While working as a secretary at a Florida-based asphalt company, Connie Lorenz noticed receipts that weren’t quite matching up.
“I found about $1.5 million missing,” she explains on CNBC’s “Blue Collar Millionaires.” It turns out the company’s president was embezzling money, says Lorenz. She immediately notified the owner.
Becoming a whistle-blower changed her life.
Impressed by Lorenz’s integrity, the owner offered her the chance to take over and eventually buy him out. Lorenz says on the show: “He had a meeting with me and said if I could help him turn the company around and regain some of his losses that he would give me the company.
“I didn’t know if the owner was really serious about his offer, but I thought it was a great opportunity, so I spent the next seven years working my a** off trying to figure out the industry. I attended seminars and conferences. I toured asphalt plants. I talked to every contractor out there that did asphalt.”
Her diligence paid off.
In 2006, the owner approached Lorenz and said he was ready to hand over the business. “He truly gave me the company: The assets, the checking account, and the debt too. But there was far more money in the checking account than the debt,” Lorenz says.
She officially took the helm of Asphalt Restoration Technology Systems in 2007 and the business grew, grossing $1.3 million in revenue after her first year. Last year, the company earned $2.6 million in revenue. Lorenz’s net worth now exceeds $2.5 million.
Lorenz, who started working at age 13 to help her family put food on the table, says she never imagined attaining this level of success: “Living the childhood that I did, I never thought for one second I would grow up to be a millionaire. Not even a ‘thousandaire.'”
Her mindset has since shifted. “I think that what it takes to make it in life nowadays is just hard work and believing in yourself,” she says. “I believe that everybody could be a millionaire if they wanted to be.”
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In some game design and development classrooms at Temasek Polytechnic, students are “wizards” and teachers are “game masters”.
When students answer questions in class or consume e-learning material, they can use their “powers” to unlock rewards – such as a five-minute tea break or a one-on-one session with their teacher.
Their avatars and the number of points they earn in class are tallied on an online leaderboard.
This is part of a new teaching method which the school calls “gamification” – the use of gaming elements in non-game scenarios.
Said the diploma’s course manager Jonathan Pillai, 40: “We realised that today’s teenagers are very exposed to digital culture, and they want lessons to be engaging.”
The aim, Mr Pillai added, is to get students to be more actively engaged in their own learning, rather than passively consuming content.
Gamification was first tried out at Temasek Polytechnic in its Diploma in Game Design and Development classrooms two years ago and enjoyed a positive response.
After a year of research funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE), gamification will be officially re-launched in April and the school hopes to implement it in all classrooms by the end of this year.
It is not the only polytechnic experimenting with high-tech ways of engaging students.
At Republic Polytechnic, a Swivl robot, used to help take video recordings of lecturers and student presenters in classrooms, has been turning heads.
It received the Silver Innergy Award from MOE in 2015.
The robot – which has a round rotating base capable of propping up a tablet device – swivels so the tablet faces and takes video recordings of the person who is speaking.
The robot, introduced two years ago, is often mounted on a tripod for a better view.
People can also use remote-control-like markers to get the Swivl robot to orient the tablet towards them.
The video recordings are uploaded onto an online portal that students can access after class.
Diploma in Sports Coaching student Spencer See Toh, 18, said the robot has helped him improve his presentation skills.
He said: “With the video camera (recording me), I felt quite nervous at first. As time went by, I found I could spot my mistakes, and knew what to improve on.”
When revising for exams, he was able to re-watch key points that he might have missed in class, he said.
Over at Nanyang Polytechnic, more diploma courses have been incorporating virtual reality technology into their curriculum.
Food science and technology student Danielle Wong says Singapore Polytechnic’s new 3D printer “makes food fun”. Photo: Singapore Polytechnic
Its engineering students, for instance, can use a 3D immersive virtual reality software to simulate airport operations such as maintenance checks on aircraft.
From April, Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of InfoComm Technology classrooms in the new Smart Learning Spaces @ NP will boast facial recognition sensors to track students’ attendance.
Interactive whiteboards will also allow lecture notes to be transferred directly to students’ tablets.
Singapore Polytechnic’s Food Innovation and Resource Centre has a new 3D printer, to which students can add puree, powder or batter.
The machine squeezes the food out, layer by layer, to form custom shapes.
