This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival light-up in Chinatown will be brighter, more colourful – and greener.

Instead of traditional light bulbs, some 10,000 LED light bulbs and 20,000m of LED light cables are being used in the decorations for the annual event.

LED lights consume less electricity but shine brighter than traditional lights. LED lights also come in a variety of colours. They will light up the decorations in Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and South Bridge Road when the festival is officially launched this Saturday.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Mooncake Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. That falls on Sept 15 this year.

The centrepiece of the decorations is a 12m-tall Chang Er, the mythological moon goddess.

There are also three large lantern sets: Chang Er’s Moon Palace; the famous archer Hou Yi, who saved the earth by shooting down nine of the 10 suns in the sky; and the Jade Rabbit, Chang Er’s companion on the moon.

The decorations were designed and conceptualised by students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa). This is the second year the festival’s organising committee – the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee – has worked with Nafa students.

The eight students from the School of Art and Design, aged between 17 and 22, focused on the legends surrounding the festival.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The New Paper

Said Mr Chua Jia Hong, 19: “A lot of us were told this folklore as standalone stories, but through research we realised that all these stories were connected, like how Hou Yi was Chang Er’s husband.”

Probably started to celebrate the harvest, the Mid-Autumn Festival later became associated with the legend of Chang Er. She was married to Hou Yi and floated to the moon after drinking the elixir of life.

In Chinatown, the students’ designs came to life in the hands of 36 professional craftsmen from Sichuan, China. The intricate process of making the lanterns impressed the students.

Mr Chua said: “Many things are now mass produced so we thought these decorations were mass produced too. But everything is made by hand.”

Indeed, making the 900 lanterns for this year’s light-up was no easy feat.

The craftsmen first made the structures based on the students’ designs. Electric lights were added to the structures before pieces of coloured cloth were attached. The lanterns were then painted and installed.

One of the craftsmen, Mr Guo Decai, 34, said: “The students don’t have much practical experience in three-dimensional designs, so both sides had to work together to execute their designs.”

Yet, it is the relative inexperience of the students that keeps the ideas fresh.

Dr Lily Neo, adviser of the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee and MP for Jalan Besar GRC, which Chinatown is part of, said: “This partnership allows our young creative talents to inject their creativity and ingenuity into the street decorations, involves the youth in our cultural festivals and gives them a wonderful platform to showcase their work.”

This article was first published on September 1, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

A taxi driver “lost control” of his vehicle, causing an accident which left three people in hospital and a trail of destruction across all eight lanes of Scotts Road yesterday.

Witnesses said the blue ComfortDelGro cab was exiting Claymore Hill beside Shaw House when it barged past a white Toyota Alphard, before hitting a passing Hyundai Avante just before 2pm.

It then crashed through the centre divider and hit a passing dark grey Volvo on the other side, before coming to a stop against a lamp post in front of Scotts Square.

One of the three injured being taken to hospital. Photo: The Straits Times

The impact was so strong that the Volvo’s airbags were deployed.

The taxi driver – thought to be a man in his 60s – was taken to hospital unconscious with a head wound, along with the driver of the Hyundai and a boy understood to have been a passenger in the Volvo.

Mr Jumaat Azhar, 24, who works at the nearby Michael Kors outlet, told The Straits Times: “The taxi driver was completely covered in blood and unconscious. I think he was bleeding from his head.”

He rushed out to help after hearing “a loud bang”. Mr Jumaat added that a man was attending to the taxi driver, so he called 995 before sprinting back into the mall to get an automated external defibrillator kit.

“The accident caused a traffic jam that stretched all the way back beyond what I could see,” he said.

The driver of the seven-seater Toyota Alphard, Mr Hisham Badarun, 47, a driver for a construction company, told The Straits Times he was waiting to filter onto Scotts Road from Claymore Hill when he was struck by the taxi.

“It hit me from behind, then reversed, then moved forward and hit me again, before squeezing past on my left side onto the main road. I think the driver lost control of the vehicle.” Except for “a big shock”, Mr Hisham was fine. His was the only vehicle in which everyone escaped unscathed.

The driver of the silver Hyundai Avante, Mr Rashid Hassim, 32, was heading to his office in Tampines from Ion Orchard.

