From generous job offers and well-intentioned efforts to track an elderly dishwasher down to heated debates on the implementation of a minimum wage, it’s safe to say that a certain viral post had Singaporeans in a tizzy this week.
But what started out as an attempt to highlight the plight of an elderly woman has turned into a cautionary tale about taking things at face value.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) clarified on July 29 that the woman, featured in a viral post by one Koh Meng Shuen, lives in a five-room flat with her son and daughter-in-law, who provide her with food and shelter, and uses her earnings of $675 a month to supplement her additional expenses.
Koh’s Facebook post on Monday (July 27), describing his encounter with the woman on the MRT and her seemingly dire financial state, had amassed over 20,000 shares before it was taken down.
However, the woman, identified only as Madam L, was not made aware that her photos and comments would be shared on social media, MSF said.
Malaysia and Singapore on Thursday signed a fresh agreement to proceed with the stalled construction of a metro link between the two neighbours seen as crucial to easing traffic congestion at one of the world’s busiest border crossings.
The pact was marked with a ceremony attended by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Muhyiddin Yassin at the causeway between the countries – the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic .
Resumption of the US$880 million (S$1.2 billion) project comes as the countries’ bilateral ties have stabilised with Muhyiddin at the helm in Malaysia, following the March ousting of his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir, a two-time prime minister known for his hawkish views of Singapore, ordered the suspension of the 4.4km Rapid Transit System (RTS) pending an internal review following the victory of his Pakatan Harapan alliance in 2018’s general election.
Along with the suspension of work on the RTS, work on a US$25 billion high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was also frozen.
SINGAPORE: The experiences of everyday Singaporeans coping with the ongoing pandemic will be at the centre of the evening show for this year’s National Day Parade (NDP) on Aug 9, which will be broadcast live from The Star Performing Arts Centre.
With a much smaller live audience of just 150 people due to COVID-19 restrictions, the evening show has been specially designed to cater to those watching from home, with choreography, sets and digital animations best enjoyed on screen.
And instead of mass productions featuring thousands of performers, the show will have small group performances for the first time.
Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon (Jul 30), NDP show committee chair Colonel Wong Shi Ming said the original plan had been for an outdoor show at the floating platform at Marina Bay, as in previous years.
“But things changed, and with that our plans also evolved,” he said.
While an indoor show – another first for the parade – would lack the grandeur of outdoor performances, it would also be a “more cozy, more intimate but just as meaningful” for home audiences, COL Wong said.
The fallout from the ongoing pandemic puts NDP in a “different context”, he said, adding that the annual parade “would not shy away from difficult conversations” about what Singaporeans have gone through.
Filmmaker Royston Tan is Creative Director for this year’s NDP Show Segment. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Filmmaker Royston Tan, the creative director for this year’s NDP, said he hoped to capture the “very real and relatable experiences of Singaporeans this year”.
“2020 has not been rosy, but amidst the struggle, there have been incredible acts of kindness, resilience and unity, which we want to share with the rest of Singapore,” he said.
The evening show will feature a series of short films showcasing 31 stories, which will be interwoven with songs by local artistes.
It will feature 11 interconnected performances, split into six acts. The first act, titled “Our Singapore”, aims to evoke feelings of nostalgia through familiar sights and sounds.
The second and third acts, titled “When Things Change” and “Challenges We Face” respectively, will highlight the struggles faced this year, as well as how Singaporeans have had to adapt to meet these challenges head-on.
Acts four and five meanwhile will showcase how ordinary Singaporeans have stepped up to support each other and unite, as well as pay tribute to essential service workers and those at the frontline of the fight against COVID-19.
The final act, titled “A Stronger Singapore”, brings all the performers together, looking forward to the future with optimism and the hope of emerging stronger from the current crisis as a nation.
It will also mark the debut of the first NDP virtual choir, which will feature the submissions from several thousand people for an online performance singing We Are Singapore.
The evening show will culminate in the pledge moment at 8.20pm where Singaporeans are encourage to recite the national pledge together.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force’s public warning system will sound islandwide to remind and encourage everyone to join in.
