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Tag: MEWR

  • Indonesia Vice-President: Our Citizens Won’t Be Allowed To Be Prosecuted Under Singapore Laws

    Indonesia Vice-President: Our Citizens Won’t Be Allowed To Be Prosecuted Under Singapore Laws

    JAKARTA: Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla has said that the government will not allow its citizens who are suspected for causing last year’s forest fires to be prosecuted under Singapore laws.

    “If there is an offence, Singapore can (prosecute), but the offence happened in Indonesia. That’s our concern,” said Mr Kalla on the sidelines of an event on Sunday (Jun 12), according to online news portal Detiknews.

    Last month, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said it has obtained a court warrant after the director of one of the Indonesian firms linked to illegal forest fires that caused the haze failed to turn up for an interview when he was in Singapore.

    Indonesia objected against this move by lodging a strong protest through its ambassador in Singapore.

    In September and October 2015, peatland fires caused the region to be cloaked in haze. Errant pulp and paper companies which started fires were believed to be responsible.

    Singapore passed the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) in 2014 to go after companies that started fires or let their concessions burn, and contributed to last year’s haze that blanketed Singapore and part of the region.

    The Republic’s Foreign Affairs Ministry had said the THPA is consistent with international law, which allows a country to take appropriate action to protect itself from external acts which cause harm within the country.

    It stated that the Act does not encroach upon the sovereignty of any specific country.

    Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli had promised that the government will “take what steps we can to enforce the THPA”.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Vivian Balakrishnan: Cloud Seeding Rumours Are False, Malicious

    Vivian Balakrishnan: Cloud Seeding Rumours Are False, Malicious

    Rumours that cloud seeding is taking place to induce rain ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix are false, Minister for Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said.

    Addressing a WhatsApp message that has been making the rounds in Singapore, Dr Balakrishnan posted on Facebook on Thursday (Sep 17): “The National Environment Agency does not engage in cloud seeding and has no plans to do so. Singapore is so small that even if anybody tried to do it, the rain would almost certainly fall outside Singapore.”

    He added: “Singaporeans should beware of malicious people spreading false rumours during a period when anxieties are heightened.”

    The original WhatsApp message called for people to be wary of what it claimed were “chemically-induced rain showers”, purportedly meant to reduce haze levels in light of the coming Formula 1 race, which will be held on roads in Singapore’s Civic District from Sep 18 to 20.

    You may have seen this making the rounds. It is untrue.NEA does not engage in cloud seeding and has no plans to do so….

    Posted by Vivian Balakrishnan on Wednesday, September 16, 2015

     

    Singapore has been blanketed by haze caused by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia. The 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit two-year highs earlier in September, with readings crossing 200. They have dipped below 100 in the past two days.

    AIR QUALITY TO REMAIN MODERATE: NEA

    In an advisory released on Thursday, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that hazy conditions in Singapore have eased further as prevailing winds continue to blow from the southeast. As at 1pm, the 24-hour PSI was 76 to 96, in the Moderate range.

    For the next 12 hours, the 24-hour PSI is expected to be in the high end of the Moderate range, but may enter the low end of the Unhealthy range if unfavourable winds blow in haze from Sumatra, the agency added.

    NEA reiterated that the health impact of the haze is dependent on a person’s health status, the PSI level, and the length and intensity of outdoor activity.

    “Reducing outdoor activities and physical exertion can help limit the ill effects from haze exposure,” said the NEA. “Given the air quality forecast for the next 24 hours, healthy persons should reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion.”

    “The elderly, pregnant women and children should minimise prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion, while those with chronic lung or heart disease should avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion,” NEA added.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Singapore Reiterates Offers Of Assistance To Indonesia To Fight Forest Fires

    Singapore Reiterates Offers Of Assistance To Indonesia To Fight Forest Fires

    Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday (Sep 14) spoke with Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar and reiterated Singapore’s offer of help to combat forest fires, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement. The offer came as the number of hotspots in Indonesia’s Sumatra island soared to a two-month high of 982 on Monday, and a state of emergency has been declared in Riau province.

