Commercial vehicle prices are set to tumble due to a six-time increase in the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) supply for vans, trucks and buses.
To capitalise on that likelihood, motor dealers have cut prices.
Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor, the leading retailer of commercial vehicles here, started the ball rolling by slashing its prices by up to $20,000 soon after the new COE quota was announced on April 12.
According to the Land Transport Authority, the COE supply for commercial vehicles will rise from an average of 322 per month now to 2,168 per month for the May-July quota period – a rise of 573.3 per cent.
“With the big increase in COE supply, buyers are all holding back,” said Tan Chong general manager Ron Lim.
“To entice them to come in, we’re offering these non-guaranteed deals with a COE rebate of $23,000.”
This means that if the COE premium falls by $20,000 or so, the buyers will get their vehicles. And they will get a refund of any amount below the COE rebate level of $23,000.
Multi-franchise holder Cycle & Carriage responded with even sharper cuts, slashing prices of its Mitsubishi, Kia and Citroen commercial models by $30,000.
COE premiums for commercial vehicles in the last three tenders hovered between $46,000 and $49,000.
With the cuts, prices for a Nissan Cabstar 10-footer truck start from $69,900, down from $89,900; while an NV200 van starts from $63,900, down from $83,900.
At Cycle & Carriage, the price for a Kia K2500 is now $49,988, a Citroen Berlingo costs $51,988, and a Mitsubishi Maxus G10 starts from $48,988 – all $30,000 lower than before, and with the COE rebate pegged at $15,000.
Toyota agent Borneo Motors has also responded by cutting prices by $24,000. The price of its Toyota Dyna 150 is now $79,900, with a COE rebate of $18,000.
Tan Chong’s Mr Lim said it was necessary to cut prices, as buyers were waiting to see how far premiums would fall before deciding to buy. He said that if dealers did not slash prices, “the whole market will come to a standstill”.
But industry watchers said slashing prices would not work for dealerships which still have COEs from previous tenders.
One example is Volkswagen Singapore.
A senior executive said: “We will not take the risk of dumping now. Why should we cut by $20,000 when the most we lose is $10,000 (per COE) if premiums plunge?”
He was referring to the $10,000 deposit that the LTA requires for each COE bid. The deposit will be forfeited if the COE is unused.
Volkswagen is selling its vehicles without COEs.
The eventual price a buyer pays will depend on the COE premium.
Results of the next tender will be announced tomorrow.
Isuzu agent Triangle Auto has not adjusted prices.
General manager Michael Wong said: “It is very uncertain where prices will go.”
A senior industry source said premiums are likely to fall, but by how much “is anyone’s guess”.
But with the response whipped by the steep prices cuts – which Mr Lim described as “very strong” – COEs may not fall sharply.
As such, Borneo Motors is still selling its cars with guaranteed COEs.
This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.
NEW YORK- Elton John spent two nights in intensive care with a potentially deadly bacterial infection and has cancelled all his concerts for the rest of April and May, his publicist said on Monday (April 24).
The 70-year-old British musician became “violently ill” on a flight home from his recent South American tour, spokeswoman Fran Curtis said in a statement.
He spent two nights in intensive care in Britain and is resting at home after being released last Saturday, the statement said.
The infection was not identified, but the statement said John contracted the “harmful and unusual bacterial infection” during his South American tour, which ended in Chile on April 10.
“Infections of this nature are rare and potentially deadly,” the statement said, adding that his time in intensive care was followed by an “extended stay in hospital”.
He is expected to make a full recovery but has cancelled all his concerts in Las Vegas for April and May, as well as a gig in Bakersfield, California, on May 6.
He apologised to fans for disappointing them, adding in a statement: “I am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well.”
He is due to resume performances at a concert in Twickenham, England, on June 3.
John, a Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner for his work in film and theatre, is working on a score for a Broadway musical adaptation of the book The Devil Wears Prada.
SINGAPORE – A cybersecurity operation run out of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) here has uncovered more than 9,000 malware-laden servers and hundreds of compromised websites in the ASEAN region, including government portals.
The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) said on Monday (April 24) that it worked with investigators from seven countries and seven private sector companies for this operation.
The countries involved were Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China also provided additional cyber intelligence.
The IGCI, which sits on the former site of the Tanglin Police Division headquarters in Napier Road, was opened here in April 2015.
