinaikinya, diseret lori berkenaan sehingga terperangkap di bawah lori kontena itu. Pasukan Pertahanan Awam Singapura (SCDF) yang bergegas ke tapak kemalangan kemudian, terpaksa menggunakan alat-alat hidraulik untuk mengeluarkan Danish.

    (Gambar: Watson Wong)

    Luka parah yang dialami Danish mengerikan. Segala isi di tubuh sebelah kiri muka, bahu dan tangannya tersiat keluar. Ini sehinggakan tulang bahagian kirinya jelas kelihatan.

    Dahi sebelah kirinya pula berlubang. Lebih menyayat hati, dia juga kehilangan kelopak matanya akibat kemalangan itu. Bukan itu sahaja, kedua-dua kakinya patah dan beberapa bahagian tulang belakangnya turut retak.

    DOKTOR BERUSAHA CEGAH MUKA DARIPADA JADI BUSUK

    BERITAMediacorp difahamkan bahawa para doktor di Hospital Universiti Nasional Singapura (NUH) sedang berkejar dengan masa untuk mencegah luka terbuka di bahagian wajah dan bahu Danish, daripada menjadi busuk.

    Oleh itu, pakar bedah melakukan graf kulit daripada paha Danish itu untuk ditampalkan kepada bahagian-bahagian tersebut.

    “Hanya tiga daripada 40 lebih saraf tangan yang berfungsi sekarang. Doktor akan cuba ‘curi’ saraf daripada bahagian lain di tubuhnya. Tetapi itu pun, peluang Danish menggunakan tangan kirinya amat tipis. Kecederaan di bahagian tangannya terlalu parah sekali,” luah Cik Norazah kepada BERITAMediacorp, mengenai keadaan tubuh anaknya itu.

    Meskipun mata ibu berusia 45 tahun itu bergenang dengan air mata dan suaranya tersekat-sekat dalam wawancara dengan pihak kami, beliau menggagahkan dirinya untuk menggambarkan segala kecederaan yang dialami oleh anak kesayangannya itu.

    IBU MINTA SAKSI KEMALANGAN TAMPIL KE DEPAN

    Cik Norazah sebenarnya bersedia membuka cerita kepada BERITAMediacorp demi satu tujuan. Beliau merayu supaya sesiapa sahaja yang menyaksikan kemalangan itu supaya tampil ke hadapan dan berkongsi dan memberi keterangan.

    Beliau mahu tahu, apa yang sebenarnya berlaku pada hari malang itu.

    “Saya merayu sangat kepada sesiapa, tolonglah sekiranya anda berada di tempat kejadian itu ataupun mempunyai rakaman video kamera pada kenderaan anda ketika kemalangan itu berlaku, tolonglah berikannya kepada pihak polis.”

    “Saya merayu sangat sangat… Anak sulung saya sudah meninggal dunia dan Danish sekarang pula di ICU. Saya ingin tahu perkara sebenar yang berlaku kepada anak-anak saya dan kemudian ambil tindakan seterusnya,” luah Cik Norazah kepada BERITAMediacorp.

    Cik Norazah bersama tiga orang anaknya – (dari kiri) Muhammad Danish, Muhammad Haziq dan Muhammad Baqir.

    DANISH MASIH TIDAK TAHU, ABANGNYA SUDAH TIADA

    Cik Norazah dan bekas suaminya Encik Juraimi Kamis tidak sanggup melihat anak mereka dalam keadaan menyayat hati itu. Lubuk jiwa mereka hancur luluh setiap kali anaknya itu meraung kesakitan di katil hospital.

    Namun, mereka kuatkan diri mereka kerana melihat azam Danish untuk terus hidup “amat kuat”.

    Sebagai ayah, Encik Juraimi terpaksa membuat keputusan berat untuk merahsiakan daripada Danish hakikat bahawa Haziq sudah meninggal dunia.

    “Allah sahajalah yang tahu betapa sakitnya Danish sekarang. Meskipun dia sekarang tidak boleh bercakap kerana tiub dijolok ke dalam mulutnya untuk membantunya bernafas, dia berkomunikasi dengan kami dengan menulis pada kertas. Dia beritahu bahawa dia ingin cepat sembuh dan bertemu dengan abangnya,” cerita Encik Juraimi kepada pihak kami.

    “Kami tidak sampai hati untuk memberitahunya bahawa muka dan tangannya akan cacat. Apalagi, memberitahunya bahawa abangnya sudah tiada,” tambah Encik Juraimi lagi.

