Telco StarHub said that its mobile data services were fully restored about four hours after customers began experiencing disruptions on Tuesday evening (Sept 17). Most fixed Internet connections were also restored.
Earlier, tracking website downdetector.com suggested at 6 pm that there was a widespread Internet outage from three Internet service providers across the island.
Singtel and M1 said that there were no issues with their Internet services.
StarHub said in a Facebook post at 6.40pm that it received reports of issues with Internet access and was investigating.
[Update #2: 9:53pm]
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the incident this evening.
SINGAPORE: Lewis Hamilton will be hoping his march towards a sixth Formula One world title around the streets of hazy Singapore this week is not affected by smoke from wildfires raging in neighbouring Indonesia.
Formula One bosses are reported to have a contingency plan in place should the “highly changeable” air quality deteriorate, though the race weekend is still scheduled to go ahead as planned.
During the race weekend, race organiser Singapore GP and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), will monitor the one-hour PM2.5 and 24-hour PSI levels and “respond accordingly”.
“Assistance will be provided on-site for spectators who do not feel well and N95 masks will be made available at Singapore Grand Prix merchandise booths around the Circuit Park should the hazy conditions persist,” Ms Jean Ng, executive director for sports at Singapore Tourism Board (STB), told CNA.
Hamilton, who has a 63-point lead in the title race over teammate Valterri Bottas after winning eight grands prix this season, and Mercedes have prospered in the past at the Marina Bay Circuit.
But they could do little to prevent Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from storming to consecutive victories on power-friendly layouts in Belgium and Italy in the two races since the summer break.
Hamilton has taken four of Mercedes’ five victories at the demanding 23-turn city-centre street circuit and is looking for a third consecutive triumph in race that even without the threat of smog is traditionally draining because of heat and high humidity.
But Hamilton remains wary of Leclerc, who has outshone his error-prone Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel since joining the Italian team at the start of the season.
“I am not looking forward to the next race thinking it will swing our way,” Hamilton said of the 21-year-old from Monaco. “I hope that it is competitive between us – I want this battle to continue.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also expects Ferrari to be in the shake-up in Singapore, despite the Italian marque struggling on circuits lacking long straights this season.
“We knew that Spa and Monza would be difficult for us,” Wolff said of the previous two races.
“On paper, we should be strong in Singapore – as should Red Bull. Let’s see if we are really demolishing them there.
“But I have no doubt that Ferrari will have learned and will have a good package.”
A view of the National Stadium amid haze, taken from Old Airport Road on Sep 18, 2019. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Red Bull have enjoyed 12 podium finishes in Singapore since 2008, including three wins, and the Milton Keynes-based outfit will be hoping Max Verstappen can improve on his second-place finish from a year ago to stay ahead of Leclerc in their battle for third in the overall standings.
Vettel knows his chances of recording a first victory since Belgium last year will have diminished due to the nature of the remaining circuits on the calendar, but the German four-times world champion will be looking to seize on any opportunities that may fall his way.
“I think we still have some races coming where we will be probably more competitive than others, but overall it’s just about getting a good weekend,” Vettel said.
“I think the speed is there, so I’m not worried, it’s honestly just a matter of putting things together. But we have a lot of races and a lot of time.”
Sometimes I chance upon 90s memes about how we used “share” songs over MSN messenger and load it into our mp3 players. All I can say is: Thank God for Apple Music and Spotify. Online music streaming has saved us all.
The biggest names in today’s scene are Apple Music and Spotify. Save for Spotify’s free (ad-supported) version, the 2 are as good as perfect substitutes in terms of price and music offerings. If you’re undecided, just choose the one you think looks better.
Download the free trials, fiddle around with it, and then pick the user experience you prefer.
Don’t believe me? I did my research and price comparison; here’s what I found.
SINGAPORE – It seemed too good a deal to let slide.
Just agree to add his name to an inheritance policy, and stand to inherit more than US$9 million (S$12.4 million).
Steve (not his real name) could not believe his luck when the offer was made to him in June this year by a United Kingdom-based “solicitor” who faxed him a letter asking for his cooperation.