Food science and technology student Danielle Wong, 18, said: “It allows us to customise each nutrient, to formulate different food and recipes for each target consumer.”
Ms Wong, who has used the machine to “print” soya pulp cookie batter into various shapes, said: “It makes food fun. The possibilities are endless.”
tohwenli@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Jan 09, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
The man at the centre of Indonesia’s surprise move to suspend a part of bilateral military ties with Australia is known to be an outspoken nationalist.
General Gatot Nurmantyo, 56, chief of Indonesia’s military, reportedly issued the order to suspend ties on Dec 29, after an incident involving Australian training materials deemed insulting to Indonesia.
Australia has since apologised and Indonesia has moved to quell tensions, saying the incident will not affect bilateral ties.
The general’s strong sense of duty and deep nationalism might be what spurred him to put his foot down, said analysts.
“He will not allow foreign powers to mess with his homeland,” political analyst Hikmahanto Juwana told The Straits Times.
Born in Tegal, Central Java, in 1960, Gen Gatot is a Javanese Muslim from a military family.
His father, Suwantyo, was an independence fighter and retired lieutenant-colonel in the infantry, while three uncles served in the army, navy and air force.
The oldest of three children, the general is named after Gen Gatot Subroto, an Indonesian national hero whose name graces a major street in Jakarta’s financial district.
After graduating from the Armed Forces Academy in 1982, he served in a number of strategic positions, including commander of the Army Strategic Reserves Command and governor of the military academy.
The father of three revealed in an interview with Kompas TV last August that he had originally wanted to become an architect.
He abandoned his plan when he realised the university fees would drain his family’s finances.
“My mother had said, ‘Your siblings wouldn’t be able to continue school because all the fees would be chalked up by you’,” Gen Gatot said.
“I thought, ‘I’m really selfish’. So I went to enrol in the military academy instead.”
He showed a similar sense of duty towards his mother when he became Indonesia’s army chief of staff three years ago and asked to train with the Army Special Forces Command, or Kopassus, so that he could earn the signature red beret and fulfil his late mother’s wish.
He could have skipped the training and still be awarded the honour, but insisted on following normal procedure.
So, at the age of 54, he undertook the gruelling course – performing field drills with assault rifles in the wee hours and swimming in chilly waters in full combat gear, alongside men half his age.
After acing all the tests, he immediately flew to Solo in Central Java to visit his mother’s grave, said the four-star general in an interview with Indonesian private broadcaster NET News last August.
He said that he sat cross-legged before her gravestone, in his army uniform and red beret, saying: “Your son carried out your order.”
A year later, in July 2015, Gen Gatot reached his biggest career milestone when he was appointed by President Joko Widodo as chief of the Indonesian military, Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI).
The move raised some eyebrows as the top post has, in the post-Suharto era, been rotated between the various services, with the air force due a turn.
But presidential spokesman Teten Masduki said Mr Joko believed that the decorated general could “strengthen the military to deal with geopolitical and regional geo-strategic changes”.
Even before the latest military controversy, the general had made headlines for warning that Indonesia could be made used of by foreign powers.
Gen Gatot once warned that Indonesia could be the site of “proxy wars” between major powers aimed at controlling its natural resources, as reported in The Jakarta Post in December 2015.
Of the latest incident, he said: “Every soldier is educated on doctrine. His doctrine is to really love his ideology and the ideology of his nation.”
He was alluding to how training materials that a TNI officer found at a Perth camp last month had allegedly “disparaged” the Indonesian military and the national ideology, Pancasila.
The materials mentioned the need for Indonesian province West Papua to become independent and spelt Pancasila as Pancagila. “Gila” means “crazy” in Bahasa Indonesia.
While Gen Gatot’s nationalistic stance may strike a chord with many ordinary Indonesians, analysts sounded a note of warning.
Defence expert Yohanes Sulaiman told The Straits Times that to the general, “any country has the potential to become an enemy”.
But he warned that a balance must be drawn between healthy suspicion and paranoia.
Intelligence expert Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati said that political diplomacy must be encouraged in the face of “strong economic challenges and incomplete consolidation of democracy”.
“The issue of Pancasila is non-bargainable,” she added, “but we should tread carefully when it comes to foreign policy.”
This article was first published on January 9, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.@sph.com.sg>
The travel times, stopovers and breeding patterns of Singapore’s avian tourists are being placed under scrutiny here, as the National Parks Board (NParks) launches a two-year satellite tracking project on 22 migratory birds which travel to Singapore in the winter months.
The data will play a critical role in the survival of various species which use the Republic as a stopover point to feed and rest before continuing their arduous journey as far north as the Arctic Circle.
“Before we started using tracking technology, we did not know precisely where the birds go… With technology, we know who specifically to work with,” explained NParks senior conservation officer David Li, speaking on the sidelines of the first Arctic migratory birds workshop held in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve yesterday.
“With these studies, we know which countries they go to for major stopovers, for instance, and sharing such information with those countries will help in setting up bird conservation projects there.”
The shorebirds being tracked include whimbrels, bar-tailed godwits, common greenshanks and grey plovers.
With the new satellite trackers, researchers will be able to tell exactly where they are in real time, without having to recapture them.
The devices weigh either 5g or 9.5g and are solar-powered.
The study is likely to start in March.
The upcoming project builds on NParks’ efforts to tap technology to obtain previously unknown information about birds.
Between September 2015 and last March, NParks recaptured seven common redshanks tagged with geo-locators, which can detect light and are used to record the location of the birds based on sunset and sunrise.
It learnt that the birds’ main stopovers include the Inner Gulf of Thailand and that they breed at the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau in China.
The catch, however, was that the birds had to be caught again for the data to be analysed.
Nearly 100 delegates from 35 organisations and 22 countries attended the workshop yesterday, where they discussed the conservation of Arctic birds along the East Asian- Australasian Flyway, which extends from within the Arctic Circle southwards through East and South-east Asia, to Australia and New Zealand.
Sungei Buloh annually enjoys “winter holiday visits” by more than 2,000 Arctic migratory birds of more than 30 different species.
“Essentially, you have to take care of these birds all along the flyway. For instance, if you are making big efforts in Singapore but actually the birds are suffering more in other parts of the flyway like China or Australia, then it is much less effective,” said Mr Spike Millington, chief executive of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership.
“It is really imperative we have international co-operation so that the birds are protected and conserved all the way along the flyway when they make their journey down south in the autumn and back in the spring.”
samboh@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on January 9, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has written to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying requesting for the immediate return of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) armoured vehicles being detained by Hong Kong customs, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament on Monday (Jan 9).
The Hong Kong authorities have responded that the investigation is ongoing and will take some time to complete, and that the Hong Kong Government will handle the matter in accordance with their laws, Dr Ng said.
Welcoming the response, Dr Ng added: “Adherence to the rule of law has been the fundamental basis for peace and stability for the last half century in Asia. It has enabled countries both large and small to build trust and confidence in one another, cooperate and prosper together… We therefore look forward to the Hong Kong Government returning our Terrexes in accordance with international law.”
Under the principle of sovereign immunity, State properties – including military assets – are immune from any measures of constraint abroad, and cannot legally be detained or confiscated by other countries. “This principle is well-established under international law, and we are advised by lawyers that it is also the law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR),” Dr Ng said. The Singapore Government has informed its Hong Kong counterpart on a number of occasions over the last two months – both through its lawyers and its Hong Kong Consul-General Foo Teow Lee – that the Terrexes and other equipment being detained belong to it. “Accordingly we have requested the Hong Kong authorities to return our property immediately,” said Dr Ng, adding that Mr Lee’s letter to Mr Leung reiterates the same message.
Dr Ng said: “Singapore and Hong Kong have long enjoyed good and friendly relations. We hope the matter will be resolved satisfactorily and our friendly relations will endure.”
Dr Ng, who had previously said that Singapore has been working at all levels of government “quietly and out of the limelight” to get the Terrexes back, was replying to several questions filed by Members of Parliament on the matter. Six MPs – including Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) MP Vikram Nair, Aljunied GRC MP Pritam Singh, Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad – had tabled questions on the issue, touching on areas such as Singapore’s relations with China, whether any military secrets could be compromised, and what steps the Government is taking to get the vehicles back. The MPs also want to know whether the Ministry of Defence is reviewing its existing contractual arrangements for the transportation of military equipment between Singapore and foreign ports.
