Singapore
Sunday, December 10, 2017 – 07:41
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Despite rosier economic outlook, restaurant owners in Singapore still feeling the bite
SINGAPORE: Apart from oft-heard concerns such as manpower woes and rising costs, restaurant owners in Singapore have had to deal with an additional challenge this year: Diners on a budget.
Chef-owner Willin Low said sales at his restaurant Wild Rocket have dropped around 15 per cent so far this year.
“At the end of last year, there were forecasts saying how 2017 was going to be worse. It hasn’t been doom and gloom as we expected but it’s not the brightest either,” he said, while adding that business for the year has seen huge fluctuations with second-quarter takings being the worst.
Mr Low pointed to lingering concerns about the health of Singapore’s economy which seem to be affecting how often consumers go to restaurants and how much they spend.
“Concerns for the economy have caused people to tighten their belts. People still eat out but they avoid opening the most expensive of bottle of wine or cut back on what they order.”
The lawyer-turned-chef, who also owns casual eatery Relish and bar Wild Oats, is not the only restaurateur feeling the bite.
Restaurant Association of Singapore’s (RSA) executive director Edwin Fong also observed less-than-ideal sales volume among its members this year, compared to 2016, amid “more prudent and conservative” spending among diners.
Recently announced third-quarter economic data showed restaurants as the sole laggard in the food services sector. Sales dropped 3.4 per cent year-on-year over the July to September period, after falling 10.1 and 9.3 per cent for the first and second quarter, respectively.
This despite Singapore’s economic growth picking up pace over the course of 2017 and storming past expectations to a near four-year high in the third quarter.
On the flipside, fast food operators, as well as owners of cafes, food courts and coffee shops, have had a better year. Fast food sales have been in positive territory so far this year, while takings at other eating places reversed declines for the first six months of 2017 to notch up 1.2 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter.
Patrons find that food courts are cleaner and brighter, and provide variety at affordable prices. (Photo: Jalelah Abu Baker)
“Restaurant sales were in general more badly affected by the weakness in consumer sentiments than sales in other F&B (food and beverage) establishments, likely because restaurant meals tended to be more expensive,” said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
Weakness in the labour market remains a key reason why local consumers continue to tighten their purse strings, said Standard Chartered economist Jonathan Koh.
“Although the picture seems slightly better in the third quarter, slack remains in the labour market and given the past few quarters of negative job creation, consumers would not have felt the slight improvements,” said Mr Koh.
Still, there are some restaurant operators that have seen less of an impact.
Mr Loh Lik Peng, founder of Unlisted Collection with 14 F&B brands under its belt, said sales for the year have improved, albeit inconsistently across the group.
“Broadly speaking, things have improved though it wasn’t quite consistent across the board. Some have done better than the rest and for those that underperformed, we are doing more in terms of promotions and marketing.”
The serial restaurateur even went on an expansion spree, with the addition of at least four new eateries like French bistro Audace and kushikatsu restaurant Panko earlier this year.
“People still want to go out and have fun so it’s about creating new concepts to fill in the gaps and appealing to consumers differently. We also adopt different strategies to make sure our menus always have affordable options,” said Mr Loh.
BETTER YEAR AHEAD?
Moving forward, MTI said it expects F&B sales volume, including restaurant takings, to “improve gradually” on the back of a pick-up in domestic consumer sentiments and a positive outlook for visitor arrivals in 2018.
But apart from budget-conscious consumers, restaurant owners are also watching out for a new challenge on the horizon –an increase in the goods and services tax (GST), which has been raised as a possibility by economists and tax specialists after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last month that raising taxes will be inevitable amid increasing Government spending.
Business owners like Mr Loh said a hike in the GST, if true, will be “much more painful” than the recent increase in water prices.
“Water costs can be mitigated to some extent whereas GST is something that gets passed on to the consumer. If it happens, it will be much more painful for consumers and the F&B industry.”
Agreeing, Mr Low admitted that even with expectations for Singapore’s economic growth to remain firm in 2018, he does not quite know what that means for his business.
“I like to think of restaurants as the place where you get a feel of what’s happening in the economy because you get to meet people from all walks of life.
“And it’s a general feeling across the industry that the rosy figures so far don’t seem to correspond with what’s happening on the ground.”
