The Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) for Singapore-registered vehicles entering Johor has yet to be implemented as Malaysia is still finalising technical details.

State news agency Bernama reported in January that Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai was planning a May launch, but two ministry officials told The Straits Times that he never gave a start date.

“Minister hasn’t announced (the) date,” one official said, adding that no timeline would be in place “until the system is ready”.

Last month, reports quoted Datuk Seri Liow as saying that once details of the proposal had been ironed out, the government would announce the implementation date.

The levy – said to be RM20 (S$6.80) per trip – on Singapore-registered vehicles was supposed to have been implemented on Aug 1 last year, but has been repeatedly deferred.

It will be effective on both routes into Malaysia – the Causeway and the Second Link – and reports here said more than 120,000 Singapore-registered vehicles had registered for the VEP.

Malaysian cars entering Singapore now pay $35 in VEP for each weekday on the island while motorcyclists are charged $4.

At present, the toll involved in a round trip between Singapore and Johor Baru for a Singapore-registered car works out to around $13.

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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$1.7m set aside to help first batch of 138 pre-school teachers develop professionally

The first batch of 138 pre-school teachers was appointed yesterday under a programme that will help them progress in their careers and take on larger roles.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has set aside $1.7 million for cash awards of up to $12,000 each for this batch of teachers in the Professional Development Programme, which was launched last September.

Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said that similar programmes for pre-school principals, as well as staff who care for younger children up to the age of three, will be rolled out in the next two years.

“Through these, educators will be able to look forward to even more professional development opportunities at every stage of their careers,” he said at the appointment ceremony held at the National Gallery Singapore.

The programme, which is in line with the SkillsFuture initiative that raises skill levels and promotes lifelong learning, will let pre-school educators spend 180 hours over three years on courses and projects that will prepare them for more responsibilities at their workplace.

It will put teachers through university and polytechnic courses, including modules on centre leadership and teaching.

As far as possible, the course schedules will not disrupt the teacher’s work at the pre-school. Some projects are also carried out at the centre, so participants can support innovative teaching practices in the centre.

Teachers on the programme were nominated by their employers. The next nomination period will be in the third quarter of this year. “Without the support from their employers, the teachers would not have the opportunity to be nominated, attend training and development under the programme, and apply their skills in larger job roles subsequently,” said Mr Tan.

Ms Nur Farhana Mustafa, 27, a teacher at Bright Juniors childcare centre, was among those nominated. “I hope to gain more experience and impart this knowledge to others,” she said.

Ms Diamond Yap, human resource manager at G8 Education Singapore, which owns Bright Juniors, said of Ms Nur Farhana: “We think she has potential, and we can prepare her for larger roles. She is also someone who’s willing to share what she learnt.”

Meanwhile, it was also announced yesterday that ECDA is working with the National Gallery Singapore to develop learning programmes for young children, such as storytelling sessions and the studying of gallery artwork.

A learning resource kit can help teachers plan activities that enhance children’s appreciation of Singapore’s history, legacy and art. This kit will be uploaded online at the end of the year onto ECDA’s resource website for parents and teachers, called Grow @ Beanstalk (ecda.gov.sg/growatbeanstalk).

goyshiyi@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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完全不懂福建话的尚卡尔说：”其实听不懂没关系，更重要的是修复音频的过程要非常有耐心。影像和音频是分开的，所以我在处理资料时，需要特别注意李光耀所说的一字一句，注意口形，然后一帧一帧慢慢合并。”

虽是印族同胞，一句福建话也听不懂，但尚卡尔却凭着多年累积的经验和无限耐心，修复了建国总理李光耀早期的福建话演讲视频胶卷，并将它数码化放上网，让更多国人能重温我国历史重要的一页。

46岁的尚卡尔（Shanker Thangavellu）是一名档案技术人员。他的主要工作就是修复和还原旧胶卷的影像和音频，将其数码化。

新加坡国家档案馆今年3月把1966年至2015年的国庆群众大会演讲视频上载至线上资料库（Archives Online），而尚卡尔便是该工程音像档案组的幕后工作人员之一。

尚卡尔透露，把旧胶卷的内容数码化并非想像中那么容易。”旧胶卷很容易坏，所以须要手动清理，单单是清理的工作就很费时。”

虽然尚卡尔一句福建话都听不懂，但建国总理李光耀1968年在国庆群众大会上的福建话演讲视频，是由他负责处理数码化。

他笑说：”其实听不懂没关系，更重要的是修复音频的过程要非常有耐心。影像和音频是分开的，所以我在处理资料时，需要特别注意李光耀所说的一字一句，注意口形，然后一帧一帧慢慢合并。”

尚卡尔透露，单单是1968年国庆群众大会的旧胶卷，就花了他大约两三个星期进行修复。

虽然修复档案的工作非常繁琐，但是尚卡尔却对他的工作抱有很大的热忱。

他说：”我在这一行已经有16年的时间了，但是热忱依然未减。每当看到我们团队共同努力的成果，就会很有成就感。”

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Regional effort will collate data on economic, health and social costs of haze; results likely in a year, says Masagos

For the first time, five nations from the region will conduct an in-depth study to understand how badly they get hit by the haze – in health, social and economic terms.

