Rilek1Corner

Tag: Singaporeans

  • What Did Singapore Airlines Really Give Schooling?

    What Did Singapore Airlines Really Give Schooling?

    Singapore’s Olympic hero, Joseph Schooling, returned home with the country’s first ever gold medal.

    Before his flight back from Brazil, Singapore Airlines gave the 21-year-old 1 million Krisflyer miles along with a KrisFlyer Gold Card.

    Frequent flyer miles are usually accumulated based on the distance you fly or the amount of money spent. These miles can later be used to buy flight tickets or upgrade from economy class to business or first class*.

    A million miles may sound like a lot of free travel, but what does it really translate to? And how far can Schooling go with these free miles?

    1. Some websites estimate that 1 million miles translate to $16,000.

    However, miles can vary in value as it depends on the location a traveller is going to and so on.

    For example, a traveller would need to redeem more miles per km to fly from Singapore to New York than if they were to exchange for shorter flights to say Hong Kong or Bangkok.

    The average monetary value can vary from 0.57 cents per mile to 1.11 cents per mile.

    2. Schooling is based in Texas, where he attends university and where his training base is.

    With the 1 million miles, he can take five return trips on first class, or, if his broad shoulders can fit into economy seats, then 15 return trips in economy.

    3. Schooling could also use his free miles to fly to London to watch his favourite soccer team, Chelsea. The miles will allow him 16 economy class trips or five first-class tickets.

    4. Alternatively, if Schooling wanted to take a trip every year to Hong Kong, he could use his free miles for 40 years (flying economy) or 21 years (on business).

    5. If sushi and ramen are more to his taste buds, Schooling could take annual trips to Tokyo and finish his miles only in 26 years (on economy) or 10 years (if flying first class).

    MILLION MILE AWARDS: 

    Schooling is not the only person to be awarded lots of air miles. Here are some others:

    Aug 9, 2016: A 19-year-old Dutch youth Olivier Beg was given 1 million miles from United Airlines for discovering security flaws in its online system.

    Aug 9, 2016: Djaballah Mohamed Taher, a 23-year-old hacker, was awarded 1.7 million miles from United Airlines for discovering three security problems under the airline’s bug bounty programme.

    July 10, 2015: Jordan Weins earned 1 million miles from United for finding a bug that allows people to seize control of one of the airline websites.

     

    Source: The New Paper

  • Singaporean Family Detained 14 Days For Verbally Abusing Malaysian Immigration Officer

    Singaporean Family Detained 14 Days For Verbally Abusing Malaysian Immigration Officer

    Singaporean family has been arrested and detained for 14 days for a probe into their alleged verbal abuse against an Immigration Department officer from Malaysia during a border inspection.

    Johor Immigration Department Datuk Rohaizi Bahari said the two-week remand of the Singaporean trio was to facilitate the investigations into the incident last week.

    “It is an offence to hurl abuse at my men who are just following the procedures during checks,” he was quoted saying by local daily The Star.

    “So far our investigation also showed that the officer did not ask for any bribe as alleged by the suspects,” he added.

    Rohaizi said individuals dissatisfied with the officers under him could file a direct complaint to him.

    According to The Star, the arrest was carried out after the Singaporeans refused to lower the back window of their Singapore-bound car with tinted windows for inspection at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex.

    The trio were reportedly a businesswoman in her 40s and her children aged 18 and 19 respectively.

    In the Friday afternoon incident, the woman was said to have verbally abused the immigration officer carrying out the inspection, while one of the trio purportedly gave a middle finger gesture.

    The investigation of the trio is under Section 56(1)(g) of the Immigration Act, where the penalty is a maximum RM10,000 fine or a maximum jail term if five years or both.

     

    Source: The Malay Mail Online

  • Lee Wei Ling: Contempt Of Court Bill Is Unfair And An Attempt To Silence Public

    Lee Wei Ling: Contempt Of Court Bill Is Unfair And An Attempt To Silence Public

    I just read CNA. The report seems to imply that I retract my entire first post of today. I only retract the part related to the comment on Mr. Tang Wee Sung. Mr. Shanmugam has informed me that even after the new law has been passed, it is not illegal to criticize a judgement or the AGC after the judgement has been delivered. Much of the proposed bill is ambiguous to a person not trained in legal matters.