“It was loud, and my car spun. Now, the left side of my body is in pain, from my chest to my leg,” said the IT support engineer.

The conditions of the taxi driver and boy were not known last night. The Singapore Civil Defence Force sent three ambulances to the scene. Police are investigating.

This article was first published on September 01, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Scientists in Singapore have developed a kit that can test for the dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses all at the same time in a matter of two hours.

Now ready for use, the kit costs only a few dollars to produce and has attracted interest from other countries and even the World Health Organisation (WHO), said Dr Masafumi Inoue, a senior research scientist at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*Star) Experimental Therapeutics Centre who is part of the team that developed the kit.

The made-in-Singapore kit is among others that the WHO is interested in testing, he said.

He added that he is currently compiling clinical data for the health authority before sending the kit over for testing. If successful, it could be used by the WHO to test for the viruses.

Locally-transmitted Zika in Singapore

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, The New Paper

The three mosquito-borne viruses here cause similar symptoms such as rashes and joint pain. Symptoms for the Zika virus are generally mild and go away within a week.

“It is important to quickly distinguish between the three major (and prevalent) mosquito-borne viruses here… This will not only lessen the mental stress on the patient and give the patient peace of mind, but also ensure that he or she can receive the appropriate sort of treatment and care without delay,” said Dr Inoue.

All that is required from the patient is a blood or urine sample. The genetic material of the virus is then extracted to find out what the virus is.

The detection process takes two hours, reducing the time by threefold if each of the viruses were to be tested for individually.

Dr Wong Sin Yew, an infectious diseases physician at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said early diagnosis will help in public health control efforts.

What is the Zika virus?

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, NEA

“In the case of mosquito-borne infections, it will allow the NEA (National Environment Agency) to focus on intensive vector control measures in new areas and intensify measures in large outbreak areas,” added Dr Wong.

While a similar kit has been developed by the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, it is not readily available here, said Dr Inoue.

The idea to develop the kit came about six months ago when Brazil had been hit badly by the surge in Zika cases. That was when Dr Inoue and Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, senior principal investigator at A*Star’s Bioinformatics Institute, decided to work with Tan Tock Seng Hospital on this project.

“We anticipated that it was a matter of time before the Zika virus would affect Singapore,” said Dr Inoue.

A*Star Experimental Therapeutics Centre’s senior research scientist Masafumi Inoue (left) and research associates Gerald Yong and Karen Lee were part of the team behind the kit that can test for dengue, chikungunya and Zika at the same time. Photo: The Straits Times

Moving forward, Dr Inoue and his team hope to expand the scope of the kit to include other viruses that, together with Zika, could cause microcephaly – a condition where children are born with abnormally small heads.

An article published by the Nature journal last month cited studies showing it might not be Zika alone that causes the condition. Apart from socio-economic reasons, other factors might be at play.

For instance, a recent paper by Brazilian scientists found a correlation between low vaccination rates for yellow fever and the microcephaly clusters in Brazil.

An overwhelming majority of confirmed cases of microcephaly or birth defects of the central nervous system reported in Brazil since last November were in the north-eastern part of the country.

This article was first published on September 1, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

It is a blazing Tuesday morning and beads of sweat are glistening on Mr Mak Chin On’s forehead.

Boys in uniform a quarter of his age walk past him as he looks up at the imposing clock tower of his alma mater – Chinese High, now known as the Hwa Chong Institution (HCI).

“This used to be a hall where we would have our music lessons,” saids the 73-year-old nursery owner, pointing at the open space beneath the tower before breaking spontaneously into song.

The 36m-high clock tower has stood witness not only to the maturing of generations of boys, but also to Singapore’s journey from colony to country.

Built in 1925 with generous donations from prominent Chinese leaders such as “Sugar King of Java” Oei Tiong Ham, the tower has been the backdrop for various episodes in Singapore’s history.

The Japanese used it as a vantage point and surveillance tower during their occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945.

It also served as a temporary concentration camp for prisoners detained during the brutal Sook Ching massacre, thought to have taken the lives of at least 5,000 men.

