SINGAPORE – A 25-year-old Taiwanese woman who was working in Singapore donated her organs after dying of a brain-related disease on Sunday (April 23).

Ms Audrey Luan Yi Shiuan, who came to Singapore in July 2016 after graduating from Taiwan’s National Taipei University of Technology, was a Chinese teacher in a private tuition centre here, according to a report in Lianhe Wanbao on Thursday (April 27).

Taiwanese media reported that Ms Luan had returned to Taiwan to visit her relatives on April 10, followed by a trip to South Korea. After returning to Singapore last Thursday (April 20), she started to feel unwell.

She later fainted and was taken to hospital, where she fought for her life in the Intensive Care Unit.

It is unclear what disease she suffered from but it is believed to be brain-related.

When doctors declared the 25-year-old brain dead at 11.45am on Sunday (April 23), her family made the difficult decision to take her off life support and donate her organs.

In a Facebook post on Ms Luan’s page, her family wrote that although her death was heartbreaking for them, if she could help others to be healthy and happy through the donation of her organs, then it was as if she lived on in spirit.

According to the liveon.sg website by the Ministry of Health, up to seven lives can be saved by one organ donor.

Ms Luan’s untimely death moved Selina Jen from Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. to pay tribute to the loyal fan on Facebook on Monday (April 24).

In her post, the 35-year-old singer wrote in Chinese: “My dear, fly bravely! I promise you, I will become a better version of myself! Don’t forget our date in a better world.”

A friend of Ms Luan’s responded to the post, thanking Jen.

“I was Yi Shiuan’s roommate,” she wrote. “Nearly every night we would hum your songs to sleep. She spoke about you all the time.”

She added that Ms Luan was “a very kind, pure girl and will be the prettiest, happiest angel”.

“Thanks so much Selina, she will surely see your words to her and be laughing when she does,” wrote the friend.

ST approached Ms Luan’s sister for comment, but she declined.

This article was first published on Apr 27, 2017.
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As some nations decriminalise cannabis – and some of its supporters extol its virtues – a growing number of the youth here are also displaying a more laid-back attitude towards the drug.

About a third of them – 33 per cent – do not think it is addictive.

Even more of them – 35 per cent – think it is popular.

Roughly one in eight – 12.6 per cent – feel it should be legalised.

The shifting attitudes towards drugs in general were highlighted in a survey by the National Council Against Drugs (NCADA) released yesterday.

The trend worried some experts who felt that, if left unchecked, this could spawn the next generation of drug abusers.

“This means drugs among young people are beginning to be viewed as acceptable and fun, there is no notion of the risks and danger,” said addiction specialist Thomas Lee of The Resilienz Clinic.

“Being young, they are also more likely to experiment and might get into drug abusing habits,” he added.

Overall, teenagers and young people here are still strongly against drugs, but the survey showed that attitudes were softening.

The NCADA Perception Survey 2015/2016 showed that 16 per cent of those aged 13 to 21 had a liberal attitude to drugs last year, compared with 11 per cent in 2013.

The survey by NCADA, an advisory council to the Ministry of Home Affairs, polled 2,748 young people aged 13 to 30 and 1,212 members of public aged 31 to 60.

Read also: Metro founder’s grandson admitted to smoking cannabis every day in statement

Overall, 81 per cent of those surveyed viewed drugs in a negative light.

But the older youth – those between 18 and 30 comprising of full-time national servicemen, university students and young working adults – displayed more liberal attitudes towards drugs.

Statistics have shown that most new abusers are below 30 years old. Some could have been swayed by popular culture in how they view drugs, especially cannabis.

This became apparent when some of those who had tended to be liberal towards cannabis were probed further during in-depth interviews and displayed confusion about it.

NCADA said this stemmed from online sources which suggested that cannabis had medicinal values.

Youth formed their perceptions on drugs based on what they consumed in the media, the survey found.

Some 68.4 per cent said they had gleaned information about drugs from mass media like newspapers and radio, while 58 per cent had got it from social media like Facebook.

Slightly less of them got their information from websites or preventive drug education efforts.

NCADA chairman Hawazi Daipi cautioned against promoting the softening global attitudes towards drugs.

