In the wee hours of the morning, a couple rushing their son to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s (KKH) children’s emergency (CE) wondered which way to go.
Juliana Goh shared the difficulties she faced trying to locate the emergency department on Aug 24 — her son had lost consciousness after complaining of a headache and elevated heart rate.
They went to the entrance with the most prominent signage, but it turned out to be Urgent Obstetrics and Gynaecology Centre, she wrote in a Facebook post on Sept 16.
A nurse there placed the 11-year-old on a wheelchair and promptly took him to the CE which was about two minutes’ away.
By then, doctors could not find the boy’s pulse and had to resuscitate him, Goh recounted.
She shared photos of the hospital driveway showing how visitors could miss the sign for the emergency department and pointed out how the CE entrance was blocked by a security barrier as well as hidden behind a tentage.
Singapore residents began collecting two reusable masks each on Monday (Sept 21), in the fourth nationwide reusable mask distribution exercise, to help shield against Covid-19.
A Temasek Foundation initiative, the masks can be collected from StayMasked vending machines at about 800 locations by scanning the barcodes of an NRIC, a school smartcard, birth certificate, FIN or any government-issued identification with a barcode.
People can find out information on the closest vending machines to them at this website.
The collection over two weeks will last until Oct 4. Although a useful and sustainable alternative to single-use disposable masks, reusable masks should be washed regularly and replaced after a recommended period of time.
Here are some things to note about reusable masks.
SINGAPORE: Whoever said Singaporeans are a disengaged bunch with few views on national policy matters should see the tide of responses to the latest bread-and-butter saga that is the Government’s COVID-19 aid for the tourism sector.
When news that Singaporeans aged 18 and above could look forward to receiving S$100 SingapoRediscover vouchers, some netizens took to social media to give their two cents as to how the scheme could have been better.
“Why not cash?” said one. What about NTUC vouchers, suggested a few.
And what about the less mobile elderly who can’t enjoy these activities? Or helping those who might have lost their jobs during this pandemic?
The news generated a tsunami of feedback that would make the Government’s public engagement unit REACH tear up. Except that even REACH might not have foreseen feedback to come so fast and furious.
A few swept in to offer perspective amid a barrage of puzzled netizens wondering aloud why they had to wait until December when the initiative was first announced in August and whether more thought had been given to how public coffers could be better employed to benefit people.
“The S$100 is not about you only but to revive the sector,” said one.
Mr Robin Loh (left) of Let’s Go Tours takes guests on a kelong tour. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
“The initiative is to help boost the tourism industry … we should be grateful for what we receive,” a sternly worded comment read, with a metaphorical wag of the finger
Indeed, here’s a first lesson for all us shadow Cabinet wannabes and keen observers on public policy: This one’s not about us.
It’s about the economy.
THE CORONAVIRUS COLLAPSE OF TOURISM
The coronavirus has battered the global economy but there are few sectors that have come under heavy fire as much as travel.
There were early warning signs of an impending collapse in early February just before Singapore went into DORSCON Orange – when big boys like Lockheed Martin and more than 80 other aerospace companies pulled out of the lucrative Singapore Airshow and organisers more than halved public tickets.
An event whose last edition generated S$343 million alone in spending may have been one of Singapore’s earliest casualties.
Today, the Singapore Tourism Board’s estimate in February that tourism would fall by 25 to 30 per cent now looks incredibly optimistic in this massive upheaval wrought by COVID-19.
More than S$1 billion has been doled out to save jobs and businesses in travel and tourism these past seven months through four Singapore Budgets and an additional round of support measures announced in August by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Rebates and rental waives for aircraft through an Aviation Sector Support Package that has been enhanced as well as property tax waivers for hotels, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) premises and ports of call, on top of a vast array of broad-based assistance schemes, have been availed to firms in this sector.
A SLOW, PATCHY RECOVERY
Even then, it’s clear changes are afoot and Singapore is shifting gears. As daily community cases ease up and healthcare capacities in contact tracing and testing were strengthened these past few months, operators in this sector watched with anticipation the Government’s moves to carefully open up travel.
A passenger pushes a trolley in the departure hall at Singapore Changi Airport on Jun 8, 2020. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
Announcements of Reciprocal Green Lanes for business and official travel with selected countries including Japan and Brunei and the Periodic Commuting Arrangement with Malaysia in August were warmly welcomed.
The unilateral opening of borders is a small cautious step that can resuscitate Changi Airport and show the world Singapore is open for business, said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung during an announcement in August easing more restrictions. He recognised the need for more travel bubbles.
