Blog

Marina Square Eateries Still Reeling From Hotpot Culture Rat Incident

Rats are still roaming Marina Square mall, and they have claimed their first victims.

At least five eateries – The Corner Place Korean BBQ, Cafe Lady M, Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar, Brazilian restaurant Carnivore Appetite and Italian Japanese restaurant Nuvo – have put up the shutters since January, when a dead rat was found in a salted vegetable dish at Hotpot Culture, which is on the fourth floor.

An employee at the chain, who did not want to be named, said that Carnivore Appetite shut down in February. “Mainly, it was because of the rat infestation. Customer traffic really fell after that.”

A former Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar employee, Ms Rachel Doan, 35, said the cafe shut in February, ahead of its lease expiry in November, also due to the rodent problem.

Nuvo shut on Jan 29 with a notice on its Facebook page declaring that it would cease operations “until the situation at Marina Square has been resolved”. It has not reopened.

Lady M shut in January, with The Corner Place Korean BBQ following soon after. Prior to the latter’s closure, a manager was quoted in The Straits Times as saying that customers confused it with Hotpot Culture.

The rodent problem remains, although it has eased.

A spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA) said: “Our assessment is that there has been a marked improvement in the rat situation at the mall, as there has been a significant reduction in the number of rats caught.

“However, as dead rats were still being found at the mall as recently as last month, it may still be some time before the ongoing rat control measures take effect fully .”

Meanwhile, remaining eateries report poor business.

Chinese restaurant Yechun Xiao Jiang Nan is likely to close when its lease expires at the year end. It is losing $20,000 each month, said managing director Li Jing.

This is despite landlord Marina Centre Holdings’ rental reprieve of up to 30 per cent for July, August and September. Mr Li said the 20 per cent discount he received, off the more than $45,000-a-month rent he is paying, is not enough. He pointed out that other factors, such as road closures soon for National Day and the Formula One race next month, will hit business once again.

At Vietnamese restaurant Lotus Saigon, business has halved since January. Supervisor Jenny Kim, 40, said: “It never returned to normal”.

Meanwhile, Japanese restaurant Hamanoya shut for a month after the rat incident and reopened in March with a new menu.

A Straits Times visit last week found restaurants empty at dinner time. The spaces where Nuvo, Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar, and Lady M used to be remain vacant. On Carnivore Appetite’s entrance was a notice from the landlord informing the eatery that it had failed to comply with requirements to open daily from 10am to 10pm. “We are entitled to remove any goods… and apply the proceeds of the sales of such goods against the costs and payment incurred and any arrears of rent,” read the letter.

When contacted, Marina Centre Holdings did not comment specifically on how it was addressing the pest problem or how many tenants received rental discounts.

It would only say: “Pest control is an ongoing programme and we continue our vigilant pest control programme with our tenants.”

However, The Straits Times understands NEA has taken enforcement action against the landlord.

Oddly, business at Hotpot Culture is “almost back to normal”, said its owner Wilson Lim. The NEA said over 20 inspections of the eatery after its suspension was lifted in February found “no hygiene lapses or pest infestation”.

Customers, meanwhile, are still giving the mall a miss.

Ms Yeo Yeo Min, 31, said she will return for a meal only when the mall has been declared rat-free.

“It’s just gross. I won’t eat there if I can help it,” said the engineer. “How would you know if the food you are eating is really hygienic?”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 4, 2015
Calculating The Cost Of Singapore’s SG50 Jubilee

Singapore is celebrating 50 years of independence and everywhere you look in the city, there are posters, banners, bus ads and post boxes marking the event.

The government-led brand sums up the jubilee with the acronym SG50.

It is the city state’s biggest and most expensive effort to drum up nationalist fervour.

The celebrations will culminate on 9 August, National Day, the date of Singapore’s independence 50 years ago.

An extravaganza costing nearly $15m (£9.6m) will take place on the historic Padang – the large field in the middle of the city – as well as on a platform that overlooks the picturesque waterfront where 150,000 people are expected to fill the stands and watch from the city centre.

The show has been put together by 12,000 participants and crew – among the highlights will be 20 fighter jets forming the number 50 in the sky.

Fighter jets were rehearsing their formation ahead of the big day

National Day ‘fun packs’ are being sent to 1.5m households

Companies have also piled in, desperate to be associated with the “feel-good” factor.

Honav Singapore is one small firm hoping to do this. They’ve produced around 300,000 flag-themed temporary tattoos, as well as more than a million mini Singapore flags, erasers and games for the National Day ‘fun packs’.

Around 1.5m of these packs are being distributed free to households and to spectators of the national day parade rehearsal shows over the last few weeks. The fun packs are estimated to have cost the government around $7m, though part of this cost is picked up by sponsors such as Honav Singapore.

Marketing director Marilyn Lim says it’s a chance too for her firm to get more exposure and be associated with a ‘memorable once in a lifetime event’.

SG50 planes, cars and whisky

Jubilee branding has also turned up on Singapore Airline’s A380 planes. Two of these have been flying the globe since July, flanked in the red and white colours of the Singaporean flag with SG50 on the turbochargers of its wings.

