Category: Singapuraku

A Chinese-Singaporean Husband’s Dilemma – ‘Sorry Your Wife Is Indian. Landlord Won’t Rent To You’.

Darius Cheung, founder of Singapore-based property listing site 99.co, is married to Indian-Singaporean wife Roshni Mahtani, who’s also an entrepreneur (she started parenting portaltheAsianparent).

Late last year, they began searching for a property to rent, thinking that an oversupply of apartments would make it easy. They were wrong.

You see, as a Chinese Singaporean man, Darius had been sheltered from the everyday racism felt by minorities. He was about to get an education.

“I began to notice something very odd as we went for these viewings, something I never encountered before in the dozen years that I’ve been renting,” he writes on the company blog.

“On several occasions, the agents seemed eager to end the viewings quickly, sometimes without even discussing the offer. I would text them afterwards to negotiate on the price, but one of the responses we got was a shocking ‘Sorry your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you. Next time please indicate earlier, so we both don’t waste time.’”

He did precisely that. True enough, 20 percent of their enquiries were rejected right away because Roshni was mentioned in the text message.

“In one case, after the typical vague response of ‘profile doesn’t match,’ I pushed harder to ask ‘Is it because my wife is Indian?’, and the response was a dead-pan ‘yes, thanks for your understanding.’”

They ended up paying 15 percent more than what they should have because of their difficulty finding a place.

The event led to some soul-searching. They wanted to include both parents’ surnames in their daughter’s name. They thought about dropping the Indian surname to protect her, but decided against it.

So Darius sought to do something about racial discrimination in the property market. He writes:

If you google ‘No Indian No PRC’, you will find actual rental listings in Singapore in the top results. The problem is so prevalent that even BBC had extensive coverage on it some time ago.

Enquiries about rental properties often come with a series of profiling questions that includes ‘What race are you?’, ‘Where are you from?’, or outright rejection by stating ‘Profile doesn’t match.’ The top two groups of people who receive discriminatory responses are Indians and PRCs (referring to those from the People’s Republic of China).

Landlords often cite reasons like “lack of cleanliness”, “likelihood of damaging the apartment,” and even “I don’t like them.”

99.co is now tackling this by introducing an “all-races-welcome” indicator on its website. What this means is that agents and landlords can positively indicate that their properties can be rented by anyone regardless of ethnicity. Such listings will get prominent placing on the website.

“The idea is to give renters peace of mind during their home search journey – reducing instances of rude comments and unpleasant experiences while enquiring about listings.”

Source: www.techinasia.com

July 20, 2016
Singaporean Women Wrongly Accused By Airbnb Host Of Sleeping With Her Boyfriend

She returned home from a vacation, only to find a shocking message from her host.

We are all familiar nasty online reviews. All over the internet, restaurant-goers decry bad service, film critics baulk at plot holes in the latest movie and holidaymakers point the finger of blame at their vacation hosts for all their travel misfortunes. But the tables were turned on me during my holiday to a quaint city in Southeast Asia.

Any ordinary holiday

While chatting online with my friend Alice*, who was backpacking on her own across the region, I decided on a whim to go on a short getaway myself.

“Fly up and meet me in this city! You can settle all of our travel arrangements during that leg of my trip,’ she said. I didn’t mind doing all the work so I started making the necessary arrangements. I booked my flights and found us an affordable place to stay on vacation rental site Airbnb.

The guesthouse was a gem of a find: it was located near the city centre, looked spacious and comfortable, and renting a room cost less than $15 a night I contacted the host, Gen* and managed to secure my booking for two nights.

A week later, Alice and I met at our destination. When we arrived at the guesthouse, Gen was nowhere to be seen. In her stead, was a Caucasian man who introduced himself as Antonio* and the owner of the property.

He told me that he ran a tour agency from the first floor of the building and I simply assumed that the woman in the Airbnb profile picture was one of his staff.

Antonio was warm and friendly. He helped us to settle in and recommended various places of interests and good eateries. So we did our sightseeing, shopped and ate to our hearts’ content. We had a great time.

