SINGAPORE: The opposition Workers’ Party (WP) has moved out of its Syed Alwi Road headquarters, following a meeting to amend the party’s constitution to allow it to purchase and own a property.
In a Facebook update on Friday (Dec 16), WP said it held an Extraordinary Organising Members Conference to do so on Thursday night, and that the new property will be a “permanent HQ to better serve Singaporeans”.
“We are moving out! And homeless for now,” the party quipped. “After photos and a semi-ceremonial taking down of the iconic Hammer that has seen us through three General Elections, we cleared out the place.”
Party Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang with Chairman Sylvia Lim. (Photo: WP/Facebook)
This comes ahead of the party’s 60th anniversary, which will take place next year.
“There is a sense of nostalgia and renewal as we leave the HQ to write a new chapter,” WP said. “We have gone through many trials, but we have only one mind focused on Singapore and one heart set on Singaporeans.”
WP also thanked its supporters who contributed to its building fund or gave a donation in exchange for a copy of its newspaper.
“We are laying the bricks now and we hope to have good news to share with you soon,” it said.
The party had reportedly said in the 2011 General Election that its Syed Alwi Road premises was too cramped, and aimed to raise S$1.5 million as downpayment for the new location.
WP currently holds six elected seats in Parliament, overseeing Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC. The three Non-Constituency Members of Parliament currently in office are also members of the party.
Singapore and the Philippines are taking steps to boost economic co-operation, with local companies encouraged to venture beyond its capital, Manila.
Cities such as Davao and Cebu are among prospective places they are urged to consider by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the agency that promotes international trade and partners Singapore companies in going global.
IE Singapore is also devoting more resources to step up its presence in the Philippines next year, President Tony Tan Keng Yam said yesterday. He was speaking at a banquet in the Istana in honour of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is on a two-day state visit to Singapore.
Dr Tan said Singapore companies are keen to invest in the Philippines, one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.
Despite its small size, Singapore is the Philippines’ fourth-largest trading partner, after giants the United States, China and Japan.
Singapore companies can contribute to the Philippines’ development of quality infrastructure, urban planning and information and communications technology services, he said, citing SIA Engineering and Singtel, both of which have operations in the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s official visit to Singapore
President Duterte said in his speech that the two nations are further intensifying two-way trade and commerce, and expanding opportunities for investments to flourish.
“Indeed we have done much, and we can do more,” he said.
He and his Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez will meet Singapore business leaders today.
President Duterte said: “I came to Singapore with a singular purpose – to renew and reaffirm the friendship and co-operation between our nations and people.”
Earlier yesterday, he received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana and called on Dr Tan, who highlighted that both countries should explore ways to enhance connectivity to boost business links and promote tourism growth.
A Foreign Ministry statement said both leaders also agreed that there was room to further broaden and deepen ties, including strengthening security co-operation.
It also said Mr Duterte met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and both agreed ASEAN should work together to deal with transboundary challenges such as human and drug trafficking, and terrorism. The Philippines is chairman of ASEAN next year.
In a Facebook post, PM Lee said they discussed issues such as terrorism, the South China Sea and the US role in the region.
SINGAPORE: It is lunchtime and Cynthia Delaney Suwito is cooking a packet of instant noodles.
But it’s not for a quick meal. Rather, she’s using it to make a piece of art.
With her nifty knitting needles, the 23-year-old Singapore-based Indonesian artist is creating a small tapestry comprising strands of cooked instant noodles.
Her needlework – or noodlework, as it were – is called Knitting Noodles, and it’s a performance piece that can be seen at 2016 Untapped Discovery, a group show of emerging artists organised by the Visual Arts Development Association (Singapore). It is currently up at Shophouse 5 at Lorong 24A Geylang until Dec 23.
Every other day, she drops by the gallery to spend around three to four hours adding noodle threads, one packet at a time, to the edible scroll. The piece grows in length by around 20cm to 30cm each session, and by the time the exhibition closes, it will be a lengthy work.
(Photo: Mayo Martin)
“I’ve been knitting instant noodles since late 2014,” said Suwito, a recent fine arts graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts. “I was doing it because I wanted to contrast the idea of time. How I’m doing something very slow to something ‘instant’ like instant noodles. And by using this, I’m actually making the process of knitting slower than it should be. The purpose of it is actually to (make) people slow down and take a break from this ‘instant’ world.”