There is no deadline to complete the study, but substantial results should be available within a year, said Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli, who chaired a meeting on transboundary haze pollution yesterday.

Mr Masagos noted that countries collect different types of information depending on their economies.

He said: “Singapore, for example, has impact studies on tourism… on damage suffered because events had to be postponed. In other countries like Indonesia, there is reduction in yield for crops.”

Early estimates by Indonesia, for example, had indicated that a haze crisis could set Indonesia back by up to 475 trillion rupiah (S$48.4 billion). A regional study could collate the available information and provide a base document for future reference, Mr Masagos said.

The meeting yesterday was attended by representatives from Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia.

Indonesia was represented by Mr Arief Yuwono, senior adviser to the Minister on Energy.

When asked by reporters for updates on Indonesia’s One Map initiative, which aims to detail land ownership there, as well as the status of discussions with Singapore to revive anti-haze co-operation with Jambi province, Mr Arief said the questions will be answered at a separate press conference in Jakarta.

In response to media queries, a spokesman for Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Ministry said the ministry was “as surprised as everyone else when this was stated by the Indonesian minister’s representative at the… joint press conference in response to all queries directed to him, as this was not earlier disclosed”.

He added that it was a “disappointing and bewildering development”, but did not want to speculate as to what this meant for co-operation on haze among the Ministerial Steering Committee countries.

The haze that plagued the region last year was the worst on record, surpassing even the 1997 and 2013 haze crises. With that and the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change in the rear-view mirror, Mr Masagos said the ministerial haze meeting this year had urgent undertones.

There was also renewed focus on Indonesia’s carbon-rich peatlands, which emit large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when on fire. It was agreed that Singapore and Indonesia will co-host a peatland fire management workshop in West Kalimantan from May 30 to June 1 this year.

Professor Euston Quah, who heads Nanyang Technological University’s Department of Economics, said a regional study could paint a fuller picture of the problem. It could also guide governments on investments in haze-free infrastructure.

The study could examine the losses suffered by businesses on account of haze and how badly tourism and productivity were hit, he suggested.

In computing losses on the health front, one should look at not just medical costs, but also the time lost to treatment, he said.

“However, one big major loss, which is difficult measure, is the loss to reputation in lost goodwill among neighbouring victim countries of the transboundary haze,” Prof Quah said.

audreyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, AFP, The Straits Times, Berita Harian

New Hokkien video gives tips om beating the haze

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Terror cell here, recent attacks in Jakarta and Paris show threat is serious and here to stay

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday that the discovery of a terror cell here is a strong signal that Singapore cannot let its guard down.

Singapore could well have been one of the group’s targets, he noted.

“They were prepared to attack anywhere,” he said. “If they had been directed to attack in Singapore, they would have attacked in Singapore.”

His comments come a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that eight Bangladeshi workers were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) late last month for plotting terror attacks back in their country.

The men had called their group Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), and had a list of targets and bomb-making manuals, and raised funds to buy firearms. Mr Shanmugam said: “You and I don’t go in search of these things and collect money, identify people you are going to target, so there is concern.”

Speaking to reporters yesterday before a closed-door forum on religious extremism at Temasek Polytechnic, he noted that the latest arrests, along with recent attacks in Paris and Jakarta, showed the terror threat is serious and that it is here to stay.

There are at least two more ISB members in Bangladesh. Mr Shanmugam said the fate of those men depended on the Bangladeshi authorities, adding that the Government was cooperating with them.

Yesterday, MHA also revealed that the eight men, who are aged between 26 and 34, were arrested between late March and early April, and given two-year detention orders in late April.

All had worked here for between three and 10 years, and when they first came to work, were not known to be radicalised or involved in terrorism-related activities.

The group’s leader, Rahman Mizanur, 31, worked as a draftsman in a local construction firm, and had worked on and off in Singapore since 2007. He returned here last December, and there was no information to suggest that he had radicalised views.

MHA also named the five other Bangladeshi nationals picked up in the case. They were not involved in ISB, but owned or spread jihadi-related materials, or promoted armed violence. All five have been deported, and arrested in Dhaka. They are: Evan Galib Hassan Chowdhury, Rana Masud, Pailot Md Rana Miea, Islam Tanjemul and Alomgir Md.

MHA said the ISB members had met largely in open parks or fields.

They are still under investigation, and are not known to have acted on plans to buy firearms yet, it added.

“Several of them are liable to be prosecuted for terrorism financing. Investigations are still ongoing and we are not able to comment further on this matter,” the ministry said.

The ISB is the first group comprising all foreigners to be detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities in Singapore.

There are 23 people currently detained under the ISA for terror activities. The other 15 are Singaporeans.

MHA stressed that there was “no indication” that these ISB members were also part of the group of 27 Bangladeshi men arrested last year, all of whom have been deported.

Efforts to reach out to foreign workers have also been stepped up.

Yesterday, Mr Shanmugam rebutted comments from Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan, who told reporters in the morning that the arrests showed a need to tighten immigration policy.

Asking Dr Chee to clarify his position, Mr Shanmugam said Singaporeans would be affected if foreign workers were barred.

“These are serious matters, security issues. They require careful consideration, proper thought and I think, really, we should all just avoid taking cheap shots and political opportunism,” he said.

dansonc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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