Indonesia plans to stop sending new live-in maids abroad

It wants maids to live separately from bosses; move to be made in phases from as early as next year
By Arlina Arshad, Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta and Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 18 May 2016

Indonesia says it will stop sending new live-in maids abroad from as early as next year. Its authorities want domestic workers to live separately from their employers in dormitories, work regular hours, and get public holidays and days off.



The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower's director for the protection and placement of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, Mr Soes Hindharno, told The Straits Times that, in turn, employers will get "better-quality" workers. They will be certified in Indonesia and trained to excel in specific skills, such as cooking, childcare and eldercare.

"They are also free to do other chores, but don't penalise them if they don't do too well in areas outside their skill set. We want better protection for our workers. If they are always indoors, we don't know if they have worked overtime. They should be compensated for that."

The move will be made in phases and will first require meetings with the authorities in receiving countries, including Singapore.

Mr Soes said the initiative will affect only new workers. Maids already working in households abroad who are happy with their employers can extend their visas.

Understand issues first, then react: Tan Chuan-Jin

Chuan-Jin calls on citizens to adopt ‘corresponding approach’ during online discussions
By Toh Ee Ming, TODAY, 18 May 2016

As the Government increasingly taps online platforms to engage citizens and disseminate information, Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin yesterday called on the public to find out more about an issue and understand it first before reacting — the same mantra adopted by policymakers in gathering feedback.


Speaking at the third Singapore-China Social Governance Forum at Shangri-La Hotel, Mr Tan noted that “conversations happen online whether or not we are there”. To engage effectively and reach out to more people, the Government has to go to “where the chatter is and to also create our own online conversations”, he added. “We hope that as people respond to our efforts, they can also adopt a corresponding approach as they join in discussions on specific issues or policy matters, which is first to know or to be aware, then to understand or appreciate, before reacting,” Mr Tan said.

Tax havens and where Singapore stands

It has tough rules to safeguard its trusted financial reputation
By Lee Su Shyan, Business Editor, The Straits Times, 18 May 2016

The alliterative Panama Papers have thrust the issue of tax evasion and tax havens into the uncomfortable spotlight again. Given that Singapore names and companies feature on the list, it is inevitable that scrutiny has fallen on the Republic's position in and stand on this shadowy world of untraceable funds and faceless names.

What are the Panama Papers?

They are a giant trove of documents that were recently released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They go back as far as 40 years, with details of names, addresses and offshore companies used by clients of Mossack Fonseca.



The law firm is based in Panama and known as one of the leading firms for creating secret firms. It has offices around the world, including a nondescript one off Cantonment Road here. The high-profile list of clients that has come to light, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, has sparked public anger about politicians, celebrities and businessmen hiding assets in these offshore vehicles to evade tax. The revelations have resulted in the resignation of Iceland's Prime Minister.

But lost in the uproar is the fact that not every offshore company is used for financial misdeeds and, indeed, Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing.

Singapore Management University (SMU) Professor of Accounting (Practice) Sum Yee Loong said: "It should be noted that it is not illegal for someone to set up an offshore entity. For example, a high-net-worth individual may want to set up an offshore company in a tax haven to hold his overseas investments, especially real estate. The advantage of doing this is that there are very low compliance costs incurred on an annual basis. In addition, the disposal of shares of the entity is relatively straightforward."

The type of compliance costs could include audit fees. There are also above-board examples when offshore companies are used by companies. Fairly common are when they are used as a holding company, a joint venture vehicle or as the listing entity that goes public.

NTU launches 3D printing centre

New $42m centre eyes 3D printing of rooms by robots
The Singapore Centre for 3D Printing at NTU is one of the largest in the world
By Carolyn Khew, The Straits Times, 18 May 2016

In the future, your room might be 3D printed by a robot that can spray layers of concrete to create customised walls and toilets.

A newly launched $42 million 3D printing centre at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will look into developing such capabilities for the manufacturing and engineering sectors, among others.




Funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing is one of the largest in the world. It was launched by Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran yesterday.

3D printing is a process in which three-dimensional parts are produced by adding materials layer by layer. These materials can be made of plastic, metal or even tissue from cells.

NTU Professor Chua Chee Kai, executive director of the new centre - which will have more than 85 PhD students - said: "Not only can 3D printing do it (make things) faster, but it can also do things that previously could not be done."

