Man held over Facebook post inciting violence

By Lim Yi Han, The Straits Times, 3 Mar 2016

Police arrested a 40-year-old man yesterday for posting comments on Facebook urging others to commit violence.

In a press release yesterday, police said they received a report on Feb 8 regarding a post made by a Facebook user which included the comment: "Please reveal the identity of the (five) plain-clothes officers and we go handle them ourselves. Kill them."

The comment was posted in response to a news article on the death of 14-year-old Benjamin Lim, who had been questioned by police for outrage of modesty.

MAN ARRESTED FOR ONLINE COMMENTS INCITING VIOLENCE The Police have arrested a 40-year-old Singaporean Chinese male for...
Posted by Singapore Police Force on Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The Secondary 3 student was found dead at the foot of his HDB block in Yishun on Jan 26 at 4.20pm, several hours after officers in plain clothes had taken him from North View Secondary School to be questioned at the Ang Mo Kio Police Division.

Police established the identity of the Facebook user believed to have posted the comment online and arrested the Singaporean man yesterday for the alleged offence of communicating an electronic record containing incitements to violence.

The suspect, who was not named by the police, has taken down the comment and his Facebook page.

Investigations are ongoing and, if convicted, he faces a maximum jail term of five years, a fine or both.

On Tuesday, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament that there was no basis to link the teenager's suicide to the way police investigated allegations that he had molested a girl.

Parliament Highlights - 1 Mar 2016

* Death of 14-year-old student Benjamin Lim - What happened?


Volunteers to get powers to enforce littering rules
NEA officers to train and supervise volunteers; number of littering fines hit 6-year high in 2015
By Rachel Au-Yong, The Straits Times, 2 Mar 2016

Individuals can soon join the National Environment Agency (NEA) as community volunteers to nudge litterbugs to pick up their rubbish, and spot those who smoke, spit or urinate where they are not allowed.

These volunteers and auxiliary police officers will be given enforcement powers, such as issuing warnings and summonses.

Previously, only those from relevant non-governmental organisations could join the volunteer scheme. Volunteers could also only ask for the particulars of uncooperative offenders, to hand over to NEA officers for further investigation.

In addition, NEA officers have been given more powers to photograph or take a video of any violation of environmental laws.

These steps, in the NEA (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill passed yesterday, come as the number of littering fines hit a six-year high of over 26,000 last year.

Since the community volunteer programme began in 2013, about 340 volunteers have engaged 2,500 litterbugs. And keeping Singapore clean requires everyone to play an active role, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli told the House.

"This Bill will allow passionate individuals to take greater community ownership of our environment and better complement NEA's enforcement efforts."

But three Workers' Party MPs spoke up against the Bill, saying the extension of enforcement powers to volunteers could be abused. One called for the Bill to be referred to a Select Committee.

Non-Constituency MP Daniel Goh feared the expanded powers would lead to a toxic environment of neighbours policing each other, while Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) took issue with giving the NEA chief executive the ability to grant these powers.



Mr Masagos said the main role of community volunteers is to educate offenders, and that most offenders are cooperative. To prevent abuse, NEA officers will train and supervise volunteers and make sure that reports are made properly and forms filled up correctly.

"At the end of the day, these powers are there for them to be able to use, but not for them to abuse," he said. "It is not about giving them a badge and the powers to do whatever they want."

Some MPs were also concerned about how volunteers are picked.

Mr Masagos assured Ms Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon GRC) and Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) that NEA would choose "suitable individuals who have the right public spirit, good communication skills, and who care deeply about our environment".

All volunteers would be interviewed to assess their maturity and interest in environmental activities, he added. They must also be Singaporeans or permanent residents who are at least 18 years old.

Parliament Highlights - 29 Feb 2016

Khaw fleshes out plan for new 30-station MRT line
50km Cross Island Line, with nearly 15 interchanges, will see 600,000 daily trips
By Adrian Lim, The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2016

The 50km Cross Island Line (CRL) will be an important part of Singapore's rail network, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said.

Nearly half of its 30 stations from east to west will be interchanges to other MRT lines, offering commuters many travel options, he added.



Mr Khaw told Parliament yesterday that the line will serve residential areas such as Loyang, Pasir Ris, Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming, Bukit Timah, Clementi and West Coast, and commuters will make at least 600,000 trips on it daily.

But as to whether the underground CRL will be built through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) or route around it - an issue of contention - Mr Khaw said more environmental and engineering studies, along with public consultations, must be done.

