Tag: Singapore

Hawker: Regular Customers Are Like Family
When flooding occurred at the Marine Parade Food Centre in November 2013, it was so bad that even the walkways were submerged.But that did not stop loyal customers from queueing at the D’Authentic Nasi Lemak stall.

So determined they were that they sat on the tables to keep their feet dry and enjoy their food.

This is just one of the many memorable moments for stall owner Sulaiman Abu in his 20 years there.

The Marine Parade Central Market And Food Centre will undergo major renovations once the lease runs out in 2017.

The other two centres – Geylang Bahru Market And Food Centre and Bukit Merah Central Market And Food Centre – will close in November next year.

Several hawkers told The New Paper that they were unsure about the future of their businesses once the centres close.

“I have no concrete plans as of now,” said Mr Sulaiman.

“I may move to another centre during the renovations but it really depends on how many stalls are available.

“I think the best solution would be to have a temporary food centre.”

Ms Annie Lau, who is in her 50s and runs her mother-in-law’s Soon Huat Lor Mee stall at Bukit Merah Central, said: “I am not sure whether my mother-in-law wants to continue the business after the centre closes. We will see how things go.”

Various hawkers, whose businesses have been around for more than 10 years, said that they have many loyal customers, most of whom live or work around the area.

“Some of my regulars come so often we know what their orders are before they are placed,” said Madam Irene Koh, 54. She has been operating her Mei Ji Fishball Noodles stall for 35 years.

Mr Sulaiman added: “I have many regular customers who are now working adults but have been frequenting my stall since they were in primary school.

“Some even have their own families now and bring their families here for meals. These regular customers are like family to me.”

A second-generation co-owner of Katong Chicken Curry Puff at Marine Parade Central, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Koh, said she even has foreign fans.

“A few of my customers are from the US. They would visit our stall whenever they visit Singapore,” said Mrs Koh, who co-owns the stall with her husband, Mr Koh Jee Kok. They are both 64.

PECULIAR ORDERS

The hawkers have also received some peculiar orders.

Mr Sulaiman said: “Some customers would order mee rebus without the noodles. And there were a couple of customers who ordered only the nasi lemak’s sambal (chili paste).”

Another hawker, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Ho, said she has had customers who woud order noodles from her Hui Wei Ban Mian stall at the Geylang Bahru Food Centre without the good stuff – meat, eggs and vegetables.

But the 42-year-old woman, like most of the other hawkers from the three places, hopes to return after the renovation.

Madam Siti, 59, who owns Warong Mak Esah & Pak Bakar at the Geylang Bahru Market And Food Centre, said: “I have set up my business in other centres but I still think this food centre is the best place to be.

“I have made so many friends here, especially with my regular customers. I would like to return.”

Mr Sulaiman added: “I would like to come back to continue serving the best food to my regular customers.”

Patrons also hope that their favourite food stalls will return.

Madam Candy Ong, 52, who goes to the Marine Parade Food Centre every day for lunch, said: “I will definitely miss my favourite food here, such as sliced fish noodles and yong tau foo.

“I don’t know where I will go when the centre closes. I hope the hawkers will return and the prices stay the same.”

A 67-year old retiree, who declined to be named, also said: “I have been visiting this centre since my younger days. I would miss coming here.”
1-year break for 3 food centres

Three hawker centres at these places will be closed for about a year for renovations within the next two years, once their 20-year leases under the Stall Ownership Scheme expire:

Block 69,  Geylang Bahru

Block 163,  Bukit Merah Central

Block 84,  Marine Parade Central

The National Environment Agency said hawkers who owned stalls will have the option of continuing their business after the revamp.

First-generation hawkers – those were relocated off the streets in the 1970s – will pay subsidised rents while others will be charged according to prevailing rental market rates.

24-hour hawker centre with cheap food to open in Hougang

A 24-hour hawker centre will open at Ci Yuan Community Club in August, the National Environment Agency said in a statement yesterday.

