A married couple out on a morning walk at Lower Peirce Reservoir today (June 5) chanced upon a worrying sight.
After spotting a mobile phone, wallet, a pair of slippers and other personal belongings lying on a bridge at the nature reserve, they suspected that someone had fallen into the reservoir, and called the police.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) soon arrived at the scene and retrieved the body of a young man from the reservoir hours later.
The area was also cordoned off for police investigations.
A jogger who had intended to jog around the reservoir told the Chinese evening daily that the police cautioned members of the public there from getting too close to the scene.
The police told AsiaOne that they received a call for assistance at Lower Pierce Reservoir at 7am that day.
The SCDF noted that they sent a rescue team to the location. Divers, as well as remote-operated underwater vehicles, were deployed as part of the search.
SINGAPORE: The Government should disclose how it decided on the amount to set aside in its contingency funds, Workers’ Party (WP) members said in Parliament on Friday (Jun 5).
During his fourth Budget speech on May 26, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that Singapore would be keeping more money in its two contingencies funds.
Each year, the country sets aside S$3 billion as a buffer in the Contingencies Fund and the Development Contingencies Fund, but an extra S$13 billion will be put aside this year so that the Government can respond to urgent and unforeseen needs swiftly, Mr Heng had said.
“What is of interest is the decision making process behind the allocation of this amount. How did the government settle on it? And on what basis was it justified to the President?” WP chief Pritam Singh asked in his Budget debate speech.
“Has the Government factored in any actual draft plans in arriving at the additional S$13 billion contingency funds asked for in this Fortitude Budget and if so, whether it can now share such plans with Singaporeans too?” WP’s Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Dennis Tan similarly said in his speech.
Mr Singh also asked if Mr Heng could give more details regarding a comment that the deputy prime minister made in an interview with CNA, in which he said Singapore’s financial position will be a lot weaker in the coming years.
In addition, the opposition leader asked for more specifics on what would happen to recurrent taxes and “the social contract between people and the state” in the next five to ten years.
On the country’s response to COVID-19, Mr Singh said the Government should launch a federal review – with an independent committee – to review its response to the current public health crisis.
Some people have felt that the Government has been unclear and indecisive with its tactics to handle the crisis, he said, citing the country’s refusal to requisition its mask supply when other countries were doing so as one example.
“At times it felt as if no one in Government was taking ownership of how COVID-19 directives would be perceived, interpreted and understood on the ground,” Mr Singh said.
Fellow WP member and NCMP Leon Perera added that the regulations, which were changed or qualified after being announced, might lead to “rule fatigue and cynicism towards rule compliance”.
“Would it not have been more efficient for the exceptions and caveats to rules to have been announced at the same time?” he asked, adding that the responsibility to ensure safe distancing could have given to facility owners instead.
Mr Perera also proposed that the Government allow more establishments to open during the post-circuit breaker phases, with business owners still sticking to safe distancing rules while operating at lower economically viable levels, if they choose to do so.
PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION HAS TO IMPROVE
Mr Singh said that the current situation has revealed a lack of public crisis preparedness.
For example, because members of the public did not completely understand what DORSCON Orange meant, many rushed to panic buy, until authorities explained that the DORSCON Orange level had also been applied during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.
(Photo: CNA reader)
And when Malaysia closed its borders almost overnight, many companies were left scrambling to house their Malaysian employees who crossed the Causeway every day for work.
“This is unlike the mindset of many Merdeka and Pioneer Generation Singaporeans who would recall emergency preparedness exercises such as water rationing.”
The country should reintroduce public emergency preparedness programmes for “psychological resilience” in the future, he said, and relook sectors that require more self-sufficiency and buffers, particularly essential services jobs.
“Such a thorough review could potentially become a source of more job opportunities for Singaporeans (and) more respectable wage levels in some cases,” Mr Singh said.
ALLOW MORE ALTERNATIVE VOICES
In the final portion of his speech, Mr Singh said that COVID-19 has revealed cracks in certain fundamental beliefs.
For one, the COVID-19 situation shored up calls for the country to temper its reliance on foreign labour, a sentiment opposed by various business lobby groups.
“With many corporates and big businesses already perceived to be over-represented in our political ecology, be it through the grassroots or through the association in private-public-national level committee, (the) Government needs to consider how it can become a better arbiter between different views,” Mr Singh said.
He recommended the Government creates more spaces for the youth, independent non-governmental organisations and the people sector’s voices to be heard.