“We should avoid dichotomising soft drugs and hard drugs because soft drugs consumption can lead to hard drug addiction.”

He added: “Parents and the public should be aware that the growing number of (drug abuse) victims are young people.”

This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

He used to ply the roads for passengers, receiving only about 10 bookings on GrabTaxi per day.

Now, about a month after Grab launched JustGrab, Transcab taxi driver Kenn Lim is seeing a steady stream of bookings on the app, receiving more than 15 bookings per day on average.

JustGrab, which launched on March 29, combines about 50,000 fixed-fare taxis and private-hire cars on the same platform, hitting about 40 per cent of the taxi fleet here with a dynamic pricing option.

Dynamic pricing, or surge pricing, which adjusts fares based on demand, is used by ride-hailing apps Grab and Uber.

Mr Lim, 45, used to earn an average of about $4,000 to $5,000 a month after rental and petrol costs, including Grab incentives.

Now, he earns about $1,200 to $1,500 per week on average after deducting petrol and rental costs, roughly a 20 per cent hike.

His earnings include incentives averaging about $300, which he gets if he hits 50 bookings in a week.

The sole breadwinner, who has three school-going children, said: “The good thing about JustGrab is getting a constant flow of passengers. I don’t have to drive around looking for passengers. I’m not choosy about my passengers. As long as I get rides, I’m earning money.”

Grab takes a 10 per cent commission for every JustGrab fixed-fare ride made by taxi-driver partners and 20 per cent for those made by GrabCar drivers.

Next week, from May 1-7, those who complete 40 JustGrab trips will earn $100 in incentives. If they earn less than $540, Grab will top up the difference.

A media release yesterday said JustGrab has received more than 5 million bookings since the app was launched. It said waiting times have gone down from five minutes to about 3.7 minutes.

Grab also said taxi driver-partners on JustGrab are earning an average of $100 more per week pre-incentive and $220 more post-incentive.

The company declined to share the average earnings and number of bookings received by taxi-driver partners, before and after JustGrab’s launch.

Mr Melvin Vu, head of GrabTaxi Singapore, said: “Our data reveals that productive taxi driver-partners who maintain a high acceptance rate earn 2.2 times more per hour than those with a lower acceptance rate, since the launch of JustGrab.

“We encourage all driver-partners to try the new service and reap the rewards of JustGrab.”

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng said he still has reservations about dynamic pricing for taxis.

He said he has encountered taxi drivers who still avoid dynamic pricing and prefer to stick to the meter rates.

Dr Lee said: “The dynamic pricing claims to focus on demand and supply. But, it can change rapidly, so how do these companies calculate the demand and supply and the resulting fares?

“We should enable greater transparency of the demand and supply for taxis, so consumers, as well as taxi drivers, can make better choices.”

This article was first published on Apr 28, 2017.
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MS TIN PEI LING

After tabling a motion in Parliament calling for better support to help women juggle their families and careers three weeks ago, Member of Parliament Tin Pei Ling yesterday revealed that she will start work at an investment firm next month.

Currently the only full-time MP in the People’s Action Party, Ms Tin said she will join Jing King Tech Group as its group director of corporate strategy.

In a Facebook post, the MacPherson MP said the local firm is “firmly positioned in the innovation and FinTech space”.

The 33-year-old has been a full-time MP for six years – she quit her last job as a consultant for Ernst & Young in June 2011, after winning the General Election as part of the team for Marine Parade GRC.

Ms Tin said she is now able to return to work for several reasons – her 21-month-old son is in daycare, while her grassroots leaders and party activists have “built up a certain momentum” and put in place clear processes to help residents.

MR TEO SER LUCK

Minister of State for Manpower Teo Ser Luck plans to go into the start-up field after stepping down from public office on June 30.

He will also step down as Mayor for North East District after his term ends on May 26, and wants to spend time with his family and continue his journey in the private sector, Mr Teo said in a Facebook post yesterday.

“I plan to build, create, invest or help start-ups and businesses. Some are tech-related while others will be in products or services which I’m passionate about. Business aside, I’m glad to continue to serve you as an MP,” said Mr Teo, who has represented Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC since 2006.

