Category: Sosial

Policeman Admits Taking $35,000 From Suspect

A police officer has admitted receiving $35,000 in bribes to help a man avoid being charged with taking upskirt videos.

Staff Sergeant Woo Poh Liang, 29, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two corruption charges as well as six unrelated charges of buying illegal 4-D lottery tickets, placing bets with a bookmaker on the 2014 World Cup and acting as a runner for a bookmaker.

Woo was an investigation officer at Clementi Police Division when he took bribes from Filipino Angelo Salvador Beltran, 45, in 2014.

He has been suspended from service since January last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said that on Sept 10, 2014, Woo took a statement from Beltran who had been caught taking an upskirt video at Jurong East MRT station on May 22.

Although a large number of upskirt videos were found on Beltran’s devices, Woo suggested writing in Beltran’s statement that he had taken just five of them.

Beltran went with the number as he understood that Woo was trying to do something favourable for him.

Six days later, Beltran handed a psychiatric report to Woo, who told him that his case was very serious.

Woo asked Beltran if they could trust each other, and Beltran said “yes”. He then told Beltran that his father was sick with cancer, and asked him for $100,000.

When Beltran said he had only $35,000, Woo asked for all the money that he had and Beltran said he would withdraw it the next day.

Woo then asked for $25,000 to be given to him the next day, in $1,000 bills. Beltran agreed as he knew that, in return, Woo would help him to avoid being charged.

On Sept 17, Beltran withdrew $25,000 and $10,000 from two bank accounts. Beltran handed the $25,000 in an envelope to Woo at a taxi stand, along with a letter requesting the return of his passport.

Later that day, Beltran texted Woo to say that he was required to travel to the United States for training the following week. Woo told him to bring a letter from his company to the police station.

When Beltran arrived, Woo told him that he could not get his passport back.

He took Beltran to an interview room and asked him how much money he had. When Beltran said he had only $10,000 left, Woo asked for the sum as well. Beltran then handed it over and Woo told him he had a “90 to 95 per cent chance of getting a warning”.

But the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not accept a recommendation that Beltran be given a stern warning. Woo told Beltran the next day that he would be charged, but that he would help him to get a lighter sentence.

On Sept 25 the same year, acting on his lawyer’s advice, Beltran complained to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau about Woo’s conduct. Woo’s lawyer Nakoorsha A.K. will give his mitigation plea on Oct 11. The maximum punishment for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years’ jail on each charge.

Source: The Straits Times

September 1, 2016
Kumpulan Hak Asasi Minta Myanmar Siasat Kematian Gadis Rohingya

Para pejuang hak asasi manusia meminta Myanmar untuk menyiasat kematian seorang gadis muslim dari golongan minoriti Rohingya, yang dianiaya di negara itu.

Gadis tersebut yang ditemui tidak berbaju dan tidak sedarkan diri berhampiran sebuah pangkalan tentera, meninggal dunia bulan ini.

Gadis berkenaan yang dikenal pasti sebagai Raysuana berusia 25 tahun didapati di sebelah jalan raya dekat kawasan tentera di Sittwe, ibu kota bandar Rakhine di barat Myanmar, menurut para penduduk dan kumpulan hak asasi Amnesty International.

Beliau hilang semasa berjalan di sebuah kawasan di mana lebih 100,000 penduduk kaum Rohingya tinggal di kemah-kemah sejak Sittwee berdepan dengan keganasan masyarakat pada 2012, tambah Amnesty dalam satu kenyataan pada lewat semalam (30 Ogos).

Kebanyakan yang dipindahkan adalah golongan muslim Rohingya, golongan yang ramai di Myanmar menganggap sebagai pendatang haram dari Bangladesh.

Mereka dihalang dari berjalan dengan bebas dan akses kepada jagaan kesihatan dan pendidikan dilarang.

Hla Myint, seorang pentadbir Rohingya, memberitahu Reuters beliau menerima panggilan daripada seorang korporal dari unit artileri tentera dan diminta untuk mengambil Raysuana yang tidak sedarkan diri pada awal 18 Ogos lalu.

