SINGAPORE: A week-long operation by the police along with six other government agencies ended on Monday (Jul 1) with 261 people arrested and thousands of pills seized.

The suspects, aged between 16 and 76, are being investigated for drug, loanshark and cheating offences, said the Singapore Police Force in a press release on Wednesday.

The raids by the police – which involved the Central Narcotics Bureau, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Health Sciences Authority, Ministry of Manpower and Singapore Customs – were conducted in estates such as Pasir Ris, Tampines, Bedok, East Coast, Joo Chiat, Mountbatten and Geylang.

In one of the raids, nearly 9,000 assorted pills and 47 bottles of cough syrup with an estimated street value of S$13,000 were seized.

Seventy-five men and four women were nabbed in the raid for drug and gang-related offences, as well as illegal gambling.

A total of 1,157 packets of contraband cigarettes were also seized. The duty and GST evaded for the contraband cigarettes amounted to S$10,080 and S$740 respectively, police said.

A separate raid saw 52 suspects nabbed for cheating and money laundering offences involving more than S$1.9 million. 

Another 104 men and 26 women were also arrested for their suspected involvement in loan scams and loanshark activities.

Raids and enforcement checks were also conducted at various entertainment outlets and massage parlours. Eight were found to have breached licensing conditions.

“This joint operation is part of the police’s enduring commitment to keep our neighbourhoods safe and secure,” said Commander of Bedok Police Division, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Julius Lim.

“While the scale of the operation was large, it does not mark the end of our efforts. We hope the public will join us in staying vigilant,” he added.

SINGAPORE: Six men and a woman aged between 22 and 27 were on Thursday (Jul 4) charged with the murder of a 31-year-old man at Orchard Towers.

Tan Sen Yang, 27, Joel Tan Yun Sheng, 26, Chan Jia Xing, 26, Ang Da Yuan, 26, Loo Boon Chong, 25, Tan Hong Seng, 22, and Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, 22, were charged with common intention to murder.

Another woman who was arrested in connection with the case has yet to be charged.

The police said they received a call for assistance at Orchard Towers on Tuesday at 6.25am. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the 31-year-old man motionless. He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

CCTV footage obtained by 8world News showed a man walking slowly in front of an escalator before collapsing, prompting onlookers to rush forward to check on him. 

Photos taken by the news outlet also showed a pool of blood on the floor near the building’s entrance.

The eight suspects were arrested within 12 hours after the incident, the police said. 

If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

SINGAPORE: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users in parts of the world including Singapore, Manila and the United States were unable to access some of the apps’ functions on Wednesday (Jul 3). 

According to the website Down Detector, Facebook users in the US and the United Kingdom were among the heaviest hit. In Asia, Singapore and Manila reported the most disruptions. 

Reports of users in Singapore who were unable to post or download photos on the social media platforms were at its peak at around 10pm.

As has become routine, users took to Twitter to vent their frustrations. 

All the social media platforms affected are owned by California tech giant Facebook, which has not issued comment on the outage. 

The apps suffered two similar outages this year. 

In March, Facebook suffered extended downtime with users around the globe unable to access their app for more than 24 hours. 

A month later, users again experienced difficulties in accessing the social media network as well as its messaging service, and reported issues such as not being able to load their newsfeed or send messages.

SINGAPORE: Hundreds of fans crowded into the south plaza of Our Tampines Hub on Wednesday (Jul 3) to catch a glimpse of football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo during a surprise visit to Singapore.

The Portuguese and Juventus forward entered one of the indoor courts, which was hidden from view with black screens over the fences. Our Tampines Hub said on its Facebook page it could not “divulge any further details”.

He put up an Instagram story on Tuesday night showing him shaking hands with Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim.

At about 5pm, Ronaldo emerged to loud cheers from fans, waving at them and giving a thumbs-up sign before leaving in an escorted car.   

For train captain Nur Haqim, 24, seeing the superstar in the flesh was worth the effort. He had taken the afternoon off at the last minute to be there.

