SINGAPORE: Two men and 134 women, aged between 23 and 50, have been arrested for their suspected involvement in vice-related activities, the police said in a news release on Tuesday (Apr 10).

The police said the 22-day anti-vice operation that ended on Apr 10 involved officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the six Police Land Divisions.

Coordinated raids were conducted at multiple locations islandwide, including condominiums and residential units at Geylang, Tanjong Katong Road, Boon Teck Road, Clementi, Woodlands, Jurong West, Rangoon Road, Sembawang, Yishun, Boon Lay Drive, Jellicoe Road, Tan Quee Lan Street, Raffles Boulevard and Sims Avenue.

During the operation, items including three mobile phones and a CCTV camera were seized.

Investigations are currently ongoing.

The police said that Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats are meant for residential purposes, and the use of flats for vice activities is strictly prohibited.

Flat owners who knowingly rent their premises to any person for vice-related activities will be liable on conviction to a fine of up to S$3,000, or to imprisonment of up to three years, or both. 

Meanwhile, tenants who are found to be involved in the misuse of the flat will not be allowed to rent an HDB flat for five years.

SINGAPORE: Featuring artefacts such as elaborately adorned handcrafted envelopes and the world’s first stamp embedded with Swarovski crystals, a nine-month long exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) seeks to showcase the beauty of letter writing, a lost art in these modern days of the Internet and advancing technology.

You’ve Got Mail!, a two-part exhibition, took eight years to come to fruition, with the museum working with private collectors around the world.

Beginning Wednesday (Apr 11), the exhibition will take visitors back to the days of snail mail, with 200 hand decorated envelopes and 150 unusual stamps on display.

The aim? To inspire people to write letters and encourage them to send mail the traditional way again. 

“In this digital age, we use our phones or other mobile devices to send messages, but these are intangible because if you change your phone, the messages are gone,” said Ms Lucille Yap, a senior curator at SPM. 

“We want to inspire people to pick up a pen and start writing letters to their friends and loved ones again.”

The first segment will showcase award-winning handcrafted envelopes from the Washington Calligraphers Guild’s annual Graceful Envelope Contests.

The second segment will illustrate how innovate stamp design and printing technology have transformed the regular square and  rectangular stamps into multi-sensory stamps that come with various scents, textures and even sound. 

The exhibition will run till Dec 31. 

SINGAPORE: Degree? Check.

Skills? Check.

A proper job to match their qualifications? Unfortunately, not.

A recent survey conducted by the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, in partnership with Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute and presented to the Labour Research Conference in 2017, revealed worrying statistics of seriously underemployed Singaporean graduates.

The survey – one of the first of its kind – revealed that a small group of graduates had fallen into involuntary underemployment (in other words, not by choice but by circumstances beyond their control) where despite working full-time, they earn less than S$2,000 per month. These are the “graduate poor” and it is a black swan in our labour landscape.

SEVERELY UNDEREMPLOYED

Based on a research sample of 1,626 Singapore workers, about 70 of them were considered severely underemployed. This group of underemployed were typically female (63 per cent) and of a median age of 35 years.

A majority of them (61 per cent) also had no children. They had 10 to 15 years of working experience and were employed by businesses that serve mainly the domestic market.

They also came largely from the health and social services sectors, followed by financial services, transport and education sectors.

Surprisingly, despite their prior working experience, only half of these underemployed graduates felt that their skills were being recognised at work. More than three-quarter acknowledged that their employers recognised their educational qualifications.

Yet they were being grossly underpaid.

These facts may be appalling to us and not surprisingly, these underemployed graduates themselves lament being underpaid; having a lower status at work than what they think they should be having; possessing inadequate retirement savings; having little confidence in their income and job security; and in the more serious cases, even experiencing difficulties covering their daily expenses.

The survey findings correspond with many other research studies done in this area in the US, where there is clear evidence of underemployed graduates having lower self-esteem, greater stress and less job satisfaction.

BY CHOICE OR CIRCUMSTANCE?

How do people become, and get stuck being underemployed?

Sometimes, opportunities may have been scarce or may not have been spotted by these graduates. At other times, they may have been too quick to take up any job offer that came their way, to bring in an income to pay for their bills and daily living expenses. 

This group may then find themselves stuck in that “lesser” job role and may find it increasingly difficult to venture out after settling in.

Regardless of the reason, the underlying issue is that these graduates are not adequately paid. Being underemployed over a longer term can also lead to a vicious cycle because these workers may lose the drive and confidence to update their skills and remain relevant to the job that commensurate with their skills and qualifications.

Over time, they may feel trapped in their current jobs and become increasingly pessimistic about being able to find anything better. This would make it difficult for them to break out of this trap unless they are retrained or reskilled.

To ignore this fact is to potentially leave them open for further exploitation which would only deepen their predicament. And research has shown that underemployment amongst graduates can be expected to have more adverse economic, social and psychological impact.

