SINGAPORE: Two women, aged 25 and 42, have been arrested for allegedly setting fire to the door of an HDB flat in Bedok in a loanshark harassment case.
The police said in a press release on Friday (Nov 17) that they were informed that the door of an HDB unit along Bedok North Street 2 had been set on fire on Thursday.
Two female loanshark harassers allegedly set fire to the door of an HDB unit in Bedok. (Photo: Singapore Police Force)
Following investigations, the police were able to establish the identity of the suspects and later arrested them along Stirling Road.
The suspects will be charged in court under the Moneylenders Act (Revised Edition 2010) on Saturday.
Under the Act, first-time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment may be jailed up to five years and fined between S$5,000 and S$50,000. Male offenders could also face up to six strokes of the cane.
TAIPEI: Having experienced employees and discipline in maintenance operation procedures are some of the reasons for Taipei Metro’s success, according to officials who work on the subway system.
Hailed as one of the most reliable subway systems in the world, the metro has won praise from Singapore’s Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who said last Tuesday (Nov 7) that Singapore transport operator SMRT had invited a team of experts from Taipei Metro to conduct a review on its own operations.
Led by its vice president, a group of Taipei Metro experts will look into SMRT’s operations and help flush out problems that have recently led to a series of incidents on Singapore’s rail system.
These include a train collision at Joo Koon MRT station on Wednesday in which 36 people were injured, as well as a tunnel flooding incident last month that caused masive service disruption.
With 117 stations, Taiwan’s mass rapid transit system criss-crosses cities including Taipei, New Taipei and Taoyuan, transporting more than two million people every day.
It has a punctuality rate of close to 100 per cent, reporting fewer than 30 delays exceeding five minutes a year.
“We always plan ahead of all the maintenance operation procedures for every system, and execute thoroughly in order to ensure the system can operate smoothly, ” said B C Yen, president of Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation.
This requires proper training for maintenance staff, as well as strict controls on system parts thorough execution of construction works and material supplies and qualities in order to maintain the system’s stability, he added.
The metro system has nearly 2,000 workers in charge of maintenance alone. It usually takes about an average of two minutes to resolve problems that occur (except for major issues).
Operations Control Centre deputy manager Juan Szu-kang said the transport operator has also developed more than 100 standard operating procedures to handle all types of incidents.
The operations control centre is the “brain” of Taipei Metro, which transports more than 2 million passengers a day. (Photo: Chao Fan-hao)
Normally when a problem occurs, the affected station will immediately alert the operations control centre. The centre will then instruct station staff on how to fix the problem, and the public will be informed within five minutes should the problem lead to delays.
However in the case of a train being stuck due to technical issues, the centre will immediately instruct the station to open a single lane for the train to operate in both directions.
At the same time, buses will be dispatched to transport passengers, said Mr Juan.
There are also specific procedures for dealing with other issues including if a passenger jumps onto the railway, he added.
“EVERYBODY HERE IS VERY EXPERIENCED”: OFFICIAL
Employees are able to respond so quickly to incidents because they are experienced, said Mr Yen.
Many have been at the company for a long time, and the staff turnover rate is low, at 3 per cent. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation president himself has been at Taipei Metro for 19 years.
“After working 10 to 20 years, everyone here is very experienced,” said Mr Yen. “So whenever there’s an incident, they immediately know how to handle and respond.”
“If you don’t have this kind of experience, then you don’t know how to handle it.”
Mr Juan, 47, is also a veteran of 22 years. He said he still remembers what his boss said to him on his first day of work.
“He said you’re very lucky to work here, because rarely is there a job that allows you to serve more than one million passengers a day,” said Mr Juan. “This has always been the conviction we try to pass on. We’re very proud and fortunate to work here.”
And it’s this kind of corporate culture that has shaped Taipei Metro, which prides itself on discipline and dedication.
“Now we still have weekly meetings with top executives chaired by vice presidents and sometimes by myself,” said Mr Yen. “We discuss how incidents happened, how to overcome them, can they be prevented. When you do such reviews on a weekly basis, it becomes a habit.”
