SINGAPORE – Orphaned Vietnamese baby Loc Pham Duc Loc is recovering well in KK Women & Children’s Hospital after a five-hour operation on Feb 13 to drain fluid from his head.
The seven-month-old boy suffers from hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain”, which is a build-up of the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain.
Baby Loc was abandoned at Van Buc Temple in the southern coastal province of Ben Tre last July. He came to Singapore on Jan 12 after the Vietnamese community here suggested to Vietnamese monk Thich Le Hieu to bring him to the city-state.
According to a Shin Min Daily News report on Friday, the latest operation – the fifth one in his young life, managed to drain 70 per cent of the fluid in his head. This in turn has reduced his head circumference by 3cm.
Although he is still under observation at the hospital, his recovery has been encouraging so far.
Restaurant owner Nguyen Hong Thao, 33, told the Chinese evening daily that if he recovers well enough, the next operation would be one where a tube would be inserted to drain the fluid from this head to his stomach, where it can be expelled.
Otherwise, he might have to undergo another operation to drain more fluid.
Besides fluid in the brain, baby Loc also suffers from blindness in his left eye, and blurry vision in his right eye as a result of hydrocephalus. His brain function has also been affected by the condition, but it is hoped that some recovery can be made when the fluid is drained.
An online crowdfunding page Ms Thao created on Give Asia has so far raised more than $136,000, far exceeding the initial $100,000 target.
SINGAPORE – Permanent residency (PR) in Singapore can be rescinded at any time should persons holding the status be found a security threat or have criminal records.
The case of former tour guide Yang Yin, who was found guilty of misappropriating $1.1 million from a Singaporean widow, has thrust the strict guidelines of PR eligibility into the limelight.
Here’s a look at three other cases that made the headlines:
1. Hartawan Aluwi
Former Indonesian banker Hartawan Aluwi Photo: Video screengrab
Indonesian banker Hartawan Aluwi had his PR status revoked in Feb last year after he was arrested for fraud.
Hartawan had fled Indonesia after he was listed as a suspect for allegedly misusing the government’s money amounting to $685.5 million. He, along with several others, had wanted to bail out the now-defunct Bank Century during the 2008 global financial crisis.
Minister K Shanmugam had considered Hartawan to be “an undesirable immigrant … due to his involvement in fraudulent investment schemes and money laundering activities”, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
On April 21, 2016, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) took Hartawan into custody after the authority “declared his presence in Singapore to be unlawful.”
2. Tey Tsun Hang
Former law professor Tey Tsun Hang was accused of obtaining sex and gifts in return for giving out good grades .Photo: The Straits Times
Former law professor Tey Tsun Hang was embroiled in a high-profile sex-for-benefits case with a student in 2013.
He was accused of obtaining sex and gifts in return for giving out good grades. Tey has since been cleared of corruption after serving a 5-months sentence.
The Malaysian had been a PR since 1998, but had failed in his bid to renew it as he had left the country without a re-entry permit.
The court noted that Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers did remind Tey of such a consequence, but the latter had still failed to apply for an extension despite agreeing to do so.
In 2004, former Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot Ryan Goh Yew Hock was singled out as the instigator behind the ouster of the executive committee of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S).
Although Goh had reportedly crafted a petition to oust the then union leader Captain Dilip Padbidri and other council members, he did not sign it himself.
The Malaysian citizen was also found to have obtained permanent residency in Australia in 2002. He had relocated his family to Perth in 2003.
In view of these developments, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said in a statement to the media in 2004 that Goh had used his Singapore permanent residency status to obtain the benefits of a job, HDB housing and union Exco membership.
However, Mr Lee added: “That did not restrain him from surreptitiously initiating actions that would undermine industrial peace in SIA and also put Singapore’s economic interests at risk.”
Goh was a PR since 1981, a status which was later revoked in 2004.
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded to 4,114 fire-related calls last year, a fall of 10.6 per cent compared to the 4,604 cases in 2015.
