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Tag: Singapore

  • KTMB To Launch Shuttle Train Services Between Woodlands And Johor Bahru

    KTMB To Launch Shuttle Train Services Between Woodlands And Johor Bahru

    Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) has announced on its website that its subsidiary, KTM Intercity, will begin shuttle train services from Johor Bahru Sentral to Woodlands in Singapore from Jul 1.

    The Shuttle Tebrau service will help reduce congestion at the Johor Causeway, reported Bernama.

    KTMB said the service will run seven times daily, from JB Sentral to Woodlands Station and back. The train services run as early as 5.30am, till 11pm.

    The fares are RM 5 from JB Sentral and S$5 from Woodlands, for one-way trips.

    KTMB said with the commencement of the Tebrau Shuttle, other southbound KTM Intercity services such as (Butterworth-Woodlands) as well as Tren Sinaran Selatan (KL Sentral-Woodlands) and Tren Sutera (KL Sentral-Woodlands) and the shuttle from Gemas-Woodlands will now end at JB Sentral.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Import And Sale Of Emerging Tobacco Products Will Begin Dec 15

    Import And Sale Of Emerging Tobacco Products Will Begin Dec 15

    The import and sale of tobacco products such as smokeless cigarettes will be banned from Dec 15 this year, and the ban will be extended to cover more products such as oral snuff from August next year.

    Announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday, the move, which will be carried out in two phases, comes on the back of a ban on shisha last year, as part of efforts to clamp down on “emerging” tobacco products.

    The ban is a “pre-emptive measure to protect public health against the known and potential harms of such products”, said the MOH in a media release. It is also “aimed at ensuring that the targeted emerging tobacco products do not gain a foothold or become entrenched in the Singapore market”.

    The first phase of the ban targets emerging tobacco products currently not available in Singapore. They include smokeless cigars, smokeless cigarillos or smokeless cigarettes, dissolvable tobacco or nicotine.

    Any product containing nicotine or tobacco that may be used topically for application, by implant or injected into any parts of the body will also be banned, while any solution or substance where tobacco or nicotine is a constituent, that is intended to be used with an electronic nicotine delivery system or a vaporiser, commonly referred to as e-cigarettes, will also be banned. Tobacco-containing products, tobacco derivatives, or medicinal products registered under the Medicines Act are excluded from the ban.

    From Aug 1 next year, the ban will extend to emerging tobacco products already in the local market. “This is to allow for businesses to adjust their operating models and deplete their existing stocks of such products,” the MOH said. The affected products include nasal snuff, oral snuff, and gutkha, khaini and zarda, which are chewable tobacco products.

    The ban will be implemented via Section 15 of the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. The Act was amended in 2010 to empower the Minister for Health to prohibit the import and sale of such emerging tobacco products. Since then, the authorities had been studying the implementation of the ban. This included ensuring the ban complies with Singapore’s international trade obligations, the MOH said.

    An undergraduate who declined to give his name said he tried khaini in Malaysia last year. “The ban doesn’t really affect me, if I really want to consume khaini, I’ll just cross the border to Malaysia and have it there,” said the 23-year-old, who has been smoking since he was 19.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • How Much Do You Need To Be Above Singapore’s ‘Average’?

    How Much Do You Need To Be Above Singapore’s ‘Average’?

    Forbes has named Singapore as the third richest country in the world. This wealth is measured using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Simplistically, it adds up everyone’s income for the year – to obtain GDP – before dividing it by the country’s population.

    So how much should the “average” Singaporean be making based on this calculation?

    Read More: Singapore, world’s richest. At what cost?

    The golden number is $5,943!

    At end-2014, Singapore’s GDP was recorded at SGD390.1 billion with population size of 5.47 million (Singapore residents + foreign talents).

    Table 1: National Accounts and Population in Singapore

    FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014
    GDP(SGD mils) SGD 346,354 SGD 362,333 SGD 378,200 SGD 390,089
    Population (mils) 5.18 5.31 5.40 5.47
    GDP per Person SGD 66,816 SGD 68,205 SGD 70,048 SGD 71,318
    Income per month SGD 5,568 SGD 5,684 SGD 5,837 SGD 5,943

    Source: Singapore Department of Statistics 

    Is $5,943 the correct number as the average wage?

    As mentioned, GDP per capita is a simple method to define how rich a country is by understanding how much everyone in the population earns per annum.

    However, using the entire population is not a good gauge, as children, students and retirees are not working, and hence should be excluded from the calculation.

    Table 2: National Accounts and Labour Force in Singapore

    FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014
    GDP (SGD mils) SGD 346,354 SGD 362,333 SGD 378,200 SGD 390,089
    Labour Force (mils) 3.24 3.36 3.44 3.53
    GDP per Worker SGD 106,995 SGD 107,779 SGD 109,824 SGD 110,482
    Income per month SGD 8,916 SGD 8,982 SGD 9,152 SGD 9,207

    Note: The labour force comprise of people who are working or seeking work Source: Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, Ministry of Manpower

    Using labour force instead of total population will be more accurate since we are basing our calculation only on those who are working. In this case, average wages inclusive of CPF contribution would be SGD9,207 per month per person.

    Additional Clarifications: You should be adding any additional income received aside from your salary into this figure. 

    So what are your numbers telling me? 

    If you are like us, then this number may appear exceedingly high to you, perhaps even unattainable. Do not worry, you’re not alone.

    The median salary in Singapore is SGD3,770. That means the majority of us  are not earning the average, unless we have other source of income. This is normal, as income are usually skewed towards the higher income earners and thus medium hardly ever equates to mean.

