SINGAPORE – Audit firm KPMG’s fourth and latest report on the Workers’ Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) provides further impetus for changes to the Town Councils Act, which could be finalised by year end, National Development Minister Lawrence…
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Changes to Town Councils Act given impetus by auditors latest report on AHTC
Tax policies can drive innovation, promote inclusive growth: DPM Tharman
Growing the incomes of low-income workers should be a key priority when countries come up with tax and fiscal policies to promote inclusive economic growth, says Mr Tharman.
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Thousands in funeral march for slain Cambodia activist
PHNOM PENH – Tens of thousands of Cambodians on Sunday joined the funeral procession of a prominent government critic whose murder in broad daylight has raised suspicions of a hit job in country with a long history of political violence.
Kem Ley, a popular pro-democracy voice and grassroots rights activist, was shot dead on July 10 while drinking coffee outside a petrol station in the capital.
The brazen murder sent ripples of fear across a country already brimming with political tension between strongman Hun Sen and a resurgent opposition.
A former soldier charged with the murder claimed he shot Kem Ley over an outstanding debt.
But suspicions of a political assassination continue to run strong in a nation where the rule of law is threadbare and critics of the elite are routinely silenced.
On Sunday a massive crowd of mourners, many carrying portraits of Kem Ley, trailed for kilometres behind Buddhist monks and a motorcade carrying the 46-year-old’s body in a glass casket.
Thousands of others lined the streets to watch the procession, which marked the end of a two-week mourning period that saw people from across the country flock to the Phnom Penh temple where his body had lain.
“He was a mirror of society, a hero. His murder is a huge loss to democracy,” 39-year-old Hul Chan told AFP while he was walking alongside other mourners.
Many wore white shirts printed with Kem Ley’s face and the words: “Wipe your tears, continue your journey.” Sunday’s procession, one of the largest public gatherings in recent years, will see the activist’s corpse returned to his home village about 70 kilometres (44 miles) south of the capital for burial.
A regular critic of both Hun Sen and the political opposition, Kem Ley called for a new era of clean politics in graft-ridden Cambodia.
The frequent radio commentator was also a major advocate for land and labour rights, travelling across the impoverished country to speak directly to villagers.
He charmed Cambodians by speaking in a vernacular rich in metaphor and folk references, said Sebastian Strangio, the author of a recent book on the country’s politics.
“He had a very special gift for being able to explain complex issues to do with justice and accountability in a language that ordinary people could grasp,” Strangio told AFP.
But stirring up opposition in the country’s rural heartlands – for years considered Hun Sen’s key support base – has long proved a dangerous game in Cambodia, he added.
Watchdog groups say more than a dozen environmental activists have been killed in the past decade, often during efforts to expose illegal logging.
Am Sam Ath, from the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said Sunday’s outpouring of grief reflected a growing disillusionment with a government blamed for rampant rights abuses and corruption.
“Kem Ley was a straight-talking person who strongly criticised social injustices,” he told AFP. “The people are standing up against injustice.” Shortly before his death Kem Ley gave a lengthy radio interview welcoming a report that detailed the riches amassed by Hun Sen and his family during his three decades in power.
United Nations rights experts expressed concern over the circumstances of his death “in view of his standing as a critic of the government”.
In a statement they said it “exemplifies an alarming negative trend in Cambodia whereby political activists and human rights defenders are facing increasing restrictions”.
Hun Sen has ordered a thorough investigation into the murder and urged people not to turn the case into a “political act”.
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4 officials suspended over deadly China flooding
BEIJING – Four Chinese officials have been suspended following devastating floods that left more than 200 dead and missing and provoked widespread outrage over an alleged cover-up by the authorities, state media reported Sunday.
Torrential rains lashed the north this week, driving over 300,000 people from their homes and leaving hundreds of thousands more trapped as waters rose.
But a flash flood near the town of Xingtai in Hebei province provoked particular outrage after locals accused officials of failing to warn them of the impending deluge – and trying to cover up the cause of the disaster.
The alleged mistake left at least 25 dead and 13 missing, and public anger over the situation mounted after pictures of the corpses of drowned children being pulled from the muddy floodwaters circulated online.