In the same vein, opening up applications for MICE events with more than 250 people may also prove to be an important stepping stone to welcoming tourists back to Singapore again.
While these moves to gingerly peel back restrictions on travel are to be lauded, however, the drop in foreign visitors may be Singapore’s reality for a while. Changi Airport has seen only 86,000 passengers passing through in July, a 98.5 per cent year-on-year drop.
Even a regime of rigorous testing to replace quarantine requirements could still make the revival of travel challenging, when fear of catching COVID-19 and other countries’ travel restrictions will continue to dampen demand, experts told CNA.
Airlines have it bad in this pandemic but airports have it worse, NUS Business School Associate Professor Nitin Pangarkar pointed out in a commentary for CNA.
And in this picture, it seems tourist attractions in Singapore may have drawn the shortest straw and will need cash infusions to stay afloat.
Enter the local tourism vouchers.
MERITORIOUS MOVE
In industrial policy, governments can provide assistance to businesses in a range of ways to fulfill specific policy objectives – whether in picking winning sectors and firms to advance growth, or incentivising hesitant companies to make certain difficult moves.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat delivers a ministerial statement on Aug 17, 2020. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information)
And quite apart from the broad-based measures like the Jobs Support Scheme given to all firms across sectors, in Singapore’s second phase of supporting businesses through the coronavirus there are signs the Government is shifting towards a more targetted approach to make smart bets to help the best performers instead of spreading aid somewhat uniformly across a sector that could inadvertently prop up zombies.
Newer schemes like the Jobs Growth Incentive, rolled out in August, which aims to support hiring in specific expanding sectors like ICT, financial services and biomedical sciences, show how transformation is always on the national agenda.
When the global economic winds pick up, we want to make sure we have our best sails that can catch them ready.
What does this have to do with the vouchers you ask?
It’s like giving every recipient a S$100 vote for the best tourist attraction. Parents might want to spend it on annual Zoo passes, while seniors might prefer a trip to the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay and youths might want to finally try diving.
Attractions that resonate with more Singaporeans will get a larger piece of the S$320 million pie, which includes subsidies for children and youth tickets.
In a way, tour companies and local attractions have now been entered into an exercise where authorities can track how they’re doing with Singaporeans and reward them proportionately.
It’s an exam few may have signed up for when tourist attractions are generally aimed at drawing foreign visitors. But if hotels have already geared themselves to focus on the staycation crowd, there’s no reason attractions can’t do the same.
Visitors wait in line to enter the Singapore Zoo on its first day of reopening to the public on Jul 6, 2020, after the attraction was temporarily closed due to COVID-19. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
In fact, the challenge ahead for the Ministry of Trade and Industry may be to review the efficacy of such schemes, in particular whether it keeps tour companies and operators open for a few months only to shutter once the pot dries up, and assess whether these funds do generate a multiplier effect in encouraging Singaporeans to spend more than the S$100.
It’s understandable if Singapore netizens, concerned about the economic outlook and job security, just want more specific help for their families and daily needs and have suggestions on how government assistance can achieve those aims.
The coronavirus has upended our lives – with uncertainty over incomes, anxiety over catching the virus and worries about what tomorrow might bring.
Still, I hope hardworking Singaporeans do find some space in this stressful season to take a break and spend quality time with loved ones.
File photo of pedestrians wearing protective face masks along Orchard Rd in Singapore on Sep 9, 2020. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
And if you’re at it, why not a trip to the Oceanarium or a visit to a kelong which can go a long way? There is much at stake when the tourism sector employs 65,000 people including ordinary folk like you and I hoping to make ends meet.
In the final analysis, it turns out the local tourism travel vouchers are actually about us more than we know. And we should make each of our S$100 count.
Perhaps it might be useful if the Government proactively articulates how measures to support enterprises benefit Singapore and Singaporeans to tackle binary thinking that industrial policy is necessarily pro-enterprise and less friendly towards workers.
SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday (Sep 21) it is “closely studying” media reports mentioning Singapore banks in potentially suspicious transactions that were flagged to authorities in the United States.
In response to CNA’s queries, it added that it will take “appropriate action” based on the outcome of its review.
Over the weekend, media reports, citing leaked secret documents that were confidential reports made to the US government, said global banks have facilitated more than US$2 trillion (S$2.72 trillion) in “suspicious” transactions filed with the US authorities over nearly two decades.
The three local banks – DBS, OCBC and UOB – were named in a sample of transactions extracted from the documents, dubbed the “FinCEN Files”.
