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PRC Company’s Slipshod Work Will Pose Danger To Singapore Residents

Normally I wouldn’t write about this, but a recent incident has reminded me to warn everybody about these unscrupulous PRC contractor companies.

Few years ago I worked as a consultant for developer to check on the safety and building quality of their contractors’ projects. This happen in 2010, and by then many of the construction contractors in Singapore were being run by PRC companies.

Many times when I went to check on their work, all of their work was slipshod and lousy. Cement mixture that is too diluted, cracks in structure beams and columns, missing ribald for on-site casting structures, you name it they do it! I remember I had to argue and scold so many managers from these PRC companies to get them to redo their poor quality work.

Some of them even have the cheek to offer me undertable money and say that if I close one eye, I can get benefits.

I told them, “f**k you, I am Singaporean!” I am responsible for the lives of the Singaporeans who live in these places.

These PRCs think that just because they are here to make a profit, they can simply cut costs and do dangerous practices.

Now I am retired. Almost all construction work is taken over by PRC companies in Singapore. I don’t dare to think if some of these buildings are structurally sound anymore. I can only hope the current batch of inspectors have Singaporean interests at heart.

Anonymous Retired Singaporean

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

May 26, 2015
5 Richest World Leaders

If you think being a leader of a nation will make you rich beyond imagination, you thought wrong. Well, of course there are those who have gained unbelievable wealth, if you consider their inherited and accumulated assets. Unsurprisingly, many of their countries’ citizens lead much, much humbler lives.

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin has a staggering amount of wealth, more than the kings in the Arab world. Bisnis.com states the following list of people as the top 5 richest world leaders:

1. President of Russia, Vladimir Putin – USD$40 billion
He took over the president’s post in 2012. Before this, he only earned USD$80,000 and since then, he has owned shares in many of Russia’s industrial giants making him the wealthiest leader on this list. He owns the house that was built as the official home for the country’s leader. One of the houses in Praskoveevka near the Black Sea alone is worth USD$1 billion.

2. King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej – USD$30 billion
The people of Thailand adore him. He has been ruling the country since 1946 making him the longest ruling monarch alive. Bhumibol always has his people’s interest at heart in his overseeing the nation’s affairs making him the second wealthiest on the list.

3. Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – USD$20 billion
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah was crowned as Sultan of Brunei after his father relinquished the position in 1967. One of the key components of his accumulated wealth comes from the string of exclusive car manufacturing plants he owns. His Highness also owns a 24-carat gold plated Rolls Royce.

4. King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al Saud – USD$18 billion
The late Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al Saud came third in the list of world’s richest kings. He was crowned the ruler of Saudi Arabia when his half brother, Raja Fadh passed away and was given the responsibility to look oversee the two major mosques in his kingdom.

Throughout his reign, he has made many transformations especially in making significant progress for women’s right. King Abdullah is known for his kindness and generosity because the world saw him offer a helping hand to countries that were affected by natural disasters like the earthquake in China in 2008 and during the Katrina hurricane disaster in New Orleans.

5. President of UAE, Khalifa Zayed Al Nahyan – USD$15 billion
Khalifa Zayed Al Nahyan took over after the passing of his father in 2004. He also leads the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and after the calculation has been done, the value of his wealth stood at USD$150 billion. Among the initiative that he helped put in place include a hospital in the USA and schools in Wales.

Source: www.malaysiandigest.com

May 26, 2015
“Singapura: The Musical” Is A Cringe-Worthy Attempt At Encapsulating Singapore Culture

Though most Singaporeans are still uncertain about what constitutes our identity, we can immediately call out what a Singaporean identity is not.

At the Gala Premiere of Singapura: The Musical on 23 May at theCapitol Theatre, many Singaporeans found themselves cringing at Philippine company 4th Wall Theatre Co. in their attempts to understand Singapore culture, including their attempts to speak Singlish.

Despite expected extensive preparations and rehearsals, the cast of Singapura: The Musical were still unconvincing in their Singlish words and accent on stage, still very much laced with their own Filipino articulation of words. This attempt to be Singaporean by a Filipino company would have been entirely awful, if not for their saving grace of having accurate costumes and props that well represented pre-independence Singapore visually.

Throughout the musical, it just felt like they were trying to recreate Miss Saigon and Les Misérables while squeezing so much in, at the expense of character and plot development. We expected a lot more when they said during the press conference that they were using Singapore history just as a backdrop for people’s life stories, but the whole plot (or lack thereof) just fell short.

Peace threatened by chaos, check. Disobedient daughter who doubles as an excuse for feminist girl power heroine, check. Asian woman getting into a relationship with Caucasian soldier against the wishes of everyone around her, check x 2. Said Asian-Caucasian couple becoming estranged, check x 2; one of the white men dies in duty, the other gets sent to the same assignment as the previous man.

Sad Asian sidekick man having his affections repeatedly ignored until the end when Caucasian man gets sent to north Borneo and then the story ends and we see sad Asian sidekick man holding hands with the girl, check.

The strangest part was when the heroine’s mother dies, and suddenly we seeLee Kuan Yew’s world-famous crying scene at the backdrop. It was so random and it felt like they were trying to squeeze a metaphor out, as the sad Asian sidekick does repeatedly throughout the musical (heroine even gets blatantly compared to Singapore but the link was so tenuous).

However, despite arguable visual and cultural-interpretative letdowns, the musical numbers in Singapura: The Musical were undeniably lovely. Composed by Ed Gatchalian, songs like “Another Day in Singapore“, “At The Kopitiam“, “Be With Me” and “Tomorrow Begins Today” will leave audiences humming its tunes while leaving the theatre. Catchy and emotional, the original scores and talented vocals from the cast effortlessly stole our hearts.