These investigators identified about 8,800 servers across eight countries in the ASEAN region which were acting as command and control points, which are systems used to control and spread malicious software known as malware.
These affected servers were involved in targeting financial institutions, spreading ransomware, launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and distributing spam.
The operation also found almost 270 websites from the ASEAN region infected with a malware code which exploited a vulnerability in the website design application.
Among them were several government websites which may have contained personal data of their citizens.
Interpol says investigations are ongoing.
IGCI Executive Director Noboru Nakatani said the operation was a perfect example of how the public and private sectors can work efficiently together in combating cybercrime.
“With direct access to the information, expertise and capabilities of the private sector and specialists from the Cyber Fusion Centre, participants were able to fully appreciate the scale and scope of cybercrime actors across the region and in their countries,” said Mr Nakatani.
“The Singapore Police Force will continue to work closely with our ASEAN counterparts and the Interpol community to eradicate criminal activities in the cyberspace,” said Assistant Commissioner Cheng Khee Boon, commander of the SPF’s Cybercrime Command. “We will spare no effort to track down cybercriminals who think that they can operate under the impunity of cross jurisdictions.”
lesterh@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on April 24, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
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The students were playing five-a-side football on half of the school field when the accident happened at around 9.15am, The Straits Times reported.
Quoting his classmates, ST said that four of them rushed to lift the heavy goalpost off Hambali, who soon started bleeding.
School principal Wee Tat Chuen said Hambali was an “active and friendly boy who loved football”.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. The school is in touch with the student’s family, and is also providing the necessary support to students and staff affected,” he added.
The school field was closed for police investigations.
FCBEscola Football School Singapore managing director Steven Chua said Hambali could have been imitating a goalkeeper he had seen on television.
The football coach of 15 years told TNP: “During PE lessons, there are many students on the field and it’s not easy for the teacher to supervise all of them.”Mr Khairul Asyraf, a coach of 13 years from 2Touch Football School, told TNP that based on photographs from the scene, the goalpost was probably foldable.
He said: “If the legs are not opened fully or secured properly, such goalposts could be unstable.”
It is not known what type of goalposts the students were using, but they were unlikely to be full-sized since they were playing on half the field.
The school did not reply to TNP’s queries about the goalposts.
SISTER DEVASTATED
Mr Luke Diaz, a manager and football coach for about 10 years for various academies, said goalposts are usually made of aluminium, steel or plastic.
“Plastic is the safest material but it’s not very sturdy as it’s not heavy. Aluminium would be more sturdy, but if kids hang from the crossbar, it could become unstable,” he said.
A post shared by Sarah Aqilah (@sarahaqilah) on Apr 24, 2017 at 3:56am PDT
Hambali’s sister, local singer Sarah Aqilah, 33, told TNP that she was “devastated”.
“It’s very rough for us because it’s so sudden, and he was so young.
“He was very close to me though we didn’t live together. Twice a month, he would come over to swim and sleep over.”
Madam Sarah said she last saw him last month when she took him to Universal Studios Singapore.
“He always wanted to go there so I got him a season pass that lasts for six months, but he managed to go only twice. He’s a very good boy, he never demanded anything.”
Hambali’s brother, Mohammed Rizwan, 19, who is doing his national service, told TNP at their one-room flat in Aljunied that Hambali, the fifth of seven siblings, was very active.
He said: “My brother liked playing football and riding bicycles with his friends. He was always outside.”
In a similar incident last July, a 14-year-old boy in Kelantan, Malaysia, died after being hit on the head by a goalpost.
He was about to score a goal when he slipped near the goalpost and the structure fell on him.
This article was first published on April 25, 2017. Get The New Paper for more stories.
SINGAPORE: Innovation has become a buzzword that appears regularly in news headlines and social media feeds. Enterprises incorporate it into their taglines and governments everywhere want to know how to use it to drive their economies.
But what exactly is innovation? For the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), innovation equates ideas that bring actual economic or social value. But an idea remains an idea until it makes a difference to the world.
The process by which this happens is not easy. Part of it arises from market demand and the ability of the enterprise to scale and deliver value. Yet increasingly, enterprises in Asia are beginning to understand that intellectual property (IP) is the secret sauce in innovation.