We are too sheltered to be entrepreneurial: On the Record with entrepreneur Edmas Neo
SINGAPORE: Edmas Neo claims his first business failure led to a very fruitful career, firstly within a large company, then back to his roots as an entrepreneur.
Today, as Executive Director of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship, he helps open doors for other Singaporean entrepreneurs by providing them with international market access opportunities and innovative collaborations.
Neo started his first business as an Electrical Engineering student at the Nanyang Technological University in the mid-1990s. He wanted the challenge of running his own business in a challenging field.
“In Singapore at that time, a lot of people just wanted to work with multinational corporations (MNCs). That was considered the ultimate success. But I wanted something different, to take a risk and test my mettle. Being engineer-trained, I really just wanted the satisfaction of creating something original for our market,” he said.
He and a university friend started a web hosting company, Singlinks. They also wanted to create a Singapore-based search engine. As he related the story, there was a sense of excitement in his voice as if he were travelling back in time to the moment they conceptualised the idea.
The excitement did not last.
The pitch of his voice shifted downward as he started telling me how, after one and a half years, they realised they just couldn’t make it work.
“Because the internet was very new, the cost of running our own servers was very large. The cost of the connection was very high – it cost us easily S$1,000 just for a 64 kbps line. We were also very much on our own. There was no ecosystem or even venture capitalists,” he said with a tinge of frustration.
Most of all, he admitted he and his business partner had not done the required market research. At the time, their potential customers had not been exposed to the merits of an online presence as their own customers were not online
“A lot of my friends had good and stable jobs at MNCs. We, on the other hand, were struggling. We couldn’t even pay ourselves at first. We also had to deal with our own emotions.”
It was his partner who first decided to give up the business to pursue a “good and stable job”.
“He had a lot of pressure from friends and family. I understood and eventually we decided to sell it to a friend who ran a computer business.”
BEING AN “INTRAPRENEUR”
They managed to break even and began careers in large companies. Neo headed to IBM, armed with the lessons he learnt as an entrepreneur.
“When I went to work, I didn’t see myself as an employee. I saw myself as an entrepreneur selling my services to a company – an intrapreneur. I also picked up a lot of domain knowledge from these companies. I learnt how to run a proper business, how to understand customers. It made me a better entrepreneur.”
Edmas Neo has spearheaded ACE’s international market access programmes for Singapore startups. (Photo: Edmas Neo)
Prior to joining the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), he was Regional Director, Partnership and Collaborative Innovation at Singapore Innovate (SGInnovate), a venture capital firm and startup ecosystem builder wholly owned by the Singapore Government.
Today, he also runs his own firm, Accrete Innovation, which provides acceleration and market access services for start-ups.
“WE ARE TOO SHELTERED TO BE ENTREPRENEURIAL OR INNOVATIVE”
“Entrepreneurs need to be innovative. They need to identify the problems and find new ways of solving them and come up with a creative way to bring the services to the market. That is the difference between entrepreneurs and businessmen,” he said.
“Some people are natural problem-solvers, hence natural entrepreneurs. But there are also people who become entrepreneurs because of circumstances. It could be because of structural changes, they’ve lost their jobs and then decide to start a business.”
Was he implying that the second variety of entrepreneurs would be less successful.
“Not necessarily. As long as they change their mindsets, they can be successful too.”
“I sometimes think, in Singapore, we are too sheltered to be entrepreneurial or innovative. We need to create an environment and opportunities for people to be willing to be innovative, to identify new areas of solving problems.”
What would such an environment look like and how can it be created here?
“One key thing about Singapore is that we might not have enough challenging problems to solve, compared to certain countries around the region where they really have a lot of challenging environmental issues or even poverty. They are able to come up with transformational technology that can help change lives.The young in Singapore need to be exposed to problems. Their creativity can be sparked when they have to think of innovative solutions to solve them.”
So his organisation is working to expose young people to different business domains.
“For a young startup that may not have good domain knowledge, they may not even have the ability to uncover that there is this problem to be solved. So one way is really to expose our entrepreneurs or our youths into certain domain, through mentorship, through an exchange of ideas.”
He cited the shipping sector as an example. Sending young people to talk with experts about the challenges is making them come up with innovative solution to solve problems.
