A man is playing the mridangam drum on a makeshift stage in a courtyard at the Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown.

Across the courtyard, worshippers clasp their palms together in a show of devotion to the temple’s deities, while volunteers nearby pluck neem leaves to prepare for prayers.

The festivities are part of the Navarathri festival, a nine-day celebration from Oct 1 to 10 that is part of the lead-up to the annual fire-walking festival to be held this Sunday.

Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple has been a venue for the festival for more than 170 years.

“More than 4,000 male participants will walk on fire. It’s one of the larger-scale festivals in the region,” said chairman of the temple management committee S. Nallathamby, 57.

“During the ceremony, the grass patch is dug up and we replace it with charcoal,” he added, pointing to the plot of land, about 6m by 3m, next to the stage.

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Oldest temple in S’pore draws crowds every day

Source:

The Straits Times

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Devotees walk across hot coals in exchange for a wish or blessing granted by the goddess Draupadi.

The event has become so popular that the temple now streams a live telecast of the festival online for viewers to watch from home.

Visitorship to the temple throughout the year has also grown, said Mr Nallathamby.

Set up in 1827, the temple is the oldest in Singapore and was gazetted as a national monument in 1973.

Today, it hosts around 300 tourists on any given day, up from about 100 from five years ago, Mr Nallathamby said.

It is also on more travel itineraries.

“Whoever goes to Chinatown, will visit the temple,” he said, adding that more tourists are bused to the temple as well.

He said: “In the old days, there were not so many visitors… there was not so much awareness. Today, it is so widely publicised, also because of social media… It has a lot of history behind it and that probably brings the crowd.”

First built as a humble wood and attap structure in 1827, the Sri Mariamman Temple was founded by Penang government clerk Naraina Pillai, who accompanied Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, on his second visit to the island in 1819.

Many of the temple’s early devotees were Hindus who came from South India to Singapore to work as coolies, craftsmen or merchants.

The temple was a place of lodging for new immigrants till the 1900s, and also the registry of marriages, births and deaths for Hindus.

Mr Nallathamby remembers his visits during the 1960s. “As a child, I used to go with my parents to the temple, we were living close by in Tanjong Pagar,” he said.

“In the early days, the place didn’t have paved stones. It used to be full of sand. As kids, we used to play around with the sand.”

Entire families would go to the temple on Fridays. Children would play while the parents prayed. “It was a space of social gatherings.”

For retiree Ratha Krishan, 69, who started visiting the temple regularly after meeting his wife when he was 18, it is a special place.

“I was a little rascal before that,” he laughed. “After I met my wife, I started going to the temple to pray and I feel changed.”

The temple houses statues of deities such as Sri Ramar and Sri Murugan, each in a colourful shrine. It also has a wedding hall.

The temple has a tower crowning its entrance in South Bridge Road. The five-tiered structure is carved with images of Hindu deities, abstract floral decorations and Indian sepoys from the times of the British Raj.

Inside, the main deity Sri Mariamman faces the entrance to the east, where the sun rises.

“In the old days, before people had electricity, the rising sun would light up the whole temple,” said Mr Nallathamby.

Over the years, the temple has gone through several restoration exercises, with the latest in 2009.

Long-time temple goers still maintain a deep connection with the place, no matter how it looks on the surface.

“The bond I have with this temple goes a long way,” said Mr Nallathamby.

This article was first published on Oct 20, 2016.
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Even as it expands its full-time degree offerings and places, SIM University has maintained its appeal among its key target group – working adults eager to pursue part-time degree studies.

The university, which looks set to become Singapore’s sixth autonomous university, launched full-time degree programmes two years ago and now has 900 school leavers enrolled in six degree courses.

But based on enrolment figures released recently, its mainstay continues to be its 13,000 students enrolled in 60 part-time courses from counselling to accounting.

UniSIM said it continues to receive more than 5,000 applications a year from working adults and mature students who want to pursue a degree.

Communications, logistics and supply chain management, early childhood education, social work, and building and project management are among the courses that continue to draw students.

Nearly 400 people applied for the 60 places in UniSIM’s law school, which starts its two new programmes in January.

The school, Singapore’s third law school, hopes to plug a gap by training criminal and family lawyers.

UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat expects demand for its part-time degree courses to remain healthy over the next few years because of the SkillsFuture initiative, which encourages workers to update their skills to thrive in the workplace.

“Working adults want to further themselves in their career. Some want to make a switch. UniSIM offers them a flexible path to work and study for a degree at the same time,” he said, noting that a UniSIM part-time student is 28 years old on average. Most have three to five years of work experience, and attain their degrees in four years.

He said one of the main draws is the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) subsidy that covers 55 per cent of the tuition fees for Singaporeans. “It’s recognition by MOE that UniSIM offers quality degrees.”

Students say another draw is that the courses are job relevant and recognised by the industry.

Many of its 60 courses are accredited by professional bodies. Its popular accountancy degree, for instance, is recognised by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Its Human Factors in Safety course is recognised by the Ministry of Manpower and meets a rising need for workplace safety and health professionals.

By 2018, 19,000 will be needed, up from the fewer than 5,000 now.

Professor Cheong also noted the good outcomes for UniSIM graduates.

In a survey last year, seven in 10 working adults reported a salary increase within a few years of graduating from UniSIM. The average increase in annual salary was 21 per cent.