Singapore Airlines, who were the first to fly the A380 planes when they debuted in 2007, says one of these flag themed planes will be flying past over the parade on the day.

The airline says that its growth has been so closely linked to the development of Singapore that having the special Singapore-flag themed livery would be a ‘unique way to help celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday’.

Singapore airlines put the SG50 logo on two of its A380 planes

Even supermarkets are in nationalistic overdrive, trying to sell shoppers everything from 50 grams more bacon and fishcakes shaped in the number 50 for their noodles.

It’s not just Singaporean companies, the fervour has hit big multi-national firms too.

Real patriots can order a bespoke SG50 Rolls Royce. The car company says it is the first time anywhere in the world Rolls-Royce has commissioned a car to commemorate the anniversary of a country.

Price is upon application for the one of a kind Ghost Series II which has hand painted details of Singapore’s famous Merlion – a creature with a lion’s head and fish body .

According to Paul Harris, the regional director of Rolls Royce Motor Cars, they did this because Singapore is an important market for the firm. It had its first Asian dealership there and it is where most of their regional employees are based.

It is one of the “top five markets in Asia for the Ghost Series II” and has a “loyal base of customers dedicated to the brand”, he adds.

The Merlion turns up too on Johnny Walker’s high end Blue Label whisky. Diageo has commissioned 888 gold silk screen printed bottles for the nation’s jubilee. The number 8 is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture as it sounds like the word for ‘wealth’. Gold printing them is an intricate process involving a dedicated staff of up to 10 and curing for 48 hours before it’s shipped off for sale.

The president of Diageo for the region, Sam Fischer, also says that Singapore is an important base for them. It’s where their regional and logistical headquarters is based.

Singapore has “logistics efficiency” and “manufacturing excellence” he says.

“It’s such an important part of Diageo and we felt the need to commemorate such an important occasion for Singapore.”

The true patriot’s dram – Johnny Walker’s special SG50 whisky

Nation branding

But does this sort of patriotic branding work? Brand expert Samir Dixit, managing director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific, says the jury is out.

“Looking at our economic analysis, there’s nothing to suggest that the companies will see any benefit. There’s nothing to say that if they put the SG50 logo on the product, that they will sell more than before or if they are not using it, they will sell less.”

Just how much is too much? SG50 has become so ubiquitous that it’s spawned web sites mocking these efforts.

Search the acronym and you’ll uncover them, including one called ‘Simi Sai, also SG50’ which describes the latest SG50 branding effort and tries to get online users to rate them as ‘sai’ (which translates as ‘rubbish’) or ‘not sai’ (not rubbish).

Singaporeans, too, feel that these SG50 marketing campaigns are aimed not so much at playing up their patriotism, but parting them from their cash.

‘Overdone’ and ‘over the top’ are what most of them said when asked about SG50. Yet many admit that it’s a special time to look back at the nation’s progress as one of the great economic successes of the 20th century.

While the effect on businesses may be limited, there may be some benefit for the nation.

“Events like this put the country through a rejuvenation mode, so that may be good going forward in the next two or three years,” admits Mr Dixit. But he says those economic effects can only accurately be measured after the fact.

So the impact of Singapore’s golden jubilee will most likely only be felt long after the last SG50 signs are taken down.

Source: www.bbc.com

August 4, 2015
Breadtalk’s ‘Freshly-Prepared’ Soya Bean Milk Is Just Freshly Transferred And Sold At Mark-Up

KEV: Made a shocking discovery recently about the supposedly “freshly prepared” soya bean milk sold at BreadTalk. Sometimes it’s better to see with your own eyes how things are made rather than believe all the marketing slogans that the companies throw at you.

This “freshly prepared” soya bean milk from BreadTalk always tasted very familiar, but somehow I couldn’t figure out why until now. You see for yourself why. This BreadTalk staff is just pouring Yeo’s soya bean milk into bottles of “freshly prepared” soya bean sold by BreadTalk.

How much is BreadTalk earning from all this? One packet can fill about 3 to 4 bottles. One packet cost S$1.50 at NTUC, not including any bulk buy discount from companies. One bottle of “freshly prepared” soya bean milk at BreadTalk is sold for S$1.80. You go and do the math.

The worse part is not the money, it is that if BreadTalk advertises “freshly prepared” soya bean then it should give us the real deal, not some packet soya bean “freshly prepared” by just transferring into a bottle and selling for mark-up prices. Singapore company does this to Singaporeans while coming up with all sorts of wayang “Happy SG50″ specials, this is damn too much.

Support local companies? Won’t be buying from them anymore.

Source: http://redwiretimes.com

August 4, 2015
In 2015, PAP Supporters Are Still Sexist

In 2015, are PAP really supporters of this standard?

PAP fan boy page FAP (Fabrications About The PAP) posted this picture of Kevryn Lim implying that she is a sex worker. They then try to deny their claim by saying it was never explicitly stated.

