SINGAPORE: As Deutsche Bank starts making the first of its 18,000 job cuts announced on Sunday (Jul 7), employees are bracing themselves for more uncertainties ahead.
The German banking giant is slashing jobs globally over the next three years as part of a radical restructuring plan aimed at restoring consistent profitability.
As part of the overhaul, the bank will scrap its global equities business and cut some operations in its fixed income, an area traditionally regarded as one of its strengths.
The layoffs began in Sydney on Monday, then spread across the region, taking in the bank’s Hong Kong and Singapore trading hubs before bankers in Europe then reached their offices to find out their fates.
“There is hardly any work getting done today and folks are just mailing or calling friends or headhunters,” said an equities trader in Hong Kong who has spent two years at the bank.
“Half of the floor is gone and others are just waiting to be called in. Some people are saying their byes even before being called in.”
The trader added that his colleagues and him had been escorted from their meetings with Human Resources to the elevators without being allowed to return to their desks.
The logo of Deutsche Bank is seen in Hong Kong, Jul 8, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu)
“The equities market is not that great so I may not find a similar job, but I have to deal with it,” said another equity sales banker in Hong Kong who has been with Deutsche for six years.
“Frankly, I was not expecting they (would) cut the entire equities piece,” he added, as two colleagues came to hug him and see him off from the main building lobby.
In Singapore, the Asia-Pacific hub for the investment bank’s fixed income and currencies business, those who survived the cuts – for now – said the outlook remains gloomy.
“The news is obviously depressing but at least there’s some clarity on the businesses we are still going to focus on. My access card is working fine. So I am safe for now. What happens tomorrow, who knows but for now, I hope this is it,” said a banker in Singapore as he tapped his card to gain access to the lift.
The Financial Times reported that when staff were asked about the atmosphere in the office on Monday morning, a Singapore employee whose team had not been hit by the cuts said: “The mood is always depressed in Deutsche. People know the bank is not doing well … It’s not like a party.”
Pedestrians walk past a logo outside the offices of German bank Deutsche Bank in central London on Jul 8, 2019. (Photo: AFP/Tolga Akmen)
Another employee questioned if the bank can remain competitive.
“Our ECM (Equity Capital Market) business has to be scaled back but it’s not like everything will happen in one day,” said a Singapore banker.
“This is not like what StanChart did to its equities business. We are not going to be giving up our live deals. But the biggest question for us is where do we go from here if we don’t offer the whole suite of products? Will clients stick with us or is the game over?”
SINGAPORE: The air and water quality in Singapore have not been affected by the recent pollution incidents in Pasir Gudang, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said in Parliament on Monday (Jul 8).
He was responding to a question from Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar Melvin Yong on whether Singapore has been impacted by the pollution given its close proximity, and if authorities are monitoring developments closely.
Since Jun 20, more than 1,000 schoolchildren in Pasir Gudang have experienced breathing problems and nausea. Malaysian authorities are still trying to determine the source of the pollution.
All schools in the area were ordered to close from Jun 25 for three days, but students displayed similar symptoms hours after the schools reopened. On Sunday (Jul 7), at least 11 students at four Pasir Gudang schools were reported to have suffered headaches, nausea and vomiting.
Schools in Pasir Gudang were ordered to shut close for three days. (Photo: Bernama)
Mr Masagos confirmed that, so far, no toxic chemicals have been detected within Singapore as a result of the incidents in Johor.
“The ambient levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the northeast region were also well within safe limits. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) also deployed portable standoff chemical gas detectors in the northeast, and did not detect any toxic chemicals in the air,” he said.
Mr Masagos added that Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) and SCDF are in contact with Malaysia’s Department of Environment (DOE) and Fire and Rescue Department (BOMBA) on the latest incident, and will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if there are significant developments.
“Our agencies have put in place precautionary measures to guard against any potential pollution impacts arising from chemical incidents, including those from transboundary sources,” he said.
He explained that NEA’s existing air monitoring stations in the northeast region are able to measure the ambient concentration of a variety of VOCs including benzene, toluene and xylene.
“These capabilities – and with the support of SCDF’s portable detectors – should allow us to detect a transboundary plume and to alert our population accordingly,” added Mr Masagos.
Emergency relief teams were mobilised in Pasir Gudang to provide assistance after distress calls were received on Jun 20, 2019. (Photo: Bernama)
The latest development in Pasir Gudang follows an incident in March, when thousands of students, staff and residents in the area were taken ill after chemical waste was illegally dumped into the Kim Kim river in Johor.
As part of efforts to improve air quality in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia’s Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin previously said that the Malaysian government will ensure that all factories operating illegally in the area will be shut down.
She added the government will not approve any more applications for the construction of new chemical plants in Pasir Gudang.
In light of the pollution in March, Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh asked in Parliament on Monday about the air and water quality in Sengkang, Punggol, Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin compared with other parts of Singapore from 2008 to 2018, particularly during the northeast monsoon seasons.
In reply, Mr Masagos said that the air and water quality in the northeast region “were comparable to the rest of Singapore”, including during the northeast monsoon period.
Mr Masagos also outlined how the NEA monitors and reports on the air quality in Singapore through a network of five national monitoring stations across the island.
Fumes from toxic chemicals dumped in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang in March 2019 caused students and teachers from nearby schools to experience shortness of breath and vomiting. (Photo: Bernama)
He explained that the stations are representative of the ambient air quality in the north, south, east, west and central regions. Criteria pollutants are “continuously monitored” and reported on an hourly basis as the Pollutant Standards Index, Mr Masagos said.
To assess Singapore’s water quality, he said that NEA deploys buoy-based monitoring sensors in eight locations around Singapore, including the Straits of Johor.
This is supplemented by monthly collection samples from 48 sampling points around Singapore, he added.
SINGAPORE: Singaporean online fashion darling Love, Bonito recently opened its largest physical store in Funan Centre.
This is the brand’s third brick-and-mortar store in Singapore, bringing the total in the region to 19.
It is an oddity when you consider that more retailers have moved online with the explosion of online shopping and the massive proliferation of e-commerce apps.
So is Love, Bonito’s move a step back? Actually, it is a step forward.
FROM E-COMMERCE AND BACK
The thing is marketing has grown more sophisticated, aiming to provide the customer with an integrated, seamless shopping experience online and offline.
After all, a majority of consumers do brief research on their smartphones before buying something instore, and a larger proportion browse products at stores before buying these online.
Brands understand and are responding to these trends. Omnichannel marketing has been picking up in other parts of the world, in Europe, the United States and Japan. Amazon, Sephora, Nike, and Uniqlo have achieved some success with this approach.
People walking in front of a makeup shop at ION Orchard. (Photo: Tang See Kit)
Local luxury goods store Reebonz and grocery-delivery company honestbee have also taken the leap.
Even retail companies that started as e-commerce plays are discovering limits to their online growth as consumer adoption plateaus. The online marketplace can also be crowded, with advertising expensive and some consumers reluctant to part with payment and personal data.
Brands are opening brick-and-mortar stores in the hopes that diversifying sales can bridge and enhance the consumer’s journey. But this approach will only work if the brand has already built up an online reputation and can drive traffic to their physical stores.
