Budget carrier Scoot begins flying from Singapore to Sapporo, via Taipei, three times a week from Saturday.

The flight to New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, will take around nine hours and the price of a return ticket starts from $438, without taxes.

Each flight has a capacity of 335 passengers and 10 tonnes of cargo.

At a media conference yesterday, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo said the new route allows Singapore companies to partner with Japanese firms to export Hokkaido produce – including crabs, oysters and scallops – to customers “faster and cheaper”.

This is important, she said, as Hokkaido is the top agricultural production region in Japan. The Japanese government has targeted an increase in agricultural exports abroad to one trillion yen (S$13.5 billion) by 2020, up from 745 billion yen today.

Mrs Teo also called for the “strongest support” to expand a bilateral air services agreement between Singapore and Japan.

“This will bring about even more passenger services, promote more flows of people, trade and investment, between and beyond both countries,” she said at the press conference jointly held by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.

Mrs Teo also expects the new Scoot route to make it easier for Singapore tourists to visit Hokkaido.

Last year, about 300,000 Singapore tourists visited Japan, and about one in six of them went to Hokkaido.

Sapporo is Scoot’s third destination in Japan, after Osaka and Tokyo, bringing the carrier’s total number of flights to Japan each week to 23.

waltsim@sph.com.sg

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A hairstylist, upset that his boyfriend of eight years reneged on his promise to go public with their relationship, killed his lover after the latter avoided his calls and told him that he was “not gay”.

The tragic turn of events came after Tan Chee Yeow phoned his lover’s mother to reveal their relationship but the shocked woman told him “it was not possible”.

The 40-year-old accused, who has a history of depression, was yesterday sentenced to 12 years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.

He admitted stabbing to death Tan Chin Siong, 48, an assistant vice-president at a local bank, at a busy walkway near Ang Mo Kio MRT station on the morning of Sept 4 last year.

Both men, who are Malaysians, met in Johor Baru in 2007 and started a romantic relationship, the High Court heard yesterday. That year, the accused moved to Singapore after Mr Tan told him to do so.

Their relationship went downhill in the three years before the incident. The accused wanted to be publicly recognised as Mr Tan’s partner, but Mr Tan wanted to keep their relationship low profile and kept it from his parents.

The accused, who has a drinking habit, had also threatened to commit suicide several times.

Things came to a head on Aug 28 last year – Mr Tan’s birthday – when the accused threw a tantrum and nagged at his lover for not keeping his promise to introduce him as his partner to his family members.

The next day, after Mr Tan left for JB to celebrate his birthday with his family, the accused called his lover’s home and told his mother about their relationship.

After this, Mr Tan ignored the accused’s calls and messages.

He did answer one call, however, to say he was not gay and wanted to get married and have children.

The day after, Mr Tan accompanied the accused to see a psychiatrist, who said the accused’s depression had been aggravated by the couple’s domestic issues.

Mr Tan was advised to delay his intended break-up while the accused was put on medication to stabilise his emotions.

But Mr Tan told the psychiatrist he wanted a break-up immediately. He also ignored the accused’s calls and messages.

At about 8am on Sept 4, the accused headed for Mr Tan’s flat, with a knife he had bought a day earlier.

At the walkway, he pleaded with Mr Tan to break up with him “slowly” but the latter kept quiet.

He pleaded with Mr Tan to spend time with him but the latter replied that he had to keep his family company.

Sensing little chance of a reconciliation, the accused took out the knife and stabbed his lover twice in the chest and once in the back.

A passer-by struggled with the accused, kicked the knife away and scolded him before going off.

A few others did cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Mr Tan before paramedics arrived. Mr Tan was pronounced dead in hospital at about 9.15am.

The accused stayed at the scene, wailing that he had killed someone. He was arrested and the knife was recovered from a drain.

The accused was initially charged with murder, but the charge was reduced as he was found to be suffering from moderate depressive disorder which substantially reduced his mental responsibility for his acts.

