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Tag: Singaporean

  • 10-Hour Wait For Free Cable Car Rides To Sentosa And Mount Faber

    10-Hour Wait For Free Cable Car Rides To Sentosa And Mount Faber

    Snaking queues wrapped around HarbourFront Centre Tower Two for free cable car rides on Monday (10 August) in commemoration of this year’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. The free rides were available for all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore from 9am to 9pm on both the Sentosa and Mount Faber lines.

    So popular was the demand that some lined up since 7am, said those in the queue who spoke to Channel NewsAsia at about 4pm on Monday. Waiting time by then had stretched into the 10-hour mark, according to the Singapore Cable Car on Facebook and signposts prominently displayed around the location.

    Queues for free cable car rides at the HarbourFront Centre have not let up despite the Singapore Cable Car’s note that the wait may take about 10 hours. http://bit.ly/1KdeGzR(Video: Loke Kok Fai)

    Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Monday, 10 August 2015

    “We will not be able to accept more guests on the cable cars today. Please do not join the queue at mount Faber, Harbourfront and Sentosa stations,” the attraction wrote in its online post at about 1.15pm.

    However, apart from some heated moments earlier in the day, queues were generally orderly and the mood on the ground was mildly upbeat. Many had good words to say about the management, while some said the demand should have been anticipated.

    Staff from Singapore Cable Car were on the ground to manage the situation. Apart from stopping new arrivals, they had also been informing whatever new arrivals of the situation. They also said that a separate queue was in place from the beginning of the day for paying customers, but they might also have been affected by the heavy demand.

    Singapore Cable Car also conducted free shuttle bus services at its Mount Faber Station, which saw sizeable numbers queueing up despite the fact that rides from that station were not free.

    A Facebook user, Ronald, who was at the Mount Faber station, had sent photos to Channel NewsAsia early on Monday, saying the queue he was in “was not moving at all”.

    Long queue for cable car rides early on Monday (Aug 10). (Photo: Ronald/Facebook)

    Merely two hours before the free rides were scheduled to end, Singapore Cable Car wrote again on its Facebook page to remind the public not to join the queues at the HarbourFront, Mount Faber and Sentosa stations as it was unable to accept anymore guests.

    “Free rides for Singaporeans and PRs for the Mount Faber line have received overwhelming response … (We) thank all who patiently waited and offer our apology to those who did not get to ride today,” it said.

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Neighbour In Viral Abuse Video Charged

    Neighbour In Viral Abuse Video Charged

    In a surprising turn of events, a neighbour of the household at the centre of an abuse video that has gone viral this week was charged in court this afternoon (July 24).

    Darwinder Singh, 39, was charged for abetting his neighbour, Ms Siti Nur Redha, to voluntarily causing hurt to her mother by feeding the latter with human faeces and urine.

    A district court heard that Singh allegedly abetted Ms Siti on July 1 at Blk 48 Lower Delta Road. No charge has presently been brought against Ms Siti.

    The prosecution requested for Singh to be held in custody for police to conduct raids and visit the alleged crime scene, to investigate “the offences that have taken place over a long period of time”.

    Singh, dressed in a blue polo tee today, told the court that Ms Siti had been feeding her mother, Ms Kamisah Burel, with faeces and urine daily. “I only ask them to feed her once, but they do that every day,” he claimed.

    Singh added that he “pounded” his jewel and sold off mobile phones as Siti had asked him for money.

    “I need to take care of my mother, I also have a medical condition and my mother too,” he said, adding that his family receives support from a community development council.

    Singh will be back in court next Friday (July 31).

    If convicted of abetting in voluntarily causing hurt, Singh could be jailed up to seven years, fined and caned.

    The police and Ministry of Social and Family Development are investigating a video of Ms Kamisah being hit by a younger woman outside a HDB flat at Lower Delta Road. The video went viral early this week.

    Police is investigating reports lodged against Ms Siti and Ms Kamisah’s husband and they have been classified as a case of voluntarily causing hurt.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Woman In Deal To Rent Out Car Cheated, Landed With $17,000 Repair Bill

    Woman In Deal To Rent Out Car Cheated, Landed With $17,000 Repair Bill

    A customer service executive who hoped to earn extra cash by renting out her car told The Straits Times yesterday how she believes she fell victim to a scam after she ended up with a $17,000 repair bill.

    Madam M. Lee advertised her Volkswagen Golf on the classifieds website Gumtree in January and, within a day, she signed a contract to rent it out for $1,700 a month through a company called Elites Elegance Car Leasing.

    The contract was due to run until December but the company stopped paying her in April.

    The following month, the 29-year-old – who declined to give her full name – discovered the company was not registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

    She also found out her car had been in an accident in which the front section had been smashed in. It is now in a workshop needing repairs costing more than $17,000.

    It then transpired the man she had signed the contract with had given her a false name – and had been involved in similar cases in the past.

    He has promised to pay $13,500 towards the repairs but Madam Lee said: “He said he would pay with an initial $2,000 deposit and subsequent instalments of $800. But I have not gotten any money yet.”

    Madam Lee made a police report last month. So far, she has paid $7,000 towards the repairs and the car is still at the garage.

    Netizens have posted about similar incidents on social media and three have contacted Madam Lee to tell her about their experiences.

    In 2009, a man conned 16 victims out of about $134,000 by renting cars from them and then not paying them. He then rented out their vehicles to others and pocketed their payments.

    According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), private car owners are not allowed to rent out their cars through rental companies.

