Back when he was a boy, Mr Milton Goh, the youngest of three brothers, would always get into fights with his siblings.

The 22-year-old undergraduate who is studying in Canada, told The New Paper he used to throw furniture at his brothers and spew vulgarities at his family.

But Mr Goh now counts the days until he gets home. Time at home “is never enough”.

Mr Goh, a finance student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said: “I missed birthdays and many special occasions because I was away. It can get very lonely too.”

But things were different this Chinese New Year. Not only did he manage to fly back in time to celebrate the occasion with his family, he got to do it for free – he was one of the four winners of Tiger Beer’s Chinese New Year #UncageReunions campaign.

The public had the chance to write in to Tiger Beer to nominate their loved ones to fly back in time for Chinese New Year.

Mr Goh’s oldest brother, Mr Michael Goh, 29, nominated him.

Mr Michael Goh said he wanted his brother home to make up for all the time they lost fighting as children.

“We used to fight a lot, and it got ugly. We threw hot water and yelled vulgarities at one another,” he said.

“I used to always bully my younger siblings… Bringing Milton home from overseas is a way to bring our family together again despite all that had happened.”

The two brothers, who both said they are now “older and closer like never before”, were raised by their grandmothers.

“We don’t know how much longer they both have, and it would do good for them to see the whole family again,” Mr Michael Goh said.

Their maternal grandmother was diagnosed with dementia six months ago.

RELIEF

Mr Milton Goh’s trip home this Chinese New Year was the first since she was diagnosed. To his relief, she could still recognise him.

“I am so glad that she could still remember who I am, and that we got to share this new year together. A part of me was afraid she would not know who I was any more,” he said.

Although his three-day trip was a short one, he was all smiles and thankful for the opportunity to be with his family.

“I spent as much time travelling as I did with my family, but it is all worth it,” he said happily.

“There is nothing as important as this.”

harizbah@sph.com.sg

Read also: Tiger Beer unites families with free taxi rides home for Chinese New Year

This article was first published on Jan 31, 2017.
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More than 4,000 devotees turned up at the Loyang Tua Pek Kong temple last Friday to usher in the Chinese New Year at the stroke of midnight, but it was a set of feathered friends who stole the attention.

In line with the Year of the Rooster, the temple’s staff set up an enclosure that had four pairs of roosters and hens, much to the delight of the crowd.

As her three-year-old son excitedly pointed to the animals, 31-year-old saleswoman Pamela Tan told The New Paper: “It’s such a nice surprise to see these chickens here, I did not expect this.

“My son and all the other children are really enjoying it.”

APPEAL

But the chickens, which temple staff said were from Chew’s Agriculture, appealed not just to the children but adults too.

Miss Gabriella Chua, a 29-year-old office executive, was taking selfies with the birds when TNP approached her.

“They are cute, it’s a great way to usher in the new year,” she said.

The Loyang Tua Pek Kong temple has regularly hosted special “guests” for its annual Chinese New Year programme.

To add to the festive mood, the temple had also brought in horses and goats in previous years, depending on the Chinese zodiac for the year.

During the Monkey Year celebrations last year, the temple hired a mascot to act as monkey god Sun Wukong, who struck poses as devotees queued up to snap photos with him.

Ms Tan Yan Yan, one of the temple’s staff members, said they decided to bring in chickens as many younger attendees might not have seen them before.

EDUCATIONAL TRIP

She said: “Here in Singapore, it’s hard to see chickens live up-close because we don’t even have that many farms. Based on the response the animals are getting, I think it was a good decision.”

Event coordinator Jeffrey Tan, 58, said he was pleased to see so many people enjoying themselves as they ushered in the new year.

With a wide smile, Mr Tan said: “Chinese New Year happens only once a year, but we still get so many people coming to celebrate.

“Everyone is enjoying themselves and it’s nice to see.”

harizbah@sph.com.sg

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Ruling the roost on Chinese New Year

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This article was first published on Jan 31, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – Singapore’s top business schools rose up the ranks of the Financial Times’ annual global ranking of Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, released on Monday (Jan 30).

Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang Business School was in joint 24th place with Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, up from 29th last year.

Just below them was National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School at 26th place, up from 32nd in 2016.

Insead was named the world’s best business school for the second year running.