These may take over two more years, before a decision on the alignment can be made, Mr Khaw said, in reply to questions from Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) about the CRL.

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to study the effects of site investigation works, released last month, itself took two years to complete.

Mr Khaw said the CRL, which is expected to be ready by 2030, will "significantly enhance" the MRT network's resilience, and its capacity and usage will far exceed that of the existing North-East Line.

He also said the longer 9km skirt around the CCNR will incur an extra travel time of six minutes, compared with the more direct 4km route running underneath the reserve.

"An extra 1 minute is a lot of time, let alone 6 minutes": Khaw Boon Wan says having a section of the Cross Island Line skirt the Central Catchment Nature Reserve could add 6 minutes' to commuters' travelling time. http://bit.ly/1VMn8xn
Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Monday, February 29, 2016

Alluding to high public expectations of the MRT, Mr Khaw quipped that in a minute's delay, a commuter could post 100 times on Twitter to "flame" the Land Transport Authority and the rail operator.

This extra six minutes could not just be "brushed aside", he said.

Mr Ng said the skirt-around alignment would serve more commuters, but Mr Khaw replied that residents in the area are already served by the Circle Line and the future Thomson-East Coast Line.

CROSS ISLAND LINE: The skirting alignment option will cost about S$2 billion more to build. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan says more investigations need to be carried out and urges the public to "keep an open mind". http://bit.ly/1VMn8xn
Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Sunday, February 28, 2016

Mr Khaw also said a skirt-around alignment would need longer tunnels and ventilation facilities on the surface. This option would cost $2 billion more and could result in land acquisitions.

But for the direct alignment option, 2km will be deep below the CCNR at about 40m - or 12 storeys - below ground level, and there will be no structures built at the surface level, Mr Khaw said.

Mr Ng also asked for the total cost of the CRL project, and which houses and buildings will be acquired.

Mr Khaw replied that it was still too early to know these details, and a second phase of EIA, to look into the impact of construction and running of trains underneath the nature reserve, will be done.

He urged Singaporeans not to take a biased approach to the issue, noting that some comments on the first EIA have been "very toxic".

"Keep an open mind, go with the facts. Keep an open mind and look for the evidence," he said.

Women stepping up in Singapore boardrooms

They held 10.2% of board seats of 30 STI firms last year, up from 7.6% in 2014: Report
By Rachael Boon, The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2016

Singapore's top companies have led from the front in helping to remedy one of the blights on the local corporate scene - the under-representation of women on company boards.

A new report has found that across the 30 listed companies comprising the blue chip Straits Times Index (STI), 10.2 per cent of board seats were held by women last year, up from 7.6 per cent in 2014.

It was an even brighter picture for new appointments, with women accounting for 27 per cent, significantly higher than the overall 14 per cent, said the Diversity Action Committee (DAC) yesterday.

The DAC is the authority on statistics tackling women's representation on boards of Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed companies.

Only nine of the 30 STI companies continue to have all-male boards, it noted.

The DAC also found that besides large firms, smaller companies also improved their gender diversity.

Overall, women held 9.5 per cent of directorships in all 758 SGX-listed companies last year, up from 8.8 per cent in 2014 and 8.3 in 2013.

DAC chairman Magnus Bocker said: "For the past two years, we have seen a significant improvement in the number of women directors on boards of SGX-listed companies, especially in large companies.

"This indicates that companies are responding to investor groups' and the DAC's call for greater gender diversity on boards, as part of a broader view of board diversity."

New police warrant cards to prevent imposters

New warrant cards for police officers with new security features from Tuesday
By Chew Hui Min, The Straits Times, 29 Feb 2016

Police officers will be carrying new warrant cards from Tuesday (March 1), the Singapore Police Force announced on Monday.

Apart from a new design, the new warrant card has enhanced security features to prevent identity fraud by those impersonating as police officers.

NEW POLICE WARRANT CARDWith effect from 1 March 2016, all Police Officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) will...
Posted by Singapore Police Force on Monday, February 29, 2016

When the card is tilted at an angle, the holographic word "POLICE" will appear below the officer's photograph.

On the right of the card, there is also a vertical row of five holographic police crests.

The new warrant cards will replace the existing cards held by all regular, volunteer, full-time national service police officers, operationally ready police national servicemen as well as auxiliary police officers.

Police advised members of the public to look out for the new security features if they are approached by anyone claiming to be a police officer.

