When Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong retired from politics last month, he told Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that he had preferred to retire “whilst [he was] healthy”, but that might not have been the case then.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday (July 15), he revealed that his doctor had discovered a white spot on his larynx (voice box) sometime last year. If it turned out to be malignant, it could lead to cancer.
Some time last year, my doctor discovered a tiny white spot on my larynx. It could be malignant or a harmless…
The general election may be over but the fandom has only started for Reform Party (RP) member Charles Yeo. Yeap, Jamus Lim isn’t the only GE2020 figure with a legion of stans.
After garnering public admiration from two CEOs of major companies — Temasek Holdings’ Ho Ching and Razer’s Tan Min-Liang — Yeo continues to endear himself to the citizenry at large through his Instagram account, where he has been patiently answering questions posed by followers.
Stay in the know with a recap of our top stories today.
1. Up your face mask game: ‘Lanyards’ and other accessories to make mask-wearing more comfortable and stylish
With face masks being essential items these days, your wallet, keys and mobile phone are not the only things to remember to bring when you head out… » READ MORE
2. These Jamus Lim-inspired post-GE2020 merchandise are bound to ‘warm the cockles of your heart’
Founder Bak Kut Teh’s second-generation owner has made an impassioned plea on Instagram to save the family’s 42-year-old business.
The bak kut teh restaurant is known for its garlicky, peppery, pork rib broth and its late-night opening hours.
In posts on its social media accounts on Wednesday (July 15), owner Nigel Chua indicated that the popular eatery is facing impending closure “if the situation doesn’t get better in the next two months”.
In a more detailed “letter” on Instagram, Chua, 45, described how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected business across its four outlets in Singapore.
SINGAPORE – There were 249 new coronavirus patients confirmed as of Wednesday noon (July 15), taking Singapore’s total to 46,878.
They included 16 community cases, all of whom are work pass holders, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday.
Of these 16 cases, four were close contacts of earlier cases, and had already been placed on quarantine.
Epidemiological investigations are being done for the other cases.
There were also five imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices upon arrival in Singapore.
Migrant workers living in dormitories made up the vast majority of the other cases.
More details will be announced on Wednesday night.
On Tuesday, a 62-year-old Singaporean man who had a history of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol died from complications due to Covid-19 on Tuesday, said the ministry.
The patient, identified as Case 17,168, was confirmed to be Covid-19 positive on April 30, said MOH.
Sengkang General Hospital – where the man died – has contacted his family and is extending assistance to them.
SINGAPORE: Sales of new private homes more than doubled in June after showflats reopened following an almost two-month long COVID-19 “circuit breaker” period, in what analysts said indicate firm underlying demand for affordable properties.
Developers sold 998 units – excluding executive condominiums (EC) – in June, an increase of 105 per cent compared with the 487 units sold in May, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Wednesday (Jul 15). Compared with the 821 units transacted in June 2019, last month’s sales were 21.6 per cent higher.
Singapore implemented a circuit breaker period on Apr 7 to contain the spread of COVID-19, allowing only essential services such as healthcare, transport, logistics and food and beverage to continue operations.
During that period, showroom viewings – a core marketing activity for property developers – were halted and potential buyers had to view the units virtually.
June’s transactions represent the highest monthly sales since November 2019, when 1,165 new private homes were sold. It is also the highest figure for the month of June since 2013’s 1,806 units, analysts said.
“The easing of circuit breaker measures and reopening of showflats from Jun 19 was a major contributor to new home sales surging,” said Mr Ong Teck Hui, senior director of research and Consultancy at JLL.
“(That) seem to have unleashed pent-up demand by buyers, suggesting that the private home market remains fairly resilient in spite of the COVID-19 outbreak and the recession,” he added.
Including ECs, developers sold 1,031 units in June, up 102 per cent from May.
A “BUYER’S MARKET”
Singapore entered the first phase of its post-circuit breaker reopening on Jun 2, and is currently in Phase 2, which started on Jun 19.
With this, consumers are aware it is a “buyer’s market”, said Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
“As the economy reopens, we are seeing buyers coming back to take up units – cognisant of the fact that it is a buyer’s market and that units are more attractively priced.
“Amid concerns about the economic downturn and jobs, there are still genuine buyers out there – with ample liquidity – who are taking advantage of the low interest rates to purchase well-priced units.”
Orchard Road on Jun 19, the first day of Phase 2 of Singapore’s reopening. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
In total, developers released 597 units in June – down 2.9 per cent from the 615 units launched in May and 10.9 per cent from the 670 units in June last year. There were no new ECs launched in June.
Sales were largely driven by mass market homes in the Outside Central Region (OCR), where developers sold 489 units. This was followed by 430 homes in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 79 units in the Core Central Region (CCR).
“Projects such as Treasure At Tampines, Parc Clematis, and The Florence Residences continued to move units at a steady clip, owing to their sensitive pricing,” said Mr Gafoor.
