Local News

An assumed NUS student posted a call for help on the popular NUS Whispers forum, sharing that due to his mother remarrying, his step father is insisting that he gets circumcised on religious grounds. Although the OP is against this forced circumcision, he is afraid that his refusal may lead to him being kicked out of the house. The student said that this was causing him tremendous stress especially in his first semester of school. 

Well-wishers tried to help OP by giving advice on what he could possibly do to legally reject a forced circumcision but some raised concerns that this was under the jurisdiction of Muslim Marriages and not all secular rules applied. Although OP did not reveal his gender, the Editors have assumed it was a male as female circumcision is rarely heard of in Singapore. We apologise if this assumption was made in error. 

"Report to the UHC, see if there is any professional help. You are near 21 already, or over, so as an adult, it's not possible for family to force anything on you."

"Have your opposition to his demand in writing (Whatsapp). Ensure his threat to kick you out in in writing too. Ready a go-bag in case you do get ejected and need to stay outside for a while, until someone tells him it is illegal for him to kick you, astepchild below age 21 out of the house.

Refer to Section 68 read with Section 70(1) of the Women's Charter on Statutes Online, or ask a law student or lawyer. Don't give in. If you allow him to dictate modification of your body and you obey, it won't stop there."

"if they're Muslims the marriage isn't under the women's charter"

Have you been in a similar situation? Do you have helpful advice for OP and all other distressed children?  

Grab announced that its GrabHitch carpooling service would no longer be available between the times of 1AM and 5AM in order to provide a safer and more positive experience for its users. It said that this decision was taken after persistent feedback of tensions and disputes between carpooling passengers during this time period. It is probably a euphemism for drunk GrabHitch passengers.

As a result of the irresponsible behaviours of the few, now all responsible passengers who enjoy low fares on GrabHitch during the wee hours of the morning are penalised. Shouldn't such inconvenience be reserved for those passengers who give problems instead of a blanket ban for all?

After Grab was fined 6 million dollars for flouting Singapore's competition rules, could this be a new way of diverting their customers to pay for the more expensive Grabcar or JustGrab rides to boost revenue? Your guess is as good as mine.

Far East Plaza shop owner Von Tan shared on Facebook her unfortunate encounter with a pair of well-trained shoplifters who hit her store near its closing time and made away with various small items which they skillfully swiped off the shelves. The duo worked in tandem, one distracting the sales assistant while the other went on her shoplifting spree.

This pair of thieves did pay for a top but made away with much more. The shop owner felt that they were well-versed in their modus operandi and warned all store owners to watch out for these two shoplifters.

"The spree ended with P paying for a top @ $89.9 and she passed me a $100( Brunei dollar ) and they happily got away with few items from my shop. Last but not least, S also took a scarf which we have in the fitting room for customers with make up to use. I presumed she thought that was a HER-MESS silk scarf.

They may tend to target small businesses like ours thinking that there’s nothing much we can do about it even if we caught them in footages like this. In case you ( S & P ) are reading this, i may not be able to nab you on the spot but i trust that u will soon be caught not now but later. So, please continue your shopping sprees and give other victims a chance to do so. Thank you."

Voice loud doesn't mean you win. Recently, a video of a bunch of women fighting at Woodlands Checkpoint went viral. According to the source, the two Indian women were trying to cut queue when they were confronted. Unhappy, they retaliated by bumping into the other party and shouting at them. 

"What you talking about Indian? Why you talking about Indian?"

"Oi you jump queue then you say want to punch people?"

"What Indian! And you also same what! Shut up!"

And so on.

Luckily, the fight did not escalate any further. Fight finish must join the queue again, waste each other's time for what?

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has fined both ride firms Grab and Uber a total of $13 million dollars over their merger, stating that the merger had led to an eroding of competition in the market. 

Uber was fined $6.58m, while Grab was fined $6.42m. Both Uber and Grab still maintain that the decision was inappropriate, as the CCCS made it based on a narrow definition of the market. Grab also maintained that they did not break any competition laws.

With these high fines imposed, what would it mean for the riders and drivers of Grab? Will they be charged more, and will the Grab drivers see their sahre of earnings dwindle?

Day by day, Singapore is doing its utmost to shed its image as perfect. After a massive blackout hits the island state so soon after Singapore was branded a Perfect country, yet another blackout hits, this time affecting the shopping mall of Plaza Singapura.

Electricity was supposed to shut down as part of a scheduled maintenance after closing hours on Saturday night. However, while the power shut down was scheduled to happen, and power was supposed to be restored by 8 am on Sunday, the power did not return, and the new wing of the mall had no power and lights till about 2:30pm, and full air conditioning functions only returned to the mall at about 8:30pm. 

About 80 shops were affected by having no power, among them F&B outlets, Beauty and Wellness shops, and other retail shops. The loss of earning must have been substantial, for an almost whole day of inactivity due to no power in the mall.