His aim is to make this spirit infectious, to start with as many young people as possible so that even those of us who don’t ultimately become business owners, approach tasks as an innovative entrepreneur. He wants to increase student exchange programmes through which students are exposed to challenges in other countries and encouraged to come up with innovative solutions.
He does some of this already through the ACE International Centre.
The centre is taking market access programmes for businesses to a new level, moving beyond two or three-day roadshows and exhibitions to market immersion programmes, connecting them with the right partners.
“I didn’t have that kind of help in the early years,” he said.
Edmas Neo also heads the Technopreneur Action Group (TAG) which has over 500 members across Asia. (Photo: Edmas Neo)
A LACK OF PERSISTENCE AND PERSEVERANCE?
So are ACE’s initiatives molly-coddling entrepreneurs?
“We try to strike a balance. We just make it easier in terms of facilitation, but those who expect more and are dependent on the government or the ecosystem to provide help, need to learn to take the relationships further themselves. You need to be persistent and persevere and if life is too easy for you, I think we would attract a lot of people who may not be of the entrepreneur quality into the ecosystem. In the long run, we will see a lot of failures.”
He also feels that some entrepreneurs are not persistent when it comes to following through.
“Singapore started off as a trading hub and we are very good at buying and selling things. So maybe certain entrepreneurs in our ecosystem feel that when you build your business, you should sell the business if you can do so at a profit instead of nurturing the company long enough to create a big, impactful world-class business.”
His experience at SGInnovate also taught him that business people here tend to have high expectations.
“There are entrepreneurs who feel that they are ready to expand overseas and we should invest in them and get them connected, but when we look at their business, in fact, the company is not of the right size to expand or maybe the market they want to go to is not suitable for them. So we would like them to do a little bit more research, to be more ready, but some of them don’t want to do the work and get impatient.”
Neo said he has personally always wanted to be as inclusive as possible, “help anyone with the aspiration to be entrepreneurs and give them the kind of support that we can to help them get started”, but there is a need to identify the more high-potential ones and people need to do the work to get to that stage themselves.
Having said that, more has been done by the government and organisations like his to expose businesses to accelerators to help companies reach the “high potential” stage.
But the dependency mindset remains.
“Certain entrepreneurs feel that they should receive more support but do they really need it?”
ENCOURAGING INDEPENDENCE AND RESILIENCE
His exuberance took over again as we discussed how to help small and medium enterprises shrug off this mentality and innovate on their own. He is determined to do it well and there are several stages in the process.
“Certain entrepreneurs feel that they should receive more support but do they really need it?” asks Edmas Neo. (Photo: Edmas Neo)
“We need to help them see the vision. First, just expose the company to what others are doing in terms of adopting technology. But they may not be ready so we shouldn’t push them too hard. We should just plug them in and let them know what’s happening.”
The next step is to help discover how they can become more involved in the activities in the ecosystem. Engagement through co-innovation exercises with other companies is next.
“After that we can have acceleration, meaning that they could do an entire programme on their own but at the same time build up the readiness and innovation capabilities internally and conduct the cultural change. Finally, it’s about sustainable innovation – to keep the process going.”
The key is for it to happen gradually.
“I’ve seen cases where people take a company that is at the initial stage and force them to do acceleration on a very big scale and it fails prematurely.”
“WE ARE GOOD AT FOLLOWING PROCESSES, NOT MANY WANT TO TAKE RISKS”
Neo feels Singapore’s early focus on attracting MNCs has also had an impact on mindsets.
“As a result of these MNCs, we have trained a lot of professionals and managers. So we’re good at following processes and not many want to take risks.”
I raised the high-cost environment as an additional deterrent.
He agreed, “So for the potential entrepreneur, this would be one of the key considerations. Do I want to start a business if I have two kids in school right now? Or do I want to spend my time looking for a job?”
I pointed out there is a lot of uncertainty in the jobs arena as well.
“But with some upskilling, you can probably have a more stable life and that’s what a lot of people still seem to want,” he said.
“The young in Singapore need to be exposed to problems. Their creativity can be sparked when they have to think of innovative solutions to solve them.,” says Edmas Neo. (Photo: Edmas Neo)
He believes in order to help potential entrepreneurs feel the fear and do it anyway, there need to be more support schemes. Aside from looking into high rentals, he suggested other measures.