“I was really shocked when I first heard that Ronaldo (was here) and I even took half day (off) to come and see him,” he said.

“I was hopeful for a photo and autograph because he usually does so whenever he’s in Spain or Italy.

“He gave the thumbs up and that was good enough for me. I anticipated the wrong side where he was sitting, and I feel so sad to have missed my chance.”

St Hilda’s Secondary School student Harini Jagatheeswaran, 17, noticed the huge crowd gathering at the south plaza of the hub on her way home.

“When I first saw the updates online and from my friends, I didn’t really believe them but when I saw the crowd on the way home, it proved me wrong,” she said.

“Having waited for about two to three hours, I felt it was worth it because I’ve seen him on TV, but to see him in real life, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m glad I took it.”

In the crowd was Amirul Ashraf, 17, who was seeing his idol for the second time, having met the forward in Spain a few years back.

“I’ve been in line for about four hours,” he added. “I was a bit disappointed when he just drove past, because I was expecting him to come on foot and take some pictures.

“But that’s all right I guess, because I’m very excited to see him at the International Champions Cup.”

Fans of the Juventus forward will be hoping to see him in action when the Italian champions take on Champions League finalists Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium on Jul 21 as part of the International Champions Cup.

SINGAPORE: Thirteen people with disabilities were celebrated at the inaugural Goh Chok Tong (GCT) Enable Awards on Wednesday (Jul 3) in recognition of their achievements and potential.

The awards recognise the achievements of people across different disability types. It is an initiative by the Mediacorp Enable Fund, initiated by Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh Chok Tong in 2016 to bring about a “kinder and gentler Singapore.”

“Our vision is to change society’s perception of them, from seeing only their disabilities to recognising their abilities, promise and achievements,” said Mr Goh at the event.

“We should celebrate the accomplishments of persons with disabilities, and not only for the challenges they have overcome but also for who they are and what they have contributed to the country.”

The ages of the 13 recipients ranged from 14 to 82.

Three people were awarded the GCT Enable Award (UBS Achievement), which celebrates people with disabilities who have made significant achievements in their respective fields. They received S$10,000 each.

Michael Ngu, 62, was one of the awardees. Diagnosed with polio when he was five, Mr Ngu suffered permanent paralysis of both lower limbs. 

Today, he is the president and CEO of Architects 61, an award-winning local architect firm, which helped design notable local buildings such as the AXA tower and Changi Airport Terminal 1.

He represented Singapore in hand cycling at the 2014 Asian Paralympic Games.

When asked about his feelings after receiving the award, Mr Ngu said he never thought he would receive an award like this. 

Recalling his childhood in Kuching, Malaysia, Mr Ngu explained that he grew up with the stigma that disabled people are “essentially nobody”.

“This award, more than anything else I have achieved, is so much more meaningful,” he added.

“Because it means a lot, not just to me, but (it is) in recognition (of) a marked time when I think the disabled or the less fortunate may be inspired and encouraged.”

President of Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped Tan Guan Heng, 82, along with Paralympic athlete and youngest Nominated Member of Parliament Yip Pin Xiu, 27, were the other two award recipients in this category.

Ten people were recipients of the GCT Enable Award (UBS Promise), which recognises those who have displayed a high level of potential in a talent or skill. They each received S$5,000 to motivate them to reach greater heights.

When asked about what he would do with the money, competitive swimmer Wong Zhi Wei, 17, said: “I’ll use the money to support my sports career and save for my studies, because I plan to go to university.”

Zhi Wei, who is visually impaired, was Singapore’s first gold medalist at the Asia Youth Para Games 2017. He is currently chasing his dream of becoming a Paralympian and hopes to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

When asked about his message to others, he responded: “Dare to dream and dare to live.

“This award is a way to give us a voice, to give people with disabilities a voice and say, ‘we are here and we can do great things’.”

Social media influencer Fathima Zohra, 22, plans to use the award money to create awareness and speak up for a more inclusive society by producing advocacy videos for people with disabilities.