Isn’t it disgusting that in 2015 a female politician in Singapore cannot run without getting sexism thrown at her face? They have to discuss what she is wearing instead of focusing on the policies that she wants to implement. Her dress isn’t remotely revealing or immodest.

This is a low blow and frankly quite fucked up. “she is making a statement with her attire” She is wearing a white dress that covers herself up, The dress alone does not make a statement, your statement “#guesswho standing by the road side” makes a statement. That you are a sexist pig who will desperately take any pot shots you can imagine up in your tiny sexist little brain of yours.

Source: Ben Matchap

August 4, 2015
Meet Vietnam’s Gay Power Couple: US Ambassador And His Husband

HANOI — Since their December arrival in Vietnam, US Ambassador Ted Osius and his husband have become the most prominent gay couple in the South-east Asian country.

Mr Osius and Mr Clayton Bond landed with their toddler son shortly before the government abolished its ban on same-sex marriage. Now the couple, who recently adopted an infant girl, find themselves ambassadors of the nascent LGBT rights movement spreading across the country.

“A lot of young people have reached out to me on Facebook, to say: ‘We are happy to see somebody who is gay and is happy in his personal life but also has had professional success’,” Mr Osius said in an interview. “I don’t think of it as advocating as much as supporting Vietnamese civil society in doing what it is already doing.”

The Communist government’s revised marriage law, while not officially recognising same-sex marriage, and its tolerance of pride events has made Vietnam a leader in gay rights in South-east Asia, potentially opening up opportunities to attract the tourist “pink dollar” and business executives seeking a more tolerant environment.

Yet young gay Vietnamese say they can be ostracised in a patriarchal society in which heterosexual marriage and parenthood are seen as the path to happiness. The legal changes also sit oddly in a country that more broadly curbs political dissent, Mr Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in an e-mail.

Mr Osius, 53, and Mr Bond frequently appear together at official government gatherings and media events. Mr Osius — who is on his first posting as ambassador and has also worked in Indonesia and India — always introduces his husband and often talks about their children, who are 19 months and five months.

“This is a core interest of ours with regard to human rights,” said Mr Bond, 39. “People see us as an openly gay couple with kids serving our country. I hope people find that inspiring.”

‘ROLE MODELS’

While a small number of celebrities have held same-sex weddings, Mr Osius and Mr Bond are the most prominent gay couple in Vietnam, said Mr Tung Tran, director of ICS, a Ho Chi Minh City-based group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. They are also embraced by the larger population, reflecting the closer relationship being forged by Hanoi and Washington.

“They are the full package,” Mr Tran said by phone. “They are married. They have a family. They are successful. They are our role models.” This year 25 Viet Pride events will take place across the country, up from 17 in 2014, said Mr Tran.

Mr Osius, a career diplomat, co-founded GLIFAA, a US association for LGBT employees and families in foreign affairs agencies, in 1992. There are now six openly gay US ambassadors, including Mr Osius, Ambassador to Australia John Berry and Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, said Ms Regina Jun, president of the group.

Mr Osius’ posting to Vietnam comes amid improved relations between Vietnam and the US, former enemies that have shared economic goals and strategic concerns about an increasingly assertive China in the region. Vietnam’s civil society is relatively robust, Mr Osius said, even as its human rights record in other areas remains a hindrance to even warmer ties.

‘MEDICAL METHODS’

Vietnam held about 125 political prisoners at the end of 2014, fewer than in previous years, in part because of a drop in convictions, according to the US State Department.

“Vietnam is trying to figure out what kind of country it wants to be and it doesn’t want to be China,” Mr Osius said. “There is more openness. There is more inclusiveness in government.”

On gay rights the country has some way to go. Same-sex relationships can be viewed as bringing bad luck to a family, said Mr Luong The Huy, legal officer at the Hanoi-based Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment.

“Families are usually the last people LGBTs come out to,” he said by phone. “The reactions can be harsh. Some are involuntarily treated by medical methods or get locked up in the house.”

‘MORE RESTRICTIVE’

In other parts of South-east Asia including Thailand, the push for gay rights has stalled. Countries such as Brunei and Malaysia can punish those who engage in gay behaviour under Sharia law, Mr Robertson said.

In Singapore, sex between men is illegal although rarely prosecuted. The city-state banned a song and video by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai’s about same-sex relationships, the Straits Times reported on May 26.

“In many ways the region is getting more restrictive,” Dr Jamie Gillen, a researcher of cultural geography at the National University of Singapore, said by phone. “Vietnam is something of an outlier. Vietnam has a live-and-let-live mentality.”

On the evening of July 31, Mr Osius and Mr Bond attended the kick-off of Hanoi’s Viet Pride weekend, which featured a bicycle rally through the heart of the city. He addressed about a hundred Vietnamese in a hall where rainbow banners covered a wall. Speaking in Vietnamese, Mr Osius urged the gathering of young people to simply be who they are.

“This stuff hits right at home,” he said after the speech, tears welling. “Yeah, it hits right at home.”

Source: www.todayonline.com

August 4, 2015