“Beliau masih bernafas apabila saya melihatnya, tetapi beliau terbujur di lantai. Tiada pakaian di tubuhnya (selain baju dalam) tetapi seseorang menutupnya dengan selimut,” kata Hla Myint.

Beliau dibawa ke klinik kampung di mana para atenden mendapati kesan lebam pada leher dan darah dari rahimnya, tambah Hla Myint.

Gadis itu meninggal dunia petang itu juga (18 Ogos), menurutnya.

Para penduduk di kawasan-kawasan golongan minoriti dan pekerja hak asasi manusia sudah bertahun menuduh tentera Myanmar menyalahgunakan kuasa termasuk merogol. Tentera Myanmar menolak seperti biasa dakwaan tersebut.

Hal itu timbul sedang Myanmar mengadakan rundingan damai antara pemerintah dengan golongan etnik minoriti hari ini (31 Ogos) dalam satu usaha untuk menghuraikan konflik berdekad lamanya dan meragut ribuan nyawa dan membuat negara itu terbenam dengan kemiskinan.

AFP melaporkan Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu Ban Ki-moon yang menghadiri rundingan itu menggambarkannya sebagai detik “bersejarah” bagi negara tersebut menyusuli peralihannya ke arah demokrasi.

Namun, hanya segelinitir menjangkakan keputusan yang kukuh daripada perundingan lima hari itu yang dianggap sebagai permulaan proses kedamaian yang boleh mengambil masa bertahun lamanya.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

September 1, 2016
Mum Of Maris Stella Boy: He Had No Health Problems

He was a generous boy who loved to help others in need.

Zenneth Hue Yee Hon, 11, was also mature for his age and liked mingling with the elderly.

The Primary 5 pupil at Maris Stella High School died suddenly on Tuesday after he was found unconscious in the school bus.

He had been unwell over the weekend and did not attend school on Monday, but the cause of death is still unknown.

Yesterday, his mother Jennifer Lim recalled that about a week ago, Zenneth had repeatedly reminded her to be a good daughter to her mother.

She told The New Paper: “After I had a minor disagreement with my mother, he told me, ‘Please be more filial to grandma, don’t argue with her, take good care of her’.”

While the boy had often shown empathy for the elderly, Madam Lim still found his words odd. ”He had never said such things before,” she said.

Heaving a sigh, a teary-eyed Madam Lim, who is in her 40s, then added: “I think I know why he kept reminding me to be more filial to my mother. Maybe he knew he would be leaving us soon.”

Madam Lim, who works in the health industry, said Zenneth, an only child, started feeling unwell in school on Friday morning.

The school called her and Madam Lim told Zenneth to phone her brother, who then picked up his nephew and took him back to his Woodleigh condominium home.

Later that day, Madam Lim took her son to a clinic and found that he had a high fever. His body temperature was 41 deg C.

He was given medication and spent Saturday resting at home.

As he was still feverish on Sunday, his father decided to take him to another doctor at a different clinic.

Zenneth felt much better after taking the medicine given by the second doctor, and his body temperature returned to normal.

He did not go to school on Monday, and was in the school bus on the way to school the next morning when he lost consciousness.

TRIED TO WAKE UP

The bus driver thought the boy was asleep and tried to wake him up. When Zenneth did not respond, the Singapore Civil Defence Force was notified at around 6.55am.

An ambulance took him to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), where he was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Correcting TNP’s report yesterday that said she and her husband were overseas at the time, Madam Lim said she was at home getting ready for work when she received a phone call about Zenneth.

“I immediately rushed down to the hospital. I was shocked. Zenneth was healthy and had no pre-existing health problems,” she said.

Her mother, who wanted to be known only as Madam Swee, 64, told TNP she was at work at a Serangoon Gardens coffee shop when Zenneth’s godfather rushed in to tell her that the boy was in KKH.

Madam Swee, who also has a 10-year-old granddaughter, took a taxi there only to find out that Zenneth had died.

With tears welling in her eyes, she said in Mandarin: “My daughter was so consumed by grief that she could barely stand up.

“Nurses shook their heads sadly when they saw me, and said the medical team had tried their best, but failed to save my grandson.”

When TNP visted Zenneth’s wake at the void deck of Block 411, Serangoon Central, yesterday afternoon, his loved ones had gathered to await the arrival of his body.

