A garderner was standing on a ladder to cut a palm tree outside the Eu Yan Sang Centre when he fell and died two days later from multiple fractures and head injuries.

A coroner’s inquiry heard that the trunk of the 4.8m-tall termite-infested tree broke at the 60cm mark from its base due to decay, causing Murugayah M. Maniyam to be thrown out into the centre’s compound.

The 56-year-old and two other foreign workers had been assigned to fell the tree portion by portion, starting from the top, at Tai Seng Drive on Sept 16 last year when he fell and landed on the left side of his body.

He was wearing a safety belt and had strapped himself onto the ladder with a rope.

He was not wearing any safety headgear.

He was taken to Changi General Hospital in a state of deep coma and died two days later.

The inquest heard that his colleague placed a ladder against the tree while the other climbed it and tied a rope around the palm tree and ladder.

The worker then went higher and tied a rope around the highest part of the tree, and threw a rope to his colleague who had remained at the public pavement.

After putting on the safety belt, Mr Murugayah strapped himself onto the ladder with another rope. He climbed the ladder and began to cut the tree with a chainsaw.

After he had severed the top part of the palm tree, his colleagues and his boss, the owner of Teston Landscape and Contractor, heard a loud thud.

They realised that Mr Murugayah had fallen and landed on the public pavement. Next to him were the ladder and fallen palm trunk.

In his findings yesterday, State Coroner Marvin Bay said a Ministry of Manpower investigation showed that Mr Murugayah’s position, while anchored from the ladder by a safety belt, was extremely hazardous.

The workers did not know that the palm tree was in a severely decayed state.

Coroner Bay said there was no basis to suspect foul play. The work methods were nevertheless questionable, he added.

According to the National Parks Board and Singapore Aboriculture Society, a visual tree assessment should be carried out to determine the tree’s condition and structural integrity before any removal operations.

A termite-infested tree may lose its strength and structural integrity.

“In this case, the palm tree showed internal decay and most of the trunk tissue had been degraded, leaving pockets of cavities and just the thin shell of its outer bark,” said the coroner.

MOM also pointed out that as Mr Murugayah was working from a height of more than 3m, an elevated work platform should have been used.

Coroner Bay said Mr Murugayah’s injuries were consistent with an accidental fall which occurred when the palm tree trunk collapsed.

He added that his death was an “unfortunate industrial misadventure”.

Mr Murugayah’s only daughter, pharmacy technician Sree Vithyaa Lakshmi Murugayah, 24, together with other family members, attended the inquiry.

elena@sph.com.sg

Get MyPaper for more stories.

More Singapore residents in their mid to late 20s are staying single, with most putting their career before marriage, said experts.

They make up 70 per cent of the people in their age group last year, a sharp rise from 50 per cent about 15 years ago, the latest General Household Survey shows.

Their decision to delay marriage has hurt the country’s fertility rates, and more needs to be done to get them to find their partners earlier in life, possibly even at university, said sociologists interviewed yesterday.

The decision not to get hitched is as prevalent among men as women in the 25-29 age group, often viewed as mature enough to marry.

Proportionally, their numbers have been rising steadily in the last 15 years, government surveys and population censuses show.

For instance, bachelors form 64 per cent of their cohort in 2000. But this rose to 70.6 per cent (2005), 74.6 per cent (2010) and 81 per cent (2015).

But as they grow older, many do get married.

The latest 10-yearly household survey shows the proportion of married people among the resident population has hardly changed in the last 15 years.

Overall, the proportion of married people hovers around two-thirds of the resident population, which refers to citizens and permanent residents.

The main reason young people are not marrying earlier is that more are better-educated and choose to focus on their careers, said National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologists Paulin Straughan and Tan Ern Ser.

Said Prof Straughan: “The pressure to perform is very strong as the rewards of employment are immediate. There’s a promotion at the end of the year, a bonus and you get praised.

“But if you invest time to find a life partner, nobody’s going to praise you.”

Having enough money to set up home and start a family is also a concern for some like legal counsel Lionel Liu, 29, who said he plans to get married to his girlfriend in a few years.

He noted that his parents had been working for around six years by the time they got married at the age of 24.

But he and his men friends had graduated around the age of 25. “We have to spend the first three years of our working life paying off university loans, and only after that can we think about what’s next.”

Others may prefer to enjoy the freedom of singlehood before taking the plunge into married life, Prof Tan said.

Mr Robin Neo, 28, a fresh graduate in mechanical engineering, said: “Readiness for marriage cannot be rushed. I’m okay with marrying even in my twilight years because I’m not looking to have children.”

But for those who want children, the biological clock is ticking.

The survey shows the average number of children born to resident women, who have married at least once, dipped from 2.24 in 2010 to 2.14 last year. They include widows and divorcees.

Prof Straughan suggested targeting efforts to encourage earlier marriage at those who are not dating.

“It’s not that they don’t value marriage and family. But if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend yet, you tend not to focus on forming a family.”

But finding a significant other can be awkward in Singapore, she added. “There’s no culture here where you can walk into a bar and say: ‘Hi singles, I’m here.’ It’s even harder if all they do is work.”

