When Ms Jennifer Yang’sfriend suggested she buy furniture in Johor, Malaysia, the 45-year-old administrator was sceptical.

“I had doubts about getting there, plus I had no idea which shops were trustworthy and reliable, especially when I was going to spend big sums of money,” she said.

She eventually decided to tag along with her friend, a Singaporean who was born in Malaysia, and was surprised by the cheaper prices.

After three trips to various furniture and electrical shops in Johor, Ms Yang spent about RM17,600 ($5,700) on five fans, lights, a bed frame, a dining table and a cupboard for her new Housing Board home.

She also bought a sofa, a wardrobe, a dining set and a television console for her brother.

“I found that things, on the whole, were 40 per cent cheaper, which means I could use the savings for other things for my home,” she said.

Ms Yang is among a growing number of Singaporeans making the trip across the Causeway for their furniture needs.

Another such Singaporean is Mr Yeo Zhen Xiong, 28, who bought lights and decorative ornaments from various shops in Johor last month as his family’s condominium underwent renovation.

The New Paper visited three shops in Johor over the last month, and shop assistants there told us they have seen up to 30 per cent more Singaporean customers in recent months.

Ms Mandy Lua, a showroom supervisor of Maestro Perfect Home Store in Skudai, Johor, attributed this to the falling Malaysian ringgit against the Singapore dollar.

A Singapore dollar now fetches about RM3.10.”This is also the period (in November and December) when Singaporeans look to buy things for their home,” she said.

QUALITY

Another sales assistant of a shop that sells lighting, fans and electrical appliances also said he was seeing more Singaporean customers.

“Many Singaporeans now trust our quality. Our electronics are usually imported from other countries, such as our fans which are from Taiwan.

“So the quality is no different from purchasing elsewhere,” he said.

Dr Lynda Wee, adjunct associate professor of marketing and international business at the Nanyang Business School in the Nanyang Technological University, agreed that furniture prices are usually higher in Singapore.

This is due to the lack of furniture-making facilities and workers, importing of raw materials – such as wood – and high retail rental and manpower costs, she said.

PROXIMITY

National University of Singapore Business School associate professor of finance Qian Wenlan and visiting professor Sumit Agarwal had said in an opinion piece published in TNP last month that non-branded items cost 20 per cent to 30 per cent less in Malaysia.

All these factors, as well as the close proximity of both countries, make it appealing for Singaporeans to go cross-border shopping, they had said.

Dr Wee said this trend would hit mom-and-pop furniture retailers here the hardest.

But one such shop owner, Mr H. S. Tee of Vickson Furnishing in Bukit Batok, said his business is unfazed by the competition.

“If anything happens to your purchases from Malaysia, it will be very hard to get them serviced here,” he said in Mandarin.

Mr Tee added that his quality assurance would keep customers coming back.

Both Mr Yeo and Ms Yang said the main consideration of consumers, including themselves, would always be the price.

Ms Yang said she brought back most of the smaller items, such as the lights and fans, by car, and had the larger furniture pieces delivered.

Shops in Malaysia offer transportation for larger pieces, usually for a fee, although customers are subject to a 7 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) for items delivered into Singapore.

GST for goods valued below $150 is not applicable for travellers who are out of Singapore for less than 48 hours. For those who are away for more than 48 hours, GST is exempt for goods valued up to $600.

Ms Yang said: “Even after paying the 7 per cent GST, things were still cheaper.

“Price is everything. And so far, it has been a smooth experience buying furniture from Malaysia.”

This article was first published on Jan 3. 2017
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SINGAPORE – A female otter believed to be the mother of the popular Bishan otters was spotted with a fishing line and hook in its body on Monday (Jan 2) morning, just two days after a sighting of a new litter of otter pups.

Retiree Patrick Ng, 60, who has followed the otters for a year, told The Straits Times on Monday that he spotted the hook and line when reviewing videos he had taken of the otters at about 9am on Monday at the floating platform at Marina Bay.

“I was just shooting them on video and didn’t realise it at that time, but when I went home and viewed it, I noticed some strings sticking out,” he said.

He added that he noticed “a lot of anglers” when the otters were swimming up to the floating platform, and believes that was how the female otter, believed to be the mother of the litter, got hooked.

Mr Ng goes to watch the otters almost daily, as he cycles in the Marina Bay area for exercise.

He was also the one who saved Toby, a otter pup then six weeks old, from a canal in May last year (2016).

An otter pup in April last year was spotted with a fish hook in its eye.

It recovered from the wound without any external help but the incident roused the anger of animal lovers, who criticised “irresponsible anglers”.

Netizens on a Facebook post by otter community OtterWatch on Monday were concerned for the hooked otter.

Facebook user Kim Yap wrote: “Please help otter mum.”

Joo Kek added that he hoped PUB would take ” illegal fishing at Marina Bay seriously”.

Another otter watcher, 45-year-old Jeffery Teo, who works in the financial services industry, told The Straits Times that the well-loved Bishan 10 otters were now Bishan 14.

