Earlier this week, the nation reacted in horror at seeing a hot-headed young boy who was caught on camera repeatedly slapping his mother at home.
Surveillance footage of the incident surfaced on multiple social media platforms on Oct 4, causing quite a ruckus online over the three-minute video that saw the teen hitting and swearing at his mother as she sat on the floor.
The boy’s secondary school was quickly identified based on the shirt he was wearing, and the school’s principal has said that the issue is being looked into.
“The boy is sorry for what he had done and the school is working with him, his parents and the police to resolve their family issues,” stated the school’s principal in an email exchange shared by a netizen.
It hasn’t been that long since that entire episode involving her criticism of the Workers’ Party’s (WP) Raeesah Khan, several police reports, and an attempt to #CancelCancelCulture.
But social media influencer Xiaxue is back with more to say about WP — this time regarding the “unsightly and unsanitary” state of her housing block.
In case you didn’t know, the self-confessed vocal People’s Action Party supporter is actually a constituent of the WP-run Aljunied GRC.
But her latest gripes have “nothing to do” with her personal political views, she claimed as she laid out her complaints in a series of Instagram Stories on Oct 5 and 6.
Describing her housing area as being in a “destitute state”, Xiaxue, whose real name is Wendy Cheng, wrote, “As a resident here, I pay town council fees and I expect my HDB [block] to be well-maintained and at the very least not dangerous!”
SINGAPORE – Singapore’s economic decline is expected to have slowed significantly in the third quarter as the city-state loosened coronavirus curbs, giving the central bank room to keep monetary settings unchanged when it meets next week.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract 6.8 per cent from the same period a year earlier, according to the median forecast of 11 economists in a Reuters poll, marking the third straight quarter of decline.
The economy had shrunk 13.2 per cent in April-June – its worst performance on record as the country went into lockdown.
GDP may jump 35.3 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted and annualised basis in July-September, the poll showed, picking up from a 42.9 per cent plunge in the second quarter.
“We expect a rebound from the second-quarter lows as economic activities partially resumed from June, although some restrictions remain,” said Jeff Ng, senior treasury strategist at HL Bank.
SINGAPORE: Mr Leong Sze Hian did not take the witness stand in the defamation case brought against him by the Prime Minister on Wednesday (Oct 7), with his lawyer saying there was no case to answer and Mr Lee Hsien Loong’s lawyer saying Mr Leong has “turned tail” from the fight.
This means there will not be any more hearings for the rest of the week and all parties will file written submissions and return to court on Nov 30 for oral arguments to determine liability.
Mr Leong, a blogger and financial adviser, is being sued by Mr Lee for defamation over a Facebook post Mr Leong made in November 2018, sharing an article by Malaysian website The Coverage.
The article, which was originally published on the States Times Review, contained allegedly libellous material. It claimed that Mr Lee had helped former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak launder money in relation to corruption-mired Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
NO CASE TO ANSWER: LIM TEAN
Mr Leong’s lawyer, opposition politician Lim Tean, told the court that he did not think it was necessary for Mr Leong to take the stand since there was no case to answer.
Mr Lim said that the Prime Minister, as the plaintiff, bears the burden of proof for most of the issues set out in his opening statement, and most of the matters could be settled via written submissions.
“We are very satisfied that we have sufficient submissions from the plaintiff to meet our pleaded case,” said Mr Lim. “The defendant’s evidence, therefore, cannot assist.”
Leong Sze Hian arriving at the High Court on Oct 7, 2020. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
He said he would submit that Mr Lee’s case is “so frivolous and vexatious and abusive that we are not calling any evidence for the defence”.
In response, Mr Lee’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, said the real reason Mr Leong was not taking the stand was because “he knows that he is unable to defend what he said in his affidavit and is afraid of the truth”.
HE HAS CHOSEN TO SILENCE HIMSELF: DAVINDER SINGH
Mr Singh said that Mr Leong “never had any intention” of taking the stand to be cross-examined and was instead giving “contrived” reasons for not doing so.