    However, they can do so through the LTA’s private car rental scheme which has certain requirements. For example, the car must be registered under the name of the private individual and have adequate insurance coverage.

    Madam Lee said: “I did not know about the regulations until I felt something was not right. If I had known this would happen, I would not have decided to rent it out.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • MCI: Janadas Devan Did Not Interfere In LKY Musical

    MCI: Janadas Devan Did Not Interfere In LKY Musical

    The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has claimed that it has not interfered with the production of the stage play, The LKY Musical.

    The ministry’s statement comes after an actor involved in the production, Tan Shou Chen, blogged about the alleged interference on Monday.

    Mr Tan, who plays former deputy prime minister, Toh Chin Chye, in the production, had written that Tony Petito, who wrote the musical, has given a historical biopic treatment to the piece, and “has been extremely open to inputs from a government official, Janandas Devan [sic].”

    Mr Tan wrote:

    “Factual corrections were made to the script, including the late hour (4 days before previews) addition of the latter part of the famous broadcast of Mr Lee crying. Dex [the director] communicated to the company of actors that this was suggested to Tony to be added to the script when it was communicated that speech will be broadcast again in it’s [sic] entirety nationwide on Aug 9th, and that there will be a concerted effort to share the latter part of that broadcast.

    “To put it extremely bluntly, it reeks of the oily propaganda machine.”

    The MCI, however, has disputed this.

    According to a TODAY report on Friday, the ministry said it was in fact the producers of the musical who had approached Mr Janadas for advice on certain aspects of the play because they needed help with “historical accuracies” concerning the script.

    TODAY reported:

    “In a statement, Metropolitan Productions said Mr Janadas, who is from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), had provided “invaluable feedback” on the accurate chronology of events.”

    The producers said:

    “At no time did he or anyone else ask us to change any part of the story.”

    Mr Tan removed his blog post soon after, for unknown reasons.

    Mr Janadas Devan, who is the son of Singapore’s former president, Devan Nair, was appointed to the position of Chief of Government Communications in 2012, under the purview of the MCI.

    He was also a former editor with the Straits Times, and had “served as the paper’s leader writer for many years, writing unsigned editorials on a wide variety of subjects.” (See here.)

    Mr Janadas is also currently the director of research institute, The Institute of Policy Studies, at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

    Questions about his dual roles at both the MCI and the IPS were raised in Parliament in March 2014 by Workers’ Party MP and chairman, Sylvia Lim.

    Ms Lim asked the MCI MInister, Yaacob Ibrahim, if he felt “that such a dual role…is not quite a desirable state of affairs because it might raise some questions about the role of the IPS”.

    In his reply, Dr Yaacob said the ministry “had considered his appointment seriously” and felt that it is “very clear that what IPS has done is very different from what the CGC is supposed to do.”

    Dr Yaacob said the Government did not see any conflict of interest in Mr Janadas’ roles.

     

    Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

  • Couple Helped Strangers Deliver Baby In Their Own Car

    Couple Helped Strangers Deliver Baby In Their Own Car

    After feeling unwell and visiting the doctor, Mr Syed Zukarnain expected to spend yesterday at home nursing his cough and sore throat.

    Instead, the 46-year-old and his wife Reena, 47, an administrative executive, found themselves weaving through rush-hour traffic with a stranger giving birth in their back seat.

    He was pulling out of the Bukit Panjang carpark at around 9am and about to take his wife to work when they saw a pregnant woman lying on the ground with her frantic husband talking on the phone.

    “I was quite scared and concerned for the baby,” he told The Straits Times.”They had already waited for a cab for one hour. They called but (there was) no response. The waterbag had already burst in that hour, that’s why we decided not to think so much and told them to get in the car.”

    The pregnant woman’s husband urged his wife not to push but half an hour into the journey to Singapore General Hospital (SGH), he exclaimed that the baby’s head was out.

    The seven-seater Chevrolet had quickly become a makeshift delivery ward.

    Overcoming her fear of blood, Madam Reena, a mother of two, undid her seatbelt and climbed from the front passenger seat to the back, while her husband ploughed through the traffic with his horns blaring and hazard lights on.

    The National University Hospital would have been nearer, but the couple wanted to go to SGH, where all their check-ups had been.

    The new parents, believed to be in their 20s, declined to be interviewed.

    Madam Reena said: “I saw that the baby’s whole head was out and it was completely white.”

    Fearing for the baby, she urged the woman to push. “When she pushed once, half of the body came out together with the hand and the baby started crying. The body was completely white as well and I was scared and nervous, but I tried to push (my fear) aside and told her to push more and the whole baby came out.”

    By 9.40am, the girl had been born with her umbilical cord still attached. They were then on the AYE near the Lower Delta Road exit but still a good 15 minutes away from SGH because of heavy traffic.

    Madam Reena grabbed a shawl and wrapped the baby girl up to keep her warm, the whole time holding her close to her mother’s pelvis while kneeling on the floor.

    “I tried to talk to the baby and described her to her mother,” she said.

    Once at the hospital, paramedics jumped into action – cutting the umbilical cord and wheeling mother and daughter into the hospital.

    Mr Syed, who works for Omni Offshore Terminals, and the new father exchanged numbers. According to Mr Syed, both mother and daughter are doing well.

    Madam Reena said: “A few hours later, we texted each other and I asked how mum and baby were doing. We’re very happy that both of them are doing fine.” She added: “I can’t believe that I did that.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com