In his speech, Mr Iswaran said that the additive manufacturing industry is expected to grow from $3 billion in 2013 to $13 billion by 2018, and exceed $21 billion in worldwide revenue by 2020.

Bedok Town Centre pedestrian mall gets $3 million makeover

Easier access for Bedok's wheelchair users with upgrades
By Yeo Sam Jo, The Straits Times, 18 May 2016

Retired school bus attendant Yeo Guat Hua began going out less around a year ago as her osteoporosis was getting worse.

Steps in the nearby town centre made it difficult for the 77-year-old Bedok Reservoir View resident to move around in her wheelchair.

But this changed in March when Bedok Town Centre's pedestrian mall was revamped and equipped with wheelchair-friendly ramps.

The 320m stretch between Bedok North Street 1 and New Upper Changi Road also received more landscaping, new street benches and lighting, and signs that point out where the wheelchair ramps are.

Madam Yeo's daughter, financial planner Tan Cheng See, 48, said: "We come here for groceries and to have breakfast at the hawker centre. The ramps make it a lot easier."

Madam Yeo, whose youngest daughter also uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, said: "We will come here more often now."



The upgrading works, which cost about $3 million, are part of the Housing Board's Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) plans for East Coast. The ROH scheme, started in 2007 to spruce up public housing estates, has also been introduced in Woodlands, Toa Payoh, Pasir Ris, Dawson, Yishun, Hougang, Jurong Lake and Punggol.

Other new additions to Bedok include an integrated transport hub, a town plaza and an upcoming integrated complex. The latter, slated for completion next year, will house the Kampong Chai Chee Community Club and Bedok Public Library, among other facilities.

Bilingual babies 'learn languages faster'

NUS study finds they have an advantage over infants exposed to just one language
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 17 May 2016

Babies exposed to two languages at the same time can master the rules of each language faster than monolingual babies, a new study by National University of Singapore (NUS) psychologists has found.

They are able to differentiate between English and Chinese, and hearing both languages in their first year does not confuse them.

The study of 72 infants, which was completed last year, is believed to be the first in the world to show a bilingual advantage in language learning in infants up to two years old, said Associate Professor Leher Singh from NUS' department of psychology, the study's lead author.

Previous studies have focused on the language skills of older children or visual recognition and information processing skills of infants.

The study was conducted by Prof Singh, Ms Charlene Fu, a PhD student, and Ms Felicia Poh, a research assistant at NUS' Infant and Child Language Centre. It was published in the global journal Frontiers In Psychology last month and its results were shared at a media briefing yesterday at NUS.

The researchers found that one-year-old infants who have been exposed to both English and Chinese are able to detect tone changes in Mandarin speech, using a method that tracks the time that they spent looking at an object on a computer screen while a word is read out to them.

At the same time, they ignored tone changes in English, showing that they can differentiate between the two languages and understand the different rules of each language.

More take up HDB's Lease Buyback Scheme after enhancements

Take-up rises after tweaks to scheme, including inclusion of four-room flats
By Yeo Sam Jo, The Straits Times, 16 May 2016

After learning that his work contract would not be renewed next year, 68-year-old security officer Abdul Rahman Kemat and his wife decided to sell part of the lease on their four-room flat to get some passive income.

The couple, who had 81 years left on their lease, sold 46 years back to the Housing Board for about $144,000 earlier this year.

Of this sum, about $119,000 went towards buying Central Provident Fund Life plans, which provide the couple with a combined monthly payout of $1,000.

"It would be difficult for me to find a new job at my age," said Mr Abdul Rahman, who lives in Jurong West. "We wanted to do this so that we could get a steady monthly allowance."

His 64-year-old wife, Madam Samah Saat, works as a school canteen helper, earning about $50 a day. They are among 1,506 households who have taken up the HDB's Lease Buyback Scheme since it was introduced in March 2009.

The scheme lets elderly flat owners sell part of their lease back to the HDB for retirement income.

It has been updated several times, including in April last year, when it was expanded to include four-room flats. This allowed the scheme to cover three-quarters of elderly HDB households, compared to 35 per cent previously.

The monthly household income ceiling for taking part in the scheme was raised twice: from $3,000 to $10,000, and then to $12,000.

In addition, flat owners can now choose the length of lease to be retained, from 15 to 35 years, as long as it covers the youngest owner until the age of 95. Previously, the only option was to retain 30 years of the lease.