Addressing Justice Aedit Abdullah, Mr Singh said: “From the very first, he made the most serious allegations against the plaintiff. Not just those in the offending words but of abuse of process, of having a collateral purpose, of stifling freedom of expression and speech, of wanting to send a message to the population that the Government will not tolerate criticism, on picking on him, and of running a case of malice and aggravation without basis.”
He added that the evidence showed Mr Leong saying from the very beginning that he was “going to take on the Prime Minister”. Mr Singh pointed to Facebook posts by Mr Leong, where he claimed the court action was “bigger than just the one ordinary Singaporean that I am”, but is for “every Singaporean today who has ever shared a post on Facebook” and the “unborn generations to come”.
Mr Singh quoted from a public Facebook post by Mr Leong on Dec 26, 2018, which said “together we can show the PM and his advisors that they cannot use defamation suits to silence ordinary Singaporeans”.
The lawyer said the irony was that Mr Leong has “chosen to silence himself by not taking the stand”.
“He had repeatedly held out that he will stand up and fight, not just for himself, but for his supporters and Singaporeans,” said Mr Singh. “In fact, he was associated with a campaign to raise funds for him to fight. And what do we have? We have a situation where the plaintiff has turned up in court and gone into the stand, unafraid of any questions and ready to defend his position, and yet – the person who alleges that (Mr Lee) has abused the process of the court has turned tail and fled.”
Leong Sze Hian, Lim Tean and several supporters outside the High Court on Oct 7, 2020. (Photo: Lydia Lam)
He said this is “deeply disappointing” and claimed Mr Leong has not just let himself down, but let his supporters and Singaporeans down, doing the “very opposite” by avoiding the fight after claiming that he would stand up.
Mr Leong was expressionless as the veteran lawyer made these arguments. The Prime Minister was not present in court at the time.
In response, Mr Lim said he could not help but think that what Mr Singh said “was in the nature of a political speech designed for publication in the mainstream media tomorrow to humiliate my client”.
“Your honour, I am a politician, but in this court, I have played out my professional duty as a lawyer and only as a lawyer,” he said.
“When I made the call with the consent of the defendant not to call evidence for the defence, it was solely because we came to the conclusion that the plaintiff’s case is so frivolous and vexatious as to be laughable and should be laughed out of court.
“And therefore, it’s no consideration of whether the defence has the courage to go into the witness stand – which he has an abundance of – but we are not going to help this plaintiff, who has come to this place to pollute the fountain of justice.”
OFFENDING POST REACHED 200 TO 400 PEOPLE: EXPERT WITNESS
This development came after a witness took the stand for Mr Lee via a Zoom video call on Wednesday morning and was cross-examined by Mr Lim for a few hours.
The witness, University of Hong Kong’s Associate Professor of Innovation and Information Management Phan Tuan Quang, gave his expert opinion that the offending post reached between 200 and 400 Facebook users.
Mr Lim put it to Dr Phan that he could not be an independent witness due to his “bias” towards the Prime Minister, as he had received several grants in the past from the Singapore Government.
Dr Phan disagreed.
Mr Lim also put down Dr Phan’s research and expert opinions relied on in Mr Lee’s case, by claiming that his analysis was “really guesswork”, based on speculation as there was no real evidence of how many people had read the post. The post had been taken down by Mr Leong shortly after authorities told him to do so.
Mr Lim put it to Dr Phan that his efforts in his report were “so lacking in proper material that it is useless”. Dr Phan disagreed with all these claims.
At the close of the hearing, Justice Aedit ordered both parties to file written submissions by Nov 6, with a 200-page limit.
Specifically, he asked parties to make arguments on whether the re-publication in this case is the kind that is “actionable” in terms of defamation.
They must also answer to what extent defamation is understood in the traditional context, given the current presence of POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) legislation, and what the appropriate balance is between defamation and Article 14 under the Constitution, which refers to the freedom of speech and expression.
Replies are to be tendered by Nov 20, with parties returning for oral submissions on Nov 30.
If the judge finds Mr Leong liable for defamation, the case will then go into another tranche for assessment of damages.
$133.80 may be a small amount to some, but not one petrol station attendant, who said he was made to pay for a customer’s mistake.