This is the lowest number of such calls SCDF has received annually since 1978, it said in its annual fire, ambulance and enforcement statistics report released on Friday (Feb 17).
Rubbish chute and bin fires remained the top reason for fires in homes, accounting for 1,444 cases – more than half the total number.
(Infographic: SCDF)
SCDF also noted an increase in the number of fires involving the batteries of electric bicycles and personal mobility devices, as well as power banks, from 16 cases in 2015 to 34 cases last year.
“These are preventable fires. With every rechargeable battery there is a recommended (length of) time (for charging). Charging overnight is not encouraged because there’s a tendency to overcharge,” said Assistant Commissioner Ling Young Ern, director of SCDF’s operations department.
The number of fires at warehouses and factories decreased by 8.9 per cent, from 101 cases in 2015, to 92 cases in 2016.
However, the number of fires in shopping complexes increased by 25 per cent, from 48 cases in 2015 to 60 cases in 2016.
In total, there were 62 fire injuries last year, a decrease of 44.1 per cent from 2015. One person died in a fire in 2016, compared to seven fatalities in 2015.
CALLS FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES UP
SCDF said it responded to 178,154 calls for emergency medical services (EMS) last year, a 7.4 per cent increase from 2015.
Emergency calls made up 89.4 per cent of the calls, with the number of calls involving the elderly remaining the highest among all age categories at 39.4 per cent.
(Infographic: SCDF)
SCDF added that it was concerned over the total number of non-emergency calls and false alarms calls in 2016, which made up 10.6 per cent of EMS calls.
“This works out to an average of about 50 such calls a day. SCDF’s EMS resources in such cases would have been better deployed to cases involving casualties who require urgent medical attention,” said SCDF.
FEWER FIRE SAFETY CHECKS CONDUCTED
SCDF conducted 15,291 fire safety checks last year, a decrease from the 16,165 checks in 2015.
The authorities issued 2,776 fire safety offence notices last year, a decrease of 25.9 per cent from 2015.
“The public plays an important role in reporting fire safety violations to the SCDF to ensure that the number of fire incidents in Singapore remains low,” SCDF said.
The Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Singapore celebrated its 80th anniversary with a dinner at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel on Feb 11.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the guest-of-honour at the event attended by about 500 people.
They included Bishop Terry Kee of the Lutheran Church, and other church leaders from Singapore, Malaysia and India.
Mission partners, past vicars of the parish and other well-wishers, were also present.
After the opening prayer by the past vicar of the parish, Reverend George Koshy, DPM Tharman lit the traditional lamp.
He congratulated the Mar Thoma community and praised the work done by the church.
Church member and parish representative on the National Council of Churches in Singapore George Joseph provided an insight into the Syrian Christian diaspora in Singapore.
He said the pioneer members of the Marthoma community in Singapore integrated and adapted to their new surroundings while remaining “true to our faith and practices”.
He added that the community played a role in contributing to the social and economic development of Singapore.
The church has been active in providing support to various communities, including migrant workers and lower-income Indian students.
In 2008, it started an outreach ministry for migrant workers, in collaboration with the Tamil Methodist Church.
Two years later, it worked with the Anglican Church and St Andrew’s Community Hospital to provide medical care to the workers.
The launch of the commemorative book, The Journey In God’s Green Pastures, with (from left) Rev John G. Mathews, DPM Tharman, Mrs Rachel Roy and Mrs Sangeetha Mariamma of the editorial committee. Photo: Singapore Parish Archives
These milestones and the history of the church are recorded in a 500-page book titled The Journey In God’s Green Pastures, which was launched by DPM Tharman at the event.
The book traces the founding and the early history of the church in Kerala, to the migration of the first Marthomites to Singapore in the early 20th century and up to the recent history in 2016.
Vicar Rev John G. Mathews felicitated Mr Tharman with a “ponnada” (traditional honouring of the guest with the draping of a shawl).
Later, Rev Kee released a music CD of 11 songs – Blessings – produced by the Mar Thoma Syrian Church choir.