Looking at their woes from the outside, one can easily empathise with them. With their work experience and skills acquired throughout their working years, they could possess latent skills which have the potential to be harnessed and nurtured.

All they need is a push in the right direction to help them rediscover these options and get back on track.

READ: A commentary on guarding against ‘slavery of the poor’.

TARGETED APPROACH TO HELP THE UNDEREMPLOYED

The Government has introduced many programmes under the Adapt and Grow initiative to help mid-career professionals such as the Professional Conversion Programme to help professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) acquire new skills and move into new occupations with better prospects and progression.

Workforce Singapore also runs the Career Support Programme which provides incentives to employers to hire experienced, mature PMEs, especially those who have been unemployed, by subsidising their salaries.

With all these programmes in place, the question is whether the underemployed graduates are aware of these schemes. Perhaps, a targeted approach is needed to help them. For a start, we need to find them, and provide career counselling to encourage them to look for jobs that better match their skills and qualifications.

The survey pointed out the need to identify the severely underemployed using multiple indicators and offer programmes that help these individuals cope with work and health issues, as the underemployed surveyed, generally, experienced more health issues than others.

This suggests that their underemployment could be a result of their inability to manage greater work demands due in part to poorer health.

There is also a need to dispel the common perception that underemployed graduates are in such a predicament because of their poor attitude, which makes it difficult for them to secure suitable employment.

The study actually found that, barring health issues (which also happens to be more common amongst underemployed graduates), this group of underemployed graduates expressed the same willingness as their counterparts in the labour force (i.e. all other survey participants) to pick up new skills, reskill or deep-skill.

They therefore have the drive to achieve a lot more in their careers (and earn higher salaries when they get there). The findings also revealed that they were more open to new experiences and are more conscientious at work as compared to their counterparts.

It also argued that individuals who are involuntarily underemployed deserve more help and resources, to enable them to benefit from a combination of purpose-driven upskilling with a clear target job, as well as life coaching. For employers, the study suggested the need for stronger recognition of skills and greater awareness on the areas to upskill. 

I concur with all the above statements – strongly, in fact.

As an economy powered by our people, we should assist this potential pool to level up their employability. If health issues are the main contributing factor to their inability to carry out certain jobs, then employers should be encouraged to redesign these jobs.

This is just one of the many ways we can help these underemployed graduates.

SAFEGUARDING AGAINST UNDEREMPLOYMENT

While the sample size in the study may be small, the findings give us insight into a problem that most of us believe a developed society like ours will not face.

Whether these “graduate poor” are some of those who fell through the cracks or are victims of unfortunate circumstances, I think we need to always ensure that we keep an open mind. Earning less than $2,000 will put them below the 20th income percentile

It is one thing if you did not have access to good education, but to have access to it and not receive returns for it should be treated as a problem that is worth investigating.

If education is the ladder to social mobility, we need to find out exactly how it can grant people that mobility and ensure that nobody falls off the ladder completely.

In today’s job market, precarity can befall any of us. I think hardly anyone would suggest that those graduates who are underemployed are entirely to be blamed for it.

Advancements in technology, artificial intelligence, even changing market preferences result in constant changes that threaten the future of work, and in turn, our rice bowls. This is an alarming reality facing every worker.

The key is to guard ourselves as much as we can. Keeping abreast of how jobs are changing and new jobs are being created under the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) is a good start and seizing the opportunities to reskill or upskill would steer us in a safe direction.

In addition, I hope the study serves as a good reminder to all – that sitting comfortably for too long with your current skillsets may potentially be “de-skilling” you, making you irrelevant for the needs of businesses in the future.

That’s why the Labour Movement is always advocating for both employees and companies to think ahead and constantly plan for skills upgrading. A degree from even a top university cannot protect you if your skillsets have become irrelevant. Constantly re-learning and re-skilling are better insurance packages for job security.

For policymakers, it is important to keep track of this black swan. With university degrees under their belts, or even several years of service, nobody wishes to be employed full-time while earning less than they potentially could.

Graduate underemployment can become a newly emerging structural problem demanding structural solutions. While all the ITMs have been announced, we must make sure they work, and that their benefits are felt by workers.

Degree? Check.

Skills? Check.

Positive attitude towards work? Check.

Openness? Check.

Conscientiousness? Check.

Willingness to up-skill, re-skill, deep-skill? Triple check.

So, with the 23 ITMs being rolled out, surely they can (with targeted help) secure a job placement that allows them to reach their fullest potential.

Zainal Sapari is NTUC Assistant Secretary-General. This commentary first appeared in LabourBeat.

SINGAPORE: Just weeks after ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing acquired Uber’s business in China in 2016, commuters and drivers found themselves hit in the pocket.

Fares on the Didi Hitch service rose by 20 per cent in Beijing, and customers in other major cities such as Chengdu and Xi’an reported forking out more for the same distance, according to media reports.

Around the same time, Didi also reduced its subsidies for drivers in Beijing, with weekend subsidies totally cut. They had previously received a 100 yuan (S$20.90) bonus for completing 38 rides on Saturdays and Sundays.

