Local News

On early Tuesday morning, a Sembawang resident encountered a nightmare that many Singaporeans would not even think possible: Mrs Chan Yin Ha was bitten by a python at a second storey HDB block that she lives in.

SHe was looking for her cat in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and her search had taken her to a tow of potted plants. This was when a 3m long python struck. She thought the snake would coil around her, so she screamed and freaked out, and immediately ran away. It was fortunate that the snake did not pursue her. By then bleeding profusely from the snake bite, she managed to make her way to her third storey unit. 

A neighbour then called the police after she saw a trail of blood leading away from the neighbour unit. Police were told about the python, and eventually, a pest control company was called in and managed to capture the snake. Mrs Chan was taken to Khoo Teck Phuat hospital, where she was given stitches for the wound and is now recovering.

Singapore Facebook page Shout Singapore posted the image of a Lazada website advert selling a Singapore identity card for $100 in a shocking example of the brazenness of some local criminals. The Singapore police as well as Lazada has been informed of the malicious sales posts and action is expected to be taken shortly.

To prove that this was not another piece of fake news, Shout Singapore provided another image revealing the live url of the Lazada sales post. Is Singapore turning into a lawless country under the current weak government? Can the government be trusted to protect the interests and security of Singaporeans? 

We hope the victim gets the compensation she deserves. 

Sengkang neighbourhood police centre put out a call for information on a genial looking aunty for loanshark harassment. In the mugshot published by the police, the lady was seem beaming a wide smile while speaking on the phone. 

She appears to be the most unlikely of loanshark runners but looks are deceiving apparently. Fortunately, after their appeal for information, the public stepped up and finally got in contact with this smiley loanshark runner. 

Hopefully this loanshark aunty can put her smile to better use next time, when she is out. 

"Singapore Unbound", a US-based group that supports cultural exchange, released a statement against the "wrongful conviction and sentence of artist-activist Seelan Palay". 

Palay was sentenced to 2 weeks' jail for peacefully holding an art piece outside the Singapore Parliament in 2017. Singapore Unbound condemns the sentence as it deems it as a violation of people's freedom of expression. It said that Palay was acting alone so it does not constitute as a "public assembly". Furthermore, he did not cause public disorder. 

"Like any Singaporean citizen, he has the constitutional right to speak and assemble freely. Although the Constitution of Singapore allows for the government of the day to restrict such a right in the interest of public order, the restriction of permissible public spaces for protest to just the Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park and the definition of just one person as an “assembly” are clearly politically repressive and go against international standards for such rights".

Singapore Unbound warned that the judgment may cause a climate of fear among Singaporeans who are already afraid of speaking up and hoped that the sentence will be quashed so that Singapore can prove that it is truly a mature and democratic country. 

"Singaporeans deserve to be treated in the same way as the citizens of mature democracies. After fifty years of political independence, Singaporeans are more than ready to assume the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship".

Singapore's very own foodie, Makansutra's Kf Seetoh, wrote an open letter to Senior Minister of State Amy Khor in a bid to preserve the hawker culture in Singapore. For a start, hawkers should not be charged exorbitant fees under the new Social Enterprise Hawker Centre scheme. They should not have to pay for additional services that are not necessary. 

For example, hawkers now have to pay 20 cents every time people return their trays. This "amounts to anything from $400 to $800 a month just on tray returns alone (which is over and above the cleaning and maintenance fees)".

The situation is so bad that there is a hawker who cannot cope with high rental fees even though he was earning $4000 a month. Worse still, the poor uncle wanted out but had to pay a penalty every month until a new tenant is found. 

How is this called social enterprise? The National Environment Agency (NEA) should just take back control of public hawker centres as private companies will only use them as money-making machines. 

"These revenue hungry private operators can rightly do their commercial rental and operation model, on a mutually agreed buyer-seller agreements in the privately owned coffeeshops, food halls and markets, canteens, food courts etc.. but please keep them away from our public hawker centres. We have to preserve low operation cost so hawkers can comfortably offer cheaper meals for poorer customers in our midst who depend on it, preserve this food heritage and encourage a new breed of hawker to rise to the fore and address continuity and sustainability".

The next time our beloved Prime Minister teach us to save money by buying $3 meals, they should take the time to reflect if things really come cheap in Singapore. 

An HDB flat at Tampines caught fire on Tuesday because a battery pack of a Personal Mobility Device (PMD) that was being charged in the living room of the flat started the fire. SCDF confirmed that an elderly woman who was a neighbouring resident of the 10th floor unit at Blk 240 Tampines Street 21 was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.

It was not known how the PMD battery pack caught fire in the first place, but SCDF advised the public that PMD batteries need to be examined thoroughly for damage or deformities, such as bloated, corroded, or powdery batteries. PMD batteries that are being charged also should not be placed near combustible materials, as these are easy fire hazards. 

Investigations are still ongoing for the Tampines fire.