Exhibition designer and curator Wong Binghao said Suwito’s choice of material fits perfectly in the Singapore context and its fast-paced lifestyle.
“For her, it is indicative of how people cope with velocity and pressure. By combining this index of speediness with the activity of knitting, which is slow, craft-based and gendered, she’s providing a unique contrast,” he said.
(Photo: Mayo Martin)
Indeed, while the piece already looks delicate and intricate, watching Suwito slowly, and painstakingly, at work is a sight in itself. She says that the act of knitting can actually be calming – except when she sees a strand about to break.
Knitting noodles can be tricky, she said. “It took me a few months to actually be able to knit. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to make something this long.”
Suwito uses normal knitting needles and a couple of other tools of the trade: A small wooden box with holes to help support one of her needles; and a small, handmade comb-like object made of Epoxy Putty as well as a hairdryer to dry the noodles.
As for the type of instant noodles she uses, Suwito prefers the Indomie and Nongshim brands, which are thicker and easier to use. “But I can use different noodles as well and they will look different.”
(Photo: Cynthia Delaney Suwito’s website)
This is not the first time she has used instant noodles – for the past couple of years, Suwito has been obsessing over the possibilities to make art.
“It’s an object that is used in so many different places – almost every country in the world,” she said. “It really defines what people are in their daily lives, like how they want something that is very instant, (something that is) very ‘comfort food’, regardless of its health benefits.”
She has used other objects in her works, such as plastic bottles and clocks; but perhaps not as much as instant noodles, which she has used in two other previous projects.
Taken from her work Instant Noodle – Specimen, this is supposedly instant noodles frozen in a chemical solution, found in the distant future from a noodle factory storage facility. (Photo: Cynthia Delaney Suwito’s website.)
One of them, Instant Noodle – Specimen, is a mixed media work where she imagined noodles as archaeological artefacts. “I pretended to be an archaeologist from the future who finds these specimens that have stayed (intact) over a hundred years, and analyse these to see what the culture was like right now.” Another piece, Noodle Confession, is a collection of noodle packets with stories by other people in relation to instant noodles.
“What I usually think of when I’m making my work is I’m trying to take something that is simple and everyday, something we see as we live our lives, and give a deeper meaning to it,” she said.
As for her favourite instant noodles outside of work, it depends. “I like different types! Currently, my favourite is the Korean Nongshim spicy mushroom.”
SINGAPORE – Ground handling firm Sats has given its workers at Changi Airport smart watches paired with hands-free headsets to help them operate better and faster.
The workers on the tarmac escort planes to the parking gates after they land and prepare the aircraft for the next departure.
Sats is believed to be the first in the world to deploy the use of such technology for airport ground operations.
Showcasing the capability on Thursday (Dec 15) to Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng and other industry players, Sats said the smart watches enable the dissemination and receiving of information and data such as work schedules and instructions.
Previously, such communication was done manually. For example, changes in operations had to be communicated manually or the details printed out again, adding to the time required.
By using technology which boosts efficiency, Sats is now able to reallocate resources for greater productivity, the firm said.
The smart watches are paired with bone-conductor headsets via Bluetooth, allowing technical ramp personnel to make and receive hands-free calls; increasing safety and ease of collaboration.
The headset solution was designed in partnership with Temasek Polytechnic
“In an industry that is becoming ever more competitive, constant innovation and productivity gains are essential,” said Mr Alex Hungate, Sats’ president and chief executive officer.
Mr Kevin Shum, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said the initiative is the latest in a series of innovative productivity projects supported by the CAAS Aviation Development Fund.
He said: “Tapping on innovative technologies, we will continue to redesign airport jobs and upskill our workers to sharpen Changi’s competitiveness and strengthen our position as a global air hub.”
Sats also announced on Thursday that it had been awarded accreditation by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to train ground handlers in 10 countries regionally.
The programme will equip ground handling staff with knowledge and skills based on industry best practices.
Mr Conrad Clifford, IATA regional vice-president for the Asia-Pacific, said: “Air travel in Asia is expected to grow exponentially, but there is still a deficit in trained personnel to meet the demand.
“It is also crucial that ramp and apron services keep up with the most recent industry developments. With expertise in Asian aviation, coupled with Singapore’s status as a world class air hub, Sats is well placed to enhance ramp handling services training across the region.”
The new programme is scheduled to begin in March.
