Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang said our baseline projection is not an outright recession. But we can’t rule out the possibility that the economy will experience some quarters of negative growth.

Overall, the economy will still grow in the lower range of between one and two per cent.

Mr Lim said the economic situation remains fluid, and outlined a slew of measures for companies affected by the economic slowdown.

They include loan schemes for SMEs and a one-year deferment of foreign worker levy increases for the marine sector.

Economist Song Seng Wun said it is possible for Singapore to slip into a recession if the growth momentum in developed economies like US, China and Europe continue to fall.

If this happens, there is nothing much the Republic can do.

What the Government can do is help mitigate the impact of weaker employment growth with schemes, said Mr Song.

In this uncertain economic climate, what help do jobseekers have?

For now, jobseekers can turn to the National Jobs Bank to look for jobs.

About 180,000 registered users have access to the online portal, and 25,700 employers advertise jobs on a daily basis, said Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say.

At any time, there are about 60,000 active jobs. Every day, there are about 7,000 job applications.

There are plans to transform the National Jobs Bank into a “one-stop online marketplace”, said Mr Lim.

The marketplace will help connect employers, including those not advertising on the National Jobs Bank now, to jobseekers of all ages.

With the number of redundancies and retrenchment cases reaching record levels in the first half of the year, PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) are the most affected. What help do they have?

The number of Professional Conversion Programmes, which train mid-career professionals to switch industries, will double to more than 50 by the end of the year, said Mr Lim.

Also, the Career Support Programme (CSP), a limited wage support programme that encourages employers to offer suitable job opportunities to mature PMETs, was conceived to offer extra support to PMETs aged 40 and above who have been unemployed for at least six months.

The CSP is now expanded to include PMETs aged 40 and above who have been unemployed for less than six months, and PMETs who are below 40.

Can we do with fewer foreign workers to strengthen the Singaporean core?

Our policy on foreign manpower must be well-balanced, said Mr Lim.

On one hand, if Singapore tries to make up for the drop in labour force growth by taking in many more foreign workers, the pace of restructuring will slow down eventually, and we will become overly reliant on them.

Wages will stagnate without productivity gain, said Mr Lim.

On the other hand, Singapore will see zero growth in total labour force if foreign manpower is reduced to zero.

This means zero growth in productivity, which leads to zero GDP (gross domestic product) growth, and the economy will stagnate, said Mr Lim.

This article was first published on October 11, 2016.
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A 10-year jail sentence meted out to a pre-surgery transgender man yesterday made clear that women can be charged and punished for sexual penetration of minors.

Lawyers whom The Straits Times spoke to said the Court of Appeal ruling was an important clarification.

Over 22 months, Zunika Ahmad, 40, had regular sex with a minor using a dildo. Yesterday, Zunika was sentenced to 10 years in jail for six counts of sexually penetrating a minor.

This overturned a previous ruling when Zunika was acquitted because the High Court ruled that the law did not apply to women.

Criminal lawyer Adrian Wee said: “The court has held that that is an offence and I think it is rightly so. I think it is very good to clarify this point. The aim is to protect the minor. Does it matter to the minor whether he or she is penetrated by a male or female?”

Some lawyers were surprised by the previous acquittal.

Zunika had pleaded guilty to the six counts of sexual penetration of a minor but was acquitted by Senior Judge Kan Ting Chiu in April.

Section 376A(1)(b) states that “any person (A) who sexually penetrates, with a part of A’s body (other than A’s penis) or anything else”, a person under the age of 16 is guilty of an offence.

Justice Kan reasoned that only a man can be charged with such a crime, given the way the provision was written. He said it was up to the legislature to amend it to make it clear that it includes women.

In the Court of Appeal’s decision last month, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said: “Section 376A(1)(b) is gender neutral and is capable of applying to a female offender.”

Criminal lawyer Amolat Singh said: “We already know that in other countries, women do exploit other women. It cannot be that Parliament would punish one gender and not the other.”

Mr Singh said it was good for Singaporeans to know where the law stands on these matters, and that the previous situation had “created some bewilderment”.

Adopting a literal reading “may not serve what Parliament had intended”, said criminal lawyer Daniel Chia. “I think, fundamentally, the Court of Appeal recognises that the permutations of sexual misconduct are very wide.”

However, criminal lawyer Peter Ong Lip Cheng felt that if the law was ambiguous, benefit of the doubt should be given to the accused and the law ought to be amended by Parliament.

Mr Ong said: “I know minors must be protected, but what I’m saying is, it must be very clear that this is a criminal offence. When you say ‘other than A’s penis’, you’re talking about a man.”

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The New Paper, Kelly Kimberly Cheong, Ava Gia Munaji Salamat

This article was first published on Oct 11, 2016.
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Premium bus services – which guarantee a seat at a fixed fare of around $4 or $5 – are losing some of their shine to City Direct services.

The Government launched City Direct services – which ply one-way express routes from housing estates to the city – about two years ago. Today, there are around 20 such services, which charge less but do not guarantee seats.

