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Bukit Batok Coffee Shop Sold For $31 Million

A new record has been set for the transacted price of a coffee shop in Singapore.

The Yong Xing Coffee Shop in Block 155, Bukit Batok Street 11 was sold for a staggering $31 million, making it the most expensive coffee shop to be sold in an HDB estate.

The previous record was held by Coffee Express 2000, a nondescript coffee shop in Block 682, Hougang Avenue 4, that was sold for $23.88 million in 2013.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the Bukit Batok transaction was finalised last month.

4,521 SQ FT

The 4,521 sq ft coffee shop, which is about the size of three executive HDB flats, was sold to a new company, EH 155.

Yong Xing’s previous owner had reportedly bought the place for about $3.38 million nearly 20 years ago.

According to the newspaper, the selling price is also significant as it indicates the sum of the block number and the new company’s name, 155+155, with a few more zeros thrown in.

And in Cantonese 3,100 – the same figure without four of those zeros -sounds like “business (comes) continuously”.

One of the reasons the coffee shop could have been so attractive, property experts told Wanbao, is that there is no hawker centre in the area.

Some tenants said the rent has been doubled since the handover, to $6,500 a month.

Some of the stallholders have increased the price of their food, while some have been staying open for an extra two hours each day.

Source: www.tnp.sg

June 16, 2015
Dead Biker’s Dad: No Point Hating Man Who Caused Death

For close to a year, he thought his only son was responsible for the accident that took his life.

When The New Paper told him that the motorcyclist, who was then 35, was an innocent victim, Mr Liow Chwee Hor broke down.

The 69-year-old said: “I feel extremely sad and hurt knowing that my son has died for nothing.”

Mr Liow Yong Seng was killed in a nine-vehicle pile-up in June last year, caused by a motorist who braked abruptly on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) to raise both his middle fingers to another motorcyclist.

The driver, Pang Chon Seng, 52, was sentenced earlier this month to four months’ jail for reckless driving and disqualified from driving for four years.

Mr Liow still sends text messages to his son’s mobile number regularly in the hope that his son would be able to “read” them.

Asked if he will forgive Pang for causing the accident that took his son’s life, Mr Liow said it was pointless to hate.

“I can forgive him or hate him but it will never bring my son back to life.”

Source: www.tnp.sg

June 16, 2015
KTMB To Launch Shuttle Train Services Between Woodlands And Johor Bahru

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) has announced on its website that its subsidiary, KTM Intercity, will begin shuttle train services from Johor Bahru Sentral to Woodlands in Singapore from Jul 1.

The Shuttle Tebrau service will help reduce congestion at the Johor Causeway, reported Bernama.

KTMB said the service will run seven times daily, from JB Sentral to Woodlands Station and back. The train services run as early as 5.30am, till 11pm.

The fares are RM 5 from JB Sentral and S$5 from Woodlands, for one-way trips.

KTMB said with the commencement of the Tebrau Shuttle, other southbound KTM Intercity services such as (Butterworth-Woodlands) as well as Tren Sinaran Selatan (KL Sentral-Woodlands) and Tren Sutera (KL Sentral-Woodlands) and the shuttle from Gemas-Woodlands will now end at JB Sentral.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 16, 2015
Import And Sale Of Emerging Tobacco Products Will Begin Dec 15

The import and sale of tobacco products such as smokeless cigarettes will be banned from Dec 15 this year, and the ban will be extended to cover more products such as oral snuff from August next year.

Announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday, the move, which will be carried out in two phases, comes on the back of a ban on shisha last year, as part of efforts to clamp down on “emerging” tobacco products.

The ban is a “pre-emptive measure to protect public health against the known and potential harms of such products”, said the MOH in a media release. It is also “aimed at ensuring that the targeted emerging tobacco products do not gain a foothold or become entrenched in the Singapore market”.

The first phase of the ban targets emerging tobacco products currently not available in Singapore. They include smokeless cigars, smokeless cigarillos or smokeless cigarettes, dissolvable tobacco or nicotine.

Any product containing nicotine or tobacco that may be used topically for application, by implant or injected into any parts of the body will also be banned, while any solution or substance where tobacco or nicotine is a constituent, that is intended to be used with an electronic nicotine delivery system or a vaporiser, commonly referred to as e-cigarettes, will also be banned. Tobacco-containing products, tobacco derivatives, or medicinal products registered under the Medicines Act are excluded from the ban.

From Aug 1 next year, the ban will extend to emerging tobacco products already in the local market. “This is to allow for businesses to adjust their operating models and deplete their existing stocks of such products,” the MOH said. The affected products include nasal snuff, oral snuff, and gutkha, khaini and zarda, which are chewable tobacco products.

The ban will be implemented via Section 15 of the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. The Act was amended in 2010 to empower the Minister for Health to prohibit the import and sale of such emerging tobacco products. Since then, the authorities had been studying the implementation of the ban. This included ensuring the ban complies with Singapore’s international trade obligations, the MOH said.

An undergraduate who declined to give his name said he tried khaini in Malaysia last year. “The ban doesn’t really affect me, if I really want to consume khaini, I’ll just cross the border to Malaysia and have it there,” said the 23-year-old, who has been smoking since he was 19.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 16, 2015
Passenger In Shangri-La Shooting Gets Caning And Jail For Drug Offences

One of the two car passengers in last month’s shooting near Shangri-La Hotel was sentenced to eight years’ jail and three strokes of the cane yesterday for possession and consumption of drugs.

Mohamed Ismail, 31, pleaded guilty to three charges and had seven other charges taken into consideration in his sentencing. He and fellow car passenger Muhammad Syahid Mohamed Yasin, 26, were initially charged with one count each of heroin trafficking on June 1.

Both were in a red Subaru Impreza driven by Mohamed Taufik Zahar in the early hours of May 31. Mohamed Taufik was shot dead by the police after he suddenly accelerated while being questioned at a checkpoint near Shangri-La Hotel — where a high-level security conference was being held — and endangered police officers. A bag containing drugs was found in the vehicle.

Yesterday, Mohamed Ismail pleaded guilty to possession of not less than 0.27g of heroin and not less than 1.41g of methamphetamine along Orange Grove Road on May 31, as well as consumption of morphine.

According to court documents, he had bought the heroin and methamphetamine at Geylang Lorong 15 on May 29 from someone called “Ah Boy”. He paid S$480 for the drugs.

For the morphine consumption charge, Mohamed Ismail admitted to consuming heroin in the toilet of his Marsiling Crescent home about eight hours before the shooting. He had heated and dissolved the heroin before injecting the mixture up his left arm with a syringe. His urine sample was found to contain morphine, the result of his body breaking down the heroin.

Mohamed Ismail was previously convicted of consuming methamphetamine, also known as “Ice”, in 2003, as well as of possessing a controlled drug in 2012. He was also admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre in 2012 for morphine consumption.

The other charges taken into consideration during sentencing included failure to report for urine tests and failure to stop at a police roadblock.

Muhammad Syahid, who was charged last week with an additional count of instigating Mohamed Taufik to act rashly and endanger the safety of two police officers, is expected to plead guilty tomorrow.

Muhammad Syahid, who also has previous drug-related offences, allegedly shouted “Jalan, jalan” at Mohamed Taufik, who crashed into a concrete barrier. If convicted of acting rashly to endanger the personal safety of others, he may be jailed up to six months and fined a maximum of S$2,500.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 16, 2015