In the aftermath, residents voiced suspicions that the sudden flood, which struck early Wednesday while villagers slept, was man-made – the result of a release of water from a local reservoir, rather than the breaking of a levee in a nearby river, as officials claimed.
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Hebei’s Communist Party committee has now announced it has suspended two Xingtai town officials, as well as a chief engineer from the provincial capital and a deputy county head, for “dereliction of duty” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The four officials will be “subjected to accountability investigations and could face further punishment”, it said.
Xingtai’s mayor also apologised for the town’s response to the disaster.
Earlier in the week, local deputy Communist Party secretary Wang Qingfei had drawn ire for suggesting there had been “no casualties” in the flood, the Beijing News said Saturday.
Public scepticism towards officials is common following disasters in China, as authorities seek to control information and their lack of openness can raise doubts about their trustworthiness.
Flooding is not uncommon during the summer monsoon season in northern China, but rains have been unusually heavy across the country this summer.
Beijing and surrounding areas were expected to receive more heavy rains Sunday night, Xinhua said.
Heavy downpours have already wreaked havoc in central and southern China, flooding several major cities and causing over 200 deaths, state media has said.
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SE Asia deadlocked as S. China Sea split deepens
VIENTIANE – Southeast Asian nations were deadlocked Sunday about how to confront China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea as pressure from Beijing again drove a wedge between countries on the region’s toughest security challenge.
Their gathering in the Laos capital is the first time regional players – including China and the United States – have met en masse since a UN-backed tribunal delivered a hammer blow to Beijing’s claim to vast stretches of the sea.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) boasts four countries who have competing claims with Beijing to parts of the sea, and is fiercely divided on the issue.
Rival claimants have accused China of deftly forging alliances with smaller member countries like Laos, this year’s host, and Cambodia through aid and loans to divide the once consensus-driven bloc.
Chinese pressure was blamed last month for a startling show of ASEAN discord when countries swiftly disavowed a joint statement released by Malaysia after an ASEAN-China meeting.
That statement had expressed alarm over Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea. Cambodia and Laos were later fingered as being behind moves to block it.
Those divisions were on stark display once more in Vientiane on Sunday as regional foreign ministers met for talks.
Insiders accused Cambodia of scuppering moves to include a response to the tribunal ruling in a joint ASEAN communique, which is usually issued at the end of the foreign ministers’ meeting.
“We need to put our house in order,” one diplomat involved in discussions told AFP Sunday. “But we still have not agreed on anything.” Another ASEAN diplomat added: “We remain deadlocked. We’re back to the negotiating table.” Laos described the initial meeting of foreign ministers as “candid and constructive” but by mid-afternoon there was little sign of a breakthrough.
The main sticking point was over whether to refer to the international tribunal ruling and if so how, a Southeast Asia diplomat told AFP.
Some countries are pushing to include a reference that urges all countries to fully “respect diplomatic and legal process”, he said – in line with statements released by the European Union, the US and Japan following the UN-backed decision.
Other countries are opposing any mention of the ruling.
Another diplomat said it was unlikely a statement would be issued on Sunday and if one was published in the coming days it would likely be “really watered down”.
The impasse in Vientiane has led to fears of a repeat of a 2012 summit in Cambodia where the bloc failed to issue a joint statement for the first time in its history because of disagreements over the South China Sea.
A failure by ASEAN to respond to the tribunal will do little to counter criticism that the bloc risks fading into obscurity as a talking shop with little real diplomatic clout.
The UN tribunal ruling earlier this month infuriated Beijing but was a victory for the Philippines, which brought the case, and for fellow ASEAN members Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia who also claim parts of the South China Sea.
The bloc’s paralysis on how to respond comes as China ratchets up its rhetoric and military manoeuvres in the sea whilst hitting out at the US.
Washington says it takes no position on the territorial disputes but argues for free sea and air passage through what it considers international waters.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Laos on Monday morning. It is not yet clear whether he will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who is also attending.
A State Department official over the weekend said the US would push for participants to ease tensions over the South China Sea and find common ground.
But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin warned ASEAN against being influenced by outside powers, a clear rebuke to Washington.