There seemed to be little to lose in this “risk-free” venture so he went along with it, said Steve, a senior manager in his 50s.
Little did he expect to lose around US$1 million in the two months the “solicitor” led him on in futile attempts to get the inheritance.
Steve’s case involved the highest amount cheated from a victim of an inheritance scam since 2018, the police said. In the first half of this year, 14 cases reported to the police involved false inheritance schemes.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday (Sept 17), in an interview the police arranged to highlight the prevalence of scams, Steve said he spoke to the “solicitor” almost daily, over the phone and via e-mail.
The toddler whose remains were found in a Chin Swee Road flat last week was allegedly murdered by her parents five years ago.
Yesterday, the couple were charged in court with the murder of their daughter, who was 2½ years old at the time, sometime in March 2014, in an eighth-storey rental unit at Block 52.
The two accused, both Singaporeans, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect their other children. They were expressionless when they appeared in court briefly yesterday for the charges to be read out.
The girl’s remains were found in the one-room flat on Sept 10 after the police responded to a call for assistance.
The remains, which had been burned, were inside a metal pot, according to previous reports.
A neighbour told The New Paper a strong smell had lingered in the corridor for two weeks before the police were alerted.
The couple are believed to be registered occupants of the flat, The Straits Times reported.
SINGAPORE: Air quality in Singapore continued to worsen on Wednesday (Sep 18) morning as the haze hit unhealthy levels across the island.
As of 8am, the 24-hour Pollutant Standard Index (PSI) readings were:
105 in the north
109 in the east
118 in the south
109 in the west
103 in the central region
The PSI readings first entered the unhealthy range in the west and south of the island on Tuesday afternoon, after a day of clearer skies on Monday.
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), PSI readings of 50 and below denote “good” air quality, “moderate” for 51-100 and “unhealthy” for 101-200.
Haze clouds the sky above the Pandan Reservoir area on Sep 18, 2019. (Photo: Bryan Tan)
The one-hour PM2.5 reading was 78-111µg/m3 at 8am, in the elevated band. The southern region had the highest levels of 111µg/m3.
PM2.5 is a measure of tiny particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter in the air. When the PM2.5 reading is in the elevated range, haze particles can affect the heart and lungs, especially in people who have chronic heart or lung conditions.
According to NEA, one-hour PM2.5 readings are a “good indicator of current air quality”, and can be used for those deciding whether to go for immediate outdoor activities, such as a jog.
On Tuesday afternoon, the environment agency said the 24-hour PSI readings may enter the mid-section of the unhealthy range if denser haze from Sumatra is blown in.
“Given the air quality forecast for the next 24 hours, healthy persons should reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion,” said NEA.
“The elderly, pregnant women and children should minimise prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion, while those with chronic lung or heart disease should avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion.”
A view of the haze from Jalan Tenteram on Sep 18, 2019.
A total of 109 hotspots were detected in Sumatra on Tuesday, down from 233 on Monday, but this was due to a “partial satellite pass”. This is when a satellite’s field of view covers only part of a region of interest as the satellite orbits the earth.
There is still moderate to dense smoke haze in Indonesia’s central and southern provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra and Lampung, said NEA.
SINGAPORE: When Jasmine (not her real name), went for an interview for a junior marketing role at a major tourist attraction in Singapore, she expected to answer questions about her work experience and qualifications.
Instead, Jasmine, who speaks English and Hindi, was asked to translate an English paragraph into Mandarin.
When she told her interviewers that she only spoke English and Hindi, but not Mandarin, they said she could just call her friends during the interview to get help.
“I ended up copying hanyu pinyin from a friend’s text, who helped me translate it. Needless to say, I didn’t get the role,” Jasmine told CNA.
“What I never understood was how they could invite me to this ‘prestigious’ interview with no mention of needing to be proficient in Mandarin,” she said, adding that it was also not indicated in the job listing or hiring processes leading up to the interview.
Attendees at a job fair line up for an interview carrying their resumes in leather bags. (Photo: REUTERS/Jason Reed)
According to a survey by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and OnePeople.sg, the proportion of Malay and Indian respondents who said they felt discriminated against when applying for jobs has increased since 2013.
