The election deposit for candidates who want to stand in the Bukit Batok by-election has been set at $13,500.

This and other information was provided by the Elections Department (ELD) in an advisory for candidates of the upcoming Bukit Batok polls on May 7.

The sum is less than the $14,500 required both in last year’s general election and the Punggol East by-election in 2013.

Advertisement Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, the deposit is computed based on 8 per cent of the total allowances paid to a Member of Parliament in the preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest $500.

The ELD said the lower deposit this time round had to do with MPs getting lower allowances last year as they were not paid allowances during the period from the dissolution of Parliament for the Sept 11 General Election, until they returned to office.

For the upcoming polls, candidates will have to pay their election deposit before noon next Wednesday, the Nomination Day. This can be in cash, bank draft or cheque.

The deposit will be forfeited if a candidate receives less than 12.5 per cent of the votes.

The advisory for candidates, which was put up on the ELD’s website on Wednesday, also set out the proceedings for Nomination Day.

Candidates have one hour, from 11am, to file their papers at the school hall in Keming Primary School.

These papers, including the nomination form and the political donation certificate, must be complete and submitted in duplicate by the candidates in person.

Candidates must also be accompanied by a proposer, a seconder and at least four assentors, who must be registered voters from Bukit Batok and have to be present when the nomination is filed.

New rules put in place for rallies during the general election last year will also continue to apply at this by-election, said the advisory.

This includes a ban on aerial drones at nomination centres, rally sites and assembly centres, among other things.

Cooling-off Day will be on May 6, a day before Polling Day.

A total of 25,727 voters are expected to cast their ballots at nine polling stations.

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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The Bukit Batok by-election contest was off to a quiet start a day after the Writ setting May 7 as the election date was issued.

There was no flurry of candidate introductions or fevered speculation about possible candidates.

This was in large part because the People’s Action Party (PAP) and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) introduced candidates a month ago. Both have become a familiar sight to residents.

With other major opposition parties staying away, it is likely a straight fight between the PAP’s Mr Murali Pillai, 48, and the SDP’s Dr Chee Soon Juan, 53.

Both spent yesterday morning walking the ground, keeping to a near daily routine that began shortly after news on March 12 that former MP David Ong was resigning over an alleged affair with a grassroots activist, and a by-election would be called.

Dr Chee, the SDP secretary-general, said after his walkabout yesterday that the party’s plans for Bukit Batok will be outlined today.

He did not elaborate on what the plans entailed, but said the SDP had the resources to take over the town council if needed. He reiterated his call for a retrenchment insurance scheme, and said workers were affected by a slowing economy.

His message continued to be that he would make a bigger impact in Parliament than Mr Murali: “With 82 seats that the PAP has, what is the difference that Mr Murali is going to make in Parliament?”

Two Bukit Batok residents told The Straits Times they were still assessing the candidates. Housewife Ong Boon Kin, 65, voted for the PAP in last year’s general election. But as she does not know enough about the candidates this time, she said: “I’ll take my time to find out more.”

IT firm managing director Jerian Yong, 37, who has also lived in the area for 30 years, said he will wait for a fuller picture of their election platform, especially their plans “for younger people and children”.

Both Mr Murali and Dr Chee continued to use social media to reach out to residents.

But a Facebook post on Monday by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, in which he recalled an encounter with Dr Chee in the run-up to the 2001 General Election, had some netizens asking him why he was raising it again now.

Mr Goh had commented on a newspaper article about his first general election as prime minister and recounted that Dr Chee heckled him when their paths crossed in a wet market.

Replying to a netizen on Tuesday on why he cited the episode, Mr Goh said: “That jarring incident stuck in my mind.”

ziliang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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Singapore is taking action under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act against companies that started fires or let their concessions burn, and contributed to last year’s haze, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli has said.

It has given notices to six of these Indonesia-based firms, asking them to explain steps they are taking to put out and prevent fires on their land.

Two have replied.

A director of one of the four firms that have yet to reply has also been served with a notice to give information on his firm’s move to mitigate fires on its land and prevent a repeat of last year’s haze.

“He has left (Singapore), but is required to return,” Mr Masagos told reporters on Tuesday night.

“Should he not return, he would have violated our laws,” he said, adding that Singapore can arrest him if he returns later than the date stipulated in the notice.

Mr Masagos declined to disclose the name of the director or his firm, but said he can be detained in Singapore if he fails to give the required information.

“We must not let companies get away with their most egregious acts,” Mr Masagos added.

He made these points when asked by Singapore reporters about his Indonesian counterpart’s remarks that asked what Singapore had done to combat forest fires.

Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar had told news site Foresthints.news last week that her country had been trying to prevent the recurrence of land and forest fires, and consistently enforcing the law.

“My question is – what has the Singaporean Government done? I feel they should focus on their own role,” she was quoted as saying.

Singapore experts, like Dr Mustafa Izzuddin of the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, said her comments, made “in that spirit of national pride”, seemed directed at her home audience.

Dr Jonatan Lassa, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that while Indonesia has committed to map hot spots, it needs to build structures like incident command systems on the ground to follow up and take action where needed.

Mr Masagos, in his media interview, also noted Singapore’s good ties with Indonesia on many fronts, saying both are working together.

But the haze is a complex issue that has to be tackled not just bilaterally, but also at the ASEAN and regional level.

