SINGAPORE – A senior staff at Underwater World Singapore (UWS) has died after getting stung in the chest by a stingray, prompting a suspension of efforts to transfer the defunct attraction’s animals to new facilities.
The unusual incident happened on Tuesday…
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Underwater World supervisor dies after getting stung in chest by a stingray
Students progressing to post-Secondary education continue to rise over past decade
The number of students with at least three A/H2 passes and a pass in General Paper or Knowledge and Inquiry at the A-Level has improved over the past decade, from 87 per cent to 93 per cent, MOE says.
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N. Korea embassy official defects in Beijing: report
SEOUL – A ranking North Korean embassy official in Beijing has defected, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Wednesday, while a separate report suggested two embassy staff had sought asylum with the Japanese mission there.
If confirmed, it would mark the latest in a recent series of high-profile North Korean defections that some observers see as a sign of growing instability within the leadership in Pyongyang.
Yonhap, quoting an anonymous source “familiar with Pyongyang affairs,” said the official – stationed in the Beijing embassy but attached to the North Korean Health Ministry – had disappeared with his family in late September.
The source said the official was responsible for sourcing medical supplies for a clinic in Pyongyang that caters to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his family.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which has a general policy of not commenting on defections, especially by senior officials, said it was unable to confirm the report.
In a separate report, the South Korean daily, JoongAng Ilbo, said two senior staffers at the North Korean embassy in Beijing had asked for asylum in Japan.
The newspaper cited an anonymous source as saying the two officials were not diplomats, but attached to a North Korean government office.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga denied that any approach had been made to the Japanese mission.
“There’s no truth in the reports that North Korean asylum seekers contacted the Japanese embassy, and we’re not aware of any situation involving North Koreans hoping to defect to Japan,” Suga told a regular press conference.
The North has been rocked by a number of high-level defections, most recently that of its deputy ambassador to Britain who fled to the South in a major propaganda victory for Seoul.
In a speech last Saturday to mark Armed Forces Day, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye made a direct appeal to more North Koreans to abandon their country.
“There have been persistent defections, even by North Korean elites who have been supporting the regime”, Park said.
“We will keep the road open for you to find hope and live a new life,” she added.
North-South Korea ties are currently plumbing new lows, with Seoul holding to a hard line with Pyongyang in the wake of two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches this year.
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Japanese high school girls tricked into porn business
TOKYO – Sexual violence targeting young women is a serious problem, with victims being forced into appearing in adult videos or falling prey to the so-called “high school girl business.”
Things get even worse for victims when these videos are released online, and many suffer in silence. This new series addresses the reality that these women face and support measures available to them. This is the second instalment of a series.
Read also: In Japan, young women are tricked and forced to appear in adult videos
A growing number of cases are emerging in which female high school students are being made to entertain male customers with massages and other services in an industry known as “JK business.” JK stands for joshi kosei, meaning female high school students.
The industry lures girls in by suggesting the work as a kind of casual part-time job, but the girls are at risk of sexual assault. Different kinds of JK businesses are appearing, including dates masked as “strolls.” Efforts at regulation have also begun.
Last summer, a now 17-year-old girl in the Tokai region who was then a second-year high school student, was approached by a man she met through a free messaging app. He told her, “I have a good part-time job for you,” and said some girls were earning tens of thousands of yen in a single day.
“I wanted money to buy clothes and other things,” she recalled.
The girl went to visit a shop. Upon entering a room, she saw a girl around her own age, and was told that male customers were observing the girl’s figure from the other side of a two-way mirror.
“It was so gross, and I got scared and thought, ‘No way I’m doing this,'” she said.
The girl was able to go home straight away. She has not returned, nor has she told her parents about the visit. But she says that even now, when she finds clothing or cosmetics that she wants, the thought of the part-time job crosses her mind.
JK businesses started in major urban areas five or six years ago. At many shops, girls in uniforms massage and lie next to male customers in private rooms, but services have diversified to include dating outside the shop and peeping rooms. Another characteristic is the easing of suspicions by using innocuous words such as “stroll” and “open house.”
There is also the danger of sexual assault. Metropolitan Police Department documents detail a case in 2015 in which a girl went out for a “stroll” with a male customer and was sexually assaulted at a karaoke box. There were also incidents of girls being stalked by men they met at a JK business shop or being taken into a customer’s home.