“Can we perhaps provide some support to the children of entrepreneurs when they are starting university? Can we help them defer some of these costs? We can provide certain support in other areas surrounding their families so that they get better family support and they do not need to be worried about the family and can focus on the business.”
He was referring to middle-class families who may not be eligible for existing government support schemes.
I remarked this might increase the dependency mindset that he had criticised earlier in our interview.
“If it’s done in a limited conditional fashion, with them paying back the amount, I think people will be more prudent about it. At the same time, it gives them some breathing space to take risks and be more resilient.”
Throughout the interview, it was apparent that Neo fervently believes in creating successful local businesses. I pointed out that any economy needs regular employees too, not just entrepreneurs. This was when his enduring business philosophy became apparent.
“I think at the end of the day, each one of us needs to act as an entrepreneur, whether you’re working for someone or running your own businesses. We need creative solutions as employees too. It’s all about bettering the lives people, of your customers, providing better services. It’s about empathy and problem-solving and we could all use that, whatever we do.”
Commentary: Lessons for Founders’ Memorial from a few modern cities
SINGAPORE: With plans for the construction of a Founders’ Memorial in Bay East Gardens to commemorate the pioneer generation of leaders in Singapore, it is perhaps timely to look at the evolution of monuments and extract lessons from them.
I can still remember my experience of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, which was disorientating to say the least.
Designed as a field of large concrete slabs with varying heights spread over an area of 19,000 sq m, as one walks through its maze-like environment, a growing feeling of isolation pervades, as concrete slabs block out sight of other visitors. A sense of foreboding also creeps up, as visitors struggle slightly to find each other and leave the memorial.
Intentionally conceived as a large public space in the heart of the city, the scale of the memorial and the harrowing experience it puts visitors through reinforces its effect and significance.
Yet, despite the experience it puts on visitors, the memorial is also fraught with controversies. The lack of explanation of the meaning of the concrete slabs and the lighthearted treatment of the memorial as a hide-and-seek and parkour play space has sparked public criticism.
While there are many interpretations of what it seeks to achieve and why, the Holocaust Memorial notably breaks away from a monument being a mere symbolic standalone statue.
Monuments are pieces of architecture, structures that represent the history, culture or values of a specific group of people, whereas a memorial is a purpose-built commemorative structure.
Compared to a heritage structure, where its monument status is conferred to it over time as a result of its historical and cultural significance, it may be challenging for purpose-built monuments to attain cultural relevance immediately and justify the required investment for construction.
However, as the Holocaust Memorial illustrates, despite its controversies, the effect of a monument can be significant if it is embedded within the fabric of the city and is part of everyday life.
The experience it creates for visitors is just one of the many ways a monument can move beyond being a mere physical structure.
A woman walks through the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, Germany, Nov 26, 2010. (File Photo: REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski)
LESSONS FROM ROME
One of the first examples of monuments integrated within everyday spaces in the city can be found in Rome during the papacy of Pope Sixtus V in the 1500s. Prior to the reign of Sixtus V, there were no proper public spaces or streets in Rome and monuments were randomly sited with no spatial relationship to each other.
Although urban improvements were made to the city before that, they were largely piecemeal and uncoordinated compared to the impact of Sixtus V’s reforms.
Within five years of Sixtus V’s leadership, the entire city was completely transformed – monuments were used as a way of organising the city. Four ancient obelisk monuments were restored and strategically distributed across the city, with axial roads connecting them.
These restored monuments enabled visual connections and circulation, laying down the framework for subsequent urban transformations, even till present day.
People walk in Piazza Navona by the Fountain of the four Rivers with the Egyptian obelisk and the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in the Rome, on Feb 10, 2017. (Photo: AFP/Miguel Medina)
Sixtus V’s urban project reveals that monuments can have a core functional purpose, in addition to their value as commemorative symbols.
Their strategic locations across the city resulted in the obelisks not only serving as an important way-finding tool for local residents and pilgrims, but also as a reinforcement of the social, political and religious ideals of the papal state, ultimately giving the city its unique character.
FROM BEIJING TO SEOUL
Fast-forward five centuries; monuments now take the form of civic buildings.
