SINGAPORE: The police are looking for a suspect after a robbery took place at a jewellery shop in Ang Mo Kio on Wednesday (Aug 14). 

The incident happened at Block 574 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10. Police said they were alerted to the case at about 4.10pm. 

A man jumped over the counter at the shop and grabbed jewellery worth about S$100,000 before he fled, police said. 

“No weapon was used and no one was injured,” they added.

Photos sent by CNA readers show an area outside the shop being cordoned off, with several police vehicles at the scene. 

The male suspect was wearing a black helmet, blue jacket, a pair of black pants and carrying a black bag, said police. 

Anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

This story came from a reader tip-off. If you would like to send in photos or videos of something newsworthy, WhatsApp our Mediacorp news hotline at +65 8218 8281 or message us on Facebook.

SINGAPORE: National servicemen (NSFs) will get more support and resources to help them prepare for employment or further studies when they complete their National Service (NS).

More than 4,000 NSFs attended the Enhanced Career and Education Fair (ECEF) on Wednesday (Aug 14) at Suntec City Convention Centre. The fair is held on a quarterly basis for NSFs as they approach their last three to six months of NS.

The latest edition of the ECEF included 15 institutes of higher learning and 57 exhibitors from key economic sectors, including electronics, precision engineering and logistics and supply chain management.

Enhancements to the fair included new SkillsFuture Advice workshops held under the SkillsFuture@NS initiative. The hour-long sessions guided the NSFs to make informed choices in work or higher studies after they complete their NS.

The workshops also touched on government resources that are available to help them in the process. In addition, a digital career starter pack, developed by Workforce Singapore, was launched to equip NSFs with the necessary tools when looking for jobs.

NSFs can now use their Electronic Pre-Release Employment Programme (E-PREP) credits for 3,300 courses from online course provider Udemy – an increase from the 200 online courses previously offered.

They can also subscribe to a one-year access to Udemy’s E-PREP online courses and continue to sign up for courses from other providers.

The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and Temasek Polytechnic have offered 26 credit-bearing courses, which will allow NSFs to obtain course or credit exemption should they further their studies in either of the institutes.

Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, who visited the ECEF on Wednesday morning, emphasised the importance of supporting NSFs in their transition to school or the workplace. 

“If you are looking at what kind of skills are needed in the economy of today and tomorrow, it is constantly changing and evolving,” he said.

“It is also a commitment on the part of the MINDEF and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to constantly review what would be relevant and then to work alongside our partners, education institutions as well as employers in order to bring the latest, best and most relevant information to our NSFs.”

SINGAPORE: A company called Environmental Landscape was fined S$220,000 on Wednesday (Aug 14) after an explosion in an underground storage tank left three workers with burn injuries, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). 

The incident happened on Jul 25, 2016 at 131 Lorong Semangka. 

Four workers – Rahman Mohammad Ataur, Miah Sobuj, Uddin Mohammad Riaz and Alagappan Vignesh – had been instructed by one Hossan Billal to clean the tank, which was a confined space 3.2m deep and was only accessible with a ladder at the only manhole open at the time. 

MOM said that after Miah entered the confined space, Rahman passed him a floodlight and electrical socket, and joined him underground. 

Vignesh stayed above ground to observe because it was his first day at work. 

As the last worker Uddin was entering the confined space, Rahman switched on the socket extension to activate the floodlight. 

“This sparked off an explosion which was strong enough to propel Uddin and the ladder out of the confined space’s entrance,” the press release stated. 

Burnt, Uddin ran and dived into a nearby pool, while other workers helped Rahman and Miah out of the space. 

All three were taken to hospital. 

“BLATANT DISREGARD FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH”

MOM’s investigations revealed that Environmental Landscape had failed to conduct any risk assessment for the activities related to the cleaning of the confined space.

Critical hazards such as the presence of toxic or flammable gases were neither identified nor addressed before the workers entered the space to carry out work. 

MOM added that all four workers were not trained to work within a confined space and neither were they informed of the risks involved, such as oxygen deficiency and the build-up of flammable or toxic gases.

The company had also failed to inform the workers of the safety precautions that should have been taken, and did not develop and implement procedures for dealing with emergencies that might arise while its employees were at work in a confined space.

In connection with the incident, Hossan was also charged for instructing the workers to perform the cleaning works without ensuring that it was safe to do so.

MOM’s Director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate, Mr Sebastian Tan said: “The company had endangered the lives of its workers by requiring them to perform a high-risk job without any training, instruction, safety equipment or emergency rescue system.”