According to the MPD’s investigation, there were 132 known JK businesses in Tokyo in June 2015, but the number climbed to 174 in January this year. This does not include non-store operations where there is no physical shop and employees are dispatched to places designated by customers.
Why have JK businesses not tapered off? Kazuki Arai, the director of the Nagoya-based nonprofit organisation Zenkoku Kodomo Fukushi Center (All-Japan child welfare centre), said, “The shops cleverly lure [girls] with opportunities for casual work without explicitly advertising sexual services.”
“Many girls want to be accepted by others but don’t have confidence in themselves. In some cases being praised by customers is the reason they continue to work,” Arai said.
The nonprofit organisation has been continuing efforts every Saturday night near the nightlife district outside Nagoya Station to talk to girls who sit there for long periods or walk around the area, because many of these girls are lured into the JK business.
“We need to reach out a helping hand before something happens to them,” said Arai.
Moves to regulate businesses in the industry are also making progress. In July 2015, Aichi Prefecture’s revised ordinance of juvenile protection went into effect, and banned such actions as making girls under 18 work in the JK business or soliciting them for such a purpose. Punitive measures including imprisonment and fines were also established.
According to Aichi Prefecture, there were 57 known shops at the time the ordinance went into effect. This number later dropped to 32.
This May, an MPD expert panel put together a report aimed at tightening regulations in Tokyo as well.
In October 2015, 11 organisations submitted a petition to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry calling for tougher regulations, including the Tokyo-based nonprofit organisation Think Kids.
Its representative director, lawyer Keiji Goto said: “Issues such as girls having no place at home due to abuse or poverty are also background factors. Together with regulations, it is necessary to have mechanisms to support such girls.”
No such thing as ‘just’
To avoid falling victim to JK businesses, girls need to be aware of, and not be taken in by such deceptive lines as “It’s just taking a stroll,” “All you have to do is chat at a coffee shop,” or “It’s just having your picture taken.” Sometimes shops demand that girls provide sexual services after they start working.
Haruo Asai, a professor of child welfare at Rikkyo University, said: “Modern society is full of information on sex, but there are few opportunities to learn how to make judgments about it. The fact that businesses lay a variety of traps should be taught at home and in schools. It’s important to teach [girls] to protect themselves, and to be careful with their sexuality.”
Think Kids’ Goto said, “If there’s no one close at hand to talk with about your problems, we advise visiting the nearest police station or child guidance office.”
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Cash in joint account can't be used to pay one party's debts: Court
The money was not much but the implications were far-reaching for banks and joint-account holders.
The High Court has ruled in a test case that monies in a joint account held in a bank cannot be held for a creditor under a garnishee order to satisfy debts owed by one of the account holders.
Judicial Commissioner Kannan Ramesh made clear that the benefits of introducing such a practice would be outweighed by “the operation, cost and policy difficulties affecting creditors, debtors and third parties alike”.
In judgment grounds released yesterday, he noted the “surprising absence” of any local court ruling on a point of some importance to the banking community.
At issue was $117.34 in a DBS Bank joint account held by businessman Cham Poh Meng and his wife.
Mr Cham had been ordered in January to pay the director of One Investment and Consultancy, a British Virgin Islands company, some $1.5 million in interest following a court-settled spat for sums due under an agreement.
About 10 days later, the director took out a garnishee order against DBS Bank, arguing for the sum in the joint account to be used to settle Mr Cham’s judgment debt.
After hearing the parties, an assistant registrar agreed and approved the garnishee order for half of the total sum in the account, presuming that the contributions by Mr Cham and his wife were equal.
DBS, represented by Allen & Gledhill lawyers Tham Hsu Hsien and Hoh Jian Yong, appealed and argued that joint accounts cannot be subject to garnishee orders and there were no ” policy imperatives” to depart from a principle followed in most Commonwealth countries.
Mr Cham did not appear at the High Court hearing in May while WongPartnership lawyer Nicholas Seng had been instructed by the plaintiffs not to contest the appeal.
JC Kannan held that there was “no basis in law or fact” to assume that husband and wife were each entitled to an equal share of the joint account, pointing out that the “potential prejudice to the joint-account holder or holders was obvious”.
He said there was no chance for Mr Cham’s wife to challenge the garnishee order, which was “potentially unfair” to her as a joint-account holder not required to be notified.
He said even if the decision to freeze half of the money in the account had gone ahead, it would not have stopped Mr Cham from withdrawing the remaining sum.
