SEWAKTU kecil Encik Indrasyah Putera Kudsi Dulkifli sering tertanya-tanya bagaimana alat-alat di sekelilingnya berfungsi.
Apabila ada sebarang alat yang rosak baik kipas, radio mahupun televisyen, beliau akan membukanya dan mengesan masalah yang ada serta cuba membetulkannya.
Tidak hairanlah pada usia yang muda, beliau berjaya membuat alat yang direkanya sendiri.
“Saya mendapat ilham membina gegelung tesla ketika menonton filem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice lantas mengaplikasikan apa yang saya pelajari dalam kelas fizik setelah memahami asas-asas bagaimana gegelung tesla berfungsi,” jelas beliau yang mencipta alat tersebut selepas tamat peperiksaan GCE Peringkat ‘O’.
Gegelung tesla ialah sejenis mesin yang boleh menghasilkan voltan tinggi dan mencipta arka elektrik atau petir.
Beliau memilih mengejar Diploma Kejuruteraan Marin di Politeknik Singapura (SP) meskipun keputusan GCE ‘O’ beliau melayakkannya ke maktab rendah kerana pentingnya industri kelautan kepada ekonomi negara.
Ternyata pilihannya tepat selepas Encik Indrasyah, 20 tahun, muncul sebagai salah seorang penerima Anugerah Pelajar Contoh SP. Beliau satu-satunya pelajar Melayu daripada 22 pelajar tahun akhir yang menerima anugerah itu.
Beliau dipilih berdasarkan pencapaiannya yang menyerlah dengan mendapat Gred Purata Mata (GPA) terkini 3.907. Encik Indrasyah juga dalam kegiatan kokurikular di samping berusaha menyumbang kembali kepada masyarakat.
Namun, Encik Indrasyah akur terpaksa mengimbangi cabaran menyiapkan projek tahun akhirnya, menganjurkan pertandingan memanjat tembok kebangsaan, Rock Master, dan menjaga datuknya yang mengalami sakit pinggang akibat terjatuh.
Beliau tidak teragak-agak mengorbankan masa bersama rakan dan bergegas pulang sejurus tamat kelas bagi menjaga datuknya, Encik Kudsi Mohamed Zain, 84 tahun, ketika ayahnya, Encik Dulkifli Kudsi, 58 tahun, dan kakaknya, Cik Istifarah Puteri Kudsi, 24 tahun, sibuk bekerja.
Datuk dan neneknya, Cik Sahra Abu Bakar, 82 tahun, tinggal bersama mereka.
Ditanya mengenai rahsia mendapat GPA yang cemerlang, Encik Indrasyah berkata:
“Saya fokus di dalam kelas, bertanya macam-macam soalan, dengan itu saya faham 90 peratus mengenai sesuatu subjek.”
Beliau, yang mendapat tawaran dalam program kembar peringkat ijazah sarjana muda dalam pengajian kejuruteraan dan pengurusan perniagaan di universiti tempatan, bercadang menangguh pengajian dan kemasukannya dalam Perkhidmatan Negara.
Ini kerana Encik Indrasyah ingin merebut peluang menimba pengalaman belayar selama enam bulan yang ditawarkan oleh SP.
A DAD of three has been left languishing in prison after being beaten by police following a misunderstanding during a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Kausar Uddin, 47, from Sighthill, travelled to Mecca last month with his wife, three children and a group from Blackhall Mosque to take part in Umrah – a Muslim pilgrimage.
Kausar Uddin. Picture: Ian Rutherford
But during the final prayer of the day on Monday, February 22, Mr Uddin was caught up in the pushing and shoving of the crowd within Islam’s most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram.
Family and eyewitnesses say Mr Uddin, who owns the Eastern Masala takeaway in Leith and drives a taxi, tripped and reached out to grab the nearest person in order to steady himself – which happened to be a police officer.