“This blatant disregard for workplace safety and health is unacceptable. We will continue to press for high fines against employers who knowingly put their workers at risk,” he added. 

SINGAPORE: The conversation on whether we should have more regulation or less over a sector is always an interesting debate. Consumers generally want some level of protection, but businesses are wary of too much regulation stifling innovation and growth.

However, the recently passed Point-to-Point (P2P) Passenger Transport Industry Bill that will take affect from June 2020 is long overdue.

What started out as just a ride-sharing app, private-hire car companies have pretty much taken up many aspects of our daily lives from commuting, eating, shopping, and even banking.

READ: Driving a Grab full-time right after graduation. Should you do it? A commentary

A MUCH NEEDED CORRECTION

I do not own a car, so I use a lot of private hire cars and taxis to get me quickly to meetings. I remembered when Uber exited the Singapore market, the prices of Grab rides went up almost immediately.

Long gone were regular discount vouchers. Drivers complained that they didn’t get the same payout incentives anymore.

One might argue that this merely reflected the correction that the market needed after a brutal price war between the two dominant players.

Though this argument is valid to certain extent, it also shows that we need competitors to keep prices affordable and that we need to encourage new players to come in to the market.

GO-JEK’S ARRIVAL

The arrival of Go-Jek – the US$10 billion behemoth from Indonesia – to the Singapore market was received with a lot of fanfare. Drivers signed on with Go-Jek and commuters noticed that Go-Jek was significantly cheaper during its launch.

However, customers also quickly realised that the waiting time for a Go-Jek car was also significantly longer than that of Grab, though it was subsequently resolved as it scaled.

Today, many go back and forth between the two apps. I often see drivers have two phones running Grab and Go-Jek apps, maximising their earning potential.

READ: Go-Jek and Grab’s two competing visions are knocking heads in Asia, a commentary

All of this is great news for Singapore. Competition in general encourages companies to increase customer service and experience. Recently Grab announced that it would spend US$2 billion in Indonesia alone to go head-to-head with Go-Jek in its home turf.

FOCUS ON ROAD SAFETY

But here lies a potential issue if our regulators and policy makers did not step in to license, monitor and regulate the sector accordingly. Companies might in their quest for profit and market expansion neglect the safety of drivers and passengers.

I have heard stories of private-hire car drivers who chase after the minimum number of rides needed in order to receive the maximum payout incentive and how private-hire car companies are on a hiring spree to increase the number of drivers on the road.

Both strategies, if not managed carefully, could pose risks to customers because they could lead to more tired and inexperienced drivers plying our roads.

Several months ago, my private-hire driver almost got us into accident a couple of times because he was glued to his navigation app, unable to figure out which roads to take due to unfamiliarity with the route.

LISTEN: The Pulse: Impatient drivers and other threats on the road

It is one thing to know how to drive yourself from point A to point B, it is another thing to drive for a living and at that, driving passengers of all ages to many parts of the city – all day every day.

Before I got off the car, I advised him to reconsider driving a private-hire car for the safety of others. I filed a complaint to the car company and was told that they would monitor the driver, but got no other updates on the follow-ups.

There was no way for me to know whether any remedial action had been taken and whether there were other complaints on the same driver from other passengers.

READ: Three stories show Uber’s IPO rests on overworked drivers and a lot of waiting, a commentary

Another thing that I pay close attention to whenever I take a private-hire car  late at night or very early in the morning is whether my driver is sleepy. I have come across a few drivers who have closed their eyes and swerved between lanes.

I usually keep my drivers alert by making small talks and asking about their day. These instances did not, fortunately, lead to accidents, but shall we wait until they did before we do something?

HOW TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS

All of this can actually be prevented by private hire-car companies. Private-hire car companies like Grab are putting in place telematics to collect data on trips, so they know better than anyone how many hours their drivers have been on the road. They know better than anyone how many safety complaints a driver has received.

They also know better than anyone the driving conditions their drivers face on the roads – because if they wanted to, they could keep track of this via their app, and design interventions to ensure road safety. For instance, a reckless driver should trigger an alert to the app.

A broader conversation should also take place on how we handle unsafe drivers – how many complaints does it take for a driver to be suspended or put on notice? Who would supervise these drivers?

READ:  The growing trend of distracted driving, a commentary​​​​​​​

It wasn’t that long ago that a recent fatal incident that left one teen dead and three seriously injured involved a taxi driver who had committed a series of serious traffic offences but was still allowed to drive.