It includes the anniversary anthem Rejoice, Renew, Redeem, which was written and put to music by church member James Kuruvilla.
Said Vicar Mathews: “This 80th year has been a time for the Mar Thoma community in Singapore to Rejoice, Renew and Redeem — which is also our chosen theme for this anniversary – to rejoice in God’s providence on our community and our country, to renew ourselves in our faith and mission as disciples of Christ and to be co-redeemers in the Creation that God has made us stewards of.
“We look forward to our mission in the days ahead with a sense of humility, enormous responsibility and thanksgiving, carrying together our parish, our community, our mission partners and our fellow Singaporeans.”
For its 80th birthday, the church partnered non-profit health group Sata (Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association) CommHealth to run a mobile medical clinic on its premises on Upper Thomson Road.
The clinic, in operation since last August, provides residents with free health check-ups once a month.
It also worked with the Methodist Mission Services in Timor Leste to pick and sponsor a missionary to teach English to students there.
Said the vice-president of Singapore’s Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Mr Abraham Thomas: “Over the last 10 to 15 years, we have seen a more active part being played by the church and its members in the wider Singapore context. We have been doing legal, medical and food aid programmes for the less privileged in Singapore.
“These outreach activities are being done by young and old. It not only brings us closer together as a community but also allows our members to be inextricably linked to what is happening here.”
The church’s celebrations will culminate with a thanksgiving service on March 4.
Age-old history
Mar Thoma Church at Mar Thoma Road (1955 to 1990).Photo: Singapore Parish Archives
The Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, India, has had a relatively long presence in Singapore.
The first Syrian Christians arrived in Singapore in 1912 from Kerala, and in 1936, the church organised its first congregation.
As more Syrian Christians arrived in Singapore, a Marthomite priest was sent from Kerala to see to the spiritual needs of the growing community in 1936, and the parishes in Malaya and Singapore were established.
The first church in Singapore was built in 1953 at an unnamed road off St Michael’s Road.
This road was subsequently named Mar Thoma Road in 1956.
Drawing on the Mar Thoma Church’s long tradition of service through education, St Thomas School was established in 1955 along the same road.
The school was started to provide education for over-aged students who had missed school during the war years and its immediate aftermath.
Current church at 29 Jalan Keli.Photo: Singapore Parish Archives
The church and school were relocated to Telok Blangah in 1982 and 1991 respectively, when the original plots of land were required by the Government for the building of the Central Expressway. The school was closed in 2000 as a result of falling enrolment and the church was relocated to Jalan Keli on Upper Thomson Road in 2004.
Despite the closure of the school, the church, which currently has about 700 members, has remained active in the education scene, having partnered the Singapore Indian Development Association to offer scholarships and bursaries since 2011.
Among other charitable activities, the church also reaches out to Singaporeans through free legal counselling clinics at Telok Blangah CC and Thomson CC, and Food Aid programmes in partnership with the Telok Blangah, Henderson and Thomson CCs.
The Roshans must have heaved a sigh of relief. Kaabil, Hrithik Roshan’s latest release has hit the bull’s eye at the box office.
A little more than a fortnight after it was released, the revenge drama raked in over Rs100 crores.
“I am really happy that the film has got all the love that it has. This is a big victory for my father,” he said.
Kaabil is the actor’s first hit in three years. It follows the colossal failure that was last year’s Mohenjo Daro.
The pounding that the Ashutosh Gowarikar’s period film took spawned multiple think pieces on Hrithik’s stalled career and where he was headed.
“Honestly, I didn’t get what the fuss was about. Let’s recap – Mohenjo Daro was just one film. Before that, I had Bang Bang that did Rs180 crores at the box office. Before that was Krrish 3 that made Rs240 crores. I have done very, very well in my career and I have also failed. That’s a very normal trajectory of life. You can’t expect to get everything right. Which is why you call this life an adventure. You learn from your mistakes,” the actor told tabla!.
The 43-year-old has a very healthy attitude towards failures.