A year after Didi’s US$35 billion (S$46.1 billion) acquisition — which made it the largest player in the Chinese domestic market, with an almost 90 per cent market share — China’s official Xinhua News Agency slammed the firm for “capricious” price rises.

It is this exact scenario which regulators and experts in Singapore fear would play out, following Grab’s takeover of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations. On its part, Grab has pledged not to raise fares and commission fees in the “short to medium term”. Its Singapore country head Lim Kell Jay also said the public’s fears over a monopoly, while understandable, were “unwarranted especially given that the competitiveness and the contestability of the market is well and alive”.

On Mar 26, Grab announced it had bought over Uber’s business in Southeast Asia after a bruising battle for market share and months of speculation.

The news sent lawmakers scrambling to assess the deal’s impact on their markets. Anti-trust watchdogs in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines are racing against time to determine if the deal hinders competition, while Singapore’s regulators are also looking into its impact on the point-to-point transport sector.

As part of the deal which is under review by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS), Grab will take over Uber’s ride-sharing and food-delivery business in Southeast Asia. Uber will, in turn, take a 27.5 per cent stake in Grab and its chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grab’s board.

SCRUTINISING GRAB’S ARGUMENTS

Despite Grab’s assurances, experts expect the firm to eventually raise its charges to recoup losses. While there was little doubt that the Grab-Uber deal would reduce competition in point-to-point transport, the experts were divided on whether it will result in a monopoly.

With Grab having a commanding position in the market, Associate Professor Lawrence Loh of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School said consumers and drivers may not be impacted at the start if the acquisition goes through, but this could change down the road.

Assoc Prof Loh, who is director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations at the school, cited Didi’s moves after it took over Uber’s China business. He said:

Once a deal gets through, after some time, some of the anti-competitive or undesirable practices can come out.

Urban transport expert Park Byung Joon said Grab would have to find ways to recover its investments after years of splashing money to gain market share. “Otherwise, what’s the point? Their business has one (aim) — start recovering their money,” said Dr Park, who is with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

In 2016, Didi, the world’s most valuable start-up, acquired Uber’s China business after an intense rivalry where Uber reportedly bled US$2 billion over two years there. Several players, including Meituan Dianping, have since signalled an intent to elbow their way in. Kicking off its first ride-hailing project in Nanjing last year, Meituan is rolling out seven more pilot initiatives this year, including in Beijing and Shanghai.

Still, NUS Business School assistant professor Yang Nan said the sizeable Chinese market had to wait over a year for a major rival such as Meituan to join the fray and it is too soon to tell if it will succeed in “balancing the market play”.

In Singapore, following the announcement of Uber’s sale to Grab, homegrown carpooling service Ryde and Indonesia’s Go-Jek have plans to enter the Singapore market.

Grab has stressed that competition exists in many forms — from taxis to public transport and possible new entrants into the market.

Grab’s Mr Lim seeks to debunk the view that Grab was dominating the market. Among other things, he noted how customers still had various affordable transport options to take them home safely, despite Grab’s major outage lasting four hours on Tuesday (Apr 3) night. It had another brief disruption on Friday (Apr 6).

Addressing Grab’s arguments, Assoc Prof Loh said the various transport modes may not be perfect substitutes. The MRT and bus networks differ in convenience, availability and accessibility, while traditional taxi operators are not entrenched enough in the digital space to compete with big players such as Grab.

SUSS transport economist Walter Theseira said the question was whether the alternatives remained viable with Grab as the dominant ride-hailing service. “The general ambition of ride-hailing platforms is to completely subsume all traditional taxi services and indeed, other point-to-point services, under their umbrella,” he said.

He questioned whether there were “efficiency benefits” from having a dominant ride-hailing operator and how to ensure these were shared with parties such as commuters and drivers.

The attention that the Government is affording the issue is not surprising, given that the service is used daily by hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans and is also the livelihood of tens of thousands of drivers.

“It is a service that, if it were withdrawn tomorrow, would have a huge impact on the economy and people’s lives — at least until other transport providers such as taxis adjusted to fill the gap,” said Dr Theseira.

Experts said that while the technological barriers to entry were low, other hurdles stood in the way of potential competitors, including access to drivers.

Assoc Prof Loh said Grab has an army of drivers and new entrants may not be able to “readily plug into this pool of drivers due to inertia, resistance or even uncertainty”.

Agreeing, Dr Park said Singapore already has an established pool of registered private-hire cars — about 47,000 at the end of last year — and it would not be easy for Go-Jek or other players to “add 20,000 cars”. The key is to entice drivers to move, but this could be complicated by the contracts which drivers may have with their ride-hailing company’s rental arm, which could tie their hands for a prolonged period. “That will effectively hinder other players to grow,” said Dr Park.

Enthusing commuters to use another app may also be tough, Assoc Prof Loh said, although Dr Park noted that customer loyalty is very low in the ride-hailing space.

