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United Nations Suspends Distribution Of World Food Program Vouchers In Embattled Middle East Countries Due To Lack Of Funds

A lack of funds has forced the United Nations to stop providing food vouchers for 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

“Without WFP vouchers, many families will go hungry. For refugees already struggling to survive the harsh winter, the consequences of halting this assistance will be devastating,” said the U.N. agency, which needs $64 million to support the refugees for the rest of December.

Suspension of the assistance program comes as many vulnerable Syrian families enter their fourth bleak winter in difficult living conditions after fleeing a homeland racked by conflict since March 2011.

“This couldn’t come at a worse time,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in a statement.

The impact could be particularly devastating in Lebanon, where more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees — one-quarter of the country’s permanent population — are scattered across some 1,700 communities, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Many live in makeshift settlements, sheds, garages and unfinished buildings.

The electronic voucher program has already injected about $800 million into local shops in the countries hosting refugees, and WFP will immediately resume it if new funding arrives, it said in the statement.

It was not clear how hungry Syrian refugees might fill the gap left by WFP suspending its voucher program.

WFP had warned last month that it might be forced to impose such a suspension and said it might have to announce a similar measure in January for people reliant on aid within Syria, where at least 7.6 million people are internally displaced.

The Rome-based agency has already cut rations for 4.25 million people it is providing food supplies to in Syria.

“WFP will not be able to continue its life-saving operations inside Syria in February without additional funding,” WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told Reuters on Monday.

The U.N. refugee agency has said that a lack of cash has forced it to prioritize as it helps those in need prepare for winter, with preference for people at higher, colder altitudes and vulnerable refugees such as newborn babies. REUTERS

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 2, 2014
Ringgit Slumps To 10-Month Low Against Sing Dollar

The ringgit slumped to a 10-month low against the Singdollar today (Dec 1), prompting many to rush to money-changers to snap up the Malaysian currency.

The ringgit’s sudden steep decline came amid fears that tumbling global oil prices will hit oil-exporter Malaysia.
As of 5pm today, S$1 could buy RM2.63 — a 2.3 per cent slide from last week’s rate of RM2.57. The last time the ringgit fell to a similar level was on Feb 13 this year, when the ringgit closed at 2.627 against the Singdollar.

Mr Mohamed Rafeeq, the Money Changers Association of Singapore’s secretary, said many money-changers at Raffles Place were shocked at the falling value of the ringgit today.

“We thought there was some mistake, then more and more people started coming to change money. But after seeing that we could only sell our current stock at the previous rate which was 2.57, (the customers) went away and said they would wait until we had new stock which we could sell at a lower price,” he told TODAY over the phone.

He said he was not worried as he expected the ringgit to remain low for at least another week.

Two other money-changers reported brisk business today, although they did not say what rate they offered for the ringgit.

Mr Siraydin, of Sirajudin Money Changer, saw almost double the number of daily customers at his shop in People’s Park Complex.

“Normally, (we get) about 30 people, today more people came to change to ringgit — about 50-plus,” he told TODAY.

Mr Mohamed Rafi, who owns M.M. Shariff Traders, said his shop in The Arcade — a popular money-changing hub in Raffles Place — saw a 50 per cent jump in the number of customers buying the ringgit.

Malaysian Chew Zhi Loon, 27, who works as an actuarial executive in Singapore, said he plans to take advantage of the falling ringgit to remit more money home. Mr Chew, who sends money to his parents once every few months, added that he had never remitted money at such a low rate.

Singaporean Rosnah Hussin, 30, who travels to Johor Bahru up to twice a week plans to “stock up” on ringgit.

“I go to JB to buy groceries, pump petrol and even wash my car because it is cheaper there,” said the student relations officer.

The ringgit also fell hard, at 2.5 per cent, against the American dollar — its biggest two-day slide since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

Analysts have said that Malaysia, whose oil-related industries account for a third of the country’s revenue, is likely to be the Asian country which will be hit hardest by the sudden steep decline in oil prices.

