KUALA LUMPUR – The company Naelofar Hijab, the headscarf company owned by popular celebrity and businesswoman Neelofa, has issued a public apology following the controversial launch of her new range of headscarves at a nightclub here.
In a statement issued by Noor Nabila Mohd Noor, the managing director of NH Prima International Sdn Bhd, the company which owns Neelofa’s brand, expressed its regret that the event which was supposed to be a special occasion for Neelofa had become a controversy.
“We are taking immediate corrective steps to fix the wrong that we have committed,” she said.
Noor Nabila said the company had taken heed of the people’s reaction on the issue and would use them as guidance to prevent a recurrence.
“We will take into account all cultural and religious sensitivities in all our future decisions and we hope that you can give us the chance to improve ourselves.
“Nothing is more important than gaining everyone’s trust and confidence,” she said yesterday.
Neelofa, whose real name is Noor Nelofa Mohd Noor, 29, was strongly criticised after she reportedly organised the launch of her new line of headscraves or hijab at the nightclub on Monday.
Noor Nabila clarified that throughout the event, the organisers had ensured that any alcoholic branding, bottles, glasses as well as cutlery were removed.
These included sealing access to the bar and other clubs, prohibiting smoking, and hiring an external caterer that served halal food and provided their own cutlery and glasses to the guests.
Following the uproar, Federal Territories mufti Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri advised Neelofa to follow the true Islamic tenets in her daily life and activities as a Muslim.
A violent dispute broke out at People’s Park Complex in Chinatown on Sunday night (Feb 25), after which a 29-year-old man was arrested for using criminal force against a public servant.
Stomp contributor Ah Boy contributed a series of short video clips showing the brawl, which he said have been circulating online.
It is unclear what the fight was about, though it appeared to involve several parties.
In one clip, a man clad in a black shirt can be seen throwing punches at another guy who had picked up a red plastic chair, then hitting a second guy who tried to stop him.
In response to queries by Stomp, the police said that they were alerted to a case of dispute at 1 Park Road at 10.44pm.
“A 29-year-old man was arrested for Criminal Force against Public Servant,” added the police.
Stomp understands that the fight had already stopped and the crowd had broken up when police arrived at the scene.
A woman was crying and the police were taking her statement.
When the 29-year-old man saw the police, he tried to flee. Police officers gave chase.
The suspect then tried to hit a police officer with a glass bottle, but was unsuccessful in doing so. He was subsequently arrested.
Stomp is unable to ascertain which man in the video is the suspect.
After the allegations had surfaced and Oh publicly denied them on Monday. Uhm Ji-young appeared on JTBC News Room on Tuesday evening to disclose the details concerning her accusation. She was performing in a play in the early 2000s, when Oh came to see it.
After Uhm asked Oh for advice, Oh supposedly took her to a motel. She said that he tried to undress her and in the process, put his hands on her body.
“I’m in a teaching position now. … I didn’t want these kids to experience the things that I went through in their acting career. That is why I revealed my real name. I felt like if I didn’t, it would all amount to nothing,” she said.
In Korea, it is rare for victims of sexual violence to reveal their identities, due to fears of prejudice and stigmatization. The actress who accused famed director Kim Ki-duk for assault and coercing her into a sex scene last year also wished to remain anonymous.
SINGAPORE: The S$50,000 issue limit for Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) will be removed from Mar 1 this year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a media release on Thursday (Mar 1).
Investors in SSB are currently subject to two limits – the issue limit, which limits the maximum amount of each issue that an individual can hold at S$50,000, and the individual limit, which limits each individual’s total SSB holdings at S$100,000.
“The removal of the issue limit will simplify the SSB programme, allowing investors to apply for a larger amount of a particular SSB issue,” said MAS. The individual limit will remain at S$100,000, the authority added.
“The SSB allocation mechanism will continue to ensure that the bond is distributed as evenly as possible amongst investors,” MAS added. It said that smaller applications would be filled first in the event of an oversubscription.
About S$362 million of SSB have been issued so far this year, said the authority. It said it would offer about S$2 billion of SSB in 2018 and continue to “monitor the subscription levels closely” in determining the monthly issue size.
Since the launch of the SSB programme in October 2015, more than S$1.9 billion of SSB has been issued to about 57,000 investors, according to MAS.
More than half of all applications were for amounts less than S$10,000 and more than half of SSB investors are aged 41 and above.
Details of the next SSB issue will be announced at 4.30pm on Thursday and will be open for applications from 6pm Thursday to 9pm on Mar 26 this year.
The Rolling Stones have been rocking together for a half century but the legendary tensions between Keith Richards and Mick Jagger look to be very much alive.
Richards apologised Wednesday to his bandmate after the guitarist suggested that the fecund frontman needed a vasectomy.
“Mick’s a randy old bastard,” Richards told The Wall Street Journal Magazine.
“It’s time for the snip — you can’t be a father at that age. Those poor kids!” he said.
