It is his fifth time applying for a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat, but the chances of Mr Ang Teck Peng, 44, getting his desired five-room unit in Punggol are slimmer than before.

Five-room flats at Punggol Northshore Cove had the highest demand as of 5pm yesterday, with 878 applicants vying for just 170 units.

This works out to more than five hopeful buyers for each unit.

In the BTO exercise in November last year, there were 2.1 applicants for each five-room unit in Punggol.

Mr Ang, who was at the HDB Hub yesterday to submit his application, said Punggol was ideal because of the prospect of waterfront living and the amenities in the area.

First-timers posted the highest application rate for the units compared with other projects and flat types in Punggol, Clementi and Tampines, with more than three applicants gunning for each unit.

The latest BTO sales exercise, which began last Tuesday, attracted 12,704 applicants for the 4,056 flats as of 5pm yesterday.

The exercise ended at the stroke of midnight.

It included two-room flats and multi-generational homes in Punggol and the mature estates of Clementi and Tampines.

Property experts said Punggol is getting more popular with first-time homebuyers because of a combination of affordability and attractiveness of the neighbourhood.

ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim said: “The LRT system, for instance, makes commuting easy and links residents to key developments in Punggol, such as Waterway Point.”

PropNex Realty chief executive officer Ismail Gafoor agreed. “The high number of applicants reflects the appeal of Punggol as a new town with numerous upcoming amenities and waterfront-living lifestyle for new families,” he said.

PRICE FACTOR

Price is still the main factor, they noted.

A four-room flat in Punggol costs from $197,000, including grants.

A similarly sized unit in Tampines and Clementi will go for $294,000 and $273,000, respectively.

Of note is also the high second-timer applicant rates for the Punggol projects, said R’ST Research director Ong Kah Seng.

These could be people living in older estates such as Hougang and Serangoon who are looking to upgrade to a “newer and larger flat”, he added.

The next sales exercise will be in May, which will see the launch of 4,600 BTO flats in Bidadari, Geylang, Woodlands and Yishun.

ngjunsen@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Feb 21, 2017.
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Divorce cases are being handled faster, minimising the animosity between couples and the impact on children even as the family courts retool processes and schemes to create a more robust future-ready system.

The number of divorce cases settled within the year they were filed jumped to 74 per cent last year, up from 46 per cent in 2012, said Judicial Commissioner Valerie Thean, Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts (FJC).

Speaking at the FJC’s Work Plan 2017 seminar yesterday, she noted the average time to handle each case has shortened from 68.6 days in 2012 to 53.1 last year.

The average time for final judgment to be granted was reduced from 155.2 days in 2012 to 114.6 last year.

The FJC is also looking at possible new laws with other agencies that would stop one parent from breaching court orders and taking children out of the country without consent of the other.

The judge attributed the better efficiency to new initiatives from the FJC, which was set up in October 2014, such as the Individual Docketing System.

It assigns selected categories of cases to designated judges so they can be more familiar with the issues, manage the case from start to end, and ensure better outcomes for parties who may have multiple applications and proceedings in court.

The judge said the system will be extended to all divorce cases later this year, along with other initiatives such as a new Family Protection Centre and an electronic case-management system for Personal Protection and Maintenance cases.

Judge Thean’s speech stressed FJC’s role in meeting the various needs of families embroiled in legal disputes. There can be complex issues in joint parenting.

In one case, a child was caught between his father, who had a hoarding illness, and his mother, who rightly felt it threatened her son’s living environment.

Counselling taken through FJC’s Child Inclusive Dispute Resolution (CIDR) scheme helped the child understand the divorce was not his fault, and his parents that their conflict caused the child great distress.

Last year in some 80 per cent of 62 cases when CIDR was applied, “some or all children’s issues were settled”.

vijayan@sph.com.sg

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

Culling of animals will only be done as a last resort, said Minister of State for National Development Koh Poh Koon after a public outcry over the culling of 24 free-ranging chickens in Sin Ming last month.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Dr Koh said the population of free-roaming chickens in Sin Ming had doubled to 50, and studies have shown chicken are more susceptible to the bird flu virus, compared to other birds such as pigeons.

Citing a report by the World Health Organisation, Dr Koh added that there is scientific evidence that chickens can in turn transmit the disease to humans.

That is why the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) felt it had to take action to manage the chicken population there, he said, noting that complaints about noise was not the only reason behind the culling.

Also the chickens, though free-roaming, are not wild birds, he said in response to Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng and Non-Constituency MP Daniel Goh, who asked about the episode, which generated a debate that lasted nearly 30 minutes, as MPs sought more clarity on the issue and AVA’s approach to culling.

ADVERSE

That is why they could not be relocated, as doing so adversely affects the genetic stock of the native red junglefowl – the endangered ancestor of the domestic chicken.

Dr Koh told Parliament that AVA is conducting scientific studies to enhance its animal management strategies.

He also urged people not to feed wildlife, as such a practice disturbs the balance in the ecosystem and will invariably increase human-wildlife contact, and lead to conflict.

On the Sin Ming birds, Dr Koh said AVA had initiated a study with the National University of Singapore in January last year to better understand the ecology and population of selected bird species here, one of which is free-ranging chickens.

He said: “AVA will also involve different stakeholders, including the community and animal welfare groups, in exploring various approaches and solutions.

“Culling will only be done as a last resort. Ultimately, we want to thrive as a City in a Garden, living in harmony with nature, and enjoying the flora and fauna around us.”