“Singaporeans do recognise the multitude of perspectives the Government has to take cognisance of, but it is important to recognise and not forget that citizens criticise and even organise because they can,” he said.
The country, he added, needs even more participation from its people to navigate a “volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous” post-COVID-19 world.
“But with the people determined and committed to the nation’s recovery and success, COVID-19 is a golden opportunity for this generation to envision and build a better Singapore,” Mr Singh concluded.
GOVERNMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN “OPEN AND TRANSPARENT”
In his closing speech, Mr Heng said that Singapore’s constitution includes safeguards over the use of the contingencies funds.
“First, the Government will need to seek the President’s concurrence for drawing down the contingencies funds. Second this drawdown must be replaced through a … final supply bill that has to be presented to and voted on by Parliament before seeking President’s assent,” Mr Heng explained.
Mr Heng added that these steps provide checks and balances over how the funds are spent.
“We will continue to ensure judicious use of the contingencies funds for urgent and unforeseen needs.”
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat also responded to Mr Singh’s comments in Parliament, saying that the Government has always been open and transparent with its citizens.
“And when there is new information … we will likewise adopt an open and transparent manner in our communications because we know that is important in our collective fight in this pandemic,” Mr Chee said.
SNACK and beverage giant PepsiCo has hired Singaporean Tan Wern-Yuen as chief executive officer (CEO) of Asia-Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and China (APAC) to oversee its operations in the region, starting June 15.
Mr Tan will be based in Singapore and report to PepsiCo chief executive Ramon Laguarta.
He was previously the president and CEO of Walmart China, where he led a team of 100,000 associates responsible for over US$10 billion (S$13.9 billion) in annual revenue across the Walmart, Sam’s Club and e-commerce businesses.
Prior to joining Walmart in 2017, Mr Tan was managing director of McDonald’s Taiwan. Past roles include being a principal at Boston Consulting Group, as well as a stint at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry before his transition into the private sector.
Mr Tan takes over as Asia-Pacific CEO from Ram Krishnan, who will now transition fully to his previously announced role as global chief commercial officer of PepsiCo.
A 53-year-old man was found guilty on June 3 for nine charges of raping, molesting, criminally intimidating and causing hurt to his daughter which included threatening her with a penknife.
The former forklift driver claimed trial to all charges, TODAY reported.
The man had claimed that his daughter — who was 23 years old then — had initiated and consented to the sexual acts. He wants the rape charges to be changed to incest instead.
While both parties cannot be named due to a gag order, the daughter is now 27 years old.
Sexual assault took place in March 2016
The sexual assault was reported to have taken place in the wee hours of March 27, 2016, in a flat near Sembawang. It was where the man had lived together with his daughter and ex-wife.
Five days prior to the incident, his ex-wife was not home as she had left the flat to stay at her son’s place.
A new update to the SingPass Mobile app has enabled a useful feature to check in an out of places as part of contact tracing measures during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The latest version of the app (version 5.2.0) now lets users access its QR code scanner and its SafeEntry capabilities via Siri voice commands, making logging in and out of venues even faster without having to fumble through their phone’s screen.
Unfortunately, this update is only available for iPhone users. Android users can’t do the same with Google Assistant (though they can take comfort in knowing that their virtual assistant is a lot smarter than Siri).
The Ministry of Health has preliminarily confirmed an additional 261 cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore on Friday (June 5), the majority of whom are Work Permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.
There are 11 community cases – six are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, and five Work Pass holders.
MOH says the lower number of cases today is partly due to fewer swabs being conducted.
Among the 11 cases, six are linked to previously confirmed cases, and had already been placed on quarantine, and one is linked to a dormitory cluster. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining four.
More details will be released tonight.
For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.
Mayday fans, you’ll have to wait a little longer to catch the band live in Singapore.
Organisers for ‘Mayday Just Rock It!!! BLUE’ in Singapore announced today (June 5) that the concert originally set for Aug 30 this year has been proactively rescheduled to Feb 27, 2021 in light of the recent advisory issued by local authorities.
The concert will still be held at the National Stadium.
Ticket holders can keep their existing tickets as they will be honoured for the new date. Fans who cannot make it on the new date can request for a full refund through APACTix by June 18, 2020. For refund enquiries, visit this site for more information.
