Category: Singapuraku

MHA: Foreign Companies Need Permit To Sponsor, Promote Or Participate In Speakers’ Corner Events

Foreign companies will need a permit to sponsor, publicly promote or get its employees to participate in events at the Speakers’ Corner, stated the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday afternoon (Oct 21).

For the first time, the ministry made clear what a Singapore entity was: those incorporated or registered in Singapore and controlled by a majority of Singapore citizens.

The entity’s directors must be mostly Singaporean, and the majority of its ownership must be held by Singaporeans or one or more Singapore companies.

Meanwhile, the ministry is loosening rules for local entities organising events at the Speakers’ Corner. From next month, Singapore companies or non-government organisations no longer need permits to hold events at the Speakers’ Corner. Now, only Singapore citizens are exempted.

In its news release on the amendments to the rules, the ministry reiterated that the Speakers’ Corner was set up in 2000 for Singaporeans to express their views on issues that concern them.

“The Government’s position has always been that foreign entities should not interfere in our domestic issues, especially those of a political or controversial nature,” said the MHA. “The amendments reinforce the key principle that the Speakers’ Corner was set up primarily for Singaporeans.”

MHA is also extending the rules to those who participate at Speakers’ Corner events through remote means. So foreign entities will also need a permit if they speak through teleconferecing or pre-recorded messages at the Speakers’ Corner.

These changes come on the back of reviews to Speakers’ Corner rules which the MHA started in June. The ministry had wanted to “make it clear that foreign entities should not fund, support or influence” events held at Speakers’ Corner, such as June 4’s Pink Dot – the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rally.

This year’s Pink Dot – the eighth such – attracted 18 sponsors including multinational companies such as Google, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Visa and General Electric.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

October 22, 2016
HDB Facade In Circuit Road Falls Off

She heard the loud crash, peered out her window and saw, to her horror, that a piece of her neighbouring block’s building facade had fallen and crashed to the ground below.

“I was shocked to see a missing slab of wall on the block opposite. Luckily, it happened quite early in the morning and no one was hit.

“How can a slab of wall fall off just like that?” the resident, who wanted to be known as Madam Ng, 65, told The New Paper yesterday.

The incident happened at about 6am on Wednesday at Block 51, Circuit Road.

In response to TNP’s queries, a Marine Parade Town Council (MPTC) spokesman said a calcium silicate cladding board had dislodged from the building facade.

The MPTC spokesman said: “Together with the BCA (Building and Construction Authority), HDB and our appointed professional engineer, we are investigating the cause of the incident.”

MPTC has since carried out joint inspections with the BCA and HDB to inspect the entire facade of the affected block, as well as other neighbouring blocks with similar designs.

CORDONED OFF

As a precautionary measure, BCA has directed MPTC to cordon off the affected area under Block 51, Circuit Road, its spokesman said.

Adding that the block’s structural integrity is unaffected, the BCA spokesman said: “The professional engineer will also be required to inspect other blocks within the precinct with similar features.”

The Circuit Road incident comes less than a month after a concrete sunshade outside a fourth-storey Tampines flat fell off and landed on another sunshade on the third floor.

No one was hurt and the cause is being investigated. The affected four-storey building has been found to be structurally safe by HDB engineers.

But Circuit Road resident Gary Lim, 34, a sales manager, pointed out that the dislodged calcium silicate board could have hit someone. “This estate has many elderly residents. They may not be able to walk away fast enough to avoid any falling objects. It’s dangerous,” he said.

Engineer Chong Kee Sentold TNP that the board facade, which is not part of the building structure, could have fallen off due to its age.

“Like all materials, it could have aged with time,” said the former president of the Institution of Engineers.

The board facade is made from calcium silicate, which is fireproof and moisture-proof.

This means that even when exposed to moisture, there is no permanent loss in strength of the material as long as the moisture dries out.

Another possible reason for the dislodged calcium silicate board could be the corrosion of the fasteners that hold the board to the metal frames, Mr Chong added.

Source: The New Paper

October 21, 2016
Coroner Records Open Verdict On Case Of Infant Found Dead In Tampines MRT Station Toilet

The unidentified male infant who was found dead in a sanitary bin in a toilet at Tampines MRT Station four months ago was linked to three Indonesian women who had visited Singapore earlier, with one of them likely to be his mother.

However, the infant’s cause of death could not be ascertained by the Coroner’s Court, said State Coroner Marvin Bay on Thursday (Oct 20) as he recorded an open verdict in the case.

The male infant of unknown race and age was pronounced dead at 1.49pm on June 3, after he was discovered in the toilet.

A cleaner there had found the infant’s body inside a red plastic bag, which was marked with the word “Tampines”, the court heard.

She had last cleaned the toilet at 11am that same day but did not notice anything suspicious, noted investigation officer Sanjeewani Panday when she took the stand on Thursday.

Based on CCTV footage and witness accounts, the police found that three Indonesian women, who were believed to have entered Singapore to help out at a Hari Raya bazaar held in the open field near Tampines MRT station, were involved in abandoning the infant.

At 8.12am, two women identified as Ms A, 31, and Ms I, 26, had entered the toilet. Ms A was seen carrying a pink bag that appeared to contain a heavy load. But the bag seemed lighter and swayed slightly when they left the toilet some 20 minutes later.

A third woman wearing a black headscarf, identified as Ms M, 35, was seen walking from the bazaar to the toilet at about 10am and left at about 11.10am.

Further enquiries at the bazaar led the police to a stall helper who knew Ms I. Facebook exchanges between them later revealed that Ms M had admitted to Ms I that she “threw away a baby” in the women’s toilet at the train station.

The three women had entered Singapore on May 25. Ms M, who appeared pregnant in the arrival CCTV footage, left the country on June 5, while the other two left two days later.

