More than 150 motorcycles swept into Eunos Crescent and Joo Seng Road estates on Sept 20 and its riders and pillions dismounted and spent several hours cleaning 50 rental units in the area.
The participants came from 13 motorcycle clubs in Singapore and were part of this year’s Wheels of Love charity event.
The annual event first started in 2011 with only 15 motorcycles involved, but has grown 10 times to 150 bikes this year.
Madam Ng Hiong Kew, 67 was all smiles and laughter after seeing that her one-room flat was spick and span.
She said in Mandarin: “After my knee operation, I can’t walk well and take a very long time to clean up so I am really grateful that they (volunteers) came over to help me out.”
A 28-year-old man was today (Sept 17) sentenced to eight months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to molesting a woman on an MRT train.
A district court heard that Islam Md Mohidul, a Bangladeshi national working in Singapore, had boarded the train at Kranji MRT Station at around 6.45am on June 26 as part of his commute from his dormitory in Kranji to his worksite near City Hall.
Later, the victim boarded the same train compartment at Sembawang MRT Station. After she managed to get a seat to Islam’s right, the woman started reading some documents, and later fell asleep.
Islam decided to take advantage of the situation by touching her. As there were many commuters on the train, he pretended to cross his arms but then slipped his left hand under his right elbow to “surreptitiously reach over” to the victim’s left breast.
He started to rub her breast slowly to test if the woman would be awakened, and did so more forcefully after she did not show any reaction.
Islam retracted his hand when the victim woke up. After the woman told him off, he apologised and claimed he had accidentally touched her.
She also took a photo of the accused before he alighted at City Hall MRT Station. Islam was arrested on July 15.
Yesterday, Islam, who came to Singapore about three months ago to work, told the court through a translator that he was truly remorseful.
At first glance, 16-year-old Amos Yee seems timid, naïve, almost oblivious to what he did: Challenge the very foundations of Singapore and its revered founder.
But within five minutes, Yee deliberately and clearly articulates why he believes his blog posts are worth jail time.
“I feel like I’m the one who’s actually supposed to break that boundary so that other people will be able to talk about things in an honest way and discuss about it, which I feel is really important,” says Yee, during an exclusive interview with CNN, while seated in his family’s flat in Singapore.
In July, Yee was released from prison after 53 days, after being convicted on charges of obscenity and “wounding of religious feelings.”
The charges stem from a video rant posted by this precocious teenager who was rallying against his country’s lack of free speech and its beloved former leader. In it, he speaks directly into a camera, expressing his outrage.
“Because everyone is scared, everyone is afraid that if they say something like that they may get into trouble and give Lee Kuan Yew credit that was primarily the impact of his legacy,” states Yee in this somewhat tame excerpt from his blog post in March.
Yee targets leaders
The video rant ridicules Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew who died in March, calling him a dictator, and comparing him to Jesus Christ. The video post also contains what Yee himself describes as vulgar content aimed at insulting Singapore’s leaders.
“I think I had a sense that I would get into some kind of trouble but obviously I thought it was worth it because I think that the quality or content was enough to be able for me to take that risk,” says Yee.
Yee spent weeks in detention and claims he was strapped to a bed for long periods of time, distraught and fearful. He adds that he was put through psychological evaluations that he considered demeaning.
None of that, however, seems to have changed his behavior. We find Yee right back at it, posting videos from his bedroom.
It’s a bedroom that has all the trappings of a rebellious teenager; one that might be familiar to many parents around the world. He spends hours in his room on the computer, scripting, shooting and editing.
But this is Singapore and the consequences for an opinionated teenager speaking his mind can include incarceration. Singapore tries to monitor and curb online content and, according to the World Press Freedom Index ranks, just 153 out of 180 countries.
CNN contacted officials within the Singapore government about Yee’s case but did not receive a response.
Treatment too harsh?
Even some allies of the government are wondering if the leadership is dealing with this young man too harshly, thereby giving his video manifestos more publicity in the process.
“It’s perfectly normal for young people to write critical articles. And I think we should treat Amos Yee as a normal 16-year-old person. And let’s see what happens when he grows up,” says Kishore Mahbubani, Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.
For now, Yee remains free and continues to produce content that is blunt, political and defiant. He says Singapore and its leadership are ready for more freedom of expression.
As for the reason he continues to risk his own freedom, Yee explains plaintively that he likes provoking.
“One is just to make jokes, I mean because you can see my content is of really high comedic value, I think just making jokes and entertaining, there’s an appeal in that,” he says, adding, “I’ve experienced many things and I’ve learned quite a lot so yeah, it’s been quite a ride actually.”
It began with a man accusing another of bumping into him, escalated into an explosive argument and ended with the accuser hitting the other man’s head with two beer bottles.
Part of the incident, which occurred at a 24-hour convenience store near Lorong 19 in Geylang around 9.40pm on Sunday, was captured on video by a female shop assistant using her mobile phone camera.
The minimart manager, who wanted to be known only as Mr Liu, 49, told The New Paper yesterday that the assailant, who was a familiar face at the store, was buying cigarettes and soft drinks at the time.