Indeed, that’s what probably makes Amazon Go so popular in Seattle.
It is a great idea for brands that aim to sell a certain lifestyle and the fashion that comes with it. When it comes to items like clothing and jewellery, consumers prefer to touch, feel and try the products for size and fit.
People walk by the Amazon Go brick-and-mortar grocery store without lines or checkout counters, in Seattle Washington, U.S. December 5, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Jason Redmond)
Seeing how it looks on a model on a smartphone is simply just not enough, not to mention how long the image sometimes take to load.
Being able to try the outfit to see how it looks on you and having the option to mix, match and accessorise is precisely the experience shoppers want.
And being able to buy it right away offers instant gratification. No waiting for shipping or agonising over shipment tracking and disputes.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Location is key to any brick-and-mortar store’s success but it can be pricey to open a storefront in a high-footfall venue like Orchard Road.
But habitat by honestbee is breaking the mould. Its location in Pasir Panjang might help catch the weekday work crowds near Maple Business City.
But its clincher is the experience at its high-tech, cashless supermarket and dining concept – which is unique enough that people flock there to shop and eat even on evenings and weekends.
A physical store for an e-commerce company serves three main purposes.
An Honestbee delivery staff looking at a phone. (Photo: Honestbee)
First, as an extension of the brand, it creates consumer visibility and top-of-mind recall when consumers look for relevant products. This halo effect drives shoppers to its online shop.
Second, its physical venue allows for consumers to try, test drive and troubleshoot new products.
Third, running an online business involves fulfilment costs that range from warehousing, staff and delivery. Having a physical store can even out operating costs since it can carry smaller volumes of items, while also acting as a point for pick-ups and returns.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Singapore is moving towards becoming a smart city with pervasive technology. Businesses that venture online have to contend with a crowded and competitive marketplace.
Having a physical presence provides brands with the exposure and consumer insights to distinguish themselves from the pack.
While this approach may work well for popular brands, smaller and less established players will find they have less bargaining power, for instance, when it comes to negotiating rents.
The SK-II Future X Smart Store pop-up concept. (Photo: SK-II)
They may need more time and creativity to generate a sufficiently high level of consumer awareness for their brands online before making a huge investment into opening and operating a permanent physical store.
Guerrilla marketing tactics, and the use of pop-up stores, can allow brands to tinker with this space and engage customers – to launch new products, and provide exclusive services.
The omnichannel model is also an opportunity for online brands to curate a more exclusive and focused shopping experience.
Through personalised services, customers who used to shop online only can now enjoy a bespoke experience. For example, Love, Bonito’s new store will feature instagrammable spots, alteration services and personal stylists.
While businesses cannot avoid having on online presence, they also cannot be wholly reliant on it. Brands have got to understand what different segments of customers want and how they shop, both online and offline, and target them accordingly.
As the lines between our offline and online worlds blur, consumers will demand a delightful shopping experience that straddles both from the brands they buy.
UNBOXED by Singtel is Singapore’s first 24-hour unmanned pop up store. (Photo: Mark Lee)
This makes imperative the need for retailers to provide timely and useful information, both online and offline, and respond to their customers.
How brands will shape this space is something worth watching.
Tan Soo Jiuan is Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at the National University of Singapore Business School. The opinions expressed are those of the writer’s and do not represent the views and opinions of NUS.
SINGAPORE: Back in 2016, the three major Singapore telcos – Singtel, StarHub and M1 – held various meetings with investors and shareholders, reassuring them that a fourth telco would not be a threat to their businesses.
They told the market that it is not a problem, two analysts recalled. The incumbents had felt that if a new competitor appears, it will be an uphill climb to deliver the same quality of services as them.
At least one of the telcos was unconvinced that there would be any serious push to respond to the regulator’s call for proposals earlier that year, believing that there was no business case for a fourth telco.
“That was the thinking then: It already was a crowded market and the telcos believed they didn’t need to do anything. Whatever price the fourth telco offers, they will undercut it to kill off the competition,” one analyst said on condition of anonymity.
So when the regulator, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), granted Australia’s TPG Telecom the right to become the fourth telco in December 2016 – loosening the market for the first time in 15 years – the incumbents appeared unfazed.
But the telecommunications landscape today is far from the oasis of stability that the three telcos had portrayed to investors back then.
There are now 11 telcos in Singapore, including the mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that have since flooded the scene. Two – Grid Mobile and redONE – were announced in the past month.
Unlike the main telcos, MVNOs do not own and operate any network infrastructure and have to lease it from either Singtel, M1 or StarHub at a cost.
Knee-deep in a price war even before TPG has launched its full commercial services, the three incumbent telcos have seen their profit margins erode in recent years.
Total mobile service revenue shrank 5.3 per cent in 2018. Industry leader Singtel’s group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell by 7 per cent in the 2018 financial year compared with the previous year, while StarHub’s service earnings fell by 11.1 per cent and M1’s shrank by 3.7 per cent.
Right now, Singapore consumers are enjoying a variety of telco offerings at low prices like never before.
But with mobile revenues set to decline at a steeper rate for at least two more years, shareholder values and the jobs of many telco workers here could take a hit.
By all accounts, the industry is now rife with talk of market consolidation – the question is whether all the three incumbents will be spared the chopping block.
How did the telco industry, which had enjoyed near monopolistic status in the past, arrive at this stage?
The answer, analysts say, is a complicated one marked by missteps and mistimed opportunities in the telcos’ efforts to transform themselves, and also because Singaporeans are now less willing to pay for data as before.
PAYING LESS FOR DATA
Every month, Madam Yvette Yeo pays around S$60 for her mobile phone line and those of her two daughters, while her husband, who manages his own bills, pays around S$90 for four lines used by his multiple devices – his main phone, a secondary one, an Apple iPad and a laptop.
It is a sign of how gadget-crazy Singaporeans are – a fact that analysts say had propped up the telco industry in previous years as consumers were more willing to spend more on their phones. The mobile population penetration rate in Singapore is at around 150 per cent, while wireless broadband penetration is at around 190 per cent.
Singapore’s mobile population penetration rate is at around 150 per cent. (File photo: TODAY)
But this year, Mdm Yeo wants a change. The advent of lower cost plans offered by both MVNOs and incumbent telcos’ sub-brands, such as Singtel’s Gomo and StarHub’s Giga, have led her to seek out new SIM-only and off-contract plans across multiple telcos that could save her around S$15 a month.
The plans trade voice minutes for higher data caps and free or discounted bundled services such as music service Spotify, said Mdm Yeo. This suits her family’s needs as they use more data than voice calls, she added.
Her husband Oo Gin Lee, founder of technology-focused public relations agency Gloo PR, said such a strategy by the telcos is a big change from the past, when they sought to lock-in their subscriber base into contracts, while charging more by tacking on additional services and data caps.
A key metric in the telephony business is ARPU – the average revenue per user – which shows how much each subscriber pays to the telcos.
“The goal then was therefore to maintain the lock-in while increasing ARPU, and therefore growing revenues for all three telcos,” said Mr Oo.