The accused wrote a letter to seek forgiveness from Mr Tan’s family. “I really loved him,” he wrote.

selinal@sph.com.sg

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Workplace deaths in the first half of this year went up from a year ago, as did the number of minor injuries sustained at work. Major injuries, however, decreased.

There were 42 fatal work accidents from January to June this year, compared with 30 in the same period last year, according to a Workplace Safety and Health Institute report released yesterday. This is a 40 per cent increase.

The bulk of these were falls, which accounted for 16 deaths. Seven workers died from being caught between objects, such as vehicles or industrial machines, while six died from being struck by moving objects such as trucks at worksites.

Construction had the highest number of fatalities, with 40 per cent of the deaths in the first half of the year occurring in that sector. This year, there are 49 workplace deaths so far.

Just last month, a construction worker from China fell seven storeys to his death at a Woodlands Close site.

The number of overall workplace injuries also increased to 6,149 cases, compared with 6,009 cases in the same period last year.

Major injuries – which are non-fatal but severe injuries such as amputation, blindness, or burns with more than 20 days’ medical leave – dropped from 296 cases in the first half of last year to 284.

More than half of these were crushing injuries, fractures, or dislocations.

Minor injuries, however, have risen. These increased to 5,823 cases in the first half of the year, from 5,683 cases in the same period last year.

Occupational diseases fell to 400 cases, down from 441 cases in the first half of last year. Most common was noise-induced deafness, which made up 57 per cent of the cases.

oliviaho@sph.com.sg

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Singapore’s third law school has filled all 60 places in its two new programmes, after receiving close to 400 applications.

SIM University (UniSIM), which hopes to plug a gap in the legal industry by training criminal and family lawyers, took in 27 applicants for its Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme, and 33 for the Juris Doctor (JD) course, for those with a first degree.

The private university, which released these figures yesterday, said 80 per cent of the successful applicants have an average working experience of 11 years. They include law enforcement officers, court registrars, teachers and social workers. The rest are fresh school leavers.

According to the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), there are about 1,600 criminal and family lawyers here as of 2014, compared with 3,600 corporate and commercial lawyers. A spokesman said many lawyers do not practise exclusively in these areas.

While UniSIM’s law graduates can practise any area of law, there will be a strong focus on criminal and matrimonial law. Both part-time courses, which start in January next year, will emphasise practice-based learning with a compulsory six-month Legal Clerkship Programme to train students to apply knowledge to actual cases.

This is separate from the training contract, a period of supervised training – typically also six months – required for entry to the Bar.

Students will take core modules in criminal law and family law, and other subjects such as social services and forensic science.

MinLaw will provide study awards for Singaporeans not eligible for government tuition grants as they had already attained a qualification with government subsidy. Each LLB recipient will get $75,000 and those in the JD programme will get $60,000.

While there has been concern about a recent glut of new lawyers, a MinLaw spokesman said the new school “is a result of the recommendations of the fourth Committee on the Supply of Lawyers, which saw a need for legal practitioners in (the criminal and family law) fields”.

“The demand for legal services is market-driven. The Government cannot control the number of Singaporeans who choose to pursue a law degree overseas,” he said. “Our focus is to ensure quality of practitioners and the standards of legal services are maintained.”

Balasubramaniam Tharmalinggam, 40, an assistant registrar at the State Courts taking the JD course, said his passion is in criminal law. “You can actually make a difference to the lives of the accused and their family members.”

ateng@sph.com.sg

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Plans are afoot to make buses and trains more user-friendly to the infirmed and those with infants.

Responding to recommendations made by the Public Transport Council last month, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday it will roll out features to make the public transport system more inclusive.

For starters, it will soon allow open prams on board buses, and is working on a restraint system so that these devices can be secured.

It will also implement dual-speed escalators and travellators on new rail lines, starting with the Thomson-East Coast Line.