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVELS HIT 95%
Surveys show customer satisfaction levels are high – more than 95 per cent – and ridership on Taipei Metro has nearly doubled in the past eight years.
“It’s very clean and you don’t have to wait very long for a train to arrive,” one passenger told Channel NewsAsia.
“Most people leave priority seats to those in need. So we always have seats when we board the train,” said a senior citizen.
“It’s very convenient for babies on carts. And the staff is helpful. I like it a lot,’ said a mother with a baby.
Typhoon Nari in 2001 flooded 16 underground stations of Taipei Metro, causing US$76 million in damage. It took 3 months before the system resumed full operations. (Photo: Taipei Metro)
But Taipei Metro paid a heavy price for its success today.
It experienced its worst-ever flooding in 2001, when Typhoon Nar hit the island.
In just three days, the typhoon showered a year’s worth of rainfall on Taiwan, flooding 16 underground stations.
This cost Taipei Metro US$76 million in damage and it took three months before the system resumed full operations. However the incident turned out to be a valuable lesson, according to the transport operator.
Typhoon Nari in 2001 flooded 16 underground stations of Taipei Metro, causing US$76 million in damage. It took 3 months before the system resumed full operations. (Photo: Taipei Metro)
The incident led to improvements on flood control measures according to Mr Yen.
“We since widened the pump width to speed up the draining of flood water,” said Mr Yen.
“We also relocated the pump’s control boards to higher grounds. We installed water insulation boards at all the places where the flood water could seep through to prevent flooding,” he added.
The metro system has not experienced any major flooding since those measures were taken, and is now sharing its experience with transport operators in China, Singapore and other countries in Southeast Asia.
The pillar marks the flood level inside the Taipei Train Station when Typhoon Nari hit the island back in 2001. (Photo: Chao Fan-hao)
But looking forward, Taipei Metro is not without its challenges. More than 90 per cent owned by the government, the metro system has been losing an average of US$20 million a year.
“Taiwan’s political environment is more complicated,” said Mr Yen. “It’s very hard to raise ticket prices.
“While costs like maintenance, personnel are rising, we can’t raise ticket prices.”
So Taipei Metro is tapping on other commercial means like subway ads and station space rental to increase income.
Last year, it managed to make US$50 million in pre-tax profit, thanks to these additional proceeds.
It is now in the process of renewing its system, hoping that by keeping the train safe and reliable, it will attract more passengers and boost revenue.
SINGAPORE: The traditional fireman’s pole may soon be a thing of the past in Singapore, as fire stations here upgrade their facilities.
At Jurong Fire Station, which officially opened on Friday (Nov 17), firefighters use a slide instead, to get from the fourth to the first floor. It is the first fire station in Singapore to be equipped with a slide.
“This firefighters’ slide will further enhance the safety of the personnel without compromising the speed of response to emergency calls,” said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
The slide allows firefighters to move quickly from the fourth to the first floor. (Photo: SCDF/Facebook)
The fire station relocated to 22 Jurong West Street 26 from its old premises at Boon Lay Drive, where it operated for more than 40 years.
The bigger and improved facility is equipped with the new Fire Medical Vehicle, which integrates firefighting, rescue and medical capabilities into a single platform.
With more people expected to work and live in the Jurong area, given the development of the Jurong Lake District and the Lakeside Industrial Estate, the SCDF said the new station will ensure that firefighters continue to deliver “prompt and effective emergency services in the area”.
The new Jurong Fire Station is located at 22 Jurong West Street 26.
The station has also been awarded the Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark Gold label for its use of environmentally-friendly construction materials, water-efficient facilities and energy efficient systems.
“It will be a model for future fire stations as well as older fire stations that are due for upgrading,” said Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo at the opening on Friday.
Mrs Teo also noted that the community has a role to play in dealing with emergencies and saving lives, and urged the public to attend training in basic first aid and other lifesavings skills conducted by SCDF.
She added: “The strong partnership between the Home Team and the community has been one of the key reasons underlying Singapore’s safety and security. With the rising threat of terrorism, such community participation in Singapore’s safety and security, in particular through SGSecure, will become even more important.”
