He told a friend in October 2012 that he was earning about $4,000 to $5,000 a month from a website he started called The Real Singapore (TRS).

When the friend, Mr K. Sudesh Durai, said it was a decent income, Yang Kaiheng said he wanted to earn more.

“Yah I wan (sic) earn more I wan buy car, bungalow… where got enuff (sic),” Yang said on Facebook’s messaging system.

This message log between Yang and Mr Durai, a mechanical engineering undergraduate in his 20s, was presented in court yesterday.

Yang and his wife, Ai Takagi, were charged last April with doctoring and posting seven seditious articles on socio-political website TRS and its Facebook page. (See report above.)

Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said the couple exploited racist and xenophobic fault lines through their seditious articles, some of which were allegedly fabricated, to drive traffic to the site and cash in on advertising revenue.

Takagi, 23, an Australian national of Japanese descent believed to be 10 weeks pregnant, was jailed for 10 months on March 23 after pleading guilty to four counts of sedition.

Yang, 27, a Singaporean, denied the charges, claiming his involvement was “fleeting” – just a month in 2012. He also told the police his involvement in TRS was only in the advertising aspects.

Yesterday, DPP Kannan said Mr Durai had been called to give evidence after the prosecution reviewed evidence over the weekend.

Mr Durai said in his statement that he met Yang between 2006 and 2007 in Yishun Junior College and they were floorball teammates.

They drifted apart after graduation, but reconnected in January 2012 when Yang contacted him on Facebook.

They used Facebook and WhatsApp often to discuss ways to make money from online businesses.

In some of these message logs tendered in court yesterday, Yang told Mr Durai in March 2013 he was stressed about developing a mobile app for TRS.

He told Mr Durai he had trouble hiring a “cheap and good” company that could design an app similar to that of The Straits Times.

The Real Singapore duo arrested for sedition

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The New Paper, The Straits Times

TRS MERCHANDISE

Mr Durai testified that Yang asked him for ideas for related merchandise they could sell on the TRS website.

Yang had earlier told Mr Durai he tried selling T-shirts with customised slogans, such as “I want to be a millionaire so that I can buy my HDB”, on TRS’ Facebook page.

Only 5,000 shirts were sold at $2 profit a piece, despite the offer being viewed by 500,000 Singaporeans, Yang told Mr Durai.

Testifying that Yang had referred to TRS as “my website”, he said Yang told him: “If you can think of something simple that 500,000 people will buy and go viral, then we can earn our first pot of gold from my website.”

In January 2013, they and Takagi teamed up for a competition for start-ups using Mr Durai’s idea for a website called Acreet, which would give prizes to users who generated the most number of votes from fellow users within a fixed period.

In Yang’s competition registration entry form, he wrote for his biodata: “I have, also together with Ai Takagi, started and continue to run an online news media site (TRS)… from which advertising revenue is gained.”

Yang said he was responsible for marketing and was focused on growing the market of TRS.

He also submitted a video recording, which was played in court, in which he introduced himself as someone who wanted to start his own business and be his own boss.

“The first venture was an online shop selling electronic gadgets to group-buying sites, and my second was an online news site (sic) which is the most successful so far. It is now the top 100 site, traffic-wise, in Singapore,” he said in the video.

Yang and Mr Durai fell out in April 2013 after Yang told his friend via WhatsApp that he was pulling out of the team as he was no longer keen on Mr Durai’s business idea.

He also said Mr Durai would not listen to his ideas.

Mr Durai said he wished Yang well and asked for the Acreet domain, which was paid for by Yang, to be transferred to him.

Yang replied: “U r not receptive of other people idea y must transfer to you. Go register your own domain then.”

When Mr Durai said he was the one who came up with the name, Yang said: “No thanks bye bye go sue me then” and used a Hokkien vulgarity.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Choo Zheng Xi asked Mr Durai whether he had advised his teammates, including Yang, on how to write their biodata in the entry form.

Mr Durai said he could not recall.

Just before the close of yesterday’s hearing, the prosecution objected to Yang using his mobile phone in the dock during court proceedings, which he was not supposed to.

Yang told the court it was because his wife was “bleeding” and seeing a gynaecologist.

The trial was adjourned to this afternoon. If convicted, Yang can be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for three years on each sedition charge.

rloh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 6, 2016.
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It was just after 6pm yesterday and the loud screeching sound instantly caught his attention.

Peering out of his office window, the executive, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said he saw dozens of workers running away from a construction site at Mattar Road, off Aljunied Road, about 400m away.

To his horror, he noticed that a crane at the construction site had precariously tilted to its right. Mr Tan, who is in his 40s, told The New Paper: “The crane’s boom was resting on a two-storey-high pillar at the site.

“If the crane had toppled over, its boom would have probably cut a nearby apartment building in half.”

The crane had been hoisting a metal container when the incident happened.

Luckily, no injuries were reported.

Mr Samuel Liow, a resident of a nearby walk-up apartment, said he was informed of the incident at about 7pm as he was on his way home.

