A teenager, who was 17 when he schemed with two friends to steal from prostitutes and then raped their final victim while he was alone with her, was sentenced to seven years’ jail and 15 strokes of the cane yesterday.
Mendel See Li Quan, who is now 19, pleaded guilty to one charge each of raping and robbing the 53-year-old victim on Oct 2, 2017, and a third charge of stealing $670 from another victim in September 2017. Eight other charges were taken into consideration.
In passing sentence, Justice Valerie Thean said the need for rehabilitation was displaced by the violence and brutality shown by See, who wielded a chopper against the victim.
See’s lawyer, who sought reformative training, said he was appealing against the sentence. Bail was doubled to $100,000 pending appeal.
The court heard that See, a Malaysian, got to know Singaporeans Benjamin Yong Dun Zheng and his girlfriend, Chow Chia Suan, both 23, in 2017.
The trio discussed possible ways to make money and See, a Singapore permanent resident, proposed stealing from prostitutes.
A question that has never crossed my mind until I watched a documentary about the detrimental effect plastic has on marine life.
With so many green initiatives going on these days, we were curious to find out the amount of plastic used in the office and went around collecting a day’s worth of plastic waste.
Needless to say, it stretched across the surface of a table and looking at it made my stomach turn.
The amount of plastic waste collected at the end of the day in the office. PHOTO: AsiaOne/ Joey Lee
THREE-DAY PLASTIC-FREE CHALLENGE
I decided to go on a plastic-free challenge for three days just to find out how easy (or difficult) it is to remove plastic from my life.
SINGAPORE – A 34-year-old Singaporean man was charged in court on Monday (Sept 16) with terrorism financing, having provided money to support a terrorist overseas, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a press release.
An MHA statement said Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman had, in 2016, provided two payments of about $1,145 in total to an individual overseas who was “facilitating terrorist acts”.
The first payment of $1,059 took place on July 29, 2016, while the second payment of US$62 (S$86) was on Sept 3 that same year.
Providing money in support of terrorist purposes, regardless of the amount, is a serious offence under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act, said MHA.
Hussein, a former information technology engineer, had been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since August 2018.
He was also issued with a detention order for being radicalised and for intending to undertake armed violence overseas in support of the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
SINGAPORE: As seven FairPrice and Cheers outlets began charging for plastic bags in a month-long trial starting Monday (Sep 16), shoppers CNA spoke to were mixed about its waste-cutting impact.
Until Oct 16, shoppers have to pay 20 cents per transaction at the participating FairPrice, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Extra stores if they want plastic carriers with which to bag their groceries, and 10 cents per transaction at the Cheers and FairPrice Xpress outlets.
The proceeds will be donated to the Singapore Children’s Society and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.
One customer, who had just paid 20 cents for two plastic bags at the FairPrice Xtra in Hougang One, said the move should have been implemented sooner.
The housewife, who only wanted to be referred to as Ms Moralis, also said she thought the fee was too low if the aim was to stop Singaporeans from using plastic bags.
“It’s just 20 cents. For most people, it’s almost nothing. If they want people to stop using, it should be more expensive,” said Ms Moralis.
When CNA visited the FairPrice Finest outlet in Zhongshan Mall, cashiers were seen informing customers of the newly implemented plastic bag charge and suggesting that they buy a reusable bag for S$1 instead.
Cashiers were also seen double bagging heavy and wet items like milk and rice.
A customer of the outlet, Ms Vivienne Yue, said: “I think the charge should be per bag, not per transaction. I don’t know if this would really incentivise people to bring their own bag.”
The FairPrice Finest at Zhongshan Mall is one of seven participating outlets for the month-long trial. (Photo: Ang Hwee Min)
The housewife brings eight to 10 reusable bags to the outlet every week to buy groceries and has been doing so for years.
“The 20 cents won’t stop the double bagging or giving of plastic bags for single item purchases. If they charge per bag, the customer might say ‘no, I just need one’. It’s enough to just fit everything in one, they’re not likely to take five bags for five items,” she said.
“I notice the cashiers also always double bag and I always tell them they don’t need to. (It’s also good) for the cashiers to know what to tell customers.”
Ms Yue pointed out that not all shoppers have the habit of bringing a reusable bag everywhere they go and developing that habit is not easy.