From Beijing to Brasilia, the construction of civic buildings and public spaces in capital cities has played an important role in nation building. Replacing deified statues of the heroes and generals of civilisations past, these modern monuments are now the primary projector of the values and visions of a country.
The 1959 construction of the Ten Great Buildings initiative in Beijing coincided with the Great Leap Forward campaign, and was both a medium to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as well as a mechanism to project the image of a new political order.
A paramilitary policeman salutes towards the National Museum of China, one of Beijing’s Ten Great Buildings. (Photo: REUTERS/Damir Sagolj)
These ten civic buildings ranged from museums to train stations. Apart from serving their functional purpose, they are highly symbolic in nature.
Their monumental scale and strategic location in the city aim to reinforce the Chinese population’s collective consciousness of the country’s desired modernity, while contrasting against the old imperial order symbolised by the surrounding low rise hutongs and their courtyard houses.
In recent years the construction of monumental edifices in cities has shifted from singular landmark buildings to urban infrastructure, with projects such as the High Line in New York to Cheonggyecheon (Cheonggye Stream) in Seoul dominating urban planning discourse.
Given the scale, global reference, ideological significance, and impact on local residents, they are more than just standard urban improvement projects, and (I would argue) they may be considered as contemporary monuments. They symbolically commemorate their respective industrial pasts by projecting a future that is socially and ecologically oriented.
In particular, the restoration of Cheonggyecheon involved the demolition of a six-lane elevated highway that was built over the original stream. Led by then-mayor of Seoul, Lee Myung-Bak, this urban redevelopment project was a way to transform the city’s image, from an industrialising city to a developed city that boasts of and appreciates its social, heritage and ecological spaces.
The Cheonggyecheon stream runs through most of central Seoul. (Photo: Lin Suling)
The project was not without controversy. Accused of being a political move to assist Lee’s ambitions of becoming President of South Korea, the project was heavily criticised for its ostentatious price tag of US$900 million, hefty maintenance costs, and the gentrification of surrounding areas.
However, a decade on, and with the benefit of hindsight, one can hardly call the project a failure – the stream has remained remarkably popular among Seoulites, and is a well-used public space.
The success of the project lay in its ability to reconstruct a sense of collective identity based on the cultural heritage of the stream.
In addition, the project also inspired a series of other similar infrastructure regeneration projects in the city, including the Gyeongui Line Forest Park and the latest Seoullo 7017 elevated pedestrian walkway – albeit at a much lower price tag.
Like the obelisks in Sixtus V’s Rome, Cheonggyecheon is an everyday space within the heart of the city, allowing local residents to appreciate the city’s environment and heritage by immersing within it.
The above examples demonstrate that a monument’s location has high strategic value – and embedding it within an environment where residents can experience it daily reinforces its cultural function.
The location of the Founders’ Memorial along the waterfront of Bay East Gardens with a view towards the city provides a symbolic connection between commemorating the past and projecting the future.
However, apart from showcasing artefacts and exhibitions in the galleries, making the monument accessible to the public as an everyday space within the park and supporting it with relevant content and design will ensure that the Founders’ Memorial becomes a “living memorial” that tells and retells the shared narrative of our nation’s progress and values.
Calvin Chua is adjunct assistant professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and the founder of Spatial Anatomy design office.
Singapore egg farm hatches new ideas, using tech, to transform business
SINGAPORE: Ever wondered how the egg in the ramen you’re slurping down has a soft texture, and with a runny yolk consistency? If you think it’s all down to the chef’s expertise, think again.
Local egg farm N&N Agriculture has been a strong proponent of using technology to create new ways of running a traditional industry like egg farming, and coming up with new products along the way. This can be seen in its commitment to splash out S$13 million to install a pasteurisation facility at its 13-ha farm.
Its eggs, sold under the Egg Story brand, go through a patented pasteurisation process developed by a US company called National Pasteurized Eggs. Essentially, they will be submerged in a warm water bath and the temperature and length of time used effectively destroys Salmonella and bird flu that may exist inside and outside the egg – but not cooking it, CEO Ma Chin Chew explained when Channel NewsAsia visited the farm recently.
By contrast, most eggs sold at supermarkets are not pasteurised, he added.