“They (ASEAN) should in particular guard against the intervention in regional cooperation by big powers outside the region,” he said according to the Xinhua news agency.
ASEAN boasts a diverse array of countries ranging from communist one-party states like Laos to the Islamic sultanate of Brunei, military junta-led Thailand and raucous democracies like Indonesia and the Philippines.
Its ability to deal with Beijing is seen as a test of whether it can jointly confront other pressing regional challenges outside of trade.
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Three provision shops which have evolved with the times
Viewers who watched Singapore film-maker Royston Tan’s Channel 8 telemovie, The Provision Shop, last week might find lots to reminisce about.
The nostalgic portrayal of a traditional, mom- and-pop shop was filmed at Tee Seng Store, a 60-year-old shop in Rosyth Road. The old-fashioned store still has a zinc roof.
But quaint as they are, provision shops are becoming an endangered species in Singapore. The cruel reality is that they have been losing business steadily to hypermarts, minimarts and supermarkets.
In 1986, the number of businesses registered with the Singapore Provision Shop Friendly Association was 1,262, but that figure is a mere 110 today.
Mr Goo Kem Suaa, 80, head of the association, thinks that provision shops will eventually be “eliminated” from the retail scene.
The reasons include high rents and a lack of successors. Well-educated children of provision shop owners usually choose not to continue the family business, he adds.
While supermarket chains are convenient and efficient, Mr Goo laments the loss of ren qing wei (human warmth in Chinese) associated with traditional provision shops.
For example, some shops used to extend credit to customers to pay their children’s school fees.
Like other former provision shop owners, Mr Goo recalls sending crates of free soft drinks to customers during Chinese New Year.
But there are some provision shops that are forging new paths.
The Sunday Times checks out long-standing provision shops to find out their history and what they are doing to keep abreast of the competition.
Where quinoa shares space with wooden clogs
At Pin Pin Piau Kay & Co in Tiong Bahru, you can buy quinoa, white wine vinegar, bottled jalapeno peppers, Korean sea salt and noodles for Vietnamese pho.
These cosmopolitan foodstuffs are sold alongside traditional local wares, such as cha kiak (wooden clogs) and sapu lidi (brooms made of twigs) – items stocked at the provision shop since it started in 1938.
In this gentrified neighbourhood, the third-generation owner Rodney Goh, 61, has kept pace with the changing profile of his customers as Western, Vietnamese, mainland Chinese and Filipino residents moved in over the years.
He is sensitive to changes in demand, no matter how specific. For example, a few months ago, he began to stock more of a particular brand of iced lemon tea favoured by construction workers who worked nearby.
While he caters to new customers, he remains mindful of his regulars, who are mostly seniors used to personalised service at old- style provision shops.
“Older folks still need the personal touch. I know what kind of soap powder they use, what brand of rice they eat. Some have knee problems and don’t like to walk so much. We’ll get what they want and take it to their car,” he says.
Pin Pin Piau Kay & Co still does deliveries, like provision shops used to do, within a 5km radius. His wife and a worker help out in the shop.
Part of the 1,100 sq ft property, which he owns, has been converted into a music studio for piano lessons, a business run by the eldest of his three children.
As a young man, he worked in a bank for eight years, where he came into contact with many business owners. Drawn to their dynamism, Mr Goh, who has five siblings, decided to go into business and started helming the store at the age of 28.
As the eldest son, he also felt he needed to help his parents as his late father was in poor health at the time.
The shop’s heyday was in the 1980s, when it supplied ships with essential items and saw about 200 customers daily.
Now, Mr Goh says, business is quieter, but “still profitable”.
The shop’s location opposite Tiong Bahru Market is vital. His customers often buy fresh produce such as vegetables, fish and pork from the wet market, then pop over to buy “dry stuff” at his store.
“We complement each other. As long as the wet market is here, I have business,” he says.
He adds that if the wet market ceases operations or if major supermarket chains move in next door, he will have to close shop and maybe rent out the space.
Otherwise, he will continue the business. “I’m still healthy and I still want to work, otherwise I’ll feel bored.”
The next new product on his shelves? Rice with a lower glycaemic index than usual, which he reckons will go down well with health-conscious customers.