    As per my current understanding, I stand by the rest of the statements I posted. The bill which will be passed in parliament tomorrow gives the government the right to comment whilst denying that to people. This is inconsistent with equality before the law and is an attempt to muzzle public opinion

    In Straits Times on 12/8/2016, it was reported that the contempt of court laws are set to be entered into the statutes.

    Minister Shanmugam stated that
    1) It gives the public a better sense of what action can unduly influence court proceedings, known as sub judice. Ironically, Sub Judice rules were set up for situation where there is laymen jury who may be naïve enough to be misled by rumours or lead by emotion rather than logic as in religious or racial issues. It was this weakness of having a jury swayed by ignorance or emotions that lead our founding PM Lee Kuan Yew, to do away with Juries in Singapore courts. If your judges are so vulnerable, then the cabinet is at fault for its choice of candidates proposed to be promoted to be judges.

    2) It provides a framework for contempt of court punishments. The maximum penalty is a fine up to $20,000 and/or jail term up to 12 months. This is very serious penalties for someone who may just want to speak out against an unfair judge and/or an unfair government. When I wrote in ST against the then penalty for Mr Tang Wee Sung, whilst I wrote out of my pity for Mr. Tang and the sense of how brutally unfair the penalty suggested by our Attorney General’s Chambers was, the letter published in Straits Time was worded with the help of Mr Shanmugam and his partner at Allen and Gledhill, Mr Lucian Wong. I would have written even if neither senior lawyers supported me, but the wording of my letter would have been very amateurish. Now being on the side of the government, Minister Shanmugam seems to see justice only from the point of view of the government and the AGC always being right.
    In fact, it is bizarre for me after what Mr. Wong and Mr. Shanmugam encouraged and supported me to do then, that Mr. Shanmugam now wants to demolish a tiny trail leading to some degree of justice for someone whom the government considers a nuisance.

    3) It provides a framework for contempt of court punishment and sets a limit on fines and prison sentences which as seen from above can be very serious.

    This has led to widespread concern amongst Singaporeans who understand the implications of this proposed law and one need only search the internet to find multiple posts stating why this bill will gag public debate on issues that are important to Singaporeans. I will not repeat what has been clearly stated in petition against this bill which was published Straits Times on 12/8/2016.

    Rather, I am amazed that there has not been more vocal protest by more Singaporeans. A phenomenon I observed this morning may provide the answer. I woke up and stepped out of my air-conditioned bedroom and immediately smelled smoked. I asked my two maids who sleep in bedrooms with their windows open whether they smelt anything smoke and they did not. I called a friend who also sleeps in air-conditioned bedroom and he too smelt smoke as he stepped out of his bedroom. Smell is a sensation that we quickly get used to and then no longer notice it if it lingers for less than an hour. Perhaps, Singaporeans have gotten used to an authoritarian government who until recently had always acted for their wellbeing, and so when another new action is taken, they do not even bother to think whether it may be against their welfare. This current government is not like previous PAP governments. I urged all Singaporeans, and all MPs and NMPs to think through what has been proposed, and also read the many commentaries on the internet.

     

    Source: Lee Wei Ling

  • Sports Seen As Unworthy Investment By Singapore Government?

    Sports Seen As Unworthy Investment By Singapore Government?

    What does this mean for local sports?

    I’m not sure how big of a role did SSA play towards his achievement but I bet the govt didnt do as much either.

    If that’s true, the message I’m getting is, “We celebrate victories but you have to put in the effort yourself and raise your own funding.”

    If the excuse is that people should be willing to sacrifice a lot to do what they love, clearly athlete development is not something that S’pore prioritises on investing in.

    ‪#‎setakattumpangbahagia‬

     

    Source: Muhammad Fahmi Hussaini

  • Nicholas Lee: PAP Deserve Credit For Almost Sabotaging Joseph Schooling, Singaporeans Need To Reflect

    Nicholas Lee: PAP Deserve Credit For Almost Sabotaging Joseph Schooling, Singaporeans Need To Reflect

    Long Re-post, but enlightening:

    Some Facts about Joseph Schooling, you decide for yourself

    Joseph Issac Schooling, born in SIngapore. Father is a 3rd generation Singaporean of mixed English and Eurasian Portuguese heritage. Mother is a Malaysian Chinese who is a singapore PR. She has been living in Singapore for decades but has not taken up Singapore citizenship.