Following the pledge, there will be the light up, where Singaporeans are encouraged to attach the red torch stickers, from their Singapore Together pack, to their mobile phones and light up the night sky. This is to pay tribute to frontline and essential service workers as well as the country’s community heroes.
The show will culminate with a series of fireworks displays across the island.
Johann Annuar, who will be featured in a film during the evening show for refurbishing laptops for underprivileged students going through home-based learning. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
‘AN NDP YOU WILL NEVER FORGET’
Among the 31 local stories that will be featured is Mr Johann Annuar, the executive director of non-profit organisation Engineering Good.
The 46-year-old started the Computers Against Covid initiative, which collected and refurbished more than 2,800 donated laptops. These were given out to more than 120 beneficiary organisations to help needy students who went through home-based learning.
Singer-songwriter Nathan Hartono performing the theme song for NDP 2020 Everything I Am. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
In addition to singers like Nathan Hartono – who is singing this year’s NDP theme song Everything I Am – the show will also feature parade veterans such as dancer Jacqueline Theresa Pereira, who last performed at the parade in 2008.
Besides noting how the choreography has been adapted to allow for safe distancing between dancers, Ms Pereira added that this year is “extra special” because of her day job as a patients services associate executive at a hospital.
“It’s an NDP that you will never forget,” said Ms Pereira, who is in her 50s.
Dancers Jacqueline Theresa and Shahrin Johry posing for a photo at the NDP 2020 evening show media preview. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
The show will also feature a number of first-time NDP performers.
They include violinist Jaz Loh, 22, whose performance of the classic National Day song Home while she was serving her stay-home notice at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa in March went viral, as well as rapper and singer-songwriter Shazuan Shiraj, who performs under the stage name Abangsapau.
Singer-songwriter Shazuan Shiraj “Abangsapau” performing Each Other, a song he composed during the circuit breaker. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
During the show Abangsapau will be performing an original track titled Each Other, together with his mother Farhana Ibrahim.
The track, which he wrote on the first day of Singapore’s circuit breaker, encompassed his thoughts on the challenges faced during this period, such as not being able to visit his grandmother or perform on stage in front of audiences.
“I was just thinking of all the things I personally lost and try to put it down in a way that was reflective,” said the 21-year-old, whose father also died during the circuit breaker.
“The weight of (singing) ‘all that we got is each other’ got a full, new meaning for me,” he said.
SINGAPORE – Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh has clarified that the amount he will set aside for donations to his party, residents and charities will be half the pay increase he will get as Leader of the Opposition (LO).
After income tax deductions, the amount works out to less than $96,000 of his $385,000 annual salary, he clarified on Facebook on Wednesday (July 29).
On Tuesday, after the Government gave details about Mr Singh’s political appointment – including his annual package of $385,000 – he put up a Facebook post saying he would use a percentage of his salary “for a greater purpose”.
He said in the post that he would “allocate 50 per cent of the LO salary, after taxes” towards funding programmes for residents, for his party’s specific needs, and for charitable causes.
Mr Singh’s post sparked widespread interest and discussion, with much of the discussion centred on whether Mr Singh intends to donate half of his entire salary or if he plans to donate half the pay increase he will be getting as LO.
Home of Durian’s third charity sale, this time in support of the Kidney Dialysis Foundation, on Wednesday (July 29) would have gone on almost seamlessly had it not been for one ill-willed scammer.
A few days prior to the charity event, a customer had approached the business asking to place an order for 100kg of durians, founder Samuel Chen shared with AsiaOne.
Due to the size of his order, special arrangements were made to cater to the amount required. However, on the day of the event, the man stopped replying and went missing.
The cost of the durians, which were worth more than $2,000, was eventually absorbed by the business as they went bad soon after.
SINGAPORE: The Government should consider extending the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) beyond August but take a more targeted approach to help struggling companies and lower-income workers, analysts interviewed by CNA said.
Under the JSS, the Government co-funds between 25 per cent and 75 per cent of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages paid to each Singaporean or permanent resident employee.
The measure was introduced at the first Budget in February to help companies retain employees as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to hurt businesses. The scheme was revised in subsequent Budgets.