Also, Grab has an edge given its familiarity with local habits and customs and new players may not be able to hit the ground running immediately, Assoc Prof Loh added.

Ultimately, for commuters and drivers, the chief concern is the Grab takeover could lead to a dominant player jacking up prices and commission fees, experts reiterated.

While Dr Park said prices will not be “infinitely high” even with a monopoly — as exorbitant fares will push commuters to other modes of transport — there was still cause for concern since prices will invariably be higher than when there is “intense competition”.

HOW MARKET POWER CAN BE USED FOR GOOD AND BAD

Apart from outright price hikes, transport specialist Terence Fan from the Singapore Management University said such increases could be subtle such as cutting the availability of cheaper alternatives, which indirectly pushes up the amount consumers have to pay.

Away from fares, Dr Theseira said the main issue is Grab’s increased ability, with market power, to capture more value from ride-hailing. Presently, it takes a 20 per cent cut from private-hire car drivers.

Rather than raising fares, it could bump up the commission rate to extract more value, which could also be done via its payments platform GrabPay.

These uses of market power would be far less visible to the public, but in reality, they could be more impactful on the market as a whole.

Assistant Professor Fan said that if the deal went through, drivers would have only one company with which to negotiate car leases and they effectively have “nowhere to turn to if the merged entity suppresses the amount of pay that would accrue to them”.

Still, Dr Surachet Pravinvongvuth, an assistant professor in transportation engineering at Thailand’s Asian Institute of Technology, said there were also benefits from reduced competition.

For instance, waiting time will be cut, since Grab and Uber’s combined fleets mean a larger supply of vehicles. Commuters will also not have to straddle several apps.

“We should consider all aspects, and to me, at this state — at least in the Thai market which I know well — I have no problem with this merger. I do not mean that I support the monopoly, but … (in) the current state, there is no problem,” he said.

Asst Prof Fan added that consumers can expect more integrated offerings from a single app, while drivers will benefit from a larger entity which may have a greater ability to provide complementary services, such as fleet maintenance and petrol deals.

Writing on Grab’s blog last month, Mr Lim said “it’s never just about competition”. Highlighting its slew of services, he said the firm has a “bigger vision for how we can build a more efficient transport system” to serve commuters better.

We offer more transport options, at different price points, to suit different needs.

“For passengers, our low-cost options such as GrabCycle and GrabShuttle Plus can better serve short commutes. For drivers, this means you can receive longer-distance jobs with higher fares … By replacing short taxi and car rides with greener, cheaper options like shuttle and cycle, we are also helping to reduce congestion and pollution,” he added.

HOW FAR REGULATORS SHOULD GO?

With so much concern over the potential impact on fares, should the authorities look into regulating them? The answer from most experts is a loud no.

Rather, they said it would be more meaningful to set the rules that determine prices and put in place conditions for ensuring open competition.

Dr Theseira pointed to Singapore’s taxi industry, where regulations on fare structure are in place. For instance, fares are to be metered and posted publicly.

The Government does not stipulate taxi fares, which were deregulated in 1998 to allow operators to set their own prices.

Assoc Prof Loh reiterated that it is much more efficient and appropriate for the authorities to examine the conditions allowing for open and contestable markets. Pulling the lever of price control is “always sub-optimal”, he said, as the regulator is “not the market and they are not able to know the efficient price that can bring about the maximum level of social efficiency”.

While some experts said it was possible to impose a cap on surge pricing — a practice adopted by Grab where fares climb when demand goes up — this could have knock-on effects.

Dr Theseira said a cap meant that, during peak periods, commuters willing to fork out surge fares to snag a ride immediately would have to wait. “It may also discourage provision of extra supply from drivers, which will just make the problem of insufficient supply worse,” he said.

Assoc Prof Loh reiterated that a cap could result in unfulfilled demand and many customers do not mind paying more. Instead, more plausible solutions could entail measures to ensure vehicles are out and about during peak periods, he said.

He also called on Grab to be more transparent on how its surge fares are set to allow users to make better decisions.

Asst Prof Yang said the authorities could regulate the commission ride-hailing firms earn from drivers. He acknowledged, however, that drivers’ income comes from a complex package — including fares and incentives — which is difficult to regulate.

Dr Theseira said another area that could be regulated was how the terms and conditions of service for commuters and drivers are determined. Some conditions — including the criteria for drivers to operate on a particular platform — should be set or at least overseen by the authorities, so that a company with market power “does not make arbitrary decisions affecting drivers’ livelihoods”.

He said it was also the role of regulators and not companies to decide on matters such as minimum driver service standards and fare evasion. This follows the practice in taxi industries worldwide, including in Singapore.

In Singapore, the Land Transport Authority sets and reviews service standards to maintain the quality of taxi services and protect commuters’ interests. Taxi companies are, for instance, required to meet service standards in the areas of taxi booking, safety and driver conduct.

Dr Park suggested the authorities could look into the contracts between drivers and the rental arms of ride-hailing operators, especially where these stipulate cars rented can be used only to fulfil bookings from that company.