In the survey, a large proportion of minorities – 73 per cent of Malays, 68 per cent of Indians and about half of Others, which includes Eurasians – felt that they had experienced discrimination when it came to applying for a job.
In contrast, 38 per cent of Chinese respondents felt that way, according to the research findings.
The paper also found that 80.2 per cent of Chinese respondents indicated that language was sometimes important, important most of the time or always important when hiring someone to work for them. The figures for Malay and Indian respondents were significantly lower at 71.5 per cent and 73.2 per cent respectively.
IPS researcher Dr Mathew Mathews, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy told CNA that in a job environment where the majority of workers are more comfortable using a certain language, there might be an interest to hire those who speak the language.
“There is a sense that when people speak the same language, everyone understands each other better and there will be less misunderstanding. However this can lead to a preference to only recruiting people who are similar, and excluding others who can legitimately contribute,” he added.
However, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) said in a statement to CNA that complaints about alleged workplace discrimination related to language have been on a downward trend in the last five years. These complaints involved discriminatory job advertisements, interview processes, and HR practices, TAFEP said.
It received a total of 113 complaints on the matter between 2014 and 2018, with 31 cases in 2014 and 15 in 2018, said TAFEP.
Addressing concerns about job advertisements or interviews that may state preferred languages, TAFEP said: “The Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices require employers to hire on the basis of merit and not use language as a limiting criterion during selection or recruitment.
“If the job requires the employee to use a specific language, the employer should justify how this criterion would apply, and affect the ability of the employee to perform the job.”
Nicole (not her real name), another recent graduate who speaks English and Tamil told CNA that while interning at one of the big four law firms, a senior lawyer said to her: “If you want to make it in the litigation practice in Singapore, learn Mandarin.”
Nicole highlighted that the senior lawyer who advised her had good intentions, but it also made her realise she might have to learn Mandarin to do well in her field.
“It’s not really a requirement for the job, but you realise that maybe I can’t do my job well because I’m limited by not knowing their language,” she added.
“It’s not that I can never help Chinese clients, but 75 per cent of the Singapore population is Chinese. There are going to be times when people slip into Mandarin, so you just have to be prepared to risk that you might not be able to help the majority of your clients coming through.”
Nicole noted that this does not mean that those who speak Mandarin at work are racially biased or racist. “Frustrations come in the mother tongue. It happens to all of us, especially the older generation.”
Sociologist Tan Ern Ser said he believes the findings of the IPS survey are statistically significant.
“Statistically speaking, there are reasons to suspect that Chinese are indeed more likely to give more weight to language and race, compared to non-Chinese.”
Associate Prof Tan noted that this may be related to how companies in Singapore today still specify Mandarin as a “good-to-have” or “recommended” skill for jobs even when it is not necessary.
“The discrimination could be related to the extent to which they believe they can trust or communicate with non-Chinese staff, and the extent to which their majority Chinese customers would prefer to be served by a Chinese staff,” he said.
“Such practices are harmful as they violate our core values of meritocracy and multiracialism, which means that minorities could be deprived of a job, despite having the right credentials.”
COMPANIES NOW MORE FOCUSED ON JOB REQUIREMENTS
Ms Eugenia Ng, associate director of Michael Page Singapore said the recruitment agency has seen instances of clients requesting for Mandarin as a recommended or required skill due to company culture or preference.
“This is often seen in the growing SMEs (small and medium enterprises) looking to expand their regional presence,” she added.
However, she noted that in a more global economy, more organisations are also evolving to encourage leaders and employees to adopt the universal business language – English.
“In fact, while there was a strong push for Mandarin speakers five years back, many organisations are now more focused on candidates with the necessary technical skills and diverse cultural awareness,” added Ms Ng.
Unless the role requires for an employee to be proficient in Mandarin, job advertisements should only focus on technical skills and qualifications, said Ms Lim Chai Leng, director of banking and financial services at recruitment agency Randstad Singapore.
“This need only arises when the candidate is required to collaborate with clients or customers, suppliers and co-workers based in markets such as China or Taiwan, where Mandarin is used as the predominant language,” she added.
