Local News

Activist Jolovan Wham, who is currently on trial for organising a public assembly without permit, has complaints about the authorities for wasting his friend's time and pressuring people to sign statements. 

In a Facebook post on 2 Oct 2018, Wham said that his event co-organiser, Rachel Zeng, was asked to testify in the trial but told at the last minute that her presence was no longer needed. 

"All this was quite a waste of time and resources. It was never in doubt that the event happened, and that I had invited Joshua Wong from Hong Kong to speak, and the topic was indeed on civil disobedience, democracy and social change. This was established in a statement of facts agreed between the prosecutor and I. It was even worse for Rachel, who had to take leave from work only to find that she wasn't needed".

Wham was also unhappy with how the police treated him by pressuring him to sign documents. He stood by his decision to only sign statements he will be given copies of, as he claims to have come across many instances where foreign workers were forced to sign papers only to end up getting stuck in Singapore.

"Such stories hardly come to light because most victims are afraid of filing complaints and speaking out. We'll also never really know because we don't have an independent commission to investigate police wrong doing, nor are there cameras in investigation rooms to monitor abuse of power.

Transparency is important but so lacking in our institutions. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam have talked about the importance of trust in our public institutions and the police force. This can be improved if measures are put in place to enhance checks and balances. Until this is done, it is not wrong for us to assume that we are not tackling police abuse of power effectively".

How long do they want to ownself check ownself? Is this a good practice?

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan delivered the good news to all Singaporeans yesterday, confirming that the Thomson East Coast MRT Line (TEL) is in line for its opening next year. 

Of course, the whole line is not ready, so the government just want to whet our appetites first. So, there will be three stations opened first, and they are all located in Woodlands! The three named stations scheduled for the 2019 opening are Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South. Two more trains for the line arrived yesterday, joining one already waiting here in Singapore. All the trains are made in China.

The TEL will stretch from Woodlands North to Sungei Bedok when fully opened, and it is slated to be opened progressively until 2024.

Two otters was caught on camera living the high life in a Sentosa condominium, taking a dip in the pool area. They clearly know what they are in for, as the dip was not accidental, and was going on for a while.

Clearly, the otters were enjoying themselves, as according to eyewitnesses, after frolicking in the pool, they proceeded to swim. This time around, however, the otters did not help themselves to any fish in the pond area, unlike in previous years, where the otters ate the koi fish in the condo's pond. 

But most likely the otters did not eat any koi fist was because all the koi fish had been removed by the condo.

Singaporean activist Jolovan Wham is on trial for organising a forum in 2016 which featured a live stream with Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong. The event, "Civil Disobedience and Social Movements", was held on 26 Nov 2016 without a police permit. Wham faces two charges of organising a public assembly without permit and for refusing to sign police statements. 

In a Facebook post, Wham clarified that the two police officers who took the stand did not think that he threatened public order in any way. Regarding the other point, he stood by his view that it is his personal preference to only sign documents that he has copies of. 

His stance sees the support of groups like the Community Action Network (CAN) and Demosisto, a group co-founded by Joshua Wong. Both groups released a joint statement expressing regret that he was being prosecuted for "his involvement in peaceful non-violent protests and related activities". 

The trial is expected to last for three days. If convicted, he may be fined up to $5,000 and $2,500 for the respective charges.

A 10 year old boy and the bus driver of a school bus were both taken conscious to the hospital after an early morning crash at Bedok. An SBS Transit bus was reported to have crashed into the stationary school bus at the junction of Bedok Road and Bedok Place at 6am on Tuesday 2nd October.

There were 4 school children inside the school bus at the time of the accident. Police confirmed that investigations are ongoing, though they did not say what injuries were suffered by the 10 year old boy and the school bus driver.

Let's hope their injuries are not too serious.

Why do people get from abusing animals? Yesterday, a man found a cat lying motionless and bruised at Ghim Moh Rd. He managed to take a photo of the cat abuser's car but not of the culprit himself. 

Based on his account, the culprit was "spotted stepping on the cat and when a passerby scolded him for doing that, he said, 'This cat? It is a piece of shit' and walked off". 

The cat was sent to a vet but the heartless culprit is still on the loose. "For all in the area, please keep a lookout for the driver of that vehicle as who knows what he is capable of". 

What is our society turning into? Graciousness? Like real.

Credits to John Nathanael Christopher for the story