    What you should make out of this number is that there is potential to increase your wages in Singapore. Unlike poorer countries, where your future growth in earnings would be easily capped by the low potential in the country, we do not lack this in Singapore. There is money to be made, somewhere and somehow, in Singapore.

     

    DollarsAndSense.sg is a website that aims to provide interesting, bite-sized financial articles which is relevant to the average Singaporean.

    Image from Benjamin Lim. 

    Additional clarifications:

    Some readers have commented that measuring a person’s income using GDP is not correct. They are right. There are two ways to calculate GDP. One is via an expenditure approach and the other is via an income approach. For this article, we have used the income approach.

    Typically, national income can be measured by adding up wages + rental + interest + business profit. This is a ballpark alternative to measuring GDP. As seen from the formula, wages is only one part of the equation for income. Most of the super rich (i.e. the top 5%) will make the bulk of their income from rental (rent of real estate), interest (returns from investments such as stocks and bonds and from business profits (dividends) and not their monthly wages. 

    Other income an individual received should also be included when considering total income. This includes any government subsidy. 

    Regardless of how balanced or lopsided the distribution of wealth is in a country, GDP per capita will always be higher than “average” income. That is because there are additional factors such as corporate tax (i.e. money paid to the government) and retained earning that will not go to the individual. 

    Lastly, this article is not meant to say that we should all aimed to earn about SGD 9207 per working adult. Obviously, that is not possible. Rather the point is to show that as a country, we are by no means poor, and in fact, could be seen as generating about SGD 9207 of economic value per person, on average. Whether the medium salary of SGD 3770 is right or not can be of the opinion of the individual readers. 

     

    Source: http://dollarsandsense.sg

  • MDA Bans Pink Dot SG Ad

    MDA Bans Pink Dot SG Ad

    Over the weekend, the seventh edition of Pink Dot SG saw its largest turn-out yet, with more than 28,000 people coming together. This was despite the organisers facing several challenging situations from the community.

    According to a statement from the Pink Dot SG organisers, a 15-second pre-event advertisement for Pink Dot that was meant to be screened in cinemas  was refused a rating by the MDA last Friday after a two-month wait, effectively banning it. The statement said that the MDA cited the reason that “it is not in the public interest to allow cinema halls to carry advertising on LGBT issues.”

    Responding to Marketing‘s queries, MDA said it had “carefully considered” Cathay Organisation’s application on 12 May to screen a Pink Dot 2015 promotional trailer in its cinemas.

    “This is the first time MDA has received such an application. MDA has concluded that it is not in the public interest to allow cinema halls to carry advertising on LGBT issues, whether they are advocating for the cause, or against the cause. MDA has therefore rejected Cathay Organisation’s application to screen the trailer,”the spokesperson added.

    The ad is currently running on Pink Dot SG’s social media channels. Here’s the full ad:

    Nonetheless, the Pint Dot SG organisers added that this year the event saw its largest-ever list of corporate sponsors. Social media giant Twitter, local entertainment giant Cathay Organisation, as well as financial software, data and media company Bloomberg, join returning sponsors Google, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, BP, J.P. Morgan and The Gunnery.

    This year’s Pink Dot focused on the message, “Where Love Lives,” and invited the community to reflect on the progress that has been made towards dispelling the discrimination and prejudice that face lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as the many challenges that still remain. People were encouraged to take part in Pink Dot’s social media campaign, #WhereLoveLivesSg. The campaign was powered by local social media agency, Campaign.com.

    Paerin Choa, a Pink Dot SG spokesperson added, “After the setbacks that we had experienced over the last 12 months, giving up and losing hope would have been the easy thing to do. But we also know that Singapore’s LGBT community are a very resilient bunch, and in view of these challenges, we still have much to celebrate.”

    Among the major challenges the community had faced over the past year, probably the biggest was the verdict in October last year by the Court of Appeal upholding the constitutionality of Section 377a of the Penal Code, which criminalises physical intimacy between men.

    Locally, furniture brand IKEA also recently came under fire for partnering up with Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) controversial pastor Lawrence Khong who has been in the limelight for openly opposing homosexuality.

    Meanwhile last year, The National Library Board (NLB) came under intense fire from netizens after it decided to pull off two children’s book titles off its shelves. The books were removed after the board received complaints from a member of the public stating that the titles And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express were not in line with traditional family values. The first book depicts two male penguins acting like a couple raising a young penguin and the latter talks about a single mother, adoption and a lesbian couple.

     

    Source: www.marketing-interactive.com

  • The Cultural Traditions Of The Malay Silat Pengantin – Osman Sulaiman

    The Cultural Traditions Of The Malay Silat Pengantin – Osman Sulaiman

    For my non-Malay friends, this is what ‘Silat Pengantin’ (silat bride) in a Malay wedding looks like.

    During the early Malay civilisation, Silat Pengantin was performed in front of the Sultan of a country by a Panglima (commander). The purpose of doing so was to showcase the skills and fighting capabilities of that Panglima,which was important during the era where wars between countries were frequent.

    For wedding purposes, Silat is not used against an opponent but rather as aform of respect, blessing and protection.

    The Silat Pengantin has to be performed with great respect and etiquette. When performing the Silat Pengantin, care must be taken and the following be observed:

    – Movements must be graceful so as to be respectful to the bridal couple.
    – There should not be any movements where the back is shown to the bridal couple.
    – The feet must not be lifted too high.
    – There should not be any “aggressive” movement directed towards the couple.
    – Performer should not move to the side of the bridal couple.
    – No weapons should be used when performing.
    – During the performance,the performer should not make any utterances.
    – It is traditionally believed that the Silat Pengantin has to be presented in odd numbers i.e. one, three, five people and so forth.

     

     

    Source: Osman Sulaiman

     

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