But ARPUs have declined since 2016. On a year-on-year basis, average post-paid ARPU in Singapore fell by 3 per cent in 2016 and 4 per cent the following year, while for pre-paid, ARPU fell 7 per cent and 5 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively, based on a UOB report.
This is due to heightened competition from MVNOs, such as MyRepublic, Circles.Life and Zero Mobile, whose leaner cost structures and digital retail model have allowed them to roll out lower priced plans to gain market share from the bigger players. The telcos had to respond by offering such plans of their own, while offering more sweeteners through higher data caps at little to no additional cost to the user.
Phillip Securities Research analyst Alvin Chia said it is no longer the case that telcos can monetise data as they did in the past, when people were willing to pay high fees for premium plans that boasted more data. Today, nearly every telco offers affordable unlimited data plans.
“There is nothing much the telcos could have done here because this is a global trend. Consumers expect to get more data and pay less, which translates to more data consumption and less data revenue for the telcos,” said Mr Chia.
The popularity of off-contract plans also shows a change in handset replacement patterns among a segment of consumers, who are increasingly unwilling to be locked in. SIM-only plans have whittled down the dominance of the two-year post-paid contract model in Singapore, whereby expensive phones are subsidised by the telcos.
Now, SIM-only plans is estimated to contribute between 10 and 15 per cent of their subscriber mix, he said.
Part of this is due to Chinese phone manufacturers such as Huawei and Oppo, whose phones boast lower prices than that of Apple and Samsung while offering similar performance. The influx of cheaper phones reduce the attractiveness of subsidised plans, and hence lowers the ability of telcos to lock customers into two-year plans.
Mr Terence Koh, UOB head of telecommunications, media and technology, said: “The mass market is likely to shift towards SIM-only plans. In particular, post-paid SIM-only plans enable consumers to enjoy the flexibility of subscribing to value-added services based on their lifestyle needs.”
Post-paid plans, he added, will still be in demand from consumers who want premium mobile phones.
RISE OF THE MVNOs
If such changing consumer trends had rattled the big telcos, the arrival of the first MVNOs in 2016 was what triggered the price war today, said experts.
The irony is that the incumbent telcos were the ones which allowed MVNOs to enter, albeit begrudgingly, so as to defend themselves against TPG’s arrival this year, they said.
Ms Janice Chong, director of Asia Pacific corporates ratings at Fitch Research, said by crowding out the market with MVNOs offering cheaper plans, TPG would be hard-pressed to gain a foothold in Singapore if its selling point is to offer low-priced plans. Telcos would also benefit from the MVNOs’ wholesale revenues.
“It is sort of a double-edged sword for incumbents to cannibalise themselves and dilute their ARPU. But will you be rather losing that share to TPG when they do come in?” she asked.
While the plan is to undercut TPG, the state of competition today has ignited a price war that could leave a long-term impact on the industry. Ms Chong said that the telcos “face challenging times ahead”, as a consequence of the MVNOs’ growing threat.
“They (are) having to make continuous investment into the infrastructure that they own while not being able to fully monetise the increasing data use.
“Instead of running to keep ahead of the competition, the telcos are now running to stay still,” Ms Chong added.
To date, there are seven MVNOs in the market, excluding Gomo and Giga as they do not need to lease mobile bandwidth from their telcos. We understand that another MVNO will be announced soon.
Since the launch of Circles.Life in May 2016, its telco partner M1 has increased its mobile revenue market share by three percentage points, said Ms Nidhi Dhruv, vice president and senior analyst at Moody’s Investors Service.
Correspondingly, StarHub’s market share has contracted by three percentage points, while Singtel maintained its share of around 53 per cent.
When Circles.Life entered, the incumbent telcos appeared confident that things were still going according to their plan to squeeze out TPG.
The telcos also had SIM-only plans which were priced lower than the new MVNO at the time.
Telcos had little qualms about dealing with one MVNO then. In 2001, Britain’s Virgin Mobile had entered the Singapore market by leasing bandwidth from Singtel, but exited after around nine months due to the competition.
But Virgin lacked the selling point that Circles.Life has now – off-contract data plans. Being more cost-effective than the three big telcos, Circles.Life was eventually able to offer more competitively priced plans than them, the analysts noted. The MVNO has become Singapore’s fastest growing telco, gaining market share at the incumbents’ expense and poking its rivals in marketing efforts, touting how it “gave power back to the consumers”.
Its success attracted others into the fray.
Mr Oo said it soon became “a proxy war”, with telcos using the MVNOs leasing their bandwidths to grab market share, while watching from a distance.
“The blood on the floor is with the no-contract plans, because this is where the current battle lies. If you are on contract, the telcos love you because they have you for two years. The big shift is the big 3 are no longer sitting around and figuring out the battlefield, they are now deep into the battle,” he said.
Mr Francis Cheang, chief executive of redONE Singapore, said these MVNOs emerged because they can “reach out to certain market segments” that incumbent telcos cannot due to their business model.
redONE is the latest MVNO to be launched, and leases network capacity from StarHub.
“Different MVNOs have different market strategies targeting other market segments, such as the lifestyles of various age groups. For redONE, we believe that there is an opportunity to give more value to commuters travelling between Singapore and Malaysia,” said Mr Cheang, referring to the absence of Singapore and Malaysia roaming charges in the data bundles offered by redONE.
MVNOs are now in a crowded market, but Mr Cheang believes that they can survive by moving into areas that traditional players would avoid.
For example, VivoBee, which has partnered StarHub, offers low-cost plans with flexible overseas top-up schemes catered for the foreign workforce. Grid Mobile appeals to millennials with a points system that rewards consumers for loyalty and helps offset their spending. Circles.Life, MyRepublic and Zero Mobile all target data heavy users who prefer the contract-free route.
BIG BOYS FIGHT BACK – TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?
In response to the MVNOs, Singtel and StarHub launched their own digital telcos Gomo and Giga in March and May respectively, featuring lean cost structures and consumer price plans resembling MVNOs.
M1 consolidated its previous plans into OnePlan earlier this year. (Photo: TODAY file photo)
M1 was the last to react, consolidating its previous plans into OnePlan – based on a digital retail model – in end-May.
In a May conference call with investors, Singtel Consumer Singapore chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said Gomo targets a different segment of the market – those who are digitally savvy and want affordable no-contract plans with high data bundles.
“(In) the initial first month, we do see a huge take-up from the market. In fact, it has actually run way ahead of our own internal expectations. We also see very little cannibalisation of our existing plans because it is really targeting a new segment,” he said.
The introduction of these new digital brand segmentation and pricing by the incumbents, and the impending entry of yet another new MVNO – even before TPG’s commercial launch – is a further escalation of the SIM-only price war which started with the MVNOs’ arrival, said Maybank Kim Eng analyst Luis Hilado.
“Whether the other MVNOs can continue to co-exist with the incumbents … remains to be seen, but we believe industry repair will not appear any time soon,” Mr Hilado said.