The regulators could examine the contracts’ duration and what it takes to terminate an agreement. “If (terminating) the remaining period of a contract is so expensive and a driver is stuck with a deal for a year or two, then that will help Grab to enjoy its dominant position,” said Dr Park.

Expressing disappointment at Uber’s handling of the deal, Mr Ang Hin Kee, who is the executive adviser to the National Private Hire Vehicles Association, said the American giant’s sudden exit from the region left many drivers and commuters dismayed and concerned.

“Uber as a product had its strengths but its weakness must be the management team for such unprofessional handling, especially of drivers who were left clueless … Moving forward, regulators will need to establish rules that ensure drivers’ and commuters’ interests are safeguarded,” said Mr Ang, who is also a Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency.

COULD THE GOVERNMENT HAVE REACTED SOONER?

About three weeks before the deal was made public — amid strong market rumours that Grab was looking to buy out Uber’s Southeast Asia business — the Singapore Government announced it would be reviewing the regulations governing point-to-point transport so that no single player will dominate.

A day after the deal was announced, the CCCS started an investigation into the transaction. Three days later, the competition watchdog proposed interim directives to preserve and restore competition and market conditions.

The CCCS is mulling written representations from Grab and Uber, which include undisclosed alternative interim measures. Under the CCCS’ proposed measures, Grab and Uber will have to maintain their pre-transaction pricing, pricing policies and product options for chauffeured personal point-to-point transport passenger and booking services.

The scenario of a single dominant player has been expected for some time, given that ride-hailing services have only one goal on their minds: Gain as much market share as possible.

On whether the Government could have moved sooner, Dr Theseira said it was generally not practical or advisable for the authorities to intervene directly to alter market structure, such as by choosing a third party to take over Uber’s business in Singapore. “This would be seen as over-reach by government except in cases where national security is at stake,” he said.

The Government’s minimal regulatory approach towards the point-to-point transport sector was “sensible” when Grab and Uber entered the Singapore market in 2013. At that time, ride-hailing was not only a disruptive industry — the type of innovation Singapore wanted to succeed here — but it also solved many complaints about taxi services. Dr Theseira said:

It was seen as potentially harmful to over-regulate the sector immediately, but of course, the rapid rise of ride-hailing has now created problems that require regulation.

Other experts said technological and market dynamics are moving much faster than regulators and lawyers can keep pace with, and the authorities should be given time to consider if regulatory action is needed. 

“You don’t start to regulate at the first mosquito bite or even when the mosquito has not bitten … Regulation should not be seen as a first resort,” said Assoc Prof Loh. “In this case, even if (the Government’s moves are) seen to be reactive, I think it’s better (to do it) at this time than never.”

Assoc Prof Loh added that over-regulating the ride-hailing sector would also quash innovation and kill off start-ups, and it was a “very delicate balancing act that we have to consider”.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

Indeed, the business community, including start-ups, is monitoring the developments with interest.

ShopBack Singapore country head Vincent Wong said the watchdog’s decision could “serve as a precedent on the feasibility of the type of exits for businesses in Singapore”. He added:

We hope, however, that this does not discount the attractiveness of Singapore as a place to do business.

Mr Biju Krishnan, co-founder and chief operating officer of big data and analytics start-up Latize, said investors valued transparency. How the authorities deal with the matter would, in fact, boost investor confidence and show that the start-up space here is “mature and evolving” and the country is taking steps to protect consumers’ interests, he said.

Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Kurt Wee agreed and said

I don’t think considerations of the Competition Act would depress business confidence. I think it upholds business confidence that these things are being looked at.

Former Member of Parliament Inderjit Singh, who was a vocal champion for the private sector during his 18-year stint in the House, said the immediate worries sparked by Grab’s acquisition were the lack of competition and the effects on prices, for instance. “If the CCCS did not react, I’d worry more, because then there will be situations where, really, there’s a monopoly being created and we’ve no one to help us … and pure market forces sometimes can win,” said Mr Singh, who is the CEO of consumer electronics firm Solstar International.

Apart from Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia had said they would also look into whether the deal hinders competition, just days after the CCCS began its probe.

With the CCCS’ decision setting a precedent, the region — if not the world — is watching.

Associate Professor Kasem Choocharukul, who is an associate dean in the faculty of engineering at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said the CCCS’ decision would partly influence how other countries move on the matter.

Reactions to the deal, however, may vary from country to country owing to “different regulations, combined with unique travel characteristics, diverse urban-mode choice options and land-use settings”, he said.

For Singapore, how it handles the headline-grabbing deal may have broader ramifications, especially if the regulators “come in too tough”, said Assoc Prof Loh.

He added: “If the climate is too stringent and stifling, we might create certain international opinion that our market is not conducive to international investments and operations … We also have to be careful not to be seen as impeding the free trade of services and products, which is something Singapore holds dear.”

