31/03/2012

Watz Online - 31 Mar 2012

Maid dies in 30-storey plunge at Telok Blangah Heights

A 23 YEAR OLD Indonesian maid fell 30 storeys to her death at Telok Blangah Heights on Thursday.

She had apparently been cleaning the windows of her employer's flat at about 1pm.

This is at least the third case so far this year of a maid falling to her death here.

If there's a shortage, why is the jobless rate for cleaners high?

WE OFTEN read that Singaporeans do not want to be cleaners ('Where have the cleaners gone?'; Monday).

If that is so, why is it that the unemployment rate for cleaners, labourers and related workers, at 5.1 per cent, was the second highest among all job categories, according to the Ministry of Manpower's Singapore Workforce 2011 report?

This is much higher than the overall unemployment rate of 3 per cent for Singaporeans.

'Pervert uncle' stands so close to female commuters, even though train isn't crowded

STOMPer Coffee warns women of this 'pervert uncle', who stood very close to female passengers even though the train was not crowded.

The STOMPer wrote:

"Ladies!! Beware of this pervert uncle.

"The train is not crowded yet this uncle will purposely stand real close to them."

Woman's butt burned by mystery liquid on seat of MRT train

A 27-year-old Malaysian woman sustained a burn wound on her buttocks after she sat on a wet seat on board an MRT last Saturday (Mar 24).

The unknown liquid on the seat left her with a 7cm wound. The woman, known only as Ms Law, works as a hairdresser in Tiong Bahru.

She had been on her way home to Yishun at the time, and had boarded the northbound train at Raffles Place Station.

Driver without licence kills 1 in accident, sentenced to jail

A waitress drove her boyfriend's car and caused the death of a 70-year-old man last year.

Candy Siow Pei Shan had been drinking with her boyfriend in two clubs and later drove his car even though she had no licence.

On the way home, she lost control of the vehicle in Bukit Batok. It mounted a road kerb and hit Mr Tan Son Seng, crushing him to death.

On Wednesday, the 23-year-old, who had failed her basic theory test 13 times, was handed a four-month jail sentence and banned from driving for 10 years.

Swiss expats say Singaporeans not entitled to jobs in Singapore

Swiss lawyer Franziska Zimmermann may have been in Singapore for only 18 months, but she talked as if she has been staying in Singapore since birth and even found fit to lecture Singaporeans!

In an interview conducted by the Straits Times on expatriates working in Singapore, 37 year old Ms Zimmermann felt that Singaporeans are generally friendly to foreigners though some harbor anti-foreigner sentiments, that is to be expected.

“This anti-foreigner issue is in every city. It’s a natural debate and the Swiss are questioning it too. But no one owes anyone else a living; you cannot say you are entitled to jobs in your country,” she says.

Expletive online post about Indians hurtful, wrong and uncalled for


A Nanyang Polytechnic student’s “expletive-laced (online) post about Indians” was “particularly hurtful, wrong and completely uncalled for”, said Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar GRC Indranee Rajah.

S’poreans outraged over PRC scholar’s ‘dog’ comment


Singaporeans are up in arms over a foreign scholar's derogatory comment that "there are more dogs than humans in Singapore".

The Ministry of Education (MOE) scholar in question, Sun Xu from China, was referring to his unpleasant experience with Singaporeans as he brushed against them.

A rough translation of his Chinese blog post read: "It's so annoying to have gangster Singapore uncles stare at you when you bump into them. There are more dogs than humans here in Singapore."

Singapore a scholarship haven for foreign students?

If you don't have enough local talent, buy it from abroad whether in sports or research science — beginning with schools and universities.

This attitude is reflected in Singapore's oft-expressed fears that declining birthrates will threaten its long-term survival.

In addition, Singapore aspires to be an international city to attract the top brains and the wealthy.

Its solution to prevent a falling population has been dramatic.

Virtually an entire populace has been imported in the past 20 years, raising the dense population by two-thirds, from three million to five million.

Court reserves judgment on Hougang by-election hearing

SINGAPORE: The High Court reserved judgement on an application by a Hougang resident for a by-election in the single-seat constituency, after lawyers presented their arguments in chambers on Friday.

Madam Vellama Marie Muthu, a 42-year-old part-time cleaner, filed an application on March 2 for the Prime Minister to call a by-election within three months.

Lawyers from the Attorney-General's Chambers argued that the application was "wholly misconceived" and "unarguable in law and fact".