One analyst, who declined to be named, said it is the incumbent telcos’ strategy of allowing MVNOs which ultimately backfired: “In hindsight, if the telcos could rewrite history, they should not have introduced MVNOs so early. But someone jumped the gun way before TPG could get off the ground.”
He suggested that the telcos could have focused on Gomo and Giga, without having to jostle with MVNOs at all. That would mean having to invest heavily in transforming their legacy businesses towards digitalisation.
Instead, the digital efforts came a little too late, he said.
Starhub laid off 300 full-time workers as part of a restructuring exercise last year. (File photo: Reuters)
StarHub began its S$25 million restructuring exercise in October last year, laying off 300 full-time workers in a one-off exercise to improve productivity and lower operating expenditure. StarHub had employed around 2,500 staff.
Singtel, too, is seeking to lower its operational expenditure of S$490 million in the last financial year. Its group chief financial officer Lim Cheng Cheng has told investors that “a large part will come from the rightsizing through staff optimisation”, as well as looking at other costs.
Mr Chia from Phillip Securities said: “In that sense, the telcos have been laggards. It is quite an irony that the (telcos), which have been leading tech disruptions across the economy and have been helping enterprises go digital and are at the forefront of digitalisation, are being disrupted themselves.”
While Singtel and StarHub have announced efforts to digitalise, not much is known of M1’s plans on that front.
The telco was delisted from the Singapore Exchange in April after it was bought out by Konnectivity, a joint venture between Keppel Corporation and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
In a statement after the privatisation, M1 said that it will “devise a multi-pronged strategy of innovation, technology adoption, and digitisation, to better meet the needs of its customers”.
Few details have emerged since, besides the launch of OnePlan.
JURY STILL OUT ON DIVERSIFICATION EFFORTS
One of the analysts said he believes the three telcos had been slow to undergo transformation because prior to 2016, they were focused on paying out dividends to shareholders rather than “on change that was sorely needed”.
M1 had a high free cash flow payout ratio of nearly 100 per cent, which indicates how much shareholders are paid relative to the total earnings of the company. This was similar to StarHub then while Singtel’s was around 70 per cent, said the analyst who did not want to be named.
“(M1’s) delisting helps them. Now with the money from Keppel and SPH, they can begin to invest all their earnings into new businesses, new ventures. Not paying dividends is the only way for them to do something new,” he said.
M1 is the least diversified of the three major telcos, with a large majority of its business coming from mobile services.
With the headwinds in consumer telecommunications, the analysts said telcos need to diversify their revenue streams into new business models in order to thrive.
DBS strategist Dylan Cheang reiterated that telcos and utilities firms no longer enjoy “monopoly-like status”.
New digital services, such as Skype, Apple’s Facetime and Tencent’s WeChat, are also offering more attractive and innovative communication services, he added.
Citing a McKinsey report, he noted that the share of messaging and mobile voice revenue by these players have increased drastically. In 2018, people used these digital services to message others 60 per cent of the time, up from 9 per cent in 2011.
“Telcos do not have the pricing power as before. If they do not evolve, it warrants a re-look at how they can be classified as a defensive investment,” said Mr Cheang.
He added that investors could move away from telcos towards bona fide technology firms, which have proven to be more resilient.
Singtel has made efforts to diversify into mobile financial services, digital marketing and cybersecurity. (File photo: Reuters)
Singtel’s share prices climbed overall in the past year, from S$3.16 in July 2018 to S$3.53 in July this year.
StarHub’s fell from S$1.70 to S$1.54 in the same time period. M1 last traded at S$2.05 on Mar 21, before its delisting on Apr 24.
UOB’s Mr Koh said that telcos can also compete in new areas to capitalise on the growth potential of the digital economy, providing more digital services while maintaining their core businesses of being an infrastructure and network provider.
This is largely what Singtel has done, said DBS head of telecom, media and technology research Sachin Mittal.
While the group’s weakness was in its Singapore operations in the latest quarter, this was offset by a strong performance in Singtel-owned Optus in Australia, and its other associates.
In fintech, Singtel has also ventured into mobile financial services, such as mobile payments solution Dash. The group has also expressed interest in applying for a new digital banking licence, which will allow it to operate as a bank that can take deposits from customers, and is currently reviewing the licensing conditions, said a spokesman.
Analysts stressed that diversification is no silver bullet as these efforts may take time to pay off and have their own risks too.
For example, not all of Singtel’s digital life business made money in the past year, with its recent acquisitions such as digital marketing arms Amobee and Videology, as well as cybersecurity services provider TrustWave, posting losses.
StarHub’s pay television division, too, has continued to see shrinking revenues, Mr Mittal noted.
Around 170,000 subscribers have left pay TV services since January 2016 – when Netflix entered the Singapore market – with around 75 per cent coming from StarHub.
On the enterprise services front, StarHub has also made an aggressive push into cybersecurity, working with Certis Cisco to create Ensign. Its enterprise business delivered 16 per cent year-on-year growth in service revenues.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: CONSOLIDATION AND THE 5G HURDLE
The intense competition would likely push the industry towards consolidation in the next three years, analysts from credit rating agency Moody’s warned in January. This was at a time when only seven mobile service providers were expected to appear in 2019.
Ms Nidhi said that the presence of MVNOs and TPG Telecom’s commercial launch later this year will aggravate pricing pressure, leading to consolidation.
Mr Chia noted that most countries can accommodate three mobile operators, an ideal number that allows competition to be feasible.
“Singapore is such a small market, but you have 11 mobile operators now. Certainly, there will eventually be some form of consolidation,” he said.
5G networks are touted as the next big leap forward in mobile and wireless communications. (Photo: Reuters)
Consolidation will coincide with the impending rollout of the ultra fast fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications network in Singapore – which would be another obstacle for telcos given the sizeable capital expenditure, or capex, needed.
The IMDA has launched a public consultation for 5G network rollout starting from 2020 onwards, and has proposed to base these networks on “standalone” specifications and architecture. This means that the 5G network cannot piggyback on the existing 4G infrastructure.
Telcos may also share “at least two” nationwide 5G networks at the outset, the regulator has proposed.
Analysts said that currently, there are not enough consumer- and enterprise-use cases to justify more than two networks.
Ms Chong pointed out that main telcos need to own the network infrastructure in order to survive in the long term. “Principal telcos need scale to enjoy economies of scale, and need the spectrum so that they don’t have to rely on another telco to determine their capex and cost structures,” she said.
Negotiating how to share these networks could be a “long-drawn” process, said Mr Koh. But the idea is to consolidate their products to optimise their capex, he added.
In the meantime, Mr Koh said telcos should collaborate with service providers in other industries “to bolster their capabilities and offerings” in the face of the rising competition.
Asked if the telcos could have done more to stave off the competition they face today, Ms Chong said: “That is the million-dollar question that all of the three telcos are grappling with.”
SINGAPORE: The port of Singapore has served as a focal point for trade and cargo, bringing life to the city and contributing immensely to the Singapore’s economy.
The new Tuas Mega Port, when completed, will be strategic in helping Singapore cope with the anticipated growth in container volume and enhance its position as the leading container transshipment hub in Southeast Asia.