Staying traditional to reflect store’s history
Mr Ramasamy Thevarvadivelu. Photo: The Straits Times.
You can see why tourists love taking pictures of provision shop ARV Stores in Changi Road.
Established in 1956, it is an old-school provision shop seldom seen in Singapore these days.
Pails of spice powders and sacks of dried goods such as onions and potatoes are on the floor, sold by weight.
Shelves are lined with canned goods such as tins of ghee and Milo, while packets of snacks hang overhead from metal hooks fixed on wooden beams.
In the air, the scent of curry powder, turmeric and garam masala lingers.
The store was founded by the uncle of the current owner, Mr Ramasamy Thevar Vadivelu, 80.
It moved to its location from the present-day Joo Chiat Complex around 1980. It used to be known as Gurunathan Store, before it changed its name about nine years ago.
The older name now shares the same signboard as the current name. In fact, it is in a bigger, shocking pink font.
This is because Mr Vadivelu values the shop’s history. He has kept the look of the shop mostly unchanged over the years and also its opening hours. For the past 60 years, he has been starting work at 5am and knocking off at about 7pm.
He says in Tamil: “It’s not like a supermarket. If it looks changed, people will not know it was Gurunathan Store. After my son takes over, he can modernise it.”
He did make one concession to the times, though. He abolished the traditional tin-can pulley system for collecting payment about 10 years ago, when money was stolen from it.
Born in Tamil Nadu, India, Mr Vadivelu is a Singapore permanent resident. His wife and three children live in India. His youngest child, Mr V. Vivekraja, 23, looks after the family’s business interests there, which include two stores. His wife takes cares of the family’s farmland and property.
Mr Vadivelu, who flies to India regularly to visit his family, has, for the past 12 years, hired a store manager, Mr Somasundaram Mariappan, 38, to help him.
Mr Mariappan, who was his boss’ translator during the interview, says business has declined over the years, while rent has almost doubled.
Customers are mostly elderly regulars. One of them is housewife Kismet Jan Mohd Hussain Khan, 69, who first came to the store as a nine-year-old child accompanying her grandmother.
Now, she occasionally brings her three-year-old twin grandsons here, too.
She goes to the shop a couple of times a month to buy food such as coriander powder, cooking oil and raisins.
“They know you, whatever items you want, you can get here. The prices are lower than those at shopping centres, where they will not reserve items for you,” she says.
Family-run mart with vegetables, healthy fare
Teo Chuan Kee Minimart stocks household goods and foodstuff as well as fresh vegetables. Photo: The Straits Times.
Unlike most provision shop owners whose children are unwilling to join the business, Mr Teo Koon Hwee, 70, has four family members working with him at Teo Chuan Kee Minimart in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. They are his wife; the eldest of their three sons, Derrick, 43; Derrick’s wife; as well as another son, Benson, 42.
The brightly lit, air-conditioned shop is modern and clean, but it was originally set up as a zinc- roofed store in the Thomson Road area by Mr Teo’s grandfather more than 100 years ago.
In the 1980s, the store was moved to its present location at the bottom of a low block of flats in Ang Mo Kio.
Its goods spill outside the shop, with shelves displaying bread, tidbits and dishwashing liquid lining its exterior.
Derrick, who is part of the fourth generation working in the store, remembers helping out at the provision shop as a Primary 4 pupil, arranging goods on the shelves. After national service, at the age of 21, he joined the family business.
The shop has changed with the times, he says, installing air-conditioning and bright lighting so it is more like a minimart than a sundries store.
While traditional provision shops are evocative of old Singapore, Derrick says: “Nostalgia is one thing, but if there is no airconditioning, who will come in?”
To meet the demands of health- conscious customers, the store stocks items such as red rice, wholemeal wraps and preserved kelp.
About six years ago, it started carrying fresh vegetables for sale. It also has a refrigerated section stocking perishables such as butter and fishcake.
Derrick says his three teenage children will probably not take over the business, what with its long hours, stiff competition and narrow profits.
His father, Mr Teo, says “business used to be better”.
He adds: “There may be customers, but we earn less because of the intense competition and rising costs.”