Notably, Insead was lauded for its strong international culture – owing to its two campuses in France and Singapore – and an extensive alumni network. The FT ranked it third for international mobility and sixth for international course experience.

Stanford Graduate School of Business rose to second place from fifth while Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania climbed to third spot from fourth.

Several prestigious schools slipped in the 2017 ranking. Harvard Business School fell two places to fourth spot, the first time in nine years that it has been outside of the top three. London Business School fell three places to sixth, it’s worst showing in 14 years.

The FT ranking is based on surveys of business schools and their graduates of 2013. MBA programs are assessed according to the career progression of their alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty.

Three years after graduation, Stanford’s MBA graduates earn the highest annual salaries on average – US$195,000 (S$277,640) – but the top 15 MBA programmes are closely matched in terms of income, career progress and satisfaction, BusinessBecause, a business school news website noted from the FT ranking.

All but one of the top MBA courses have alumni salaries over US$150,000 – a salary increase of at least 100 per cent on pre-MBA pay.

An NTU MBA graduate goes on to earn US$126,218 on average while the NUS MBA graduate would be making US$131,760.

In terms of offering good value for money, Nanyang Business School came in 26th globally, while NUS Business School was 33rd.

​ann@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 30, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – Changi Airport handled a record 58.7 million passengers last year, 5.9 per cent higher than in 2015.

Dec 23 was the busiest day ever, with 202,359 passengers passing through its gates, Changi said on Monday (Jan 30).

The overall traffic growth was due in part to a rising number of Chinese travellers.

From fifth spot, China moved to become Changi’s third largest country market – after Indonesia and Malaysia – with a 15 per cent jump in traffic.

Last year, routes to South-east Asia, North-east Asia and Oceania accounted for 90 per cent of the growth in Changi’s passenger traffic, said the airport.

The number of aircraft landings and take offs increased by 4.1 per cent to 360,490 while total cargo volumes grew by 6.3 per cent to reach a new high of 1.97 million tonnes.

Last year, the airport welcomed two new passenger airlines – China’s West Air and Fiji Airways – and two all-cargo carriers.

United Airlines and Singapore Airlines also commenced non-stop flights to San Francisco.

Eight new city links were established during the year – to India (Amritsar and Jaipur), China (Urumqi), Australia (Canberra), New Zealand (Wellington), Fiji (Nadi), Japan (Sapporo) and Germany (Dusseldorf).

Changi Airport Group’s chief executive officer Lee Seow Hiang, said: “Despite a backdrop of economic and socio-political uncertainties, we maintain a positive outlook for the year ahead. We see opportunities in emerging markets within Africa and Eastern Europe. At the same time, we will continue to grow our long haul routes to Western Europe, and strengthen our connectivity within the region to secondary cities in South East Asia, China and India.”

“We have observed emerging trends such as growth in the self-transfer and fly-cruise segments, and will continue to work with our partners to develop innovative solutions to better serve passengers” he said.

Similarly, manageable fuel costs and improvement in aircraft technology bode well for Changi Airport’s drive to work with airlines to expand its network of city links, Mr Lee said.

karam@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 30, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – Police are investigating an incident which saw a white Honda Accord ram into a motorcycle on the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) on Sunday (Jan 29) morning.

The collision, which flung the motorcyclist clean off his vehicle, was captured on a car’s dashboard camera and has since gone viral after being shared on Facebook by road safety page Beh Chia Lor.

The motorcyclist suffered head injuries and was taken to the National University Hospital, where he is understood to be in stable condition.

His motorcycle caught fire immediately after the crash, with two motorists who stopped to render aid helping to put out the blaze with their own extinguishers.

Footage showed the Honda Accord speeding away after the crash. A second motorcycle barely avoided a collision.

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Teacher Khairi Jumali, 27, who witnessed the incident, estimated that the Honda had been travelling at over 100kmh when the crash occurred at close to 6am.

“It’s a minor miracle he (the motorcyclist) was still alive, given the impact,” Mr Khairi added.

“There was a large gash on his head and he was bleeding quite badly, but he was thankfully still conscious.”

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, a police spokesman said investigations are ongoing.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it dispatched a fire engine and an ambulance to the scene.

This article was first published on Jan 30, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.