SINGAPORE – Two months after a concrete sunshade on the fourth floor of a Tampines block fell onto the sunshade on the third storey, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has found that other existing sunshades at Block 201E Tampines Street 23 and its surrounding blocks are safe.

For the affected sunshade at the incident block, the engineers’ investigations confirmed that the side that had dislodged had no reinforcement bars (rebars).

In a statement on Dec 4, BCA said it had earlier directed Tampines Town Council to engage a professional engineer to carry out a detailed investigation, following the incident on 25 September 2016.

The conclusion was that the sunshade dislodged because of the way it was constructed and not due to structural design.

Additional checks on similar sunshades in the precinct were also conducted.

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2016-09-25 19:22:06

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Concrete sunshade at Tampines HDB block collapses

Source:

The Straits Times

Stomp

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These include ultrasound scanning checks, conducted by an independent accredited testing laboratory. The ultrasound checks showed that reinforcement bars were detected in all existing sunshades at Block 201E and surrounding blocks.

To further verify the findings from the ultrasound checks, the professional engineer, in the presence of BCA engineers, carried out sampling checks by removing a strip of concrete cover to expose the rebars to establish the number and size of rebars.

“These checks confirmed that the existing sunshades are adequately supported on the columns and are safe,” said the BCA.

BCA said it also conducted an independent assessment of the findings and concurs with the PE’s conclusions.

candicec@sph.com.sg

Things were looking bleak but a chance meeting with a stranger helped Ms Jaycie Tay, who was twice incarcerated and dropped out of school, defy the odds to achieve a diploma. And the 32- year-old twice-divorced mother of four is now gunning for a degree, as well as a brighter future.

It was late 2013 and Ms Tay had attended a course funded by the Government and a halfway house earlier in the day. She was training to be a florist.

Ms Tay, who was on the last leg of her 18-month sentence for drug offences, was waiting for a bus in Yishun to return to halfway house The Turning Point when she met Mr John Shu, a now 50-year-old mechanic. He had to take a bus that day as his motorcycle was in the workshop. The pair started talking and soon struck up a friendship.

She began to confide in Mr Shu, who is married with a 22-year-old daughter in polytechnic and a 19-year-old son working as a chef.

She shared her life story and her desire to pursue a diploma to give her children a better future. She had worked as a waitress and a retail assistant, among other jobs, but they paid less than $2,000 a month.

• Skills-training bursary for ex-offenders

• The Yellow Ribbon Fund Star (Skills Training Assistance to Re-start) Bursary was launched in 2010 to assist financially needy former offenders in vocational and skills training, to help them find jobs.

  The bursary covers up to 100 per cent of the course fees for diploma and degree programmes.

  Since it was launched, 128 students have been on the bursary scheme and 52 have graduated.

  The graduates include one who earned a diploma in banking and finance services from Nanyang Polytechnic and another who attained a diploma in culinary skills from Shatec.

  The bursary is open to all former offenders who have been accepted by any educational institution in Singapore. It is disbursed by the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charitable fund that helps offenders and their families.

  Theresa Tan

She said her parents, who are divorced, were not supportive of her plans to upgrade herself. And she did not have the $5,000 needed for the course fees.

Besides, she was getting treatment for depression then and the people around her felt she could not cope with handling a messy divorce, caring for her children and going back to school all at once.

Mr Shu said: “Her wish to get an education is a good thing. And since her family is not supporting her and no one supports her, I thought I would support her and give her a way out.”

Mr Shu, who earns just over $2,000 a month, gave her about $6,000 to pay for her diploma and other expenses. This was a few months into their friendship. He said he and his wife, who works as a hawker, can get by on their income.

Ms Tay began her studies shortly after her release in 2014 and graduated with a diploma in marketing management from Kaplan Higher Education Institute eight months later.

Hitting the books was a huge change for a girl who was introduced to drugs by her friends as a teenager. She was only 18 when she was jailed for one year for drug offences. When she became a mother at the age of 20, she quit drugs.

But she returned to drugs to escape from her woes when her first marriage broke down. She has two children from that union, a 12-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. Her first husband has custody of them.

Her second husband was also a drug abuser and they were arrested at the same time for drug offences.

About four years ago, the couple was jailed and their daughter, only a baby at the time, was left in the care of her in-laws. The girl is now five.

