Local News

Fake news is back in the limelight in Singapore gain, but this time instead of targeting SG's political leaders, Govt policies or smear campaign against opposition politician, it is Singapore's living football legend Fandi Ahmad that was targeted.

A fake news article said that Fandi have been sent to jail, while yet another fake news was on Fandi and his wife endorsing products that they had nothing to do with. It has now even prompted Fandi and his wife, Wendy Jacobs, to release a statement via their social media to deny they were in on any of the fake news, and to warn their fans that they should not believe the news being peddled about them online. 

Read their statement in full below

It's not easy to get your directions wrong on Singapore roads. What with multiple road signs to tell you where you can or cannot turn, and the multiple road markings to show you the directional arrow signs that will guide you on the right way, in fact these directional arrow markings are quite clear, and they are spaced 10m away from each other on all roads.

So, to get your direction wrong is a great accomplishment. An even greater accomplishment is when you get your direction wrong, you see all the other vehicles around you driving in the other direction than the one you are driving in, you hear honks from other road users against you, and you even get cursed in vulgar language, but you still calmly drive through traffic in the opposite direction. That takes a lot of wins.

A BMW had somehow managed to do it. Apparently along Alexandra Road on 29 April at about 10:43am, the driver was still calmly trying to navigate the car by driving against traffic. It is unclear what prompted the driver to drive against traffic, but his efforts will be rewarded by the Traffic Police, surely. That's the least the driver's efforts deserved. 

On Saturday morning on 27 April, residents from places such as River Valley, Novena, Orchard and Bukit Timah reported hearing three loud booming sounds. Residents have said that the loud sounds were like explosions, and it gravely alarmed them.

In response to the reports, the Singapore Police Force said the loud sounds could have come from the SAF's planned detonation activities. Police also said they conducted investigations on the ground, yet "nothing incriminating could be found". Police also reiterated that residents should not be alarmed, as they were no injuries or abnormalities reported. 

It was only later verified that the sounds did come from SAF's planned detonation activities, which was carried out at the Southern Islands around 11:45am to 1:30pm. Police could not say why only residents living in affluent parts of Singapore heard the sounds. 

A Singapore company has got one leg up on Malaysia's dream of introducing flying vehicles, as they have announced that they are launching a single-seater flying vehicle. The Singapore start up, Neo Aeronautics, which consist of a four man team, unveiled the flying vehicle on 25 April.

The personal one-seater vehicle, named Crimson S8, is meant to act as a door-to-door urban transportation, and can be taken as a “taxi” in the future. It will be launching in California in late 2020. However, it will not be launched in Singapore due to local legislation. 

The vehicle can reach heights of 15m, which is around five storeys, and can carry up to 100kg weight, and can even reach speed of up to 100km/hr. The company siad that users does not have to have a pilot's licence to operate it, as the operation is as simple as running a drone. However, the vehicle currently have a run time of only 20 minutes, although the company said they hope to improve this to 60 minutes. 

Way to go, SBS Transit. An angry father slammed the bus company for rejecting a claim for his injured son. The mother and child were on board a bus when it abruptly braked, causing the boy to hit his head. The incident happened at Potong Pasir Drive. 

Instead of apologising for what happened, SBS Transit rejected the man's claim by saying that there is no evidence showing the bus driver's negligence. It reviewed CCTV footage and blamed it on the mother and son for not holding on to the support bars when the bus braked. 

"As in all moving vehicles, sudden and unexpected movements cannot be avoided. Therefore it is also commuters' responsibility to take reasonable steps to ensure their own safety and guard against injury while travelling on buses."

Naturally, the father got angry as he felt that SBS Transit was simply pushing the blame to his wife and son instead of empathising with them. 

Moral of the story? Don't expect anything. Singapore's first world public transport is only safe when passengers hold onto support bars at all times.

https://www.facebook.com/austin.yingjie/posts/10156362240383576

NUS hosted a town hall to talk about the recent peeping tom incident. There were three panelists in total. 

A Singaporean Redditor (Redditporean) attended the town hall and penned down her thoughts on the site. She claimed that all three panelists were 'woefully unprepared'. She also claimed that they responded to half of the questions with 'leave it to the review committee' or 'I'm sorry'. They also had to leave at 6.30pm on the dot without extension as if the student's weren't important.

The redditporean further stated that the students really felt as if hteir comments may fall under deaf ears due to the dismissive nature of most of the answers. NUS also did not have a plan in place apart from something about victim support. The town hall was also treated like a damage control and not a session where they would hear the voices of the students.

In one of the comments, the redditporean also said that the chair of the review committee was found but he was not there as part of the panelists. 

You can read her full post here:

Thoughts on NUS Town Hall

I attended the Town Hall hosted by NUS.

Good lord it was a shitshow. The three panelists, especially Prof. Ling, were woefully underprepared, like as if they weren't ready for some of our questions. Half of the shit they said was "Leave it to the Review Committee" or "I'm sorry". And then, they had to leave at 6.30 on the fucking dot, without extension. Like as if we weren't important. The moment the last girls had her point to say, about them needing more town halls and proper methods to make sure what we said gets put into action, all Prof ling said was , and I quote, "Thank you for your feedback".

I'll add more thoughts when I've got time, but I'm fkn pissed rn.

EDIT: Okay, this somehow double-posted, sorry mods. I've got more stuff to say

-- We really felt like as if our comments may fall under deaf ears. Harsh, yes, but given the dismissive nature of most answers, it feels like our comments would just be taken into consideration by the review committee without any action. We need to know if what we say is really considered and not just to appease our need to voice out.

-- They had almost no plan in place, apart from something about victim support. It really felt like this town hall was to ask us for solutions, as if they couldnt come up with a plan on their own. The victim support plan was good, but most answers about student safety, increased discipline, educating about these issues (especially the latter), almost begged us to provide them with answers

-- Prof Ling, dear God. For a Vice Provost of Student Life, she knows jackshit about us students and our lives. She had no clue what doxxing was, asked us for suggestions cause she couldn't think up of one, or hasnt come up with a plan yet, and was more out of touch than a theatre major learning how to code. I bet she's a nice person, but in no way should she be in charge of student life. If we were our 'children' as she says, she's not being a good parent.

-- Apart from the one dude at the end who sort of defended the perpetrator, fucking props to the NUS students. Pointing out consistent flaws in what the panelists were saying, asking sharp and topical questions, and generally voicing out our thoughts perfectly. None of us were happy after the town hall, and we made it known to the press outside. Cue the Gabbie Hanna "I'm so proud of this community" meme, but I really am. I love y'all, students of NUS. Apart from that one dude who said the perpetrator should have a less harsh punishment. And those who clapped for him. The rest, y'all are awesome.

-- I don't doubt the panelists tried their best to answer the questions, but apart from the counselor who was there to answer about victim's problems, the Dean, Peter Pang, and Prof Ling were almost lost for words. At least Prof Pang admitted to wrongdoings of NUS in the past, but they were woeful. They treated this like damage control, NOT a session where they'd hear our voice on questions as to how the issue of sexual misconduct was dealt. Goddamn man.

I may have missed other things that infuriated me in the town hall, there's a lot, but if ya went, you can add your experience as well.

Edit 2: Turns out I accidentally copy-pasted my opening bit hahaah.

But still, what a mess. I want more action after this from NUS Students. An honest to goodness strike to show we care. But SG laws may not allow that. But at this point, I almost don't care. It's an issue that's been left alone for too long, and we need something to show we're fucking serious about it. If a town hall where the profs can squirm their way out won't affect them, a strike is probably what we fucking need.

https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/bh7v99/thoughts_on_nus_town_hall/