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Tag: MFA

  • 1 Family Plans To Do Crowdfunding For Legal Fees After 2 Singaporean Men Jailed For Crossdressing In UAE

    1 Family Plans To Do Crowdfunding For Legal Fees After 2 Singaporean Men Jailed For Crossdressing In UAE

    Mr Fadli Rahman, 26, a fashion photographer, and Nur Qistina Fitriah Ibrahim, 37, were arrested on Aug 9, with an official court document in Arabic saying two Singaporean men were caught for wearing women’s clothes in public and for behaving indecently.

    The Straits Times reported that Nur Qistina is a transgender person who had legally changed her name but has not undergone gender reassignment surgery to become a woman.

    The pair, who had arrived in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Aug 8, were arrested while out buying lunch at a shopping mall and were sentenced on Aug 20.

    Cross-dressing, homosexuality and transgender behaviour are crimes in the UAE.

    Mr Fadli was in Abu Dhabi for a photo shoot. He had previously worked on TV show Mongolia’s Next Top Model, and fashion magazines Her World and Men’s Folio.

    The New Paper spoke to Mr Fadli’s brother, Mr Saiful Rahman, 32, yesterday. The property officer said the family last had contact with Mr Fadli when he sent a selfie on Aug 9.

    Mr Saiful said the family then heard of the arrest from Mr Fadli’s friends on Aug 14.

    When asked how his parents reacted to the news, he said: “My parents were crying and worried about him over there.”

    He added: “We just want him back. We want him back safely. They can even deport him.”

    The two men have until Sept 4 to appeal against their sentence.

    When contacted, a spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told TNP: “MFA is aware of this case and is rendering the necessary consular assistance. We are also assisting the family to seek legal advice.”

    Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, in an e-mail to the family seen by The Straits Times, said: “I’m sorry to hear about this. Rest assured that our consular and mission colleagues will do their best to assist your brother. I understand that they are already in contact with you and your brother. Please let me know if you need further assistance.”

    Mr Saiful said the family have reached out to a lawyer in Abu Dhabi, Ms Stephanie Mouanes, an associate at Al Suwaidi & Company Advocates & Legal Consultants.

    Speaking to TNP over the phone yesterday, Ms Mouanes said she had been in contact with the family but would not be able to furnish any details about the case until they officially appoint her.

    Mr Fadli’s family and friends are planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his legal fees.

     

    Source: http://www.tnp.sg

  • Insurance Company Not Helpful, Daughter Turned To Crowfunding, Raise $250,000 To Bring Comatose Father Back To Singapore

    Insurance Company Not Helpful, Daughter Turned To Crowfunding, Raise $250,000 To Bring Comatose Father Back To Singapore

    The Singaporean who suffered a cardiac arrest and lapsed into a coma in Tokyo just over a week ago is due to arrive in Singapore on Tuesday.

    The team from EMA Global, the medical assistance company appointed for the evacuation, left Singapore for Tokyo, a spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday (May 1).

    His 25-year-old daughter, Ms Eileen Cheong, had successfully raised $250,000 on fundraising platform Give.Asia to get her father home to Singapore.

    She wrote in her campaign that her family had flown to Tokyo on April 19 to celebrate her mother’s cancer remission when her father had a heart attack.

    He was resuscitated and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Toho University Omori Medical Center on the same day and placed on mechanical support.

    Japanese doctors told her family that they could not determine how long her father would stay in a coma.

    The family owed the hospital about $120,000, and it would cost at least another $120,000 to bring Mr Cheong home by medical evacuation, according to Miss Cheong.

    Ms Cheong wrote that her dad’s travel insurers MSIG informed her family that they were “unlikely to have a successful claim as his collapse was attributable to a pre-existing heart condition”.

    The 25-year-old, who is a fresh graduate earning less than $3,000 a month, turned to crowdfunding on Give.Asia to get her father home.

    In an update on Saturday evening, Ms Cheong said that all $250,000 had been raised.

    Ms Cheong had said in a campaign update on April 30 that her father was in a stable condition. She thanked all contributors and donors and promised to post an update on the situation soon.