    Buat masa ini, Encik Juraimi, Cik Norazah dan anak bongsu mereka, Muhammad Baqir yang berusia 16 tahun, sekadar mampu memanjatkan doa bahawa segala pembedahan yang harus Danish jalani akan berjalan dengan lancar.

    Mereka berharap sangat agar para saksi tampil ke hadapan. Itu sahaja yang mereka inginkan sebagai ibu bapa. Itu sahaja yang mereka mampu buat untuk anak kesayangan mereka itu buat masa ini.

    BERITAMediacorp cuba mendapatkan maklumat lanjut daripada pihak polis dan diberitahu bahawa siasatan masih dijalankan.

     

    Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

  • Traffic Arrangements And Road Closure For Mid-Autumn Festival 2017

    Traffic Arrangements And Road Closure For Mid-Autumn Festival 2017

    The Mid-Autumn Festival 2017 Official Opening and Light Up Ceremony will be held on Saturday, 23 September 2017.

    To facilitate the event, the following roads and lanes will be closed to vehicular traffic during the stipulated period:

    In addition, the direction of vehicular traffic along Mosque Street shall be converted into a 2-way road from 2.00 pm to 11.59 pm on Saturday, 23 September 2017.

    During the road closure, access will only be granted to police and emergency vehicles. Auxiliary Police officers will be deployed along the affected roads and junctions to assist and direct motorists.

    Parking restrictions along the peripheral roads will be strictly enforced. Vehicles found parking and causing obstruction will be towed.

    Members of the public may contact the organiser at 9067 2307 for further enquiries.

     

    Source: Singapore Police Force

  • Commentary: Tharman’s Six Principles Of Political Communication That’s So Sigh Pie

    Commentary: Tharman’s Six Principles Of Political Communication That’s So Sigh Pie

    Off the top of my head, Tharman’s six principles of political communication:

    1. Timing: Wait till the worst of the storm of public dissatisfaction blows over. Don’t go into the thick of it. Wait for heads to cool.

    2. Deflate the elephant: Point to the elephant in the room, acknowledge it, and everyone goes “finally!”. Tension is released. Elephant gets smaller, people can breathe easier.

    3. I am one of you: Acknowledge and even agree with the sentiments on the ground, then reframe to “in spite of this… must recognise reality… and so must do that”. Classic rhetorical technique. Throw in own background of activist etc. for added legitimacy.

    4. Be general: He said he doesn’t agree with every tactic of everyone of his colleague. Broad obvious statement. In a large org like PAP that’s bound to happen.

    But this allows people to fill in what they *think* he means. Or what they *want to believe* cos he’s likeable. Still, people may not be wrong, but it gives wiggle room should the need ever arise in another context.

    5. Provide hope: Things are better now than before. We will continue to be better. Let’s work towards that.

    6. Be likeable: People listen to you cos they like you. This factor anchors all the above.

    Also, he didn’t comment on the process, and the legitimacy of a president who came into office with so much controversy on the ground. Does the President really have a mandate then? Maybe no one asked. And why should he bring it up of his own accord?

    Skilfully done. All the more’s the reason I think he should be the next PM. (#TharmanForPM!) But oh well’s, we’re not ready for a non-Chinese PM and he has ruled himself out. Sigh pie.

     

    Source: Md Suhaile

  • Chee Soon Juan: By All Means, Let’s Continue To Humiliate Our Minority Citizens

    Chee Soon Juan: By All Means, Let’s Continue To Humiliate Our Minority Citizens

    THE SAGA OVER the Elected Presidency (EP) has again, thanks to the Prime Minister, dredged up the hideous truth that our political system is indefensibly undergirded by racialist and racist thinking.

    The official line of the EP rhapsodised about the need for racial harmony and the safeguarding of multiculturalism. The truth, as everyone else who is not a party apparatchik knows, was about ensuring that only the most PAP-aligned of souls helmed the presidency.

    In a similar vein, the creation of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system was never about ensuring adequate ethnic minority representation in Parliament but rather to further stack the system against the opposition.

    An outgrowth of the reserved presidency and the GRC policies require our Malay, Indian and “Other” friends to obtain certification of their race. I find such a practice absolutely abominable. We certify skills, training experience and even livestock. But human beings?

    I cringe whenever my party colleagues of minority ethnic descent undergo this degrading process during elections. They have to submit an application asking for recognition of their bloodline and/or racial identity. In return, they get a document certifying who – or more accurately what – they are.

