Kuala Lumpur – It’s hard to forget flight SQ006, even more so for Farzana Abdul Razak, one of the cabin crew who survived the deadly ordeal.

On the night of Oct 31, 2000, Los Angeles-bound Singapore Airlines flight SQ006 taxied into a closed runway at Taipei’s then-Chiang Kai-shek Airport. It crashed into construction equipment during take-off and caught fire, killing 83 of the 179 people on board.

Madam Farzana was only 18 years old and just months into her new job at that time. Her dreams and aspirations went up in flames together with the ill-fated aircraft, when 45 per cent of her body was severely burnt by the blaze.

She underwent 11 skin graft operations to remove the scars, but that was just the beginning of the road to recovery – one that was mired by anger and a long bout of depression.

In the third episode of “The Newsmaker”, Madam Farzana looks back and recounts her ordeal. She also has a word for the pilots who caused the deadly mishap.

About “The Newsmaker”:

“The Newsmaker”（封面人物） is one of 10 SPH-produced short form digital video series as part of a pilot Public Service Broadcast initiative. In this 13-part series, people who have made news headlines in the past share with the host Fred Lai (Content Producer, Chinese Media Group Digital) how the news events changed their lives and how they have been coping since then. All episodes come with English subtitles.

This series is also available on the zaobao.sg website and mobile app.

SINGAPORE – At least 13 People’s Action Party (PAP) MPs, including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing, have been affected by fake Facebook accounts in the last few days.

Most of the fake accounts – bearing the MPs’ names, profile photos and banner covers – popped up between Thursday night and Friday morning (March 17) but were deleted shortly after the MPs were alerted to them by grassroots leaders and residents.

Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam, who is the PAP’s executive director, said in a Facebook post on Friday that the PAP’s communications team had been made aware of “a spate of spoof social media accounts of various MPs, about two to three daily”.

Creators of the fake accounts mirrored those of public figures’, added friends, then attempted to phish for information through Facebook’s messaging service, he said.

Mr Yam encouraged users to look out for a blue tick – Facebook’s symbol of verification – on MPs’ profiles, and alert MPs if they come across suspicious accounts.

MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling, who was one of those affected, also took the opportunity to educate residents on how to spot fake accounts on Friday morning.

She alerted residents to the absence of a blue tick against the name of the fake account, and said the impersonator had made dubious requests.

“The fake account had also been sending out friend requests to many of my contacts and ‘fans’ of this page. It also sent out bait messages, in an attempt to get FB users to click on links purporting to give out goodies (phishing),” she wrote in a Facebook post.

A screenshot of the fake account showed that the impersonator had reached out to one of Ms Tin’s contacts, saying: “I really appreciate everyone and will continue to serve you in taking this great singapore (sic) to the greatest place we ever desire.”

He or she then asked if the contact had ever heard of the “FB reward bonus”, and asked if he wanted the link to the claim the reward.

Said the real Ms Tin: “I don’t sound like this. This sounds like a phishing message.”

Fengshan MP Cheryl Chan also posted on her official Facebook page on Wednesday (March 15), warning of an unknown account that had been sending messages and friend requests to Facebook users on her behalf.

“Please ignore those requests and report the illegitimate account to Facebook as I did not send any from my official account,” she wrote.

Tampines GRC MP Baey Yam Keng, who was also among those affected, said the sudden spate of attacks may prompt the MPs to take collective action: “We’ll see whether we can work with Facebook to see if the fake accounts are coming from the same IP address, and make a move from there.”

The other affected MPs were Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Chee Hong Tat, Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo, Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Chia Shi-Lu, Jurong GRC MP Ang Wei Neng, Jalan Besar GRC MPs Heng Chee How and Lily Neo, and Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Darryl David, Punggol East MP Charles Chong and Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Sim Ann.

This is not the first time PAP MPs have had to deal with fake accounts.

Last June (2016), Minister of State Koh Poh Koon warned residents about a fake Twitter account bearing his name tweets and seemingly promoting an online coupon site and an education site.

In 2015, a scammer created a fake Facebook profile of Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, saying that Madam Halimah was in trouble and needed money, and asked friends to transfer money to her.

In 2014, a Facebook account in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Zainal Sapari’s name was set up to ask for money.

Mr Yam told The Straits Times that his team regularly monitors the social media accounts of branch chairs, and report suspicious accounts as and when they are detected.

But this recent spate, he said, is “a little more concerted as new spoof profiles are set up as old ones are taken down”.

This article was first published on March 17, 2017.
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It is something that people wouldn’t normally think could happen in Singapore.

Unfortunately, human trafficking does happen in this city-state.

A recent report and video by Our Better World, an affiliate content platform of non-profit organisation Singapore International Foundation, tells the story of how 14-year-old Lilis was trafficked to Singapore to work in a brothel.

Lilis was deceived into thinking she would leave her home country of Indonesia to work as a “babysitter or at cafes”.

In the video interview, Lilis said she was invited by two friends to come over to Singapore for work. Her mother had just died and she wanted to help ease the family’s financial burden.

Lilis’ identity was concealed in the video for her safety.

Before arriving to Singapore, Lilis made a stop in Batam and was informed of what her real job entailed.

She was being trafficked into sex work. The young girl was sent to a brothel to solicit men, whom she was asked to serve and visit hotels with.

“I was told (by my agent) that I had to wear revealing clothes,” Lilis said.

“I told them I couldn’t – I couldn’t do that. But they forced me to do it.”

Fear, sadness and anger – these emotions are what Lilis felt all at the same time.

Prior to her tell-all interview with Our Better World, Lilis admitted that she had never spoken to anyone about her predicament. Not even about her own feelings.

She used to share a room with four other women who shared the same ‘job’ as her. However, she couldn’t go anywhere else and stayed locked up in the room without a key of her own.

A man asked for Lilis one day and her agent pushed for her to go along with him.

When she was finally alone with the man, who reportedly hailed from Malaysia, Lilis broke down and said she “couldn’t do this”.

It was then that he realised that Lilis was there against her own will, according to Our Better World.

“He asked me to run, to escape and stop doing this,” Lilis shared.

Lilis saw her chance and ran away first thing the next morning.

She hailed a cab and as luck would have it, her driver could converse in Malay and she told him everything that had happened to her.

The cabbie immediately offered to bring her to a police station, said Lilis. And he did not charge a fee for the ride.

After her agent’s subsequent arrest, Lilis received help from Hagar, a charitable organisation that seeks to help women and children in need.

Volunteer social worker from Hagar Singapore, Ms Wei Ng, told Our Better World: “These girls from countries in Asia who are in Singapore could have been trafficked … The trauma they have been through will stay on forever and scar their lives if they’re not helped or rescued from this trade.”

When Lilis first met Ms Ng, she revealed that her life had changed for the worst when her mother died and her family members “did not think she was of any worth”.

Ms Ng added: “It’s so important for us to help them regain trust in others again so that they can be helped further.”

And Lilis appreciates the support she’s been receiving.

“I am happy and grateful that there are people willing to help,” she said.

Hagar Singapore helped Lilis return home with the support of a local partner, according to Our Better World.

She trained to be a beautician and is now an apprentice at a beauty salon.

And just like anyone of us, Lilis has aspirations as well. She now dreams of doing hair and makeup for the stars.

ssandrea@sph.com.sg