SINGAPORE: Learning at any time through bite-sized and trending content while on the go – that is the aim of a new mobile learning platform for professionals.
Called ULeap, the National Trade Union Congress’ (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) launched the platform on Friday (Nov 17) as part of a six-month-long pilot.
One feature of the app is a learning board, or forum, where users can post questions, start a discussion topic and exchange knowledge with other professionals.
Screenshots of the app through Apple’s App Store.
Gilbert Tan, chief executive officer of e2i said this element of “crowdsourced learning” makes ULeap different from other learning portals or online search engines.
He cited an example of how the platform would be useful for professionals in the situation of the WannaCry ransomware attack which took place earlier this year.
“I’ll be concerned if I’m securing my company from a cyberattack. So, how do I prevent it from happening, how do I learn as much from this incident as possible and if it really happens, how do I recover from it?”
Mr Tan explained that the user can then bring up the topic into the discussion forum to get everyone to start contributing and sharing ideas.
“The key element that stands out is the fact that we can groom learning communities to support each other,” said Mr Tan.
“We don’t only learn from one source like other platforms, but we learn from each other.”
Resources such as videos, articles and PowerPoint slides are also available on the app, contributed by Institutes of Higher Learning and training providers, including polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education, the Singapore University of Social Science, and the Singapore Institute of Safety Officers.
Instead of learning about a new topic in a span of three to six months, each “e-learning” lesson takes less than 15 minutes to complete and users can download the content onto their mobile devices.
In the app, content is categorised into different areas of work, such as cybersecurity, workplace health and safety and the Internet of things.
Mr Gregory Chew, 46, who’s been in the health, safety and environment industry for about 20 years thought the multimedia content on ULeap was “basic”, due to his years of experience in his profession.
However, he found the crowdsourced learning useful for him.
“To me it’s more of the Q&A where you can ask questions and get feedback, and you can reach out to a lot of people and they are professionals helping you out. If you want to get a quick answer or a quick brief run through of what you need to do, it is a good platform to use,” said Mr Chew.
Yitu won the face-search segment of a face-recognition competition conducted by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) earlier this month.
Yitu Technology’s CEO Leo Zhu (fourth from right) meeting with the Singapore delegation from MHA and EDB. (Photo: Yitu)
(Updated: )
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company Yitu Technologies said on Friday (Nov 17) it will be setting up a research and development hub in Singapore – the first outside its home country.
In a press release, Yitu said plans for the R&D hub came after discussions were held between the company and Singapore officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Economic Development Board (EDB). The latter also witnessed the company’s award-winning facial recognition technologies, it added.
The Chinese company, founded in 2012, won the face-search segment of a face-recognition competition conducted by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) earlier this month.
The Singapore delegation also learned more about the application of Yitu’s technologies in areas such as security, finance, transportation and healthcare, the press release said.
CEO and founder of Yitu Leo Zhu said the decision to open a R&D facility in Singapore is because it is an international hub, and a good place to start off compared to other countries in the region.
“The AI vision for Singapore is that once it has started its AI development, there will be a ripple effect across other countries and regions as Singapore has a good reputation, and other companies will possibly follow in the country’s footsteps,” said Mr Zhu.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) had in May said it will invest up to S$150 million into a new national programme called AI.SG, which is aimed at boosting Singapore’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities over the next five years.
PETALING JAYA – Malaysians work an average of 15 hours more than their contracted hours each week, surpassing Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, but has one of the highest percentage of productivity loss.
A newly released workplace survey of the four countries conducted by AIA Vitality found that Malaysian employees are overworked, stressed, lead unhealthy lifestyles, and as a result, are at high risk of health problems and productivity loss.
The survey also found that Malaysia has the highest percentage of employees who slept less than seven hours a night at 56 per cent.
Malaysian employees also reported the highest percentage of physical inactivity with 64 per cent doing less than 150 minutes of physical activity a week.