The new hawker centre, located within the community club at Hougang Avenue 9, will have 40 stalls and seat up to 640 people.

“Residents can look forward to enjoying affordable food at the new centre, which will also be equipped with features such as child-friendly toilet facilities and family-friendly seating.”

Fei Siong Food Management will manage the new hawker centre on a not-for-profit basis, by channelling surplus “to improve vibrancy and create social benefits”.

For instance, at least 20 of the 40 stalls will be under Fei Siong Food Management’s Entrepreneurship Programme that aims to provide a head start for young or new hawkers who lack the capital and knowledge to run a stall.

Patrons will also be assured of moderated food prices – from 80 cents for a cup of coffee to $2.80 for a bowl of fishball noodles.
Source: www.tnp.sg
June 10, 2015
School Heads: Rigourous Risk Assessments Done Before Overseas Expeditions

Whether it is kayaking or trekking, students at Raffles Institution have a variety of choices when it comes to leadership courses. But before embarking on any expedition, the school will conduct a rigorous risk management assessment.

Said Head of Department at the Raffles Institute for Experential Learning Kuak Nam Jin: “MOE (Ministry of Education) has a very well-established risk management matrix. We follow that very closely. We go on recce trips to look at the place. The staff would often embark on the entire route of the destination to find out how vigorous or intense it is. We have to find out in history whether other schools have used it before, what is the feedback?”

Once a place has been chosen, training to prepare the students physically for the trip begins, according to Mr Kuak: “We would prepare our students physically for the trip which often involves general physical conditioning pretty much like PE conditioning. And then there’s also specific training.

“For instance if you are climbing a mountain, then you really need to get students to be climbing the stairs, carrying their backpack so that they develop the right type of muscles in the physical conditions to allow them to perform on the mountain.”

The safety of such expeditions is in the spotlight, in the wake of a tragedy where six students and a teacher from Tanjong Katong Primary School died, while climbing on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah as part of an overseas learning journey, called the Omega Challenge last week. Their Singaporean adventure guide was killed as well, and a teacher and a student from the school are still missing.

Another school head said scenario training will be conducted to equip students with necessary skills to react to emergencies – such as dealing with an injury.

“We have to think about many categories of risk, covering issues from whether the children have enough food and water, to where the nearest medical facilities are,” said Ms Haslindah Bahrom, Vice-Principal and Chief Safety Officer at Eunos Primary School. “If there are possible risks, we discuss how to mitigate them. It’s not just for overseas excursions. We do this for learning journeys within Singapore – and even for activities within school, like Sports Day and carrying out experiments in our Science labs.”

The onus is also on educators to assess the student’s ability for such physically demanding programmes.

Said Ms Haslindah: “As you train your students, you are able to identify which students are having trouble keeping up with the training or they may have old injuries that may come back to haunt them or they are struggling with that. I think as educators you have to make a decision whether the student should drop out of the programme or we make a decision to moderate the intensity of the programme so that every student can participate in the programme.”

HOLISTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Educators encourage parents to send their children on overseas expeditions as they contribute to a holistic learning experience. Some students who took up the Omega Challenge at Tanjong Katong Primary told Channel NewsAsia that the expedition had taught them valuable life skills.

“It teaches you perseverance and discipline and it pushes your limits and tests them,” said one of them, Zara Karim. “Mount Kinabalu taught me a lot of skills like how to work with people, how to communicate. And that’s been very useful in project work and working within CCA with people.”

The students added that the six-month training before the expedition was sufficient to prepare them for the physical challenges.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 10, 2015
Earth In Period Of Active Seismic Activity

Nature’s wrath struck in 2004, when a tsunami hit the coasts of several countries around the Indian Ocean. This marked the beginning of what geologists call an “active cycle”, where the Earth experiences greater seismic activity.

Said Professor Kerry Sieh, director at the Earth Observatory of Singapore: “The Earth goes through cycles of seismic energy release, and less release and more release.