The CEO shared that he, and the two other local players Chew’s Group and Seng Choon Farm, were first introduced to the technology by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). He subsequently made another four trips to the US to see how the system works before committing to the investment.
“At that time, I didn’t know if the (Singapore) market could and would support the (pasteurisation) technology,” he admitted.
But his desire to create safe and quality eggs meant he was the only one who took the plunge and, since then, the modern farmer has been hard at work reinventing the way egg farming is done and developing new products to bring to the market.
One of the production workers inspecting the eggs as they roll in from the hen farms. There used to be 45 to 65 workers lined up to inspect, clean and pack the eggs previously, but automation has cut manpower requirements to about 10, says CEO Ma Chin Chew.
NOT YOKED TO THE OLD
One of these is its pasteurised soft yolk egg, also known as Hanjuku eggs, commonly seen in Japanese ramen dishes.
These eggs are first cracked open slightly at the top, before being placed on a conveyor belt that carries them into a vat of boiling water at 97 degrees Celsius. After being boiled for some time, they are quickly dropped into a pool of cold water, allowing heat to quickly dissipate – resulting in a firm egg white but runny yolks within, Mr Ma said during the tour of his farm.
These Hanjuku eggs are then de-shelled, before being conveyed to another point where a worker checks on their quality before packing and sealing them in air-tight packs in two variants: One soaked in sauce, and the other not.
“If there are any that have cracked open during the sealing process, we will have to unseal and remove the split egg, before re-packing again,” the CEO pointed out, noting the stringent level of quality control involved given the fragile nature of these eggs.
To date, Japanese food and beverage (F&B) outlets such as RamenPlay and Ramen Keisuke are those that use these Hanjuku eggs in their dishes, the company said.
N&N Agriculture supplies its Hanjuku eggs to 7-Eleven to sell under its own branding. (Photo: 7-Eleven Singapore/Facebook)
And it’s not just F&B outlets that are attracted to N&N’s Hanjuku eggs. Convenience store giant 7-Eleven Singapore also introduced a ready-to-eat product, called Hanjuku Eggs, at its stores since 2014. This is through a partnership with the egg farm, N&N said.
Another product is the tamagoyaki – Japanese rolled omelette – which is commonly found atop sushi rolls.
Using its pasteurised eggs and processes, the tamagoyaki is prepared and sealed before being sold chilled through its sister company, Tamago-Ya by Food10. This sister company is positioned to target Japanese consumers in Singapore, as such the marketing and food packaging are predominantly in Japanese, N&N’s marketing manager Chan Yuey Sum told Channel NewsAsia.
The tamagoyaki is marketed by the egg farm’s sister company, Tamago-Ya by Food 10, to target Japanese living in Singapore. (Photo: Tamago-Ya by Food 10/Facebook)
Asked how has the introduction of Hanjuku eggs, tamagoyaki and other pasteurised egg products benefited the business, Mr Ma said: “In 2010, my sales was S$12 million, and in 2016, it doubled to S$24 million, so you can see the impact.”
He added that the diversification of its business to such arenas was a necessary step, not just to differentiate itself from local producers, but also to move away from the cut-throat competition put up by importers from Malaysia and Thailand.
“The egg business is quite tough,” Mr Ma acknowledged, “and when the ringgit depreciated (last year), that was a nightmare” as eggs from across the Causeway became even cheaper.
This challenging climate, he said, is why N&N Agriculture is now aiming for the higher-end segment, as well as complementary products through its pasteurisation capability.
EGG FARMERS GIVEN A FAIR CRACK?
The CEO added that when the hefty investment was made, he didn’t know if the land lease for the farm would be renewed. It was a cloud over his head, so much so that in a previous interview he said he was reluctant to sell the idea of his children taking over the farm.
However, this cloud has lifted somewhat after the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) recently informed him that they will renew the lease for another 20 years, although he has yet to receive the official paperwork.
Mr Ma sounded a note of caution, saying the new contract will come with “new terms”, and possibly a hike in lease premium. As it is, the egg farm is currently paying a “pricey” annual land lease, and any increase will add more pressure on the company’s bottomline.
Amid such uncertainty, the CEO remained stoic. He said that before SLA’s letter, he “did not give much thought” to the expiry of land lease issue, and he was alright with the idea of giving up his farm – and all that he invested.