The amount was allegedly docked from the attendant’s salary after a customer at Shell Upper Bukit Timah PIE drove off without paying for his petrol, a concerned passer-by shared in a Facebook post on Monday (Oct 5).
The passer-by had spotted the attendant looking “dejected” while she was topping up her petrol that day, she recounted in the post which has since been taken down.
Asking after the man, who remains unidentified, she learnt that he reportedly had his pay docked after an incident in September where he failed to notice that a driver in a black Lexus had not made payment before leaving the petrol station.
The driver appeared to pay by swiping his Shell card, the attendant said. However, he was chatting with the driver at the time and did not realise that the transaction had not gone through.
Sharing the driver’s license plate number, which the attendant had recorded on a piece of cardboard, she appealed for him to come forward as the money “meant a lot” to the attendant.
SINGAPORE: More programmes are set to resume in schools from mid-October, as Singapore improves its capabilities to detect and trace COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Wednesday (Oct 7).
Programmes that can resume include co-curricular activities (CCAs) at external venues such as bowling and swimming, activities organised by the headquarters of uniformed groups, inter-school CCA collaborations and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.
However, CCAs and activities such as singing and those involving high level of body contact such as rugby remain suspended.
“We now have improved national capabilities to detect and trace cases, and also have effective safe management measures in our schools. Hence, MOE will be carefully resuming more programmes across the different levels in our schools,” the ministry said.
List of activities that can resume in schools from mid-October 2020. (Table: Ministry of Education)
Most CCAs and school activities will resume from the middle of October, after the year-end examinations, with the following rules in place:
– The overall group cap will be increased from 20 to 50 people (inclusive of students and adults supporting them), except for higher-risk activities which remain suspended or limited to a smaller group cap.
– Students are to maintain a safe distance of at least 1m between them, while activities that involve more physical exertion would mean there should be a safe distance of at least 2m between students.
– Where 1m safe distancing cannot be observed, students should be organised into groups of five with 1m between groups. For more physically-demanding activities where the students are unmasked, there should be a minimum of 3m between groups.
– Students should remain within their fixed groupings when taking part in activities which involve inter-mingling among different schools.
– High-touch points and common facilities will be wiped down at the end of each activity or change in groups.
– Schools will continue to screen all visitors, including coaches and instructors, for flu-like symptoms such as fever and cough, and ensure that they comply with all the measures.
Singapore underwent eight weeks of a “circuit breaker” between Apr 7 and Jun 1 in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Since then, secondary schools, junior colleges and Milennia Institute gradually resumed selected CCAs and other activities from Jul 27, while primary schools were given the option to bring back such activities from Sep 14.
MOE said it would continue to monitor the situation closely as further aspects of school life resume.
“We urge all students and staff to continue practising good personal hygiene, exercise social responsibility and abide by safe management measures, whether in or outside school,” the ministry said.
SINGAPORE – Singapore added three more billionaires to its tally as Asia stayed on as the region with the most uber-rich in the world, according to a report out on Wednesday (Oct 7) by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The Asia Pacific region hit a record of 831 billionaires, about 38 per cent of the total number globally. They account for US$3.3 trillion (S$4.49 trillion) of total wealth, possessing on average US$4 billion each.
The UBS/PwC Billionaires insights report studied more than 2,000 billionaires from 43 markets worldwide. Its annual study period of March 6, 2019, to April 7, 2020, was extended to July 31 this year to take into account the transformative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Singapore has a total of 25 billionaires – four emerged since the last survey, but one dropped off the ranks from April to July this year.
Total billionaire wealth here grew by 11 per cent, reaching US$79.1 billion in April. But from April to July, it bounced 30 per cent to US$ 102.6 billion.
BELLAGRAPH Nova Group (BN Group) co-founder Terence Loh has resigned from the newly formed company, which was recently thrust into the spotlight for doctored photos of Barack Obama in its marketing materials.
He and his cousin Nelson Loh have also agreed to legally separate all their business interests.
Mr Terence Loh’s resignation comes as Novena Global Healthcare Group (NGHG) – founded by the scandal-hit Singaporean duo – is under police investigation over allegedly unauthorised signatures on some of its financial statements.