Due to the high stress and sedentary lifestyle, the survey found that 84 per cent of employees reported at least one type of musculoskeletal condition while 53 per cent are at risk of mental health issues.
The survey linked poor employee health and well-being to a major loss in organisation productivity.
It said in Malaysia, the average yearly cost of health-related absenteeism and presenteeism per organisation is estimated at RM2.7 million (S$880,000).
Presenteeism is when an employee is physically present for work despite being sick or not being productive.
Among the four countries surveyed, Malaysian employees recorded the second-highest number of absenteeism and presenteeism at 67 days a year, after Hong Kong.
The Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality Survey 2017 involved a total of 5,369 employees from 47 organisations.
The wider Healthiest Workplace survey, encompassing Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, surveyed 214 organisations and 10,001 employees in total.
The 1,162 employees from Singapore were found to have long working hours but respondents reported less stress than those in the other three countries surveyed.
The survey noted that Singapore has a culture of working long hours, with “a significant proportion of employees” reporting that they “did not eat a balanced diet or take sufficient physical exercise”.
Taking a break is much harder for Singapore workers, with 14.3 per cent of Singaporeans reporting difficulty in this area.
The survey also stated that there are “some concerns about levels of stress in the Singapore workplace and poor sleep patterns among employees”, with 51 per cent of respondents saying they sleep less than seven hours a night.
A domestic helper from Myanmar who had worked in Singapore for just 40 days felt unappreciated and in a moment of misguided rage, strangled her employer’s 19-year-old daughter with a pillowcase.
The incident happened in a Trellis Tower condominium unit on Feb 18, 2017, at around 9.30am, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
During the scuffle, both the accused, Su Hlaning Hnin and the victim, Ms Li fell onto the floor of the living room.
The process lasted for about five minutes, and Ms Li sustained multiple injuries on various parts of her body.
At one point, she managed to escape and quickly ran into her room but was so afraid that she forgot to lock the door.
Su followed and after calming herself down warned Ms Li not to tell her parents about the incident.
Ms Li hid in the toilet and sent a distress message to her parents, asking for help.
Su denied harming the girl and claimed that the injuries on Ms Li were self-inflicted
After a seven-day trial, the judge found Su’s account to be unconvincing, sentencing her to 22 weeks’ jail.
Su subsequently filed an appeal in the High Court.
The court heard that Su had started working for the family on Jan 10, 2017.
Ms Li and her parents claimed that they had never quarrelled with the maid, and found her work satisfactory.
On the day of the incident, Ms Li’s mother had brought her grandmother for a medical checkup and grocery shopping.
Ms Li’s brother was gone to a gym, leaving her and Su alone in the house.
She was using her computer at the dining table when the maid suddenly sneaked up from her left and wrapped a pillowcase around her neck.
Su told her: “See, see.”
Ms Li could not comprehend the situation and looked up, but as she lifted her head, the grip on her neck tightened.
Instinctively, Ms Li attempted to push Su away and struggled as she stood up from her chair.
Ms Li said she was so focused on escaping, she did not notice whether they had fallen onto the floor first or hit the wall.
A medical examination revealed that Ms Li had suffered many bruises on her head, neck, abdomen, shoulders and various parts on the left side of her body.
They were recognised for their efforts in “promoting and enhancing the standard of restroom cleanliness”, says the Restroom Association (Singapore).
The five-star-rated toilet at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. (Photo: RAS)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Forty-two awards were given out to various organisations and individuals on Friday (Nov 17) in recognition for their efforts in “promoting and enhancing the standard of restroom cleanliness,” said the Restroom Association (Singapore) (RAS).
The Let’s Observe Ourselves (LOO) awards were handed out in a ceremony commemorating World Toilet Day, which falls on Nov 19, according to the press release.
Nominations were opened under three categories: Organisations, cleaning industry and individuals.
Among the winners were engineering and construction company Sssangyong. Its toilets at the Forest Woods condominium construction site were recognised for its eco-friendly features, which included natural lighting, sensor lighting, dual flushing system and recycled water flushing system.