He said the decision to leave office was one he had “made and thought through for a while”.

Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo will take over as North East District Mayor.

This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

At 40 years of age, Mr Desmond Lee will be the youngest full minister in the current Cabinet.

He will be Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office from May 1 and continue in the Home Affairs and National Development ministries as Second Minister.

His political journey, which began in 2011 when he entered politics as a backbencher in Jurong GRC, has seen him rise rapidly.

He was made Minister of State for National Development in 2013 and promoted to Senior Minister of State in 2015, with the additional portfolio of Home Affairs.

Before Mr Lee, the youngest to be made full minister among the fourth-generation leadership was Mr Lawrence Wong, who was 41 when he became Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.

When asked yesterday, Mr Lee – a lawyer by training and the son of former Cabinet minister Lee Yock Suan – said he was “humbled to be able to serve”.

He will focus on three main areas in his new roles – transforming the built environment sector, partnering the community to conserve Singapore’s national heritage and tackling security threats such as terrorism, cybercrime and drugs.

At 40 years of age, Mr Desmond Lee will be the youngest full minister in the current Cabinet.

He will be Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office from May 1 and continue in the Home Affairs and National Development ministries as Second Minister.

His political journey, which began in 2011 when he entered politics as a backbencher in Jurong GRC, has seen him rise rapidly.

He was made Minister of State for National Development in 2013 and promoted to Senior Minister of State in 2015, with the additional portfolio of Home Affairs.

Before Mr Lee, the youngest to be made full minister among the fourth-generation leadership was Mr Lawrence Wong, who was 41 when he became Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.

When asked yesterday, Mr Lee – a lawyer by training and the son of former Cabinet minister Lee Yock Suan – said he was “humbled to be able to serve”.

He will focus on three main areas in his new roles – transforming the built environment sector, partnering the community to conserve Singapore’s national heritage and tackling security threats such as terrorism, cybercrime and drugs.

This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

For the first time, Singapore will have two women ministers in Cabinet.

Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo, who will be promoted to full minister on Monday, will join Community, Culture and Youth Minister Grace Fu as the second woman in the now 22-strong Cabinet.

Mrs Teo, 48, will be Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

She will also take on a new portfolio as Second Minister for Manpower, a field not unfamiliar to the former assistant secretary-general at the National Trades Union Congress.

MPs and women groups said yesterday that Mrs Teo’s promotion brings women one step closer to having equal representation in leadership positions, including politics.

In a Facebook post welcoming Mrs Teo to Cabinet, Ms Fu said: “This signifies yet another step forward for women in Singapore. I hope to see more women fulfilling their aspirations and taking on leadership roles, regardless of their line of work.”

Ms Jolene Tan, head of advocacy and research at the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), said: “It is important to not just remove formal barriers to equal representation but also promote it actively.”

This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

SINGAPORE: Malaysia and Singa­pore will sign an agreement on the Rapid Transit System (RTS) before the end of this year.

Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Datuk Ilango Karuppan­nan said the link to connect both countries would be a high bridge.

“After the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the High Speed Rail in December last year, this project will be another game changer,” he said.

Besides the high bridge, it is learnt that there had been other options such as an undersea tunnel.

Ilango said the RTS was an extension from Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station from Wood­lands to Johor Baru.

“Once this project is completed, it will greatly boost connectivity for thousands of people commuting between both countries daily,” he said, adding that the station on the Malaysian side would be at Bukit Chagar.

Asked about the project, he said the station would be located on the ground while the tracks would gradually increase to a height of several metres before descending when the train approached it.

He also said bilateral relationship between both countries was at an all-time high.

Ilango, who has been a career diplomat for 30 years, will be returning to Malaysia at the end of this month following a one-year stint in Singapore.

In his farewell speech during a gathering at his official residence Rumah Malaysia here, he said he was happy that he managed to accomplish three years of work in one.

“It has been a hectic year for me but I treasure the friendship and experience here,” Ilango said.

At least 100 people comprising ambassadors from other countries, and officials from Singapore and Malaysia attended the event.

Related: Cross-border link will be connected to Singapore’s MRT line