Overall, we still applaud the efforts made by 4th Wall in this production. It definitely is not easy to encapsulate so much of Singapore’s culture and history in just one show. Unfortunately, we do not give gold stars for effort, for the reality is that the quality of a theatre production is judged in the end product – where Singapura: The Musical fell short.

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All Photos: Singapura: The Musical

Dates: 23 May through 7 June 2015
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes (with 15-minute intermission)
Venue: Capitol Theatre
Tickets: singapurathemusical.eventclique.com

Source: http://popspoken.com

May 26, 2015
12,000 Households Receive Financial Help But 360,000 Still Live In Poverty?

According to GOH LI SIAN, RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY COORDINATOR, AWARE’s letter ”Most govt reports do not deal with policies’ budgetary impact” (Today, May 21) – “While these (Government) reports provide some helpful information, they do not tend to address the impact of budgetary policies per se. The statistics referenced in most of these reports relate to the social phenomena within these ministries’ remit, such as the level of crime or number of workplace accidents, rather than the allocation of expenditure under specific initiatives and policies.

ComCare – no applications’ statistics

The ComCare Annual Report is a welcome exception, as it shows how much money is given out under the various ComCare schemes. However, these statistics could be more comprehensive, since figures on the number of applications received are not released.”

My curiousity was aroused by the above, as the ComCare statistics did give the number of applications for financial assistance and the success rate in the past – which apparently has disappeared, according to AWARE’s above letter.

As I had just wrote “1 million living in poverty?” – I looked at the ComCare statistics to see how many needy families actually received financial assistance.

15,699 households received ComCare financial assistance

According to Social Statistics 2014 – the number of families that received ComCare Short-to-Medium Term Assistance was 12,535 in 2013.

The number that received ComCare long-term assistance was 3,164 (I understand that this figure has remained at around 3,000 for more than a decade!).

So, the total number on Short-to-Medium Term and Long-term Assistance was 15,699 (12,535 + 3,164).

But 107,490 households per capita income $494

Even if we do not talk about the bottom second and third deciles of employed households or the 3.4 per cent of non-retiree households with no working persons and 7 per cent of retiree households which may fall below the ComCare criteria of $650 household per capita income – the bottom decile alone had about 107,490 employed households with per capita monthly income of only $494 (including employer CPF).

Only 15% of bottom decile received ComCare financial assistance?

So, does it mean that only about 15 per cent (15,699 ComCare financial assistance divided by 107,490 bottom decile households) actually received ComCare financial assistance?

Only 4% of those in poverty received ComCare financial assistance?

If we relate this to the 360,000 (30 per cent) households) estimated to be in poverty – does it mean that only about 4 per cent (15,699 divided by 360,000) received ComCare financial assistance?

Short-term financial assistance less than $200?

According to the ComCare Annual Report FY2013 – $31.36 million was disbursed to 17,182 households on short-term assistance in FY2013 – with only 6,867 households remaining (still on) assistance as at 31 March 2014.

So, does it mean that the average monthly financial assistance per household was less than $200 ($31.36 million divided by 17,182 = $152)?

Medium-term financial assistance less than $250?

Similarly, $24.34 million was disbursed to 8,774 households on medium-term assistance – with only 5,520 households remaining as at 31 March 2014.

So, does it mean that the average monthly medium-term financial assistance was less than $250 ($24.34 million divided by 8,774 = $231)?

Please tell us more

Why can’t the ComCare annual report just disclose the average amount of monthly financial assistance per household?

Win battles lose war

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

May 26, 2015
Virtual Cash Card Aims To Solve ERP Woes

That sinking feeling motorists get as they approach a gantry and realise their CashCard is too low on funds to cover the toll can now be a thing of the past.

In what could be the next big thing in cashless payments here, a new virtual wallet from Nets will save the day for those who forget to top up.

It allows motorists to pay electronic road pricing (ERP) charges even when they have no physical CashCard in their in-vehicle units (IUs) or if a CashCard is there but has run low on funds.

Nets is launching the vCashCard with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Thursday.

Nets chief executive Jeffrey Goh said in an exclusive interview: “It’s time to implement a virtual CashCard to bring convenience to motorists, so that they don’t have to worry about administrative fees.”

Motorists caught with insufficient funds or without a CashCard in their IUs pay an administrative fee of $10, on top of the ERP charges they owe.

To use the new service, motorists should register for a vCashCard account via the Nets website at vcashcard.nets.com.sg

This account is first topped up with $50 from the registered credit or debit card or bank account.

ERP charges are deducted directly from the vCashCard account when there is no physical CashCard in the IU.

If you have a card in the IU when passing through a gantry, it works as usual and ERP charges will be deducted from it.

When funds in the vCashCard fall below $10, the virtual wallet will automatically be topped up with $50 from one of your accounts linked to the wallet. Mr Goh said: “It’s worry-free, there’s no monthly maintenance fee except for a top-up fee from time to time when you run out of cash.”

Subscription to vCashCard is free, and the top-up fee each time is 50 cents, but that will be waived for motorists who sign up with a United Overseas Bank card or Internet banking account, for the first year. Mr Goh said Nets is open to working with other banks as well for this promotion, adding that banks can consider promoting this “as part of their service”.

The vCashCard is just one of several new initiatives that the payment network – also known as the Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore – is rolling out this year as it turns 30. “Nets, with the Government, is providing convenience and easing worry for motorists, and a means to somewhat enable a cashless Singapore, through everything that we do,” said Mr Goh.

Nets is also working on a second phase of the service, so that it can also be used at electronic parking system carparks.

Student Koe Zi Yan, 21, said he would prefer to save on the top-up fee, and he tops up more than $50 to his CashCard each time. “If the system lets me set the amount to top up each time, I’ll consider using it.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 26, 2015