This would result in his wife bearing the entire burden as all that would remain would be the frozen half.
The judge conceded that the strongest reason for allowing the freeze was that a debtor “could easily ring-fence his assets from creditors by transferring funds into a joint account with a third party”.
But the benefits of allowing garnishee orders to joint accounts would be “disproportionate” to difficulties such as finding out how much each account holder contributed to the account, which the bank was ill-equipped to do.
One way out was for the plaintiffs to apply for a person to be appointed by the court to manage the funds in the joint account, he suggested.
“Whether the balance should lie further in favour of the interests of creditors is a matter best left for legislative reform,” said JC Kannan.
This article was first published on Oct 5, 2016.
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Second leg of PM Lee’s India visit to focus on tourism, skills development
Prime Minister Lee Hisen Loong will embark on the second leg of his five-day working visit to India on Wednesday.
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Many Singaporeans are optimistic that Nathan Hartono will win Sing! China
Singapore singer Nathan Hartono will be bringing home the Sing! China crown after Friday night’s final of the televised singing competition, if Singapore fans have their way.
In an online poll conducted by The Straits Times, over 82 per cent say that he will win.
After all, Hartono, 25, had received the highest score of 93.65 among the 12 contestants during the semi-finals broadcast on Sept 30. He also received 47 out of 51 votes from the judges and 333 votes from the audience of 350.
According to Sing! China’s page on Baidu, the format of the final and how the winner will be picked have yet to be determined.
In past years – on the previous incarnation of the Zhejiang Television show, The Voice Of China – the winners were determined by votes from the live audience and a selection of industry professionals. The champs were all from China and comprise Bruce Liang Bo (2012), Li Qi (2013), Diamond Zhang Bichen (2014) and Zhang Lei (2015).
Hartono is the only singer from Mandopop superstar Jay Chou’s camp to make it to the final. The other judges are Taiwanese singersongwriter Harlem Yu, China rocker Wang Feng and singer Na Ying.
Preschool educator Carol Tan, 37, says: “Based on the score he got from the China viewers, he is one of the highest. Hence chances are high that he will win. He also has more stage experience. But he has to choose his songs wisely as it is still a China market.”
Local singer Nathan Hartono wows Sing! China judges
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The Straits Times, The New Paper, YouTube screengrabs, HBO Asia, Music & Movement
Others struck a more cautious note.
UFM 100.3FM radio DJ Wong Woon Hong, 45, says that Hartono is likely to come in second or third. “I think that the championship might not be given to a foreigner.”
The other foreigner in the final is 16-year-old Li Peiling from Penang.
Wong adds: “Nathan has been very impressive in the previous rounds, but this means that others have a high chance of surprising everyone in the final, whereas he would maintain his usual very good standard.”
There is also the fact that this is, after all, a television show. “If everyone could guess the outcome, then it wouldn’t be fun,” Wong says with a laugh.
Hartono is the first Singaporean to make it past the televised blind auditions of Sing! China as well as The Voice Of China.
On the fourth and final season of The Voice Of China in 2015, husband-and-wife singers Alfred Sim and Tay Kewei represented Singapore, but were not picked by the mentors.
That series was the show’s most diverse up to that point, with Australian-Chinese Li An from Sydney making it to the top five.
In some ways, the results might not matter that much.
As Ocean Butterflies managing director Colin Goh puts it: “At the end of the day, the winner might not necessarily be the best as there are many conditions to determine the winner. More important, to me, is who will really advance his or her career after that TV show.”
There is no denying, though, that the programme is a good platform for boosting one’s profile.
Facebook user Leong Janice says in a post that even though the competition has been going on for a few years, previous winners have yet to make a mark on the international stage.
But, even before the final, Hartono has already garnered support from countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
“See, he’s already won.”
This article was first published on Oct 05, 2016.
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Win or not, Hartono's career looks bright
This Friday evening, Nathan Hartono will sing in one of the most important performances of his life so far, in the final of the popular Chinese television singing contest Sing! China at the Beijing National Stadium.
Whether he wins or loses on the show, he has already won – the 25-year-old Singaporean looks set to develop a music career in the massive Chinese market, possibly with his coach on the show, Mandopop superstar Jay Chou.
He tells The Straits Times yesterday over the telephone from Beijing: “We have definitely discussed the possibility of working together on future projects, but the nature of which I probably won’t say anything for now because I don’t want people to get randomly excited over something that might not happen.
