When Mr Wayne Wee was 10, he was so afraid of heights that his mother had to ask for a roller-coaster ride he was on to be stopped because he was crying so badly.

Now 22, Mr Wee has conquered his vertigo in order to be part of this year’s National Day Parade (NDP).

He is among 26 performers – called aerialists – who will be spinning and soaring at up to 30m in the air.

He quipped: “When you’re up there, you’re so disoriented you don’t notice how high you are.”

It is the first time the parade has featured a large formation of aerialists.

This is made possible as the celebrations this year take place in the National Stadium which, unlike previous open-air venues, has a domed roof from which performers can be suspended.

Twenty of the aerialists, including Mr Wee, are from the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company (MDC).

They will be performing a choreographed dance sequence 5m to 13m above ground.

They have undergone intensive aerial training since May, each clocking about 88 hours in the air even before they take the stage on Aug 9.

Major Tan Sheng Yang, the officer in charge of aerialist training, said it was a challenge to get the performers acclimatised to the demands of aerial work, as most had not done it before.

He added that safety is a “top priority”, and that there are stringent measures in place such as load bearing tests and pre-flight safety checks.

Performers also spend only 10 to 15 minutes in the air each time, and must rest in between sessions.

MDC aerialist Biwa Mastura Mohamed Said, 26, said: “This has been the most physically gruelling thing I’ve done in my life.”

The tight harness bruised her body, and her severe motion sickness left her feeling faint during training. At one point, she broke down in tears.

“It was draining physically and emotionally,” she said.

Now, when she is nervous, she looks to her fellow aerialists for support.

“When we are going up, we don’t look down. We look at each other,” said Ms Biwa, adding that it was “a good experience” and she would want to explore more aerial work in future.

Besides the MDC group, other aerialists include an actor playing Malay folk hero Badang, who will be flown to a height of 30m, and a seven-year-old boy who will ride a glimmering unicorn through the air.

Four aerialists will play the Four Beauties, each representing a different race.

Suspended at 9m, they will wear long, colourful skirts that flow all the way to the ground.

This article was first published on July 22, 2016.
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A high-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia could cause serious damage to budget airlines, experts believe.

With train fares expected to be pegged to what low-cost airlines charge, and maybe lower, the 90-minute train ride should appeal to many.

Singapore-KL round-trip budget airfares typically range from about $80 to less than $200.

To make the rail option even more attractive, Singapore and Malaysia have agreed to co-locate their Customs and Immigration facilities at three places – Singapore, Iskandar Puteri and Kuala Lumpur.

Singapore-Malaysia ink landmark High Speed Rail MOU

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The Straits Times

This means commuters will be cleared by the authorities on both sides at the point of departure.

Singapore Management University assistant professor Terence Fan, who specialises in transport, said the extent of the impact will depend on train fares and station locations when the rail link opens in around 10 years’ time.

From Bandar Malaysia – the KL stop – it is a 10-minute drive to the city centre, whereas from the airport, it takes about an hour.

While the Singapore-KL flight time is about 50 minutes, passengers need to also account for check-in and security clearance time at both ends.

He said: “If you take all these into account, then the 90-minute train ride is very competitive for travellers who currently take to the air.”

Citing similar examples elsewhere, Prof Fan noted that when a high-speed rail system was introduced on the Taipei-Kaohsiung and London-Paris routes, budget carriers were badly affected.

From half-hourly flights throughout the day, the Taipei-Kaohsiung air link is now serviced by only a few flights a week.

Mr Abbas Ismail, course manager for aviation management and services at Temasek Polytechnic, said: “There is little the budget carriers can do fare-wise as fares are already low. They could choose to fly to more convenient locations such as Subang (airport) or redeploy aircraft to higher-yielding routes. Budget carriers would definitely feel a pressure on yields.”

The new rail link is expected to carry about 20 million commuters a year.

Official data shows that about 1.2 million Malaysian residents visited Singapore in 2014, excluding citizens arriving by land.

Traffic between both countries through the Causeway and Second Link is estimated at 400,000 crossings both ways daily.

Despite the impending challenge, budget carriers are not sweating yet.

For one thing, the rail link is still at least 10 years away.

A spokesman for Scoot-Tigerair, which operates 21 Singapore-KL flights a week, said the rail connection could in fact create new opportunities.

“With greater connectivity between Singapore and Malaysia provided by the new rail link, particularly to areas that are currently not served by flights, it will enable more land-air connections via Singapore for Malaysian travellers to fly to other destinations in our network, as well as for international travellers visiting the rail stops in Malaysia to connect through the Singapore hub.”

A spokesman for Jetstar, which operates up to five flights a day to KL, said the airline welcomes the competition “as experience has shown that increased competition grows demand and encourages more people to travel for both business and leisure”.