    Indonesia had earlier accepted the Singapore Armed Forces’ offer to send C-130s for cloud seeding and Chinooks for large water buckets to douse fires, only to decline it later. “While the Indonesian authorities accepted our offer of assistance initially, they have since expressed appreciation for the offer, and said they have sufficient resources of their own for now,” Singapore’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

    “WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING”: INDONESIAN MINISTER

    Dr Siti Nurbaya told Dr Balakrishnan that Indonesia has already deployed a host of resources to tackle the fires but said she would consult Indonesian President Joko Widodo who is personally overseeing the effort again on Singapore’s offer.

    “We have deployed soldiers. We have conducted water bombing in Riau with 18 million litres of water, in South Sumatra and Jambi with 12 million liters of water. Cloud-seeding in Riau with 120 tonnes of salt and 56 tonnes of salt in South Sumatra,” Dr Siti Nurbaya said.

    “We have done everything. I was trying to convince the minister that we are serious in putting out the fire.”
    NEA said Minister Siti Nurbaya agreed to Dr Balakrishnan’s request for Indonesia to share the names of companies which are suspected to be causing the forest fires once they are able to verify this with checks on the ground. She also said she would inform him if there are links for these firms to Singapore.

    As of 9pm, the 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) is 249 and the 24-hour PSI is 133 – 166. This is the highest 3-hour PSI reading this year.

    NEA noted that there was a brief respite in hazy conditions on Monday morning, but haze from Sumatra was again blown in by the prevailing winds in the afternoon.

    Thundery showers are expected in the pre-dawn and early morning hours of Tuesday, but NEA said the 24-hour PSI in the next 24 hours is still expected to be the mid to high sections of the Unhealthy range, and may enter the Very Unhealthy range.

    WILL A “TOUGH COP” APPROACH PAY OFF?

    Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Associate Professor Simon Tay said being a “tough cop” may not be the best approach for Singapore when tackling the transboundary haze issue. NEA on Sunday said it would conduct investigations into the situation.

    “I think in any investigation of this nature, the temptation is to say you have to play a really tough cop,” said Mr Tay. “But while the Singapore Government could do that, it probably isn’t the best approach.

    “In the end, many of the companies now – the bigger ones in Singapore – have actually put their maps online. They’ve taken steps, they have firefighting equipment that even the provisional officers don’t have. So I would hope, in a sense, that the first response must be cooperation.

    “In many of these cases, the companies may claim whether it’s true or not, they didn’t start the fires, the fires came on their land. So I think the first step we can agree on is that, for whoever started these fires, are the companies able and willing to try and put these fires out? Then, and again we have to give them some room because the scale of these fires and the scale of the land won’t make it easy, even if they’re trying their best.”

    Under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act which came into effect in 2014, fines of up to S$2 million can be imposed on companies which cause or contribute to haze pollution in Singapore.

    Haze pollution is said to have occurred if the 24-hour PSI remains at 101 or higher for 24 hours or longer. NEA said this had taken place from 10am on Sep 10 to 2am on Sep 12 – a full 41 hours.

    NEA said it is closely monitoring the hotspots in the region. It is also drawing on information from maps, meteorological data, and satellite imagery in its investigations.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Makansutra Founder Questions Vivian Balakrishnan For Comments On Hawkers

    Makansutra Founder Questions Vivian Balakrishnan For Comments On Hawkers

    Entrepreneur-photojournalist and Makansutra founder, KF Seetoh had commented on a Facebook post that the Parliamentary speech made by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday, is wrong on many fronts.

    Mr Seetoh wrote on his Facebook page,

    “I wish his scholarly minders in his MEWR would get their ground facts accurately. This is wrong on so many fronts. Firstly, “ingredients from abt 60% of hawkers cost”, leh yao mo kao chor ah! If your food cost is 60%, eh, you long long close shop liao la. If you cannot do below 30%, go be a highly paid civil servant better la. Also, the “progresseive wages for hawker assistants”.. allo, they are already paid way more than your govt mandated $7+ an hour. No takers. Linda Heng is already offering $100 a day for assistant and take up is sluggish and reluctant. The problem is manpower availability, not just about overpaying them. Mana ada orang kereja !