His six-unit apartment building is located next to the construction site, where a church is being rebuilt.

Work at the site began in January this year, residents said.

Mr Liow, 37, who is self-employed, told TNP: “I was surprised to see the crane leaning on its side. My immediate concern was my family’s safety. Luckily, my unit is not in the crane’s path.”

At about 9pm, police ordered all the residents in his block to evacuate.

BUS STOP

Together with a few other families, Mr Liow and his family took shelter at a nearby bus stop.

Mr Liow, who has three pre-school children, said he hoped that work to put the crane upright would not take too long.

Just after 9pm yesterday, two additional cranes were used to stabilise the affected crane from tilting further, witnesses told TNP.

The roads leading to the construction site were closed to traffic. Nevertheless, there were many passers-by who turned up to watch.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) confirmed that an incident had taken place at SCT Construction’s worksite at Mattar Road.

MOM’s Occupational Safety and Health Division has commenced investigations.

An MOM spokesman told TNP: “Preliminary findings indicate that a crawler crane had toppled on its side during lifting work. No one was injured in the incident.”

All work at the site was ordered to stop yesterday.

When TNP checked with Mr Liow at 11.45pm, he said he had been told that the operation would take “another few hours”.

“We have been booked into a hotel,” he added.

zaihan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 6, 2016.
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More help is at hand for the ailing shipping industry, with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) granting bulk carriers a 10 per cent concession on port dues.

The concession, to come into effect on April 15, will be implemented “in view of the current downturn in the shipping industry”, the MPA said in a statement yesterday.

It will be available for one year and applicable only to vessels carrying out cargo works with a port stay of not more than five days.

Bulk carriers account for a sizeable proportion of Singapore’s total vessel arrival tonnage, at about 30 per cent, with 16,560 bulk carriers making port calls here last year.

The MPA’s latest move follows its earlier announcement in January of an additional 10 per cent concession on port dues for container vessels that complete their loading or unloading here within five days.

It came in addition to existing assistance, such as the Green Port Programme incentives and the 20 per cent concession introduced in 1996.

Last November, the port authority also extended concessions for offshore support vessels for one year.

In all, the concessions are expected to yield $18 million in savings for shipping companies over one year, noted the MPA.

It said: “The rollout of these measures demonstrates Singapore’s commitment to helping the maritime sector through this challenging time, and its importance in contributing to our economy and creating good jobs for Singaporeans.

“MPA will continue to work closely with our industry partners and stakeholders to support the long-term development of Maritime Singapore.”

The dry bulk shipping sector has been hit hard amid sluggish global demand and vessel oversupply, with the Baltic Dry Index, a global benchmark for shipping rates, hitting historic lows in February. It has picked up slightly since.

tsjwoo@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 6, 2016.
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Cleaners working at a statutory board got the short end of the stick when their former company lost the contract this year.

It had, in its tender, factored in a one month bonus for them, on top of their current salaries.

The cleaners ended up working for a new company.

They had their salaries reduced to $1,000, and lost all their employment benefits.

Labour MP Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) cited this case in Parliament yesterday to illustrate the need for “a longer-term solution” to help low-wage workers.

“Unless we take bolder steps to negotiate the glaring disparities between our low-wage workers and the majority of the Singaporean workforce in matters like wages and employment benefits, low- wage workers will continue to feel marginalised and the income gap will continue to widen,” he said.

Over the past five years, real wages rose by an average of 2.1 per cent per year at the 20th income percentile, compared with around 3 per cent at the 50th percentile, he said.

Mr Zainal suggested that the Government set a target for faster wage growth at the 20th percentile level.

Longer-term service contracts could also encourage companies to adopt technology to become more productive, and prevent workers from having their salaries and benefits reset every few years, he added.

Companies should also avoid extending contracts at the same terms and conditions, as these usually prevent low-wage workers’ salaries from rising, said Mr Zainal.

An assistant secretary-general at the National Trades Union Congress, he heads the unit overseeing low-wage workers.

Mr Zainal also called for making the payment of annual wage supplements and annual increments to workers part of licensing or registry conditions for sectors such as cleaning, security and landscaping. Such a move would benefit 85,000 local workers.

He also suggested crafting contracts based on performance rather than on headcount, and designing buildings so that less manpower is needed to maintain them in terms of cleaning, security and landscape services.

The plight of workers in the middle-income segment also came into focus as MPs rose to speak about the difficulties retrenched professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) face in an uncertain economic climate.

Nominated MP K. Thanaletchimi suggested strengthening the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), which helps jobseekers learn new skills to take on new careers. One way could be by giving them mentors and psychological support so they can adapt well to the new work environment.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) said the PCP does not guarantee workers will be able to command the same pay in their new job, and suggested beefing up the Career Support Programme, which is targeted at older citizens in mid-level and better-paying jobs.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) asked for more incentive schemes and coaches to encourage retrenched workers to switch to the growing IT sector. Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten) called for retrenchment benefits to help workers while they look for a new job.

joseow@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 6, 2016.
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