“At least I tried (it my way),” Mr Ma said.
49 people arrested for vice, cheating and other offences over 4-day operation
SINGAPORE: Forty-five women and four men have been arrested for various offences including vice-related activities and cheating during a four-day operation involving the police, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Central Narcotics Bureau and Singapore Customs.
The operation, which covered locations in western Singapore including Bukit Batok, Chua Chu Kang, Jurong West and Woodlands, took place between Dec 5 and Dec 8, the police said in a news release on Saturday (Dec 9).
Those arrested were between 23 and 48 years old.
During the operation, 37 women were arrested for suspected involvement in vice-related activities at residential units and forested areas.
Another four men and eight women were arrested for suspected involvement in various offences such as cheating, being members of unlawful societies, immigration and employment-related offences.
In addition, three public entertainment outlets were found to have flouted regulations under the Public Entertainment Act, said police.
Two of these outlets were also found to have breached fire safety rules and regulations.
Twenty-six people were also caught with duty-unpaid cigarettes and were issued fines ranging from S$500 to S$2,400.
Investigations against all suspects are ongoing.
Forty-nine people were arrested in the four-day operation. (Photo: Kamini Devadass)
3 WOMEN ARRESTED AFTER RAID ON ILLEGAL BROTHEL IN JURONG WEST
Channel NewsAsia followed police on one of the operation’s raids on an illegal brothel in an HDB flat at Jurong West Street 74 on Friday.
Three women, all Chinese nationals, were arrested for their alleged involvement in operating the brothel and advertising their services online.
“HDB brothels rely on the Internet to advertise their services. A customer will often go online to search for these brothels,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Julian Chee, the commander (covering) of Jurong Police Division.
“HDB heartlands are the very bedrock, foundation of where we stay – it’s where 80 per cent of Singaporeans stay,” he said. “And we want … our population to feel safe. That’s why we take a very harsh stance against brothels in HDB.”
Three women were arrested after police raided a suspected illegal brothel in Jurong West. (Photo: Kamini Devadass)
Over the past five years, police have arrested 790 people for abetting vice activities such as operating illegal brothels, Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said last month in a written reply to a Parliamentary question. About 12 per cent of these offenders were involved in illegal brothels in HDB flats.
“Police will investigate these cases, and we’ll investigate the home owners as well,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Chee. “If the home owners are complicit in the vice activities, they will be prosecuted under the Women’s Charter.”
An offender convicted of managing a brothel under the Women’s Charter could be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.
3 injured after car crashes into market in Marine Terrace
SINGAPORE: Three people were injured after a car crashed into a market in Marine Terrace on Saturday (Dec 9), the police said in statement.
The incident occurred at around 12.30pm involving a car and three pedestrians at Block 50A Marine Terrace.
All three pedestrians were injured and conveyed conscious to Changi General Hospital, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
A white car ploughed into a florist’s stall at a market in Marine Terrace, Dec 9, 2017. (Photo: Deborah Wong)
The scene after a white car ploughed into a florist’s stall at a market in Marine Terrace, Dec 9, 2017. (Photo: Deborah Wong)
Images circulating on social media showed a white car which crashed into a florist’s stall at the market.
Police investigations are ongoing.
Actress accuses Dustin Hoffman of molesting her offstage
NEW YORK – Dustin Hoffman was accused Friday of repeatedly molesting an actress who worked with him in the 1980s, the second allegation to target the acting legend and the latest in a snowballing series of similar claims against powerful men.
Kathryn Rossetter, who played alongside the Oscar-winning actor in a 1983 to 1985 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, made the allegation in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter.
All had begun well, Rossetter wrote, after Hoffman helped her get the role, her first on Broadway.
He even introduced her to his wife, she said.
Once during a performance in Chicago, “I felt his hand up under my slip on the inside of my thighs,” the start of abuse that happened “almost every show,” she said.
“He kept it up and got more and more aggressive,” said the actress, who said Hoffman tried to digitally penetrate her on one occasion.
“Night after night I went home and cried.”
“How could the same man who fought to get me the job, who complimented my work, who essentially launched my career, who gave me the benefit of his wisdom as an actor, how could he also be this sexual power abuser?” Rossetter wrote.