Misinterpreting what had happened, the officer began beating the dad with a baton. As Mr Uddin raised his hands to defend himself, a swarm of police arrived “within seconds”, dragged him off and allegedly beat him up.
Family say he was taken to hospital and later to a local police station, before being moved to a nearby prison. During the ordeal, his passport was seized.
Stuck in a foreign country they knew little about, his wife Alaya and three children Kaulsom, 17, Al-Ebrahim, 17, and Al-Esmail, eight, found themselves unable to contact their husband and dad and unable to secure his release.
As the days passed and their desperation mounted, Alaya contacted family friend Rizwan Raza back in Edinburgh to tell him what had happened.
Mr Raza, an accountant from Craiglockhart, immediately got on the phone to the Foreign Office and local MP Joanna Cherry in an attempt to get help.
Helpless and alone, Mr Uddin’s family were advised by the Foreign Office and British Embassy to fly home on Sunday, February 28, before their visas expired.
With the help of a friend of a friend who spoke Arabic, they were able to see Mr Uddin in prison for just five minutes that night before travelling to the airport to board a plane back to Scotland.
It was an emotional farewell – Kaulsom said her dad looked underfed, tired and ill.
To make matters worse, while still in Saudi Arabia the family had been told by relatives that their home on Broomhouse Road had been broken into and Mr Uddin’s taxi stolen.
They arrived back in Edinburgh to find their door smashed in. Police Scotland later found the missing taxi on nearby Stenhouse Street West, abandoned and with its lights on, but thankfully undamaged.
Towards the end of last week, Mr Uddin was able to make two phone calls home to his wife and children from jail – allegedly by bribing guards.
His frightened calls revealed things were not improving. He had been put on trial on Monday, February 29, without proper legal representation and sentenced to 35 days behind bars for assaulting a policeman – despite the officer in question apparently retracting the charge.
Audibly shaken, he described the prison’s conditions. He was stuck in a room with 500 other prisoners, he said. There was no room to sleep. His complaints of feeling unwell went ignored. To top it all off, he had been told he could face a re-trial and up to two years in prison – a move his outraged family insist is simply a naked attempt to scare him into paying a hefty bribe to get out.
Friend Rizwan Raza said: “He phoned to say, ‘Guys I need you to get me out of here. I’m really not well. They’re not interested in anything I say. If it costs money, just get me out of here. Because I know what they’re after – it’s money.
“‘Whatever it costs, just pay it and get me out of here. Get a loan, do whatever you need to do. Sell my taxi’. That’s what his own words were: ‘Sell my taxi. Just get me out of here’.”
Speaking to the News, daughter Kaulsom, a sixth-year pupil at Forrester High School, told how she came home from school on Wednesday last week to find her mum in tears.
She said: “Mum was crying and I came home from school at lunch. I told my teacher what was going on, so she gave me the rest of the week off to look after mum.
“[My mum is] a mess. She keeps getting phone calls from family and they are like, ‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’ She feels helpless.”
She said the atmosphere at home over the past couple of weeks had been “tense”, adding: “You hear the phone ringing almost every ten minutes because someone wants an update.
“But if we don’t have an update we can’t really tell them anything – and if we did have an update, we would have called them. It just feels frustrating.
“Our dad’s our only source of income. Without him we have no income at the moment. That’s been quite difficult as well.”
Friends and family describe Mr Uddin as a religious and easy-going family man. They insist there is “no chance” he assaulted anyone. Mr Raza, who has known him for almost 30 years, said: “He’s a very simple person. He’s not big on the entrapments of life. He lives a very simple life. He’s religious. He has never been in trouble.
“He has his taxi. He’s done very well for himself. He’s got the takeaway. He’s the last person you would expect to assault a policeman. No chance. He doesn’t even swear – that’s how religious he is. He’s a regular mosque-goer. He prays five times a day. This is so uncharacteristic.”
Along with Mr Uddin’s family, he is now calling on the Foreign Office and politicians to take urgent action and bring the dad home to Edinburgh.