On the third and final day, I said goodbye to Alice. I had planned to spend the day at the spa before leaving for Singapore, whereas she had decided to head to her next destination right away, so we went our separate ways.

The unexpected review

I returned to life as usual in Singapore and got back into the daily grind. Alice had not contacted me since we parted ways, but photographs from her travels appeared on my social media feed every day or so.

Two weeks had passed since I arrived home when a notification popped up on my smartphone. It was a computer generated message from Airbnb that read, “Gen wrote you a review. Here’s what she wrote…”

Curious to know what Antonio and his staff had to say about me, I opened the message and was horrified by what I saw: “She came to our home. She booked two nights, but stayed an extra night in my boyfriend’s bedroom and slept with my boyfriend while I wasn’t there.”

Above the text was a statement from Airbnb to say that the review would be visible on my public profile. This meant that any potential Airbnb host in future would read it!

I gaped at the message and read it two more times to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me. Who was this mysterious woman and why would she accuse me of something so blatantly untrue?

I wrote her an angry response, demanding an explanation.

“Look, I don’t know who you are but I definitely did not sleep with anyone’s boyfriend. I stayed in the city for exactly two nights and came home to Singapore. I am furious that you would say slander me in this way!”

Within minutes, her reply came through.

“I am so sorry if you’re the one who left after two days,” she began.

Uh-oh, I thought, as it dawn on me what had happened. On our second night, Alice had spent a good hour or so speaking with Antonio at the front desk. She’d told me that she needed to ask for directions to her destination and that I should go back to our room first. Had she lied to me?

The truth at last

Gen continued: “Your friend was the one who stayed. I don’t live in the city – I only visit about once a month.” She had learnt about her boyfriend’s betrayal from some neighbours.

“They told me my boyfriend took a customer around the city and had dinner with her,” she told me. “It all sounded very strange to me, so I checked with the staff about your booking and found that you had only reserved two nights at our guesthouse. We had no available room for a third night.”

It turns out Antonio had taken Alice for a tour of the city and then to dinner. After that, they returned to the guesthouse and shared a bottle of wine. “He confessed to all of these things and to letting her sleep in our bedroom but denied having sex,” Gen wrote.

“I feel so tired. You cannot imagine how heartbroken I am. Maybe they really did not have sex, but your friend is single and can do whatever she wants. We had planned to get married but I’ve called it off and ended our relationship.”Gen ended her note by apologising for the trouble she had caused and promising to write to Airbnb to remove the review.

From one accusation to another

I stared at Gen’s outpouring onscreen, reeling. I recalled that Alice had mentioned meeting various men in her travels – they had taken care of her, carried her things and planned her routes. “I get a different boy for each leg of the trip,” she had joked.

I wondered if perhaps I had not realised the implications of what she’d told me at the time. Was she giving sexual favours in exchange for their care and attention?

I contemplated confronting Alice about the incident but decided against it. After all, I had been completely outraged with Gen’s accusation. She’d acted rashly and without any evidence. What gave me the right to hurl the same accusation at Alice? I decided to let the matter rest but made a mental note that I would make sure to properly introduce myself to my next Airbnb host, just in case.

*Names have been changed.

Visit Simply Her for more stories.

Source: www.stomp.com.sg

July 20, 2016
Adi Putra Married Second Wife In Secret Ceremony?

His marriage has become a red-hot topic over the weekend – but no one is talking about his wife of a decade.

At least, not directly.

Instead, both curious netizens and fans of Singaporean actor Adi Putra are more interested in unconfirmed news of a secret second wife that the Kuala Lumpur-based star allegedly took in a small closed-door wedding ceremony recently.

But is there any truth to this?

Yesterday afternoon, both Adi, 35, and his wife Aida Yusof, 41, posted a happy photo of themselves on their respective Instagram accounts.

Adi Putra and his wife of 10 years Aida Yusof smiling happily. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ADI PUTRA

The photo, as if to dispel the gossip, was simply captioned with a smiley.