For instance, Singapore led an ASEAN programme to make people more aware of what they can do to manage and restore peatland, on which most forest fires take place.

The six companies given notice by the National Environment Agency include Singapore-listed Asia Pulp and Paper, which has been asked about steps its subsidiaries and Indonesian suppliers are taking to put out fires in their concessions.

“We are now looking at them to see how we are going to move forward,” Mr Masagos said. He declined to say more as investigations are ongoing.

“The message to everybody is: Whether you are Singaporean, whether you are a foreigner, if you violate our laws, we will apply the law to its full extent.”

Mr Chris Cheng of volunteer group People’s Movement to Stop Haze called on firms to produce or buy palm oil and paper that are verified “haze-free”.

He added: “Our financial institutions can also ensure they do not lend to or invest in potential haze-causing companies.”

zakirh@sph.com.sg

audreyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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The cost of watching football’s Uefa European Championship has risen, with Singtel announcing yesterday that the month-long tournament will be available for a one-time charge of $88 (with GST).

Viewers who wanted to follow the previous edition in 2012 had to pay only $69.55.

This year’s June 10-July 10 event will be held in France and will feature stars such as Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale of Wales.

For Singtel customers who sign up for or renew their Trio (from $52.90 monthly), Variety (from $62.90) or Value (from $69.90) packs for 24 months from yesterday, the Euro 2016 will be available for free on up to two dedicated channels.

Those who sign up or renew their mio Stadium+ pack, including cross-carriage StarHub customers, will have access to the matches only through the Singtel TV GO app, which is free to download.

They can stream the matches directly to their television screens with the app’s Chromecast and AirPlay functions.

The opening game, one semi-final and the final will be streamed free within Singapore on the Singtel TV GO app.

Said the telco’s managing director of Home, Consumer Singapore Goh Seow Eng: “We want to share a piece of the exciting Uefa Euro 2016 action with everyone in Singapore, as it will be a bigger tournament this time with more teams competing and more matches being held.”

Eleven Sports Network announced on April 8 it had secured the Singapore broadcast rights for the prestigious quadrennial competition, which has been expanded from 16 to 24 European nations.

A total of 51 matches are scheduled – 36 group matches, eight last-16 ties, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final – compared to 31 games in Euro 2012.

Singtel had previously charged $112 as a stand-alone service for the 2014 World Cup, which had 64 matches.

For previous major tournaments like the Euro and World Cup, key games such as the opening match and the final were available on free-to-air channels and it is understood that negotiations are under way with Mediacorp.

StarHub also announced yesterday that it will broadcast all matches live on Eleven Euro HD (StarHub Ch220) and Eleven Sports Euro HD (StarHub Ch221) but did not reveal details on pricing and packaging.

Its head of media business unit Lee Soo Hui said: “We hope to reveal more details soon and ask football fans to stay patient as we make preparations to ensure the best possible viewing experience.”

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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Commuters saw their journeys disrupted by separate faults on the North-South and North East MRT lines yesterday.

On the North-South Line (NSL), a maintenance locomotive that stalled at Raffles Place station shut down northbound train services between Marina South Pier and Newton from the start of service till about 6.50am.

Just after 11am, a power fault disrupted train service between Outram Park and Farrer Park stations on the North East Line (NEL) for about 40 minutes.

SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan said NSL services towards Jurong East were affected as engineering staff worked to move the stalled locomotive, which prevented northbound trains from passing through the eight-station stretch.

He said a passenger train was activated to haul the faulty locomotive to Bishan Depot, and that SMRT is investigating why it stalled. He also apologised to those affected.

SMRT first sent a tweet at 6.09am to inform commuters about the disruption, which lasted for about an hour.

Train service resumed along the affected stretch at around 6.53am.

Yesterday’s disruption came just two days after Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan wrote in a blog post that the NSL had gone 100 days without any major delays.

He had said the milestone was especially inspiring as the NSL is the oldest of Singapore’s five MRT lines.

Both SMRT and SBS Transit, which runs the NEL, deployed shuttle bus services and made regular bus services passing between the affected stations free for commuters caught in the delays.

SBS Transit spokesman Tammy Tan apologised to affected commuters, and said the cause of the power fault is being investigated.

Both operators declined to provide the number of commuters affected by the delays, both of which occurred during off-peak periods.

Medical student Sean Wu, 25, boarded a train at Outram Park to head home, and waited in it for about 15 minutes.

“It is annoying. I understand it happens, but there should be a clearer message on the estimated duration of the disruption,” he said.

Mr Wu added that he was unaware of the shuttle bus services because he did not hear any announcements made at the station.

“There should have been a public service announcement at the station, not on Twitter,” he said.

Mr Wu then left the train and took a bus from Outram Park to Plaza Singapura at Dhoby Ghaut for lunch, before taking the NEL home to Farrer Park.

Other commuters affected by the breakdowns took to social media to vent their frustrations.

Facebook user Loh Wai Poon wrote: “Well, LTA has granted SMRT (a) later opening time on Sundays for six months to give it more time to do maintenance and improve its system. Hope it gets some good result at the end of the six months.”

Another user, Gopi Gopal Pathi, said: “Pity those people who travel to work and school. Some are going back home from night shift.”

Additional reporting by Rachel Oh

This article was first published on April 22, 2016.
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