Sats will be the exclusive IATA training provider for ground handlers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and Myanmar. It is also a non-exclusive training provider for India.
This article was first published on Dec 15, 2016. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
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TOKYO – They’re illiterate, uneducated and live at least 10km from a power grid.
Meet the ‘solar mamas’, an affectionate term Barefoot College founder Mr Sanjit “Bunker” Roy uses to describe the numerous women that have benefited from his programme.
For 40 years, with the collaboration of non-government organisations, Mr Roy has been quietly packing women onto planes to Rajasthan, India, where they stay for six months to learn how to harness solar power into sustainable energy that fuels their villages back home.
These women – mostly grandmas between the age of 35 and 55 – return to their villages as solar engineers without formal education or a degree. Supplies to maintain and repair the equipment are then shipped over to them from India.
By empowering women this way, Mr Roy is challenging patriarchy that is prevelant in most villages. Not just their social status changes, even their husbands learn to be more respectful. According to Mr Roy, these women return “as tigers”.
“When they go it’s like a funeral, when they come back, it’s like a resurrection.
“I can assure you that the husbands are absolutely petrified when they come back. They can’t recognise their wives because he doesn’t have a clue that this woman can become a solar engineer in six months,” remarked the social activist.
Photo: Barefoot College
While sceptics may dismiss them as mere technicians, to the 71-year-old founder, these women are no less more well-equipped than an engineer with a certificate.
“They know more about solar energy than any graduate after five years of university. Why? Because they’re practical.
“Only practise, practise, practise, no theory. And they also have to be grandmothers,” said Mr Roy, who was speaking at the sidelines of the World Assembly for Women 2016 in Tokyo on Wednesday, where he was the only male participant at one of the round-table dicussions.
When training these solar mamas, no written or spoken word is used because they speak only dialect. So sign language, iPad with pictures, and even puppets are used as tools to teach them. In return, they also teach other women who arrive from other parts of the world.
To Mr Roy – who was selected as one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 – the transfer of knowledge among the women is the core essence of what Barefoot College is: Built by the poor, for the poor.
By placing knowledge and tools into the hands of the rural poor in 77 countries – many of whom are in Southeast Asia – Mr Roy follows a bottom-up Gandhian model, where capacities are developed from below in order to bring about sustainable change.
His focus is on women only and the only requirement they need is guts, said Mr Roy. But what about the men?
“Men are untrainable. Men are restless, ambitious, compulsively mobile, and they all want a certificate.
“The moment you give a man a certificate, he will leave the village looking for a job in the city. So why train men at all?”, said Mr Roy candidly.
Women, on the other hand, never leave the village and in turn, the technology will not be lost to the community.
“Men will not train other men because he is afraid he will lose his job. But if you train a woman, she loves training other women and wants to share her knowledge with others,” he said.
Photo: Barefoot College
From an ‘elitist’ education to digging wells for the poor
About 800 women have been trained at Barefoot College to date. But these women may not have benefited from the movement if Mr Roy had not decided to turn his back on what he calls “an elitist, snobbish, expensive education that almost destroyed me”.
His life was all laid out. He was an international squash champion and all set to be a diplomat, teacher or doctor.
Out of curiosity, Mr Roy wanted to see how a village was like and in 1965, he went to the worst famine in India where he saw famine and death, which changed his life.
So he dug wells for five years in the villages and eventually started a college for the poor in 1972. Today, the Barefoot College is the only college in India that does not have degree-holders or PhDs.
“I felt it was important for me to give back to my country. Especially the part of my country I didn’t know at all, which is the rural parts.
“We are trying to prove a point that any woman can pick up the most sophisticated technology. Illiteracy should never be a barrier to people,” said Mr Roy.
klim@sph.com.sg
AsiaOne editor Karen Lim attended the WAW! 2016 conference held on Dec 13 and 14 in Tokyo as the Singapore representative under invitation by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Captain America’s shield has become the symbol and embodiment of justice and patriotism. Hence, EZ-Link has decided to bring you the Marvel EZ-Charm! Theye’ve just launched the limited edition EZ-Charm today.
THE 32-YEAR-OLD motorcycle taxi driver who has been charged with raping an Australian woman in a parking lot in Taling Chan district last week has claimed he had consensual sex with the tourist, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lt-General Sanit Mahathavorn said yesterday.
