SINGAPORE: The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) will have a “loose association” with other parties for now, said PSP secretary-general Dr Tan Cheng Bock on Friday (Jan 17).

“We’ll wait and see because each political party has got its own agenda, so I have to see how best I can gel with them,” he said.

These remarks were made by Dr Tan to reporters after a New Year’s dinner held on Friday for PSP members.

“PSP will work with all opposition parties,” said Dr Tan, 79, in a speech. He added that an arrangement may be worked out closer to the General Elections.

This comes after his personal secretary Alex Tan was revealed to have made disparaging remarks about a potential four-party alliance.

Media reports previously said that four opposition parties – Singaporeans First (SingFirst), Democratic Progressive Party, People’s Power Party and Reform Party – were in talks to form an alliance led by SingFirst secretary-general Tan Jee Say.

Mr Alex Tan, who is also a key member of PSP’s central executive committee (CEC), described the leaders of the alliance as captains of “sinking boats” who were just “clasping one another’s hands to save themselves from drowning”.

A statement posted by the PSP on Jan 15 later clarified that the comments were made by Mr Tan in his personal capacity and did not represent the party. 

When asked whether Mr Tan’s remarks has damaged PSP’s relationship with other opposition parties, Dr Tan described it as a “hiccup”.

“In politics, sometimes things do happen. Don’t be too worked up by it,” he said.

NEW CEC MEMBERS

Dr Tan also announced five new faces to the party CEC, including CEO of investment firm Timbre Capital Leong Mun Wai, who will be Dr Tan’s new right-hand man.

He takes over the post of assistant secretary-general from Mr Anthony Lee, who is stepping down for personal reasons. 

Vice-chairman K S Singam will also be stepping aside for Ms Michelle Lee.

The two members of the founding CEC will be stepping back from their roles, but will remain in the committee, said Dr Tan.

Mr Leong, 60, said that he was reluctant to join politics at first but he was touched by Dr Tan’s “selfless dedication” and willingness to fight for his beliefs.

“So here I am, from a reluctant politician at first to a serious one now,” he said.

He added that he hopes the PSP can present “the most credible alternative front” in Singapore since the 1980s, and make the coming General Election a “watershed”.

The other new CEC members are former Hong Leong Asia CEO Francis Yuen, wealth manager Andrew Ng, fund manager Ong Seow Yong and Ms Tan Chika, who manages her family’s company in the maritime industry.

“PSP is now managed by a team,” said Dr Tan. “PSP is not just Tan Cheng Bock’s party, it is the people’s party.”

Opposition leaders such as the Singapore Democratic Party’s Chee Soon Juan and Dr Paul Tambyah, Workers’ Party’s Gerald Giam and People’s Voice’s Lim Tean also attended the dinner.

During the event, the party unveiled its theme song and its mascot, an otter named Otica. Dr Tan also announced that the party has acquired a unit for its headquarters at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.

SINGAPORE: Two years ago, Mr Seah Liang Chiang thought of building his own tiny house in Johor. On Friday (Jan 17), that DIY weekend retreat project turned into a business. 

Mr Seah has launched Singapore’s first hotel made using shipping containers. 

For S$150 to S$200 a night – depending on whether it is peak or off-season – up to four guests can stay in one of two cabins in one-north. 

Mr Seah said he based the price off what other hotels around the area were charging.

Each 300 sq ft air-conditioned room has two queen-size beds, a study table, living and dining space, kitchen and bathroom. 

The cabins are standalone, with none of the typical hotel facilities such as a swimming pool or a lobby available. 

Instead, guests will have access to a 24-hour customer service hotline manned by Mr Seah or his wife. The rooms will also be cleaned after each stay. 

During check-in, the couple will either meet the customers personally or give them the digital access code, said Mr Seah. 

Mr Seah invested about S$200,000 into the venture, which he calls Shipping Container Hotel. 

He spent a year to put it together, which included designing and retrofitting the cabins, bought from a container supplier in Tuas. 

He plans for it to be a pop-up hotel, which he will shift to a different location every two to three years, allowing guests to explore various parts of Singapore. 

Millennials are his target consumers, a group he said “are more adventurous and looking for an experience, not just an accommodation”. He also thinks business travellers who work with the start-ups in the area might be interested to stay in the hotel. 

“Many Singaporeans will check into a hotel in Sentosa or in the city over the weekend as a weekend retreat. To me, that’s passé. I want Singaporeans to have a unique staycation. 

“Imagine a staycation in a nature reserve, park, on the beach, or on Serangoon Island or Lazarus Island,” Mr Seah said, adding that he was interested in places off the grid that traditional hotels would not be allowed to operate in. 

Mr Seah had reached out to the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Pro-Enterprise Panel, which helped him to work with Government agencies to find an appropriate testbed site.

The JTC Launchpad at one-north was offered and he leased it until end-2020, with the option of extending it for another year. 