Some 541 households took up the scheme between April last year and March this year. Of these, 233 households live in four-room flats. Nearly half, or 261 households, chose to retain a lease length other than 30 years. About 5 per cent, or 27 households, had a monthly income exceeding $3,000.

It takes about three months to complete an application for the scheme, which includes financial counselling to ensure that applicants make an informed decision, the HDB said.

78% of Malaysians ‘do not have enough funds for retirement’

Only 22 Per Cent EPF Contributors Have Sufficient Savings For Retirement
TODAY, 16 May 2016

KUALA LUMPUR — More than three quarters of Malaysians who are active contributors to the country’s savings and retirement fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), do not have enough funds in their accounts for retirement, said a senior EPF official.

Ms Balqais Yusoff, EPF head of Strategy Management Department, told national news agency Bernama that 78 per cent of the 6.7 million active contributors did not have the basic amount of RM196,800 (S$66,944.21) for their retirement. The amount was set by the EPF as a savings threshold that would allow a contributor to spend RM820 a month for the next 20 years.

Ms Balqais said 65 per cent of active contributors had less than RM50,000 in their savings. Only 22 per cent have met the RM196,800 or more threshold.

“Based on our definition of basic savings, where retirees will need at least RM820 a month in their retirement years, those who have RM50,000 in EPF can go on for only five years before their savings run out,” she said.

“That is if they live at RM820 a month. And we know that RM820 is not enough; that amount is probably sufficient for grocery shopping only and that’s the reality today.”

She attributed the problem to Malaysia’s low salary structure, noting 89 per cent of the working population earns less than RM5,000, which translates into a lower savings rate for the EPF. “In terms of contribution rates in mandatory saving, Malaysia is the world’s fifth highest, but the salary structure does not translate into a high saving number,” she said.

“So, we need to constantly review the wage structure and the minimum wage also needs to be aligned with the rising cost of living.”

EPF is a compulsory savings and retirement plan for private-sector employees in Malaysia. At least 11 per cent of an employee’s monthly salary is set aside every month in a savings account, while employers are obligated to contribute at least 12 per cent of the employee’s salary concurrently.

Malaysians can fully withdraw their retirement savings from the EPF at 55, but many people tend to exhaust their savings within three to five years after a full withdrawal. Partly because of this, the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS) has advised Malaysians to educate themselves on the importance of having enough savings, as well as on healthy ageing, personal care and having a health insurance policy as preparations for old age.

How Singapore, Vienna and Berlin provide affordable housing

Govt intervention and regulation needed to strike balance between public interest, social inclusion, profit and commercial feasibility
By Lena Simet, Taimur Khilji and Arndt Husar, Published The Sunday Times, 15 May 2016

One of the foremost challenges facing humanity is affordable housing, especially for the urban poor.

The lack of liveable and affordable accommodation is fast becoming a front-line development issue, affecting diverse cities across the globe, from Lagos and Dhaka to New York and Tokyo.

For the urban poor in developing countries, living in slums or informal settlements has become the norm, with an estimated one billion people living in slums. With this number only set to grow, the lack of affordable housing has become a leading cause of concern.

In Asia alone, 30 per cent of the urban population live in slums.

The recently agreed set of Global Goals - the Sustainable Development Goals - is therefore apposite in anchoring development challenges as universal, affecting the poor in rich as well as in developing countries. How to achieve these Global Goals remains an open question for many countries.

As market-driven approaches cannot solve social justice problems, it is key to identify mechanisms for the state to ensure housing affordability in urban areas.

Lack of affordable urban housing affects low-income populations in both developed and developing countries.

New York City, the city with the most billionaires in the world, is experiencing a chronic housing crisis due to limited access, unaffordability, a speculative real estate market and the precariousness of tenure for both renters and owners.

In 2014, almost 55 per cent of all rental households were rent-burdened, spending more than 30 per cent of household income on rent.

More than 116,000 New Yorkers were homeless, including around 42,000 children. Fast-spreading gentrification is threatening the existence of old public housing projects which are perceived to be crime havens, but are also the last resort for thousands of low-income citizens in a city that is pushing its poor to the fringes.