These devices will move at two-thirds the usual speed during off-peak hours, making them safer for the elderly, the infirmed and those with infants.

Eventually, all existing lines will have this feature.

The elderly, pregnant, disabled as well as parents travelling with prams will have priority queues at train stations by the end of next year.

The LTA added that it will be redesigning 800 bus stops across the island. A study will start next year, and be completed by 2019.

Then, new bus interchanges and integrated transport hubs will have nursing rooms. And new MRT lines will have washrooms with a diaper changing station, child-sized toilet seat and barrier-free facilities.

Buses with three doors and two staircases to aid commuter flow may also be on the cards.

And a new “Find-My-Way” function has been incorporated into the MyTransport.SG smartphone app.

This allows commuters to look up information on station exits, nearby bus stops and bus services to other MRT and LRT stations.

“Such information will be especially useful for commuters during train disruptions, so they can make their way to operational train stations or continue their journeys via bus services,” the LTA said.

Commuters are looking forward to the measures.

Retiree Anthony Oei, 82, said having slower escalators is a good idea. “Some of them are very fast. For people like us, it can be very hard. What’s the hurry, anyway?”

Another retiree, Lee Chiu San, 70, said he has no problem with the current escalator speed but “younger friends who have health problems might appreciate this”.

He was also for priority queues, saying “various people deserve priority”.

Mother-of-two Michell Tan, 35, said: “Having nursing facilities is a step in the right direction.”

Allowing open prams on buses “is great too”, she added.

“No one has the time to close prams with the babies in arm to board a bus.”

Stockbroker Cole Cheong, 49, said measures to make the public transport system more user-friendly to all segments of society should go down well with the able-bodied.

“I don’t think people will complain about this,” he said.

christan@sph.com.sg

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Plans are afoot to make buses and trains more user-friendly to the infirmed and those with infants.

Responding to recommendations made by the Public Transport Council last month, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday it will roll out features to make the public transport system more inclusive.

For starters, it will soon allow open prams on board buses, and is working on a restraint system so that these devices can be secured.

It will also implement dual-speed escalators and travellators on new rail lines, starting with the Thomson-East Coast Line.

These devices will move at two-thirds the usual speed during off-peak hours, making them safer for the elderly, the infirmed and those with infants.

Eventually, all existing lines will have this feature.

The elderly, pregnant, disabled as well as parents travelling with prams will have priority queues at train stations by the end of next year.

The LTA added that it will be redesigning 800 bus stops across the island. A study will start next year, and be completed by 2019.

Then, new bus interchanges and integrated transport hubs will have nursing rooms. And new MRT lines will have washrooms with a diaper changing station, child-sized toilet seat and barrier-free facilities.

Buses with three doors and two staircases to aid commuter flow may also be on the cards.

And a new “Find-My-Way” function has been incorporated into the MyTransport.SG smartphone app.

This allows commuters to look up information on station exits, nearby bus stops and bus services to other MRT and LRT stations.

“Such information will be especially useful for commuters during train disruptions, so they can make their way to operational train stations or continue their journeys via bus services,” the LTA said.

Commuters are looking forward to the measures.

Retiree Anthony Oei, 82, said having slower escalators is a good idea. “Some of them are very fast. For people like us, it can be very hard. What’s the hurry, anyway?”

Another retiree, Lee Chiu San, 70, said he has no problem with the current escalator speed but “younger friends who have health problems might appreciate this”.

He was also for priority queues, saying “various people deserve priority”.

Mother-of-two Michell Tan, 35, said: “Having nursing facilities is a step in the right direction.”

Allowing open prams on buses “is great too”, she added.

“No one has the time to close prams with the babies in arm to board a bus.”

Stockbroker Cole Cheong, 49, said measures to make the public transport system more user-friendly to all segments of society should go down well with the able-bodied.

“I don’t think people will complain about this,” he said.

christan@sph.com.sg

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