    A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had told previously said that it was aware of the incident and that the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo was rendering the necessary consular assistance to the family.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Countering Terrorism And Violent Extremism Key Concern For Singapore, Region: MFA

    Countering Terrorism And Violent Extremism Key Concern For Singapore, Region: MFA

    Countering terrorism and violent extremism is a key concern for Singapore and the region, given the risks posed by returning ISIS fighters as well as the group’s radical propaganda in Southeast Asia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Thursday (Mar 23).

    Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and participated in the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS in Washington DC on Wednesday.

    MFA said Singapore welcomed the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers, hosted by Mr Tillerson.

    “Singapore has consistently supported the coalition’s efforts through contributions of military assets and personnel, and believes in the need for a comprehensive response that encompasses addressing economic, social and political factors,” it said in a statement.

    At the meeting, MFA said Dr Balakrishnan and Mr Tillerson reaffirmed the “deep and multi-faceted relations” between Singapore and the US in the areas of defence, economic and security.

    They also discussed regional developments as well as ways in which the US could build on its enduring strategic and economic interests in the Asia-Pacific and strengthen its engagement of ASEAN, the ministry added.

    Dr Balakrishnan will meet Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker before departing the US for Singapore on Friday, according to MFA.

     

    Source: CNA

  • Providing More Aid To Palestine Should Not Be Used As Bargaining Chip For Singapore Government To Invite Israel PM

    Providing More Aid To Palestine Should Not Be Used As Bargaining Chip For Singapore Government To Invite Israel PM

    Assalamualaikum,

    Bros i think we have heard the news by now – Israel PM is coming to Singapore. I won’t even mention his name because I think he is inhuman for all the injustices that he has sanctioned against our brothers and sisters in Palestine.

    In the past, the Singapore government has been very careful not to invite the Israel PM because they were sensitive to the views and conscience of the local and regional Muslim population.

    So what has happened? What has caused a change in the attitudes so much so that they don’t care about our feelings anymore?

    What i know is that every living Muslim cannot condone the presence of someone like the Israeli PM, who, by many accounts, can be counted as a war criminal.

    So what if they appointed Hawazi Daipi as a non-resident representative to Palestine? So what if they double the technical assistance package to $10 million? So what if we allowed high-level Palestinian officials to Singapore to learn from our experience? This gesture of recognizing Palestine and providing a large amount of aid should be a magnanimous one because it is only decent for us to help an oppressed people. Like how we helped our friends in Aceh during the tsunami.

    Don’t use it as a bargaining tool to justify the unjustifiable.

     

    Fuad

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  • Revealed: Malaysia “New Evidence” In Pedra Branca Row Against Singapore

    Revealed: Malaysia “New Evidence” In Pedra Branca Row Against Singapore

    Malaysia’s “new evidence” that it has sovereignty – and not its southern neighbour Singapore – over the rocky outcrop called Pedra Branca comprise a letter by Singapore’s top colonial official in 1958, a naval incident report the same year, and a map of the Lion City in 1966, This Week in Asia has learnt.

    These three documents would likely overturn the decision by the International Court of Justice in 2008 to award sovereignty to the disputed island to Singapore, Malaysia claimed in court documents filed on February 3.

    “This application is not an appeal against the 2008 judgment. On the contrary, it draws to the court’s attention what has only recently become known to Malaysia, namely, that even after the 1953 correspondence, and at a point at which Singapore had become a self-governing colonial territory, Singapore, at the highest levels of its government, did not have the view that it had sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh,” said court documents seen by This Week in Asia.

    “Singapore subsequently carried this appreciation into its federation as part of Malaysia in 1963, and, as it necessarily follows, that appreciation remained controlling on Singapore’s independence in 1965,” the documents said.

    “It is Malaysia’s contention, informed by a close reading of the judgment in 2008 and its accompanying opinions, that the court would have been bound to reach a different conclusion on the question of sovereignty over Pedra Branca had it been aware of this new evidence.”

    Malaysia on February 3 filed for a revision to the International Court of Justice’s ruling in 2008 that the isle of Pedra Branca, a football-field sized rocky outcrop, belongs to Singapore.

     

    Source: www.scmp.com