“We’ve definitely been discussing like how we can work together in the future and like where I intend to go after the show is over.”
Hartono has also received offers from music companies there, but is putting them on hold for now.
“Yeah, there’s been a bunch, but to be completely honest, I have been dodging a lot of those things because I really want to collect myself when this thing is over.
“I haven’t been able to have time to do my own proper life admin. Once this whole thing is over, I want to settle down back home for a bit, weigh all my options, make sure everything is all clear, then I’ll start thinking about what the next few months and years are going to be like.”
Before all that, he will first release an EP through Warner Music Singapore, possibly featuring a mix of English and Chinese songs.
Local singer Nathan Hartono wows Sing! China judges
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The Straits Times, The New Paper, YouTube screengrabs, HBO Asia, Music & Movement
Despite having the highest score among the six finalists, Hartono thinks that there is little chance that he will win.
Being in the final is already “a huge deal” for him and his focus is to put on a good show.
He cannot reveal what songs he will be singing, but unlike his Mandarin/English mash-ups in the previous episodes, all the songs, including a performance with Chou, will be in Mandarin.
“I’ve been working out the songs and different things with Jay and his team, and we’ve got a whole bunch of interesting things.
“From what I can tell, the vibe around what we’re going for in this final is not so much ‘shoot to win’, or ‘we have to outdo and strategise’. It’s pretty much just have fun, push your own boundaries and push your own limits.
“It’s crazy enough that I’m gonna be performing at the Beijing National Stadium.”
Formerly known as The Voice Of China, Sing! China airs on Zhejiang Television.
In July, Hartono, whose Chinese name is Xiang Yang, became the first Singaporean to make it through the initial blind auditions after he impressed all the coach-cum-judges – Chou, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Harlem Yu, China singer Na Ying and rocker Wang Feng – and they wanted him on their teams.
The initial 48 contestants hailed from countries all over the world, including China, Malaysia, United States and Brazil.
Hartono describes Chou as a “complementary” mentor, one who focuses and enhances his mentees’ skill sets rather than imposes his own style or views on them.
“I really appreciate it because it just makes this whole process seem more like a collaboration as opposed to this is just his job, that he signed a contract to do and like he’s obliged to help me or whatever.
“It’s really nice to be able to collaborate with somebody at his level, but other than that, he’s just like a chill guy.”
Chou, he adds, understood the pressure the contestants were facing in the competition and he always made sure that his time with them was not all about work.
They went out for meals together (“Jay always ordered hotpot”) and Chou even took Hartono and his other mentees to a gaming cafe where they played the multiplayer online game League Of Legends.
“The crazy thing is that he’s sort of the face of the game over here, so when you open the game in China, the first face that you see is actually his. And it was kind of surreal to open the game, have his face there and then you look next to you and he’s there playing. That was a very odd, dream-like thing going on,” Hartono says.
While he has been alone whenever he travels to China to film the show, eight of his family members, including his parents and siblings, will fly to Beijing to root for him at the final.
He is also pleased that his earlier remark to The Straits Times about treating Singaporeans to iced Milo if he wins caught the attention of Nestle, the chocolate drink’s company. It has promised to mobilise its Milo vans all around Singapore, regardless of the final result.
“It’s the Milo van, man, everyone knows the Milo van. Every sports day, or like some national event, there will always be one. And like, they put something different in there, I don’t know what it is, it’s a lot better.”
This article was first published on Oct 05, 2016.
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Jay Chou may collaborate with Nathan Hartono on future projects
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Jail and fine for duo behind illegal bicycle races
Two men who organised eight editions of a night-time bicycle race without police approval and permits were each jailed for seven days and fined $5,000 yesterday.
Former bike shop owner Eric Khoo Shui Yan, 29, and project manager Zulkifli Awab, 40, had each faced 16 charges. They admitted to four charges – two each of promoting the bicycle race named HolyCrit without written approval and conducting it without a permit along Stadium Drive on Sept 26, 2014, and Tanglin Halt Close on Nov 29 in the same year.
Both had met through their mutual hobby and eventually came up with the idea of organising a series of cycling races for fixed-gear bicycles – bicycles with only one gear and no brakes.
The first race was held in Yishun on Sept 27, 2013.
Each of the races was publicised on Facebook. Race participants would each pay a $10 registration fee to the duo, who would pool the sum to be given to the winner of that day’s race.
