In her six years as a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer, she had never encountered a blaze quite like this one.

The sight of the huge oil tank fire set Captain Clara Toh, 30, the station commander of Banyan Fire Station on Jurong Island, thinking of the need to contain it first, rather than put it out.

“The tank was engulfed in flames and there was a huge fireball above it.

“Then I saw the top of the tank start to cave in. That was when I knew the first thing to do was to contain the fire,” she told The New Paper.

By then, the in-house company emergency response team (Cert) was already using ground water monitors to fight the fire that broke out on Wednesday in the Jurong Aromatics Corporation (JAC) petrochemical complex on Jurong Island.

Capt Toh led a team of 16 officers to the fire at 3pm, and there were 150 officers on site within an hour.

SCDF also deployed 38 fire-fighting and rescue vehicles from seven fire stations in the 1st Division HQ.

A section commander from Banyan Fire Station, Sergeant Rahmat Mohamat Haron, 23, told TNP that the station was just a five-minute drive away.

“As soon as the fire engine I was in got out of the station, I could already see the massive blaze coming from the tank.

“There were no explosions, just thick, black smoke,” said the full-time national serviceman.

Another section commander from the same station, Staff Sergeant Fazeli Rahmat, 33, added: “When we reached the scene, it was so hot. It felt like we were being cooked.”

Capt Toh said the temperature near the tank was about 700 deg C.

The tank could contain up to 2.5 million litres of light crude oil.

An SCDF spokesman said it was about 10 per cent full.

For safety reasons, the tank was surrounded by a 2m-high rectangular bund wall, 100m by 150m.

SCDF brought out its big guns to take on the fire.

A monitor that can shoot out 27,000 litres of foam per minute was set up to fight the fire. It is so powerful that it can fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in about one and a half hours.

Several ground water monitors and fixed drencher systems were used to cool down two oil tanks nearby, as well as a pipeline corridor away from the burning tank. (See graphic.)

Lieutenant-Colonel Alan Chow, 39, commander of the SCDF’s 1st Division HQ, explained that it was important to contain the fire within the tank and prevent it from spreading to its immediate surrounding.

SUFFOCATE

“The three elements that keep a fire burning are fuel, heat and oxygen.

“So we used the foam to blanket the fire so as to suffocate it and cut off the oxygen supply,” said Lt-Col Chow.

He added: “When it comes to oil tank fires, it’s better to use foam than water. It’s like boiling oil – when you add water, it will actually cause the oil to boil over.”

Station commander of Jurong Island Fire Station, Major Benny Ong, 35, who was in charge of overseeing the operation of the large monitor, said: “Because the large monitor uses very high water pressure, we have to co-ordinate with the rest on the ground.

“Sometimes, we have to make the call to close some ground monitors so that the water pressure in the large monitor is not compromised.”

Sgt Rahmat and Staff Sgt Fazeli operated the monitor, along with Lance Corporal Sundar Raj Hemath Kumar, 20, a firefighter who joined Banyan Fire Station in January after passing his fire-fighting course.

Lance Cpl Sundar Raj said: “It was the first time I was sent out to such a major incident after I completed my training. I was a little nervous but confident because our training is all based on real-life situations. I was glad it all paid off.”

According to Platts, which issues daily price assessments for the energy and metals commodity markets, JAC filed for receivership in September last year after debt-restructuring talks broke down.

The company has been offline since 2014.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, said SCDF.

Lt-Col Chow also thanked the Singapore Police Force, the Jurong Town Corporation and Aetos for helping in the operation.

– Additional reporting by Nurul Asyikin Yusoff

fnawang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 23, 2016.
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They were happy with their maid as she was efficient and their toddler liked her. So much so that they treated her like a member of the family.

Imagine their horror then when they found out that Tursinah Sari, 32, had been abusing their youngest child who had turned one not too long ago.

On 15 occasions, the Indonesian had ill-treated her charge in various ways, including dangling him upside down from his ankles, spinning him around like a rag doll and dropping him head-first into his cot.

And it was only by chance, and a mother’s instinct, that his parents discovered the abuse after watching footage from a closed-circuit television camera in their home.

On Tuesday, Tursinah was jailed for 12 weeks after pleading guilty to six out of 15 charges of ill-treating the child.