It is one of the main tools the Government has used to help businesses stay afloat during this crisis, the others compromise rental rebates and waivers, foreign worker levy waivers and rebates, and access to bank loans.
The JSS is set to expire after covering salaries in August, with payouts disbursed in October.
Economists expect the Government to prolong the scheme, adding that unwinding it right now will cause unemployment and business closures to spike as the country weathers through the recession.
“It’s too soon to just remove it completely, cold turkey … because I think the economy is still pretty weak,” said Bank of America economist Faiz Nagutha.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said the authorities are discussing further steps to improve the situation and that details will be announced soon.
“In the immediate (term) we will have to look at how we can continue to protect the livelihoods of our workers, how do we create jobs and training opportunities – that is the top priority at this stage,” said Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister.
“And then going beyond this, we have to look at how the Singapore economy emerges stronger post COVID-19.”
HOW BAD IS THE ECONOMY?
Singapore’s data for the second quarter of this year showed the toll on the economy as the country went into a two-month circuit breaker between April and June. Dining out was prohibited, most retail shops were closed and only essential work could be done outside of the home.
Advanced estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry earlier this month showed that the country’s economy shrunk by 41.2 per cent in the second quarter, following a 3.3 per cent decline in the first quarter.
Employment figures released on Wednesday revealed that Singapore’s overall jobless rate rose in the second quarter to 2.9 per cent, while retrenchments more than doubled from the previous quarter to 6,700.
There were 90,500 unemployed residents in June 2020, of whom 79,600 were citizens.
And even though some business activities resumed after the end of the circuit breaker, Mr Faiz said it is still likely that in August and September, firms will be nowhere near 50 to 70 per cent of their operational capacity as the economic rebound has been “very, very gradual”.
DBS senior economist Irvin Seah said the worst has yet to come for the labour market. Even with support measures like the JSS, more businesses will either shut or let go of workers due to the prolonged pandemic that has caused a huge economic fallout.
The bank expects unemployment to hit 3.6 per cent, with 97,800 residents to be out of a job and gross domestic product to contract by 5.7 per cent by the end of this year.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo similarly warned on Wednesday that the labour market could weaken further, particularly as Singapore is heavily reliant on the external economy, and many countries are experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
UPDATING THE JSS
Going forward, the JSS can be extended in its current form for a month or two, said Mr Faiz. After that, the Government should make it more “targeted” beyond the way it has been tiered according to industries.
It could dish out the subsidies to smaller firms, as recent news articles on returning the JSS have shown that larger multi-national corporations do not need the money, he said.
The JSS could also be limited to apply only to people whose wages are at or less than the median income, but with higher subsidies, so that lower-income workers are protected during this period, Mr Faiz added.
Mr Seah agreed, since many of the jobs that are affected are frontline ones in areas like food services and retail. These roles typically command a lower salary.
Upcoming support measures will have to protect executives in the hardest-hit sectors like aviation and hospitality as well, he added, in which they could take more than two years to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels. In these industries, the impact from the virus will hit across the board.
“You can’t say, ‘okay, I retrench all the junior level staff, and then I only keep the middle management’ … there (are) already no junior level people, then you no longer need that many managers,” said Mr Seah.
People wearing masks take an escalator at Changi Airport, following the coronavirus outbreak in Singapore March 5, 2020. (FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Edgar Su)
Both economists said that policymakers can afford for the JSS to continue, as Singapore had set aside S$13 billion more in the contingencies funds – on top of the S$3 billion it keeps – in case the country needs to respond to any urgent needs.
Aside from narrowing down the criteria of companies eligible for the JSS, the Government could look at moving people into new jobs – a strategy Mr Seah noticed it has focused on since the fourth Budget was read in May this year.
In a report published last month, Mr Seah wrote that the pandemic has accelerated what policymakers have been trying to achieve over the past decade – to restructure the Singapore economy.
COVID-19 has forced companies and workers reliant on low-cost, labour intensive methods of working to embrace automation, e-commerce and human-less security systems. These are concepts many organisations had no real impetus to move towards, said Mr Mark Teoh, the executive director of human capital consulting at Deloitte Southeast Asia.