    And please, do not make turn the hawkers into minions out to do community and political favours, they really need to make money too. No wrong there at all. Getting them to feed the poor with low priced meals is ok, many i know will happitly give out free and even big disocunted cost+ meal to the displaced, but offering it cheap across the board to all and sundry, will invariably attract the rich and kiamsiap who will invariably bitch about quality and comfort. Let market rates dictate what they will do, it’s a Sg meritocracy thingie.

    Sure, there is a big chunk of hawkers paying under $400 for rents, but these are hawkers from the President Devan Nair days still managing the old rental structure. The new stalls in decent places are all hovering at 4 figure rents. (they pay up to $3k at Maxwell). And lets see how these indie operators can “help bring the cost of food down” and make the place viable and relevant.

    I am very sad to see the marginalisation of our beloved food culture struggling to grow in our food centres.”

    Mr Seetoh noted that while there is a large number of hawkers paying under $400 for their stall rent, but that is due to the rental structure offered to them during the days of President Devan Nair. He added that the new stalls in prime location are all hovering at 4 figure rents, such as Maxwell food centre at figures up to $3,000.

    He also questions how the new food centre operators can “help bring the cost of food down” for diners, make the place viable and relevant for hawkers.

    Dr Vivian had said in parliament that over 85% of Singapore hawkers today pay less than $1,500 per month in rent, 41% (2,400) of them are paying subsidised rental ranging from $160 to $384. Half of the successful bids are now below 85% of the assessed market rent and that the tendered rentals have been falling and fell by about 3.4% in 2014, and the lowest successful tendered rental is now $1 a month.

    Two appointed hawker operator, NTUC Foodfare and Fei Siong will offer discounted bulk purchasing of ingredients to help hawkers to reduce the cost of raw material. Dr Vivian noted that it is a fact that the cost of ingredients and raw materials is the biggest cost driver for hawkers stalls, not rentals.

    Dr Vivian’s full speech posted on his own Facebook account.

     

    Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

  • Vivian Balakrishnan Callous To Difficulties Of Ordinary Singaporeans

    Vivian Balakrishnan Callous To Difficulties Of Ordinary Singaporeans

    Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s response to a complaint by a hawker clearly demonstrated the Minister’s lack of empathy for the difficulties that ordinary Singaporeans face.

    Mr Douglas Ng, a young hawker who sold fishball noodles, had complained about the PAP government setting ceiling prices for hawker food at NTUC-run stalls.

    Mr Ng said that it is unfair to cap prices as basic ingredients are expensive. He wrote in his Facebook: “How can we expect hawkers to make a decent living?”

    But instead of helping him resolve the problem, Dr Balakrishnan said that rental rates of hawker stalls are low. He ignores other costs.

    For example, Mr Ng’s noodle supplier has to pay high rent for his shop (the landlord, by the way, is probably the PAP government) and he is going to pass the cost on to Mr Ng. And what about utilities? Electricity tariffs was raised in June this year and gas tariffs just went up today. Then there is transportation cost. Hawkers and other small businesses need vehicles to ferry their goods and supplies. With COEs at the current rate, how does one run a business and make it profitable?

    To be absolutely clear, these problems are all PAP made.

    And yet, Dr Balakrishnan avoids mentioning them, choosing to tell the young hawker that his rent is low. How does this help Mr Ng who still faces the problem of trying to make a living from hawking?

    Businesses, especially small businesses, are finding it hard to survive because of high shop-rent – much of which is collected by Government-owned real estate conglomerates like MapleTree and CapitaLand.

    The cost from the high rentals is then passed on to the consumer. This is why Singapore has become the most expensive city in the world.

    Yet, we have ministers who live in a world of their own, unable to understand the hardships of the average Singaporean.

    In 2007, for example, when PAP MP Dr Lily Neo pointed out that meals at hawker centres were too expensive for the poor, Dr Balakrishnan haughtily replied: “How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant? ”

    His colleague Minister for Social and Family Development Mr Tan Chuan Jin mused that some of our elderly poor collected cardboard because they wanted to “exercise”.

    To top it off, Mr Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore needed “natural aristocrats” without which society would fail. On another occasion, he said it was “not fun”to be poor.

    All these are indicative of the mindset of PAP ministers who, with their astronomical salaries, have become out of touch with – and even callous to – the everyday problems that ordinary Singaporeans face.

    Singapore needs a government that cares.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org