The boy and his parents cannot be named, to protect his identity.

Speaking to The New Paper yesterday, the parents, who are in their 30s, said the abuse came as a huge shock as they had a good relationship with Tursinah.

Said the father: “We treated her well, and she even said that she felt like a part of our family. But she was a totally different person behind closed doors, someone we didn’t know at all. There were no tell-tale signs of the abuse.”

On the evening of Feb 4 this year, his wife saw Tursinah lift their son out of his cot by his shirt when she decided to check the live CCTV footage from the boy’s room.

They had installed the CCTV cameras in the common areas and bedrooms a few years ago for “peace of mind” and to “stay connected” with their children at home.

The couple, who have two other children, would watch live and recorded footage on their smartphones whenever they missed their kids.

It was routine for Tursinah, who worked for the family for five months, to put the toddler to sleep in his room around 7pm while the rest of the family had their dinner.

NEVER ALONE

They said that Tursinah was never alone at home with the baby as either of the couple’s parents would come over every day while they were at work.

The maid was left alone with the boy only when she put him to sleep in the evening and during his bath time.

The mother said: “I wanted to check if she was having trouble getting him to sleep as he had a late nap that day. I didn’t want to open the door in case I disturbed him, so I checked the live footage on my phone.”

She thought the “rough handling” was just a one-off and later told Tursinah to be gentler with the boy.

But she could not stop thinking about the incident the next day while at work, and her mother’s instinct kicked in.

“I felt uncomfortable, so I decided to check footage from previous days and discovered that it wasn’t a one-time thing. I couldn’t believe my eyes and was literally trembling in disbelief and anger as I watched her abuse my son,” she said.

After viewing a few days of footage, she could no longer bear to watch. She asked her husband to continue checking the recordings.

He said: “I watched the recordings until 5am the next day, and I felt my emotions building up each time I saw her ill-treat my son. Seeing her turning, tossing and spinning my son made my heart break.”

The couple said the older kids had not complained of abuse by the maid.

They made a police report on Feb 6, and Tursinah was arrested that very day.

The boy was examined at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital that day and had no external injuries.

The father said he knew about Tursinah’s conviction and sentence only when TNP approached them on Tuesday.

He said he had received a call from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority on Wednesday informing him that Tursinah had been released from jail as the sentence had been backdated to Feb 8.

The couple were upset that Tursinah had told the judge that they had not paid her salary for five months. This led to some online criticism of them, and some relatives had also questioned them about it.

The couple said this was not true as they were keeping the money for Tursinah. (See report at right.)

They said that they decided to make a police report as they did not want the same abuse to happen to another family.

Said the mother: “I did wonder if it was harsh of us to make a police report. But I didn’t want her to be passed to another family where she could do the same thing.”

Her husband added: “We hope my son won’t remember any of this. He is a strong and happy-go-lucky child. The paediatrician told us the only thing we can do now is to observe him and shower him with love.”

Dispute over five months’ salary

In her mitigation plea, Tursinah Sari, 32, who was jailed for abusing her employers’ son, claimed that she was owed five months’ salary.

But her employers dispute this.

The couple told The New Paper yesterday that they had a written agreement with the maid stating that they would hold on to her monthly salary for safekeeping.

They also said they had paid Tursinah’s loan for her to come to Singapore, and the loan would be offset by six months of her salary.

And the money they kept for her amounted to only a few hundred dollars as it was payment for when she did not take a day off.

Tursinah worked for them for only five months.

KEPT MONEY IN SAFE

“We kept the money in a safe and made sure she signed off each time we paid her. She was allowed to ‘withdraw’ money any time she wanted and she wasn’t afraid to ask us for it,” said the mother.

“The amount wasn’t enough to open a bank account, but we had planned to do that if she stayed with us longer.”

The couple said they had asked Tursinah if she preferred to keep the money, but she did not want to.

The father said after buying a $114 plane ticket for her to return to Indonesia, he handed her the remaining $185 owed to her through an officer at the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority yesterday afternoon.

The Ministry of Manpower website advises employers not to hold their maids’ salaries for safekeeping as this could lead to misunderstandings if things go wrong.

Its guidelines state that employers should allow their maids to manage their own salaries to minimise unnecessary misunderstandings.