    (And they have to do this at every election. Perhaps our bureaucrats think that some strange morphological transformation may occur undetected in between elections.)

    This policy is mandated by a majority Chinese-dominated political structure. It is the ultimate humiliation that one ethnic group can impose on another, a practice which I daresay would be unequivocally denounced in civilised societies, societies with a modicum of human decency.

    It is a practice that cheapens the individual and brutalises the soul of this nation. It makes us all lesser humans.

    But what is even more mystifying is why the Halimahs and Tharmans and Yacobs in the party agree to subject themselves to such abasement. Is there no intellectual spine in these people? Surely they understand that genuine equitable political representation goes beyond the tokenism of reserved presidencies and parliamentary seats.

    The reality is that these folks are, first and foremost, politicians and like most politicians, their instinct is to protect their power. The aforementioned schemes allow them to do just that. The wretched practice of certification of minority candidates can be rationalised away or, if not, compartmentalised and placed back in the far recesses of one’s conscience.

    But at what point does one draw the line between political fealty and personal dignity? What price does one have to pay and how much of one’s soul does one have to trade to retain that power? What happens when Mephistopheles comes a-knocking to collect what he is owed?

    If our race-conscious friends at the PAP are genuinely concerned about fissures that cause ethnic division in our society, they need look no further than their own policies. Policies like our education system where top schools are deliberately moved to affluent districts where the overwhelming majority of Malays do not reside. Or policies that widen income inequality in an economy where a disproportionate number of the Malay community are stuck in low-income jobs without minimum wage. Or policies that stipulate a quota of ethnic minority residents who are permitted to live in any one HDB estate (and thereby constricting the market for them should they want to sell their flats).

    Read also A Singapore For All Singaporeans

    It should not be hard to recall that America elected a black man as its president, Londoners picked a Muslim of Pakistani descent as their mayor and the Irish chose a son of Indian immigrants to be their prime minister. Are we Singaporeans somehow less enlightened and colour blind?

    Or is the PAP employing the age-old divide-and-conquer stratagem from its Singapore-is-not-ready-for-a-minority-PM playbook and then mollifying its critics by placing minority politicians here and there?

    Singapore needs a leader whose vision of politics looks beyond the pigmentation of our skin. We need someone who calls to us as a race – the human race, who appeals to the noblest spirit of our being, and who inspires the loftiest ideals that we, as a society, possess.

    May we find that leader – and soon.

     

    Source: http://www.cheesoonjuan.com

  • Commentary: Why Are Some Malays Proud Of The Outcome Of A Clearly Tainted Process? What Are We Exactly Proud Of?

    Commentary: Why Are Some Malays Proud Of The Outcome Of A Clearly Tainted Process? What Are We Exactly Proud Of?

    It troubles me that some segments in the Malay community celebrate President Halimah’s selection as a victory for the Malays.

    I am perplexed.

    What are we exactly proud of?

    Yes, Madam Halimah is a good person – I will readily admit to this. But to me, the process is of equal, if not greater importance.

    Here, a Malay president was installed only because it was a reserved election. And there was no election – because there was only one candidate who was deemed to be qualified.

    There was no level playing field.

    And so a good person, President Halimah, is tainted by a faulty process.

    The reserved presidential (non)-election has only brought about resentment and controversy (even as admitted by GCT and Tharman).

    And so, why are some Malays proud of the outcome of a clearly tainted process?

    Some Malays even suggest that those who are critical of the process leading to President Halimah’s selection as being racists, or motivated by purported political reasons.

    This is grossly misplaced. Singaporeans are entitled to feel upset. Even GCT and Tharman think so!

    In fact, a lot of Malays who are able to think critically are upset. Because now the perception that the community relies on a crutch is made stronger.

    But some Malays feel proud and stoutly defend a tainted process.

    Alas, this only serves to create discomfort on the part of other communities.

    We have become a community that not only relies on an affirmative action process, but now stoutly defend it.

    As if our existence and pride depends on it. Some even justify it on the basis that we have not had a President for 47 years.

    But if it not ours by merit, why take it?

    Kalau bukan hak kita, jangan di-ambil

    We conveniently forget our sacroscant principle of meritocracy.

    We choose to choose the easy way out and feel entitled instead.

    But where is our maruah as a community?

    It is hard to see any winners in this controversial (non)-election.

    If the concept of a presidential election has been divisive since its introduction, the eventual result of the election has only deepened those fissures.

     

    Source: Nizam Ismail