Rilek1Corner

Tag: maintenance

  • Ex-Husband Never Pay Maintenance, Jobless Single Mother Faces Daunting Prospect Of Losing House

    Ex-Husband Never Pay Maintenance, Jobless Single Mother Faces Daunting Prospect Of Losing House

    A single mum with two grown-up children – one in university and the other in polytechnic wrote in to us about the compulsory acquisition of her 3-room flat by HDB.

    She owes HDB about $33,000 in mortgage rent or about 3 years equivalent. Each month her rent is $600.

    Her ex-husband also did not fulfill his maintenance obligation and has since declared himself bankrupt.

    The single mum used to earn $3600 working in a 4-star hotel in her hay days but her last drawn pay has dwindled to below $2000 creating all kinds of livelihood problem.

    She is currently jobless for the past few months and was dismissed from her job due to depression over the matter.

    Single mum seems to be in the public picture of late as they struggle to take care of their kids and try to make ends met.

    Its a tough preposition for them if the ex-spouse fails to play their part by delaying the maintenance payment or worse declare themselves bankrupt to get a downward variation.

    We only pray that once the house is acquired by HDB they could get a cheaper rental unit from HDB and not owe HDB any more back debts which will only deepen their family crisis.

    My heart goes out to the two growing-up children who are still studying in tertiary institutions. It will be a very stressful period for them too…

     

    Source: Gilbert Goh

  • Faulty Sigma Elevators Worries Residence Of Bukit Batok Skyline II

    Faulty Sigma Elevators Worries Residence Of Bukit Batok Skyline II

    They are new HDB flats with many owners yet to move in, but the lifts at one particular block are already experiencing technical problems.

    On Wednesday, some homeowners had just collected their keys to one of the three blocks at Skyline II at Bukit Batok Street 22 and were looking forward to seeing their new home.

    But they found that one of the four lifts at the 33-storey building was not working properly.

    The lifts are from Sigma Elevator, which has been banned from tendering for new HDB projects since October 2015 due to poor performance and installation delays.

    On Wednesday, Facebook user Robin Zhang posted on Skyline I and II’s Facebook page for residents that there were problems when he was using lift D at Block 296B at 10.30am.

    He said while going up to the 18th storey, the lift stopped suddenly. After going up and down several times, it stopped at the sixth storey.

    When the door opened, he almost fell out as the lift had stopped about 20cm above the landing.

    He added: “I was very scared and decided to use the staircase instead.”

     

    The TNP team used lift C and when we were at the 16th storey, the lift indicated it was at the seventh storey.

    Once out of the lift at the 16th storey, we pressed the buttons several times but the doors did not open.

     

    When contacted, Sigma Elevator Singapore said: “We are working to gather more information as quickly as possible. There is nothing more important to Sigma than the safety of our employees, customers and the people who rely on our products and services every day.”

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Open Letter To SMRT: Don’t Be Too Quick To Shift Blame To Deceased Staff

    Open Letter To SMRT: Don’t Be Too Quick To Shift Blame To Deceased Staff

    We have heard it all before.

    You say you are sorry. And that you share our sadness.

    But you will return to your families and sleep easy tonight, while we mourn a tragic loss. Tomorrow morning, you will not have to make the dreadful trip to the mortuary to identify the lifeless and mangled body of a loved one. How can you say that you share our sadness? You do not understand our grief.

    Yet you ever-so eloquently say that you are “very saddened by the loss.” But to you, the two young lives lost today are just a statistic; A number that you have to account for in the face of public outrage. Just collateral damage. Soon, you will forget. Your career goes on. Your life goes on.

    To us they were beloved sons, brothers, cousins, nephews, friends. Brilliant human beings who had promising futures ahead of them.

    Honest young men who woke up one morning, had breakfast with their families, and eagerly showed up for work. Brave young men who, a few hours later in the hot midday sun, responded to a train track fault only to be struck by a train. They followed your orders only to be betrayed.

    As Muslims we try to live life right, to be kind to others, and live life knowing that one day we will return to our Maker. We do not fear or resent death.

    What we resent are your attempts to clear yourselves of any fault, insisting that you have observed all the standard operating procedures. If you did everything right, then your standard operating procedures must be flimsy.

    Your carefully maneuvered words make us wonder: are you attempting to shift the blame to the deceased? You know it is easy to blame someone who can no longer speak for himself.

    Instead of being so quick to protect your interests, seek the humanity deep within you to acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them to ensure that this tragedy does not happen to any one else’s son. Will you take responsibility? Or will your public relations team continue to craft words to protect you from blame?

    At this point, the families are grieving at the loss of a beloved. But grief will soon turn into anger.