The move is an economic win. The construction of the new port at Tuas cannot be timelier, as the leases for Singapore port’s three city terminals (namely, Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Brani) and Pasir Panjang will expire in 2027 and 2040 respectively.
Tanjong Pagar operations is currently concentrated on ancillary services such as car transshipment. Since 2016, Singapore port operator PSA has begun to relocate container operations from the city terminals at Keppel and Brani to the newer Pasir Panjang Terminal. However, Pasir Panjang does not have enough land to accommodate the predicted future growth.
After the lease at Tanjong Pagar expires, the site can be more profitably redeveloped into a commercial and residential district as part of the Greater Southern Waterfront City project. Environmentally speaking, port operations is pollutive, and therefore unsuited to continue its place in the city.
File photo of the Singapore Strait. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
The move will bring new shipping opportunities. The new port can accommodate mega-vessels that hold 24,000 standard-sized containers or more, with long linear berths and deep-water capabilities, and will run on the latest port technologies and systems including digitalisation and automated guided vehicles, yard cranes and quay cranes.
Tuas is a fantastic location because it enjoys proximity to major domestic industrial areas and international shipping routes.
The consolidation of container port activities at Tuas can help cater to the complex needs of shipping alliances, achieve greater economies of scale and boost efficiency by eliminating the need for inter-terminal haulage, which can also cause road congestion.
MOVEMENT IN THE WAVES THAT CARRY TRADE
Southeast Asia holds the world’s leading transshipment market.
Singapore, as the region’s central hub port, is responsible for about 26 per cent of the global transshipment and for facilitating trade traffic that is valued at US$5 trillion, the bulk of which includes transshipments from mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong and the Far East Asia, and exports to China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the US.
The top exports and imports include integrated circuits, refined petroleum, gold, computers and packaged medicament.
Having one of the highest participation rates in global value chains means Singapore is likely to be greatly affected in the event of a trade war between US and China. Currently, the bilateral trade between the US and China indirectly contributes to 1.1 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP).
If the trade conflict subsequently vitiates into a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat measures between major economies, the volume of shipping at the Singapore port will drop as trade flows are disrupted and global consumption and investment are reduced with weaker market sentiment.
Shipping containers are seen at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China September 8, 2018. (File photo: REUTERS)
Nonetheless, there is good reason to be optimistic about Singapore’s future outlook given its strong trading networks and diversified sectors that should enable companies to navigate the disruptions and seek out new opportunities, alternative suppliers and demand markets.
GOOD REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC DESPITE NEW CHALLENGES ON THE HORIZON
Some industry players have predicted that trade routes might be transformed and hundreds of billions of trade volumes might be redirected away from Singapore once China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative projects in Malaysia become operational.
Most have in mind the US$10 billion project in Malacca and developments in Port Klang.
The East Coast Rail line, added as a land bridge between Port Klang and Kuantan port in Malaysia (and several other smaller ports in the East Malaysia), provides an alternative and shorter route for freight transportation from the Straits of Malacca and Singapore to the South China Sea that bypasses Singapore as the transit point.
Nonetheless, the need to unload, transport and reship cargo at Kuantan ports and re-ship from there to Port Klang raises questions on the economic feasibility of this route.
Furthermore, the port in Malacca does not provide container handling services, so it is unlikely to displace Singapore. The biggest risk is to revenue from bunkering services in the Singapore port may face some degrees of decline.
Another related project is the proposed construction of the Kra Canal, which links the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. When completed, the transit distance of oil to East Asian countries will be reduced by 1,200km compared to travelling through the Straits of Malacca.
Workers carry out a bunkering demonstration, transferring liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a ship. (Photo: Pavilion Energy)
The proposed Kra canal is expected to work synchronously with the port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka, for which China has recently acquired the rights to use. Centered in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the Hambantota port has a deep-water coastline in proximity to major India Ocean shipping routes to become a gateway to the emerging African economies.
However, compared to past projects such as the Suez and Panama canals that reduce travel by 800km and 5,000km, the effort required to complete the Kra canal and the environmental implications seem undeserving. Coupled with the lack of government support, the feasibility of the Kra canal’s completion does not look optimistic.
On the other hand, the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) may potentially lower the volume of trade passing through the Singapore port. CPEC plans, which cover the Gwadar airport and seaport, railway, pipelines and free-trade zones, are intended to enable China to procure oil from Iraq and Iran.
By going through the Gwadar-Kashgar pipeline, Singapore’s oil refining industry can be compromised as the demand for transport via oil tankers diminishes.
Aside the Malaysian ports, the Singapore port has to continuously watch out for other regional competitors who are eyeing bigger slices of the transshipment pie and boosting their infrastructure.
Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand have invested heavily in modern deep-water facilities, to attract more large vessels to call at their ports. Myanmar also has plans to develop the Kyaukpyu Port, the Kalaguak Port and Dawei Port to connect India to China.
Sri Lanka in 2017 granted Beijing a 99-year lease on the Hambantota deep-sea port, situated along key shipping routes (Photo: AFP/LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI)
With these advances, cargo can be transported directly to Vietnam using a more cost efficient route, and not through transshipment at a port in the Straits of Malacca. Similarly, Bangkok plans to use the port of Dawei for Thai exports to avoid shipment through the Straits of Malacca.
Last but not least, the land connection towards West Asia and Europe may decrease vessel transits through the Bay of Bengal. In particular, the trans-Eurasian rail services provide an alternative for freight forwarding companies to transport cargoes into China, possibly cannibalising the traffic that would otherwise call at the Singapore port.
PROSPECTS FOR TUAS MEGA PORT
Supported by Singapore’s expertise in the maritime industry, a strong global financial centre, skilled workforce, advanced logistics infrastructure and a stable and corruption-free political environment, the port of Singapore is expected to continue to flourish.
Singapore’s comprehensive suite of free trade agreements with over 30 trading partners all but guarantee market access to the world when one calls at the Singapore port.
Singapore has shown to perform well in cementing its dominant position as the port of call in the region amid intensifying competition.
The Alliance and Ocean Alliance have moved their scheduled dockings from Port Klang to the Singapore Port in 2017. Major names in global shipping, such as France’s CMA CGM and Japan’s newly-established Ocean Network Express, have recently established head offices in Singapore.
CMA CGM operates in 160 countries and has a fleet of 494 vessels AFP/Robyn BECK
The opening of the Tuas terminal will allow the Singapore port to handle the equivalent of 65 million TEUs annually, making it the largest single mega container terminal in the world. The Tuas terminal will be able to process ultra-large container vessels bigger than the present-day’s mega container vessels.
Presently, there are only two ports in Southeast Asia which can accommodate 19,000 TEUs, the other being Tanjung Pelepas.
As Singapore is strategically situated at the mouth of the Straits of Malacca, the total logistics cost of using its ports may still be comparatively lower for firms even though the stronger Singapore currency makes the terminal fees costlier than its neighbours.
Joyce Low is Senior Lecturer of Operations Management at the Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business.
SINGAPORE: Under the watchful eye of her trainer, 20-year-old Alina Seow guided her horse with practiced ease, rounding the training pen again and again.