“For me, even that failure was a good experience. It reveals the truth to you. I love disillusionment because it means the illusion in your head has been shattered. Truth is the only way to progress. I am very happy when I am showed my mistakes. Failures help me recalibrate.”
One would assume that 2016 would be a year that Hrithik would like to erase from his memory.
Not only was Mohenjo Daro a disaster at the box office, there was that very public and equally ugly spat with Kangana Ranaut.
The scandal involving warring exes made headlines for over six months.
Only the actor chalks it as a “year of learnings”.
“I am a student of life and my mission here is to grow into the best I can be. Whenever there is adversity, I enjoy it,” he said.
A self-confessed gym rat, Hrithik uses a fitness analogy to explain how he stayed positive through a tumultuous 2016.
“I know that to become better at something, you have to pay your dues. If you want a bigger muscle or a more chiselled body, you have to lift heavy loads. Any adversity is a gym for my mind. I know that my mind is going to get stronger because it’s going to lift a heavier load.
“I have a sense of humour and a sense of wonder whenever I am faced with a problem of any kind. I believe I have a very analytical mind and I love solving problems,” he added.
Last October, Hrithik joined the growing list of Bollywood actors talking about depression and mental health issues.
“I just feel very strongly about it. I think it’s a subject that’s taboo and it’s been conditioned very incorrectly in our minds. Depression should not be something that makes you lose your self-worth or feel awkward to talk about. Get professional help or talk to people around you.
“Depression is an affliction that affects all of us to different degrees. Most aren’t clinically depressed but all of us have had moments when you think life is worthless; when you don’t want to get out of bed.
“That is not the truth and it’s important to tell people that when you feel like all hope is lost, don’t believe it. It’s your mind in dysfunction while the world is the same. We go to the doctor for a fever, a broken bone, a kidney that is ailing. We need to extend the same courtesy to our minds. Our brain is just another organ in the body. It needs looking after. Your brain is not you; it is an organ you use. It is okay for your brain to not function at its optimum every once in a while. Just get help when that happens.”
When Hrithik talks about that feeling of utter hopelessness when you don’t want to get out of bed, he is talking from experience.
“My entire childhood was full of days like that. I didn’t feel like I was living in a good world. But I found my way out of it. You understand that only through your achievements will you gain self-worth and that will change the model of your world. If you are not feeling good about yourself, you will not see good in the world. The idea is to recreate your world from the inside. Don’t try to change people around you; change yourself first.”
It’s this can-do positivity that’s shaped Hrithik’s 17 years under the arc lights. Interestingly, he doesn’t believe in looking back at the journey that’s been.
“I only look forward. Even on the rare occasion that I do (look back), I realise that its all redundant now. It’s important because it’s made me the man I am, but there is no point in looking back with any nostalgia.”
His debut film Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai was the first time that the actor worked with his father as the leading man.
Kaabil is their sixth collaboration.
“We might be diametrically opposite as people, but when we are working on a film we are aligned towards the same objective. We want to make the best film we can. We manage to find a balance between our sensibilities.”
Hrithik has also managed to strike the right balance with his ex-wife Sussanne Khan.
The exes, who announced the end of their marriage in 2014, have been inseparable since their family vacation in Dubai over the Christmas-New Year break.
They co-hosted a low-key dinner for his birthday and then multiple pre-release screenings of his film Kaabil.
The couple even joined their neighbours Akshay Kumar and wife Twinkle Khanna and actress Gayatri Joshi and her billionaire husband Vikas Oberoi on a triple date recently. Hrithik rubbished all the re-marriage rumours.
“Sussanne and I are friends again. We have always had a very good equation. I am very proud of the fact that we are very good parents to our kids. Today we are friends. I think that comes from the fact that I can’t have a relationship in my life that’s not peaceful. We have tremendous love and respect for each other, but that’s about all”.
The two women suspected to have murdered North Korean Kim Jong-nam were apparently living in China for the past three months before their deadly “assignment”.
According to a report by China Press, both Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 29, may not be North Korean agents, but were possibly duped by a spy ring to commit the assassination.