The MAS said it is aware that Singapore banks were mentioned in these media reports.
“Although suspicious transaction reports in and of themselves do not imply that the transactions are illicit, MAS takes such reports very seriously,” wrote the spokesperson in an emailed reply.
“MAS is closely studying the information in these media reports, and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of our review. Singapore’s regulatory framework to combat money laundering meets international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force,” it added.
WHAT ARE THE FINCEN FILES
The media reports which emerged over the weekend were partly based on leaked documents called suspicious activity reports (SARs) that banks and other financial institutions filed in the United States with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Financial firms in the US are required to file such reports to the US authorities when they detect activities that may be suspicious, such as money laundering or fraud, although they may not necessarily be proof of wrongdoing or crime.
BuzzFeed News obtained more than 2,100 of these SARs and shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then gathered a team of more than 400 journalists from 110 news organisations in 88 countries to investigate the documents.
The ICIJ report, which followed a 16-month-long investigation, said the SARs contained information showing more than US$2 trillion worth of suspicious transactions between 1999 and 2017.
Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, reportedly facilitated more than half of these transactions flagged to the US authorities. Other global banks that appeared most often in the files included Bank of New York Mellon, Standard Chartered, JPMorgan and HSBC, according to the report.
The ICIJ also noted that while SARs reflect the concerns of watchdogs within banks, they are “not necessarily evidence of criminal conduct or other wrongdoing”.
A map published on the website of the ICIJ sought to depict movements of “a fraction” of the transactions found in the “FinCEN Files”.
“The map only displays cases where sufficient details about both the originator and beneficiary banks were available, and is designed to illustrate how potentially dirty money flows from country to country around the world, via US-based banks,” said the ICIJ, noting that the map illustrates 18,153 transactions worth over US$35 billion that were flagged as “suspicious” between 2000 and 2017.
TRANSACTIONS THROUGH SINGAPORE
A total of 1,781 transactions flowed through Singapore, with nearly US$3 billion entering the country and about US$1.5 billion flowing out, according to the map by ICIJ.
A screenshot of the transaction map from the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
DBS and UOB each accounted for more than 500 of these “potentially suspicious” transactions, while OCBC had 62 transactions that took place between 2000 and 2017.
All three banks were listed multiple times in the ICIJ map. In one such entry, US$596.8 million was said to have been sent from DBS, with US$228.3 million moving into the bank over 461 transactions.
The ICIJ map also contained examples of how transactions flowed between Singapore, the US and 46 other countries, though it did not state the reasons why they were potentially suspicious.
For instance on Feb 5, 2014, around US$40 million was moved from Swiss bank BSI to DBS in a single transaction.
Slightly more than US$20 million was moved from OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited – OCBC’s subsidiary in Hong Kong – to DBS via two transactions from Nov 22 to Dec 22 in 2016.
In another example, 29 transactions totalling US$24.4 million were made from Russia’s Specsetstroybank to UOB from Jul 10 to Aug 19, 2013.
Other foreign banks with offices in Singapore that were named included CIMB and Deutsche Bank.
For instance, in 294 suspicious transactions between 2000 and 2017, US$250.4 million was sent from CIMB, with US$34.3 million moving in the other direction.
LOCAL BANKS SAY
When contacted, a DBS spokesman said the bank has “zero tolerance for bad actors abusing the financial system” and that it stands united with the financial industry in collaborating with authorities to seize funds and disrupt criminal networks.
“We note that outside of sanctions on names or specific account freezes, it is generally very difficult to delay or intercept money in transit given the impact on legitimate business, so the normal process – which happens behind the scenes – involves subsequent investigations to establish suspicion, based on which the necessary action is taken,” the spokesman added.
OCBC said it has a “comprehensive and robust” anti-money laundering and terrorist financing framework (AML/CFT) across the group, which comprises methodologies and programmes that are “in full compliance” with local regulations and incorporates international best practices.
“We recognise that money laundering is an area of growing concern and we have, and will, continue to invest substantially in technology to develop data analytics capabilities to enhance and optimise our competencies in early identification of money laundering,” said OCBC’s head of group AML/CFT Fairlen Ooi.
This includes the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect suspicious transactional activities, as well as the formation of specialist teams that include data scientists and IT engineers, said Ms Ooi.
Similarly, UOB said it has in place “robust prevention, detection and enforcement measures” when it comes to fighting money laundering.