Maids R Us director Graham George Spencer told TNP that if employers do hold on to their maids’ salaries, there should be some form of written agreement to protect the parties involved.

“You have to get the agreement written down as proof. And each time the maid gets paid, you have to provide a receipt.

“A verbal agreement isn’t enough, otherwise each party can say whatever they want,” he said.

Timeline of abuse

Between Dec 25, 2015, and February this year, Tursinah Sari ill-treats the boy a total of 15 times when she could not get him to fall asleep.

She starts abusing the toddler, who is between 14 and 16 months old at the time, by forcefully pulling him upwards by one of his arms.

From then on, she continues manhandling him, sometimes up to three times a day.

On Jan 27, she drops him on a sofa before pressing his ribs with both her hands.

On Feb 1, she forcefully pulls him out of the cot by grabbing his legs. She then spins his body around to face her while he is dangling upside down.

On Feb 5, the boy’s parents watch CCTV footage of the abuse and call the police the next day.

On April 19, Tursinah pleads guilty to six counts of ill-treating the child and is jailed for 12 weeks.

The maid, who is not represented by a lawyer, says in her mitigation plea that her employers owe her five months’ pay.

District Judge Luke Tan replies that she would have to seek a separate recourse for this matter.

Tursinah’s sentence is backdated to Feb 8, the date of her remand.

For each count of ill-treating the baby, she could have been jailed up to four years and fined up to $4,000.

tammei@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 23, 2016. 
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Can dad sell flat after mum’s death?Reader Pat Chiow asked ST about the right to continue living in a Housing Board (HDB) flat after one parent dies.

She asked: “Does an unmarried daughter above 21 years of age and living with her widowed father have the legal right to stop him from selling his HDB flat and rendering her homeless?” 

Unfortunately, if the daughter is not a co-owner of the flat, she has no legal right to stop the flat from being sold, said the HDB.

As a legal owner of the flat, the widowed father can decide to sell the flat if he has met the Minimum Occupation Period of five years.

“If she is experiencing hardship or family dispute, the daughter could seek assistance from the Family Service Centre or the Legal Aid Bureau,” suggested the HDB.

When a joint owner of a flat dies, the remaining joint owner can take ownership as the sole lessee, if he or she satisfies the eligibility conditions, such as being a Singapore citizen or permanent resident.

In such a situation, the remaining joint owner will have to lodge a Notice of Death with the Singapore Land Authority.

He may appoint his own solicitor to act for him, or engage the HDB’s legal services.

If using the HDB’s services, he should go to the relevant HDB branch, taking along his identity card, the original death certificate of the deceased joint owner, and a duplicate lease, if there is one.

He will have to pay registration and conveyancing fees at the point of application.

HDB’s legal group will then prepare the Notice of Death and inform him to sign the documents.

janiceh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 23, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – A former director of a jewellery firm, who admitted to committing forgery and misappropriating $130,000, was jailed for 22 months on Friday (April 22).

A court heard that in July 2011, Chinese national Gou Linnan, 36, was a director of W&G Jewellery, which operates Chow Tai Fook Jewellery at Marina Bay Sands.

Gou was one of the two authorised signatories of W&G Jewellery’s United Overseas Bank cheque account. The firm allowed cheque withdrawals with just one of the authorised signatures.

Between July 14 and 18, 2011, she issued and encashed two cash cheques, amounting to $130,000, from the firm’s bank account.

She wrote on the cheque book summary page that the two cheques were payments to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, a Hong Kong based jewellery supplier of W & G. But she had spent the money on gambling.

She also forged an application form for a telegraphic transfer of $100,000 from her bank account to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery on July 14, 2011.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi said Gou signed the document in the name of an employee of UOB to deceive W&G Jewellery into believing that $100,000 was paid to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery.

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery later confirmed that it did not receive the payments of $100,000 and $30,000 from W&G Jewellery.

She has made partial restitution of RMB500,000 (about $94,800) to Mr Wang Kaizhong, a director of W&G Jewellery.

Gou’s lawyer Josephus Tan said his client had been in a seven-year relationship with Mr Wang and went through four abortions. When the relationship went downhill, she gambled. She had hoped to win, and return the money .

Mr Tan added that Gou had returned to China but came back as she wanted to meet her prospective parents-in-law. She married her Singaporean husband in 2014 and wants to start a family, he told the court.