SINGAPORE: Five women, aged between 32 and 43, have been arrested in a series of raids on massage parlours, the police said in a news release on Monday (Apr 9).

The police said they conducted enforcement operations at 27 massage establishments located along Tanjong Pagar, Jalan Klapa, Kitchener Road, Coleman Street, North Bridge Road and Telok Blangah Crescent between Apr 3 and Apr 6.

Thirteen outlets were found to be operating without a valid licence, while two licensed operators were found to have contravened licensing conditions.

Investigations are currently ongoing.

If found guilty, the operators of the unlicensed parlours will face enhanced penalties under the new Massage Establishments Act. If convicted, first time offenders will be sentenced to a fine of up to S$10,000, or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

​​​​​​​

The police said that they will also take action against landlords who knowingly lease their premises to unlicensed massage establishment operators. 

The police will notify the landlord when their tenant has been charged in court for operating an unlicensed outlet. After the conviction of the tenant, the landlord must require the tenant to hand over possession of the premises within a month.

Landlords who fail to do so will be liable upon conviction to a fine of up to S$10,000, or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

SINGAPORE: The Government Technology Agency will have a new chief executive (CE) from May, with the current CE Jacqueline Poh to be succeeded by Mr Kok Ping Soon, deputy secretary (Development) in the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). 

The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office said in its press release on Monday (Apr 9) that Mr Kok oversees national policies and programmes related to workplace safety and health, human capital development, and SGSecure for Workplaces, as well as initiatives on service excellence, digitalisation, people engagement and future-ready capability building in his role at MOM.

Before his current role, he was senior director of National Security Co-ordination Centre within the National Security Co-ordination Secretariat in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“GovTech welcomes Ping Soon, who will build on the strong foundation laid by Jacqueline. Ping Soon is a person who cares for people, and I expect he will continue to develop the most important capability in GovTech – the people and its culture – further strengthening and embedding the changes that Jacqueline initiated,” said Mr Ng Chee Khern, permanent secretary (Smart Nation and Digital Government) and chairman of GovTech.

The release said outgoing CE Ms Poh’s next appointment will be “announced in due course”. She was managing director of the now-defunct Infocommunications Development Authority from 2013 to 2016 before it was restructured, and in her current position, set the strategic direction for GovTech as the implementing agency of the Smart National strategic national projects, it added.

She also oversaw the setting up of the Government Digital Services at Hive to develop products for citizens such as apps like OneService and Parking.sg, as well as improving the cybersecurity posture and resiliency of its ICT systems and infrastructure, the press release said.  

“The Board of GovTech would like to thank Jacqueline for transforming GovTech into an organisation that is bold and prepared to take risks in getting things done,” said Mr Ng. “Her leadership in moulding this culture will be a lasting legacy.”

Follow our new CNA LIFESTYLE page on Facebook for more trending stories and videos

​​​​​​​SINGAPORE: Cooling Off Day, Own Time Own Target, National Language Class, The Weight Of Silk On Skin – W!ld Rice’s Singapore Theatre Festival has produced some memorable, thought-provoking plays through the years.

From the looks of it, the latest edition, which runs from Jul 5 to 22, won’t be any different.

Under festival co-directors, director Ivan Heng and playwright Alfian Sa’at, the event will have eight brand new plays that resonate with a range of issues felt across Singapore – whether it’s the first anniversary of the closure of Sungei Road Market, the 10th year of Pink Dot, or the current fuss over “fake news”.

And if you’re between the ages of 16 and 25, the festival has 500 free tickets to all the shows in the line-up. The giveaway is part of the launch of W!ld & Free, the company’s youth access programme.

“We really feel it’s important to engage new audiences,” said Heng. “Develop and invite a whole new generation of theatre audiences.”

Those free tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis from Apr 9 to 30 on the Singapore Theatre Festival’s website.

Unfortunately, if you’re a little older than 25 and have to work with a budget, you might have to pick and choose exactly which show to catch that’s right up your alley.

Here is a look at the lineup – curated by pet issues and whatever might float your boat.

***

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: ‘FAKE NEWS’ AND ONLINE FALSEHOODS

Press Gang is a brand new satire by Singaporean playwright Tan Tarn How – the first play from the former Straits Times journo since 2011’s Fear Of Writing.

It follows the adventures of a civil-servant-turned-reporter at the fictional newsroom The Singapore Times, which is rocked by controversy: An editor is sent on a long leave after writing a fierce commentary about the Prime Minister’s wife, while a rumour emerges that could hurt the government. Will the newspaper publish the story?

“It’s a bit of an expose about Tarn How’s days in the newsroom,” said fest co-director Alfian, who describes it as a “political thriller”.

“It’s a play that addresses something of the moment and I think it’s especially relevant right now, since we had that inquisition on deliberate online falsehood.”

For hardcore theatre buffs, there’s an added bonus: Cultural Medallion recipient T Sasitharan returns in his first acting role in ages. And, like Tan, he is also a former Straits Times journalist.