This includes risk assessment, customer and counter party due diligence, transactions monitoring as well as investigating and reporting potential suspicious activities to the relevant regulatory bodies, said its head of group compliance Victor Ngo.
“We continue to enhance our anti-money laundering capabilities through the use of technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning,” he added.
SARs are equivalent to a suspicious transaction report (STR) in Singapore,which is filed by banks with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
An STR contains financial information and is filed when there is reason to believe the funds involved are related to crimes like money laundering or terrorism financing.
The CAD’s Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office received 32,660 of such reports in 2018, down from 35,471 in 2017, according to the CAD’s latest annual report released in September last year.
Banks filed the bulk of STRs in 2018, with 16,314 reports made.
Some salespeople will spare no effort to close a deal. But one is drawing online brickbats for his unorthodox approach where he allegedly called a potential client a “loser” and disparaged Indian customers.
In a series of screenshots shared by the potential client on Facebook on Saturday (Sept 19), the representative from a local web development company appeared to launch into a tirade after the former said he needed to consult with his partner on the company’s offer.
“Wow, I never once in my life got scolded and personally attack [sic] by a salesperson and web developer trying to sell me a $9,000 website,” the potential client, who said he was an entrepreneur, wrote.
In the text exchange he shared, purportedly between him and the representative, the latter had asked him several times if he was keen to move forward with the proposed deal, pushing him to “move fast”.
But after the potential client said he wanted to consult with his business partner and was looking for quality over speed, the conversation went south.
SINGAPORE – A semi-retired businessman who fatally stabbed his son-in-law in front of a lunchtime crowd three years ago was sentenced to 8½ years’ jail on Monday (Sept 21) in what Justice Dedar Singh Gill described as a “tragic” case.
Tan Nam Seng, 72, was unhappy with how the younger man had treated his daughter and believed that it was part of a ploy to cheat him of his business.
Tan had pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge of culpable homicide for stabbing Mr Spencer Tuppani, 39, in the chest three times outside a Telok Ayer Street coffee shop at about 1.20pm on July 10, 2017.
Closed-circuit television footage played in court showed Mr Tuppani running away and collapsing in front of a restaurant in Boon Tat Street.
The older man was seen in the footage kicking Mr Tuppani twice in the face and chasing passers-by away.
While waiting for the police to arrive, Tan phoned his daughter to tell her what he had done.
“I can’t sleep at night. I have done it. I have killed him. Don’t cry. I am old already. I am not scared (of) going to jail,” he told her.
Allegedly unhappy over being unable to find the way to a destination, a high-strung cabby got into a shouting match with his passenger and threatened to commit suicide.
A video of the dispute was shared on All Singapore Stuff’s Facebook page last night (Sept 20) where it has since garnered nearly 500 comments.
It’s not known what exactly led to the cabby’s outburst, as the three-minute clip began in the middle of his tirade.
Throughout the clip, the cabby can be seen gesticulating frantically, seemingly distraught that the passenger had given him unclear directions.
“Where is 92? Where is 92?” he repeatedly yelled. “Turn right? Turn left? Go straight?”
The Police have arrested a 21-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of loanshark harassment.
On 13 September 2020 at about 1.25am, the Police were alerted to a case of loanshark harassment where the main doors of two residential units along Teban Gardens Road were splashed with paint.
Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from police cameras, officers from Clementi Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him on 17 September 2020. Preliminary investigation revealed that he is believed to be involved in several other cases of loanshark harassment islandwide.
The man will be charged in court on 19 September 2020. Under the Moneylenders Act (Revised Edition 2010), first time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment shall be fined not less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000 with mandatory imprisonment of up to 5 years and mandatory caning of up to 6 strokes.
The Police have zero tolerance against loanshark harassment activities. Those who deliberately vandalise properties, cause annoyance and disruptions to public safety, peace and security, will be arrested and dealt with severely in accordance with the law.
Members of the public are advised to stay away from loansharks and not work with or assist the loansharks in any way. The public can call the Police at ‘999’ or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in loansharking activities. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE 19 September 2020 @ 1:00 AM
SINGAPORE – A fourth nationwide mask distribution exercise is underway to help protect against Covid-19.
Singapore residents are able to collect two reusable masks each using their Government-issued ID from Monday (Sept 21).
The initiative belongs to Temasek Foundation. The masks can be collected from vending machines by scanning the barcodes of an NRIC, school smartcard, birth certificate, FIN or any government-issued identification with a barcode.
Domestic helpers and workers on work passes will also be able to collect the masks. Toddlers and children up to 12 years of age are eligible to collect kid-size masks.