Instead of trying to save jobs that will be lost eventually, the authorities are shifting resources towards creating new roles, while making the transition as painless as possible through training and job matching programmes, Mr Seah said.
These initiatives that are pushing people into in-demand jobs or up the career ladder would also help to prevent potential unemployment spikes if the JSS were to end, Mr Teoh said.
Meanwhile, other programmes like the temporary bridging loan that is available until end-March next year, will provide companies with the capital to tide through COVID-19.
However, to avoid any sudden deluge of bankruptcies and layoffs after these measures expire, the authorities will need to balance between the borrowers’ cash flow situation and mounting debts, he added.
MARKET INTERVENTION IS NECESSARY IN CRISIS
In the meantime, as Singapore continues to dole out financial support to companies, one question remains – why pump out more stimulus to keep them alive, instead of letting market forces weed out unsustainable businesses?
A review conducted by Australia’s Treasury in July warned that their country’s current version of a support subsidy scheme for businesses affected by COVID-19 would leave Australia with zombie firms and trap workers in jobs that are no longer viable, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
This prompted the Australian government to cut the value of payments from October and introduce a tiered system that differentiates between full- and part-time workers.
Market intervention is necessary in this crisis, said CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun, as the economic fallout occurred not because of a structural change or lack of demand, but because of “a wall being in place”.
Referring to the restrictions on tourism, Mr Song said the lack of tourists – visitor arrivals to Singapore only numbered 880 in May, compared to 1.69 million in January – has ripple effects on the rest of the economy. Dining, retail and tourism industries have been severely affected.
The construction industry was also forced to halt operations during the circuit breaker and is only beginning to restart.
As per industry norm, it may take months for payment to trickle down to sub-contractors even after activities resume. Many companies will go under if the financial assistance stops.
Allowing idle firms to keep running is better than having massive unemployment, Mr Song said, adding that at least there is money flowing through the economy through consumption.
Without a lifeline, Singapore could fall into economic depression and it would take even longer for the country to recover.
In a normal economic cycle, letting the market take its course is the sensible thing to do, said Mr Seah. But the pandemic has created such a massive downturn that letting market forces decide will in turn cause very high long-term unemployment rates, and could result in social problems.
This will be exacerbated by the fact that recruitment usually lags behind economic recovery by one to two quarters.
Mr Seah explained that hiring managers tend to take a more cautious approach even when the cycle starts to improve because they want to be “doubly sure” of future earnings before they add new headcount.
Singapore might only be able to start unwinding some of its measures when some parts of the economy, like manufacturing or financial services sectors, rebound for a couple of quarters, said Mr Faiz.
“Then you can have some reassurance that there are some parts of strengths in the economy (and) be quite certain that people can find jobs in these parts of the economy.”
SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) has implemented more measures to slash costs, including bigger pay cuts for the bosses, a 10 per cent salary reduction for other employees, and early retirement for pilots and ground staff, The Business Times understands.
Given the first-quarter operating loss for the flag carrier and its regional full-service arm SilkAir, the full quantum of the monthly variable component of salaries will be cut with effect from Aug 1, in accordance with the group’s collective agreements with its unions.
This amounts to 10 per cent of the basic salary for all staff below the level of manager, said chief executive officer (CEO) Goh Choon Phong in a memo to staff this week.
Meanwhile, all staff at the rank of manager and above will get increased cuts on their basic salaries starting Aug 1.
Managers and senior managers will see a 12 per cent reduction, up from 10 per cent previously. Vice-presidents (VPs) and divisional VPs will see a 15 per cent cut, up from 12 per cent. Senior VPs will take a 25 per cent decrease, up from 20 per cent previously, while executive VPs will take a 30 per cent cut, up from 25 per cent.
SINGAPORE: The police have recovered more than S$21.2 million from scam cases since its anti-scam centre started operations about a year ago.
The figure is about 41 per cent of the amount scammers attempted to cheat victims of in the cases handled by the centre, said the police on Thursday (Jul 30).
One year since its establishment, the centre has handled more than 8,600 reports on cases such as love scams, e-commerce scams and technical support scams.