Cross-border bus operators have less to worry about, Mr Abbas said. “Buses will still be popular with the price-sensitive and time-insensitive leisure travellers,” he said.

A bus trip takes about five hours with one-way tickets priced between $25 and $50.

karam@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 22, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Withholding customers’ personal items and criticising their looks are among the pressure sales tactics used frequently by beauticians here, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said in a statement today (July 22).

According to data released by the national consumer watchdog, such tactics top the list of complaints with regards to the beauty industry.

Of the total of 1,525 cases it has filed and assisted with from January 2011 to June 2016, 485 were about aggressive or deceptive tactics.

“Consumers complained that the beautician withheld their personal belongings while pushing more products or services to them, or used harsh and critical words to make consumers feel self-conscious about their looks or body,” Case said.

It added that some beauticians even made their sales pitch for hours in an enclosed room, resulting in “mental exhaustion” by the consumers.

Read also: Woman paid $5,000 for hair treatments after being told she might lose hair

Her $5 haircut ends up costing her $5,000

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The New Paper

Also, consumers have reported getting injured or receiving substandard beauty treatments from unprofessional or incompetent staff.

Such “unsatisfactory services” were the second most common consumer gripe, making up 311 or about 20 per cent of the complaints handled by Case.

The association has since signed letters of undertaking with four beauty businesses to stop their unfair practices.

Read also: Complaints lodged against beauty and skincare stores for high-pressure sales tactics

As at June 20, there are 641 businesses under the CaseTrust spa and wellness accreditation scheme, all of which have pledged to provide a five-day cooling-off period for their customers and to adhere to a “no selling” policy in treatment rooms.

Despite this, there were 129 complaints against CaseTrust-accredited businesses.

Case will hold a free seminar on July 30 to educate consumers about what to look out for when buying beauty products or services.

The half-day Beauty Fair will be held at the National Trades Union Congress Centre on One Marina Boulevard from 10am to 1pm.

huizhen@sph.com.sg

Travellers are calling off plans to visit Turkey after a travel notice was issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advising Singaporeans to reconsider non-essential travel to the country.

Turkey has been rocked by violence in recent months, including an attack by three suicide bombers on Istanbul Ataturk Airport last month that left at least 42 dead, and an attempted military coup last Friday that resulted in at least 232 people dead and 1,400 injured.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared a three- month state of emergency.

Travel agencies told The Straits Times that demand for trips to Turkey had plummeted.

Dynasty Travel, which had about 1,500 customers travelling to Turkey last year, has seen bookings decrease by more than 50 per cent.

Its public relations and communications director Alicia Seah said all its tour packages to Turkey up to the third quarter of this year have been diverted to other destinations.

SA Tours said it has not organised any packages to Turkey for the past three months, following attacks earlier this year.

Ms Zuran Ilias was in Istanbul for a holiday with her family when the coup attempt happened.

She said she could hear low-flying jets and explosions from her apartment, as well as prayers being broadcast from the mosques aimed at rallying the population.

“My mother couldn’t sleep throughout the night,” said the 23-year old.

Chief operations officer for volunteer group Thatsus.sg Iskandar Reza Ismail had planned a trip for a group of 30 to Turkey in December to assist Syrian refugees there.

He said he will make alternative arrangements to go to Jordan instead if the situation in Turkey remains volatile.

“Many of our volunteers are students, so of course their parents are concerned and told them not to go,” he said.

Mr Shahrizal Ismail was set on Turkey for his honeymoon next year, but is now considering other destinations.

Said the 34-year-old computer graphics artist: “I don’t feel safe travelling there any more.”

This article was first published on July 22, 2016.
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Temasek Holdings’ bid to take over SMRT has been termed a “privatisation”, but what does that really mean and how is it different from nationalisation?

Experts say that in this case, it simply means that if the bid succeeds, SMRT would be a closely held firm that is not listed on the Singapore Exchange.

And it is not a nationalisation because Temasek owns assets at arm’s length from the Government.

“Privatisation in the context of a takeover transaction means the delisting of a company and turning it into a closely held company, owned by one or a few shareholders,” noted Mr Lean Min-tze, a principal at law firm Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow.

“In Singapore, a private company cannot have more than 50 shareholders.”

Law firm Lee & Lee’s senior partner Adrian Chan said: “Unlike what many people might think, Temasek is not part of the Government. It is a separately-run fund with its own investment goals to meet.”

Dr Walter Theseira, a senior lecturer at SIM University, agreed.

“When a company is nationalised, it comes under the direct control of the government. The nationalised company’s assets, liabilities and profit or loss generally become the responsibility of the government,” he said.

However, he added, if a Temasek-owned company makes a loss, the Government is not responsible.