Other winners included food courts and coffee shops such as Kopitiam at the National University Hospital, Our Tampines Hub and 21 Street Eating House.
A collage of 21 Street Eating House and its award-winning toilet. (Photo: RAS)
The toilet at Our Tampines Hub’s hawker centre was one of the 42 recipients of the LOO awards. (Photo: RAS)
An initiative called SaniGives – “Giving for Sanitation” – was also launched on Friday, which aimed to raise public awareness about showing kindness towards cleaning attendants. Such actions include giving donations or volunteering in appreciation activities.
President of RAS, Ms Tan Puay Hoon, lauded the “silent heroes behind toilet sanitation”.
“Without their hard work, it would be very challenging to keep the toilets clean,” Ms Tan said.
“The main challenges they face are long working hours and dirty toilets left by inconsiderate users.”
World Toilet Day raises global awareness of poor sanitation that 2.5 billion people face and aims to break the taboo around toilets.
LAS VEGAS – Despacito, the viral dance hit that swept past borders, won big Thursday (Nov 17) at the Latin Grammys where singer Luis Fonsi announced a new frontier for the song – the Chinese-speaking world.
Despacito won four awards including Record of the Year and Song of the Year, which recognises writing, in the year’s biggest night for Spanish- and Portuguese-language music.
The infectious reggaeton tune, which Fonsi sings with a rap assist from fellow Puerto Rican Daddy Yankee, was already a global hit when a remix featuring Justin Bieber brought it into the US mainstream.
Despacito became the most-watched video ever on YouTube and tied for most weeks on number one of the US singles chart – a feat all the more impressive considering how few non-English songs fare well in the world’s largest music market.
“It’s been a beautiful year. Twelve or 11 months of hard work representing our language in the entire world and enjoying a song that, thanks to Latin audiences and many beyond, has become so influential and has united the entire world and broken language barriers,” Fonsi told reporters at the gala in Las Vegas.
Fonsi is not done with Despacito. He announced he will launch a new version in two weeks with Singaporean singer and producer JJ Lin, a star in Mandarin-language pop.
“I sang a little bit in Mandarin. The song has become a worldwide phenomenon and singing it in Mandarin is an honour,” said Fonsi, who will tour Asia next year.
RIFT WITH DADDY YANKEE?
After working with Bieber, Fonsi has a collaboration ready with another North American star – Echame La Culpa (Blame Me), a new song that comes out Friday featuring Demi Lovato.
Fonsi described Despacito as an “ode to Puerto Rico” – ravaged in September by Hurricane Maria – and thanked Daddy Yankee, who was noticeably absent from the Latin Grammys.
Daddy Yankee recently told Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia that he no longer wanted to perform Despacito, explaining, “Songs have their moment and they have to evolve.”
Fonsi denied any rift, saying of both Daddy Yankee and Bieber: “They are my brothers and without them I would not have achieved this.”
Panamanian singer Erika Ender, a co-writer of Despacito, found a more political meaning to the song which triumphed in the United States just after Donald Trump won the US presidential election after campaigning to get tough against immigration.
“This is a song that can break any type of barriers or walls,” she said, in a clear allusion to Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Another Panamanian, salsa legend Ruben Blades, took home the night’s biggest prize, Album of the Year, with Salsa Big band, recorded with his compatriot Roberto Delgado.
Puerto Rican rapper Residente of Calle 13 fame won Best Urban Album for his ambitious self-titled work, in which he undergoes a DNA test and records with musicians in each country in which he traces ancestry.
The album takes him as far afield as incorporating guitar from Burkina Faso and opera from Beijing and features a guest appearance by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda who turns out to be a distant cousin.
Residente made a plea to a world awash in social media: “Art isn’t about numbers.”
“Stop posting about your number of followers and number of views and start talking about music,” he said.
Vicente Garcia, the Dominican singer who straddles bachata and reggae, won in three categories including Best New Artist.
Veteran Spanish songwriter Alejandro Sanz was feted Wednesday as the Latin Grammys’ Person of the Year and, accepting the trophy Thursday, dedicated the lifetime honour to “these guys who’ve been living in this country for many years and still have illegal status – the Dreamers.”