“We have definitely been in the active cycle in the last 11 years since 2004. All the magnitude-8.4 earthquakes and bigger, up to 9.2, they all happened in the last 11 years. Several of those have been in Asia.”

The previous active cycle was in the 1950s to mid-1960s, which saw several earthquakes with a magnitude of a high 8 and above 9. But for the next 40 years, there were no records of a quake with a magnitude above 8.3, until 2004.

Since then, a string of devastating earthquakes has caused much destruction, like in Sumatra in 2005 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

“We don’t know whether we are at the end of the cycle or not,” said Professor Sieh. “My hunch is we will continue to see a larger number of large earthquakes. But that’s only a hunch because we don’t really have a way of telling whether we are at the end of the cycle or not.”

In response to the recent Sabah quake, Professor Sieh supported the call by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to relook safety protocols for climbers on Mount Kinabalu and also offered his team’s expertise.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 10, 2015
Mountain Guide Who Carried Peony Wee: My Geart Felt Great Pain That Young Life Was Lost

THE GUIDE

With a heavy heart, mountain guide Nizam Lokong helped carry Peony Wee Ying Ping’s body down Mount Kinabalu.

The Tanjong Katong Primary School pupil was among the first named casualties after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.15am last Friday.

Mr Lokong, 42, had been waiting to lead a group up the mountain when the earthquake struck.

After climbs were cancelled, he joined scores of other guides in rescue efforts in the afternoon, climbing up to Laban Rata, near the summit of Mount Kinabalu.

When he arrived at about 5pm, another guide had already found Peony’s body and placed her in a body bag.

“We wanted to bring her body down quickly so she could be laid to rest as soon as possible,” Mr Lokong told The New Paper in an interview outside the Mount Kinabalu Guides And Porters Centre.

He added that they did not want to leave her there in case more rocks fell during the aftershocks.

At about 5.30pm, the guides put the body on a stretcher and 10 of them, including Mr Lokong, took turns to carry her down the hiking trail.

There were at least four people carrying the stretcher at a time as they made their way down to Timpohon Gate, about 6km away.

“The body wasn’t heavy but we had to make sure she didn’t fall off or hit anything,” said Mr Lokong.

“The ground was rocked by aftershocks as we made our way through the jungle.”

Night had started to fall about an hour into their journey, making it difficult to see where they were going.

“As I carried the body down, my heart was feeling great pain that a young life had been lost,” said Mr Lokong, who has children of his own.

“It was not just a body I was carrying down. She was someone’s child.”

They finally reached the foothills of Mount Kinabalu at 10pm, descending nearly 1.5km on the way.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION

A picture of a mountain guide carrying a boy on his back has been widely shared online.

It was symbolic of the heroism of the mountain guides who risked life and limb to rescue stranded hikers.

But Mr Rizuan Kauhinin, 25, had little idea about his online fame. He even seemed abashed to be interviewed by the media.

Speaking of his deed that many have called heroic, Mr Kauhinin said he was simply doing what he had to.

“I just wanted to bring the boy to safety,” he told The New Paper.

He said he found the boy, believed to be a Tanjong Katong Primary School pupil, near the Villosa Shelter at KM 4.9 of the Mount Kinabalu Summit Trail.

The boy could not walk because he had injured his back and left hand.

Mr Kauhinin and a few other guides gave the boy some food and water before he lifted the boy and put him on his back, securing him with a harness.

He tried to run as quickly as possible to get the boy to safety so his injuries could be tended to and also because he was worried of even more rockfall in case of aftershocks.

“The boy kept moaning in pain during the journey, so when I got to Layang-Layang Hut (at the KM1 mark), we transferred him to a stretcher,” he said.

When asked why he went up the mountain to help despite the risk of getting hurt in the aftershocks, he said it was what he was supposed to do.

