The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) was not his first choice, but he has never once regretted his decision.

Mr Lionel Tan was afraid of being bullied because he was ITE’s first blind student.

But his perceptions about the school were debunked once he got to know his lecturers and schoolmates. They not only cared for him, but also helped him with his studies.

Their efforts did not go to waste because the 20-year-old was in the top 5 per cent of this year’s graduating class from ITE. 

Mr Tan became blind when he was just a year old after suffering from retinoblastoma, the most common eye cancer in children.

First, his left eye had to be removed. Then he became blind in his right eye when the cancer spread.

In 2014, he became the first blind student at ITE when he enrolled in ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio.

He had hoped to enter a polytechnic but did not qualify. It was a dream that was merely deferred, not shattered.

Last Friday, Mr Tan, who did a Nitec course in business services, received a Certificate of Merit, which is given to the top 5 per cent of ITE graduates.

He now plans to pursue a polytechnic diploma and fulfil his dream of becoming an entrepreneur one day.

He told The New Paper on Wednesday: “I’ve never thought of giving up. If you give up, you don’t get to accomplish anything.”

Mr Tan credits his success to support from his mother, lecturers and friends.

Madam Katherine Heng, section head of business services at ITE College Central, has seen him blossom since 2014.

“Lionel is a role model for his classmates… (he) motivates them to work even harder,” she said.

With help from the Learning Accessibility Office in ITE, Mr Tan uses Jaws (a text-to-speech software) and Braille Sense (a note-taking device) to support him in his learning.

He even uses WhatsApp to communicate with friends.

A buddy system allows him to move around the sprawling campus.

‘GRATEFUL’

He said: “I am very grateful to have such understanding and supportive classmates.”

His classmates even took time off their schedule to help him catch up on lessons whenever Mr Tan was unable to keep up in class.

But his road to success has not been easy.

When he was in secondary school, Mr Tan did not care about his studies.

His attitude improved after he met his English teacher in Secondary 4.

“She really pushed me to do my best. Then I knew I was able to do anything if I put my heart to it,” he said.

Mr Tan, who used to take swimming lessons and was part of an a cappella group in school, added: “I don’t let my impairment get in the way of learning new things. There are many things I’m able to do as well as anyone else.”

This article was first published on July 29, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.

Some 150 people lost a total of over $12 million after falling for a phone scam in which fraudsters posing as staff from courier company DHL claimed they needed to remit cash to clear their names.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Charis Low revealed the sum – which was handed over between late March and last month – when the case of three Malaysian men suspected of being behind the scam was mentioned in court yesterday.

The prosecution has tendered an amended charge against them.

Hiu Sheng Fatt, 21, is alleged to have been in an arrangement to withdraw sums amounting to $143,800 from his United Overseas Bank (UOB) account, which represented an unknown person’s benefits from criminal conduct.

Ooi Lun Xiang and Tee Jia Yong, both 22, are also said to have been in the arrangement to withdraw $143,800 from Hiu’s UOB account on July 14.

If convicted under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, they could each be fined up to $500,000 and/or jailed for up to 10 years.

DPP Low said the trio came to Singapore on July 14 and withdrew $121,900 from Hiu’s UOB bank account – money from victims of the DHL scam.

She asked that no bail be allowed for Hiu as he is a foreigner and presents a flight risk.

Between late March and the end of June this year, the police received more than 3,000 calls and reports about the scam, in which around 155 victims lost a total of more than $12 million.

Both Ooi and Tee were remanded for another week for investigations. The case will be mentioned again next Thursday.

Yesterday, three employees of remittance firm Samlit Moneychanger were given Public Spiritedness Awards by the Singapore Police Force for stopping two people from falling for the scam.

In one case, a 69-year-old Singaporean woman wanted to remit $50,000 to her “relative” in China on July 8.

Staff grew suspicious when she could not specify how she was related to the recipient. The amount was also a huge proportion of her life savings of around $70,000, according to the firm’s assistant general manager Sameer Malik, 26.

Upon further questioning, she said she had received a phone call from someone claiming that she had a parcel containing illegal arms, passports and credit cards sent under her name via DHL to Shanghai.

She was told to remit the money if she wanted to clear her name. The caller even taught her what to say when the remittance company questioned her, said Mr Malik.