She also highlighted that not all grocery shopping trips are planned.
“Sometimes I don’t plan to go to the supermarket and I’m not carrying my bags. And if I don’t have my bags then I’ll either stuff it into my own bag or take a plastic bag if I really have to,” said Ms Yue.
“20 cents is probably okay to make the consumers think twice about taking a bag. It takes a long time to remember to pack the bag, so people who don’t bring one out may feel a pinch every time they go out and spend the 20 cents,” she said.
Non-profit organisation Zero Waste SG, which is collaborating with FairPrice on the month-long trial, said cashiers will only give out the number of plastic bags needed for the goods purchased and will not allow customers to take more than that per transaction.
Zero Waste SG volunteers will also be at participating outlets to share about the initiative.
Housewife Vivienne Yue even brings her own reusable bag for fruits, instead of using the plastic bags provided for fresh produce. (Photo: Ang Hwee Min)
“We hope that this charge can be increased to per bag or to make things more palatable, maybe the first three to five bags can be free and the charge applies to additional bags,” said Zero Waste SG manager Pek Hai Lin.
Mr Pearce Tan, 20, who works in the area and often buys snacks at Zhongshan Mall, was not aware that there would be a one-month plastic bag charge.
He did not bring his own bag to the outlet and paid 20 cents for a plastic bag.
“When I go grocery shopping I bring a reusable bag, but usually when I come here I don’t really always plan to go shopping. It’s on the way back from lunch and then I realise I need to grab this and that,” he said.
“But 20 cents per transaction is quite cheap, so I’m okay with buying it. I will bring this back to my office and reuse it anyway,” he added.
Ms Pek said that the “ultimate goal” is to change people’s behaviour and habits.
“So far I’ve observed that the sentiment is still quite okay. (People) are quite receptive and we can see an immediate change in behaviour and customers bringing their own bags,” she said.
As for concerns over the efficacy of a campaign that only targets consumers, Ms Pek said: “Even though industries are the ones who might make a bigger impact in terms of reducing the use of resources, customers still drive the demand for the goods and services that the industries provide.
“I think we definitely have to push from both sides for it to be sustainable in the long-term.”
NTUC FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng told reporters on Monday that the supermarket chain thought it was “the right time for (it) to do something different”.
In addition to the trial, NTUC FairPrice will be conducting a consumer sentiment survey, he said.
“At the end of this one month, we will put all this together and see how we should rework … or come up with a new scheme that we can then implement across the island,” he added.
When asked why the retailers charged per transaction instead of per bag, Mr Seah said the team wanted to “make things simple”.
“I personally also understand that plastic bags in Singapore do have other uses. How we get rid of plastic bags is also quite different from how other countries dispose of their plastic bags, so I think we need to take this into account,” he said.
He stressed that public awareness and education are the overall goal of FairPrice’s green initiatives.
“I think the real success will be when each and every one of us knows that we all have a part to play,” he said.
“Imagine if Singapore is one of the few countries where we are able to have this reusable bag habit not born by legislation. I think that will be something that all of us will be proud of,” he added.
The co-founder of the famed nasi lemak restaurant The Coconut Club has died at the age of 40.
Mr Lee Eng Su, who was not married, died at home last Thursday, a family member told The Sunday Times yesterday (Sept 14), but declined to say what he died of.
The Coconut Club and its sister restaurant Belimbing Superstar, which has been open for only three weeks, closed on Friday and will re-open on Tuesday. Both eateries are in Ann Siang Road.
The Coconut Club opened in 2016 and shot to fame after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to a meal there that same year.
It also won a place on the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list last year.
The late Mr Lee had spoken passionately about how nasi lemak is not just a dish but a “cuisine” when he talked to ST in 2017.
After attending a nasi lemak convention in Kuala Lumpur in 2014, the chef was inspired to perfect his own version, made from scratch.
Mr Michel Lu, programme director of a food and beverage (F&B) entrepreneurship course at Singapore Management University (SMU), brought friends from Hong Kong to The Coconut Club two months ago.
SINGAPORE – The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) will give its quarterly newsletter a “more appropriate name” after some people took issue with what it is called currently – Panopticon.
Several netizens and academics had noted that the current name refers to the panopticon concept.