“He’s got a wife whose sister has just had a heart op,” he said. “He’s got three children who are worried stiff. His daughter can’t concentrate in school – she’s said, ‘look, this is too much for me’.
“And he’s got an eight-year-old kid who can’t sleep at night. And when they got back, the house had been broken into. What sort of mental state are you in? And my concern is that nobody is doing anything about this.
“I’ve known Kausar for 26 years. He pays his taxes, he’s lived here – what’s he done wrong? He’s got a British passport. For God’s sake, somebody must be able to help him.” Ms Cherry’s office said Mr Uddin’s detention in Saudi Arabia was “deeply concerning” and her team had been “in contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a daily basis”.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman declined to go into the details of the case, but said: “Our staff are providing assistance to a British national in Saudi Arabia following their arrest in February.
“We will remain in contact with their family and local authorities.” Source: www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com
In the past five years, more Singaporeans are now living in condominiums, more are taking public transport to work, and more are remaining single until later in their lives.
These were among the insights revealed by the Department of Statistics’ General Household Survey, released on Wednesday (Mar 9).
According to the survey, while 80 per cent of Singaporean households still live in Housing Board (HDB) flats, 13.9 per cent of households now live in condominiums and other apartments, up from 11.5 per cent in 2010.
However, the number of households living in landed properties inched lower from 5.7 per cent to 5.6 per cent over the same period.
Among those in HDB flats, nearly three in four households (74.3%) were living in three-, four- or five-room and executive flats. Four-room units were the most common house type.
The survey also found that more than nine out of ten (90.8%) households also own the homes they live in. This is an improvement from the 87.2 per cent home ownership recorded in 2010.
But over the past five years, the number of households comprising two or three persons has increased, while the number of households with five or more persons have decreased. Four-person households remain unchanged at 23 per cent.
The upshot is that the average size of households in Singapore has shrunk slightly from 3.5 persons in 2010 to 3.4 persons today.
According to the report, the shift towards smaller households was most notable among Malay households, even though the community still had larger households on average than their Chinese and Indian counterparts.
With Singapore’s ageing population being well-documented, it comes as no surprise that the proportion of households with at least one member aged 65 and over has gone up to 29.1 per cent in 2015 from 24.1 per cent in 2010.
Transport
When it comes to transport, the survey found that public transport remained the most important mode of transport for residents commuting to work.
The expansion of the rail network in recent years meant that more were taking the MRT to work. Some 12 per cent of residents said they used the MRT only (up from 11.5 per cent in 2010), while 24.8 per cent commuted to work by MRT with a transfer to or from a public bus (up from 17.6 per cent in 2010).
The number of commuters who only took the bus has dropped from 19.3 per cent to 16.5 per cent, whereas those who only used cars to get to work went down from 24.8 per cent to 21.9 per cent.
Marriage and fertility
The General Household Survey also found that even though the majority of Singapore residents aged 15 and over were married, the trend of later marriages was reflected in the increase in porportion of younger singles.
The number of singles, male and female, in the 20-24, 25-29 and 30-34 age groups have all increased in 2015 as compared to 2010.
The most significant increase was among those between the 25 and 29 age range. Of these, 80.2 per cent of males and 63 per cent of females reported being single in 2015, up from 74.6 per cent and 54 per cent respectively in 2010.
Education and literacy
The overall education profile of residents has also improved in the past five years.
Among the resident non-student population aged 25 and over, 52 per cent had post-secondary qualifications in 2015, up from 46.5 per cent in 2010.
There was also an increase in the number of households that used English as their main language at home, from 32.3 per cent five years ago to 36.9 per cent in 2015, according to the survey.
Religion
The survey also revealed religious composition of Singapore residents has remained relatively stable between 2010 and 2015.
The most significant increase was among residents without any religious affiliation, rising from 17.0 per cent in 2010 to 18.5 per cent in 2015.