Press Gang runs from Jul 5 to 15 at The Singapore Airlines Theatre. Tickets from S$50 to S$75 from Sistic.

PSSST! IT’S FREE: A forum on Singapore journalism in the age of “fake news” and the rise of digital platforms will be held on Jul 8, 5.30pm, at Lowercase Cafe.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: PRIVACY AND THE FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKER

Young playwright Thomas Lim’s Supervision follows the story of a wheelchair-bound retiree and an Indonesian domestic worker who is employed to take care of him. The two develop a bond to the point of keeping each other’s secrets – until the old man’s daughter finds out.

This commentary on surveillance culture in society, both in public and private spaces, was inspired by Lim’s personal experience, after watching his mother and aunt tinkering with the CCTV they installed at her grandmother’s place when the maids were out, in order to find the camera’s blind spots.

“It’s kind of a grey area because it is (the maids’) workplace, but at the same time, they also live there,” said Lim, who also spoke with Indonesian domestic workers about their lives.

Supervision runs from Jul 5 to 15 at the Flexible Performance Space. Tickets at S$50 from Sistic.

PSSST! IT’S FREE: Are foreigners forever foreign? A talk on migrant workers happens on Jul 15 at 5.30pm. Alternatively, a group of migrant workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines, collectively called BIRDS, will read some of their short plays on Jul 15 at 1pm. Both events at Lowercafe Cafe.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: RACIAL REPRESENTATION

What is it like to be a female Indian or Malay actor in a theatre scene that is predominantly Chinese? Two separate one-women shows tackle the topic.

Ruth Tang’s Building A Character features young actor Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai and the challenges she faces, from casting preferences to comments like: “You’re pretty for an Indian.”

“Where are the roles for actors of certain cultural and ethnic backgrounds in Singapore? It’s a way to address the lack of certain kinds of representations,” said Alfian, who himself wrote the other one-woman show An Actress Prepares. 

It looks at the life of popular theatre actor Siti Khalijah Zainal and her own challenges, including being told she was “too big” or “too Malay” to land roles.

Aside from looking at gender and race, both productions also touch on class and social mobility, said Alfian, who cited Siti’s Institute of Technical Education roots.

“We always think that theatre is very middle class, but we have these two actresses who don’t come from the traditional conventional backgrounds.”

Building A Character runs from Jul 5 to 8, while An Actress Prepares runs from Jul 19 to 22, at Creative Cube. Tickets at S$45 from Sistic.

PSSST! IT’S FREE: Absence Makes The Heart… by Aswani Aswath looks at Indian roles in the local English-language theatre scene through the years, featuring characters such as Beauty World’s Rosemary Joseph. It’ll be on Jul 6, 10pm, at Lowercase Cafe.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: LIVELIHOOD AND CULTURAL HERITAGE

July marks the first anniversary of the closure of the historic Sungei Road Market, and if you want to know what the former vendors really thought about the whole saga, catch One Metre Square: Voices Of Sungei Road.

The title refers to the space allocated to each vendor, and Cheow Boon Seng’s play is the result of a series of interviews conducted with vendors both before the closure and six months after. These are filtered into characters such as The Businessman, The Poet and Liang Po Po.

“When we talk about the demolition of heritage, we hear a lot from heritage enthusiasts and activists, we hear from the government, but not from the people who are actually affected by these kinds of relocation,” said Alfian. “So we wanted to capture those voices.”

One Metre Square: Voices Of Sungei Road runs from Jul 19 to 22 at The Singapore Airlines Theatre. Tickets from S$50 to S$75 from Sistic.

PSSST! IT’S FREE: The forum No Place Like Home: Or No Place For Home? looks at Singapore’s disappearing built heritage. It’s on Jul 22, 5.30pm, at Lowercase Cafe.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: YOUR FRIENDS OF DOROTHY

Dim Sum Dolly, rocker, director, actress and now, playwright – Pam Oei’s first play, the cabaret piece Faghag sees her musing about her life in the company of gay men. 

The title refers to a term of endearment for women who are love to hang out with men who are decidedly not heterosexual.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Oei, who counts stand-up comedian Margaret Cho as one of her comedy icons.

The one-woman show traces her evolution from a 12-year-old girl who stalked a guy she later realised batted for the other team, to her introduction to local theatre.

She’ll also touch on her experiences as the annual “Countdown Queen” at Pink Dot, which actually celebrates its 10th anniversary during the show’s run.

“During the first Pink Dot, we weren’t allowed to have a stage, so I brought my own stool and had my own loudhailer, shouting at everybody to make a pink dot!” said Oei, who will, incidentally, be launching the third album of her band Ugly In The Morning on Apr 14.

Faghag runs from Jul 19 to 22 at Flexible Performance Space. Tickets at S$50 from Sistic.

PSSST! IT’S FREE: A documentary play by Alfian titled The Insiders features the voices of 20 queer women in Singapore, coming from all walks of life. It will be held on Jul 20, 10pm, at Lowercase Cafe.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND: MASCULINITY AND THE SINGAPOREAN DUDE

It’s tough being a man in Singapore, as you’ll find out in the twin-bill G.F.E. and When The Cold Wind Blows.

