Tag: Singaporeans

Imam Shafie: For The Little Ones

Carrying a cardboard box, 42-year-old Mohd Shafie Mohd Hanapiah made his way to a room in the Pusara Aman Mosque at Lim Chu Kang Road.

When he entered the room, Shafie placed the box on a table and carefully took out its contents, laying them out in front of him on a stainless steel slab.

The box contained four foetuses and a few other surgical remains which he collected earlier from Changi General Hospital.

After reciting a quick prayer, Shafie began to carefully wash each foetus and each of the surgical remains. A sombre mood hung over the room.

Shafie said that he treats the foetuses as if they were his own.

“Sometimes when we do our duty and cleanse the foetuses, I will talk to them and say that they are like my children,” he said.

Working with an assistant, Shafie proceeded to carry out the necessary Islamic rites before shrouding the foetuses and surgical remains, then putting them back into the cardboard box to transport for burial later.

As an Imam with the Singapore Muslim Casket (SMC), it is Shafie’s responsibility to cleanse, shroud and bury unclaimed foetuses and surgical remains in accordance with Islamic ritual.

“It is wajib (compulsory) in Islam to wash, shroud and bury the foetuses. We cannot just dispose of them anyhow,” said Shafie.

Unclaimed bodies handled by SMC and MTFA

Working together with the Muslimin Trust Fund Association (MTFA), the SMC handles the burial of miscarried and aborted foetuses, surgical remains and unclaimed Muslim bodies in Singapore.

MTFA pays for the burial services for the burial of unclaimed Muslims bodies who have passed away in Singapore, as well as those whose next-of-kin are unable to pay for the burial rites. The services also include burying foetuses and surgical remains.

MTFA said the number of burials that includes unclaimed bodies, surgical remains and unclaimed foetuses varies from month to month.

In 2015, the association buried 27 bodies, 239 foetuses and 489 surgical remains. The number of foetuses rose by 15 per cent to 239 in 2015 after declining in the previous two years.

Unmarked graves

A former Company Sergeant Major with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Shafie has been preparing the foetuses, bodies and surgical remains for burial for the past 28 years. He started volunteering to cleanse and shroud Muslim bodies when he was 14.

The bachelor sees it as his responsibility to ensure that the unclaimed bodies, especially foetuses, are given proper burials.

“According to Muslim laws, even a small part of the body needs to be buried. We cannot just anyhow put the remains (foetus or body parts) at any plot of land. It has to be buried in a cemetery,” explained Shafie.

Shafie takes about 40 minutes to cleanse and shroud each foetus before they are brought to an unmarked piece of land at Lim Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery for burial.

Each plot is divided into two parts, and up to 20 foetuses are buried in each part, he said. At the cemetery, another quick prayer is recited after the foetuses and remains are buried.

There are no tombstones to mark the area.

Despite doing this job for almost 30 years, Shafie admits that burying a foetus is always heartbreaking.

“The feeling of sadness is there. We do have feelings for it (the foetuses) and it is not an easy task to do but we still have to proceed with it,” he said with tears welling up in his eyes.

Source: Yahoo News

July 19, 2016
Family Upset About Caterer’s No-Show For Hari Raya Eve Dinner

Lontong, rendang, and sambal prawns – that was what she was looking forward to serving her extended family at a special meal on July 5, the eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

But the food, which cost her $600, did not appear on the dining table.

Ms Darniyati Majid, 46, is among several customers of a catering company who claim they did not receive what they ordered and also did not get refunds.

Attempts by The New Paper to contact the owners of the company several times last week were unsuccessful.

A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) shows that the business is still listed as a live company.

Ms Darniyati, a quality inspector, said: “My mother is not feeling well, so I wanted to order a feast for her to host 30 to 40 family members visiting on Hari Raya eve.”

On July 4, a day before the delivery, she sent a Facebook message to the company to confirm the delivery timing, but there was no reply.

Ms Darniyati said she was “so worried I could not sleep” so on the morning of July 5, she contacted another catering company to order food for the dinner. It cost her $300.

Later that day, someone from the catering company sent her a message via Facebook, promising to refund her for the non-delivery, but she did not get a refund.

On July 6, she made a police report. A police spokesman told TNP a report was lodged and investigations were ongoing.

Another customer, graphic designer Zara Samsudin, 37, had ordered iftar (breaking of fast) meals for the entire duration of the fasting month.

From June 7 to June 24, the orders were fulfilled, but from June 27, she stopped receiving any food.

Ms Zara said: “The owner messaged me to say that her cook had been injured (due to an incident involving) hot oil.”

She said the company gave her a full refund of $145 on July 5.

Other customers have not been as lucky.

At least four people, who posted messages online complaining about the caterer, told TNP they did not receive their orders and refunds. They said they could not reach the owners after Hari Raya.

The amounts owed are between $69 and $149, according to their claims.

One of them, housewife Sheree Deen, 28, said: “The owner keeping quiet would not assuage our worries.”

When reporters visited the owner’s flat in Woodlands last week, he was not in. A woman at the flat, who declined to be named, said the catering business had closed down the week before.

