A dead body was found on Thursday (April 13) morning in the Singapore River.

Police said they were alerted to the discovery at about 8am. It is understood that a cleaner working at the river found the body.

The victim was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that officers retrieved the body of a Chinese man in his 60s.

Mr Moses Arumugam, a tour bus driver, saw a forensic vehicle and police cars at Connaught Drive when he was there at about 10am.

A cordon was set up at Esplanade Park and Mr Arumugam saw a blue tent by the water. The body had been retrieved from the river by then.

Two boatmen were seen questioned by policemen, he said.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

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2017-04-13 21:14:36

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Dead body found in Singapore River; police investigating unnatural death

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The Straits Times

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This article was first published on April 13, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

A 29-year-old woman has been arrested for trying to bribe three police officers.

She had been stopped for a check along Stamford Road at about 3pm on Tuesday (April 11), by three officers conducting anti-vice operations.

The Straits Times understands that the woman was believed to have been involved in prostitution activities.

She offered the three – Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chan Wai Hoong, Station Inspector (SI) Ng Bak Guan and Corporal Ruby Yau from Central Division – a sum of money to let her go.

She did so despite being warned that bribery is a serious offence.

The officers rejected her bribe and arrested her for attempting to bribe a police officer.

The case has been referred to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau for investigation.

Police are also investigating the woman for her suspected involvement in vice activities, under the provisions of the Women’s Charter.

Said SI Ng Bak Guan: “Every police officer bears upon their shoulders the trust from the public to uphold the highest standards of integrity and to be fair and impartial. This must never be shaken.”

This article was first published on April 13, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Blogger Amos Yee was prosecuted for making vicious statements about Christians and Muslims, and not for political dissent as The Economist implied, said the High Commissioner for Singapore in London, Ms Foo Chi Hsia.

She was responding to an article published in the newspaper, “No place for the crass”, on April 1, about Yee’s recent successful application for asylum in the United States.

A Chicago immigration judge had granted Yee asylum after ruling in a 13-page decision that Yee was persecuted for his political opinion when he was charged in Singapore in 2015 and 2016.

The US Department of Homeland Security had opposed Yee’s asylum application, on the basis that Yee had been legitimately prosecuted.

The Economist article, commenting on the episode said: “Immigration judges often grant asylum with a simple, spoken ruling. This one explained himself over 13 pages.”

It also suggested, quoting the judge, that the public outrage over the 18-year-old’s comments had mostly focused on his criticism of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The article described Yee’s online posts as “a profanity-laced video…calling Lee ‘a horrible person’, an ‘awful leader’ and a ‘dictator’.

It added that Yee had only mocked Christianity in “small part”, around 30 seconds, of the 519-seconds long video.

Ms Foo, in a letter published in The Economist on April 12, said these assertions were not true, adding that Yee had disparaged Christians and Muslims in his online posts.

Citing examples, she said: “In 2015, Mr Yee insulted Christians, saying Jesus Christ was ‘power hungry and malicious’ and ‘full of bull’.

In 2016, he said: ‘the Islamics seem to have lots of sand in their vaginas…But don’t mind them, they do after all follow a sky wizard and a paedophile prophet. What in the world is a ‘moderate Muslim’? A fucking hypocrite, that’s what!'”

“The Economist may agree with the American judge that such bigotry is free speech. But Singapore does not countenance hate speech, because we have learnt from bitter experience how fragile our racial and religious harmony is. Several people have been prosecuted for engaging in such hate speech,” she added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a statement last month, had said it is the prerogative of the United States to take in people who engage in hate speech.

The US, said the MHA, adopts a different standard from Singapore towards hate speech. “It allows some hate speech under the rubric of freedom of speech. The US for example, in the name of freedom of speech, allows the burning of the Quran.”

The Economist article had called the MHA statement a “huffy response”.

The Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore, citing the US judge’s ruling, said last month that its members were “outraged” by the judge’s “baseless and unwarranted” findings.

Citing this, The Economist said: “Saying such things about a ruling of a Singaporean court, ironically, could put the speaker at risk of prosecution for contempt.”

Ms Foo said that contrary to the suggestion, Singapore’s laws on contempt do not prevent fair criticisms of court judgments.

She added that The Economist article itself demonstrates this.

“Singapore’s court judgments, including Mr Yee’s case, are reasoned and published, and can stand scrutiny by anyone, including The Economist,” she said.

Yee was charged and convicted for engaging in hate speech against Christians in 2015.

He was also convicted on another charge for publishing an obscene image. He was sentenced to a total of four weeks imprisonment for these charges.

In 2016, Yee was charged again for hate speech, this time against Muslims and Christians.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and a fine of $2,000.

Both times, he was represented by counsel.

This article was first published on April 13, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

The protracted downtrend in Singapore’s property market is poised to end next year, with home prices set to double by 2030, Morgan Stanley said in a Wednesday note.

“Property market bears expect slower population growth, an ageing population, and a structural growth slowdown to weigh on the long-term property market outlook,” the note said. “We disagree and believe home prices will double by 2030.”

That implies a 5 to 6 per cent increase per annum and would mark a reversal from a long downtrend in home prices.

In the first quarter, overall private home prices fell 0.5 per cent on-quarter, the 14th straight quarter of declines. This time around, however, the bulk of the decline was in relatively small landed property segment, while non-landed prices were steady.

The city-state’s housing prices surged more than 60 per cent from 2009 through 2013, propelled by rock-bottom global interest rates and quantitative easing in developed economies, even as the government enacted a series of cooling measures from 2011 to prevent a bubble from forming.

Read also: Is Singapore’s property market headed for a quick upswing

358053

2016-05-06 21:09:42

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What type of property in Singapore should you buy

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But in early March, the government scaled back some of the curbs, including lowering the seller’s stamp duty and shortening the minimum holding period to avoid it.

Morgan Stanley said that was a signal the property market was closer to the bottom, which should improve buyer sentiment.

There were signs buyer sentiment has already picked up: One recent launch, Park Place Residences, sold its entire phase one, initially set at 40 per cent of the 429-unit total before being raised to 50 per cent, within a day.

The bank expected sales volume would surge this year, with the increases in transaction volumes to spur prices higher next year.

Supply was also set to decline, the bank noted. From 2014-16, private residential supply added around 20,000 units a year, twice the historical average since 1990, it noted. But in 2017-18, supply levels were set to fall 40 per cent each year, it said.

The property market in Singapore can be closely watched for economic and investment implications.

Morgan Stanley noted that around 91 per cent of Singapore’s resident households own their homes, with residential property around 45 per cent of total household gross assets last year.

Additionally, Asian investors tend to have large allocations to property in their portfolios.

Read also: How much will it cost to live in Singapore in 2050

357996

2016-03-07 18:35:46

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Most expensive real estate markets worldwide

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While property bears were pointing to an aging population, Morgan Stanley noted a rising household formation rate driven by singles, and a shift toward higher-skilled foreign workers.

It estimated that by 2030, one in five Singapore households would be occupied by just one person, up from one in eight in 2010.

Additionally, it expected “a combination of bequest motives, lease buyback schemes, and shifting manpower trends assuage property market selling pressures that come as the population ages.”

It also expected that Singapore’s medium-term economic growth potential of around 3 per cent over 2016-2030 meant it would outperform other developed economies and support income growth.

On Thursday, Singapore reported first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.5 per cent on-year, down from 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“The Singapore economy is likely to see a cyclical recovery from better-than-expected external demand,” the note said. “Given that changes in economic conditions have a direct bearing on the property market, the improving macroeconomic outlook would be supportive of a property market recovery.”