The first, written by Chong Woon Yong, refers to “Girlfriend Experience”, a phrase that refers to on one of the ways sex workers’ performances are rated in online forums. Chong performs as a man who visits Geylang for the first time but finds himself in some sort of existential crisis.

“I wanted to explore modern notions of love from a Singaporean male perspective, and look at masculinity from the perspective of how men are also subjects of patriarchy,” he said.

Meanwhile, When The Cold Wind Blows by Neo Hai Bin looks at how a man continues to be haunted by his days in Pulau Tekong – 10 long years after he finishing National Service.

Aside from having manly themes, another common thread in both is the language: They will be performed in vernacular Mandarin.

G.F.E. and When The Cold Wind Blows runs from Jul 12 to 15 at Creative Cube. Tickets at S$45 from Sistic.

KUALA LUMPUR: A British cooking show has sparked a lively debate across Southeast Asian over whether the widely popular chicken rendang dish should ever be crispy and where it originates from.

Malaysian-born Zaleha Kadir Olpin served the spicy chicken alongside her nasi lemak, a traditional Malaysian dish, in the quarter-final of the BBC’s MasterChef UK.

But judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace turned down the chicken accompaniment, saying the skin was not crispy, stirring fury on social media and a heated debate in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.

“Saying chicken rendang should be crispy is like saying that hamburgers should be boiled,” KF Seetoh, founder of Makansutra and an Asian street food expert based in Singapore, said.

Torode and Wallace defended their comments, saying “crispy” was the wrong word for the dish, which is traditionally made with chicken or beef that is slow cooked with Asian herbs and coconut milk, but that they had reached the right verdict.

“What I meant was it wasn’t cooked. It simply wasn’t cooked. It was white and flabby,” Wallace told Good Morning Britain.

“She (Zaleha Kadir Olpin) didn’t go out because her (chicken) skin wasn’t crispy. She went out because the other cooks were better.”

Haikal Johari, 41, executive chef of Michelin-star restaurant Alma by Juan Amador in Singapore, said he had never heard of chicken rendang being crispy, echoing comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad, who for once agreed with his arch rival.

While hashtags “gastrodiplomacy” and “rendanggate” cropped up online, Wallace and Torode defended their judgement.

“I did a whole series on Malaysia. Malaysian food is fantastic,” Australian-born Torode said. “But I said to her, it wasn’t cooked enough.”

However, Torode riled Malaysians by suggesting on Twitter that chicken rendang was from Indonesia. He later deleted the tweet, which ended with “namaste”, an Indian greeting.

However, the jury is still out on which country owns the dish, with neighboring Indonesia already claiming it. Some suggest the first version of rendang was cooked in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, some 600 years ago.

Haikal from Alma said there were different versions.

“It is made by different people including Singaporeans, Malaysians, Indonesians, and even in Thailand, there is a dish called massaman, which actually tastes really similar to the chicken rendang too,” he said.

(Reporting by Fergus Jensen in JAKARTA, John Geddie and Dewey Sim in SINGAPORE and Stephen Addison in LONDON, writing by Praveen Menon and Alistair Smout, editing by Nick Macfie and Alexander Smith)

BEIJING: Singapore and China inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Sunday (Apr 8) to promote greater collaboration between companies from both countries in third-party markets along the Belt and Road routes. 

The MOU, witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, will see the formation of a working group between the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and Enterprise Singapore.  

The group will identify sectors and markets of mutual interest, organise business-matching activities and forums to facilitate third-party market cooperation between Singapore and Chinese companies under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Both countries will also work with commercial and policy banks, insurers and financial institutions to support the financing and project structuring needs of third-party market ventures by companies from both sides.

“This MOU will pave the way for closer partnerships between our companies in third-party markets, one of the key cooperation pillars that Singapore and China have identified under the Belt and Road Initiative. Singapore’s strength as a key infrastructure, financial and legal hub in the region will add value to Chinese companies expanding along the Belt and Road,” said Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang.

This is MTI’s first Belt and Road-related MOU, which is signed on the sidelines of PM Lee’s five-day visit to China.

MORE WORK WITH CHINA ON BILATERAL, ASEAN FRONTS

Earlier, Mr Lee reiterated the strong bilateral relations between Singapore and China during a meeting with Premier Li. 

Mr Lee congratulated Premier Li on his successful re-election last month and said that he “looks forward to working with him on our bilateral accounts, on bilateral cooperation and also on the ASEAN accounts”.

“We are the chairman of ASEAN this year. We will continue to be the ASEAN coordinator for relations with China for the first half of this year,” Mr Lee said. 

“We’ll make further efforts toward deepening and enhancing our relations and cooperation, bilaterally as well as in the region,” he added. 

On this trip, Mr Lee will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice-President Wang Qishan and Communist Party Secretary for Shanghai Li Qiang.