This article was first published on Feb 21, 2017.
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A convicted drug trafficker has testified in court that his relationship with Metro founder’s grandson Ong Jenn was that of buyer and seller – nothing else – when it came to narcotics.

Ong, who is on trial for trafficking in cannabis, had told the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) that the drugs he bought were for his personal consumption, according to a CNB statement read out in court on Feb 3 when the trial began.

Testifying for the first time in the trial involving the scion of property and retail giant Metro Holdings, Mohamad Ismail Abdul Majid, 45, told the court yesterday that he called Ong on Oct 29, 2014 to ask him if he wanted any cannabis.

He added that Ong said he wanted to buy 500g of the drug.

He then told Ong that this would cost $5,000 and they met before noon the next day at a taxi stand near Takashimaya in Orchard Road, where Ong gave him $2,000.

Ong was supposed to hand over the remaining $3,000 after receiving the drugs, Mohamad Ismail told District Judge Jasvender Kaur.

He added that he went to Jurong Port Road to collect the drugs from an unnamed Malaysian man later that day.

CNB officers arrested Ong, now 41, who is the grandson of Metro’s founder Ong Tjoe Kim and the son of its former group managing director Jopie Ong, at a taxi stand at Ngee Ann City the next day.

They found in his possession a block of 92.68g of cannabis and another block containing 385.1g of a cannabis mixture.

The day after his arrest, Ong was charged with trafficking cannabis, as well as possession and consumption of the drug.

He is now on trial for two counts of engaging in a conspiracy with Mohamad Ismail to traffic cannabis.

Mohamad Ismail was sentenced to 22 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane on Sept 16, 2015 after pleading guilty to three of the seven drug-related charges.

Two of his charges are related to Ong’s current charges.

If convicted of engaging in a conspiracy to traffic cannabis, Ong can be jailed for between five and 20 years, and ordered to receive between five and 15 strokes of the cane for each count.

This article was first published on Feb 21, 2017.
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He was resting in his bedroom yesterday when his mother ran in after hearing an explosion.

Mr Deric Tan, 27, told her to go downstairs with his elderly aunt, nephew and their maid, while he rushed over to alert his neighbour.

The sales coordinator told The New Paper: “I saw a thick cloud of black smoke coming from my neighbour’s flat and was concerned for his safety.”

Mr Tan said that when he got no response after shouting into the unit, he ran down the stairs to help evacuate more neighbours in the next three storeys.

By the time he reached the ground floor of Block 138, Bedok Reservoir Road, he found other residents shouting out instructions to his neighbour, who had climbed out onto the ledge outside the bedroom window on the fourth storey.

Ms Sutini Samat, 29, who lives on the third storey, was one of them. The senior sales associate said: “He was panicking and shouting for help, so I told him to duck to avoid inhaling the smoke.”

In their Facebook post, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to the fire at about 5pm.

“When SCDF firefighters arrived, they saw a man standing on the ledge outside a bedroom on the fourth storey as black smoke billowed out from the window. Firefighters quickly pitched a ladder and rescued him from the ledge,” said the SCDF.

The man was taken to Changi General Hospital with burns.

SCDF added: “Firefighters had to force their way into the locked unit and extinguish the blaze with two water jets. The cause of the fire which gutted the entire unit is currently under investigation.”

Mr Tan’s mother, Madam Agnes Teo, 68, who has been living there for 27 years, said in Mandarin: “I have never seen anything like this. I hope he will be all right.”

Aljunied GRC MP Pritam Singh said in a Facebook post that he had received notice of the fire and rushed to the site.

He added that he “was relieved to know that the man on the ledge was rescued by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. He is out of danger and has been sent to hospital”.

chualel@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on FEB 21, 2017.
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A body believed to be that of Mr Steward Lee Goon Hong, who went missing after he left his Bukit Panjang home for his daily hike last Friday, has been found.

A police spokesman told The New Paper last night: “On Feb 20, 2017, police were alerted to a body of a man found at the top level of the multistorey carpark of Block 468A, Segar Road. The man was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.”

The police have classified the case as unnatural death and are investigating.

TNP understands that Mr Lee’s body was found hanging at the carpark, a 10-minute walk from his home.

Mr Lee had left his mobile phone and wallet at home, something he had done before.

He would normally return home before dinner, or tell his family if he was coming back late.

His sister, Miss Lee Yunqin, had posted an appeal for help on her Facebook page on Saturday.

In an earlier interview yesterday, Miss Lee, 29, told The New Paper that family and friends had since stopped searching for him.

She said: “We’re very worried. We don’t know where to look because we’ve searched all the places he could be at. We’re just waiting for the police now.

“We’ve been living in the Bukit Panjang area for the past 20-over years, so he’s very familiar with the trails here.”

She said her brother used to work at the River Safari and was interested in nature and conservation. He mostly hiked alone.

Miss Lee did not respond to TNP’s calls following the police statement.

Avid hikers in Singapore, who had seen Miss Lee’s appeal, had earlier weighed in on the missing hiker.

Mr Kwok Yew Peng, 53, who has scaled peaks in Malaysia, said: “I don’t think it’s easy to get lost in Singapore unless he wandered very far into the nature reserves.

“And if he’s been hiking so regularly, the terrain should be familiar to him. If he’s in Bukit Panjang, he can probably hear traffic and walk towards it.”

Mr Ken Neo and two friends had hiked six hours from Chestnut Avenue to Eco-Link @ BKE then to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve earlier yesterday, searching for Mr Lee.

Mr Neo told TNP: “We don’t know him or the family. We only want to help.”

hmang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on FEB 21, 2017.
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