Local News

Some of you who drive or those who always take taxis or other ride hailing services can now rejoice (a little). ERP charges are to be removed from 3 gantries during the morning peak period from 18 February 2019 onwards.

The three ERP gantries that has removed charges are as follows:

- $1 charge at Upper Bukit Timah Road after Hume Avenue from 8am to 8.30am
- $1 charge at MCE before the exit to Maxwell Road and 7.30am to 8am
- $1 charge on the slip road to Marina Coastal Drive heading west from 7.30am to 8am.

We can only wonder if this is thanks to Jovina Choi, the GoJek rider who went viral over ERP charges.

Several Singaporeans were displeased after attending an Asian Civilisations Museum exhibition on "Curating Colonialism". Playwright Alfian Saat posted about how the museum was too obsessed with "colonial whitewashing" by portraying Raffles as a "man of his time." 

The museum was allegedly ignorant to celebrate Raffles as a prolific figure despite the presence of many critical writings about him. According to Alfian Saat, the curator conveniently brushed aside their critiques only to "reproduce his colonial gaze." 

When asked why they chose to hoist him on a pedestal, the curator seemed to have said: "Whether we like it or not he's always going to be there. So we just have to find ways to reckon with him."

Is this the way our museums operate? Does this reek of gestural politics? The museum claimed to be open to dissenting ideas but proved otherwise when engaging in Q&A discussions with the participants. "[T]he reply I got was that the museum was not in a position to take one side or the other; it had to present its materials in an ‘objective’ manner. Evidently to even say that ‘colonialism is wrong’ involves a feat of editorialising that nobody at the museum is prepared to perform."

There it is: A museum that supposedly represents and showcases Singapore's history, culture and heritage. Hopefully their views on the discussion do not fall on deaf ears. Otherwise, if this regressive exhibition is what gives it reputation, Singaporeans sure have a lot to worry about. 

On the second day of CNY, a married couple, who were not identified in Media reports, but said to be Chinese, had a major argument while traveling in a car along the PIE. The woman then did something that we thought only happen in movies. She opened the car door, and jumped out of the moving car.

This apparently happened while the husband was driving along the PIE towards Tuas, near the Pasir Laba Camp exit. As the car was in an expressway, the possible slowest speed the husband could have driven was 80km/hr. The 46 year old woman apparently suffered serious head injuries, as well as other parts of her body. Reports indicated that she was bleeding heavily, after landing on her head first. The husband had immediately stopped the car and rushed to her.

It is understood that the woman is currently warded in NUH and the 51 year old husband is assisting police with their investigations. 

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen has apologised for the deaths of 4 NSmen over the past 17 months. In a ministerial statement yesterday, he said that he was "deeply sorry" for their loss. He promised that MINDEF and SAF will be accountable for every NSman and will "do all that is humanly possible to prevent training deaths... because precious sons have been entrusted to us by their families."

His apology comes after the death of actor Aloysius Pang, who succumbed to his injuries after repair works on a Howitzer. 

Some may wonder if the Defence Minister's apology was catalysed by widespread media attention after Pang's death. Some may wonder if his apology was a means to appease Singaporeans who are up in arms over the latest accident. In the eyes of opposition politician Lim Tean, the apology came too late and has little meaning. 

Why apologise now instead of doing "all that is humanly possible to prevent training deaths" in the first place? Why did none of our ministers bother to attend Aloysius Pang's wake? Was it inappropriate? How is it inappropriate if they merely wanted to give their sincere condolences, if any?

"Where was he, Lee Hsien Loong or Halimah Yacob when Singaporeans grieved over the recent tragic death of Aloysius Pang. None of them saw it fit to attend the wake of Aloysius Pang or to express more sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family of Aloysius Pang and to the Nation...

Sadly, all of them were missing as the Nation was grieving. Sending Lawrence Wong as the government’s representative was totally inadequate and inappropriate."

Do our Ministers have heart? Where is their sincerity? It's time to show, not tell. Or they have no right to blame Singaporeans for finding fault with them.

Even as the water treatment firm Hyflux comes under the spotlight with the reported loses of $115.6m and when they are reported to be losing huge amounts of cash and building projects, the founder of the firm, Olivia Lum, received more than $60m in dividends from her 34% ordinary shareholdings.

This is also reportedly on top of her receiving a further slary, benefits and bonuses of between $750,000 and $1 million in 2017. This has prompted the Singapore investor watchdog to ask why she is paid such exhorbitant amounts when the company is making huge loses and needs to be bailed out. The company currently has a debt of $2.95 billion as of March 2018. The company also has been generating negative cash flow every year since 2009.

Hyflux though, have been reporting profits in each year prior to 2017, despite their mouth watering negative operating cash flow. Is there something they are hiding?

Facebook has been used as a platform by many recruiters to search for all sorts of job seekers. One particular recruiter, Amelia Tan, was one such recruiter. A person named Clarence Ng messaged her on Facebook messenger to enquire about a fruit-packing job.

However in a turn of events, Ng asked Tan out for drinks at his 'new BTO' in Punggol. Ng also mentioned that she can stay over and shower at his place as well. And of course, being a perfect gentleman, Ng mentioned that he will be able to pay for Tan's Grab fare (likely to his house). 

Now, who wouldn't accept such a generous offer?

Tan took to Facebook with screenshots of the chat and the caption 'What about I pay for your Grab to Cantonment Police Station?'

Oof.

Tan mentioned that the whole incident happened on Chinese New Year eve at 8.20pm and has also since noted that Ng was probably a fake account which steals pictures from other Facebook profiles. You can read her full post here: