Local News

A Tampines HDB flat owner who was in the news last year after his ground floor flat was featured prominently online for having a koi pond fish tank on the doorstep of his property, have lost his appeal to HDB to keep the koi fish tank. 

HDB has rejected his appeal to keep the structure, where he installed glass panels to the walls around the four steps leading to his ground floor Tampines Street 41 flat. The structure was used to house about a dozen pet fish, but HDB had said that any alterations done must have permission of the Board. After all, our flat does not really belong to us, we are just leasing it from HDB, so we cannot do anything we like to our units without HDB's approval. 

HDB had used the excuse of a safety concern as the main reason why the koi pond cannot be kept. HDB also said the steps leading up to a unit is common property, so no alterations can be made to a common property. 

So now you know. The steps outside someone's ground floor unit is common property, so you can hang out there drinking beer if you like. Feel free, HDB said it is common property. 

SGH has revealed that at least three people in Singapore had been infected with Candida auris, a deadly drug-resistant fungus tha has been spreading worldwide. In the Singapore cases, one patient has since recovered from the infection, one left Singapore against medical advice, and another has since died. 

Dr Ling Moi Lin, director of infection prevention and epidemiology at SGH, said all three patients were isolated immediately after they were found to be infected. Contract tracing for those who have been in contact with the infected were also done thoroughly, and the doctor confirmed that they have no reason to suspect an outbreak of the virus happened in Singapore. The virus is only spread through direct contact with the infected person, and not via airborne transmission. 

According to SGH, the first SG patient probably got infected when she was treated for an accident in India, while the second case was of a Bangladeshi man who came to SG for treatment. But the man returned to Bangladesh after 10 days of treatment here against medical advice. The last case involved an elderly American man who contacted the virus while touring Bangladesh. He was transferred to SGH for further treatment, but subsequently passed away due to other complications resulting from the virus and his own health issues.

Taking MRT nowadays is like a lottery, sometimes you might be very late for work because of a breakdown, sometimes everything runs smoothly. But one thing's for sure, there will always be massive crowd taking the trains. However, in a never before seen scenario, the rush hour crowd in the early morning at an MRT platform have now directly contributed to their own delayed trip.

As usual during the peak hours, there will be pushing and jostling into getting on the train. This happened as usual at Buona Vista on the morning peak hour, as passengers started pushing and jostling. However, this time, some poor woman caught the brunt of it, and her right leg got caught in the platform gap, the same gap that announcements have been made time and again that passengers should mind the gap.  

However, one commuter slammed other passengers for no one seem to be helping the woman, instead all whipped out their phone and begin to take photos of the stricken woman, the irony being the one commuter who complained also took photos, and his photo ended up being the one shared online. The same commuter, Brandon Wong, also criticised the SMRT staff for what he perceived as their long reaction time to reach the woman, and not very sure of the right thing to do to ease the woman's fear. 

While the woman was finally freed without any other major incidents, it was not known if the woman needed hospital treatment for her injuries. 

The opposition in Singapore tries their best but they may not always make decisions that appease everyone. Take for example Pritam Singh's recent views on the repeal of S377A. In a speech last week, he voiced the Workers' Party's stance on the issue - it supports their LGBT friends but will not be calling for a repeal of S377A. 

It is no surprise that many pro-LGBT individuals were left disappointed. 

Facebook user Yudhishthra Nathan was very affected and saw the WP's stance as problematic. He said that it is "disingenuous" for a politician to say that he/she supports LGBT people but on the other hand, fail to uphold their interests or rights.

He expressed pity for how the pro- and anti-LGBT viewpoints are played out in Singapore. To him, it is more than just being conservative or liberal, which is unfortunately what many politicians portray Singaporeans to be. It is more important to recognise that there are many people who fall into overlapping categories as we are all very much humans. It should not be a matter that is only seen through a conservative VS liberal lens, but something that has to be zoomed out and looked upon as a much bigger issue. 

And simply saying that the WP does not want to "politicise" matters is not helping. For one, the subject itself already involves politics, what with the controversies surrounding S377A. 

While the WP works hard at listening to people and bridging the gaps in society, it needs to recognise and stand up for matters of public interest, such as this. 

"The way forward, therefore, is not to step away from the table and, in the same breath, call for more dialogue amongst other groups of people when we as a party have done precious little to facilitate meaningful dialogue.

We, too, need to have the moral courage to stand for a Singapore where LGBT citizens can live their lives with dignity (read: that means repealing S377A), and where those of us who are religious (straight or gay) continue to live in harmony with one another whilst having our religious rights reasonably protected under law and in social practice."

That being said, there is still hope in WP. It may be a shame that they did not muster enough courage to call for a repeal this time, but its efforts over the years have not gone to waste. Its efforts in future, most importantly, will also not go to waste.

At the end of the day, Singaporeans will recognise that the WP will time and again, support important causes that others conveniently dismiss. We may not always agree with everything they do, but we will know that they have dared to speak up for its people and make us proud to wear blue. 

https://www.facebook.com/yudhishthra/posts/10157146231725912

Some Singaporeans are really cheapskate. A Facebook user has shamed a potential buyer for wanting to buy his car at only $100. 

According to the screenshots that he posted, the buyer first expressed interest in buying the car before making his ridiculous offer. The man's car only had a few weeks left but the buyer could have easily renewed it and paid for what it's worth. 

Instead of paying the supposed $11000, the man daringly asked him to sell the car to him at $100. The seller was taken aback and asked him again if he meant $100 or $100000.

Unfortunately, he really meant $100. 

How is this possible? $100? Does he know how society works?

$100 only for toy car, boy. It's about time he grow up.

A Singaporean couple is pleading for people to help find their missing camera. And precious precious honeymoon photos. 

The couple recently toured Europe and took more than 2000 photos. Then poof, all gone. 

They believe that it was misplaced while on a Singapore Airlines flight SQ335 on 1 April 2019. So much for being April Fool's Day? 

"Seat number was 54C and it was not occupied by anyone throughout the flight.

Camera model: Sony A6400
Colour: Black 
With a 64GB SD CARD.

I just need the SD card back to us.

I will not scold you but will only thank you in person!

PLEASE!"

Desperate times call for desperate measures. They are really hoping to get the word out as Singapore Airlines told them that they could not find anything. 

Meanwhile, the post already has close to 1000 shares so hopefully it is about time someone finds it and returns it to them.

If not, second honeymoon lah bro!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156510570432832&set=a.10151156474557832&type=3