As a public, we need to know how companies handle security measures.

Let me be clear, these unfortunate situations represent only a tiny fraction of my experience using private hire cars and taxis. Grab has released statistics on its safety record and its report claimed a Grab trip is as safe as any you would take on a Singapore taxi.

But there’s always room for improvement when it comes to road safety as Singapore becomes more dense and congested.

IMPROVING SAFETY IS A KEY PRIORITY

Overall, the availability of these cars is good for many commuters in Singapore. I also like that the new (P2P) Passenger Transport Industry Bill doesn’t stifle innovation by only applying the rule to those companies with more than 800 drivers, allowing new startups to launch without much hurdle.

This allows them to compete with the giants of the private-hire car sector and for those that have a new, innovative business model to scale.

Regulating the private hire car sector is timely. This would help make sure that companies do not sacrifice the general safety and comfort of the consumers and public for profits.

But more can be done when it comes to road safety, not least the release of data and measures to ensure drivers are fit for duty so that commuters have better peace of mind. 

Jonathan Chang is an active advisor, mentor, and investor in startups. He consults governments and philanthropists on innovation and entrepreneurship projects and is Social Entrepreneurship Fellow at raiSE (Centre for Social Enterprise).  

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s largest private residential estate, Braddell View, has been relaunched for collective sale, announced marketing agent Colliers International on Tuesday (Aug 13). 

The owners’ reserve price remains unchanged at S$2.08 billion. 

This is its second en bloc attempt, after a previous tender closed in May without any bids. 

READ: Former HUDC Braddell View to be put up for en bloc sale at S$2.08b

If the sale is successful, owners of residential units could receive between S$2.04 million and S$4.03 million, depending on the size of their property. The units range between 1,453 sq ft and 3,369 sq ft.

For commercial units, owners could receive about S$529,500 to S$1.2 million.

The reserve price translates to a land rate of about S$1,159 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), after factoring in the 7 per cent bonus balcony gross floor area, the estimated differential premium, as well as the cost of topping up the lease to a fresh 99 years.

A former Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) estate, Braddell View was the last HUDC to be privatised in March 2017 – paving the way for an en bloc sale.

The estate, which sits on a hillstop site overlooking MacRitchie Reservoir Park, comprises 918 residential units and two shops. The plot has a lease tenure of about 102 years with effect from Feb 1, 1978.

The estate is near three MRT stations – Braddell on the North-South Line, as well as Marymount and Caldecott on the Circle Line. 

Future residents could also benefit from the proposed transformation of the nearby Bishan Sub-Regional Centre into a business hub under the Draft Master Plan 2019, said Colliers International.

For a large site like Braddell View, a consortium of developers may be the way to go.

“Understandably, developers are assessing the risks associated with acquiring a large site. That said, there are ways to mitigate these risks – forming a consortium to undertake development being one of them,” said Colliers International managing director Tang Wei Leng.

“Location, accessibility, convenience, good value and being near schools are some of the key factors driving demand for homes. We believe the Braddell View site ticks the right boxes and should appeal to diverse groups of buyers given its attractive attributes,” added Ms Tang.

“More importantly, this site offers excellent potential and will provide developers with a solid development pipeline over the next few years.”

Colliers estimates that up to 2,620 new units with an average size of about 915 sq ft could be built on the site, subject to approval by the authorities.

The collective sale tender will close at 3pm on Sep 25.

SINGAPORE: A woman in her 50s developed Cushing’s syndrome after she consumed unlabelled capsules she bought from a peddler at Redhill market, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said on Tuesday (Aug 13).

Cushing’s syndrome, commonly induced by steroids, is a serious medical condition which may cause high blood pressure, decreased immunity, weight gain and round or “moon” face.

The unlabelled capsules were sold in packets of 50 by a peddler at Redhill market. The product came with a leaflet printed in Chinese stating that the capsules contained multiple herbal ingredients such as Moringa seeds, cordyceps and Panax notoginseng flower.

It also claimed that the product was “100% herbal” and could treat numerous medical conditions, including chronic diseases and conditions such as cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. 

The woman had been taking the product for three to four months for her headaches until her doctor suspected that the product was adulterated with steroids and alerted HSA. 

Tests found the product to contain steroids (dexamethasone, prednisolone) and other potent medicinal ingredients, such as diclofenac, a painkiller that may potentially cause serious gastric bleeding, as well as heart attacks and stroke when used for a prolonged period.