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 2, 2014
New Airborne Trooper Facility Launched

The SAF’s new airborne-trooper training facility (ATF) at Pasir Ris Camp was launched on Monday. The new training complex allows for all-weather, day-and-night training at its Parachute Training Facility (PTF) and Rappelling Training Facility (RTF), and aims to train about 640 trainees every year.

Where specific skills once required travelling and training at separate facilities across the island, the ATF offers a one-stop consolidation of various elements of training at a single location. These are taken care of at the RTF’s basic, intermediate and advanced training clusters, as well as the PTF’s landing, rotational and airborne trainer systems.

Most of the training is also no longer at the mercy of bad weather, with the RTF having several indoor elements, and the PTF entirely indoors. The SAF says these features make the ATF the first-of-its-kind in the world, with other military establishments still limited to specific skills training at different facilities, mostly located outdoors.

Colonel Simon Lim, Chief Commando Officer, Commander, Special Operations Task Force, said: “Having visited some of these foreign airborne schools, understanding our limited land space that we have, we wanted a one-stop integrated training facility. I think it is the whole idea of how we develop a design that is something that caters to our needs and our soldiers of this generation.”

COL Lim declined to comment about the cost to develop and build the facility.

The PTF also incorporates several automated elements, reducing the manpower requirements of training while improving on its effectiveness. For example, trainees using the new Rotational Trainer System no longer require another trainee’s assistance to simulate the complications and conditions of landing. The new system also helps to eliminate areas of human error – a trainee performing an incorrect procedure will encounter the same problems he would face in the air, where under the old system, his assistant might incorrectly judge the procedure to be correct and act accordingly.

AIRBORNE TRAINER SYSTEM SIMULATES LIVE DESCENT

Going a step further, the PTF’s Airborne Trainer System offers a complete experience closely simulating all elements of a live descent – from jumping off an aircraft to landing safely. This takes place along a monorail system designed in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Agency, and draws inspiration from vehicle manufacturing plants.

Such a system also allows trainers control over simulated elements encountered in an actual jump, such as the speed of descent, wind direction and drag. Cameras installed at the facility also record each trainee’s jump on video, allowing for visual review and feedback.

The SAF said the ATF’s facilities allow soldiers to progressively build up confidence and competencies in their airborne-trooper skills, with the first batch of 80 Basic Airborne Course (BAC) trainees using the ATF since Nov 17. While the SAF said it has seen an improvement in the speed and effectiveness of training, it says it has no intention to reduce the current BAC duration nor change the batch size and instructor to student ratios. Instead, the time saved will be used to give trainees more opportunities for practice before they take their first leap in the air.

“When there’s a need for manpower, some of us tend to lose out on this kind of training,” said 2LT Muhammad Faris Asnin, Operational Trooper, 1st Commando Battalion. “So when there’s the automated system in place, more trainees are able to do the training. When they go through more training, they get a boost to their confidence for the real flight itself.”

The SAF added that it is open to allowing foreign forces to visit and examine the ATF, as well as inter-ministry use of its facilities.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

December 2, 2014
Ng Eng Hen: About 60 SAF Personnel To Join In Coalition Effort Against IS

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will be sending about 50 to 60 personnel to take part in the multinational coalition efforts to combat the terrorist threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said as he officially opened the new training facility for the republic’s airborne troopers at Pasir Ris camp on Monday (Dec 1).

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said planning and liaison officers have already made their way to the United States Central Command to get “a sense what the mission’s requirements are”. He said coalition partners have welcomed Singapore’s involvement and are looking forward to Singapore’s professional input.

Dr Ng said the SAF will now “synchronise” where its help is most needed.

