YOU may soon get a reminder on your mobile phone when it is time to renew your season parking permit.

Or you may get information on where to go for pre-marital counselling when you file a notice at the Registry of Marriages.

Such reminders, information or forms will be delivered to the mobile devices of citizens for their convenience, if the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and its smart-nation engineering team have their way.

Plans are under way to take e-citizen services to the next level to be more “anticipatory”, said Jacqueline Poh, IDA managing director.

“We are looking at ways for individuals to be taken care of holistically in their life journeys… and make their experience across the whole of government more seamless.”

She was speaking at the Ministry of Communications and Information’s annual workplan seminar yesterday.

Such anticipatory e-citizen services involve heavy analysis of citizens’ personal data from across multiple government agencies. Agencies can then push relevant information to citizens just when they need it.

For instance, a notice filed at the Registry of Marriages can trigger the sending of pre-marital counselling as well as housing and mortgage loan application information to the couple.

IDA is already partnering 98 government agencies to create citizen-centric e-services. Some have been launched, such as the OneService mobile app that lets residents report municipal issues, including blocked drains.

Other examples are the myResponder app, which calls qualified volunteers to suspected heart-attack cases until emergency services arrive, and the Beeline app, which lets office workers book rides from private bus operators.

itham@sph.com.sg

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SINGAPORE – An unemployed man stabbed his neighbour after the latter splashed hot oil and water at him, a court heard.

Bounty Gill, 59, was sentenced to three years’ jail on Thursday (April 28) after he was convicted of grievously hurting Mr Kho Ah Yeow, now 60.

Gill stabbed Mr Kho in his abdomen a few times with a knife, causing him to be unable to pursue his ordinary activities for 26 days.

The attack took place along the sixth-storey common corridor of Block 3 Jalan Bukit Merah on June 25 last year.

Mr Kho underwent various surgical procedures. Gill, meanwhile, was warded for two days.

The only disputed fact in the case was whether there was grave and sudden provocation by Mr Kho such that Gill could not control himself when he stabbed Mr Kho .

In his brief grounds, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow found that grave and sudden provocation was not established by the defence.

He said Gill’s evidence was that he felt angry and provoked by Mr Kho’s actions.

When he returned home his mind went blank, he could not recall having stabbed the victim and was unable to give any evidence of his actions or intentions.

The judge said he did not accept that Gill’s mind went blank.

“His act of lying about his mind having completely gone blank could only be because he had to hide his motivations and intentions behind the stabbing, making defence suggestions that he had acted on grave and sudden provocation much less probable,” he said.

Judge Lim said he took into account that a knife was used, that there were a few stabs, and that the injuries caused were very serious.

But he said he was also prepared to give weight to the fact that the victim – Mr Kho – was the instigator and that there was considerable provocation before the stabbing.

Defence lawyer Favian Kang said that Gill, who was living on social assistance, had been suffering from schizophrenia and a host of other mental illnesses for many years.

“Prior to the incident, he had been bullied and harassed by Kho,” he said.

Gill’s previous convictions included using abusive language, using criminal force on a public servant, criminal intimidation and causing grievous hurt.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang had argued that a sentence of 3½ to four years’ jail be imposed after accepting that there was provocation to a certain degree although not to the level of grave and sudden provocation.

Gill, whose sentence was backdated to June 26 last year, could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.

Mr Kho was earlier sentenced to three months’ jail for hurting Gill by means of heated substance.

This article was first published on April 28, 2016.
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SINGAPORE -A 39-year-old housebreaking suspect has been nabbed by his intended victim and his neighbours at Bukit Batok Street 34.

The suspect was seen by a resident of the flat he broke into on Wednesday morning, police said in a statement on Thursday (April 28).

The victim was in his kitchen when he heard a loud noise from his bedroom at about 7.45am. He spotted a man trying to flee through the bedroom window.

The victim’s neighbours Mr Wong Pi Xiang and Mr Choh Sze Huat responded to his calls for help, and the three detained the suspect.

Police officers arrived shortly and placed the suspect under arrest. Two screwdrivers and two pieces of cloth were seized, police said.

If convicted of housebreaking and theft by day, the suspect can be fined and jailed up to 10 years.

The police advised property owners to adopt these crime prevention measures against break-ins:

* Secure all doors and windows with good quality grills and close-shackled padlocks before retiring to bed or when leaving the house unattended, even for a short while.

* Keep large sums of cash in banks and expensive jewellery in a safe deposit box.

* Install a burglar alarm, to cover the house entrances. Ensure that the alarms are tested regularly and in good working condition.

This article was first published on April 28, 2016.
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THE warm weather in Malaysia has ruffled some feathers, leading to fewer eggs and a small rise in their prices at some shops in Singapore, although others are holding prices steady for now.

Prices rose by 10 cents for 10 eggs on Monday, Mr Tan Lau Huah, chairman of the Eggs Import/Export Trading Association, told The Straits Times on the same day.

One reason is that cake shops are buying more eggs to meet demand for the upcoming Hari Raya Puasa holiday on July 6. But Mr Tan also cited the hot weather in Malaysia.

“It’s too hot so the chickens eat less and lay fewer eggs,” he said. His association’s 25 egg supplier members get 80 per cent of their eggs from Malaysia, he added.

A 68-year-old owner of an egg stall at a market in Toa Payoh Lorong 1, who wanted to be known only as Mr Liao, told Lianhe Wanbao he raised prices by one cent per egg.

This was in line with the price hike by his supplier.

He sells about 2,000 eggs a day.

Mr Liao, an egg seller of 48 years, said: “If I don’t raise (prices), I’ll make losses.”

Ang Seng Eggs Supplier, which has been in the business for more than 30 years and supplies to restaurants and cafeterias, has also raised prices by one cent each.

The firm imports eggs from Johor Baru and Malacca, said director Sam Ang, 51.

He added: “On top of it being too hot in Malaysia, there’s the problem of water shortage so costs are rising.”

The chickens need water and have to be cleaned.

Egg prices at several wet market stalls and provision shops, as well as major supermarkets, appear to be stable.

An NTUC FairPrice spokesman said prices of its eggs have remained stable, “other than the typical fresh food price fluctuation”.

alexong@sph.com.sg

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