“I hope to record stories that need to be heard, and put it out to the public so that society is more aware of the challenges people with disabilities face, now that I have lived a life before my accident,” said the former model.

A traffic accident nearly killed Ms Fathima in 2017. She became paraplegic and was too weak to breathe, and doctors had to puncture her trachea to keep her alive.

“Society immediately sympathises or pities us, but what we require more is, I think, just encouragement. It makes a huge difference for anyone with a disability,” she said.

“This award is giving us a lot of power. Because with this, we are motivated to change the perception of society.”

Since its inception, the Mediacorp Enable Fund has supported 1,000 people with disabilities to enhance their employability and to pursue their aspirations. More than 7,000 Singaporeans have participated in its partners’ events to promote community inclusion for those with disabilities.

President Halimah Yacob, who graced the event, said that family members and caregivers are “an important group of people” who should be mentioned as well.

“I hope that with this new award, we will also continue to extend our utmost support to them, as they play a vital role in being pillars of support for their loved ones with disabilities,” added Mdm Halimah. 

“I also hope that more caregivers can step forward to share their experiences and support each other.”

Mediacorp CEO Tham Loke Kheng said: “The awards recognise people in our community who overcome great challenges to achieve remarkable things and demonstrate that people with disabilities across different fields are driving change, progress and positivity. 

“The awards are also an opportunity to celebrate the extended community of family members, carers and volunteers who support these achievers.”

SINGAPORE: Singaporean tycoon Peter Lim has pledged a total of S$30 million to helping local youth, including homegrown athletes and those with less privileged backgrounds, it was announced on Wednesday (Jul 3). 

S$10 million will be donated to the Singapore Olympic Foundation (SOF)-Peter Lim Scholarship, the organisations said in a joint media release, which will go into supporting young local athletes for 10 years from 2021 to 2030. 

READ: First sport climbing, ice-skating athletes awarded SOF-Peter Lim scholarships

In 2010, Mr Lim donated S$10 million to the SOF to start a sport scholarship. Since then, 2,642 scholarships worth S$7.2 million have been disbursed in four categories – Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and High Performance Under-18.

Recipients, who have to meet a set of criteria including posting consistent results in relevant sports competitions, can use the money to pay for competition expenses, buy sport equipment as well as cover school-related expenses. 

“A majority of the recipients come from financially challenged backgrounds and have demonstrated a potential to excel in their respective sports,” the release stated. 

This year, 280 student athletes in 44 sports from 83 schools received S$781,000. 

Mr Lim will also donate S$20 million to start a community project focused on helping children from less privileged backgrounds reach their potential.

SPORTS CREATE SHARED EXPERIENCES FOR SINGAPOREANS: DPM

Speaking at the scholarship award presentation on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat hailed Mr Lim’s contributions, calling it a vote of confidence and belief in Singapore’s young athletes. 

Mr Heng expressed hope that this would inspire others in the community to step forward in various ways to support the development of sports in the country.

Mr Heng said the ecosystem of support required to develop local athletes must involve every stakeholder and cannot be undertaken by the Government alone.

He also spoke about how the Singapore Government needed to shift from focusing primarily on working for Singaporeans to one that worked closely with Singaporeans in the design and implementation of public policies in the next phase of nation-building.

“This is no different in the area of sports development. Working together will allow us to better draw on the diversity of passions and expertise among us.

“We will need to better bring together the many stakeholders including the Singapore National Olympic Council, Singapore National Paralympic Council, the National Sports Associations, officials, healthcare professionals, sports scientists, coaches, parents, athletes, corporates, as well as the wider community,” he added.

Mr Heng said sports have also helped to expand the country’s common spaces, with Singaporeans from different walks of life bonding over sports and keeping an active lifestyle.

He added that Singapore’s sporting moments form shared experiences for the country’s people, citing how thousands turned up at the victory parade to celebrate Joseph Schooling’s historic gold medal win at the Rio 2016 Olympics. 