Jagger in December 2016 became a father for the eighth time when he was 73. His son, Deveraux Jagger, was born to his girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, a ballerina in New York who is four decades his junior.
“I deeply regret the comments I made about Mick in the WSJ which were completely out of line,” Richards wrote on Twitter, saying he also apologised to Jagger in person.
The Stones have endured despite decades of hard-living and internal tumult.
In 2010, Richards published a memoir, “Life,” in which he openly derided Jagger as a needy prima donna and said the other bandmates mocked him as “Her Majesty.” Richards even cast doubt on Jagger’s private parts, saying the swaggering singer had a “tiny todger.”
The latest incident comes just after the Stones — some of the highest-earning musicians on the live circuit — announced a new tour leg of Europe to begin on May 17 in Dublin.
The owner of a rubber sheet shop in Narathiwat has been arrested after he was caught on camera crashing his pickup truck into his employee’s motorcycle before running over him.
Pol Colonel Prayut Wongsanti, commander of the Sungai Kolok district police station, said Saroj Lee, 40, was arrested and charged with murder not long after the a security camera recorded his act in front of his own shop on Tuesday.
The employee was identified as Mada-oh Maba, 39.
Saroj admitted that he had personal conflicts with Mada-oh and, when he saw Mada-oh riding his motorcycle past his pickup, he immediately chased after the employee and caught up with him in front of the shop.
The clip, which was recorded at 11.04am on Tuesday, showed Mada-oh riding his motorcycle on Looksua Anusorn 2 road in Tambon Sungai Kolok of Sungai Kolok district, with a pickup following him.
The clip showed the pickup hit the motorcycle, sending it careering down the road in front of Saroj’s rubber shop. The pickup driver was then seen on the clip opening the driver’s door to take a look at the motorcyclist on the road.
At that moment, an employee of the shop, Abdulloh Ma, 22, ran out to try to pull the motorcyclist off the road, but the pickup was seen pulling back, then driving forward at full speed, running over the body of the motorcyclist.
SINGAPORE: Ride-hailing app Grab was hit by a technical issue during the Thursday morning (Mar 1) rush hour affecting its GrabPay mobile wallet payment system.
“We’re experiencing a technical issue and may only be able to accept cash rides right now,” read a notification on the app.
In a Facebook post at 8.25am, the company said its engineers were looking into the issue and “we expect to be back up in 30 minutes”.
In an update at about 9.20am, Grab apologised for the inconvenience.
“You can now book rides using cash and GrabPay linked cards. We are still working on GrabPay Credits and Rewards,” the company said.
“Rest assured your balances will reappear in app once we do!”
Commuters took to social media to express their frustration, on a morning which also saw delays on the Downtown Line due to a signalling fault.
“Hello grab! I already put money in my credits last night and now i can’t get to work!” wrote Facebook user Marr Sakiynah R Giri.
“My wallet credits are all gone! Is this supposed to be normal?” wrote another Facebook user Andrew Tan. In another Facebook comment he added that ride prices had surged to “unusually high” figures.
“S$42 instead of the usual S$14. Is Grab capitalising on such an opportunity?” he wrote.
Twitter user Ifrah Ashiblie wrote that when she tried to use GrabPay there were “errors galore”.
“I was forced to use Uber,” she said.
What’s up with @GrabSG app this morning? Couldn’t use my Grab pay and when I tried to re enter card details, errors galore. I was forced to use uber.
Drivers also took to social media to complain about a lack of passengers and problems with their driver’s wallets.
“I had more than S$90 in my GrabHitch driver’s wallet last night. I did not cash out. Today becomes S$0 with no past transactions found. Ride history remains though,” wrote Ng Soo Horng in a post on a Facebook community page for GrabHitch drivers.
He posted a screengrab showing a virtual wallet without any funds in it.
Another Grab driver who did not want to be named said he was affected by the technical issues since he started driving at around 6am. He said he was not able to get any passengers until about three hours later.
The legendary Indian film star Sridevi was given an emotional send-off in Mumbai, India, today (Feb 28). According to reports, thousands of fans lined the streets of Mumbai to bid farewell to the star.
It was also attended by who’s who of Indian entertainment industry.
The funeral procession was 7km-long and many walked along with the hearse to the crematorium.
Bollywood stars, heartbroken fans mourn death of Sridevi
Sridevi died on Feb 24 in a Dubai hotel, “due to accidental drowning following loss of consciousness”. It was earlier reported she died of cardiac arrest.
The late actress’ body was flown back from Dubai to India on Tuesday night in a private jet sent by billionaire businessman Anil Ambani.
Sridevi was married to producer Boney Kapoor (Mr. India). The couple has two daughters, Jahnvi and Khushi.
Sridevi acted in about 300 films in several Indian dialects. Her last release was 2017’s Mom. She has a cameo as herself in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero, due in December.
The family was in Dubai to attend the wedding of their nephew, actor Mohit Marwah (Fugly).
SINGAPORE: Addressing Parliament on day two of the Budget debate, Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim urged the Government to delve deeper into the sources of inequality in Singapore, saying the issue is a threat to the solidarity of the nation.