At close to 1am on Wednesday, BN Group issued a statement saying that Mr Terence Loh “is trying to solve the problems” arising from the probe into NGHG, and they thus “mutually agreed” that he should quit.
NGHG is not part of BN Group, the latter noted. The company added that it “has never consolidated or is by any chance linked to” NGHG and the alleged forgery in the financial statements.
Mr Nelson Loh is also a co-founder of BN Group, alongside Chinese business partner Evangeline Shen. The whereabouts of Mr Nelson Loh in recent weeks are not known, and he was not mentioned in BN Group’s statement on Wednesday.
SINGAPORE: Fewer personal protection orders (PPO) were issued by the Family Justice Courts during the “circuit breaker” months of April and May, compared to other months this year.
In his written answer to Sengkang GRC Member of Parliament (MP) He Ting Ru on Tuesday (Oct 6), Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli shared the number of PPOs and domestic exclusion orders (DEOs) issued every month from the start of the year to August.
People experiencing family violence may apply to the Family Justice Courts for a PPO or a DEO under the Women’s Charter.
The number of police reports of family violence rose during the circuit breaker period. Reports were filed for offences associated with family violence, such as hurt, criminal force and assault, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement, said the police in May.
The police received an average of 415 family violence reports per month since April, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said, addressing another question from Ms He about the number of domestic abuse cases since the start of the circuit breaker.
“MISPERCEPTION THAT COURT SERVICES UNAVAILABLE”
The lower number of PPOs issued during the circuit breaker was “possibly due to the misperception that court services were unavailable”, said Mr Masagos.
“The (Ministry of Social and Family Development) and partners continued to keep a close watch on family violence and ensured that services remained available, including during the circuit breaker period,” he added.
On average, the Family Justice Courts granted about 75 PPOs and seven DEOs per month since the start of the circuit breaker period, Mr Masagos said.
“The monthly average from April to August is similar to the monthly average for the first three months of 2020,” he added.
40 PER CENT OF CASES INVESTIGATED
Ms He also asked Mr Shanmugam about the number of reports that were investigated by the police and the percentage of such cases that eventually led to charges being brought by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Investigations were initiated in more than 40 per cent of the cases, Mr Shanmugam said.
“For all reports, police will assess the facts and circumstances of the case to determine if investigations should be initiated,” he added.
About 3 per cent of the cases investigated were prosecuted in court and about 12 per cent were given warnings in lieu of prosecution, Mr Shanmugam said.
“Family violence cases often have complex underlying issues and prosecution may not always be the optimal solution,” he added.
“In some cases, other avenues of assistance may be more appropriate. For example, police may advise the victim to apply for a protection order, or refer the family to social service agencies for counselling and assistance.”
Gender-equality advocacy group AWARE said that they have seen a significant increase in the number of calls about family violence to its helpline.
In a report on Jun 30, AWARE said there were 109 calls to their helpline in March about family violence, compared to the 66 calls a year before.
In April this year, the helpline received 129 of such calls, a 119 per cent increase from the 59 calls it received in April last year.
There was also a 180 per cent increase in such calls in June 2020 compared to the same month last year, from 76 calls to 180 calls.
“These numbers are likely to be higher if we take into account all the individuals who are not able to reach out for help and support because they are isolated with their abusers and lack the privacy to call,” AWARE said.
A smoker learned a costly lesson when he was slapped with an immediate fine as penalty for tossing a cigarette butt into an incense paper burner.
Though some might think that it’s not an offence — all things turn to ash anyway in the bin — it actually is. Under the Environmental Public Health Act, it’s illegal to toss refuse in any public place, except in a dustbin or other receptacle provided for the deposit of rubbish.
In other words, joss paper burners aren’t places to dump trash in.
In an image that’s been making its rounds on social media, a smoker was given an official National Environmental Agency (NEA) summons that ordered the offender to pay a painful $300 fine. The slip was supposedly handed on Monday (Oct 5) morning after the smoker was spotted throwing a cigarette butt into a burner along Senja Road.
