The businessman accused of causing the fatal accident along the Ayer Rajah Expressway is out on bail of $50,000, a district court heard yesterday.

Lim Chai Heng, 53, who is represented by lawyer Yusfiyanto Yatiman, was released from remand at Changi Prison on Monday.

Yesterday, a police prosecutor told District Judge Christopher Goh that the police have completed their investigation. They are now waiting for the forensic and vehicle damage reports.

Lim is accused of driving against the flow of traffic along the AYE on Dec 19, causing an accident that killed actor Liong Kuo Hua, 37.

Read also: 1 dead, 3 injured after car goes against flow of traffic on AYE

Mr Liong, also known as Jackie, had appeared in several films, television programmes and commercials. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

Lim’s pre-trial conference will be held at the High Court on March 14.

Read also: Driver in fatal AYE accident charged in hospital

If convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined, but he cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.

Since the AYE incident, two other motorists have been charged in court this year after allegedly driving against the flow of traffic.

Lam Chen Wee, 26, was charged with dangerous driving on Jan 31. He will be back in court on March 1.

Brandon Ng Hai Chong, 30, was charged with the same offence on Jan 12 and will return to court on March 23.

First-time offenders convicted of dangerous driving can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $3,000.

Repeat offenders can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.

This article was first published on Feb 17, 2017.
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The gap between top and bottom earners was at its narrowest in a decade last year, but observers say more can still be done for the lowest-earning families as their income did not grow as quickly as that of other groups overall.

For the bottom 10 per cent of households with at least one working member, the rise in income was among the smallest last year – 1.4 per cent per household member. The only decile with a lower rise was the top 10 per cent of households.

By comparison, median income growth per household member was 3.8 per cent. “This shows that more needs to be done to improve the well-being of the lowest-income households,” said UniSim senior lecturer Tan Khay Boon.

DBS economist Irvin Seah attributed the smaller rise in incomes at the bottom in part to last year’s 19,000 layoffs – the highest since the global financial crisis in 2009.

“The moment a sole breadwinner loses his job, the household income drops to zero,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Chua Hak Bin said the bottom 10 per cent of households saw a “huge jump” in income in 2015, a lift that is hard to sustain. That year, their income grew by 10.7 per cent, the highest for all deciles.

“Perhaps some companies are facing pressures, and cannot reward their workers at the lower end as much this time,” he suggested.

National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan said more details about those in this group – for instance, ages and occupations – should be made available.

“We need to know the make-up of the bottom 10 per cent so we can chart the way forward,” she said. “If it’s older workers , we have to pay attention to the effects of ageing on the low-income. If it’s young graduates, then we must make sure they level up on the appropriate skills.”

Households at the top saw slow growth too. Incomes for the top 10 per cent of households grew by 0.2 per cent, the slowest across deciles.

Observers said this was not surprising, given the challenging economy that has affected business owners as well as professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). PMETs made up the majority of those retrenched last year.

Around 20 per cent of those in the top decile had earners from the financial and insurance sectors, which saw negative 1 per cent growth in median real wages.

Slower income growth among top earners also helps explain why the income gap narrowed last year. The Gini coefficient, which measures income equality, was 0.458, the lowest in a decade. It was 0.463 in 2015.

After taking into account government transfers, it was 0.402, down further from 0.409 in 2015.

Mr Seah said the dip is also the result of several Budgets aimed at strengthening safety nets, as well as policies meant to lift those at the bottom taking effect, such as lower education costs for children in low-income families. “The Gini coefficient has been trending downwards after many years of targeted and robust social policy ,” he added.

Several families told The Straits Times they were bracing themselves for tougher times ahead.

Taxi driver Chia Teck Chai, 59, said his income did not change much in absolute terms last year, but he will take fewer rest days now.

“I’m getting older and not as energetic now, but if I take a break, that’s less money for the month,” he said.

Telco project coordinator Kenneth Chen, 33, said his income went up by 5 per cent last year.

His tip for tough times? “Save. Just because your pay has risen doesn’t mean you must spend more.”

This article was first published on Feb 17, 2017.
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A 59-year-old man in jogging attire was found dead at a Tampines park yesterday morning.

Police are investigating the case as an unnatural death.

A police spokesman said that they were alerted to the discovery of a body at Tampines Eco Green park, near the junction of Tampines Avenue 9 and Avenue 12, at about 7.15am.