Singapore-China ties: A progressive partnership

By Vivian Balakrishnan, Published The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2016

Last year, Singapore and China commemorated 25 years of diplomatic relations, culminating in the exchange of state visits by Singapore President Tony Tan and Chinese President Xi Jinping. We established an All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times.

Singapore and China have had interactions for many centuries. Singapore has always been part of the Maritime Silk Road. The majority of our (Singapore's) citizens have ancestors from China. We enjoy a longstanding, wide-ranging relationship that transcends politics. The landmark visits by Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (1976) and China's former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping (1978) laid a strong foundation for the modern phase of our bilateral relations, prior to the establishment of formal diplomatic ties in 1990.

Last year, Singapore and China commemorated 25 years of diplomatic relations, culminating in the exchange of state...
Posted by Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Mr Lee Kuan Yew always believed that a strong China that was positively engaged with South-east Asia would strongly benefit the region. That was why he suggested we jointly develop the Suzhou Industrial Park in 1994, our first government-to-government project, to promote the exchange of development experiences.

In 2007, when China's focus shifted to sustainable urbanisation, we embarked on our second government-to-government project - the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. We have also launched other "private sector-led, government-supported" projects to respond to different aspects of China's development interests, including the Guangzhou Knowledge City, Sichuan Hi-tech Innovation Park, Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island and Jilin Food Zone.

Last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Xi launched our third government- to-government project, the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI), during President Xi's state visit to Singapore. The CCI supports China's key development strategies and will draw upon the comparative advantages of Singapore and China to prototype policy innovations and enhance connectivity in the areas of finance, aviation, transport and logistics, and infocommunication technology.

Singapore, Iran ink bilateral treaty on investment

Iswaran signs agreement in Teheran as part of effort to explore business opportunities
By Chong Koh Ping, In Teheran, The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2016

Singapore has moved quickly to sign an investment treaty with oil-rich Iran to support Singapore firms investing in an economy that is emerging after the recent lifting of global sanctions.

The treaty offers a legal framework to protect investors and promote bilateral investments.

Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran signed an Agreement on Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments, also known as a bilateral investment treaty, with Iran's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Tayyebnia in Teheran yesterday.

Minister (Industry) S Iswaran and Iran Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Dr Ali Tayyebnia signed an Agreement on...
Posted by Ministry of Trade & Industry on Monday, February 29, 2016

Singapore is the second country, after Japan, to sign a bilateral investment treaty with the Middle Eastern nation after international sanctions were lifted in mid-January.

"We are here now to deepen the economic collaboration between our two countries," Mr Iswaran told the media after the ceremony.

"We see significant opportunities to do so because of the size of the market in Iran and in the region, and the capabilities of the people.

"For Iranian businesses, there are interesting opportunities in Singapore and through Singapore into South-east Asia and the larger market of Asia," he added.

First paired kidney exchange transplant in Singapore

Mum donates kidney to patient on wait list so daughter can get matching organ from stranger
By Linette Lai, The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2016

When doctors said her daughter needed a new kidney, Madam Noor Rafidah Nasir immediately volunteered one of her own.

But then came the bad news - Madam Rafidah and her daughter, Ms Siti Rasyidah Lokman Hadan, were not a match.

"I was heartbroken," recalled the 47-year-old housewife. "I cried."

Twenty-three-year-old Siti Rasyidah binte Lokman Hadan was given a new lease of life following Singapore’s first living...
Posted by National University Hospital on Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Then doctors approached her in August 2014 with a novel proposal known as a paired kidney exchange transplant.

Someone had come forward wanting to donate a kidney to a stranger, and was found to be a match for Ms Siti. In exchange, her mother would have to give one of her kidneys to a person on the national waiting list.

Ms Siti, 23, became Singapore's first recipient of such a transplant in April last year, at the National University Hospital (NUH).

The procedure has been approved since 2009, but has never been carried out until last year because of a lack of pairs who were both willing and medically fit.

New O-level subject: Computing

19 schools to offer programming at O levels
Starting next year at Sec 3, course emphasises real-world application of computing concepts
By Pearl Lee, The Straits Times, 29 Feb 2016

Singapore's aim to be a Smart Nation has prompted 19 secondary schools to offer programming as part of a new O-level subject called computing.

It will start next year, at the Secondary 3 level.

With its introduction, the existing computer studies subject offered by 12 secondary schools will be phased out by next year, when the last group of students take it at the O-level examination.

The move puts into action a call made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last year, when he launched the Smart Nation initiative, which will use technology to make daily living convenient.

He called for children to be exposed to programming from a young age, "to enable the most talented and interested ones to be able to go far and develop their talent in IT in schools".