PAGE TAKEN DOWN

The company’s Facebook page, which has been taken down since Tuesday night, listed the address of a food stall in Sembawang.

When TNP visited the stall last week, the cooksaid the owner was in Johor Baru.

Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), advised that consumers seeking for refunds from a registered business may file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT).

Mr Seah added: “If they get a judgment in their favour but the business refuses to pay, they can enforce the judgment by way of a writ of seizure and sale to recover their money.”

Case said no complaints have been registered against the catering company in the past.

Consumers can contact Case for advice on filing a claim at the SCT via their hotline at 6100-0315.

Ms Darniyati said: “I hope caterers won’t take orders if they can’t cope. I would not want this to happen to anyone.”

Source: The New Paper

July 18, 2016
Big Splash Bosses Pulling The Plug

In its heyday, Big Splash was known for having the tallest water slides in Singapore.

Though the flumes and water park were demolished a decade ago, the attraction has retained its name and still pulls in 300,000 visitors a month with its dining and recreation amenities.

But after 40 years in operation, the establishment is going out, not so much with a big splash, but a small drip.

Bosses have revealed it will close its doors on Oct 21, when its lease with the National Parks Board (NParks) expires.

It will make way for a new development on the 2.83ha plot, details of which are yet to be revealed.

Fans of the park, including those who remember its original format, are sad to see it go.

Data entry clerk Florence Lim, 39, said: “One of my favourite memories with my late father is when he took us to play at the colourful slides. Back then there was no Wild Wild Wet, so Big Splash was very adventurous and exciting. I also took my two sons there a few years ago and had a nice time.”

Madam Lim plans to have a family outing there before it closes. “We will definitely take photos this time to remember it,” she added.

Student Ang Wan Qi, 20, said: “I used to go there after visiting my grandparents. I have fond memories of playing mini-golf at Lilliputt with my family where I was very competitive with my brother. I am devastated to find out it is closing.”

Tenants are also disappointed, though some have managed to secure two-and-a-half-month extensions to their leases.

Mr Walter Goh, director of Fish@Big Splash – a fishing and prawning attraction, said: “We have extended with NParks for now, but we are looking for somewhere with a more long-term lease.”

Others among the 21 tenants have already found a new site. Outdoor gear store Hornest has rented space at Oxley Business Park and plans to move there in September.

Owner Tay Choon Mong said: “After the opening of Parkland Green nearby, retail here is quite bad and we are struggling. The crowd here has become limited.”

Alpha Gymnastics will move to Chai Chee Technopark, a 10- minute drive from Big Splash. Head coach Howard Cheng said: “It will be more convenient for our current customers as we understand that most of them stay in the east.”

Seafood International Market and Restaurant will shut on Sept 15, according to a post on Big Splash’s Facebook page. It has been at the park for 33 years. Director Justin Tan said: “We have been trying to find something similar in terms of location for the past year after being actively in talks with NParks for the past 18 months.

“There are several options such as waiting after NParks redevelops the area. They have welcomed us to re-tender then.”

While smaller tenants were offered lease extensions, Seafood International was not given the option. Mr Tan added: “It’s very difficult to give up a place we’ve been at so long, but we’ve come to terms with it and we’ve had a good run.”

Redevelopment of Big Splash is expected to begin early next year.

Source: The Straits Times

July 17, 2016
Gay Singaporean: HIV Made Me Better Appreciate My Life And Family

Mr Ajmal Khan is 26. Known as AJ to friends, he is lanky, has an easy laugh, enjoys computer games and Chinese food, and works in e-commerce. He has also been living with HIV for the last six years.

He is one of the increasing number of gay Singaporeans afflicted with the infection. Last year, 232 homosexuals were diagnosed with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). That is a 27.5 per cent jump from 2014 and the highest since 2009, when there were 139 new cases among gay men. There are around 7,140 residents in Singapore with HIV as of end 2015, of whom 1,816 had died.

AJ is now among the few Singaporeans to go public with his HIV status, alongside the likes of Mr Paddy Chew, who died in 1999 at the age of 39, and Mr Avin Tan, 30.

It was by chance that he found out he was infected. In 2010, he and his five friends were at a sauna on the same night that volunteer outfit Action for Aids had stationed a mobile HIV testing clinic outside. So they decided to get tested.

AJ, having tested negative seven months before, was not worried.

“My friends were all flashing their negative test cards. But when mine came back, it was positive,” he told The Sunday Times in his first interview to any newspaper.

“We were all like, nah, it can’t be. So I repeated the test. The second one came back positive as well. Everybody just stopped talking; it was very quiet. I just went numb. A couple of my friends started to cry.”

A year before, he had come out as gay, after dropping out of polytechnic. “I was young and a bit naive. I had this invincibility mindset.”

He admitted he was reckless, but at the same time said there was no one he could turn to for advice.

Volunteer groups such as Action for Aids and Oogachaga have called for more targeted outreach efforts towards youth.

Asked why he did not use protection, AJ said: “I had to figure it out on my own. It is a very awkward topic to bring up, especially during one-time encounters. I just didn’t think that it would happen to me.”

