SINGAPORE – 246 dengue cases were reported last week, 13 more than the previous week, according to latest figures from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

NEA added that the upward trend was a result of a steady increase of the Aedes mosquito population since April.

According to The Straits Times, another 26 cases of the virus were reported from Sunday (July 10) to 3pm on Monday (July 11).

In total, 9,417 cases have been reported since the start of 2016.

As a large proportion of our population is susceptible to dengue infection due to the lack of immunity, the public needs to remain vigilant to keep the cases in check, NEA added.

debwong@sph.com.sg

A MAN who knocked down an elderly woman while riding his motorised bicycle on a pavement in a housing estate was jailed for five weeks yesterday.

Former coffee-shop helper Tan Heng Huat, 40, had admitted to grievously hurting housewife Heng Lian Cheng, then 68, by doing a rash act to endanger the personal safety of others at Paya Lebar Way on April 18 last year.

He was making a right turn around a pillar of Block 120 at an unsafe speed when his view of pedestrians was blocked, resulting in the bicycle colliding with the victim and causing her to suffer facial fractures.

District Judge Lee Poh Choo felt that a power-assisted bicycle poses a greater danger than cars as anyone is free to ride wherever he wants.

In this case, cyclists riding in Housing Board blocks are not subject to traffic rules and face little or no consequences.

Said Judge Lee: “Riding around with motorised bicycles does not make you king of the pathway.”

The court heard that Tan used his $1,280 motorised bicycle, bought in December 2014, to travel to and from the Lorong 34 Geylang coffee shop where he worked.

That morning, he was on his way to work on the motorised bicycle when he failed to slow down or dismount as he approached the corner of the pavement at Block 120.

This was despite knowing that he was allowed to ride only on roads, and not on all paths and pavements.

Tan at no point made sure that there were no pedestrians walking along the pavement, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Ee Kuan.

He applied the brakes only when he saw Madam Heng but it was too late.

She fell and landed on her face.

Tan neither helped nor checked if she was all right.

He apologised, gave her tissue paper and rode away.

Not realising the severity of her injuries, Madam Heng declined and continued walking to the market to meet her husband.

She was later referred by a doctor to Changi General Hospital.

She was warded for four days and underwent surgery later that month.

Tan surrendered himself three days later.

DPP Prem Raj Prabakaran had asked for five weeks’ jail as the victim’s injuries were more serious than those suffered by the 69-year-old woman in a case last year, where Lim Choon Teck, 35, was jailed three weeks for knocking her down while cycling on a pavement in Ang Mo Kio.

The maximum punishment for causing grievous hurt by an act to endanger the personal safety of others is four years’ jail and a $10,000 fine.

elena@sph.com.sg

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IF THE taxi industry wants private-hire operators to compete on a completely level playing field, then it might have to contend with Uber and Grab drivers being allowed to pick up street hails.

Senior Minister of State for Transport Ng Chee Meng told Parliament yesterday that 80 per cent of taxi- driver trips are street hails.

“If you completely level the playing field, it means that the private-hire cars will have street hail privileges as well,” he said.

“This will not bring necessarily the outcomes we desire.”

Mr Ng was responding to questions from Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon GRC) on whether there has been “any measurement to show that actually Uber and GrabCar bring positive impact to our commuters”.

“If not, then why should we have them in Singapore, and create so much unhappiness among the taxi drivers?” she asked.

Mr Ng said: “We follow industry practices as best as possible.”

“For commuters’ interests, if you level completely the playing field, and Uber, Grab and taxi companies become homogeneous, then we will not be able to have the innovative disruption that private-hire cars bring to the industry,” he noted.

“In the morning peak hours where we have inadequate supply of full-time taxi drivers, many of the commuters’ interests are served because there are supplementary drivers that come in the form of Uber and Grab, and these are mostly part-time drivers.”

To a call by Ang Hin Kee (Ang Mo Kio GRC) for three separate licences for taxi drivers, private-hire drivers and limousine drivers, Mr Ng said: “This was actually considered in our initial original design of the system. So it is possible.”

But he added that the decision to have two categories was taken to prevent the system becoming too unwieldy.

“But it’s early days yet… It will take a year to implement so we will take your views into consideration,” he said.