He was referring to the 700,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children and had been protected so long as they stayed out of trouble – until Trump in September set the stage to expel them.
“Dreamers!” Sanz shouted repeatedly as he performed a medley of his songs, young people rushing on stage to join him in an emotional embrace.
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – Widowed and alone 21-year-old Umme Kulthum had hoped for a fresh start in Bangladesh, but was forced into prostitution instead, falling victim to what aid groups and officials say is a growing trafficking scourge targeting refugees.
Women and children make up the majority of the more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh, many escaping with only the clothes on their back and desperate to survive any way they can.
Confined to congested tent cities near the border without any prospect of work, refugees are willing to take whatever comes their way – and many have fallen prey to traffickers, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Young girls in particular are at high risk, with the IOM documenting cases of refugees being lured with promises of marriage or jobs in big cities that end instead in forced labour or sex work.
“In one case, a number of adolescent girls, who were promised work as domestic helpers in Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, were forced into prostitution,” the IOM said in a statement this week.
Kulthum lost her husband in the ethnic violence that tore through Myanmar’s Rakhine state this year.
Separated from her parents and children during the journey to Bangladesh, she was approached by a Rohingya man after arriving in Kutupalong, a gigantic camp housing hundreds of thousands of refugees.
His marriage proposal offered a brighter future away from the squalor of the camp and a chance to lay her unhappy memories to rest.
But the couple were never married.
Instead Kulthum – not her real name – said she was taken to a brothel, where she was dosed with methamphetamine and forced to have sex with up to seven men a day.
She later learned the man who promised to marry her had been paid 8,000 taka ($100) to deliver her there.
“I became scared, but didn’t have the least idea what was in store for me,” she told AFP in the border district of Cox’s Bazar.
“I was sold to become a prostitute,” she said, weeping at the memory of the ordeal.
Police crackdown
Human trafficking networks have expanded as the refugee population has climbed and are now “rife” throughout the camps, the IOM said.
Bangladesh has deployed its top police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion, to Cox’s Bazar to crack down on traffickers, many of whom manage to evade detection despite restrictions on non-authorised personnel entering the refugee camps.
“The traffickers are not sitting idle. They are targeting women and children, especially those coming alone,” the battalion’s chief in Cox’s Bazar, Major Ruhul Amin, told AFP.
Traffickers also attempt to separate refugees from their families during the chaos that accompanies their arrival in Bangladesh, Amin said.
A checkpoint in the coastal town of Teknaf set up a month ago has already rescued 30 women and children from the clutches of traffickers, he added.
Another security official, who asked to remain anonymous, said there had been cases of criminal syndicates organising fake passports for Rohingya women who are then sent abroad, especially to Malaysia and the Middle East.
The IOM said it was also aware of cases of Rohingya refugees being trafficked overseas.
Falling prey
Dhaka has prohibited the Rohingya from leaving the camps, fearing an influx in its bigger cities, and has set up checkpoints along the roads leading to the tented settlements.
More than 20,000 Rohingya have been turned back but aid workers say that unless the refugees are taught about the dangers of trafficking, they will keep trying to leave the camps in search of a better life.
Local charity worker Mohammad Hossain Shikder runs workshops in the camps to educate refugees about the tactics employed by people smugglers.
“They will always come up with a lucrative and believable offer, like a job in a garment factory or marriage to a well-off person,” Shikder told a group of 20 young men and women in Kutupalong.
“Sometimes, parents are convinced by upfront payments of 40,000 taka or more. They are sold dreams that a woman can even make 500,000 taka, which is an impossible amount.” For many of the stateless refugees stuck inside the camps, the prospect of earning a living is enough to lure them into the trap laid down by traffickers.
Months after she was sold into prostitution, Kulthum managed to escape from the brothel, but found herself back in Kutupalong, penniless and alone.
Eventually, she returned to the sex trade and now lives in a seedy hotel room in Cox’s Bazar.
“One day I hope to find my children and parents again. I am saving money for them,” she said.