They were practicing their walk, a lighter training than usual due to Alina’s recent knee injury.
As a rider with cerebral palsy, Alina faces more obstacles than able-bodied riders.
For one, she has more trouble balancing on her horse and requires a special saddle to help her sit tight. She also uses two thin whips to direct her horse, instead of her legs, like how able-bodied riders would.
But she is not daunted.
Alina is able to hold her own even when competing with able-bodied riders. She competed in ahorse show at the Selangor Turf Club back in 2013.
“They told me to be careful, because it’s not (competing with riders with disabilities). And then I went there (and competed) in two categories that they specially included for me,” she said, describing the competition.
While she did not achieve a personal best at that competition, it was still an immensely satisfying experience for her.
Coach Jessamine Ihrcke Dorsey (“Jessie”) giving Alina Seow some feedback on her training session with Dart. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
A TALENTED AND DETERMINED RIDER
It was a magazine article about Laurentia Tan, a Singaporean Paralympian with cerebral palsy, which inspired 10-year-old Alina to take up the sport.
“I was telling my mum about (the article), and I was like, if you can find me a training area then I will go and train,” she said.
Initially, Alina was doing therapeutic riding at Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) Singapore before being “picked” by her current trainer, Ms Jessamine Ihrcke, 37, to train individually.
“We picked out some riders (from group lessons) to be trained individually because of either their determination, potential, dedication and talent, and that’s the things that Alina definitely displayed, especially determination,” said Ms Ihrcke.
“So it was one of those that I looked at and I thought, okay, she definitely wants to proceed and do well. And I wasn’t wrong so far!” she added.
This determination shines through when Alina talks about her long experience working with different kinds of horses.
“I’ve been thrown quite a number of times from the horse,” she said nonchalantly.
“Usually my trainer (will) ask me, can I go back on? Whether my body aches or (not), I’ll just say I can.”
Alina Seow leaning onto Dart to catch a break during her training session she listens to coach Jessie give some encouraging feedback. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
She recalled an incident where her arm bled after she fell from her horse.
Even with her mother’s pleas for her to stop, Alina decided to get back on her horse and continue, to avoid disrupting the group lesson.
To Alina, persistence is key when it comes to riding horses.
“You must have the mentality – You got thrown off? Never mind, just get on again,” she said.
“Even school or training, (I must give my all). Even if I train until I cannot tahan… I’ll say I can go on. So my trainer has to tell me when I have to stop, if not I wouldn’t stop,” she added.
‘I CAN GO FASTER THAN HUMANS’
Alina’s love affair with horses began from the moment she started riding.
Her current horse, D’Artagnan – or Dart for short – is a chestnut-coloured senior horse, almost as old as Alina herself. They have been working together for several months.
“He’s very patient… After I got used to him, I found that he’s actually quite cute and handsome. He’s very calm to a new rider (and doesn’t) suddenly bolt,” said Alina.
Her favourite part about riding is when she gets to trot her horse.
“When I trot, I can go faster than humans. When you trot past someone, it’s like, yes I finally can outrun you kind of thing. Because in my normal life, I can’t run,” she said.
It is the feeling of being able to run on four legs instead of two that she loves, she added.
Alina Seow sits next to Dart after feeding him some carrots to thank him for good a training session. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Her love for horses extends well beyond her riding lesson.
“Anything related to horses, you call me, I’ll go. Everything about horses, (my friends) will send me. My birthday present is always horse-related,” she said.
PARIS 2024
Although she initially hoped to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Alina’s dreams were frustrated by the expenses involved in getting to the Games.
“It’s a funding issue,” said Ms Ihrcke, adding that without immediate funding, it would be impossible for them to participate in the 2020 Games.
Time is also another issue for Alina.
“First I will have to train under the national coach, (and then) I have to lease a horse. (Then I) have to train with that horse to get our harmony there. And then I have to fly to and fro,” she said.
There is also the cost of flying the horse itself to Tokyo, as the rules of the Paralympics state that the rider has to qualify on the same horse that they are competing on.
Alina Seow posing for a photo with her coach, Jessamine Ihrcke Dorsey, and training horse, Dart. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Nevertheless, Alina still hopes to be able to participate in the next Paralympics, which will be held in the summer of 2024 in Paris.
“Whenever I cannot go for the Paralympics, I will (aim) for the next Paralympics… In our sport, there’s no age limit, so you can be 70 and you can (still compete),” she said.
But of course, she hopes to be able to get there before she turns 70, she added.
As for her chances of getting to the Paralympics, Alina remains optimistic:
“My chances? I think I will just do my usual. Be determined and train until you drop. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to go there.”
Alina is a beneficiary of the Mediacorp Enable Fund (MEF), a charity between Mediacorp and SG Enable that hopes to fund the aspirations for people with disabilities. Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is its patron.
HABIGANJ, BANGLADESH: When Sudip Bhadra Joy wasn’t toiling away on a construction site in Singapore, he could be found outside a polytechnic, gazing in awe as students streamed in and out of the school gates.
To Singaporeans, it is nothing special to see. But to this Bangladeshi, it was a whole new world, one he never had a chance to be part of and could only watch from afar.
As he observed the students, he thought about how he was unable to complete high school owing to financial constraints.
He had come to Singapore at the age of 25, earning S$600 a month to support his extended family of 11. “I was a poor man who had absolutely nothing,” says the now 43-year-old.
He then, by chance, met a Burmese studying for a diploma here and who “now works in an office” — while he, with his primary school certificate, could only do menial work. And Joy knew, he was not the only one.
In his small hometown of Habiganj, many youngsters graduating from primary school were faced with unemployment or low-paid, laborious jobs, owing to their lack of technical knowledge. So he dreamt of opening a polytechnic in his town 3,917 kilometres away.
That was eight years ago. Today, in the heart of this town, along its busy and dusty streets, is a three-storey building with a banner bearing the words “North East Ideal Polytechnic Institute”.
Home to more than 200 students, it is the town’s only vocational institute. And the man who started it was Joy.
This is the story of a migrant’s “crazy” dream and how his vision came to pass, in the CNA Insider series Life After Singapore, about what has happened to migrant workers after they returned home.
ALL GOOD IN SINGAPORE UNTIL …
When his older brother suffered kidney failure, Joy found himself stepping up as the head of the household. There were eight young children in his extended family, looking to him to support their education.
“Realistically, I thought if I don’t try to improve the situation, more lives will be ruined like mine was,” he said. “So I gave up my life for them.”
Sudip Bhadra Joy, after returning home.
Through an agent, he secured a job in Singapore in the automobile industry. Over 11 years, he worked in a range of jobs, from construction work to MRT maintenance.
It was hard work, but all was good — until May 2012. He was cycling alone along Nicoll Highway when he was knocked off his bicycle by two youths, who then punched, kicked and stepped on his face and body.
He lost consciousness and was robbed of his wallet and phone. He also suffered fractures on his face and had to undergo an operation. “It was all over the news in Singapore,” he recalled.
While he was recovering and still in pain, the only thing on his mind was to get back to work as soon as possible so that he could continue sending money home.