That is, the Government does not need to make good the losses to Temasek-owned companies from the Budget.

“It is true that if Temasek-owned companies make losses, that eventually does have an impact on Singapore’s finances because that erodes the value of our reserves. But the connection happens at arms’ length,” added Dr Theseira.

Temasek’s takeover bid comes just five days after the Government announced that the Land Transport Authority would take over SMRT’s operating rail assets.

Now this deal, noted Mr Lean, can be termed nationalisation as it is “a transfer of ownership and control of assets from a commercial entity (SMRT) to the Government (LTA).”

Another interesting aspect of Temasek’s privatisation bid, Mr Chan said, is the fact that it is a scheme of arrangement.

Under the scheme, a majority of shareholders at a meeting have to vote for the deal in order for it to succeed.

These shareholders will have to hold at least 75 per cent of the value of SMRT shares held by all shareholders present at the meeting.

This offers more certainty to a potential buyer, who will get all or none of the company, than the more common route of launching a general offer.

“Under a general offer, Temasek would technically have had to acquire over 90 per cent of what it did not already own in SMRT, which is a high threshold,” noted Mr Chan.

“So there would have been a risk that it would end up with more shares in SMRT, and yet still not be able to take it private.”

And so in this case, it is clear that Temasek wants to have SMRT privatised, or else not have more shares in the rail operator than it already has, he said.

The two firms said in a joint statement on Wednesday that privatisation would provide SMRT “greater flexibility to focus on its primary role of delivering safe and high-quality rail service, without short-term pressures of being a listed company”.

yasminey@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 22, 2016.
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In the last five years, he has been wrongfully arrested while trying to leave Singapore, summoned to court to pay a $15,000 bail he did not put up, and had his identity fraudulently used to apply for jobs.

Mr Mohammad Rizal Mohd Sabri, 27, a delivery rider, has had to explain himself time and again to the authorities – because his older brother had been impersonating him.

While his sibling Muhammad Redzuan Mohd Sabri, 28, had been sentenced to jail last year for the impersonation offences, it did not spell the end of trouble for Mr Rizal.

On Wednesday, Redzuan pleaded guilty in court to three new charges, with three others taken into consideration. The charges include impersonating Mr Rizal to change his SingPass password, and applying for duplicate driving licences.

Redzuan, who was on the same day sentenced to eight months’ jail, was also found to have misappropriated $700 from a courier company he worked for – a crime which resulted in Mr Rizal being arrested at the Woodlands checkpoint in January. He was transferred to the Bedok Police Division and questioned before being let off.

Mr Naresh Kumar Maryapan, the director of the courier firm, Saiwah Enterprise, said he verified through police photographs that they had arrested the wrong person. He added: “The man who took the $700 had applied for a job using a photocopy of Mr Rizal’s NRIC and a driving licence made in Mr Rizal’s name.”

While Redzuan will go to jail again – he has already served a 17-month sentence and been fined $700 for various offences – the mix-ups over the years have caused Mr Rizal much grief.

Redzuan has impersonated his younger sibling on over a dozen occasions over four years.

“My reputation was tarnished,” said Mr Rizal.

Redzuan began impersonating his younger brother in 2011, lodging a police report to say that he lost a wallet, NRIC and driving licence. Redzuan used this report to identify himself as his brother, to further his “impersonation exploits”, court documents read. A year later, he took Mr Rizal’s driving licence. Mr Rizal told police that his military identity card and a photocopy of his NRIC also went missing.

Redzuan found employment in 2013 as a delivery driver in two different companies and registered a mobile phone line in Mr Rizal’s name – racking up a bill of over $1,300. In 2014, Redzuan used a photocopy of Mr Rizal’s NRIC to post a $15,000 bail for an accused person. Mr Rizal said he was shocked to be summoned to court when the accused person, whom he does not know, jumped bail. That year, Redzuan also made his brother take the rap after he was caught driving a lorry without a licence.

The incidents have soured their relationship. Mr Rizal said with a sigh: “We don’t talk any more. He has caused me a lot of trouble.”

He cannot change his identification number, but Mr Rizal plans to change his name in September to stop his identity from being misused.

Security experts said Mr Rizal’s case illustrates the need for individuals to safeguard their personal information, like NRIC numbers and identity cards, which can be misused if they fall into the wrong hands.

Mr T. Mogan, managing director of Dragnet Private Investigation and Security Consultants, said: “If you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft, immediately go to the police and let them know to whom and when you divulged your personal information .”

Mr David Ng, director of DP Quest Investigation Consultancy, said that as a driving licence bears the same identification number as an IC, many banks and authorities accept it as a valid form of identification. “Checks by service providers may not be stringent enough.”

This article was first published on July 22, 2016.
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