It drew mixed reactions from Instagram followers.

Some voiced their support and joy for the couple, while others questioned his true intention for uploading the photo.

Other dissenters mocked him for being “unfaithful” and making the wrong move.

The shocking rumour of his alleged second marriage rocked the Internet and was backed by viral photos obtained by Malaysian media.

Malaysian infortainment portal Astro Gempak claimed it received two photos of the alleged solemnisation ceremony between Adi and his new wife, a 33-year-old single mum.

Malaysian media also ran a third photo of him kissing her forehead.

What added to the speculation was a note posted by Adi himself on his Instagram page last Saturday, hastily cancelling a Hari Raya and fifth anniversary gathering with his fan club, 1HotLovers, last Sunday.

He apologised but did not state the reason.

Malaysian news site Utusan Online identified Adi’s rumoured new bride as Norshahida Zolkafly and reported that she works in the corporate department of a government agency.

It also reported that the pair have a joint business venture which started over a year ago.

Adi, whose real name is Mohamed Hadi Putera Halim, tied the knot with Madam Aida in 2006.

They have a four-year-old daughter.

KEPT IN THE DARK

When contacted by Utusan Online last weekend, Madam Aida, who is also based in Kuala Lumpur, refused to elaborate on the situation.

“Please give me some space for now. I hope all parties can understand the situation at hand,” she said simply.

Malaysian media ran reports that she was kept in the dark about Adi’s new marriage.

Prior to this incident, the couple’s marriage hit the rocks in 2012 when he filed for a divorce but retracted it shortly after.

In an interview that year following the drama, he told The New Paper that his marriage was “getting good and is better than before”.

The following year, his name was dragged through the mud when he was accused of exchanging lewd photos and messages with an unknown married woman.

Again, he told TNP that he and his wife were “fine” and that she was “calm and cool because she knows me”.

TNP was unable to reach Adi, who has not directly addressed his latest scandal publicly.

Ms Norshahida has also chosen to remain tight-lipped, telling Malaysian newspaper Harian Metro: “I apologise. I cannot comment on this issue.”

However, on the day Astro Gempak received photos of the ceremony, it also received screenshots of a Facebook status allegedly written by her ex-husband.

The long message made a reference to a woman who chose to follow her heart after she found a man she felt could guide her, without giving due consideration to her own young child.

Fans and detractors did not hold back with their comments.

Twitter user‏@AsyEynaz wrote: “Adi putra kawin lain ye (‘Did Adi remarry?’ in Malay)? I thought he (is) such a loyal husband to his wife.”

But @AhBee_ADP pledged his support for Adi, writing: “With all the rumours I will still support you.”

A Malaysia Gazette commentary even asked what the fuss was about since Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four wives.

It suggested it was better that “Adi get married than have an extra-marital affair.”

“Please give me some space for now. I hope all parties can understand the situation at hand.”

– Madam Aida Yusof, who married Singaporean actor Adi Putra in 2006

Source: www.tnp.sg

July 20, 2016
Buang Tatu, Nasihat Guaman, Antara Program Bantu Pesalah Dadah Pulang Ke Masyarakat

Bekas pesalah dadah akan mendapat bantuan untuk berintegrasi kembali ke dalam masyarakat.

Persatuan Anti Narkotik Singapura (SANA) menubuhkan sebuah pusat sebagai projek perintis pada Januari tahun lalu dan akan dilancarkan minggu depan.

Para kaunselor di Step-Up Centre di Sengkang akan menilai keperluan bekas pesalah.

Menurut SANA, antara cabaran utama bagi bekas pesalah dadah termasuk mencari pekerjaan dan mendapat bantuan kewangan.

“Antara program yang akan kami adakan di sini adalah program untuk meningkatkan keupayaan mereka dari segi kemahiran. Salah satu adalah kemahiran untuk menggunting rambut. Di mana program ini akan menyediakan latihan percuma untuk mereka yang berminat. Dan setelah itu mereka akan diberikan peluang pekerjaan bersama syarikat yang memberikan latihan itu,” kata salah seorang kaunselor SANA Mohd Fahmi Ahmad Abu Bakar.