Premium bus services are run by private operators who collect fare revenue, while City Direct operators are contracted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) at fixed tendered sums, with routes and timings planned by LTA.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, LTA said 44 premium bus services had ceased between Jan 1, 2014 and Aug 31 this year. Of these, 27 were taken over by other operators, while 17 were not replaced.

“During the same period, there were 12 new premium bus services,” an LTA spokesman said, bringing the total to 99, down from 104 in 2013.

Operators reckon the shrinkage will be more noticeable when more City Direct services are rolled out.

Last week, the LTA announced two new City Direct services, and said extra trips will also be added to nine of the 20 existing services.

Xingsheng Transport Services operations executive Ben Chan said: “If the Government continues to grow the City Direct services, we’ll see demand for premium services fall further.” Fares for City Direct services, he said, were much lower, at less than $3.

Operators said the number of riders on premium services has also been falling.

Bus Hub managing director V. Anilan said passengers on his premium bus services have “more than halved in the last one year”.

He has given up one route and will give up another by year’s end.

Even the big boys are not spared.

ComfortDelGro said it currently operates 13 premium bus services – eight by SBS Transit and five by ComfortDelGro Bus. “This is less than half what we operated a year ago,” a spokesman said.

SIM University senior lecturer Park Byung Joon said he is not surprised that City Direct seems to be cannibalising premium bus service routes. “The two services are effectively substitute services,” he said. “I don’t think commuters see the two as different from each other.”

Commuter and bus spotter Ben Chua said: “Standing is now allowed, so I really don’t see how premium these services are.”

The 25-year-old administrative assistant said reliability and capacity of the premium services were also patchy. He cited Service 556 as an example. “They downsized the buses from double-deckers to coaches. Then they just withdrew it completely from June 20.”

Premium bus services have been around since the 1990s, but became popular recently. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of services more than doubled from 42 to 104.

But with City Direct services, their future is less certain.

Mr Anilan said: “Even if it is not their intention, LTA has in effect been cannibalising premium bus services built by private operators over many years, with the introduction of City Direct services.

“There is conflict of interest when LTA is both authority and operator because in reality, for City Direct, LTA is the de facto operator.”

The LTA spokesman said: “The provision of premium bus services is dependent on market demand and commercial considerations. This means that the bus operators do their own market research and establish their own business case.”

44

Number of premium bus services that had ceased between Jan 1, 2014 and Aug 31 this year. Of these, 27 were taken over by other operators, while 17 were not replaced.

 $4-5

The fixed fare on premium bus services – which guarantee a seat – compared to less than $3 on City Direct services.

This article was first published on Oct 11, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – From Oct 12, motorists will be able to purchase new parking coupons at all HDB Branches/Service Centres, The URA Centre and authorised coupon agents such as all petrol stations, Cheers and 7-Eleven outlets.

Old parking coupons can be exchanged for new ones by topping up the difference in value at 155 locations islandwide. 

Coupon exchange at 131 participating petrol stations will be available from Dec 1 to Jan 31, 2017, while coupon exchange can be done earlier from Oct 12 at 23 HDB Branches/Service Centres and The URA Centre.

In June 2016, the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced that they were raising carpark charges for short-term and season parking schemes from Dec 1.

They cited increasing costs of building, operating and managing carparks, as well as construction, manpower and other related maintenance costs as reasons for the fee hike. 

Without the latest rate increase, HDB stood to lose $100 million a year, despite the two agencies earning a total of $667 million from their carparks in their latest financials for 2014/2015.

maryanns@sph.com.sg

WASHINGTON – Singaporean student Kenneth Sng’s remarks at the beginning of the second presidential debate might have been brief, but he said they were “the longest 60 seconds” of his life.

The 24-year-old Public Service Commission scholar had been tasked with welcoming the audience to the debate on behalf of the students of the host university, Washington University in St Louis.

“The 60 seconds felt like the longest 60 seconds of my life. It was really quite scary,” Mr Sng told The Straits Times.

He is the first inter- national student to be elected as the school’s student body president.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, writing on his Facebook page, said he was proud to see the Singaporean making the opening remarks.

Said PM Lee: “Glad that he mentioned ‘Singapore, my home’ in his remarks. Well done Kenneth. Keep the Singapore flag flying high!”

In his speech, Mr Sng spoke about the ideals of democracy, which was born in the United States and spread across the world – including his home Singapore – but which is now under threat in some countries.

“Too many democratic governments are being undermined by those who have a much different vision of the world, of their power and of their responsibilities to their citizens. This debate provides a momentous occasion to show that while citizens may disagree fervently on issues, they agree that it is important to stay engaged in the democratic process,” he said.

He said he had been concerned that developments like Brexit and the Syrian refugee crisis were eroding faith in democracy.

“As I was writing this speech, I was hoping that I could convince the audience that America could send a message of renewed confidence in democracy to the entire world, come Nov 8,” he said.

The economics and mathematics major, who went to Jurong Junior College, is the middle child of three boys. His father is a retired car workshop owner, while his mother is a housewife.

The debate prologue that included Mr Sng’s remarks was expected to be broadcast only on cable news channel C-Span but ended up aired to millions of households by major networks such as CNN and NBC.

This article was first published on October 11, 2016.
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