That resilience served him well as he stayed on in Singapore to work — while pursuing an idea that had just been put into practice.
WATCH: Life After Singapore For Migrant Workers (1:41)
HIS WIFE THOUGHT IT IMPOSSIBLE
A year earlier, Joy had come to know of free skills training for foreign workers, which he admitted he was sceptical about initially.
But he decided to stick around when he saw a class of 30 to 40 other migrants and “hot food being provided”.
So every Sunday for a couple of months, he attended courses on waterproofing works and other construction-related training conducted by the Building and Construction Authority and the Ministry of Manpower.
Before he knew it, he was hooked. For someone who only had general education in Bangladesh, receiving vocational training was an eye-opening experience. “I realised practical knowledge was real knowledge. I fell in love with it,” he said.
That was also when he met the Burmese who was on the way up. And so, the idea of setting up a polytechnic was conceived in his mind. But he knew his hands were tied.
“I’d observed so much in Singapore, but I still had to get my head down and work,” he said. “That’s when I decided to call my wife.”
Ripa Datta was a primary school teacher. When she received his call, she could hear the excitement in his voice — let’s do this, he said — but at that moment, she thought it was an impossible, “crazy” idea.
He remembers her words: You can’t ride a bike, and you’re thinking of flying a plane? How would they fund the school? And what about their own children? (Their daughter was two years old then, and the couple would find out they were having another girl that year.)
He thought she probably could not believe “a poor man’s wife would be able to do anything large-scale”. Needless to say, he was upset.
But the next day, she called and said she was willing to try. She would ask her father and brothers if they could chip in money for the school.
“Whatever income she made would go to our family. My income would go towards the school,” said Joy, who was then earning S$1,200 monthly. He handed more than half of it to his family, trusting them to build his dream school.
I asked them if they could take up the responsibility. They said they could, so I let them.
As he continued to work in Singapore, his wife and in-laws got to work, going door to door to look for students. “People were very sceptical of the polytechnic initially,” said his brother-in-law Rintu Datta, who is now the school’s director.
It took much effort to convince families that vocational education could make a difference to their children’s lives. In the end, they found a group of eight to 10 students, who gathered in a tin shed with two teachers.
And that was the humble beginnings of this polytechnic.
HOPE FOR THE TOWN
Its current premises are still bare, run-down and very humid, but it has come a long way. When CNA Insider visited the school, even a power failure — which is no rare occurrence — could not faze its students.
Sitting in dim light and clad in dark blue uniforms, they had their eyes fixed on their teacher as he explained, ironically, how a circuit worked.
It is a sight that makes the leap of faith Ripa took to pursue her husband’s vision worth it.
Now a primary school principal, she has witnessed her own students being unable to fulfil their aspirations to further education owing to financial constraints.
“(For) the students in this area, their level of success compared with other prominent areas is very low. There are very few jobs available in the market if you only had (general studies),” said the 35-year-old.
This is why I want students to be equipped with technical knowledge. (The hope is) they can live above the poverty line. It would develop our district.
Only three courses are offered here: Civil engineering, electrical engineering and computer engineering. “These sectors have high demand in both the government and private sectors,” Rintu explained.
Since 2011, two batches of 57 students have graduated, and 85 per cent of them have found jobs related to their area of study — which Ripa considers an achievement. “Some of them get a job even before graduating,” she said.
Former student Mohammed Al-Amin Shah was already working — as a general worker — at a ceramics firm before he decided to pursue a diploma in electrical engineering. But upon his graduation, his company offered him a better position.
“Now I can call myself an engineer,” the 32-year-old beamed. “I can even catch on to things quicker than (my colleagues) who studied in the general line.”
Ex-student Mohammed Al-Amin Shah.
He also attributes his success to the institute’s teachers. “If we didn’t understand something, our teachers told us to call them at night. They even encouraged us to come back to school on Fridays (a rest day) if we needed help,” he said.
Furthermore, it is cheaper to study at an institute in the town centre. Before the polytechnic was set up, town folks who wanted a vocational education had to travel to cities like Sylhet and Dhaka, where fees were more expensive.
Mohammed said that if he had pursued a diploma in Dhaka, it would have cost him at least eight times more. The North East Ideal Polytechnic Institute’s fees are about S$130 per semester, and students from poorer families receive subsidies.
With the polytechnic, women’s access to higher-level education has also increased, noted Ripa. Growing up, she always had support from her mother and former teachers to go above and beyond, but her father had doubts.
Ripa Datta teaching in class.
“When I joined an honours programme (in Sylhet), my father said, ‘Girls don’t need to go so far to study,” she recalled. Her “progressive” mother protested, however, and Ripa went on to complete a master’s in 2003.
She knows that not every girl in her country has the same opportunities. “Many times due to family pressure or religious outlook, many parents don’t want their daughters to continue studying,” she said.
Poojal Pal, a first year studying computer engineering, questions the rationale. “Will girls remain unmarried just by studying? No way,” said the 17-year-old. “Studying is extremely important for girls because girls are always seen as useless.”
Ripa hopes that with the polytechnic, mindsets will start to change and women can also return to school after marriage and childbirth. They can be motivated to study again, she believes.
Listening attentively in class.
A SIMPLE MAN
The school is where it is today because of “combined efforts”, said Joy. For example, the plot of land it stands on was given by his father-in-law while Rintu, 27, takes care of administrative matters.
Joy himself has no clue how many students have graduated. He returned home only three months ago to seek treatment for a back injury.
His homecoming has been bittersweet. While he is bummed about being out of work, he has seen with his own eyes the polytechnic he envisioned in Singapore, and spoken to graduates who are now working in established firms.
Speaking to ex-students.
“I lived abroad for 18 years. But when I come back here, people greet me out of respect,” he said. “I get shy.”
His contribution is not discounted either. “He helped a lot financially. He gave us many directions as to what’s right,” said Rintu. “We wouldn’t have made it this far without him.”
There are also plans to open a second branch at Moulvibazar, another town in the Sylhet division.
For now, Joy can bask in the success of the lives in which he invested. His own nieces and nephews, whom he helped to put through school, have become doctors, educators and police officers.
While he enjoys his “celebrity status” in town, he remains humble. “I’m just a simple human being,” he said. “But I realised that even if I can’t become somebody big, I could do something small.”
SINGAPORE: Most road users thought positively of themselves when asked to rate their level of safety and graciousness. But when it comes to the behaviour of others, those surveyed thought negatively of them.
This was among the findings of a nationwide study conducted by the Traffic Police. It involved 1,000 respondents from various groups such as car drivers, cyclists and personal mobility device (PMD) users, taxi drivers, elderly pedestrians and parents of young children.
The findings, released on Saturday (Jul 6), showed that for car drivers, for instance, seven in 10 said they avoid tailgating, while eight in 10 said they indicate their signals early.
However, only three in 10 car drivers felt others did the same.
Similarly, six in 10 motorcyclists said they avoid weaving in and out of moving traffic, but only three in 10 felt the same of others.
For PMD users, nine in 10 felt that they look out for others on shared pavements. Only two in 10 perceived the same of other PMD users.