Indonesian national Siti Aisyah was the second suspect to be arrested at 2am on Thursday while Doan – a Vietnamese – was arrested a day earlier.
The two women were said to have stayed in China for between one and three months to get to know a certain male individual. During this time, they also worked as female escorts, reported China Press.
The female suspects Doan (left) and Siti Aisyah Photo: The Star
It reported that the man they befriended was a spy who introduced Doan to the four men, whom police are hunting down in connection with the assassination.
The two women have claimed that they had no idea that it would lead to trouble as they thought it was only supposed to be a filming of the prank being carried out.
China Press reported that Siti Aisyah claims she only met the other male suspects recently, and was unaware of who either Kim Jong-un or Kim Jong-nam was.
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Half-brother of N Korean leader assassinated in Malaysia
She alleged that she was paid US$100 (S$142) to pull off the “prank”.
Jong-nam, 45, was killed by two women who splashed his face with a chemical at the KLIA2 departure hall at about 9am on Monday as he was about to leave for Macau.
MACAU – Kim Jong-nam’s modest life here was a far cry from the opulence and power enjoyed by his half-brother, the supreme leader of North Korea, but he was still seen by Pyongyang as a dangerous pretender to the ruling family throne.
Friends in the Chinese gambling enclave spoke this week of a man who wined and dined in relative freedom, despite what Seoul’s spy chiefs say was a “standing order” for his execution, issued by Kim Jong-un.
His younger brother’s order was fulfilled this week, Seoul says, when Jong-nam was murdered at an airport in Malaysia, the victim of poison-wielding female assassins sent by North Korea.
People who knew the Jong-nam in Macau painted a picture of a man who often lived with little security and was not overly cautious.
“I think it was simply not in his character,” one friend told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, noting that Jong-nam would stay in Macau and overseas without bodyguards.
“He had a relaxing life here. Obviously he felt he was protected by China,” the friend said.
“Macau suited his personality. He enjoyed life and the good things about it. Macau offered him security and also entertainment.”
“He was very cheerful and mingled easily,” the friend told the South China Morning Post, adding Jong-nam was involved in charity work for South Koreans.
A slightly drab apartment complex where Jong-nam was believed to have lived was largely deserted when AFP visited this week.
Cantonese-speaking residents denied knowing a man who was educated in Europe and divided his time between Paris, China and the former Portuguese colony, and who moved freely around Asia.
His body on Friday lay in a Kuala Lumpur morgue, with Malaysian police saying they would not hand it over until a family member offered a DNA sample to positively identify it.
Jong-nam, the first son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, was at one time set to take the reins of power in the isolated state; groomed by his father for a third generation succession.
Exactly what changed his father’s mind is unclear, but a botched 2001 attempt to get into Japan on a fake passport – apparently to visit Disneyland – is commonly cited as the fatal blot on his copybook.
From exile he was a periodic commentator on North Korean affairs, quoted by Japanese journalist Yoji Komi, who published a book about him in 2012, as claiming the regime would “collapse” without reform.
He had even dubbed the North’s hereditary succession a “laughing stock”, and told Gomi that Jong-un would “not last” as leader.
In the deeply patriarchal North the first son is seen as the official heir of the family: founding father Kim Il-sung passed the role to his first son Kim Jong-il upon his death in 1994.
Kim Jong-un’s status as merely the son of Kim Jong-il’s third wife was seen as a taint on his credentials as leader, according to observers.
“The assassination, if confirmed done by the North, would be a sign of Kim Jong-un’s paranoid personality,” Seoul lawmaker Kim Byung-kee quoted the South’s spy chief as saying in a closed-door briefing on Wednesday.
For Jun Byung-kon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, China could also have been a factor.
Beijing remains the impoverished North’s economic lifeline and sole diplomatic ally, although ties have soured following a series of nuclear and missile tests staged after Kim took the helm following the 2011 death of his father.
“Even after Kim Jong-un took power, there was this atmosphere in China that the open-minded Kim Jong-nam was far better suited as leader,” he said.