“Was I doing something? Was it my fault?”
She alleged other groping by the actor, and said he would also call her for foot massages.
“Dustin would whisper,’higher, higher,’ trying to get me to move up his pants legs toward his genitals. I didn’t do it.”
Rossetter said that she considered reporting Hoffman to the actors’ union but was dissuaded by others who said she would probably lose her job and her hopes of a career.
The actress later performed in the 1985 TV movie version of Death of a Salesman, which also starred Hoffman.
A former intern on that set, Anna Graham Hunter, previously accused Hoffman in The Hollywood Reporter of putting his hand on her buttocks and making suggestive comments when she was 17.
The 80-year-old Hoffman, whose numerous film credits include Tootsie, Kramer vs. Kramer, Rain Man and All the President’s Men, said he did not remember that episode from more than 30 years ago.
He added that he did not believe he had done harm, and that his conversations on the set were typical of those among members of a “family.”
An outpouring of sexual assault allegations in the US entertainment, media and political worlds began in October with claims against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by more than 100 women of behaviour ranging from intimidation to rape.
Saturday, December 9, 2017 – 13:36
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Superstar Fan Bingbing rumoured to be pregnant
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing is said to be pregnant, China Press reported.
Speculation that she is expecting started when she was spotted with a slightly bigger tummy.
Fan, who accepted the marriage proposal of her boyfriend, Chinese actor Li Chen, in September, has said that she wants to have a baby next year.
Li Chen surprises Fan Bingbing with a proposal on her 36th birthday
Saturday, December 9, 2017 – 13:30
Others
Commuters take later opening in stride at affected MRT stations
Singapore
Channel NewsAsia’s Vanessa Paige Chelvan was at Buona Vista MRT station on Saturday on the first morning of delayed opening times along part of the East-West and North-South Lines.
The scene at Buona Vista MRT Station on the East-West Line on the morning of Dec 9, 2017. (Photo: Vanessa Paige Chelvan)
(Updated: )
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SINGAPORE: “No train service on East-West Line until 8am!”
This shout greeted commuters as they arrived at Buona Vista MRT station early on Saturday (Dec 9) morning.
Some were unaware that the station is one of 17 on the East-West Line (EWL) that will open later at 8am on Saturdays and Sundays until Dec 31.
At least five personnel were on hand to direct affected commuters to free shuttle buses plying between affected stations, and hand out leaflets detailing the operating hours of affected stations.
A shuttle bus outside Buona Vista MRT station on Dec 9, 2017. (Photo: Vanessa Paige Chelvan)
There were no queues for the shuttles at Buona Vista, though the double-decker buses arrived – some of them within a minute of each other – less than half full.
Not many commuters seemed to be boarding the shuttles, with more choosing to wait the 10 minutes for the EWL to open or take a regular bus service to their destinations instead.
Some commuters said they would factor in extra travelling time in future, because the shuttles – following the same fare structure as trains – are bound to take longer to reach their destinations.
Commuter (in red) being told that train service will start late at Buona Vista MRT station. (Photo: Vanessa Paige Chelvan)
A commuter, Ryo, said there was “no choice” but to deal with the line’s delayed operating hours. Another, an elderly Chinese lady speaking in Mandarin, said it was an inconvenience but a “necessary sacrifice”.
The shorter operating hours will double engineering and track access time for engineers to “accelerate” re-signalling works on the EWL, the Land Transport Authority and train operator SMRT said last month.
Two stations on the North-South Line (NSL) – Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak – are also affected as engineering works will extend to Jurong East MRT station, a heavily used intersection of the NSL and EWL, they added.
The move comes after a software glitch in the EWL signalling system caused two trains to collide at Joo Koon MRT station on Nov 15, injuring 38 people.
On Saturday morning, commuters seemed to take the new operating hours in their stride.
One woman arranged to carpool with her colleagues, and teenager Shamima, who planned to meet her friends at Orchard MRT station, had decided to stay put at Buona Vista to wait for a friend to share a taxi into town.
As the clock struck eight and the EWL opened, staff at the bus stop started to pack up the movable barricades they had used to create a queue line for the shuttles.
Sending commuters on their way, an employee cheerfully shouted: “Take care! Good morning!”