He also cited how Singaporeans came forward to volunteer when the country hosted the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games in 2015.

SINGAPORE: A giant metallic lion will stride across the stage at this year’s National Day Parade (NDP) show segment – not as a float, but as a six-metre tall puppet, the biggest prop in NDP’s recent history.

It will make its way past audiences at the final moment of the fifth act, in a spectacular display that includes a dazzling 30-second laser show.

The lion will be one of nine giant puppets featured at this year’s NDP show, announced the NDP Show Committee at a media briefing on Wednesday (Jul 3).

The other eight puppets – all about 4.2 metres tall – will be designed in the style of wayang kulit, dressed in ethnic costumes from Singapore’s four official races. They will be part of Act 3, which focuses on Singapore’s “rich multicultural heritage”.

The theme of this year’s NDP is “Our Singapore”, calling for Singaporeans to unite and be pioneers of the future, with about 2,700 performers involved in the show.

BICENTENNIAL FLOATS, SINGAPOREAN STORIES AND YOUTH PERFORMERS

Divided into six acts and a prologue, the show has a focused narrative of Singapore’s history from its earliest days to the present.

The prologue will have eight floats centred on eight organisations established in the 19th century, such as the Singapore General Hospital, the Singapore Fire Brigade and the General Post Office. This will be part of Singapore’s Bicentennial celebrations.

The Red Lions will also be returning to the Padang in a thrilling 10,000-foot descent as part of the prologue.

For the first time, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and HomeTeam Volunteer Corps will appear as a marching contingent at NDP in Act 1. The traditional flypast will be enhanced, with the Multi-Role Tanker Transport on display.

The second Act will see the Mobile Column returning to the Padang, as a tribute to its first appearance 50 years ago, emphasising Singapore’s readiness to defend the nation. 

READ: What it’s like to ride in the Mobile Column at NDP

Act 4 will screen a short film featuring four stories of Singaporeans who have “shown resilience and courage in overcoming their fears and challenges”.

An LED wristband given to audiences will also light up in time to a drum performance in this segment, creating a “massive visual display” and integrating audiences into the show itself.

In the final act, Singaporean singers of all ages will assemble to sing this year’s theme song, a mash-up of two crowd-favourite NDP songs We Will Get There and Our Singapore. 

READ: NDP 2019 theme song combines familiar tunes We Will Get There, Our Singapore

Each act will be anchored by renditions of classic NDP songs, such as Stand Up for Singapore, Count on Me Singapore and One People, One Nation, One Singapore.

This year, 85 per cent of performers will be youths, the highest proportion of youth performers in a decade. This is to emphasise the key role of Singapore’s youth as the “pioneers of tomorrow”.

Chairman of the show committee Colonel Lim Han Yong said: “National Day Parade 2019 will be staged as one integrated show to tell Singapore’s story from past to present. We will also celebrate our values of unity, resilience and the courage to dream.

“These values have defined Singaporeans over generations and they will continue to guide us as we chart our way forward as pioneers of our future.”

SINGAPORE: Mark Tan, a driven 40-year-old, was a competitive athlete in school. Academic success egged on by like-minded classmates took him to an elite university where it was a badge of honour to sacrifice sleep for grades and activities.

He graduated to a good job but one where he was under constant pressure to perform. He engaged in fortnightly inter-continental travel and never said no to conference calls.

Finding less time to exercise and having to accommodate business meals at odd times, Mark filled out his body with 10kg of extra weight in unflattering places.

Two years ago, he started having difficulty falling asleep. He now finds that he wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about work issues and has difficulty falling asleep again.

Mark also recently found he has pre-diabetes, mild obstructive sleep apnea and pre-hypertension.

In a recent study comparing Fitbit users from five countries, Singaporeans slept on average 20 to 64 minutes less than peers in Australia and New Zealand across life.

This difference is more marked in young adults where over half obtained less than the lower but achievable level of 7 hours of sleep on weekday nights.  