This article was first published on July 24, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
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Football: Pogba is not worth world-record fee, says Scholes
Former Manchester United player Paul Scholes has questioned whether the club should pay a world-record fee for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, saying the 23-year-old is not in the same bracket as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
United have been negotiating with Juventus over the transfer of Pogba, who is a top target for new manager Jose Mourinho, according to media reports in Britain.
Scholes was Pogba’s team mate when the latter was a teenager at United and feels despite his obvious talent, the France international has a long way to go before he can stake his claim as one of the world’s top players and command a record fee.
“He was a very talented young player, I played with him and I knew how good he was,” Scholes, who is playing in a futsal tournament in India, told the Times of India daily.
“I just don’t think he is worth 86 million pounds (S$153.26 million). For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere there yet.”
Scholes also praised Manchester City’s capture of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Guendogan for a fee worth around 20 million pounds, according to British media reports.
“I think Guendogan is a really impressive player,” Scholes said. “I’ve seen a lot of him at Borussia Dortmund.”
“If he can stay fit, I think he can be a fantastic player. I also think he is great value for the money Manchester City paid for him. I think he is a bargain.”
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Syrian government says ready for further peace talks: State media
BEIRUT – Syria’s government said on Sunday it was ready for further peace talks with the opposition and that it was intent on a political solution to the five-year conflict.
“Syria … is ready to continue the Syrian-Syrian dialogue without any preconditions … and without foreign interference, with the support of the United Nations,” state news agency SANA quoted an official in the foreign ministry as saying.
The U.N. hopes to convene a new round of intra-Syrian peace talks in Geneva in August, its Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said this week.
Previous rounds of talks this year broke down as fighting escalated, particularly around Aleppo, where government forces recently cut off the only road into rebel-held areas of the divided northern city.
The United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, are meanwhile to discuss an American proposal for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing on Syria to combat extremist groups.
Secretary of State John Kerry said this month that Washington and Damascus ally Moscow had reached a common understanding on the steps needed to get Syria’s peace process back on track.
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Philippine president gives order to free up information
MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered all agencies directly under his watch to open their records to the public as part of his promise to crack down on corruption and promote transparency in government.
Legislation is still needed, however, to ensure other branches of government will do the same. The last Congress adjourned without passing a new law, the Freedom of Information (FOI) act, even though Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino had backed the idea.
Duterte signed an executive order on Saturday to allow public access to official documents and records, two days before he delivers a much-anticipated state of the nation address. He is expected to reiterate a pledge to weed out corrupt officials and tackle crime.
Anti-crime blitz sweeps Philippines as Duterte comes into power
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Success in tackling corruption and criminality, he has said, should bring benefits on many fronts, including lowering poverty, improving government finances and making the country more attractive for investment.
Martin Andanar, the president’s communication chief, said Duterte’s order would be welcomed by “every Filipino soul who has fought tooth and nail” for the right to information.
One of the biggest promoters of the law was Duterte’s election rival, Senator Grace Poe, who on Sunday urged the president to waste no time and press a new incoming legislature to pass the act.
Duterte sworn in as Philippines’ 16th president
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Tigers kill one, injure one in China wildlife park
BEIJING – Tigers at a wildlife park in Beijing killed one woman and injured another after the pair left their vehicle following an argument, Chinese media reported Sunday.
The attack took place at Beijing Badaling Wildlife World Saturday, Chinanews.com reported, when one of the women left the vehicle following an altercation.
A tiger quickly attacked her and dragged her off, prompting the second woman to leave the vehicle in an attempt to help, it wrote on its microblog account.
Another tiger mauled her to death, before carrying off her body.
The two women were accompanied by a man – who aided the rescue attempt – and a small child, who were uninjured, it said, adding that the park has been ordered to close for “rectification.” The park allows visitors to drive their own cars safari style through an open space where the animals roam free.
Visitors are cautioned not to alight from their vehicles.
A report on online news portal Sohu said that park personnel quickly rushed to the women’s aide, but were too late to save one of them.
The injured woman is recovering from her wounds in hospital, it added.
There was no mention of the incident on the park’s web page or social media account. A post on its microblog said that it was closed due to heavy rains.
The park has had at least one previous tiger attack, Sohu said, noting that a security guard was mauled to death in August 2014.
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