    The author is a relative of one of the deceased who passed on in the SMRT train tragedy on 22 March 2016 at 11.10 a.m.

     

    Source: http://kentridgecommon.com

  • Two Trainee Malay SMRT Maintenance Staff Killed In Accident At Pasir Ris Station

    Two Trainee Malay SMRT Maintenance Staff Killed In Accident At Pasir Ris Station

    Two SMRT maintenance staff have died after an accident near Pasir Ris station, the transport operator confirmed on Tuesday (Mar 22).

    “At around 11.10am today, there was an accident involving two SMRT maintenance staff along the track at a servicing point near Pasir Ris station,” said SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan in a statement.

    “SCDF was immediately activated and they have confirmed that the two SMRT staff have passed away. We convey our deepest condolences to their families and will be providing support to them at this very difficult time,” he said.

    DECEASED STAFF WERE UNDERGOING ON-THE-JOB TRAINING 

    The deceased staff are Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26 and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24. According to SMRT, both of them “joined the company in January 2016 and were undergoing on-the-job training at the time of the accident”.

    “(They) were part of a technical team that went down to the track to investigate a reported alarm from a condition monitoring device for signalling equipment. Permission to access the track was authorised,” said Mr Nathan.

    “Initial findings indicate that before the accident happened, the team was moving in a single file on the walkway beside the track, on the way to the location of the signalling equipment.”

    The brother of a signals officer who witnessed the accident told Channel NewsAsia that the signals officer was “traumatised”.

    Pasir Ris resident Francis Dorairaj, who was at the scene, expressed shock and disbelief. “Why were maintenance people on the track when the train was operating?” he questioned.

    INVESTIGATIONS UNDERWAY

    SMRT said it is assisting the Police in their investigations into how the accident happened. The Land Transport Authority has also said that it “will be be assisting with investigation into the incident”.

    In a statement issued on Tuesday, the transport regulator said it is “deeply saddened” by the deaths and where necessary, it will extend assistance to the next-of-kin of the deceased staff.

    TRAIN SERVICES RESUMED AT 1.56PM

    Train services along the East-West Line were also disrupted for about 2.5 hours. Free shuttle bus services were available until service between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris in both directions were resumed at 1.56pm.

    The train disruption on the East-West Line on Mar 22, 2016. (Photo: Diane Leow)

    Social media users reported seeing personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police at Pasir Ris station.

    According to SCDF, it was alerted to the incident at Pasir Ris MRT station at 11.11am. A fire engine, A Red Rhino, two fire bikes, two ambulances, and three support vehicles were dispatched. SCDF confirmed that two men were pronounced dead at the scene.

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Working Mum To Get $1 In Maintenance

    Working Mum To Get $1 In Maintenance

    A working mother who divorced her pilot husband has been awarded $1 in annual nominal maintenance after the Court of Appeal clarified a previous ruling, a decision which means she can apply for further maintenance in future if her circumstances change.

    Last October, the High Court ruled that the couple’s $1.65 million matrimonial home should be divided 70:30 in favour of the wife, while a $1,500 monthly maintenance for their child should be borne equally by both parents.

    However, the judge made no order as to her maintenance but made it clear that she had a legal right to apply for it in the future.

    The woman, 42, a bank officer, appealed to the apex court against the whole judgment in July. It dismissed her case but explained that “no order” maintenance was not appropriate to reflect the judge’s ruling.

    Instead it granted her nominal maintenance, which preserves her right to apply for maintenance in the future should the need arise.

    “In order to preserve a wife’s right to apply for maintenance to the court in the future, an order for nominal maintenance is required,” wrote Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang, on behalf of the Court of Appeal in judgment grounds released this month. “What the judge was doing, in substance, was to equate the legal effect or result of an order for nominal maintenance with that for an order that there be no order on an application for maintenance. With respect, we disagree.”

    The 43-year-old former Republic of Singapore Air Force pilot and the working mum, whose salary soared after she got her master’s degree, will share custody of their 11-year-old child despite the wife’s bid for sole custody.

    The couple cannot be named for legal reasons. Their marriage broke down in 2010 after 12 years and she cited his unreasonable behaviour.

    She was represented by lawyer Koh Tien Hua, while he was defended by Ms Sim Bock Eng.

    In a commentary on the appeals court’s decision, two Singapore Management University law graduates have suggested that the award of $1 maintenance orders as the default position should be reviewed.

    This should be considered “in an age when women are increasingly financially independent and spouses share familial responsibilities more equally”, Ms Beatrice Yeo and Ms Fiona Chew wrote in a commentary published in Singapore Law Watch last week. “Arguably, the award of $1 maintenance simply to preserve the wife’s future right to maintenance without further justification might also be said to be out of touch with the realities of today’s more gender-equal era.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com