As we advance towards a future that is increasingly driven by innovation and a knowledge economy, it is important that we think about IP in a totally different way, one that aids enterprise and economic growth. To help with this, we would like to present two new ways of looking at IP.
First, IP is not about law; it is about business. IP can be technical, and this scares away many business owners who see it as something best left to professionals. Of course, professionals should be involved but business owners who do not understand how IP is really about business will miss a tremendous opportunity to make use of IP to generate even more revenue and drive enterprise growth.
IP can give its owners a monopoly over its technology, brand or content. This monopoly is rarely given to any other aspect of one’s business operations. Once business owners understand how to make use of this, IP can not only prevent free-riding of one’s ideas by competitors, but also act as a vehicle to attract partners and funds.
More and more successful and innovative companies in Asia have begun to incorporate IP into their business strategy. This is why – for the first time in human history – Asia is now leading the world in terms of patent and trademark filings.
Second, to take our place in the new economy, we should go beyond IP protection to focus on IP commercialisation. As markets in Asia become more sophisticated, the focus in IP is shifting away from protection to commercialisation. The process will take some time but it is inevitable as Asian enterprises and people start to become creators and innovators rather than consumers of foreign innovation. Singapore, which is often ranked as having the top IP regime in Asia, should move boldly into this.
To ramp up innovation among businesses, the Committee on the Future Economy recommended strengthening Singapore’s intellectual property (IP) ecosystem and providing more support for local entrepreneurs. (Photo: CNA)
The focus on commercialisation does not mean that protection is no longer important. Indeed, there is a mantra in the IP community that goes: “Innovation without protection is charity”. But too often we equate protection with filing an IP and see this as the end-goal. This thinking is too narrow. Registering a patent, trade mark or design is just a way-station along the journey of taking an idea to market.
THE ROLE OF IPOS
Rethinking IP’s role in our economy requires imagination, openness and expertise. It will take some time, but it is important and we will be working with partners in the public and private sectors to do so.
To contribute to this important effort of helping our future economy, IPOS will also have to evolve beyond being a registry and regulator to becoming an innovation agency. We have spent many years building deep IP expertise and extensive networks, and we will use these to help our entrepreneurs and enterprises grow their IP commercialisation strategies.
INNOVATE FOR SUCCESS – A LOCAL STORY
Often, we look to Japan, Korea or the Western developed countries for examples of companies that are genuinely admired for being able to innovate for the market. However, in Singapore, there are companies that have been able to do this well.
Winner of the IPOS Award for Design Innovation 2016, Innosparks is the company behind the popular (and very comfortable) Air+ Smart Mask. At the heart of this amazing product is an innovation designed to meet consumers’ needs and supported by a well-thought through and executed IP strategy.
During the peak of the 2013 haze season where the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) exceeded 400, Innosparks took on the challenge to develop protective masks for children and the vulnerable. There were no masks which offered a good fit for Asian faces or wearable comfort for children and adults then.
Within a year of research and development (R&D), Innosparks developed a suite of inventions to create the mask they had envisaged – with an attachable micro fan and accompanying smart valve, tailor-fit for Asian facial profiles, and a sizing ruler for measuring mask sizes.
Innosparks is an engineering product development and innovation company that created the AIR+ Smart Mask which has a micro ventilator that allows the rapid extraction of heat, moisture and carbon dioxide. (Photo: Innosparks/Facebook)
Recognising that these components were novel and first in the world, Innosparks sought a combined protection of patent, design, and trade mark for their Air+ Smart Mask in key destination markets. This ring-fenced their IP effectively and helped differentiate the Air+ Smart Mask from similar competing products. It deterred copy-cats and helped Innosparks establish a monopoly and a position of strength in their target markets.
As a result of AIR+ Smart Mask’s success in Singapore, Innosparks has since established a technology licensing partnership with global consumer health company RB-Dettol (formally Reckitt Benckiser) and entered the China market as Dettol Protect+ Smart Mask. Today, the product is available throughout major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou.
MAKING TODAY’S IDEAS TOMORROW’S ASSETS
The Committee of Future Economy (CFE) report provides a clarion call that innovation is key in building a competitive and forward-looking economy. We have a strong IP regime, but this is just the foundation. We must now also focus on equipping our innovators and companies with IP skills and know-how, and build a vibrant IP and innovation ecosystem for enterprise and economic growth.