A man riding an e-scooter in Singapore.
“This result reflects that ‘it’s not me, it’s them’ mentality among our road users,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs Amrin Amin.
“Such a mentality can lead to complacency, where road users feel that they have already done their part to contribute to safer roads and that there is nothing else they can do.”
Mr Amrin was speaking at the RoadSense Carnival at Ngee Ann City, launched in conjunction with the Singapore Road Safety Month.
He pointed out some common behaviour observed on Singapore’s roads. These include speeding up to prevent a driver from switching lanes, speeding up at traffic junctions when the lights are about to turn red and changing lanes abruptly to squeeze into slip-roads at the last minute.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs Amrin Amin speaks at the RoadSense Carnival on Jul 6, 2019.
“So these are some of the uniquely Singapore behaviours that we have found quite common on our roads,” Mr Amrin said.
“I’m sure you can relate to these examples and what these inconsiderate behaviours does is that it can be irritating, but it can be very dangerous too,” he added.
“That is something that we are very concerned about because if we do not correct these behaviours, if we do not point these things out, it is a matter of time before accidents happen and someone gets hurt.”
The Traffic Police survey also showed that many felt it was the responsibility of others to make roads safer.
“Those surveyed also felt that people tend to assume that other people will take care of their safety,” said Mr Amrin.
“A good example would be pedestrians who are crossing the roads with their eyes fixed on their mobile devices, without paying any attention to the traffic from the left or right.”
Overall, only four in 10 people felt safe on the roads of Singapore, the survey showed.
Campaign posters at the RoadSense Carnival at Ngee Ann City.
MORE RED LIGHT CAMERAS TO BE INSTALLED
In his speech, Mr Amrin also highlighted the steps taken to improve road safety like recent amendments to the Road Traffic Act that will see irresponsible drivers getting harsher penalties.
He added that 12 more digital traffic red light cameras will be installed at different traffic hotspot locations this year.
“They will come with prominent signages and bright paint work so that you know that these cameras are there and will slow down accordingly. The idea is not to let your photos be taken, but actually to change your behavior such that you won’t get caught,” he said.
Infrastructural changes like amendments to right turn junctions will also be introduced to about 1,000 traffic light junctions by 2023, Mr Amrin said.
In terms of public education, the Singapore Road Safety Council is ramping up efforts to raise awareness of safe and gracious behaviour on the roads.
The council will introduce comic strips on the importance of using designated crossings such as zebra crossings, overhead bridges and traffic signals.
“The findings from the study have shown that there is much more that we can do, each and every one of us, can do and needs to do, to promote a culture of graciousness among our road users,” said Mr Amrin.
SINGAPORE: As the sun sets and the office crowd files out, Orchard Towers sheds its skin and transforms into a different place.
Neon signs come alive, scantily dressed women front the myriad bars and pubs, and a different kind of crowd populates the building.
Most of the floors in the 18-storey landmark are taken up by office space, but the first five floors are commercial, dominated by bars and pubs that have given the once family-oriented shopping centre a seedy reputation.
The mall was the scene of a fight in the early hours of Tuesday (Jul 2), which resulted in the death of a 31-year-old man. On Thursday, seven people aged between 22 and 27 were charged with common intention to murder Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass.
Yet, while still reeling from the incident on their doorstep, the mall remains safe, according to tenants CNA spoke to on Friday.
In fact, they added, that Orchard Towers was no different from any other place that had nightclubs, pubs, karaoke bars and late-night drinking.
FIGHTING HAPPENS “EVERYWHERE” WITH DRINKS
“Fighting is common here, but anywhere where you have heavy drinking, there’s a potential for something to happen,” said a conference organiser who wanted only to be known as Mr Lee.
When his clients from overseas are in town, he takes them to dinner – “very good Thai food” – and then to a bar in the mall, he said.
The food and drinks are cheap, and his clients leave very happy, he said. He too, he added, nurses a beer or two from time to time on his own there.
“Many things can happen, but if you don’t participate, you are safe,” he said.
Rental for his 80 sq m office is also half that of other locations in the area, Mr Lee said; something that has kept him there all these years. This despite his daughter’s hope that he would one day move out of the building.
File photo of Orchard Towers. (Photo: Jalelah Abu Baker)
Mr Mohd Faruk, who works at a tailor shop on the ground floor, compared the place to other districts overseas that have call girls and late-night drinking.
“Such places exist all around the world. It’s no different here; it’s not a big deal,” he said.
Ms Yao, who owns a shop that sells clothes for clubbing and high-heeled shoes, has no concerns about safety in the mall, so much so that she mans her shop on her own until 6am.
“There is so much security here. There are security guards and everyone here are my friends, so if I need help, I can ask them,” she said.
There have been occasions when she has had to ask for help, when men enter her shop drunk. But she said, she has never had any bad experiences.
“As long as there are clubs and drinking, there will be fights,” she said.
One convenience store owner whose shop is near the back entrance of the mall, said that while he hears of, or hears, the fights, he very rarely sees them because they happen outside or on the upper floors.
He did not want to be named, but he said that in the five years he has been working there, he has not had trouble at his shop, despite staying open all night and closing at 6am.
Other convenience stores had similar stories.
Another owner, who also did not want to be named, said that the worst he has encountered were drunk customers getting angry when told of the price of items.
By day, the tenants said, the mall is like any other mixed-use space that has offices, as the lunchtime crowds throng the many food outlets in and around the vicinity.
A file photo of Orchard Towers. (Photo: Darius Boey)
BUSINESSES HAVE TAKEN A HIT
But the tenants acknowledged that the reputation of the place being a drinking hole has made walk-in customers all but disappear.
Mr Faruk used to own a tailoring business of his own, but shut down after 15 years.
As the pubs and bars sprouted, the mall gained its reputation as an entertainment spot, and the number of walk-in customers dwindled. His business took a 75 per cent hit, he said.
“No one comes here for shopping,” Mr Faruk said, although he said the general economic slowdown was partly to blame.
Another employee from a jewellery store said that on Fridays and Saturdays, it is not uncommon to see people sitting on the steps outside into the wee hours, and to see vomit on the ground.
Money changer Zahir Hussain, whose family has owned the shop he works in for 40 years, said that he survives on the business of regulars. More business from walk-in customers would not hurt, he said.
But he may have a problem. At 6.45pm on Friday, 15 minutes before he was going to close, a customer entered his shop.
“It’s so early, how come the music is already so loud?” he asked, referring to the din from a nearby club.
Mr Hussain lamented the reputation of the mall, and said it was not always like this.
Even as the bars and the clubs started popping up, they would close at 12am. The entertainment spots were also high-class and attracted a different type of crowd, he said.
He was especially upset with shops he said were masquerading as hair or beauty salons, but were in fact sleazy joints. A walk along the upper floors reveals these shops fronted by women in skimpy outfits, very unlike beauty outlets elsewhere in the country.
Along with other businesses, he has tried to appeal to the management to weed out such shops, he said.
But Mr Hussain seemed to take the rough with the smooth.
“We are used to it. And my shop is outside the ERP zone; so at least that’s good,” he said.