The clock tower also bore witness to the tumult of the 1950s and 1960s, when many students from the school took part in protests against the colonial government, resulting in arrests and detentions.

The tower’s four-faced clock, which was destroyed and removed during World War II, was restored only in the early 1970s, when the late Singaporean tycoon Tan Keong Choon – the nephew of the school’s founder – had Japanese watchmaker Seiko donate a new timepiece.

The clock tower would go through another round of restoration and expansion in the 1990s, when a bigger clock, a new library and a larger entrance added to its grandeur.

The clock tower that has stood throughout the changes of a chaotic century was gazetted as a National Monument by the National Heritage Board in 1999.

Today, tales of the clock tower’s former ruin and abuse remain alive in the playful ghost stories inspired by its rich history.

Mr Li Jiexun, a 33-year-old alumnus who now teaches chemistry at HCI’s junior college section, said: “We’ve all had seniors scare us with ghost stories about the clock tower, like how people who go up never come back down.”

But to 76-year-old Ng Cheng Kok, an old boy who graduated in 1959, the clock tower was scary not for horror stories but the principal’s office. “When you’ve done something wrong, that’s the place you go to get punished!” said Mr Ng, now a retired real estate developer.

The principal’s office has since moved but the large, airy classrooms flanking the clock tower remain. These are reserved for the brightest students.

“During my time, only the top eight classes got to study in the clock tower classrooms, so we really worked hard to get in,” said Mr Li, who managed to make it to one of the eight coveted classrooms.

The classrooms are now reserved for students in special programmes like the Science and Math Talent Programme.

Designed by Swan & Maclaren, also behind Raffles Hotel and Sultan Mosque, the clock tower was always meant to inspire excellence.

With neoclassical elements like stately columns, arched doorways and windows, the clock tower is said to evoke elite institutions such as Cambridge and Harvard.

It is fitting, then, that HCI should be one of the island’s most prestigious institutions. As the first secondary and high school to be established specifically for the Chinese community in Singapore, the school was initially named the Singapore Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School.

To students, the clock tower was not just a representation of their school, but their home as well.

Mr Lim Han Xin stayed in the on-campus boarding school during his six years of study at HCI as a Malaysian scholar.

The 22-year-old Batu Pahat native, who is currently studying psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “Every time I head back to boarding school, no matter where I’m coming from, the clock tower is the first thing I see. It’s the thing that lets me know that I’m home.”

The clock tower is a place of great sentimental value for many Chinese High old boys.

Said Mr Mak: “I remember when I left the school, I looked up at the tower and told it to wait for me to come back and repay it one day.”

So has he honoured his promise?

Gesturing towards the carefully manicured plants and shrubs surrounding the tower, he says: “Well, you see all these trees? All donated from my nursery!”

This article was first published on September 1, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Singapore’s Zika Clinical Advisory Group was unanimous about offering free testing to pregnant women islandwide with Zika symptoms, as these experts fear that the virus could have spread beyond the current outbreak area.

Professor Arijit Biswas, who chairs the nine-member group set up in February, said the biggest concern about Zika is its effect on pregnancy.

That is why the group, which advises the Ministry of Health on developing clinical protocols to manage Zika, did not want to restrict the tests to only those in the current outbreak area around Aljunied. “We might miss some (cases)” if this were done, he said. “So we decided to make the net wider.”

But these women should have had at least three Zika symptoms within the past two weeks. The symptoms are:

• a fever, usually low-grade;
• a rash that is usually red, flat and itchy and in more than one part of the body;
• any one of the following: joint or muscle ache, red eyes or headache.

What is the Zika virus?

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, NEA

Prof Biswas, who is clinical director of Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the National University Hospital, said women who have not exhibited such symptoms in the past fortnight should not go for the tests.

What would happen if Zika becomes endemic here, the way dengue is, and thousands of people get infected every year? “The most important message to pregnant women is, they should take precautions against mosquito bites,” he said. And that would apply whether Zika becomes endemic or even now.

“Use mosquito repellents available in Singapore which are safe, wear long sleeves and pants in light colours, stay in air-conditioned rooms and use a mosquito net if possible,” said Prof Biswas.