However, Randstad Singapore has also observed that candidates who are bilingual or multilingual tend to have a “slight advantage” as there could be more career progression available within the organisation said Ms Lim. This includes portfolio expansion to different countries in the region.
People walking along Singapore’s Central Business District area. (File photo: Ngau Kai Yan)
Experts also noted that Singapore often serves as the regional headquarters of many multinational companies with fewer operations based locally.
“Many of these organisations have a large percentage of the management team or decision-making stakeholders based in mainland China,” said Ms Ng.
“Therefore, they seek candidates with Mandarin-speaking abilities to communicate effectively with their North Asian counterparts. China still accounts for a large revenue size within APAC (Asia Pacific) for many multinationals,” she added.
Outlining some examples of workplace discrimination, Dr Tan said: “If the ability to speak Mandarin is not essential, and non-Chinese applicants with the right credentials are rejected, then it is definitely discrimination.
“If it is essential, and Mandarin-speaking non-Chinese applicants, with the right credentials, are rejected because of their race, then here again is discrimination.”
Employees who encounter discrimination in the workplace are encouraged to approach TAFEP for advice and assistance.
“For TAFEP to better assist these employees, they should identify themselves, provide their contact details and specific details of the discriminatory practices that they have encountered,” said the statement.
“This information is necessary for TAFEP to assess the case, and ensure accountability, fairness and transparency in handling the complaint, towards all parties. Where requested, TAFEP will protect the confidentiality of all who come forward.”
As for Nicole, she is looking to learn Mandarin to be better prepared for her career.
“For a person like me who’s in her mid-20s and wants to learn Mandarin, it’s expensive. I’ve been looking for Mandarin lessons, and it comes to a ballpark figure of S$300 to S$500 per month. I’m one of the newer graduates, so that’s a lot of money to put in immediately.
“Law graduates like me also work long hours, so it counts as extra time (non-Mandarin speakers) have to put in that maybe the majority race doesn’t have to think about, because we have to better ourselves.”
Award-winning photographer Kelvin Lim spends much of his day surrounded by nude bodies twisted in various artistic forms.
Breasts and bottoms exposed, oil paintings and still images of naked men and women line the walls of his workplace, decorating his mid-sized studio housed at Ark@Gambas, an industrial building located along Gambas Crescent.
Describing himself as a portrait artist, the 48-year-old specialises in boudoir, sensual and nude photography for both individuals and couples since venturing into the art 13 years ago.
THEY’VE ALWAYS BEEN THE ‘ODD’ COUPLE
A sensual shoot package ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 — expensive because of the skills and experience required, said Kelvin.
Nexus, Mindef’s department responsible for Total Defence and Education, is organising a Total Defence Logo Design Competition for the new logo.
This is to mark the addition of a sixth pillar, Digital Defence, to the five existing pillars of Military, Civil, Economic, Social and Psychological Defence on Total Defence Day this year.
Participants are required to design a new Total Defence logo that represents all six pillars.
Five of the best entries will be shortlisted and put up for public voting at the end of the year.
Here’s the best part: the creator of the winning design will walk home with $5,000 while the other four shortlisted designers will each receive $500 worth of prizes.
This isn’t the first Total Defence Logo Design Competition in Singapore. In 1985, over 1,700 designs were submitted to the theme of “There’s a part for everyone in total defence of Singapore”.
After a public vote involving more than 20,000 people, the iconic logo in the shape of a hand by freelance graphic designer Berwin See won.
SINGAPORE – Singapore is the second-worst performing country in terms of workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices, based on a poll of employees in 14 developed countries by Kantar, a data, insights and consulting firm.
Meanwhile, Singtel is the only company from the city-state to make the global top 100 in a separate D&I index by Refinitiv.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of Singapore workers said they have been bullied in the workplace in the past year, which is among the highest levels in the world, according to Kantar’s survey findings, which were released on Tuesday (Sept 17).
Singapore employees are also the most likely to be made to “feel uncomfortable” (32 per cent) by their employers, compared with those in other countries polled.
The inaugural Kantar Inclusion Index compares employee feedback on their D&I experiences. It interviewed 18,000 people in 14 countries, including 1,050 individuals in Singapore.