District Judge May Mesenas, who took a second forgery charge involving $30,000 into consideration, backdated Gou’s sentence to Nov 12 last year. Gou could have been jailed for life or up to 20 years and fined for criminal breach of trust. The maximum penalty for forgery is 10 years’ jail and a fine.

elena@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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The Al-Falah Mosque, the only mosque in the Orchard Road shopping district, opened its doors to congregants yesterday with a bigger prayer space.

The mosque in Cairnhill Road can now hold up to 2,000 congregants instead of 1,500, after extensions to both of its two floors. Amenities such as ramps and a platform lift for those who are disabled were also added.

Its entire prayer hall is now fully air-conditioned. Other additions include four classrooms that can be reconfigured, one youth room and a nursing room.

The total cost of the one-year upgrading works was $2.64 million, of which $750,000 came from the Mosque Building and Mendaki Fund. The rest was raised by the mosque and donors.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, officiated the completion ceremony yesterday.

“We have to continue to do mosque upgrading as the needs, lifestyle and demographic of the congregation are changing,” he said.

So far, 17 mosques, including Al-Falah, have been renovated under the Mosque Upgrading Programme of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.

This article was first published on April 23, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – A motorcyclist was injured on Thursday (April 21) evening after a wild boar dashed onto the road while he was travelling on the Seletar Expressway (SLE), causing an accident.

Logistics worker Mr Krishnan, 49, was unable to stop in time and crashed into the animal. He was flung about 2-3m, and the impact left him with a fractured right shoulder.

The accident happened on the Woodlands-bound SLE, before the Upper Thomson Road exit.

The wild boar was killed.

The Malaysian man told the Chinese evening daily Shin Min Daily News that there were cars all around him when he saw the boar rush out. The next thing he knew, he had been flung from his bike.

Mr Krishnan told reporters he travels daily from his home in Johor Bahru to his workplace in Tampines.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the incident at 8.30pm. It despatched an ambulance and conveyed Mr Krishnan conscious to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

Mr Krishnan was discharged from the hospital on Friday (April 22).

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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Vacancies at retail malls in the central region hit a five-year high in the first quarter of the year, driven largely by more vacant space in the Orchard sub-market.

The rate went up from 8 per cent to 8.7 per cent, analysis from Colliers showed, the highest since the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) started tracking retail space data including food and beverage, fitness and entertainment businesses from the first quarter of 2011.

In the Orchard planning area, the vacancy rates rose 1.2 percentage points to 8.8 per cent in the first quarter, URA figures showed.

These disappointing numbers come as the retail sector continues to battle rising costs, weak sentiment and increased supply of space. The islandwide vacancy rate of retail space rose to 7.3 per cent in the first three months of the year, up slightly from 7.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Citing URA Realis data, analysts said retail rental volume plunged by 32 per cent to 1,725 transactions in the first quarter from 2,550 deals in the last three months of 2015.

“We are seeing higher vacancies setting in, particularly for the newer shopping malls,” said Cushman & Wakefield research director Christine Li. “Besides spaces which have yet to fill up, spaces which tenants have pre-terminated also add to rising vacancy levels.”

Century 21 Singapore chief executive Ku Swee Yong told The Straits Times malls with higher vacancies in the Orchard area include Shaw Centre, Orchard Gateway, Orchard Central and Palais Renaissance. “Vacancy rate in general will likely worsen in the coming quarters because some retailers have said they would be shutting their non-performing stores later this year,” he noted.

Dubai-based conglomerate Al-Futtaim Group said last month it would shut 10 stores under its distribution and retailing arm RSH in the second half of the year. Its group chief executive for Asia Christophe Cann said yesterday: “At present, we are looking to exit at places where rentals are too high for us to continue to run a business.”

He said landlords have a stake in the retail industry, and “it would benefit tenants, and the retail industry as a whole, by lending a helping hand during challenging times”.

Sakae Holdings chairman Douglas Foo made a similar point, citing a good working relationship with the manager of Wheelock Place, where Sakae Sushi has an outlet. “When we talk about rental renewal, they don’t give you heart attack rates. Certain landlords will up rates by 30 to 40 per cent, and you have to ask how retailers can do a sustainable business like that.”