The editors of the The Real Singapore, Ai Takagi and Yang Kaiheng, have been charged with sedition for stirring up ill will between Singaporeans and foreigners. Takagi has already pleaded guilty to four counts whilst her husband is claiming trial.
Many of us Singaporeans are still unsure what sedition actually is even when we know it’s a law left over on the statute books from the British colonial oppression. The common law understanding of sedition is of a political crime or speech threatening to overthrow the State by unlawful means. Singapore’s Sedition Act departs from common law understanding in several distinct ways one of which includes “the promotion of feelings of ill will or hostility between races or classes…” Whilst the alleged editors of TRS mostly upset the feelings of PRC Chinese and Filipinos, this expansion of the Sedition Act is more often used to protect the sensibilities of Malays who are largely Muslim. This stems from Article 152 of the Constitution which protects our Malay Singaporeans as the indigenous people of Singapore and Islam as their religion.
It is important to remember that the Right to Free Speech which is guaranteed to us by Article 14 of the Constitution does not exist as a stand alone right in Singapore. Free Speech is not in fact free but is restricted by eight grounds one of which is Sedition. For bloggers and netizens in our beloved Republic not knowing the definitions can be rather risky. When you cross the blurry line you can end up facing criminal and/or civil charges. Sedition carries a maximum fine of S$5,000 and up to 3 years in jail.
Luckily I can now shed some light on the mystery of Sedition Singapore style. Hopefully this will keep you all safe whilst you post rabid thoughts on Facebook, Twitter or WordPress at one 0′ clock in the morning. Here is my foolproof guide to staying out of jail. You are welcome!
KJ’s guide to staying out of prison for offences including but not limited to Sedition
1. Post a disclaimer. It can be a lie or insincere such as “Everything I say is untrue and I’m just making fun of races and ethnic minorities or Singaporeans with darker skin so I’m not an actual racist ok ah?” Choose your own words. Try to reference satire. That’s a fail safe ‘get out of jail even for racists’ card.
2. Tell the truth. (Best used to prevent charges of defamation) This is a method that seems to work for me as I’ve never been sued no matter how unpalatable the questions I ask. I’m not a racist or Foreigner-hater either which helps, although I continue to question our open door immigration policies or suggest fairer deals for Singaporean citizens.
3. Join a Political Party and not necessarily the PAP. Obviously being a high up in the PAP or grassroots or a founding father of the Nation brings its own ‘get out of jail card’. Yet, most Singaporeans think they are safe staying under the radar by blogging as individuals or not actually joining a Party. This was the big mistake of the so-called Marxist conspirators in 1987. By failing to join the Workers Party they lost the protection of legitimate political expression and left themselves open to claims that they were in fact secret Communists. (Note this does not keep you safe in Malaysia)
4.
“TRS made $500k from ads in 17 months”.
Be careful not to make any money. I can reveal that the best way not to cross the sedition line is to avoid making any money or attracting a large number of views. So do not monetise your blog. Whatever you do, do not advertise on your blog or ask for donations because it’s clear from the reports that what is really eating the Government is the amount of money the alleged editors of TRS made. The State Times headline today on page 8 is that, “TRS made $500k from ads in 17 months“. The report also adds “But, in fact, it was a big cash cow that raked in almost half a million dollars in advertising revenue for its owners in just 17 months.”
One wonders whether their actual crime was in running a profitable business? While I find TRS’s stoking of xenophobia distasteful, it is unfortunately one of the things that comes with a free media. In the US and the UK several newspapers make a living by stirring up xenophobia, such as the Daily Mail. They may not uphold the highest standards of journalistic ethics but as long as they do not cross the line into advocating violence they have a right to report. UK readers have a right to complain to an independent Press Complaints Commission which can order that the newspaper publish a retraction or make redress. But no one disputes their right to make money from journalism or their right to appeal to the prejudices of their readers in an effort to make money.