Mr Liu’s female assistant had told him that the man, who wore a black T-shirt, was paying at the counter when an older man and a friend entered the store to buy cigarettes.
Suddenly, the first man loudly accused the older man of bumping into him and started swearing.
“The older man told him that he didn’t like what he was saying,” said Mr Liu in Mandarin.
As the argument became more heated, the first man suddenly grabbed two beer bottles and hit the older man’s head. The bottles did not shatter but blood started gushing from the victim’s head.
Mr Liu said: “The shop assistant told me that the blood just kept flowing, staining the older man’s white T-shirt. He was also unsteady and fell down once but he never hit back at the man in the black T-shirt.”
As the assailant continued spewing vulgarities, the victim shouted at his companion to call the police. When the assailant heard this, he phoned a friend and asked to him to go to the store, said Mr Liu.
STUNNED
Meanwhile, the victim’s friend blocked the door to prevent the assailant from leaving.
Alone in the shop with three angry men, the shop assistant was too stunned to do anything.
“She told me that she didn’t see the victim bump into the other man,” said Mr Liu.
When the shop assistant tried to record the attack on her mobile phone, the assailant threatened her.
Mr Liu said: “He shouted at her to stop or he would call people to go to the shop every day to harass her.”
When Mr Liu arrived at the minimart around 10pm, the police were already there and four or five people were milling around outside.
“The assailant’s friend was outside and didn’t enter the store,” he said.
Mr Liu said that when the assailant saw the police, he sat on the floor and said he felt faint. But he declined to be taken to hospital, said a Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman.
The 43-year-old victim was taken conscious to Tan Tock Seng hospital in an ambulance, the spokesman added.
A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident at 9.52pm.
A 34-year-old man was arrested for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and means. Investigations are continuing.
Mr Liu estimated that the minimart lost about $1,000 in takings as a result of the incident.
He said the police were there for about three hours carrying out investigations.
“We spent an hour cleaning the shop after that,” added Mr Liu.
“Some items like the beer bottles next to the counter had blood (on them) and had to be thrown away. It wasn’t the first time a fight has happened but this is the worst so far.”
SG50 had culminated in a spectacular show of fireworks and nostalgia, but now the nation’s joyous jubilee celebration would make way for equally fervent political discourse.
No one knew when Parliament would dissolve, but we all knew it would be a watershed year for local politics. After all, this is the first election since the passing of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the air was pregnant with anticipation.
It wasn’t long before the barrage of online posts about Singapore’s changing political landscape came fast and furious. From regaling personal stories about meeting their personable and humble MPs, to articulately listing the pros and cons of having a multi-party government, it seemed everyone was now a political pundit and had something to say about something or someone.
For someone who has never been well-versed in, nor cared much for, politicking, covering the GE forMothership.sg helped me make sense of the online discourse I was seeing. There were two major camps: the conscientiously-researched commentaries, and the ones loosely strung together, just to jump onto the bandwagon and garner Facebook likes and shares. Still, I took them all in – besides, the more poorly structured debates there were, the more the genuinely intelligent ones stood out.
Then, there were the vocal minority who, upon seeing netizens engage in political discourse, call it hypocrisy because such debate only happens during the GE. This reaction was apparently similar to the online sentiments when Lee Kuan Yew passed. Back then, my Facebook feed had been divided between those praising his deeds and those calling the former hypocrites when they hadn’t extolled him previously.
And therein lies the main gripe I have with our political discourse, and ultimately, our system – it doesn’t allow for nuanced views.
If we’re pro-PAP, we’re Yes Men who can’t think for ourselves; if we’re pro-Opposition, we’re unappreciative ingrates. Likewise, call ourselves politically apathetic and we’re irresponsible; have strong views and we’re getting caught in the hype.
This clear dichotomy between differing views leaves no room for contradictions and grey areas, both essential parts of simply being human, to co-exist – therefore unnecessarily limiting discussion to extreme opinions. The truth is Singapore is a stable and comfortable society, but that incredible safety should not be an excuse to breed complacency and entitlement, whether with regards to opinions or material goods.
No matter the news we wake up to on the morning of September 12, what I most want to see is significant progress towards cultivating creativity, open-mindedness and a sense of ruggedness in our youth. Provide room and reason for them to grapple with the various degrees of breadth and depth in the nation’s pertinent issues. Challenge our youth to question their own beliefs and ways of life, and in the process, develop more robust and individualistic points of view.
And perhaps this starts with understanding the beauty of democracy. Knowing the power to change things can lie in a single vote, this heady responsibility can force even the most politically apathetic to keep themselves abreast with the latest happenings, and to remain discerning and well-informed. With an inevitable overload of information, it also means that we learn not to engage with every opinion that we see, but nonetheless appreciate the diversity for keeping our minds sharp and aware.
There’s nothing hypocritical about deciding to educate oneself on the political scene, nor to want open and candid discussions about your future in this country. We are a highly educated workforce; let’s speak and behave as such – so that it no longer has to mean that if we’re pro-something, we’re automatically anti-something else.
Because frankly speaking, it’s no longer cool to just care. It’s how we care that makes all the difference.