It has also successfully frozen more than 6,100 bank accounts, intercepting the flow of victims’ money to scammers, said the police.
“Apart from freezing of accounts, the ASC (anti-scam centre) is actively involved in real time interception and recovery efforts for cases where monies were transferred on the same day,” said the police.
One of these cases involved a French pharmaceutical company which was deceived into transferring €6.64 million (S$10.2 million) to a Singapore bank account for large supplies of surgical masks and hand sanitisers.
The first alert was raised by a Singapore-based bank on Mar 14, and authorities managed to recover more than S$6.4 million on the same day – the biggest recovery by the centre so far, said the police.
A 39-year-old man was arrested for money laundering offences when he returned to Singapore.
The ASC was set up on Jun 18, 2019 as a “nerve centre” for investigating scam-related crimes and to disrupt scammers’ operations and help mitigate victims’ losses. (Photo: Singapore Police Force)
E-commerce scams relating to the sale of face masks and hand sanitisers surged at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the police, adding that most of these scams took place on Carousell.
Authorities engaged the online platform to introduce Carousell Protection for all products related to COVID-19 pandemic.
“This collaboration delivered tangible results in the fight against scammers who were taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation,” said the police.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT SCAM
In a case of a technical support scam, a 69-year-old man browsing the Internet on his computer on Jun 8 received a pop-up message saying his hard disk was damaged.
According to the police, the man then called the number in the pop-up message and spoke to someone claiming to be a staff member of a technology company, who could help him address the problem.
The victim was asked for his personal particulars such as his bank account number and one-time password. He was then told that someone was trying to access his online bank account, and was instructed to switch off his mobile phone and not to check his Internet banking account for the next few days.
Three days later, the victim received a call from a local bank informing him of unauthorised transactions made to his account.
“The retiree lodged a police report. With the collaboration of the banks and the ASC team, more than S$11,000 was recovered,” said the police.
The ASC was was set up on Jun 18, 2019, when it started an initiative with three local banks – DBS, OCBC and UOB – to take action when unusual banking activities are detected.
This collaboration has since been extended to include more banks, as well as remittance agencies and telcos.
In the first half of this year, more than 1,500 local mobile lines have been terminated as they were used for carrying out scams, said the police.
While there have been success cases in recovering victims’ money, the police said it is often difficult to recover funds that have already been paid or transferred to scammers.
“The police would like to remind the public never to give your bank details and one-time banking passwords to anyone, including persons purporting to represent the police or other law enforcement agencies,” said the Singapore Police Force.
SINGAPORE – Temasek Holding’s $4.1 billion bid to acquire a controlling stake in Keppel Corp will be under scrutiny on Thursday as a big quarterly profit drop at the conglomerate could raise the risk of the state investor dropping its proposal, analysts said.
Keppel last week warned that material impairments relating to its offshore and marine segment (O&M) would hurt profits, which analysts say could breach so-called material adverse change (MAC) clauses of Temasek’s offer.
Analysts said the impairments would typically affect net asset value and net profit after tax, thresholds for which have been set as pre-conditions to an offer.
MAC clauses can be invoked to end or renegotiate deals, particularly if events occur that are detrimental to the target company.
To meet the threshold, Keppel would need to report $170-230 million in second-quarter core profits, excluding one-off items, assuming impairments of up to $150 million relating to its O&M business, Citigroup analysts estimate.
Getting appointed as the Leader of Opposition (LO) comes with bigger responsibilities and with that, better perks — like having one’s salary as an elected MP doubled.
As such Worker’s Party chief Pritam Singh announced on Tuesday (July 28) that he will be contributing 50 per cent of his additional salary (which works out to about $96,000 a year) to his party, community funds, programmes, as well as worthy charitable causes.
Donating funds to the community would generally be considered an upstanding gesture, but two high-profile individuals — Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching and former NMP Calvin Cheng — have publicly expressed suspicion over Singh’s intentions with his public announcement.
Cheng called Singh’s declaration “political theatre”, comparing the LO’s actions to founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who “quietly donated all his earnings for twenty years”.