In Singapore’s case of course double standards apply. What really exercises the PAP Government is seeing that an independent media not be allowed to develop in Singapore. The best way to stop that happening is to cut off a publication’s source of funding, particularly advertising. TRS’s huge numbers of views (134 million page views in its last year) make the State online media look bad by comparison despite the monopoly that they enjoy. Ultimately if TRS was not shut down and made and example of they would threaten the financial viability of the Government media. I suspect TRS’s popularity in terms of views was stealing readers directly from STOMP.
The campaign to shut down TRS has direct analogies to the way LKY waged war against the foreign media in the 1980s. He said that if they carried reports critical of him or his Government that he would ensure that they earned no advertising revenue in Singapore. Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Economist were sold in Singapore without adverts when they fell foul of LKY. Western Governments spinelessly failed to defend their newspapers against what amounted to an illegal trade restriction in breach of World Trade Organisation rules. In time the newspapers kowtowed and self censored eventually not carrying anything too critical of the PAP or the Lee dynasty. LKY was absolutely right of course. The perfect way to control overseas media or any critical voice is to hit them in their pockets.
The PAP in essence run Singapore like a Communist state although this is heavily disguised and often misunderstood. Most of the economy including the Media is controlled by the Government. Even private businesses are often dependent on contracts to supply Government-owned companies or on subsidies paid for by the taxpayer. Almost all land is ultimately owned by the Government making the Government the Landlord of most businesses. If you tow the line or better still support the PAP enthusiastically then you will be allowed to make money. If you fail to play the game you will soon find yourself in trouble for breaching vague and ill-defined regulations or sued into bankruptcy using oppressive defamation laws.
Those laws that may be breached are vaguely defined in the first place and interpreted by judges who in turn are appointed by the people suing, the very definition of conflict of interest. The PAP has extracted money by milking the citizen cash cow, hobbling her, failing to provide adequate health care and then housing the Cash Cow in a very basic yet severely overcrowded barn. By these means the PAP has built up our supposedly huge reserves which are a very useful tool indeed when it comes to buying friends and influencing people abroad.
The DPP has accused the TRS duo of fabricating stories yet the State media do this all the time. Stomp, owned by the State Times, frequently runs similar stories to TRS yet they are allowed to get away with appalling standards of journalism. The Finance Minister and the Government fabricate figures in the Budget where vast sums of money are unaccounted for. Money is allocated to funds which then disappear with no accountability.
Takagi and Yang who presumably ran a business for profit are accused of “pocketing” money yet the Government, not supposed to be a for profit business, does that. If this case was really about stopping the stirring up of ill will between different races then LKY would have been convicted long ago for his comments about Malays, Indians, Muslims, Africans and whites. What it is really happening here is that no one who criticises the Government or the Lee family can be allowed to make a living in Singapore. There is a direct line running from the suing of foreign newspapers in the 1970’s to the bankruptcy of my late father JBJ , the persecution of Doctor Simon Shorvon and the recent action against Roy Ngerng and Amos Yee and all others who dare to offer an alternative to the PAP/Lee family hegemony.
Some of you might have seen the news that a huge fire broke out at the construction site of Tanjong Pagar Centre last Thursday, and we’d like to share a behind-the-scenes story about the heroic acts of our staff:
When Tanjong Pagar’s Station Manager (SM) Rahmat Bin Aman and Assistant Station Manager (ASM) Amutha D/O Subramaniam heard that there was a huge fire close to an exit, they instinctively grabbed fire extinguishers and ran towards it.
7 commuters were affected and the top priority for our staff was to get them to safety immediately. Being familiar with the station, SM Rahmat hurriedly led the way while ASM Amutha ensured that no one was left behind. ASM Amutha placed the commuters’ safety above her own even though she was asthmatic and had inhaled quite a bit of smoke.
Fortunately, everyone, including the staff were safe. Great work from our staff at Tanjong Pagar station!
