The Singapore Children’s Society raised a record $5.89 million through two fund-raising initiatives last year.

In 2014, this figure was $3.275 million.

The fund-raising efforts of 1,639 companies and individuals were recognised at the 1000 Enterprises and 1000 Philanthropists for Children-in-Need Appreciation Dinner held last night.

The guest-of-honour was Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, who is the patron for the two fund-raising drives.

One programme encourages individuals to contribute $1,000 a year to the society.

chenj@sph.com.sg

Reader Madam Lim asked ST: “How hygienic is tap water from Housing Board rooftop water tanks? Does PUB conduct checks? I sometimes drink water from the tap. Can bacteria breed in it?”

Housing reporter Janice Heng went to the national water agency, PUB, to find out.

It is safe to drink directly from the tap, says the PUB. And rooftop water tanks are checked at least once a year, to make sure that water quality is maintained.

Singapore’s tap water is well within international guidelines set by the World Health Organisation, as well as the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standards.

It is suitable for drinking without further filtration or boiling.

In fact, on its website, the PUB discourages households from using filtration devices such as water filters and purifiers. If such filters are not cleaned or replaced regularly, bacteria could grow on them.

At PUB’s waterworks, water from reservoirs is treated and disinfected. “This frees the water of harmful bacteria and makes it wholesome and safe for consumption,” said the PUB.

To ensure the quality and safety of the drinking water supply, the PUB monitors water quality across the entire system: from reservoirs and waterworks, to the distribution network of pipes, all the way to consumers’ taps.

Each year, more than 400,000 water quality tests are conducted in the PUB’s accredited water quality laboratory. “This includes water samples collected from taps in HDB flats and thus far all samples have passed,” said the PUB.

As for HDB rooftop tanks, responsibility for them falls on town councils. The PUB requires building owners, management corporations and town councils in charge of high-rise buildings with water tanks to engage a licensed water service plumber at least once a year to inspect the water tanks.

Where necessary, the licensed water service plumber must clean and disinfect the water tanks and certify them fit and safe for the storage of drinking water.

The plumber has to submit the certification, complete with water sample test reports, to the PUB.

Additionally, the PUB carries out spot checks on these premises and samples water from these tanks.

“PUB takes a serious view of the safety of our water supply to customers,” it said.

“Should there be lapses, PUB will not hesitate to take enforcement.”

If lapses are found, owners may face a fine of up to $10,000, a jail term of up to a year, or both.

janiceh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 19, 2016.
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In late 2014, local film-maker Dominic Ow had the chance to interview former Special Branch detectives who fought against communist insurgents in the 1950s.

What he discovered about the period fascinated him. “It was when Singapore lost its innocence in the context of modern-day terrorism. There were bomb attacks on police stations, assassinations,” said the 43-year-old producer of the well-received 2010 documentary series on national service, Every Singaporean Son.

Mr Ow’s research into the communist insurgency for another project gave him the idea for a fictional series drawn from real-life events. He directed and produced it with funding from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Yesterday, a media screening of the series, titled Age Of Terror, was held at the National Library in Victoria Street. On Thursday, a screening was held at the same venue for Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and more than 100 students and teachers from secondary schools and junior colleges.

The series delves into the violence and ideological struggles that occurred when the Malayan Communist Party sought to establish communism in Singapore after World War II.

More than 8,000 people were killed or injured in the insurgency.

The series follows a fictional Special Branch detective as he lives through events inspired by history, such as the bombings of police establishments in 1956.

Mr Ow hopes the new series will bring clarity to the chaos of the Malayan Emergency.

“Like many who grew up in Singapore, the history I studied in school was less a narrative than a series of data points,” he said. “We have to have a better sense of our history, not just from 1965 onwards, but a longer view of history.”

Another aim of the series, he said, was to remind viewers of the continuing threat of terrorism.

Mr Ow was writing Age Of Terror when the terror attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo took place last year. It impressed on him the need to discuss terrorism through his series.

“It was never far from our minds that as a story, it (Age Of Terror) needed to have parallels to what is happening today… Singapore is not immune to terrorism. The ideologies might change, the methods might change somewhat, but the possibility of this happening is always there.”

Age of Terror is available for free at www.ageofterror.sg

rybentan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 19, 2016.
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Three businessmen schemed to give more than US$380,000 (S$515,400) to a manager with Apple to advance the business interests of their company, which went on to make around US$12 million worth of sales to the American technology giant.

Tan Thiam Chye, 58, Tan Kah Huat, 47, and Chuow Chun Lim, 46, directors and shareholders of Fastening Technology, also gave bribes totalling $180,000 to a Singaporean sales director of a company for his help to win business from Apple.

The trio were each jailed for 27 weeks yesterday. Each admitted to three of nine corruption charges.

They abetted in a conspiracy to give bribes totalling US$383,295 to Apple’s then global supply manager Paul Shim Devine. Devine has since been convicted and sentenced to 12 months in jail and fined US$4.5 million in the United States for various offences.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelvin Kow said Andrew Ang Kok Kiat, sales director of Jin Li Mould, another Apple supplier, approached Fastening in late 2008 and offered to help the company get business from Apple in return for a 3 per cent commission on the negotiated contract price. The trio agreed to the proposal.

Fastening was later awarded Apple projects.

Subsequently, Ang told the trio that they needed to pay a “commission” to Devine in return for the projects awarded. They agreed.

In January 2010, Devine set up a shell company called CPK Engineering in California, which was used to receive corrupt payments from Fastening over 10 months.

The trio paid a total of US$383,295 to Devine, of which US$376,295 was calculated as 3 per cent of sales that Fastening made to Apple.

Urging the court to impose a nine-month jail sentence on each of the men, DPP Kow said the amount of bribes was “enormous”.

Defence counsel Anand Nalachandran said his clients did not initiate the corruption.

He said the trio had invested years of energy and and effort to establish the group which was previously recognised as a Top 50 Enterprise.

Ang, 41, has since completed his 12-month sentence for receiving bribes totalling about $282,000.

The maximum penalty for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years in jail.

elena@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 19, 2016.
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