That gave Kim Jong-un three reasons to want his older brother dead, said Hong Hyun-ik of the Sejong Institute think tank in Seoul.
“Apart from his open criticism on the North, Jong-Nam is older, the legitimate first son…and supported by China,” he said.
“They are enough reasons from Jong-un’s perspective to kill him.”
After their successful run in 2016, The Noose is crossing over from TV to stage for the second time with more madcap sketches and sidesplitting jokes. Together with four of Singapore’s funniest comedians – Kumar, Fakkah Fuzz, Rishi Budhrani, and Sam See, get ready for an unbridled show of rip-roaring proportions as your favourite Noose characters light up the stage at the MES Theatre at Mediacorp. Get your tickets through SISTIC at http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cnoose0517 now!
After their successful run in 2016, The Noose is crossing over from TV to stage for the second time with more madcap sketches and sidesplitting jokes, as our crazy band of Noose reporters and their stand-up comedian friends tackle the bastion of Singapore’s meritocratic society – EDUCATION. With eve…
If you get squeamish easily, it is best that you look away now.
A shocking video posted by Facebook user Noor Nazera shows dozens of maggots crawling on the meat patty of a burger, and it is enough to make us all lose our appetites.
Noor told Stomp that her father-in-law had purchased four of the burgers, six curry puffs, one packet of nasi lemak and pickled food from a food stall at Hougang Central Bus Interchange yesterday (Feb 16).
According to another of Noor’s Facebook posts, the burgers from that stall were already pre-wrapped and ready-to-go.
She had opened one of them up to add cheese inside for her child and that was when she made the disgusting discovery.
“I have submitted a complaint to the National Environment Agency (NEA) via their website,” Noor told Stomp, adding that it was the first time her family had purchased anything from the stall.
SINGAPORE: Two initiatives aimed at helping Team Singapore athletes build careers outside the sporting arena were launched on Friday (Feb 17).
The first is a one-stop mobile app aimed at matching Team Singapore athletes to career opportunities with 39 companies. A collaboration between local business startup Jobook Singapore and the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI), the Sports Excellence Business (spexBusiness) application promises to streamline and automate the job application process for athletes and the spexBusiness network – which includes major corporate partners such as Deloitte, HP, Volkswagen, DBS Bank and CapitaLand.
“This app is able to identify each athlete’s career assets, identifying the gaps in terms of what they are good at,” said Jobook’s founder and CEO Raniel Lee.
“Each athlete has certain skillsets that they (might) not know how to translate into a Word document, like a typical resume. But through technology, we are able to identify this information automatically, send it through to the employers and match it to the company’s job requirements.”
Also launched was a career coaching network by SSI and the NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). The joint effort aims to equip athletes with key insights into specific industry sectors to enable them to make better career choices.
“We have conversations with each of these athletes, help them better understand themselves as to the kinds of jobs that suit them better, and what kind of skills they may already have which enable them to do certain jobs better,” said e2i deputy CEO Gary Goh.
Mr Goh added that if an athlete is particularly interested in a job but lacks the requisite skills, e2i can also assist him or her with identifying specific training programmes to bring them up to mark.
Also announced were three new additions to the Sports Excellence Education (spexEducation) scheme, and nine additions to the spexBusiness network including Raffles Medical Group, SMRT Corporation, Pan Pacific Hotels Group and OCBC Bank.
OCBC Bank’s head of HR Planning Jacinta Low said the bank recognises the discipline, pride and passion of the Team Singapore athletes.
“These are traits that OCBC, or any other employer can reap value (from). So we see them bringing that back into the organisation and contributing to the organisation,” said Ms Low.
(Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
Speaking at the event announcing the initiatives, Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu said these efforts open up career and education opportunities that allow the athletes the flexibility to focus on training while developing academically and professionally.
“They can devote their time and energy to train, knowing that their career and and educational aspirations are being supported,” said Ms Fu, addressing the corporate partners. “Your encouragement and support is invaluable and crucial, and goes a long way in helping our athletes excel at the highest level and bring glory to Singapore.”