“These three projects accounted for over 28 per cent of the total sales in June and were among the top 10 best-selling private residential projects last month,” he added.
Mr Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, said June’s transactions indicate the resilience of Singapore’s property market.
“The modest overall price decrease as well as the encouraging demand volume seen in June, all point to an underlying resilience in the private residential market that could motivate developers to launch new projects in the remaining half of 2020,” he said.
“To maintain the momentum registered in June, developers might also provide sweeteners in the form of selective discounts to ride on the current nascent rebound,” he added.
Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee, said that while the jump in June’s sales figures was broad-based across all market segments, she noticed a substantial increase in the number of foreign buyers and pricier homes being sold.
“The number of private homes excluding ECs transacting at S$2 million and above rose from 23 units in May to 129 units in June,” she said.
She added that 49 non-landed private homes were bought by non-permanent residents in June, up from the 14 units transacted in May and seven units in April.
“Many foreigners bought properties last month as the growing macro-economic uncertainties have driven more overseas investors to seek shelter for safe-haven assets here,” said Ms Sun, citing their trust in Singapore’s legal system and the quality and investment potential of properties.
“We may expect more foreigners to pick up private homes in the coming months as the interest rates are expected to remain low and ample liquidity is flowing into the asset markets due to the massive quantitative easing programmes launched around the world,” she added.
Property analyst Ong Kah Seng added that with the General Election now over, Singapore could potentially see more wealthy buyers willing to pay a “special price premium” for properties they favour.
“Wealthy foreigners have always appreciated political stability in Singapore, comparative with theirs back in their country,” he said.
2020 COULD STILL SEE OVERALL LOWER SALES
Despite the recent uptrend, transactions this year could still end lower than in 2019, said Knight Frank’s Mr Tay.
Singapore reported on Tuesday that its economy contracted 41.2 per cent in the second quarter from the previous three months, taking it into a technical recession.
Mr Tay expects new private home sales to range between 6,000 and 7,000, down 28 per cent to 38 per cent from the 9,734 units transacted last year.
It’s official — sweater weather is upon us. As we enjoy the slightly cooler weather for a change, some community cat feeders have come up with an ingenious solution to provide a little more warmth to the strays in their area.
Taking to Facebook to show off the DIY cat houses that volunteers had created, Facebook user Jasmin Kuan shared a series of adorable snaps that had netizens gushing.
Kuan wrote in a post in the group Sayang Our Singapore’s Community Cats on July 13: “[Very] grateful to our block sweepers who are also animal lovers… Allowed us to do up and put the cat beds at the void deck.
“These are the closest to being indoors for our [community] cats.”
The cat houses appear to be upcycled from a variety of materials, including cabinets and chairs, and retrofitted with bedding — perfect for all those cat naps.
A Yale-NUS college student had his day blessed with some zoological intervention — a family of otters running right past him.
Miguel Ochosa posted on Instagram on Tuesday (July 14) a clip of his chance encounter with six smooth-coated otters trotting across the National University of Singapore’s University Town campus grounds before disappearing into some shrubbery.
“Was honestly having a hecking stressful day…” he wrote as a caption to his video.
All that stress presumably dissipated, judging from his incredulous exclamations seeing the otter family dashing past him. “Excuse my voice-over and bad video panning but enjoy the cute otters,” he noted.
For one Singaporean woman, Polling Day was fraught with frustration as she repeatedly tried to cast her vote, only to end up settling for marking her choice on a tendered ballot paper which would not be counted.
As it turns out, the entire debacle was caused by human error and miscommunication between two election officials, the Elections Department (ELD) admitted in a statement on Wednesday (July 15).
The 36-year-old woman, identified only as Mdm Lum, had initially made a police report after she was not able to cast her vote on July 10 as the register reflected that she had already voted, Lianhe Wanbao reported.
Recounting her experience to the Chinese daily, Lum said that she had first arrived at her designated polling station, Block 23A Ghim Moh Link, at about 12.30pm that day.
Things went smoothly until she had to scan her identity card under a reader to register her attendance and an error message popped up.
SINGAPORE – Integrated resort operator Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) will be laying off a significant number of staff as it struggles to cope with the impact to tourism brought about by Covid-19.
The Straits Times has contacted RWS to verify the number of staff retrenched.
In a statement on Wednesday (July 15), RWS said it has been streamlining its operational resources to stay agile and respond quickly to situations in the current “unpredictable climate”.
“Over the past few months, we have reviewed all costs, eliminated non-essential spending, and reduced the salaries of management by up to 30 per cent,” said RWS.
“In this latest round of review, we have made the difficult decision to implement a one-off workforce rationalisation. This decision was made after a thorough process of careful deliberation and consultation.”
All affected workers will get “fair compensation”. The vast majority of local staff have also been retained.
RWS said that it fully understands the difficulty and anxiety this means to affected team members and their families.