Ms Tay’s second sentence, served at the Drug Rehabilitation Centre at Changi Women’s Prison, “shook” her up. “I saw how the other drug addicts ended up with nothing. Their children did not want them; they had no house and no money. I did not want to be like them.”

Behind bars, an inmate encouraged her to further her studies. And with Mr Shu’s help, she became a diploma holder.

His help did not end there. While studying for her diploma, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant with her fourth child – with her second husband. Their marriage was on the rocks. She wanted a divorce and was worried about her finances.

Mr Shu said: “I encouraged her not to abort as the baby is innocent. I told her that if she can’t afford to raise the child, I will help her. I will help her all the way.”

Ms Tay said Mr Shu paid for her visits to the gynaecologist and even cooked for her when she was recuperating from the childbirth during her confinement month.

“He never asked for his money back or for anything in return,” she said. “Others have made unpleasant remarks (implying we are having an affair) but we are clean.”

Ms Tay, who is working as an administrative assistant, said she has offered to repay part of the sums that he gave her, but he has declined. She declined to reveal her pay.

“He has helped many people, not only me… Some (of his friends) have taken advantage of him.”

Mr Shu, a primary school graduate, said in a mix of Mandarin and Hokkien: “Why should I calculate so much about helping others? I already have one foot in the grave and if I need help in the future, others would help me.”

He said he is just glad that she managed to get her life back on track, adding: “I see Jaycie as a family member, like my younger sister.”

Last month, Ms Tay started a part- time course – Bachelor of Business Studies in Management – at Kaplan. The degree is awarded by University College Dublin. She won a bursary from the Yellow Ribbon Fund Star Bursary to pursue the degree. She said the fees cost over $20,000.

“I never thought a stranger (who became a friend) would help me so much. I hope that by sharing my story, other former offenders can also feel there is hope in life,” she said.

This article was first published on Dec 04, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

In the midst of the usual year-end sales, shoppers can also do their part to stay alert to terror threats, said Senior Minister of State (Prime Minister’s Office, Foreign Affairs and Transport) Josephine Teo yesterday.

She was speaking at the opening of the third police community roadshow, held at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.

The roadshow marked the expansion of the Shoppers-On-Watch programme to the heartland.

The programme, first introduced in May as part of a safe shopping campaign in Orchard Road, aims to educate shoppers on how they can prevent crime by looking out for suspicious behaviour.

Mrs Teo said the programme complemented the SGSecure movement introduced in September as part of efforts to increase levels of preparedness for crises such as terror attacks.

“By calling upon members of the public to look out for suspicious characters and behaviour, Shoppers-On-Watch reinforces the need to stay alert to any tell-tale indicators of terrorist activities,” said Mrs Teo, who is also a Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

The Singapore Police Force encouraged shoppers to stay alert and report any suspicious activities or items to retailers or the police to “prevent, deter or detect” crime and terror-related activities.

Some retailers have been trained on how to respond when shoppers provide information about suspicious activity in their premises.

On Friday, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said there was a greater terror threat now compared with last year. He noted an uptick in terrorism-related arrests in Indonesia, and said extremism propagated by terror group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had taken root in the region.

Transport workers, too, have been identified as first responders in crisis situations, during the public transport sector’s first counter- terrorism seminar, also on Friday.

Mr Desmond Choo, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, said people must “stay vigilant” during this period, especially in crowded areas such as year-end countdown parties.

“Terrorists have neither downtime nor vacation,” he said.

This article was first published on Dec 04, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Singapore-China relations appear to have taken a turn for the worse.

The recent seizure of nine Singapore Armed Forces armoured vehicles in Hong Kong is the latest in a series of incidents that have made many wonder what is happening between the two countries.

Why is it that what appeared to have been acceptable in the past is now viewed by one party in a different light?

In the case of the SAF carriers, they were in transit in Hong Kong en route to Singapore after their deployment in Taiwan where SAF troops hold regular exercises.

Read also: Singapore will not allow any single issue to hijack ties with China, says Vivian Balakrishnan

Singapore’s military arrange- ment with Taiwan has been a longstanding practice, started in 1975 when it was building its armed forces from scratch and needed space not available in its own country for training purposes.

Chinese leaders might not have liked the arrangement but they did not make a public issue of it.

Indeed, it did not stop the two countries from establishing diplomatic relations in 1990.