In the days ahead, IPOS and the Ministry of Law will be releasing an update to our 2013 IP Hub Master Plan. The updated plan will detail how we can support the key recommendations on innovation put forth in the recent CFE Report. This includes initiatives and new collaboration that will help IP-rich companies scale up and internationalise, as well as more IP tools and assistance to local businesses, to help them better understand and develop IP strategies.
There is no stopping the momentum of global innovation and transaction of ideas. Being a small nation, Singapore will always need to adapt quickly and stay relevant in the competitive global economy. IPOS will continue to play an instrumental role in driving IP commercialisation and enterprise growth for a future-ready Singapore.
Daren Tang is chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
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The couple who entered into the marriage of convenience and another couple who helped them arrange it were sentenced to between six and seven months in jail.
Cheong Mun Siong (left) and Tran Thi Cam Nhung were jailed for arranging a marriage of convenience between a Singaporean man and a Vietnamese woman. (Photos: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority)
(Updated: )
SINGAPORE: Vietnam national Nguyen Thi Mong Tuyen, 36, wanted to stay and work in Singapore, so her friend and her friend’s husband helped her arrange for a marriage of convenience to a Singaporean man, 49-year-old Lee Poh Chiew.
When the sham marriage came to light, however, all four were arrested and sentenced to jail.
In a news release on Monday (Apr 24), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that Nguyen approached her friend Tran Thi Cam Nhung in 2014 and told her that she wanted to remain and work in Singapore.
Tran, a 31-year-old Vietnamese woman, told Nguyen that her Singaporean husband Cheong Mun Siong, 39, knew a friend, Lee, who could enter into a marriage of convenience with her and sponsor her visit pass application so she could prolong her stay.
Nguyen agreed to pay Cheong S$8,000 in three cash installments for the arrangement.
On Nov 21, 2014, Lee and Nguyen registered their “marriage” with Cheong as one of the witnesses. Nguyen paid Lee a lump sum of S$1,100 as well as S$400 after the marriage to act as the local sponsor for her visit pass application.
After discovering the sham marriage, ICA officers arrested the couple on Apr 27, 2015. They were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment each on May 18, 2015 for entering into a marriage of convenience.
Cheong and Tran were arrested on Jan 6, 2016 and were convicted of arranging a marriage of convenience on Apr 17 this year. Cheong was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment and fined S$8,000 in default of four weeks’ imprisonment, while Tran was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
ICA said in the news release that it takes a serious view of individuals that engage in or arrange marriages of convenience to obtain immigration facilities in Singapore.
Those found guilty of such offences face a fine of up to S$10,000, up to 10 years in jail, or both.
Her male companion then rushes in, shoving the elderly man in the back and almost causing him to lose balance. The argument escalates before the old man eventually leaves with his tray of food.
The clip, which was first uploaded on April 21 by Facebook user Manny Quest, went viral after it was reuploaded the next day by Thelocalsociety. It sparked outrage from viewers and also prompted a witch-hunt for the couple, who were dressed in office attire.
According to a petition on Change.org, a member of the public named Trish Suan has started a petition to raise funds for the elderly man, “to take civil action against the couple for intimidation and verbal abuse”.
The petition, which has 2,559 supporters at the time of writing, is also intended to “raise awareness that the Silver Generation should be respected, and not abused”, and to “petition MSF (Ministry of Social and Family Development) to take constructive action to protect the Pioneer generation of Singapore”.
According to Suan, the petition will be delivered to MSF, the Law Society of Singapore, the Community Legal Clinic and the Agency for Integrated Care.
The video showing the heated exchange on Thelocalsociety’s Facebook page has since garnered more than 2.5 million views, with many users taking the elderly man’s side.
They also slammed the couple for being disrespectful, pointing out that it was “just a table” that the couple could have simply shared.
One user commented, “Respect the elderly… if it’s your parents being treated that way… how would u feel… where’s the empathy.” Another added, “Dress smart doesn’t mean you have manners… It’s sad to see this kind of ‘educated’ people but lack of respect.”
According to Shin Min Daily News on Monday (April 24), investigating police officers arrived at the hawker centre the day after the incident to record eyewitnesses’ statements, after several police reports were lodged.