The first of her fellow opposition members to speak on Wednesday (Feb 28), Ms Lim questioned, after all the initiatives by the Government throughout the years to mitigate inequality, how much it really knows about its successes in reducing inequality and how much more needs to be done.
She said Singapore’s Gini coefficient, which highlight’s a country’s income distribution, stood at 0.459 before Government transfers in 2017, and 0.402 after transfers. Quoting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s words in January, Ms Lim said while this is an improvement from 2013, it is still higher than many developed countries.
Other data also point to high levels of income inequality in Singapore, Ms Lim said. Beyond numbers, Ms Lim said this level of inequality is affecting poorer Singaporeans in their daily lives.
“While better off parents are busy at weekends sending children from one enrichment activity to another, poorer parents … spend it working and worrying about whether their unsupervised children will fall into bad company,” Ms Lim said.
“Many of our lower-income residents work hard and even (hold) two jobs, but may still be unable to pay their bills.”
She said there are serious questions that deserve serious study, such as whether the situation that poorer Singaporeans find themselves in is “due to their lack of ambition or talent or does the system itself inadvertently make it difficult for them to succeed and thus perpetuate inequality?”
“Does our education system penalise those who did not have a leg up in pre-school? Do housing policies unjustly discriminate against those whose marriages failed? How have children been impacted by their parents’ circumstances and were they supported or facilitated to break out of the poverty trap?”
Ms Lim questioned if the Government had commissioned independent studies on social mobility using longitudinal data, based on a 2013 announcement that it would do so.
“Why is it so important to show commitment to a goal of reducing inequality and increasing social mobility? Because it is vital to our very existence as a nation.”
“We recite words of our Pledge daily. How can we say these things about justice and equality … happiness, prosperity and progress for the nation, if we are perpetuating a society in which citizens are not equal, where some are seemingly having little hope and doomed for failure while others zoom ahead?”
REVIEW MEDICAL INSURANCE SCHEMES TO BE MORE EQUITABLE
Still focusing on inequality, Ms Lim gave the example of some practices in the healthcare industry that may inadvertently perpetuate inequality of access. She said that MediShield Life, which is the Government’s insurance scheme for hospital bills, “understandably” has deductibles and co-insurance to avoid overconsumption.
But she pointed out discrepancies in the scheme in which “the most senior of people, aged 81 and above, who have the least income and the most health problems have to foot bills with higher deductibles before MediShield Life will kick in”.
Ms Lim noted that the annual deductible for a person aged 80 and below is between S$1,500 and S$2,000, while the annual deductible for those aged 81 and above is between S$2,000 and S$3,000.
“Has the Government analysed how this increased deductible has affected the consumption and delivery of medical services to our most senior citizens?”
“Premiums are already higher for older people. Why are deductibles also higher when in general, the older people have less financial ability to pay? Why this reverse discrimination for our older citizens?”
File photo of an elderly woman in a wheelchair. (Photo: AFP)
Ms Lim also touched on the differences between the coverage of private insurance plans with that of MediShield Life. She said some insurance policies provide full coverage for hospitalisation bills and pay for surgeries as long as it is done as a day surgery or if the patient stays at the hospital.
Such policies also do not require a patient to pay any deductible or copayment. Ms Lim asked if the Government has studied the effect of full coverage policy and its implications on patients, such as unnecessary surgeries or a waste of resources.
“When a person has to undergo a minor surgery, which can be done at an outpatient clinic, does he choose instead to do it as a day surgery or an inpatient in a hospital so as to be able to tap on the insurance policy for full coverage?”
She also urged regulators to direct their attention to this issue, saying there should be deductibles and copayments for all medical insurance schemes.
GIVE PRIORITY TO ELDERLY CARE IN POLICIES: DENNIS TAN
Non-constituency MP Dennis Tan spoke about the Government’s enhancement to the Proximity Housing Grant, saying he was glad it had now been extended to singles. But he pointed out that while it is good that the Government recognises that singles are often a key source of caregiving support for their elderly parents, in some cases, they may also end up taking a “larger role in caregiving support” than their married siblings.
Mr Tan urged the Government to consider providing them an equal grant as married couples under the scheme.
“Ultimately when you make things easier for the caregiver, single or otherwise, the ultimate beneficiary is or are the elderly parents of the caregiver,” Mr Tan said.
“We should always take care that our policies, however well-intentioned they are, do not become too rigid that it becomes a burden or a source of stress for our elderly and seniors or their caregivers.”
He said there might be some households which employ two helpers while their adult children are at work: One to care for elderly parents, who may be bedridden or require constant care, while another handles the housework.
He asked if the levy increase can be exercised more equitably in favour of families needing two helpers.
“Can the Government not distinguish the example I mentioned from the situation of say a wealthy family living in a big house requiring more than one FDW?” Mr Tan said.
“Again, I hope the Government will regard enhancing elderly care efforts in priority to other considerations on this issue.”