“To pressure her, they even told her that the Customs officer who handled her parcel would lose his job and be sent to jail if she doesn’t send the money,” he said.

Staff informed the Commercial Affairs Department and police.

The latter advised people who are in doubt or have information about such crimes to call their hotline on 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent police assistance.

This article was first published on July 29, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Eight dollars a day. That is how much more it would cost for a person to spend his silver years in a single- or double-bedded nursing home, instead of in a ward-like or dormitory-style facility.

That would mean $19 million more per year if applied to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH’s) plans for 5,000 more nursing-home beds by 2020, according to a new study released yesterday by global consultancy firm Oliver Wyman.

The cost per bed was derived from the median daily cost of five nursing homes here and how much it would cost if the nursing homes were to be converted to single- or double-bedded facilities.

The study was commissioned by the Lien Foundation to review the economics of nursing-home care, after a public discussion was sparked when its nursing-home project Jade Circle was aborted last year.

The Lien Foundation, Khoo Chwee Neo Foundation and Salvation Army’s Peacehaven home had hoped to pioneer a different model of care for dementia patients by doing away with the usual six- to eight-bed hospital-ward layout common in nursing homes here, and instead provide single or twin rooms with en suite toilets.

This would create a home-like environment and provide residents with more privacy, autonomy and well-being, they said. These rooms are the norm in countries such as Japan, Britain and the United States.

The $15 million Jade Circle project was aborted after it failed to get government subsidies. This is because its single rooms were deemed by the Health Ministry to be similar to private or A-class ward configurations, making it difficult to subsidise as such parameters will be hard to scale or be financially sustainable, if applied to the rest of the aged-care sector.

The ministry has received a copy of the report. Its spokesman said: “We hope to discuss the findings with Lien Foundation and understand the assumptions behind the report’s economic analysis.”

The ministry said it constantly seeks to improve the infrastructure of nursing homes to make them more homely; it is piloting a four- bedded room “cluster concept” in a nursing home in Ang Mo Kio.

Researchers behind the latest study consulted nursing-home operators, architects and other experts to design a home-like environment that mirrors HDB rooms for residents. Then they tabulated the costs – from healthcare, living, administration and accommodation expenses – for each resident.

The number came to about $114 per day for an elderly person to stay in a single or double room with en suite toilets and $119 for a senior with dementia. The current cost for a resident of a regular nursing home is $106 a day. The increase is due to the extra infrastructural, staff and housekeeping expenses.

Lien Foundation CEO Lee Poh Wah said: “The additional cost of $19 million would be 0.2 per cent of MOH’s budget of $11 billion for the financial year of 2016.”

MOH said it spent an estimated $360 million for the nursing-care sector in the 2015 financial year.

This article was first published on July 29, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

SINGAPORE – An Instagram user has sparked fury online by claiming to have burned a Singapore flag and challenging authorities to give him the death penalty.

Two photos uploaded by the user shows part of a Singapore flag in flames. “They have to throw the death penalty on me if I keep doing this right?” he wrote on one post.

In another post, he wrote: “I don’t enjoy patriotism/this is an act of treason/will something happen yet?”

The user, whose profile page is public, was lambasted for treating the national emblem with disrespect.

Photos of burning Singapore flag on Instagram spark fury

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Instagram screengrabs

Some netizens questioned the motive behind his actions while others advised him to remove the photo to avoid getting in trouble with the law.

In one of his replies, he tells a netizen to “go back doing your slave s***”. He also tells him to “eat s*** and die”.

Despite this show of defiance, the user subsequently removed the post, puzzling netizens even further.

Many have continued to leave comments on his other Instagram posts.

Under the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act, it is an offence to treat the flag with disrespect.

Those who do so could be fined up to $1,000.

The rules state that the flag should not be allowed to touch the ground. When displayed, the flag should also be clean, undamaged and not faded.

Flags also cannot be appropriated for any commercial use, and they should not be used as part of decoration, attire and private funeral activities.

According to the National Heritage Board, flags that have been damaged or are worn-out should be disposed of properly, and “not left visible in dustbins”.

Torn or worn-out flags should be packed into a sealed black trash bag before disposal.

ljessica@sph.com.sg