In response, Dr Ng reiterated that the Terrexes and other equipment being detained were being used for training and do not contain sensitive equipment. Each year, the SAF transports more than 700 military equipment using commercial carriers to all parts of the world in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. The SAF’s contracts with the shipping companies and agents require them to comply with established protocols and all relevant international and local port rules, Dr Ng said. “Neither the SAF, Singapore, nor indeed most other countries operate on the assumption that our cargo will be arbitrarily seized when transiting reputable foreign ports. The SAF has followed these procedures for shipping military equipment for over 30 years without any significant incidents.”
Dr Ng noted that it would cost “three to four times more, and add several hundred million dollars” to the Ministry of Defence’s (Mindef) annual budget, to ship all military equipment directly from point-to-point. Currently, the navy does not have transport ships with the scale and capability to ship all the equipment. Its Endurance Class Landing Ships Tanks – the largest multi-purpose and transport ships – are due for replacement, and Mindef will consider if it needs to replace them with ships of larger capacity, Dr Ng said.
There are rare exceptions when the SAF does not use commercial shipping companies, or will apply special considerations if it does, based on security risk assessments. For example, for advanced weapon and sensor systems or submarines that were brought back by the SAF to Singapore. The special measures include chartering whole ships, mandating direct shipments, deploying protection forces or even converting the commercial ship into a government ship using the State Marine Ensign, Dr Ng said., Dr Ng said.
The Terrexes – which were being transported from Taiwan to Singapore when they were seized on Nov 23 – did not fall into this special category, he added. Arising from the seizure, the SAF has reviewed its shipping procedures comprehensively, Dr Ng said. “Where we think the risk of detention of SAF assets has gone up, whether in Asia or any other part of the world, we will impose extra precautions even if this means incurring higher freight charges,” he said. Alternatively, the SAF may consider leasing space to house equipment at its overseas training sites – which is already being practised for certain equipment – to avoid shipping them altogether, and procure additional units to meet operational requirements, where necessary.
SG & HK long enjoyed good & friendly relations.Hope this will be resolved satisfactorily & our friendly relations will endure. #SGParliament
The Indonesian immigration authorities have rejected 418 passport applications made through their Batam office last year, with some of those denied suspected to have made plans to travel to the Middle East to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Indonesian immigration office spokesman Agung Sampurno said yesterday that the applicants were rejected for various reasons, from owning multiple passports to being blacklisted for criminal offences.
“They also included those suspected of going to Syria to join ISIS,” he said, but declined to disclose the number or their identities.
“Densus 88 has requested that we keep the information, such as their names, their hometowns, their ages and their gender, confidential as police are still monitoring these people and their network,” he told The Straits Times, referring to the Detachment 88 counter-terror unit.
“We know they are going there from the intelligence gathered by the police, military, Interpol as well as information shared by other countries,” he said.
There is no direct flight to Syria from Jakarta, he added, so Indonesians wanting to link up with ISIS usually travel by sea to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, leaving from ports in Batam.
The Jakarta Post yesterday quoted Batam Immigration Office head Teguh Prayitno as saying that barring the suspects from getting passports was part of measures to stop more Indonesians from joining ISIS.
The applicants were turned down not only after checks through the biometric system but also based on interviews, during which they indicated their desire to work illegally abroad and join a movement suspected to be part of ISIS, the report said.
“The officers drew conclusions based on their gestures and explanations, which aroused suspicion,” Mr Teguh said.
Evolve MMA has recently announced that they are embarking on a worldwide search to find a new Head Coach for the famed Evolve Fight Team, Asia’s foremost professional fight team.
Current Coach Heath Sims is stepping down after five years in the vaunted position to focus on building Evolve’s burgeoning wrestling program. Sims is a former US Olympic wrestler with decades of world-class MMA experience.
Before joining Evolve, he previously served as the head of the Team Quest Fight Team alongside MMA legend Dan Henderson, and is renowned as one of the top wrestling and MMA coaches in the world.
“As with any world championship organization, the Evolve Fight Team continues to bolster its resources and expertise in order to continue the growth and success of our team,” said Wesley De Souza, General Manager of Evolve MMA.
”We are seeking an MMA coach with significant leadership experience at the highest levels in the world to lead and build Asia’s top fighting team for its next phase of growth.”