The Education Ministry told The Straits Times that the new subject will focus on programming, algorithm, data management and computer architecture.

It declined, however, to disclose the schools offering computing. But the list is said to include Bukit View Secondary School, Chung Cheng High (Yishun) and Zhonghua Secondary School.

The programming language that the students will learn is called Python, now taught only at A levels.

Python is one of the top 10 programming languages and is more relevant in meeting real-world needs, said teachers interviewed.

$200 fine for homes found breeding mosquitoes from 14 Mar 2016

$200 fine for anyone caught breeding mozzies
Tougher action against home owners from March 14, to tackle dengue and Zika threats
By Tan Weizhen, The Straits Times, 29 Feb 2016

With an expected spike in dengue cases this year and the threat of the Zika virus, enforcement will be stepped up against homes found to be breeding mosquitoes.

From March 14, all homes - whether they are within or outside dengue clusters - will be fined $200 if they are found to be breeding mosquitoes. Currently, only homes within dengue clusters are fined $200, with homes outside not fined at all.

"We have to send this strong signal to everyone to do their part," said Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli yesterday at the launch of an annual campaign to get people to eliminate mosquito breeding.

"The majority of the breeding places are still found in homes, the usual places again and again, and therefore we will be toughening our approach towards home owners."

Dengue cases this year could hit a high of 30,000 due to warmer weather, more mosquitoes and a change in the type of prevailing dengue virus, which would cause a spike in cases, said the National Environment Agency (NEA). This would be higher than the previous record of 22,170 cases in 2013, it said.

In January, the NEA has conducted more than 126,000 inspections islandwide, and found more than 1,900 cases of mosquito breeding. In the week ended Feb 20, 593 dengue cases were reported.

Adding to worries is the Zika virus, which is linked to under-developed brains in babies. It has been spreading across the Americas at an alarming rate, prompting the Ministry of Health to issue a statement last month on steps it would take if the virus entered Singapore.

Like dengue, the Zika virus is carried by the Aedes mosquito.

First Car-Free Sunday SG launched on 28 Feb 2016

Thousands have fun on first Car-Free Sunday
Minister says pilot in heart of city could expand, extend beyond six months if response is good
By Yeo Sam Jo and Ng Keng Gene, The Straits Times, 29 Feb 2016

Singapore's Civic District and Central Business District were unusually teeming with cyclists and joggers yesterday, as a few thousand people poured onto the streets for the first Car-Free Sunday SG.

Roads around the Padang were closed to traffic for a few hours in the morning, in a pilot trial that will take place on the last Sunday of each month till July.



National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said such an initiative could be expanded and become a permanent fixture if the response from the public is good.

Describing yesterday's turnout as encouraging, he told reporters: "We will look at how we can improve for the future editions. If the response gets even better and we get more people participating, I think we would certainly want to continue beyond the six months and see how we can expand our car-free Sunday to a bigger area, potentially even make some of it permanent."

Mr Wong stressed that this will depend on how Singaporeans respond to the ongoing trial.

"It's really to get people used to the mindset that streets and roads can be free of cars.

"It's not just about closing up the roads, but (also that) the streets can be full of programming that we can enjoy. We can walk, we can cycle, we can come together."

Poverty in Singapore: The faces behind the financial aid figures

At least 91,000 people received a helping hand in the form of financial aid from the state in 2014. Insight looks at six families and individuals who typify those on social assistance in Singapore.
By Toh Yong Chuan, Manpower Correspondent and Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 28 Feb 2016

Two months ago, the Government for the first time released detailed figures on the breakdown of citizens who received financial aid from the state.

In the financial year ending March 2015, 91,093 Singaporeans - or about 2.7 per cent of the citizen population - received $116 million in some form of social assistance.

This was a sharp jump from the 54,041 who received $61 million in aid in 2010.

"The increase is not too surprising because we have increased our efforts in the last few years to bring help closer to those in need," Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said last December.

The criteria to determine who can benefit from ComCare - the Community Care Endowment Fund - have been revised "so that more can be assisted", he explained.

ComCare was tweaked to benefit more families who require short- to medium-term assistance.

Among others, the household income cap was raised from $1,500 to $1,900, and the per capita income criterion was reviewed so that families with more dependants could qualify.

Some observers have described this as a government "shifting to the left". Yet it is worth noting that much of this aid is not just a handout, but also targeted at helping struggling families and individuals get back on their feet.

The Sunday Times looked at six cases of people receiving some form of social assistance from the state.