Asked if he knew who had infected him, he replied: “It could have been anyone.”

It was only two years after his diagnosis that he finally told his mother about it. He blurted it out while they were watching TV.

For Madam Honey Bee – she said her name was a result of a mistake when her birth was registered – that was the worst day of her life.

” I thought he was joking. I asked: ‘Really?’ He said yes,” said the 55-year-old administrative assistant. “He went out and I broke down.”

AJ is the second of her three sons. She brought them up almost single- handedly after divorcing her husband when AJ was only three and her youngest child was an infant.

Not all her relatives are supportive. “But I’m tired of pleasing everyone; I don’t want to hide any more. If my son wants to (go public), I agree with it,” she said.

In 2013, AJ finally decided to start anti-retroviral therapy. He realised it meant a lifelong commitment – stopping the drugs could mean the virus coming back stronger.

According to Professor Roy Chan, president of Action for Aids, the infection is no longer a death sentence. “Anti-retroviral drugs have revolutionised the treatment and management of HIV,” he said. “With optimum anti-HIV treatment, a person with HIV infection can live as long as those without HIV.”

But patients must adhere strictly to the medication. Otherwise the virus could multiply and become more drug-resistant.

AJ now takes a cocktail of five pills daily. They cost $400 a month after subsidies. His current HIV viral count is undetectable, meaning the virus does not show up in blood tests.

People do react awkwardly when they learn of his HIV status, asking him if he is going to die, and if that is the reason he is so skinny. They also worry about sharing food with him even though HIV does not spread via the sharing of dishes.

AJ said his current employers are accepting, but hunting for a job was not easy. He got only one call back for every 20 applications he sent out “just because I said that I have a medical condition. I did not even say what it was”.

AJ hopes that by putting himself forward and giving the infection a human dimension, he can dispel such myths and stereotypes.

His mother said she has found comfort in people who tell her that AJ’s openness has given them strength and that they, too, have friends and family with HIV. She added that the diagnosis has made AJ a “much, much better boy”.

AJ said: ” The irony is that HIV has made me appreciate my life and family a lot more.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

July 16, 2016
Primary School Teacher Investigated For Abusive Punishment Of Students

Several parents, unhappy with how a maths and science teacher was disciplining students in Gongshang Primary School, have lodged complaints with the school and the Ministry of Education (MOE).

According to the parents, the female teacher from the school in Tampines — who has been relieved of her teaching duties and cannot be named as investigations into the case are still ongoing — had resorted to abusive punishment of her students in the classes she taught.

The punishments ranged from the students being called names, having to kneel beside the teacher’s table, and getting objects thrown at them.

Parents TODAY spoke to say this happened from as early as March this year. The teacher also called students who had forgotten to bring their science textbooks “a bunch of retarded monkeys”, said Ms Karen Tan, whose Primary 5 son was among the forgetful students.

The 42-year-old accountant added that her son, who has high myopia, had to constantly walk nearer to the whiteboard during lessons in class.

The teacher was said to have told the boy: “Too bad you can’t see. Go get new spectacles.”

To other students who did the same thing, she allegedly said: “Don’t you have the money to get new ones?”

In another incident that occurred before the school holidays in June, the teacher is said to have made a classmate of Ms Tan’s son sit on the floor beside her.

The student, whom Ms Tan said was “a little more playful than the rest”, was a little disruptive, and in an apparent fit of anger, the teacher allegedly threw a whiteboard marker at the boy’s head.

Ms Tan noted that while other teachers of the Primary 5 class lectured the students, only this teacher punished them to such an extent.

Ms Josephine Chua, whose son is also in the same class, told TODAY that the students often “have to dodge, because they never know what is going to get thrown their way”.

The 43-year-old homemaker said another parent had told their child’s form teacher about the teacher’s actions in March, while the science head of department was informed about the matter in April.

Ms Chua and her husband met the school’s management on Monday to discuss the teacher’s case.

TODAY understands that on Tuesday, the school sent out a circular to parents and students to inform them that the teacher had been transferred to teach non-core subjects in the school, such as art and social studies, with effect from the same day.

Her classes have been taken over by other teachers, and she is also no longer the form teacher of her class.

Mr George Cheah, the school’s vice-principal (administration), told TODAY: “The school takes any misconduct of our teachers very seriously. After receiving the parents’ feedback, the school leaders met the parents to understand their concerns.

“Our students’ welfare remains our top priority.”

Ms Chua told TODAY that the school’s decision “belittles the severity of the abuse”, and that the parents hope the teacher will be transferred out of the school, and into a non-teaching role.

Both Ms Chua and Ms Tan said they had met the teacher before during the parent-teacher sessions held before the June holidays. They described her as “patient, soft-spoken” and “cordial”.

The teacher’s alleged actions have also been detailed in a blog about motherhood, Mother Inc.

In response to TODAY’s queries, an MOE spokesperson said: “Teachers who fail to comply with our standards of conduct and discipline will be subjected to disciplinary action.

“The teacher has been relieved of her teaching duties while investigations are ongoing.”

Source: TODAY Online

July 15, 2016