Suddenly, Beijing now says it has a serious problem with it, going by what its spokesman was quoted as saying: “The Chinese government has always firmly opposed countries that have diplomatic ties with China to have any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation.”

When relations between two countries turn sour, the past can be recast and reinterpreted.

Read also: Singapore envoy refutes China report on South China Sea

The same could be said about China’s displeasure over Singapore’s position on the South China Sea (SCS) issue.

Singapore has said that, as it is not a claimant country, it will not take sides in the dispute which involves several South-east Asian nations and China.

But it hopes the disagreements will be settled peacefully according to established principles: Adherence to international laws and the protection of freedom of navigation in the affected waters.

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2016-11-24 21:01:04

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SAF armoured vehicles seized in Hong Kong port

Source:

Factwire

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Singapore has stuck closely and consistently to these principles which China did not take issue with in the past.

In recent years, though, China has become more assertive, constructing various facilities on some of the disputed islands and refusing to take part or accept the verdict of an international tribunal which had ruled in favour of the Philippines’ case.

It has also taken issue with Singapore, accusing it, through reports in the Chinese media, of instigating other Asean countries to take an unfriendly position regarding the SCS issue, a charge Singapore has vigorously denied.

Why is Singapore’s consistent position on the SCS now viewed so antagonistically and provoking such a strong reaction from Beijing? The short answer: China has changed.

As Professor Wang Gungwu, a noted historian, observed last week at a forum, China today isn’t the same country as the one which needed help from many countries, including Singapore, in the 1980s and 1990s to develop its economy.

“The China that needed our external help is no longer that way at all. China now is actually in the position of being looked to for help… and Singapore has to reassess its position not because of anything specific that Singapore has done or what the Chinese have done.”

The change has been most pronounced in the economic sphere. China is now the largest trading partner of almost all the countries in the region, including Singapore, and is the largest source of tourism and investments.

This economic impact has been mainly positive, boosting growth and opportunities for many countries which have benefited from the vast and growing Chinese market.

But along with its economic strength has come political and military clout.

As its influence and ability to project its power increases, China is changing the geopolitical landscape.

The most significant impact of this will be in the shifting balance of power between China and the United States, but this re-balancing will take some time because America is a superpower and will not cede ground easily.

But smaller countries do not enjoy this advantage and will feel China’s growing weight more dramatically, like small buoys in the sea buffeted by a supertanker passing by.

Because of its proximity, South-east Asia will be one of those most affected.

China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea dispute is but one manifestation of this, and there will no doubt be many others.

In such a scenario, it would be unrealistic to expect a trouble-free time as countries in the region adjust to the new reality.

In fact, many South-east Asian states have already shifted their positions, the most dramatic being the Philippines led by newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared recently that his country had realigned with China and was moving away from the US.

There is bound to be friction and tension in the coming years as governments make adjustments to accommodate the new growing power.

Singapore’s recent problems with China should be seen in this light – an inevitable clashing of gears as the many moving parts change direction and, sometimes, collide.

It would be highly unusual if there were no ups and downs as the balance of power shifts.

It is important, therefore, to take a longer-term view of the changing ties and chart a course that ensures Singapore’s interests are protected in the foreseeable future.

This is especially pertinent as Singapore has many other interests and linkages with the rest of the world which it assiduously developed over the years.

These overlapping relationships have made the country what it is today – globally connected and relevant – and have been a large part of what made it successful.

It cannot suddenly change course without serious damage to its international standing.

But it also makes for a more challenging foreign policy because some of these countries have different and competing interests with China.

As the balance of power shifts, Singapore will have to make new calculations and adjustments.

It will require nimble and adroit leadership able to navigate the changing landscape.

But the people, too, need to understand the new realities and not become unduly flustered or, worse, panicked into submission at the slightest pressure.

They should know that how Singapore responds to Chinese action can have far-reaching consequences for itself and the region, and that it isn’t just a simple matter of not displeasing China for the moment, whatever the costs.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was right to point out that the relationship isn’t defined by one single issue but is multifaceted .

Singaporeans need to have a deeper understanding of how the world is changing, how the changes affect the country, where their interests lie, and what it takes to do well in the new environment.

These are testing times; they are a foretaste of more to come.

• The writer is also a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

This article was first published on Dec 04, 2016.
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