Following the one-hour interrogation of the suspect at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Sanit told a press conference that police had spent days on the investigation and reviewed all related information to prevent criticism that they had sought a scapegoat in the case.
Police said they were confident the suspect was motorcycle taxi driver Ekburut Ritrakkhapan, which led to an arrest warrant.
Sanit said people Ekburut had been staying with arranged for him to surrender in Sakhon Nakhon’s Sawang Dindaen district after they realised he was wanted by police.
Admitting he was the person named in the arrest warrant, Ekburut confessed to having sex with the tourist but maintained it was consensual, Sanit said.
During the interrogation, he claimed the Australian woman had a fight with another person in a pick-up truck. When he went to help, she climbed onto his motorcycle.
He claimed they were both drunk and later had consensual sex in an abandoned building because he had no money to pay for a room. He also denied stealing valuables from the woman. He claimed he left the woman alone at the building after she turned down his offer to give her a lift.
Police took Ekburut to re-enact the alleged crime.
The 23-year-old woman, who is due to return to Australia next week, has told police she flagged a tuk-tuk for a ride back to her lodgings after drinking heavily but was taken to a secluded spot in front of a deserted building and attacked by the driver and his friend.
SINGAPORE: Construction of Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 (T4) is now complete, Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced on Friday (Dec 16).
It achieved the Temporary Occupancy Permit this month, and the next stage of development will be focused on its interior fittings, as well as preparing the terminal for operations, CAG said in a media release. The terminal’s design focuses on the experience of the passenger, making the check-in and boarding process fast and seamless, it added.
Construction work on T4 commenced in early 2014, and it is now preparing for its opening in the second half of 2017, it added.
The exterior of Changi Airport T4’s departure hall. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
“The preparatory works in the lead-up to its opening will involve the installation and testing of key airport systems and processes including the new FAST self-service and automated options covering check-in, bag-drop, immigration clearance and boarding. There will also be training and familiarisation programmes organised for airport staff and partners, to prepare them for operations in the new terminal,” CAG added.
In July 2015, CAG had said facial recognition technology will be introduced as well, reducing the number of staff needed to perform manual visual checks of passengers. Other previously-announced features include a central Galleria, enhanced transit lounges, Peranakan heritage shop fronts and green sanctuaries, including a boulevard of trees along a boarding corridor.
Retail stores at Changi Airport’s T4 featuring facades of old Peranakan houses. (Illustration: CAG)
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and budget airline AirAsia group – including AirAsia Berhad, Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia – are expected to operate from T4 when it opens to passengers.
Construction of T4 involved the development of a two-storey passenger terminal building, two multi-storey car parks, a two-storey taxi holding area, as well as three vehicular and pedestrian bridges to create new channels of access to the terminal.
T4 will introduce self-service options on a large scale for check-in and bag-drop. (Photo: CAG)
A 68m-tall ramp control tower was also constructed to aid air traffic controllers’ management of aircraft movements around the terminal, CAG said.
At the peak of construction works, the T4 project involved 4,000 workers. Overall, it achieved a clean safety record of 26.1 million accident-free man hours, according to CAG.
“The past three years have been an intense and exciting journey for CAG and our project partners … For the next phase, we look forward to working with the airport community to prepare the terminal for opening in the second half of 2017,” said CAG executive vice president of Air Hub Development Yam Kum Weng.
The contruction work for Changi Airport’s latest passenger terminal building, Terminal 4 (T4), is completed, said the Changi Airport Group (CAG) in a statement on Friday (Dec 16).
The next stage of its development will be focused on its interior fittings, as well as preparing it for operations.
Construction work on the terminal, located at the southern end of Changi Airport, started in early 2014. It is slated to open in the second half of 2017.
In addition to the two-storey passenger terminal building, the construction involved the development of two multi-storey car parks to provide 1,700 parking lots, a two-storey taxi holding area as well as three vehicular and pedestrian bridges.
A 69m-high ramp control tower has also been constructed to enhance air traffic controllers’ management of aircraft movements, added the statement.
The T4 project involved 4,000 workers at the peak of its construction works.
Mr Yam Kum Weng, CAG’s executive vice president of Air Hub Development, said: “The past three years have been an intense and exciting journey for CAG and our project partners.
“We worked closely with the architects and contractors to ensure that the development works were carried out according to plan, and witnessed the transition of our vision from architectural blueprints to fruition.”