Tickets to the rescheduled show are now available for purchase via APACTix ticketing channels. PHOTO: Live Nation Singaporekwokkarpeng@asiaone.com
SINGAPORE: Singapore retail sales plunged 40.5 per cent year-on-year in April as the COVID-19 pandemic and “circuit breaker” measures shuttered non-essential businesses across the country, data released by the Department of Statistics (SingStat) showed on Friday (Jun 5).
The fall is the biggest since 1986 in the earliest data that is available on the SingStat website, said Reuters, and comes after the 13.3 per cent fall in March.
Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 32.8 per cent as consumption fell across categories such as food and beverage (F&B) and apparel.
Compared to the previous month, seasonally adjusted retail sales declined 31.7 per cent in April. Excluding motor vehicles, seasonally adjusted retail sales decreased 26 per cent.
The estimated total retail sales value in April was about S$2.1 billion, with online retail sales making up an estimated 17.8 per cent, said SingStat.
Online retail sales of computer and telecommunications equipment, furniture and household equipment industries, as well as supermarkets and hypermarkets made up 70.6 per cent, 50.4 per cent and 7.7 per cent of the total sales of their respective industry.
F&B SECTOR AMONG HARDEST HIT
During Singapore’s circuit breaker period, F&B establishments were only allowed to provide takeaway or delivery services, contributing to a 53 per cent fall in sales compared to last year.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales of F&B services decreased 38.8 per cent in April over the previous month.
The total sales value of F&B services in April was estimated at S$397 million. Of these, online food & beverage sales made up an estimated 39.2 per cent.
(Image: Department of Statistics Singapore)
The turnover of restaurants and food caterers declined 66.9 per cent and 59.8 per cent respectively in April compared to last year. Similarly, turnover of cafes, food courts and other eating places as well as fast food outlets decreased 45.5 per cent and 28.6 per cent respectively during this period.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, turnover of restaurants decreased 53.6 per cent compared to March. Cafes, food courts and other eating places, as well as fast food outlets also recorded lower sales of between 0.5 per cent and 36.1 per cent during this period.
DEMAND FOR GROCERIES REMAINS HIGH
On a year-on-year basis, retailers of watches and jewellery, wearing apparel and footwear, as well as department stores experienced declines in sales of between 84.6 per cent and 87.8 per cent in April, due to the closure of physical stores for most of the month.
Motor vehicles sales also declined 77 per cent as a result of the closure of car showrooms and suspension of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding.
(Image: Department of Statistics Singapore)
Based on seasonally adjusted data, sales of the watches and jewellery industry and department stores declined 81.3 per cent and 75 per cent respectively compared to March. Retailers of wearing apparel and footwear, motor vehicles and recreational goods also recorded declines in sales of between 55.3 per cent and 74.8 per cent.
In contrast, sales of supermarkets and hypermarkets as well as mini-marts and convenience stores grew by 74.6 per cent and 10.7 per cent respectively year-on-year, due to higher demand for groceries as more people stayed at home with the closure of most workplace premises and full home-based learning for students.
Based on seasonally adjusted data, sales of supermarkets and hypermarkets, as well as mini-marts and convenience stores increased 30 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively from March.
Now woke to the highly insensitive actions they did four years ago, a group of former Raffles Institution students who posed in blackface for a photo have all spoken out about their own immaturity and ignorance in their youth.
The internet was rightfully repulsed by a picture posted on an Instagram account in April 2016 — a photo of a student, believed to be of Sri Lankan descent, surrounded by 10 others donning black beauty face masks.
This, on top of the group standing with a paper bag with the label “whitening kit” — all apparently part of the birthday celebrations for the brown student. Though he gave his consent to posting the photo, it’d be hard to imagine that he was completely comfortable with his so-called friends spotlighting the colour of his skin in such a manner.
“It’s a very expensive certificate,” a Singapore permanent resident said after recently completing a stay home notice (SHN) in a hotel.
Despite Singapore tightening travel rules in March to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Hoo Kin Hoe had chosen to return to his wife and child in Malaysia on April 2.
He came back to Singapore on May 18 and was assigned to serve his two-week SHN at four-star Hotel Jen Tanglin, he told 8world.
After completing his SHN on June 1, Hoo wrote a Facebook post about his experience.
He shared that he had paid $1,723 for the stay, and received a certificate of completion from the hotel upon leaving.
According to Hoo, a night’s stay at the hotel cost $95, while laundry service started at $20 a day, and $40 for three meals a day.
Worried about mounting fees, Hoo cancelled the breakfast service three days into his stay and chose to wash his clothes himself.