NS police officers to take on community engagement roles

They will be trained in crowd management and evacuation and help NPCs in outreach activities
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 16 May 2016

Both operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) and full-time national servicemen (NSFs) from the police force are to take on new roles to support Singapore's SG Secure initiative.

About 1,500 police NSmen will form the new community engagement vocation.

Their training starts this month, after which they will be deployed in the neighbourhood police centres' (NPCs') community policing units.

The police national servicemen will be trained in crowd management and evacuation, as well as the handling of suspicious items.

The training for NSFs will start in the second half of this year.

All these national servicemen, who will be known as community engagement officers, will assist the NPCs in outreach activities.

They will help in events such as workshops and exhibitions to educate the public about the terrorist threat and how they should respond in the event of an attack here.

The Singapore Police Force shared these details yesterday at the HomeTeamNS Real (Regular Exercise, Active Lifestyle) Run held on Sentosa. The change is in support of SG Secure, a new national programme to be launched later this year in an effort to build community resilience against the terror threat.

Mr K. Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, told reporters at yesterday's event that pilot trials related to SG Secure will begin next month in some constituencies, including his own Nee Soon GRC.

"The success or failure of SG Secure depends on how much, how deep, we are able to bring it across to people on the ground that everyone is responsible for their security in different ways," he said.

"We want to transform ourselves into a nation of life-savers who understand how to react."

Therapeutic Garden @ HortPark

Now open: A garden to uplift the senses
HortPark's new therapeutic garden designed to improve mental well-being of its visitors
By Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 15 May 2016

The first therapeutic garden in a public park, which comes with specially chosen blooms and water features to uplift the senses, was launched at HortPark yesterday.

Backed by research, the garden is designed to improve the mental well-being of visitors, especially the elderly who have dementia, depression or stroke-linked conditions.

Two more of such gardens are coming up in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Tiong Bahru Park.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee, who opened the garden yesterday, said there are plans to build an islandwide network of therapeutic gardens in parks here, given the ageing population.

Providing such a network is an initiative under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing report announced by the Ministerial Committee on Ageing last year.

"The number of seniors older than 65 will more than double by 2030 and our parks can play a big role in realising our vision to be a nation for all ages where seniors can live actively and age in place confidently," said Mr Lee.

Research here and elsewhere has found that being in contact with nature improves one's mental well-being.

The therapeutic garden at HortPark, off Alexandra Road, was developed in consultation with mental health expert Prof Kua Ee Heok of the National University Healthcare System and based on research in environmental psychology.

The garden spans 850 sq m and costs about $250,000, including programming expenses.

It has a restorative zone that provides respite and a rehabilitative environment. The zone has four sections, each designed to stimulate the sense of hearing, sight, touch and smell. The sounds section, for instance, is filled with water features and a bar chime to create natural melodies that soothe and calm.

The activities zone has customised facilities for the elderly and wheelchair users to participate in gardening and outdoor activities.

First Case of Zika Virus Infection in Singapore on 13 May 2016

* Singapore's first Zika patient fully recovered, discharged from hospital
Zika patient discharged from Communicable Diseases Centre
By Tiffany Fumiko Tay, The Straits Times, 18 May 2016

A 48-year-old permanent resident who was Singapore's first confirmed Zika case has made a full recovery, and was discharged from the Communicable Diseases Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) yesterday afternoon.

According to a joint statement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency (NEA), the patient's blood samples tested negative for the mosquito-borne virus.

The statement added that his family members had not reported any symptoms of Zika.

The Zika virus is spread by the Aedes mosquito, which also transmits dengue.

The Watten Estate resident was confirmed as having the virus last Friday after contracting it during a business trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, between March 27 and May 7. Brazil is the country most affected by Zika, with more than 91,000 cases reported there between Jan 3 and April 2.

The patient developed a fever and rash three days after his return, and was admitted to Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital last Thursday, where he was isolated.

He was later transferred to the Communicable Diseases Centre at TTSH.

According to MOH, public contact with the patient was minimal as he stayed at home for most of the time after returning from his trip, and did not take public transport to the hospital.

Some 160 NEA officers, contractors and volunteers were out in full force over the weekend, fogging the Watten Estate area, inspecting homes and public areas, and distributing fliers about anti-mosquito measures.

The NEA said on Monday that around 700 premises had been inspected, and 40 mosquito breeding sites detected and destroyed.

Of the breeding sites found, 26 were in homes and 14 in common areas.