While there appears to be genuine recognition that something needs to change about how we sleep, the needle hasn’t moved much on a societal or policy level. Health and wellness magazines have a penchant for advising on “sleep hacks” – quick fixes that in my opinion, do not get to the root of the problem.

READ: Want to sleep better? Get a good pillow, a commentary

Change can and should actually begin with individuals. Here are five pointers to get us to the tipping point on better sleep. 

1. EVALUATE HOW YOU USE YOUR PERSONAL TIME

Writer Laura Vanderkam in her commentary The Busy Person’s Lies, noted than six in 10 Americans felt they did not have enough time for things they wanted to do. Yet, when she ran a year-long time-use audit on herself, she was surprised by the opportunities she had to repurpose her time.

Our subjective assessment of time-use is often distorted and keeping a record of how we use our time, even over a week, would be helpful.

For example, people in Southeast Asia appear to underestimate daily smartphone usage by as much as 50 per cent. Cutting down on non-essential time sinks could allow us to repurpose some of that time for sleep. 

2. CURTAIL AFTER-HOURS WORK COMMITMENTS

Those who participate in European and North American conference calls often have to stay up into the wee hours of the morning.

It pays to hold your ground and to negotiate for more sleep-friendly times for such calls. There is a health cost to doing late-night conference calls and the organiser should be made aware.

READ:  Sleeping more is essential to performing well at work and school, a commentary

Draw boundaries on evening networking events. Not winding down before sleeping can result in one staying awake, unable to fall asleep from thinking about work involuntarily, or waking up in the middle of the night riddled with thoughts about work or issues surrounding work.

3. BE DELIBERATE ABOUT SETTING ASIDE TIME FOR FAMILY AND SLEEP

Making a conscious effort to set limits for family time and sleep will force one to be more focused while at work. We have also found that in families where parents set bedtimes, children sleep longer.

Many Singaporeans accede to being contactable at all times, even when on vacation. This may be necessary for mission-critical roles or situations but should be resisted under more routine conditions.

Arianna Huffington, the hard-driving owner of the Huffington Post, pushed herself to exhaustion before she realised her disregard for sleep was harmful to herself, her family and her business.

The epiphany she had led to write a book and to start Thrive Global, a company that focuses on sleep, burnout reduction and well-being.

4. REDUCE PROCRASTINATION – BY GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP

We are all too familiar with deferring what we need to get done to a later time because we feel we can’t do a good enough job now.

My colleague Dr Stijn Massar has shown that sleep deprivation leads to a higher reward being required before we choose to put in the same level of mental effort as compared to performing the same task when well-rested.

Sleeping sufficiently in the first place might thus reduce our tendency to procrastinate.

5. PUSH FOR SOCIETY-WIDE CHANGES

How we each sleep influences how our friends and colleagues sleep. Data based on responses from over 2500 Singaporean teenagers indicates that the mean self-reported sleep duration is 6.5 hours a night. This isn’t enough and we now have hard evidence for that.

In the quasi-laboratory Need for Sleep Studies June Lo, Joshua Gooley and myself have led in Singapore, we found that even high-performing teens claiming they sleep 6.5 hours a night, cannot sustain this for consecutive nights without showing cumulative decline in vigilance and mood, if prevented from dozing off in the day.

Duration is easy to measure, and it matters. However, when we get to bed also counts. Older adolescents sleep and rise later than their primary school selves.

Starting secondary school later has been shown to have sustained benefit in at least one Singaporean school but before this can occur on a larger scale, we must overturn the unfounded fear that disrupting the status quo will reduce productivity.

We must not be afraid to get our kids to sleep more and sleep earlier.

READ: READ: Sleeping later is bad for your health and well-being. a commentary

If anything, keeping longer waking hours has diminishing, even negative returns. In both in the US and China, studies have found that later sleep time is associated with lower economic productivity.

Gooley’s survey’s on thousands of Singaporean school students found that the leading cause for late sleep is finishing homework.