Delivering his findings, Mr Bay said there was no basis to suspect foul play, despite the “rather callous and sadly unceremonious manner” the infant was found.

His body, which still had the umbilical cord and placenta intact, did not show signs of any deliberate traumatic injury that could have led to the infant’s death.

Post-mortem findings had estimated that the gestational age of the deceased was about 38 to 42 weeks, where the full-term infant was capable of being born alive.

Yet, the pathologist could not rule out a stillbirth and could not ascertain the cause of death.

“(This) would necessarily constrain me to deliver an open verdict for this case,” said Mr Bay.

Given the chronological sequence of the trips made to the toilet, Mr Bay noted that it was likely that Ms M’s visit there was to address and alleviate the after-effects of childbirth, and not to actually give birth to the child in the toilet.

While the evidence strongly pointed to Ms M being most likely the mother, her absence from Singapore’s jurisdiction had made it impossible to confirm her maternity as the DNA samples collected required a reference sample from her, he said.

It is understood that the three Indonesian women remain as persons of interest.

Source: TODAY Online

October 21, 2016
New Seletar Airport Terminal Could Handle 700,000 Passengers A Year

The new passenger terminal at Seletar Airport is designed for 700,000 passenger movements a year – up to four times the estimated maximum capacity of the current airport.

The two-story, 9,500-sqm terminal on the eastern side of Seletar Airport is expected to be completed by end-2018, the airport operator said at the new terminal’s groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday (Oct 20).

The new terminal will be capable of parking up to three scheduled turboprop flights – such as those flown by regional airline Firefly – in its adjacent bays during peak hours. Turboprop aircraft operations will be shifted from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport once the building is ready, freeing up capacity for jet aircraft operations at Changi Airport.

Seletar Airport General Manager See Seng Wan said the change in the airport’s operating model was to make “better use of resources at both airports, which will benefit Singapore’s aviation ecosystem in the long run”.

To handle the expected increase in passenger traffic, the new facility promises a more streamlined boarding and arrival process featuring four check-in counters, four immigration counters, and two security screening stations. In comparison, the existing facilities only have one of each. The gate holding room in the new terminal will also be able to seat 200 passengers waiting for their flights, compared to the current capacity of 70.

Other improvements include a dedicated space for business aviation passengers with its own private drop-off, check-in and lounge areas, a landscaped garden in the middle of the terminal and tropical design features to provide a warm and relaxed air.

Plans for the existing terminal remain to be decided, according to Seletar Airport.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

October 21, 2016
Primary 5 Boy Falls To Death After Failing Exams For The First Time

In his first four years in primary school, he had never fared poorly in any examination subject, usually averaging about 70 marks.

But in this year’s mid-year exams, the Primary 5 pupil found out that he had failed two papers – mathematics and Higher Chinese.

On May 18, the boy was found dead at the foot of his Sengkang block, just nine days after his 11th birthday.

He was due to collect his exam results that day for his parents to acknowledge.

A coroner’s inquiry into the boy’s death yesterday was told that his 45-year-old mother thought he had killed himself over his exam results by jumping from his bedroom window in the 17th-storey flat.

But his father, a 47-year-old customer service engineer, felt his son had accidentally fallen to his death.

The identities of the boy, his family members and his school cannot be disclosed because of a gag order.

Yesterday, investigation officer Inspector Lynn Ong told State Coroner Marvin Bay that the boy’s mother, a housewife, had expected him to score at least 70 marks per subject for his exams.

He had scored about 70 marks for every subject from Primary 1 to Primary 4.

If he did not meet her expectations, she would cane his palm lightly, Insp Ong said, adding: “She would hit him once for every mark short of 70 marks.”

However, she would cane him only if his average score across all subjects was below 70 marks.

“Sometimes, she would look through his examination papers first, and if they were difficult, she would not hit him.”

His mother also rewarded him when he did well, such as buying him a gift.

For the mid-year exam, he had asked for a kite, and she bought one for him on May 14, even before the results were out. He went out to fly the kite with his father the next day.

The school principal described the boy as an average performer who was generally able to cope with school.

The principal also said that pupils tend to see a dip in their exam results in Primary 5 because of changes in the exam format to prepare them for PSLE.

The boy found out his results before May 18, when the exam papers were returned to the pupils for checking.

Out of 100 marks, he scored 50 for English, 53.8 for Chinese and 57.5 for science. He fared poorly in two subjects, scoring 12 marks for Higher Chinese and 20.5 for mathematics.

UPSET

The boy’s Chinese and Higher Chinese teacher noticed that he was visibly upset after receiving the results for both subjects.

However, his science teacher saw him on May 17, a day before he was supposed to take his results home to show his parents, and he was cheerful and bubbly as usual, the court heard.

On May 18, his father noticed that he was taking a longer time than usual to get ready for school.

His mother tried to open the bedroom door, but it was locked.

She used a spare key to unlock it, and when they entered the room, he was nowhere to be seen.

The couple, who also have a 16-year-old daughter, looked out of the window and saw their son lying on a grass patch at the foot of their block.

His mother called the police at around 6.50am.

She called his school about 15 minutes later and told the principal what happened and said she needed help as her husband was distraught.

Insp Ong said that when the principal arrived at the scene, the mother was “very emotionally unstable”.

“She heard her lamenting in Mandarin, saying ‘I only asked for 70 marks, I don’t expect you to get 80 marks,’” Insp Ong added.

A paramedic pronounced the boy dead at the scene at around 7am.

The police do not suspect any foul play.

The cause of death was found to be multiple injuries, consistent with those sustained after a person had fallen from height.

Coroner Bay will deliver his findings today.

Source: The New Paper

October 21, 2016