Home to several of the world’s best mixed martial artists, the Evolve Fight Team counts the likes of ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee, ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren, former UFC Lightweight World Champion Rafael Dos Anjos, ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion Roger Gracie, former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki, and eight-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu World Champion Michelle Nicolini among its ranks.
Besides overseeing the program to ensure these elite athletes receive the best training available from Evolve’s numerous world champion instructors, the new Head Coach will also be tasked with recruiting the best talent in the world to become a part of the team.
Qualified applicants are encouraged to submit their resumes to jobs@evolve-mma.com.
Every day, without fail, they hear the familiar tooting of the van’s horn to tell them that their bread has arrived.
But this is the last week that residents of Serangoon Gardens and Seletar Hills Estate will receive that familiar greeting from Mr Foo Kee See.
Mr Foo, 78, known fondly as Uncle Bread, will be surrendering the keys to the 17-year-old Toyota HiAce he sells provisions out of, and calling it a day after 55 years.
The mobile Mini Provision Shop – as his customers call it – will make its final round of the two estates on Wednesday before it heads to the scrapyard the next day.
“Uncle, take care, I will miss you,” said a teary Filipino helper, Ms Evelyn Queturas, last weekend.
Another domestic helper in Tai Hwan Heights, Ms Jenny Cenia, 37, has been a regular for nine years.
“Where are we going to buy our bread now?” she lamented. “The nearest FairPrice is so far away.”
But it is not just the convenience that they will miss.
When a regular customer moved from Tai Hwan Estate in Serangoon Gardens to a house in Lynwood Grove, near Braddell, he asked Mr Foo to make a detour to the new house so that he could get his regular bread and other provisions.
Mr Foo thinks it was the customer’s way of making sure he had business.
When another long-time customer expressed a wish for a particular kind of bread sold in Serangoon Central, Mr Foo made that a regular detour as well to pick it up.
Often, the regulars do not even pay him right away but will settle their bills at the end of the month.
“It’s about trust,” said Mr Foo.
A customer he has known for more than 20 years also devised a method to let him know whether or not bread is needed on a given day.
The customer’s domestic helper ties a yellow plastic bag to the gate to signal when he does.
If Mr Foo does not see the bag, he knows he does not have to stop.
You could say that service is in Mr Foo’s blood.
He started selling bread at the age of 23, riding a bicycle stacked with loaves.
He had gone to Dunman High School but stopped in the middle of Secondary 2 due to financial difficulties.
His father too had sold bread on foot and bicycle at a kampung in Siglap until he died when Mr Foo was seven.
His mother then took over, going from door to door to sell bread in the same kampung for a few months, before working as a helper for a British family in Siglap.
She worked in the same household for more than 15 years while she raised her two sons and a daughter.
Eventually, Mr Foo’s bicycle evolved into a 1,000cc Austin which cost him $1,000. With a car, he could sell more items.
The current van is the fourth iteration, which he bought for $52,000 in 2000 . He renewed its certificate of entitlement (COE) in 2007 when the price was good but Mr Foo figures it is time to stop now.
He said business is not as good as before, but that was to be expected.
In the 1970s, he would sell up to 200 loaves of soft, white bread every day. Many of his customers were British officers living in private estates in Seletar and Serangoon Gardens where amenities were rare. So they were eager for the convenience he brought.
In those days, he said, he could earn an average of $100 daily, a big amount then.
In the mid-1970s, his house in Yio Chu Kang, with its zinc roof, had to make way for redevelopment.
His neighbour suggested that they buy a house in the same neighbourhood.
So he bought a corner terrace unit in Jalan Kayu for $48,000, for which he paid a monthly instalment of more than $300.
The loan was paid off in 10 years and he still lives in that house, he said proudly.
His other achievement, he said, was to put his two sons and a daughter through university.
Change has been the one constant.
In March 1983, Gardenia started a bakery in Pandan Loop, producing 2,000 loaves per hour.
Soon, the company’s bread was sold everywhere, from supermarkets to petrol stations, he recalled.
He too began selling the brand to cater to the evolving tastes of his customers.
Eventually, he expanded his “Roti Chia” or “bread van” to include other provisions.