Mereka yang memerlukan bantuan kewangan pula akan mendapat kad Kopitiam dan Ez-Link bernilai $20.

Bantuan lain termasuk program membuang tatu bersubsidi dan konsultasi undang-undang percuma berkenaan isu seperti hak penjagaan anak.

“Nampak ada program membuang tatu, jadi saya sertai. Kemudian dua kali sebulan, nak kena datang kaunseling untuk buang tatu,” salah seorang bekas penagih dadah memberitahu BERITAMediacorp.

Pusat tersebut menerima 339 kes tahun lalu dan dijangka bertambah kepada lebih 500 kes tahun ini.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

July 20, 2016
Normal Practice For Ministers To Be Given Expedited Clearance At Checkpoints: ICA

It is normal practice for the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to give expedited clearance to ministers, ICA said on Tuesday (July 19) in response to media queries.

ICA also confirmed that Minister for Family and Social Development Tan Chuan-Jin was travelling with 20 bus loads of people, who were his residents and grassroots leaders, on Sunday (July 17) when he, his security officers and the other passengers in his bus were given clearance, without having to queue, at the Tuas Checkpoint at around 9.20pm.

The passengers in the other 19 buses were cleared through the normal channels, ICA added.

“It is normal practice for ICA to give expedited clearance to Ministers, on both sides of the Causeway as well as members of the Malaysian royalty,” ICA said.

“Where they travel with others in a group, ICA officers will use their judgment on the clearance process,” it added.

ICA’s response came a day after Workers’ Party MP Png Eng Huat commented on his Facebook that he was “dismayed” to see a lane for immigration clearance specially opened for Mr Tan and his residents. Mr Tan is MP for Marine Parade GRC.

Mr Png said in a post on Monday (July 18) afternoon that the Singapore customs was “overwhelmed” when he and some residents were returning from a one-day trip to Desaru on Sunday. Mr Png is MP for Hougang SMC.

“Many tired travellers were relieved to see another counter opened but to their dismay, it was only to allow Minister Tan Chuan-Jin to clear as he had joined his residents for a day of outing and fun too,” he said.

He said that most people probably did not mind this, as “being a minister does come with privileges”, but he noted that some others in the group with Mr Tan also did not have to queue.

“An entourage of grassroots leaders and members with shopping bags in tow also enjoyed the privilege of fast clearance… No one else could use that counter,” he said.

Mr Png added that an 89-year-old resident in his group, and one who was injured during the tour had to wait in line.

“The chaos, anger and confusion at the Tuas Immigration check point certainly made us forget how bad the durians were yesterday, and how bad the system needs to change,” he concluded.

According to ICA, records show that Mr Png was at the checkpoint for about 30 minutes, and was cleared through immigration.

When contacted, Mr Png said that the issue was not about Mr Tan given expedited clearance, but the fact that the grassroots people travelling with him were also given special treatment. “ICA sees it fit to state that I waited about 30 minutes to clear customs. I am sure the Minister would not mind waiting 30 minutes for the rest of his travelling companions to clear customs as well”, he added.

Another Workers’ Party politician, Kenneth Foo, also wrote about the incident on his Facebook page.

Mr Png’s post had been shared more than 600 times by Tuesday morning.

Netizens debated the incident in the comments under the post, with some defending Mr Tan and others saying that grassroots leaders should not be given special treatment.

Meanwhile, Facebook group Fabrications About The PAP gave an explanation for the incident.

It explained in a Facebook post on Monday night that Mr Tan was on a semi-official trip. He then chose to join his residents for a Johor Baru tour and take the bus with them instead of driving in.

“It was a semi-official visit and his security officers carried firearms. Thus, his whole bus of residents was cleared at the same time,” said the post.

Source: The Straits Times

July 19, 2016