The man, who has been identified as Mr Eddie Wee Leng Huat, was found at the entrance of the park near a canal. The Straits Times understands there were no signs of injury.

Read also: Wheelchair-bound woman found dead in Tampines

Retiree Francis Tan, 64, who was cycling past the park at about 8am, said: “There were about five or six people with me, who gathered on the other side of the canal.”

The Tampines resident, who has lived in the area for about 20 years, added: “I saw the police officers take a few pictures of the body.”

He added that as far as he knew, this was the first time such an incident had happened at the park.

The 36ha park has been open to the public for about six years.

A 56-year-old quality inspector, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lee, said his wife was exercising at the park around 7am when she saw two police officers in the area.

“Not many people exercise around this area of the park so early in the morning,” he said.

This article was first published on Feb 17, 2017.
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Singapore is set to impose a carbon price as it looks to cut greenhouse emissions to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, The Business Times has learnt.

The government is now determining the timeline and what form of carbon pricing to take in the city-state, according to the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS).

Various countries around the world have implemented some form of carbon pricing as they seek to reduce emissions in a cost-effective manner. Singapore, too, has been studying this policy option and monitoring such international developments for some time, said NCCS.

“Alongside current measures such as regulations, incentives and capability building, a carbon price can help improve energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions and promote low-carbon technology,” said a spokesman in response to a BT query. “We are evaluating when and how best to implement carbon pricing in Singapore.”

The move follows other policy initiatives the government is planning to cut the country’s emissions intensity to 36 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, as it had pledged under the 2015 Paris climate change pact.

It has set a target of ramping up improvement in energy efficiency in the manufacturing sector by one to 2 per cent a year from 2020 to 2030. In November last year, it also said that it is planning to tighten energy monitoring and reporting requirements for large industrial players.

Read also: COE prices close mostly lower in Dec’s first round bidding exercise

The industry sector, which accounted for 59 per cent of Singapore’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2012, is expected to take most of the weight of a carbon price. The petroleum refining, chemicals and semiconductor sectors made up the bulk of these emissions. The largest refining and petrochemical complexes in Singapore are owned by Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil.

Shell, together with five other European oil majors such as BP and Statoil, had during the run-up to the Paris summit in 2015called on governments to introduce a carbon price. This, they said, would discourage high-carbon options and help to stimulate investments in the right low-carbon technologies. ExxonMobil has said that it is supportive of a carbon tax. “We are committed to working with the Singapore government on this important issue to find solutions that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring Singapore’s long-term competitiveness,” said an ExxonMobil spokesman, adding that the group is taking action to reduce emissions in Singapore through energy efficiency initiatives such as building cogeneration plants.

Carbon pricing can take either the form of a carbon tax which puts a price on each tonne of carbon produced, or an emissions trading scheme which uses market mechanisms to price carbon.

The Singapore government had indicated that carbon pricing is an option as early as in 2010. Then, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that the government already worked with a shadow carbon price.

Read also: First COE bidding exercise for 2017 ends predominantly higher

“If there is a global regime to curb carbon emissions and that means that Singapore will have to reduce our own emissions more sharply than we are doing now, in order to comply with international obligations, then we will have to make the carbon price explicit, to send the right price signals,” he said in a speech at the Singapore International Energy Week.

In the Climate Action Plan unveiled in July last year, the government said that it will be studying the need to price carbon to enhance energy efficiency efforts across all sectors.

“A carbon price would send appropriate price signals to encourage changes in energy consumption, provide market incentives for the adoption of energy-efficient technologies and low-carbon solutions, and stimulate growth in green industries,” said NCCS in the document.

But a carbon price will incur costs, including affecting Singapore’s competitiveness, it also noted. “Its overall impact will have to be studied.”

The shift in Singapore’s position comes as the idea of a carbon price increasingly gains popularity with other governments around the world. About 40 national jurisdictions and over 20 cities, states and regions are already putting a price on carbon, according to the World Bank.

Carbon prices range from about US$1 per tonne of carbon emissions in Poland and Mexico, to US$137 per tonne in Sweden, a report by the World Bank in October last year showed. In Asia, South Korea has started a national emissions trading scheme in 2015, while China aims to roll out a nation-wide emissions trading system by the second half of this year.

“A carbon price would send appropriate price signals to encourage changes in energy consumption, provide market incentives for the adoption of energy-efficient technologies and low-carbon solutions, and stimulate growth in green industries.”

This article was first published on Feb 17 , 2017.
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