To overcome the obstacle, she said bosses need to encourage their employees not to work late, by say, turning off the air-conditioning at 7pm.Universities can do their part too, by providing venues and funds for students to hold social activities.

charyong@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Rachel Chia

This article was first published on March 11, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

More Singapore residents in their mid to late 20s are staying single, with most putting their career before marriage, said experts.

They make up 70 per cent of the people in their age group last year, a sharp rise from 50 per cent about 15 years ago, the latest General Household Survey shows.

Their decision to delay marriage has hurt the country’s fertility rates, and more needs to be done to get them to find their partners earlier in life, possibly even at university, said sociologists interviewed yesterday.

The decision not to get hitched is as prevalent among men as women in the 25-29 age group, often viewed as mature enough to marry.

Proportionally, their numbers have been rising steadily in the last 15 years, government surveys and population censuses show.

For instance, bachelors form 64 per cent of their cohort in 2000. But this rose to 70.6 per cent (2005), 74.6 per cent (2010) and 81 per cent (2015).

But as they grow older, many do get married.

The latest 10-yearly household survey shows the proportion of married people among the resident population has hardly changed in the last 15 years.

Overall, the proportion of married people hovers around two-thirds of the resident population, which refers to citizens and permanent residents.

The main reason young people are not marrying earlier is that more are better-educated and choose to focus on their careers, said National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologists Paulin Straughan and Tan Ern Ser.

Said Prof Straughan: “The pressure to perform is very strong as the rewards of employment are immediate. There’s a promotion at the end of the year, a bonus and you get praised.

“But if you invest time to find a life partner, nobody’s going to praise you.”

Having enough money to set up home and start a family is also a concern for some like legal counsel Lionel Liu, 29, who said he plans to get married to his girlfriend in a few years.

He noted that his parents had been working for around six years by the time they got married at the age of 24.

But he and his men friends had graduated around the age of 25. “We have to spend the first three years of our working life paying off university loans, and only after that can we think about what’s next.”

Others may prefer to enjoy the freedom of singlehood before taking the plunge into married life, Prof Tan said.

Fresh graduate Robin Neo, 28, said: “I’m okay with marrying even in my twilight years because I’m not looking to have children.”

But for those who want children, the biological clock is ticking.

The survey shows the average number of children born to resident women, who have married at least once, dipped from 2.24 in 2010 to 2.14 last year. They include widows and divorcees.

Prof Straughan suggested targeting efforts to encourage earlier marriage at those who are not dating.

“It’s not that they don’t value marriage and family. But if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend yet, you tend not to focus on forming a family.”

But finding a significant other can be awkward in Singapore, she added. “There’s no culture here where you can walk into a bar and say: ‘Hi singles, I’m here.’ It’s even harder if all they do is work.”

charyong@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Rachel Chia

Get MyPaper for more stories.

A price war has erupted in the mobile space for the first time in four years, with telcos cutting mobile subscription costs by half.

Yesterday, telco M1 followed Singtel’s lead, almost doubling new and recontracting customers’ mobile data allowance at a fixed additional cost of $5.90 a month.

Earlier on Wednesday, Singtel announced the same offer, dubbed DataX2.

Late yesterday, StarHub also joined its two rivals, allowing new and recontracting customers to add 3GB of mobile data to existing bundles when they top up $3 a month now, or $6 a month from April.

The telcos’ moves have essentially cut the prices of their popular plans by up to half.

For instance, an M1 plan with 5GB of mobile data now costs $47.90 a month, or 40 per cent less than what it used to cost.

Comparatively, Singtel’s plan with a 4GB data bundle now costs $48.80 a month, also 40 per cent less than before.

StarHub’s new price of $48.90 a month – or a promotional rate of $45.90 for sign-ups this month only – for its 6GB plan is less than half of what it used to cost.

Analysts attribute the price war to the possible entry of a fourth mobile operator.

Ramakrishna Maruvada, telecoms researcher from Daiwa Capital Markets, said: “The current moves are a clear warning to potential new entrants that incumbents are prepared to slug it out to protect their customers.”

A mobile airwave auction will take place in the third quarter of this year and the fourth telco could be rolling out its services as early as April 2017.

Two local companies – fibre broadband services provider MyRepublic and a unit of Consistel, which set up the Singapore Sports Hub’s wireless systems – are eyeing the chance to become the fourth telco here.

Businessman Harry Chew, 46, said: “I’m sure there will be better offerings when the fourth telco enters the market. Already the threat of having one has made the telcos cut prices, something they have not been doing over the past four years.”

Cris Tran, consulting associate of digital transformation at market research firm Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific, said the telcos are able to cut prices now as they have probably recovered from their 4G investments. “In 2012, the mobile data business was good but not as good as today,” he added.

M1 has also given its mobile line-only plans a reboot, offering higher data bundles for less. For instance, it used to cost a customer $30 a month for 3GB of mobile data but now it costs $20.

It also added two low-end packages, offering 1GB and 4GB of data for $15 and $20, respectively. All its line-only plans come with at least 100 minutes of outgoing phone calls and 600 SMS/MMS.

itham@sph.com.sg

Get MyPaper for more stories.