They were given the name as the otters were first spotted in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park.

A litter of five pups is believed to have been born in mid-November last year but were sighted only on Dec 31.

One of the pups went missing after a trip the pack made to Lower Peirce Reservoir.

Speaking about the latest fish hook incident, Mr Teo said there were anglers photographed at the scene, where “No Fishing” signs have been put up.

“All the signs are erected but nobody seems to be enforcing it especially on the weekends,” he said.

Said Mr Teo: “It took decades for our native otters to finally return, if we are not mindful, we may not have a second chance next time.”

PUB in 2015 issued about 400 summonses for illegal fishing, and an average of 500 in 2014 and the year before.

The Straits Times has contacted PUB for comment.

Ms Anbarasi Boopal, deputy chief executive of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), told The Straits Times that it “is sad to see a wild animal being affected again through irresponsible recreational activities”.

She added that Acres has rescued “a number of wild animals such as monitor lizards, turtles and birds with fish hooks stuck to the body or ingested”.

“Illegal fishing has to be taken seriously for strict enforcement action, to deter such activities,” said Ms Boopal. “At the same time, we also urge the community to be responsible when engaging in such recreational activities, to not leave hooks and lines that can affect the welfare of these animals who live in our waterbodies and to remember that these are habitats that provide home to various animals from invertebrates, reptiles, birds and mammals.”

Acres appreciates the ground efforts by the otter watchers, she said.

This article was first published on Jan 2, 2016.
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youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1qlBu0LGE

SINGAPORE – A man in his 80s lost control of his Mercedes and drove into the side of a restaurant in the Chinatown area on Monday (Jan 2) morning.

ST reader Faruk Ali, a 38-year-old taxi driver, told The Straits Times on Monday that a car had rammed into a two-storey shophouse opposite the New Majestic Hotel.

There were no reported injuries, and the crash took place opposite the Ee Hoe Hean Club, one of Singapore’s oldest millionaire clubs.

The affected restaurant is Italian eatery Oso, which will be closed on Tuesday due to the accident. It was closed when the crash happened but its staff were inside as its neighbouring restaurant, Oso Grillery, was hosting an event.

“I was shaking, it happened in front of me,” said Ms Cali Serrajotto, a guest relations manager at Oso, who was in a cab about a metre away from the restaurant’s side entrance when the accident happened.

“When I alighted, it went straight in (to the building). It was very, very fast. Then, there was smoke,” she said, adding that the driver had looked flustered in his car before it shot forward.

She said: “We turned off all the gas pipes.”

Mr Diego Chiarini, director of Oso, added that staff evacuated the building after the crash. The authorities, including the Building and Construction Authority, have been involved in the aftermath.

According to Oso’s website, the affected building is a conserved building.

While Mr Chiarini did not know the extent of the damages yet, he added that “it was only the entrance” that was affected.

Said valet driver Mr Ab Razak, 57, who works in the building where the Ee Hoe Hean club is: “It seems that the driver reversed and hit a wall (at the building), before he panicked and crashed the car.”

He added that the driver was a regular at the club.

SCDF’s spokesman said they received a call for assistance at about 11.10am at 46 Bukit Pasoh Road and dispatched one fire engine, one Red Rhino, one ambulance and two support vehicles to the scene.

“The driver, a man in his 80s, has no reported injuries and was not taken to hospital,” said the spokesman.

This article was first published on Jan 2, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – A sea turtle more than a metre long was found dead along Changi Beach on Monday (Jan 2), believed to have been cut by a ship propeller.

ST reader Chandran V. R. told The Straits Times that he had been jogging at about 8.30am when he saw the carcass from a distance.

“At first I thought – how come this bulky item is there. Initially I didn’t know what it was,” said the 46-year-old managing director of a real estate agency.

He had been jogging along the Casuarina Cove Trail, near the Changi Ferry Terminal, when he noticed a bad smell.

Mr Chandran went closer and saw a dead turtle, more than a metre long, on the sand.

“It looked like it had been dead for at least two to three days,” he said.

He then contacted the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), as he “didn’t want anyone to disrespect this carcass”.

“It is a beautiful creature which got into trouble and lay dead on our shores. I just wanted the carcass to be discarded respectfully,” said Mr Chandran.

He added that he believes AVA has retrieved the carcass, based on location markers he sent to them.

“You don’t usually get to see a turtle of that size in Singapore waters,” he said.

The Straits Times has contacted AVA for more information.

Ms Anbarasi Boopal, deputy chief executive of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), expressed dismay at the turtle’s death.

She told The Straits Times that Acres had previously rescued an injured olive ridley turtle which was also possibly hit by a propeller.

It was rehabilitated and released back to the wild.

A dolphin carcass washed up on a beach at East Coast Park in July last year (2016).

A year before that (July 2015), a sperm whale carcass was found off Jurong Island, and its skeleton put up for exhibition at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in March last year (2016).

This article was first published on Jan 2, 2016.
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