“I want to show that Singapore is not only about Orchard Road, Chinatown, Sentosa and the Marina Bay Sands,” said Mr Seah. 

The Launchpad is situated in Singapore’s technology hub, where the many start-ups and Timbre+ food centre create a vibrant atmosphere. 

As part of the panel’s First Mover Framework, Mr Seah did not have to submit a tender for the plot where the hotel now sits. The framework allows entrepreneurs with unique business proposals to either get access to a public good or service more quickly, or use it at a lower rate.

“(The) PEP’s role is to serve as a connector between the business owner and the rest of the government agencies because there can be many agencies involved. If you leave it to the business owner, they may not know how to navigate,” said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat at the official launch of the hotel. 

“We help them to talk to the various Government agencies and if there are rules that may need to be changed, things that we need to facilitate, we will do so.”

Around 10 Government agencies were involved in this project, Mr Seah said, including the Singapore Land Authority and the Building and Construction Agency. 

Mr Seah, who occasionally stays at his prototype holiday home in Johor, said the two-room setup is “just the start”.

“We would like to see if Singaporeans and tourists alike will take to the idea of living in a shipping container in unique places in Singapore,” he said. 

“Eventually, we hope to have around 50 hotels all over Singapore.” 

Guests can start making reservations on www.shippingcontainerhotel.com from Saturday.

SINGAPORE: A 40-year-old man was taken to hospital after reports of a fight in Boat Quay on Friday (Jan 17) morning.  

Police said they were alerted to the fight at 58 South Bridge Road at about 5.20am.

“A 40-year-old man was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital,” police added.

“Police investigations are ongoing.”

An eyewitness CNA spoke to said that several people were involved in the fight that had started at a nearby club.

When CNA visited the scene on Friday afternoon, blood on the road had already been cleaned up and the cordon was lifted.

READ: Man jailed for stabbing ex-girlfriend at her birthday party

A designer, who wanted to be known only as Eric, said he came to work at about 9am and saw police cleaning up the blood.

A worker at the Clover Hotel, located across the crime scene, said police had asked to view CCTV footage shot from the hotel.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call for assistance at about 5.30am at South Bridge Road and confirmed that one person was taken to Singapore General Hospital. 

SINGAPORE: More than 4,000 tickets were issued last year to smokers caught lighting up outside the designated smoking areas in the Orchard Road, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Friday (Jan 17).

About 26 per cent of the tickets issued were to tourists, it added. 

The Orchard Road precinct was designated a No Smoking Zone in January last year, save for about 50 designated smoking areas – or yellow boxes – where individuals can light up.

A three-month advisory period was implemented after Orchard Road was declared a No Smoking Zone to “give members of the public sufficient time to adjust”.

During that three-month period, a daily average of 735 advisories were issued to offenders, NEA said.

In April, when enforcement kicked in, a daily average of 21 tickets were issued. This fell to about 14 tickets a day between May 1 and Dec 31.

“This is a more than 50 times reduction since the start of Orchard Road No Smoking Zone, and a one-third reduction since enforcement began on April 2019,” the agency said.

READ: Orchard Road smoking ban: Better visitor experience or inconvenience?

‘SMOKERS AWARE OF NO SMOKING ZONE’

The reduction in the number of tickets issued showed that smokers were aware of Orchard Road being a No Smoking Zone, said NEA.

It also said that 80 per cent of 1,000 people (400 of whom were smokers) surveyed in July last year supported the No Smoking Zone in Orchard Road, with most citing the positive impact on either public or personal health.

“Since implementation of the No Smoking Zone, the Orchard Road pedestrian thoroughfare is comparatively cleaner for all non-smoking visitors, whilst smokers have adjusted to smoking within the designated smoking areas,” said Mr Steven Goh, executive director of Orchard Road Business Association.

READ: NEA will use cameras to detect illegal smoking – here’s how it could work

USING VIDEO ANALYTICS TO DETECT SMOKERS

In addition to the deployment of enforcement officers, NEA also used surveillance cameras to monitor certain hotspots at selected areas along the No Smoking Zone, it said in its release on Friday.

Going forward, it aims to leverage technology even further.

In 2019, it conducted a two-week trial on the feasibility of using video analytics to detect smoking incidents in public areas. This proved to have close to 80 per cent accuracy, said NEA.

It intends to conduct more trials in the first half of this year at other public areas where smoking is prohibited or where there have been complaints.

“These additional trials will also guide NEA in determining the operational feasibility of this technology, as part of our enforcement process,” it said.

NO SMOKING REMINDERS

To promote public awareness of the No Smoking Zone, NEA said it has replaced older grey stickers with blue stickers on more than 100 litter bins along Orchard Road. 

In addition, the agency said that informational material will continue to be made available at the Orchard Road Singapore Visitor Centre, and at points of entry into Singapore to keep tourists informed of the No Smoking Zone.

Tourist maps distributed by the Singapore Tourism Board will also continue to indicate the No Smoking Zone boundary, it added.