The minister also said the minimum age for taxi drivers – 30 – “was for a different set of reasons and we are open to reviewing this if the taxi industry is requesting for this level playing field in terms of minimum age requirements”.

Also, he said having a minimum of two years’ driving experience was adequate for private-hire drivers but “we will continue to monitor the situation”.

As for permanent residents and work pass holders being allowed to drive private-hire cars, Mr Ng said they will have to be employees of an operator.

“Today, there are no work-pass holders driving for Uber or Grab,” he noted.

christan@sph.com.sg

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TOWN councils will be required to put aside a bigger proportion of their monthly service and conservancy charges (S&CC) into their sinking funds.

A portion of these funds will then have to be set aside specifically for lift replacements to meet new and stricter rules on lift maintenance.

This is because a more comprehensive lift maintenance and replacement programme will inevitably lead to higher costs, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said in Parliament yesterday.

“With more rigorous checks over time, town councils are likely to draw more on their sinking funds to replace worn-out lift parts or to carry out a complete replacement of older lifts,” he added, responding to MPs’ questions on lift maintenance.

“Town councils must project and plan ahead, and ensure sufficient savings for long-term financial sustainability,” he said.

However, Mr Wong did not give the percentage of S&CC, which town councils collect from residents each month, that must go into the sinking funds.

Town councils manage Housing Board estates and are required by law to set aside a part of the service and conservancy charges they collect from residents and grants-in-aid they receive from the Government to pay for cyclical works.

They draw on sinking funds to pay for long-term maintenance needs, such as the replacement

of lifts and water pumps.

The Building and Construction Authority, which comes under the Ministry of National Development, will implement tighter maintenance standards for lifts from July 25.

The new and more detailed requirements state, for instance, that brakes and lift parts must be checked to ensure they are not contaminated by oil or grease.

There are 59,000 passenger lifts in all, with about 24,000 of them in HDB estates.

The move to have tighter checks on lifts comes amid recent headlines of accidents and breakdowns.

In a particularly high-profile incident last October, an 86-year-old woman’s lower left arm was severed in a lift accident.

But Mr Wong gave figures yesterday that show the number of lift breakdowns declined last year compared to the two years before that.

Real-time data that monitors lifts in HDB flats showed that there were about 20 breakdowns for every 1,000 lifts each month last year.

This is lower than figures for 2014 and 2013, which recorded about 30 breakdowns per 1,000 lifts every month.

While the rate of breakdowns should be lowered further, Mr Wong said he was citing the figures as there is a perception of a “sudden surge” in the number of lift breakdowns, though the statistics show otherwise.

leepearl@sph.com.sg

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THE man who allegedly robbed a Standard Chartered Bank branch in Holland Village of about $30,000 on Thursday has been arrested in Thailand, Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported yesterday.

The police also confirmed in a press release yesterday that he was nabbed by the Royal Thai Police on Sunday.

They added that investigations had established “the identity of the suspect on the same day but he had already left Singapore for Bangkok, shortly after the crime was reported”.

“The Singapore authorities are currently engaging our counterparts in Thailand to see whether the suspect can be released into our custody.”

Major General Apichart Suriboonya, who heads Thailand’s Interpol unit, told The Straits Times yesterday that the suspect is Canadian. He flew from Singapore to Thailand on Thursday, arriving at 5.08pm.

On Sunday, he was arrested at noon at Boxpackers Hostel in Bangkok, and is now being detained at an immigration detention centre in Bangkok.

Bank robbery at Holland Village Standard Chartered Bank

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, Twitter

During the heist, the man had passed a piece of paper to the teller.

According to Shin Min, the note read: “This is a robbery, I have a weapon, give me money, don’t call police.”

The teller handed over $30,000 but also activated the secret alarm notifying the police.

The robber is believed to have taken a route with fewer closed-circuit television cameras and escaped to a residential area nearby.

Shin Min spoke to workers at shops in the area, who were on their guard after the robbery.

Coffee-shop manager He Shengmao, 24, said he triple-checks that the doors are locked before leaving each night.

A money changer, who gave his name as Mohammad, said he takes extra notice of suspicious-looking people who loiter.

myp@sph.com.sg

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