To date, he has more than 40 items in his van, including eggs, potatoes, onions, detergents, potato chips, beverages and even prayer oil.
A top-selling item is the $8 Singtel hi! Card, a prepaid SIM card which is in great demand with domestic helpers.
And just as tastes changed, so did his customers. While they were once expatriate families, they are now mainly maids, construction workers and retirees.
He said children seldom buy candy from him now because parents forbid them to eat many sweet things these days.
Ms Eunice Boey, 45, who lives in Brockhampton Drive, remembers buying Twisties, a childhood snack, and other treats, from Mr Foo since she was five years old.
When her family moved from Seletar Hills to Serangoon Gardens, she was pleased to find out that it was still within his ambit.
Today, they buy bread, eggs and snacks from him almost daily.
Ms Boey suggested crowdfunding to raise the cash to extend Mr Foo’s COE by five years, figuring he would have enough happy customers.
He appreciated her gesture but declined kindly.
The work has become a little onerous now.
His 72-year-old wife, who used to get out of the van and open its doors for customers, hurt her back and finds it hard to walk now.
Mr Foo said he has to climb up and down from the van at least 200 times a day and is tired.
“My daughter has been asking me to retire, and says she will give me an allowance,” he said.
He has plans for his retirement.
“I want to read the Chinese evening paper properly,” he said, “and enjoy a slow walk in the park.”
huifen@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Jan 09, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Designated smoking points are making their mark along the Orchard Road shopping belt, as the area inches towards becoming smoke-free.
Last month, four white L-shaped markings were painted outside several shopping malls, demarcating a rectangular zone with a bin in the centre.
On close inspection, the words Designated Smoking Area can be seen in small print on the side of the bin.
Five designated smoking areas have been set up along Orchard Road as part of a government study to observe their usage and effectiveness in reducing smoking activity in the surrounding areas, said the National Environment Agency.
Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) executive director Steven Goh said having a smoke-free Orchard Road is the association’s long-term vision.
“As a place manager, we want to continue to make Orchard a pleasurable environment for all visitors,” he added.
“If you look at Orchard Road, many smokers will congregate around dustbins, which can be quite unsightly and cause inconvenience to people passing by.”
Mr Goh said Orba had, over the last year or two, also suggested to the authorities to put smoking points in less-crowded locations – such as back lanes or alleys between buildings – to reduce second-hand smoke.
The new smoking zones add to existing ones already carved out by building owners at shopping malls and office buildings.
They come even as Nee Soon South, the first residential estate to erect walled smoking “sheds”, reaches its target of 50 designated smoking points.
They also bring Singapore closer to achieving the Government’s long-term goal of prohibiting smoking in all public areas.
Smoking is already banned at reservoirs and more than 400 parks, and at common areas like void decks, sheltered walkways and linkways.
Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah, who is chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for the Environment, said the smoking points at Nee Soon South – which comprises 147 blocks – will be officially launched in two weeks.
The smoking points, each measuring 3m by 3m and situated at least 5m from housing blocks, have received praise from residents living on lower floors and above coffeeshops, where second-hand smoke was a problem.
About 85 per cent to 90 per cent of the smoke from every cigarette ends up as second-hand smoke, which has at least 400 poisonous chemicals and can cause respiratory tract infections, heart disease and cancers.
“It is unfair that non-smokers have to bear these effects,” said Ms Lee.
Frasers Centrepoint Malls said it has rolled out designated smoking areas at the majority of its 12 shopping malls.
These areas are clearly marked out with a yellow box or signage, with bins provided for the proper disposal of cigarette ash and butts.
A spokesman said: “This has helped to reduce the number of smokers loitering around the malls and a reduction in cigarette butts littered. Mall security officers patrol the mall perimeter to enforce smoking at designated areas.”
City Square Mall, managed by City Developments, also has a smoking point.
This has improved cleanliness around the mall, said a mall spokesman.
Smokers whom The Straits Times spoke to at Orchard Road’s new smoking zones said they noticed these spotsonly two weeks ago.
Some have complained of inconvenience but Mr Charles Tan, 28, a hairstylist who was seated at a bench within the zone outside Far East Plaza, said he will comply with the requirement.
Orba’s Mr Goh said: “If 80 per cent of people don’t smoke, then you can’t inconvenience them just for the 20 per cent that do.”