When the body arrived at around 3pm, they burst into tears while standing near his casket.

Madam Swee said she will always remember Zenneth as a loving boy who enjoyed eating chee cheong fun and xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings).

“Whenever he saw old people selling tissue paper, he would insist on buying some just to help them,” she said.

“And every Mother’s Day, he would give cards and gifts to both his mother and me.”

Zenneth’s maternal uncle, who lives with Zenneth’s family, said he will miss his nephew.

The driver in his 40s, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, said: “Similarly, on Father’s Day, he would make cards for both his father and me. He was a very generous boy.”

Zenneth will be cremated today.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

I think I know why he kept reminding me to be more filial to my mother. Maybe he knew he would be leaving us soon.

– Madam Jennifer Lim, Zenneth’s mother

I immediately rushed down to the hospital. I was shocked. Zenneth was healthy and had no pre-existing health problems.

– His mother, Madam Lim

Source: The New Paper

September 1, 2016
Thailand’s First Halal Hotel Hopes To Help Boost Muslim Arrivals

Predominately Buddhist Thailand has opened its first halal hotel as hopes to attract more Muslim visitors and boost one of the few bright spots in its economy.

Nearly 30 million foreign tourists came to Thailand last year but only about 658,000 were from the Middle East, according to industry data.

The four-star Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok, which opened in November 2015, hopes to play its part in changing that, and to cash in.

“There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It’s a huge market,” said the hotel’s general manager, Sanya Saengboon.

“Just one percent of that market is enough for us to thrive.”

The Al Meroz, which boasts mosque-like architecture, has two prayer rooms and three halal dining halls.

Rooms cost from 4,000 baht all the way up to 50,000 baht (US$116 to US$1,445) a night, said Sanya.

A guest at the hotel, Aamir Fazal, 28, a security officer from Australia, said access to a halal hotel was a comfort to Muslim travelers in Thailand where halal food can be hard to find.

“It’s a really nice experience. It’s the first halal hotel here and I find that amazing,” said Fazal.

Eager to tap into a growing Muslim tourist market, Thailand launched a mobile application last year which helps tourists search for halal eateries and Muslim-friendly attractions.

Parts of Thailand’s south, near the border with Muslim Malaysia, are majority Muslim.

Many Malaysians pop over the border for short visits but a low-level separatist insurgency in the far south, that has included bomb attacks in border towns frequented by Malaysian tourists, has dented business there.

A series of bomb attacks in more mainstream tourist towns south of Bangkok this month, in which four people were killed and dozens wounded, has led to fears the insurgency is spreading.

Thailand saw a 10 percent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in 2015 compared with 2014, data from the Department of Tourism showed.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

September 1, 2016
Maris Stella Pupil, 11, Dies In School Bus

The school bus driver thought the 11-year-old boy had fallen asleep in his seat.

But when he tried to wake the boy upon reaching Maris Stella Primary School yesterday morning, the Primary 5 pupil did not respond.

He was later pronounced dead at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

The New Paper understands the boy was on his way to school when he became unresponsive.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received a call at about 6.55am yesterday and sent an ambulance to the school.

Police received a call around the same time yesterday asking for help “at 80, Bartley Road”.

UNCONSCIOUS

They found an 11-year-old boy unconscious when they arrived and he was taken to KKH, “where he was subsequently pronounced dead at about 8.46am,” their spokesman said.

The family told media that the parents were in Singapore at the time of the incident.

An SMS that was circulated around Maris Stella Primary yesterday informed all of the incident and asked them to pray for the boy and his family.

One parent, who declined to be named, said the boy had a fever on Mondayand was sent home early.

He said: “The school principal spoke to his class and told them about the news. We heard he was an only child and his parents are currently out of the country.”

Mrs Woo Soo Min, principal of Maris Stella Primary, said in an e-mail to TNP that the school was “saddened by the passing of one of our students”.

“We are in touch with the family and are providing assistance and support to them during this difficult time. We are also providing emotional support to affected staff and students. As the police is investigating this case, we are unable to comment further,” she said.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

Source: The New Paper

September 1, 2016