Ironically, it is the adolescents who sleep around 10.30 pm who do academically better than those sleeping later or earlier. This is true of Singapore teens as it was in earlier studies elsewhere, including Norway.

READ: A necessity Singaporeans cannot afford – more sleep, a commentary

Cynics will say that talented people have a leg up. They may have, but they are also likely to use their time more judiciously and plan better – surely these are traits to emulate?

A HAPPY ENDING FOR MARK, BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Mark, the person featured at the beginning of this piece had insomnia associated with obstructive sleep apnea. Insomniacs can have difficulty initiating, maintaining sleep, and waking up in the early morning.

Most commonly, insomnia has its roots in hyper-arousal – an over-active mind that may be anxious.

Fortunately for him, Mark was able to re-evaluate his life, and undertake therapy that eventually helped him sleep better and lose weight.

He’s lucky – insomnia can persist and when entrenched can be a misery. More people suffer from insomnia than meets the eye and its hurting individuals and our community.

Living smarter, not working harder, has to be part of a national strategy even if it means stumbling a little along the way to find well-grounded, acceptable solutions.

Michael Chee is a Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. He is an avid advocate of sleep for cognition, health and wellbeing.

SINGAPORE: A fire broke out at a scrapyard in Jalan Buroh on Tuesday night (Jul 2), injuring one person, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

SCDF said it was alerted to the incident at 8.07pm at 5 Jalan Buroh in the Jurong industrial area.

The fire involved scrap material stored in 10 stacked containers in a scrapyard, and was extinguished using three compressed air foam jets, it added. 

A person was taken to Singapore General Hospital with burn injuries. 

The fire broke out less than two weeks after one person was killed and two people injured in another fire around the same area.

READ: 1 dead, 2 injured in massive fire at Jurong industrial area

READ: Jalan Buroh fire: Worker in hospital is conscious, able to communicate freely, says Migrant Workers’ Centre

The Jun 21 fire, which involved hundreds of highly flammable LPG cylinders, engulfed an LPG facility about the size of two football fields.

The fire was extinguished about six hours after it broke out. 

​​​​​​​

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: From the founding of the British Malayan Broadcasting Corporation in 1936, to Radio and Television Singapore (RTS), Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and finally Mediacorp today – stories of Singapore’s broadcasting history have been compiled into a new book launched on Tuesday (Jul 2). 

Titled On Air: Untold Stories From Caldecott Hill, the book features 51 essays by pioneers of the industry.

“The authors have recorded many decades worth of work experience and have shared untold stories from the Japanese Occupation of Caldecott Hill to the changing faces of broadcasting to the move to Mediapolis at North Buona Vista in 2017,” said publisher Marshall Cavendish in a press release.

The book, which contains rare and archival photographs, includes behind-the-scenes stories on the subject of censorship, multiracialism, technology disruption, as well as market competition. 

Its writers include late radio presenter Vernon Palmer with his story The Love of Broadcasting, veteran journalist and former editor P N Balji’s My Story: TODAY, as well as actress Daisy Irani Subaiah’s Living Under One Roof As Daisy. 

The memories of Caldecott were “really part of the memories in Singapore”, said Mr George Yeo, former minister for what was then the Ministry of Information and the Arts. 

“The tensions of Singapore are all reflected in the way we tell stories about ourselves,” Mr Yeo, who wrote the book’s foreword, said at the launch.

“Tensions about young and old, rich and poor, Singaporeans of different background, different races and religions, how much freedom, how much censorship. 

“All these tensions are reflected in broadcasting and the people who go through Caldecott are very attuned to what makes Singapore what it is,” he said.

Project leader of the book, Mr Philip Tay, added: “We thought it would be good to leave a legacy behind for our children and grandchildren that can be found in homes and libraries – on … our role in nation-building, entertaining the Singapore public and in independent Singapore.” 

The book will go on sale later this month, at a retail price of S$37.38 before GST.