“As mountain guides, our own safety is secondary. When guests enter Kinabalu Park, they are under our care and we must do our very best.”

THE PILOT

In his 12 years’ flying, Laban Rata near the peak of Mount Kinabaluhas been one of the most difficult places he’s had to land, said search-and-rescue helicopter pilot Ahmad Fissol.

The 36-year-old pilot with the Malaysian Fire Department said the rescue last Friday was made more difficult because of strong winds, heavy cloud cover and the small landing space.

Rescue efforts yesterday were again hampered by heavy cloud cover, which left only half the mountain visible for most of the day.

“We drop rescuers somewhere near the top so they don’t have to climb up, which helps them to conserve energy that can be focused on the search efforts,” said Captain Fissol.

Since last Friday, he has made more than two dozen trips up and down the mountain to drop off rescuers.

On Saturday, he picked up six of the nine bodies that were found near the via ferrata trail, a majority of them Singaporeans.

It was challenging to land because of the high winds, he said.

“I tried to land the helicopter three times before I was successful on the fourth.”

And even then, he could not fully land and rescuers on the ground had only a minute to load six bodies on the MI171 helicopter.

“After we lifted off, the winds were blowing my helicopter to the left, so I had no choice but to let it drift a bit before dipping down and picking up speed again,” he added.

“If there had been a mountain there, we could have been in trouble.”

ARRANGEMENT

Capt Fissol said that three of the bodies were placed on racks which doubled up as stretchers and the other three were put on the cabin floor.

He was showing The New Paper around his helicopter at a makeshift airfield in Kundasang, about 10 minutes’ drive from Kinabalu Park.

From Laban Rata, it was a 20-minute flight to Kota Kinabalu International Airport, where he was met by an ambulance that took the bodies to the mortuary at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Asked about the grim cargo, he said it humbled him as a rescuer.

“I came here expecting to see survivors but was later told I’d have to pick up bodies,” he said.

“I felt sad that we couldn’t find more survivors. But even if it were a body, we must bring it home.”

Source:

June 10, 2015
Sabah Quake Victim Muhammad Daanish Amran Remebered As Always Happy

“He was looking forward to this Mount Kinabalu trip,” shared Syafiq Abdul Ghani, a close friend of Muhammad Daanish Amran, the Singaporean adventure guide who lost his life in the Sabah Quake last week. That was the last time Syafiq spoke to Daanish.

The 22-year-old’s final trip was with Tanjong Katong Primary School on an expedition. Along with seven others from Singapore, he did not make it down the mountain.

Syafiq met Daanish in 2011 when they were both volunteers with a Malay youth literary association, 4PM. They soon became fast friends. The group of volunteers often participated in activities together and had regular gatherings. “He was always excited about doing his job, he was always happy, he was always looking forward to every next project, every next event,” Syafiq told Channel NewsAsia.

Another volunteer from the association, Mysara Mohamad Aljaru, remembers Daanish with equal fondness. “From the mischievous grin he always had on his face to our inside jokes and ‘deep talks’, he always never failed to annoy yet cheer me up when I was feeling down. Daanish was someone who accepted you as you were, I never once felt I had to be someone else around him.”

On Monday (Jun 8), the Day of National Remembrance for the Sabah earthquake victims, both Syafiq and Mysara attended Daanish’s burial at the Muslim Cemetery at Lim Chu Kang. The burial took place in the morning between the hours of 9am and 11am.

“His father had a stoic look on his face,” said Charles Phang, a producer of INSIGHT, who filmed the video. “He definitely seemed as if he had accepted what had happened.”

Daanish, an eldest child and graduate of Nanyang Polytechnic, had been working as a freelance adventure instructor for 2-3 years. According to his friends, he was passionate about the outdoors and leading people.

For the full story on the Sabah Quake, don’t miss the special episode of INSIGHT: When the Earth Rumbles this Thursday (June 11), 8pm on Channel NewsAsia.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 10, 2015