Zulkifli’s lawyer, Mr Shashi Nathan, said neither profited from the events. In fact, they would even be out of pocket as they would use their own money to buy drinks and refreshments for cyclists.
The duo conducted much of the race operations themselves, from the planning of routes to coming up with basic safety regulations.
As they knew the HolyCrit races would be held on public roads, Khoo had made enquiries with the relevant authorities. But when he received no reply, he went ahead with the cycling races without the requisite permits and permission.
The offences came to light when a concerned member of the public called the police at about 11.50pm on Nov 29, 2014 to report the bicycles racing in Tanglin Halt. He said they had tried to cordon off the area and his car had almost hit them.
In her brief oral grounds, District Judge Carol Ling noted a certain level of disregard for the law displayed in holding the races. Public safety was compromised, she said.
“No matter how noble the intentions may have been in organising these races, I find that the accused persons, in choosing to promote and conduct these races without obtaining the requisite permits, had displayed a lack of consideration for other legitimate road users and placed the safety of participants, spectators and other road users at risk,” she said.
A Straits Times article on Dec 9, 2014 described several “close shaves” at the time when the races were held. A bystander was reported as saying “there were so many lorries and trucks… and so many times where cyclists almost crashed into them, it was so scary”.
The judge said it was “extremely needful” for organisers to get the requisite permits to hold races of this nature in a country with “high road and vehicular density” to effectively manage public road use, address safety concerns and avert any potential dangers inherent in such races taking place on public roads.
While she agreed with the prosecution that general deterrence must be one of the key objectives in sentencing offences of this nature, she disagreed with the defence that a day’s imprisonment for each charge of promoting the HolyCrit would be enough.
Khoo’s lawyer Josephus Tan said the intention of the races was really to bond the community to promote cycling as an alternative form of transport.
He said the Singapore Cycling Federation has stepped forward to endorse and support future HolyCrit competitions through providing the necessary sponsorship, logistics and permits.
Mr Nathan had said that going forward, his client and Khoo would continue to run the races with licences.
The maximum penalty for promoting any competition or trial of speed is six months’ jail and a $2,000 fine. For conducting an event without a permit, the maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine or three months’ jail.
This article was first published on Oct 05, 2016.
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Singaporean held in Riau: MFA sends note
Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the Indonesian authorities against the detention of a Singaporean boat captain held in custody, despite a court acquitting him of fishing illegally in the country’s waters.
Indonesian ambassador to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya had personally handed the note to Riau Islands provincial law and human rights chief Ohan Suryana, the latter confirmed yesterday.
The note was “a protest against the handling of legal proceedings against one of its citizens”, he told reporters, referring to Captain Shoo Chiau Huat, 50.
Mr Shoo had seven Singaporeans and six Malaysians on board MV Selin when the boat was caught for trespassing by the navy on April 16 in Tanjung Berakit waters, off Bintan island.
All the passengers were deported about a week after their arrests.
Mr Shoo was charged with illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, but a local court found insufficient evidence and acquitted him in July.
But he remains in the custody of local immigration authorities after he was slapped with immigration offences instead.
Tanjung Pinang immigration official Said Noviansyah had previously said his office was investigating Mr Shoo because he allegedly entered Indonesian territory without permission.
The Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) had told The Straits Times in August it was monitoring his case “with concern” and had “sought clarification on the legal basis for Mr Shoo’s detention”.
Mr Ohan said Indonesia’s foreign ministry had wanted Mr Shoo to be deported, but it was not viable “due to legal considerations”.
“We will go ahead. This is evident as we had won during the pre-trial… I’m optimistic that he (Mr Shoo) will be convicted,” he added.
Yesterday, Mr Shoo attended a second hearing at the Tanjung Pinang district court over his alleged immigration violations.
His lawyer Herman Black said the hearing went ahead after a pre-trial motion against his detention for allegedly entering Indonesian waters without proper documentation in September was rejected by a panel of judges.
“(It’s) still in the early stages. Today we have listened to the charges made by the prosecutors,” he said.
“With this hearing, I see that my client is being coerced into being made a guilty party. I’m concerned.”
Another Singaporean boat captain, Mr Ricky Tan Poh Hui, and his crew and nine passengers, are also in the custody of local authorities after their arrest on Aug 21 for allegedly trespassing in Indonesia’s waters.
This article was first published on October 05, 2016.
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