UniSIM students welcomed the MOE’s move to convert the university into an autonomous institution, saying this will boost its stature and the recognition of its degrees.

Said Ms Felicia Teo, 28, a business development executive who is studying for a marketing degree: “UniSIM is well thought of by employers. In fact, it was my employer who encouraged me to take up this course. But if it is on a par with the other five universities, then there would be even more recognition for my degree.”

If the Government’s proposal is accepted, then the privately run university will come under the ambit of the MOE and be fully funded by it.

Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, who announced the proposal at UniSIM’s convocation last week, pointed out that UniSIM has supported generations of working adults and mature learners.

Prof Cheong said UniSIM will keep its focus on applied learning and customising courses for working adults.

“UniSIM aims to become the standard bearer for continuing education and training,” he said.

This article was first published on Oct 20, 2016.
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Officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) paid a visit to the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s (STTA) Toa Payoh headquarters yesterday, with sources revealing that a national men’s player and his relative were being investigated for alleged attempted bribery of an official from the national sports association.

The New Paper understands that national men’s player Li Hu was the paddler in question, but it remained unclear what prompted the alleged bribery attempt that was brought to the attention of authorities by the STTA.

In addition to the paddler and his relative, the CPIB also took statements from STTA officials.

When contacted, the STTA declined to comment on the matter as investigations are ongoing.

In response to queries from The New Paper, the CPIB declined to ascertain facts of the case.

“Due to the nature of our work, we will not confirm or deny whether any individual or identity is being investigated for corrupt practices,” said its statement.

Li is currently ranked 58th in the world and struck gold at the 2015 South-east Asia Games held in Singapore.

He was part of the men’s winning team and partnered Gao Ning to win gold in the men’s doubles gold. He also clinched a bronze in the mixed doubles.

He is the Republic’s second highest ranked men’s paddler, with Gao Ning sitting 17 spots above him in 41st spot.

While Gao made it to August’s Rio Olympics, Li did not.

He was beaten to the qualifying spot by teammate Chen Feng (world No. 149) in the final of the South-east Asia segment of the table tennis Asia Olympic qualifiers in Hong Kong in June.

The men’s team did not qualify for the Olympics.

This year, Li’s best showing was a second-placed finish in the men’s singles at the Australian Open.

This article was first published on October 20, 2016.
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The Government has met the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS), in the wake of a statement by the religious body urging the authorities to review the decision to allow two operators to offer online betting services.

After the meeting, the council, which represents more than 250 churches here, said yesterday it now recognises that the Government’s decision is a “judgment call”.

In a new statement to its members, NCCS said: “Given the data on the current remote gambling landscape, the Government deems this to be the best approach to mitigate driving remote gambling activities underground and exacerbating law and order concerns.

“The Government acknowledges the council’s deep concern about the negative social consequences of legalising two remote gambling platforms, and will regularly monitor the overall impact.”

The council had put out an initial statement two weeks ago, saying it “finds it difficult” to accept the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) rationale that a complete ban would only drive remote gambling underground, making it harder to detect.

This “cannot be the best option for Singapore”, the NCCS said then.

Since then, its representatives have had a “candid and important face-to-face discussion” with MHA and the Ministry of Social and Family Development, said the council.

It said the Government “is willing to proactively strengthen the family and social environment to prevent and mitigate the harmful consequences of online gambling”.

The Government has proposed to meet council leaders in the next three to six months “to take this further”.

Last month, MHA gave the green light to allow Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club to conduct online betting.

These will be rolled out on Oct 25 and Nov 15 respectively.

The authorities’ approval followed applications by the local operators to be exempted from the Remote Gambling Act passed by Parliament two years ago, banning phone and online gambling.

NCCS was the first religious body to weigh in, saying the Government is sending “confusing and conflicting signals”.

Yesterday, the council said that at the meeting, the Government explained this was not the case.

This is because when the Act was passed in 2014, the authorities had already said some exemptions would be given as they did not think a complete ban would work.

The Act, including the provision of exempt operators, was also discussed with social service leaders and religious representatives before it was passed.

During the meeting, the Government maintained that allowing exempt operators to provide online gambling services under stringent controls is the best approach to contain any adverse social consequences – a conclusion based on its assessment of possible scenarios.

But the council added that it still has its reservations about this conclusion, arguing that the family and social fabric of Singapore is “currently not strong enough” to provide the safeguards against problem gambling.

It said it will be rolling out a slew of measures to address the harmful consequences of online gambling.

The first is to set up a task force to explore ways to strengthen the family and Singapore’s social fabric; to care for problem gamblers within and outside of their congregations; and to work with the Roman Catholic Church, other faith communities and the Government on this area.

The second is to publish a tract on gambling “that can be placed in the hands of every church member and can be used as the basis for teaching and discussion on the subject”.

Lastly, the council aims to monitor the situation of online gambling closely and to provide feedback to the authorities with the aid of its member churches.

Other religious bodies have chimed in on the issue as well.

The Catholic Church on Oct 12 urged the Government to monitor the situation closely, and requested regular consultations and updates on the consequences of its decision.

Muslim leaders have also reminded the community about the ills of gambling – including online gambling, which they said is “firmly” prohibited in Islam.

In its letter, NCCS said it will always endeavour to “play its part as a responsible intermediate organisation to seek the welfare of our city-state and to work together with the Government and other religious and grassroots organisations to promote the common good”.

This article was first published on Oct 20, 2016.
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