Introduced by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, it is based on the belief that society can be changed through constant surveillance with people regulating their behaviour out of fear.
A spokesman for SPS acknowledged that the term “could be misconstrued, and convey an unintended and wrong imagery”.
SPS intended for the magazine to refer to an infrastructure and management design that allows inmates to be effectively and efficiently supervised, said the spokesman, noting that the newsletter has been named Panopticon since 2009.
The newsletter was made available to the public only in July this year and is on the SPS’ website.
“The features of the Panopticon are seen in many modern prisons today, and the name is consistent with SPS’ mission to ensure the secure custody of offenders, while at the same time rehabilitating them,” said the spokesman.
Look, it’s 2019 — and if you still want to lock yourself down in a two-year phone contract, you do you, fam.
Considering the exorbitant prices of today’s flagship iPhones though, it’s totally understandable if you’d rather forgo SIM-only mobile plans bundled with big data. Perhaps you’re due for a new phone contract anyway. Perhaps your monthly phone bills are being paid for by your employers, so it’s a non-issue.
Whatever the reasons, you’re getting a brand new iPhone 11 this Friday (Sept 20) when Apple’s new devices get released into the wild, fresh out of the aluminum chassis oven blessed by Tim Cook. But exactly how much will you need to plop down at the store, and how much will you be needing to fork out every month?
Disregarding the price tags when you purchase directly from Apple (we’ve covered that here), here are the price plans if you’re buying the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max from telcos Starhub, M1, and Singtel.
SINGAPORE: Sales of private homes by developers in Singapore rose 81.9 per cent in August from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday (Sep 16).
Data compiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed developers sold 1,122 units last month, compared with 617 units in the same month a year earlier.
However, sales fell from the 1,179 units sold in the previous month.
Analysts said sales momentum remained upbeat despite the inauspicious Hungry Ghost Festival and global economic uncertainties.
“Private home demand is considered strong as last month’s sales volume (excluding executive condominiums) was one of the highest numbers registered for the month of August in recent years, and is also above the monthly average sales of 805 units for the first seven months of this year,” said Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee.
“August’s sales volume was almost on par with July 2019’s figure, which was the highest sales volume for this year.”
SINGAPORE A SAFE HAVEN: ANALYST Only one project – Parc Clematis – was launched last month, she noted.
Ms Sun added that rising fears over the US-China trade war and the stability of the Singapore currency could have bolstered demand for property in Singapore.
“Buying sentiment has remained largely sanguine despite the global market uncertainties and escalating trade tensions,” she said.
“Rising fears of the US-China trade war morphing into a full-blown currency war may have bolstered demand for properties here, where Singapore is widely regarded as a safe haven for long-term investments.”
The stability of the Singdollar, she added, is also likely to boost investors’ confidence.
“The low-volatility and strength of our currency, undergirded by sound fiscal policies and a stable financial system, have boosted investors’ confidence that their property investments in Singapore will continue to hold value despite the current economic headwinds,” she said.
“Property investors here are likely to preserve their wealth and enjoy a return on their investment in the long term.”
DEMAND LIKELY TO INCREASE WITH NEW GOVERNMENT GRANTS
The Government this month announced enhanced grants and new incentives for first-timers buying HDB resale flats.
This change could result in “upgrader demand” for private homes, as owners of HDB resale flat who plan to upgrade to a new condominium find it easier and faster to offload their units, said Ms Sun.
JOHOR BARU – Illegal moneylenders now operate from luxury condominiums and high-end houses across Johor state as they offer loans to those desperate for fast cash.
Many of their targets are those working in Singapore, and the moneylenders charge interest rates of between 24 per cent and 60 per cent annually.
Those who are blacklisted by financial institutions also turn to these syndicates.
However, those who fail to pay up are usually threatened or harassed by members of these syndicates.
Police have arrested 21 people, including a woman, following a series of raids in the city over the past few days.
These raids have been dubbed the biggest arrest of loan sharks this year after three major syndicates were busted in the state.
The arrests were made during a major operation led by officers from Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crimes Investigations Department together with their Johor counterparts.
Sources said the police units were divided into several teams and they carried out the raids simultaneously in a few places, including Iskandar Puteri, Seri Alam and Setia Indah.