    Went to ACS Primary school. After PSLE, his swimming potential was identified by the parents, and they decided to send him to the Jacksonville, Florida to attend the Bolles School, which is a school specializing in training atheletes, in particular swimmers. Bolles has had a swimmer alumnus or student competing in every Olympic games since 1972. Their swimming program was set up by Gregg Troy who was the US Olympic Swim coach for the 2012 Olympic games. Imagine your secondary school swimming coach is a former Olympic swimmer and coached Michael Phelps in the 2012 Olympics!! What a powerhouse your school would be in the pool. because he is an international student, Bolles has a boarding program for its foreign students. The cost of one year of school fees and room and board is USD $47,000. Guess how much the PAP and SNOC contributed to this amount. Zero would be a fair guess.

    After he graduated from Bolles, he was offered a swim scholarship at University of Texas, one of the top 5 swimming programs amongst US universities. The Head Coach for the U of T swimming program is Eddie Reese, former head coach of the US Olympics swim team in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. If you know anything about the swim program, you know that nothing is left to chance. Professional full-time dieticians, sports psychologist, strenght and conditioning coaches, multi million weight rooms, etc are all part and parcel of what atheletes get when they go there. But even on a scholarship, its not cheap, with frequent travel to Singapore to compete in the SEA and Asian games and other social visits. Also, out of pocket costs and other costs in USD is also not cheap.

    It was at this point when the big hooha between Schooling’s mother MINDEF took place over his deferment. After a protracted and public fight, where she used the news media to put pressure on the PAP, you know who won the fight. Unfortunately, in earlier times, without the aid of modern day internet and social media, many other atheletes were lost to NS and a short sighted govt. policy. The race driver Andrew Tang is an example of a failed request for NS deferment. Ang Peng Siong in an earlier time was another case.

    So to sum it up……………..
    The Schoolings and not the govt paid huge money to send Joseph to Bolles for his swim coaching and studies
    The Schoolings and not the govt got the U of T scholarship for Joseph, even though it seems the PAP is giving full scholarships to every tom dick and harry FT
    The PAP wanted to sabotage the whole thing by making him do NS at such a critical junction in his swim career, and it would have happened if not for his mother’s intervention.

    The other Republic swimmer Quah Zheng Wen was not so fortunate that his family can send him to Bolles and hence is stuck with no name national coach carlos lopez, a bronze medallist in the Olympics and with the pathetic facilities in singapore. If Quah had the same opportunities, maybe we have 2 medals or more.

    U decide how much credit the PAP should get. Then see how many of these assholes jump on the bandwagon until it breaks.

    Some more Facts about Joseph Schooling, you decide for yourself Part 2

    “I think it has to be said that as a nation, a people, a country, a govt., and as individuals, we did almost nothing to help Schooling get to the gold medal. We did not finance him, did not support him, the PAP chose not to groom and encourage this guy. Very little of our money went to training him, and providing him the necessary support, compared to the millions we lavish on 3rd class ungrateful atheletes from China and elsewhere. Not only did we not support him, we almost killed his career by making him do NS. When I say we, I mean the 70% of the morons that supported and elected the PAP. If his mother May did not fight MINDEF to get his deferment, he might still be in the SAF now doing NS. There was no mass petition from singaporeans calling for his deferment. there was no mass calling of the MPs to support him. There was no media support for him, and certainly no support from the Singapore National Olympics Committeefor his deferment. Instead, 2 angmos (one was his swim coach in U of T, Gregg Troy) and the other a technical director, Bill Swetenham of SSC, wrote in their support to ask for his deferment. Not one PAP asshole or Notable sinkie stood up for this boy.

    But now that he won the Gold, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and be proud of him. I say that you don’t have that right. Singaporeans have not earned the right to claim the limelight with him. Where were they when he needed them? Sinkies are really pathetic hypocrites. Although I am born and raised in singapore, I am ashamed of our treatment of this boy, and I certainly cannot rejoice without a hint of embarassment that we as a people almost kill this great moment.”

     

    Source: Nicholas Lee

deneme bonusu