The slow leasing activity exerted downward pressure on rents, which fell 1.9 per cent in the first quarter, following a 1.3 per cent drop in the previous three months, URA data showed.

Consultancy JLL expects retail rents to contract by about 7 per cent to 8 per cent this year, in anticipation that some landlords may have to offer greater discounts to maintain stable occupancy.

Analysts say other challenges such as the manpower crunch are likely to persist for the rest of the year. Colliers International noted, however, that falling rents in the central area are an opportunity for some brands to open new flagship stores and strengthen their presence.

wongsy@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 23, 2016.
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The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) yesterday promised to roll out four social initiatives for Bukit Batok residents should its candidate Chee Soon Juan be elected in the May 7 by-election.

The programmes, which target a broad swathe of residents from youth to the elderly, will help those who have fallen through the cracks, Dr Chee said, adding that existing social assistance programmes had not gone far enough.

Speaking at a news conference at the SDP’s Ang Mo Kio headquarters, Dr Chee, 53, who is the party’s secretary-general, acknowledged it might be normal for some to be left behind in a “big bureaucracy”.

“But this is where the MPs have a big responsibility,” he said.

He said he would be a full-time MP if elected, and that he would contribute a portion of the MP’s monthly allowance to help fund the initiatives.

The SDP’s plans came ahead of those which People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate, lawyer Murali Pillai, 48, has said he would also unveil for the constituency.

He said previously that he would do so by Nomination Day, which falls on April 27.

Mr Murali has been uploading videos of his interactions with residents on his Facebook page.

In a recent video, he was shown doing push-ups with a resident identified only as Mr Razali.

“I am amazed with Mr Razali! At his age of 66, he can do more push-ups than I do. I certainly need to learn how to keep up with him,” Mr Murali wrote.

Another clip shows him playing the piano in the Ho family’s home.

“It’s been some time since I played,” he said.

Some 25,727 Bukit Batok residents will vote in the by-election that was triggered by the resignation last month of former PAP MP David Ong over an alleged extramarital affair.

Dr Chee said yesterday he hoped the by-election will be “a contest of ideas, of the vision where we want to take Singapore, and by that, to be able to build Bukit Batok as this constituency that Singaporeans can look up to”.

The programmes the SDP unveiled yesterday are part of this vision, he said.

They are:

• Hearts for Bukit Batok: Led by private tutor Wong Hwee Lin, 42. Under it, households will be encouraged to “adopt” a needy family and contribute their time and resources to help them. The SDP will set up a trust fund, and Dr Chee said he will use part of the MP’s allowance to help 10 families.
• Pathfinder: Book clubs, science fairs and youth sports clubs will be organised under this initiative led by allied educator Rajakumari Ashukumar, 23. Subsidised private tuition will also be given to students of low-income families.
• Dollars And Sense: A financial clinic facilitated by business consultant and former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian, 68.
• Legal Lifeline: A legal clinic providing advice run by “at least seven lawyers”, who SDP vice-chairman John Tan said cannot be named due to “ethical guidelines”.

Dr Chee said his groundwork in Bukit Batok showed the need for such initiatives. He cited, as an example, a family he met who have been trying to get the town council to build a ramp for wheelchair users like their mother.

“These are people we can help. It’s not rocket science. It’s just where your priorities are,” he said.

Bukit Batok resident Tan Siew Bee, 65, said yesterday that she felt the Government had done a lot for the elderly, including those from the Pioneer Generation.

But Madam Tan, who is single, said she has not worked since she was retrenched six years ago. The former factory worker also has to look after her 96-year-old mother, who has diabetes and dementia.

“It will be better if there are more communal areas where old people can gather,” she told The Straits Times.

“I’m not able to go out because I need to watch my mother.

“But if there are areas where I can chat with people, maybe they can help me watch my mother if I need to run some errands.”

Although the contest looks to be a straight fight between Dr Chee and Mr Murali, former opposition candidate Abdul Rahim Osman collected nomination forms from the Elections Department yesterday.

Shin Min Daily News quoted him as saying that he will run as an independent candidate.

He has contested in previous general elections with the Workers’ Party and also the Singapore Democratic Alliance.

waltsim@sph.com.sg

leepearl@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 23, 2016.
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