POTENT INGREDIENTS DETECTED IN TWO PRODUCTS SOLD ONLINE

HSA also warned about two other products – Skinny Lolita and Xtreme Candy.

Skinny Lolita was marketed as a traditional “all-natural” slimming remedy that contained only plant and herbal extracts. However, HSA tested it to contain sibutramine, a medicine that has been banned in Singapore since 2010 due to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. 

Skinny Lolita was also promoted as the new packaging of a product which was previously tested by HSA in 2017 to contain sibutramine.

In a separate case, Xtreme Candy, marketed as a candy containing ginseng and other plant ingredients, was seized from a woman in her 40s who had imported them from Malaysia.

“It was tested to contain an analogue (chemically-related compound) of tadalafil, a potent prescription-only medicinal ingredient used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction,” HSA said.

Inappropriate use of tadalafil and its analogues can cause “serious adverse effects”, such as stroke, heart attack, low blood pressure and priapism – painful and prolonged erections.

Both products are being sold on multiple e-commerce websites in Singapore and Malaysia. HSA has directed local website administrators to remove the postings of both products. 

“We have also informed our Malaysian counterpart of the product postings for their follow-up enforcement actions,” added HSA.

READ: Woman suffers from severe heart failure after consuming illegal weight loss product: HSA

HSA advised all consumers to immediately stop taking the affected products and consult a doctor if they feel unwell or are concerned about their health.

HSA also warned consumers to avoid purchasing health products from unfamiliar sources or that carry exaggerated claims, such as the ability to treat chronic conditions and diseases.

“Even if they are recommended by close friends or relatives, there is no way to ascertain how these products are made and contrary to their claims to be ‘100% herbal’ or ‘all-natural’, they may contain potent ingredients that can be harmful to health.”

SINGAPORE: A woman in her 50s developed Cushing’s syndrome after she consumed unlabelled capsules she bought from a peddler at Redhill market, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said on Tuesday (Aug 13).

Cushing’s syndrome, commonly induced by steroids, is a serious medical condition which may cause high blood pressure, decreased immunity, weight gain, and round or “moon” face.

The unlabelled capsules were sold in packets of 50 by a peddler at Redhill market. The product came with a leaflet printed in Chinese stating that the capsules contained multiple herbal ingredients such as Moringa seeds, cordyceps and Panax notoginseng flower.

It also claimed that the product was “100% herbal” and could treat numerous medical conditions, including chronic diseases and conditions such as cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. 

The woman had been taking the product for three to four months for her headaches until her doctor suspected that the product was adulterated with steroids and alerted HSA. 

Tests found the product to contain steroids (dexamethasone, prednisolone) and other potent medicinal ingredients, such as diclofenac, a painkiller that may potentially cause serious gastric bleeding, as well as heart attacks and stroke when used for a prolonged period.

POTENT INGREDIENTS DETECTED IN TWO PRODUCTS SOLD ONLINE

HSA also warned about two other products – Skinny Lolita and Xtreme Candy.

Skinny Lolita was marketed as a traditional “all-natural” slimming remedy that contained only plant and herbal extracts. However, HSA tested it to contain sibutramine, a medicine that has been banned in Singapore since 2010 due to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. 

Skinny Lolita was also promoted as the new packaging of a product which was previously tested by HSA in 2017 to contain sibutramine.

In a separate case, Xtreme Candy, marketed as a candy containing ginseng and other plant ingredients, was seized from a woman in her 40s who had imported them from Malaysia.

“It was tested to contain an analogue (chemically-related compound) of tadalafil, a potent prescription-only medicinal ingredient used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction,” HSA said.

Inappropriate use of tadalafil and its analogues can cause “serious adverse effects”, such as stroke, heart attack, low blood pressure and priapism – painful and prolonged erections.

Both products are being sold on multiple e-commerce websites in Singapore and Malaysia. HSA has directed local website administrators to remove the postings of both products. 

“We have also informed our Malaysian counterpart of the product postings for their follow-up enforcement actions,” added HSA.

READ: Woman suffers from severe heart failure after consuming illegal weight loss product: HSA

HSA advised all consumers to immediately stop taking the affected products and consult a doctor if they feel unwell or are concerned about their health.

HSA also warned consumers to avoid purchasing health products from unfamiliar sources or that carry exaggerated claims, such as the ability to treat chronic conditions and diseases.

“Even if they are recommended by close friends or relatives, there is no way to ascertain how these products are made and contrary to their claims to be “100% herbal” or “all-natural”, they may contain potent ingredients that can be harmful to health.”