“I would say that the reaction to our involvement is a positive one. They know that as we did in Afghanistan, we contributed very positively, by our KC-135 refuelling tankers as well as our imagery analysts,” said Dr Ng. “So coalition partners have welcomed our involvement because they expressed the opinion that we have helped previously and they look forward to our professional input.”

Dr Ng, who had a go at one of the stations at the new training facility, said the facility is a worthwhile investment as it will ensure soldiers are trained well, such as in the event of a terrorist threat.

“We take our special forces training with extra care and there are a few reasons for it,” said Dr Ng. “As you know since 911, the threat of terrorism is real and present and with the recent terrorist threat from ISIS in Iraq and Syria, this threat is uppermost in our minds, when we plan and prepare. As you know our neighbours, both Malaysia and Indonesia, have expressed concern that those who have returned from Iraq and Syria can cause harm to the residents in their countries and I would include Singapore in the same threat scenario.”

Earlier this month in Parliament, Dr Ng had said that Singapore’s efforts will include deploying a KC-135R tanker aircraft for air-to-air refuelling and an Imagery Analysis Team. He said there will be no combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.

The SAF soldiers will operate from surrounding countries together with other coalition forces.

December 2, 2014
Osman Sulaiman: Malay Muslim Community Must Make A Stand As The Government’s Inconsistent Policies Continue to Divide

I believe the reason why some people still fear the Muslim women who wear the hijab is becoz they have little or poor knowledge on why these ladies put it on. And they most probably have not had the opportunity nor the exposure to mingle and make contact with them.

For 50 years, our gov has all of the necessary apparatus to assuage this matter but it has not done so and has in fact shown to be unwilling to do so. It continues to do this so that it can rule by division.

They continue to disallow any muslim child who wear the headgear from attending the mainstream school and thus segregating the mass of the population from these people and thus compounding the misconception about people who wear the hijabs.

Many studies have shown that the younger the child is exposed to a certain environment, the better these children will be able to adapt. Unfortunately, the people that rule us think otherwise.

How then do we integrate people of different faith together? Oddly enough, the Sikh community is given the green light to wear the turban in school if they choose to.

Dont get me wrong. Im not advocating for the gov to ban turbans in pri and sec schools becoz the muslim girls weren’t allowed to practice their faith but rather to apply the policy consistently for the greater good of the people as a whole.

For all of its time in power, our gov has continued with its iniquity towards certain segment of the society in particular the malays and/or muslims.

From time to time, we will also hear the ministers on record to give their skewed perspective of the malays and muslims, creating further doubts. I wonder how our malay/muslim ministers feel serving such a government.

I also find it hard to swallow that Singapore reproves its neighbour up north for their exclusion of talent based on race but at the same time doing exactly the opposite of what it propagates.

Other than disallowing the muslim girls who wear the headgear in pri and sec mainstream schools, many job opportunities (particularly in the uniform groups) are also not made available to them by way of implementing discriminating policies. This act has unfortunately spilled over to the private sectors.

Our gov is certainly not oblivious on the aspirations of the malay/muslim community to be treated justly and to remove any doubts on its loyalty towards the nation. It has come to a point where our fundamental rights are now treated as candies to be given at the pleasure of these people governing us.

If there are social faultlines that divide us, especially on race or religion, then i believe this gov is the main contributor of such matters.

It has been many years my community keep giving this current gov their support but have seen no change to this issue. I implore my community to rethink on their choices. The support should be given to people who believe in inclusiveness. Not the artificial ones that we are experiencing now.

Ask yourself this pertinent question. How many more years do we want to wait? If we have never contributed anything significant to our own community, this is the best chance to do so on a huge scale.

We cant have any success without a little sacrifice. We should not fear the unknown. No one will change our fate unless we change it ourselves.

We need to rally our family members and friends to do what is needed. Im afraid that with the influx of new citizens, our political voices will be diminished further. It might then be too late for any regrets.

Regards,
Osman Sulaiman

Authored by Osman Sulaiman.

December 2, 2014