His other piece of advice for pregnant women is: “Either abstain, or practise safe sex throughout your pregnancy.” This is to prevent any possible infection from a partner, who might not know he has Zika.

Prof Biswas also answered other questions about Zika. His answers have been paraphrased.

Q: If a pregnant woman has Zika, how accurate are the tests to check if the baby is affected?

A: Microcephaly, the most common birth defect linked to Zika infection, cannot always be picked up early. In some cases, it is spotted only after birth. But some features might be picked up during tests, like structural abnormality. If the baby looks structurally abnormal, a second test of the amniotic fluid can be done, but this carries a 0.5 to 1 per cent risk. Things that can go wrong include leakage from the womb, early contractions and even infection.

Q: If the tests cannot accurately tell if the baby is compromised, what’s the point of regular monitoring?

A: The majority of pregnant women who have been infected with Zika give birth to perfectly normal babies. Monitoring the baby’s development can give reassurance.

Q: If scans show the baby has a small head, should parents abort?

A: A small head alone is not enough to show the baby has microcephaly. There must be other symptoms such as extra fluid in the brain, or calcification. Also, about 15 per cent of babies born with microcephaly can live normal lives.

If abnormalities are found, you should discuss it with your doctor, as each case is different.

Locally-transmitted Zika in Singapore

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, The New Paper

Q: Why can’t women whose babies are likely to suffer from microcephaly abort if they have been pregnant for more than 24 weeks?

A: A foetus older than 24 weeks can survive unaided, but one that is less than 24 weeks can’t. This is why 24 weeks is the legal limit for abortion.

Q: If the virus stays in the body for only two to four weeks, why do women infected with Zika have to wait two months, and men six months, before trying for a child?

A: This is to be really safe, as there are reports that the virus can stay in the semen for up to six months.

This article was first published on Sep 01, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Lee Sze Yong was fixated on getting rich by kidnapping someone wealthy and demanding huge ransom sums.

After he was arrested for kidnapping the 79-year-old mother of Sheng Siong supermarket boss Lim Hock Chee, police found, among a stack of documents, two pieces of paper on which Lee tabled a “spending plan” for the ransom money.

He told police: “I had a dream of becoming rich. I thought if I managed to get $10 million or $20 million ransom, I could buy a $5 million or $8 million property as well as buying expensive cars. These are just my illusion (sic).”

In the two tables – one based on a hypothetical $10 million ransom and the other on a $20 million ransom – he worked out how he would use the money to clear his debts, and buy a house and cars for himself and his former sexual partner and “soulmate” Heng Chen Boon.

79-year-old woman who was kidnapped is Sheng Siong CEO’s mother

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Singapore Police Force, Sheng Siong Group, Lianhe Zaobao

Based on a $10 million ransom, he would spend at most $5 million on a house and buy himself a $300,000 Mercedes cabriolet, while Heng would get a $200,000 BMW X1. Another $100,000 would be set aside for shopping.

If the ransom was $20 million, he would buy an $8 million house and spend $880,000 on a Ferrari California for himself. The shopping budget would be doubled.

The rest would be invested, put into fixed deposits and savings, and used to start a business.

But Lee not only thought of the best-case scenario, he also envisioned the possibility of his kidnap plan failing.

He drafted a message in Chinese to Heng, to be sent if he was arrested, telling him to sell their four-room HDB flat and downgrade to a three-room flat.

Lee also prepared an authorisation letter to transfer his share of the flat to him.

Lee and Heng were penpals who had a decade-long sexual relationship. Lee and his mother later moved into Heng’s flat and Lee said he serviced the $623 monthly loan repayment.

Lee told police that when his father was placed in a nursing home, he could not make ends meet with his $2,000 salary. He used credit cards for food and drinks and overseas trips, and owed close to $200,000 to various banks.

Lee also used the name of a friend to borrow money and to buy a $110,000 Volkswagen Scirocco that was registered in the friend’s name but used by him.

This article was first published on Sep 01, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Read also:

Sheng Siong kidnap suspect’s first target was billionaire Peter Lim’s children

Sheng Siong CEO ‘thankful’ towards kidnappers for not hurting his mum

Sheng Siong kidnap: Victim told by kidnappers son had a bad fall