They added that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had "stated unequivocally" in Parliament on March 9 that he intended to call a by-election but had not decided on the timing yet.

A judgement will be delivered at a later date.

The Hougang constituency was left without a Member of Parliament (MP) after Mr Yaw Shin Leong was expelled by his Workers' Party, following reports of his personal indiscretions.

Court charges nine men involved with underage sex workers case

SINGAPORE: Nine men have been charged in court on Friday, in connection with a case involving underage sex workers.

Six men were charged in court with having sex with underage prostitutes.

The men, aged 24 to 59, were charged with obtaining the sexual services of three Vietnamese girls, aged between 16 and 17 in July 2011.

They allegedly paid the girls between $100 and $200 per session for sexual services.

30/03/2012

Watz Online - 30 Mar 2012

5 rumoured child-abduction cases surface online

Talk of at least five child-abduction incidents have been going around on the internet lately.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the two latest cases involved a girl allegedly abducted at a childcare centre and a boy nearly abducted near a community centre.

Both the cases were shared by netizens on Facebook.

In the first case, a netizen claimed that a Malay woman was at a childcare centre at Tampines Street 22 to pass a water bottle to her daughter.

Suddenly, a man behind her picked up the child and took off, jumping aboard a van parked at the roadside.

According to the netizen, police are currently investigating this case and trying to locate the van.

In another case, a woman wrote on Facebook yesterday (29 Mar) that her five-year-old nephew was nearly abducted by a Chinese national woman near Bukit Panjang Community Centre.

Three more similar cases were in the spotlight this month, according to Shin Min Daily News.

On 15 March, A netizen known as 'Allison Goon' shared on her Facebook page that her son was nearly abducted by a Chinese national woman at Ang Mo Kio Hub.

On 23 March, a 59-year-old woman made a police report after her grandson was nearly abducted by a stranger at Simei Street 5.

The woman was bringing her 10-year-old grandson to school when a middle-aged woman suddenly grabbed the boy's hand and tried to take him to a van parked at the roadside.

The anxious grandmother overheard the van driver telling the woman that this was the wrong boy.

The woman then let go of the boy and apologised to his grandmother.

On 27 March, another woman shared on Facebook that a Chinese national man tried to take her son at Northpoint mall in Yishun.

She saw the man grab the handle of the pram that her son was in, but luckily, her maid also had a firm hold of the pram.

The man left when the woman glared angrily at him.

Woman's butt burned by mystery liquid on seat of MRT train

A 27-year-old Malaysian woman sustained a burn wound on her buttocks after she sat on a wet seat on board an MRT last Saturday (Mar 24).

The unknown liquid on the seat left her with a 7cm wound. The woman, known only as Ms Law, works as a hairdresser in Tiong Bahru. She had been on her way home to Yishun at the time, and had boarded the northbound train at Raffles Place Station.

She said she spotted an empty seat and proceeded to sit on it, but switched seats immediately after she felt a wet spot on her pants. Less than a minute later, Ms Law felt a burning sensation on her buttocks, which quickly intensified and became a searing pain.

Dead fish found in another river

Hundreds of dead fish, measuring 5cm long each and similar to the ones found earlier, were washed up ashore yesterday along Sungei Tampines, making it the second incident to have occurred in the Pasir Ris estate in the past 10 days.

The latest episode sparked questions from residents, with most wanting to know the cause of the two incidents.

Contractors who cleared the fish told Today that the amount yesterday was less than that of the first incident. Last Tuesday, thousands of dead white fish were washed up along Sungei Api-Api, which flows through Pasir Ris estate and Pasir Ris Park.

Yesterday morning, dead fish consisting mainly of baby tamban - a type of saltwater fish - were discovered at the downstream section of Sungei Tampines, from Pasir Ris Drive 3 to the river mouth, said national water agency PUB.

While the stench of rotting fish lingered on at around 3pm yesterday as 12 contractors cleared bags of dead fish from Sungei Tampines, Pasir Ris residents were perturbed by the latest grisly find.

More charges against Chinese national in Budget Terminal death

SINGAPORE: The Chinese national who allegedly hijacked a taxi and caused the death of a cleaner at the Departure Hall of Budget Terminal on March 17 now faces three more charges.

Thirty-year-old Yuan Zhenghua was charged in court on Friday with dangerous driving causing death, driving without a valid licence and driving the cab without valid insurance policy shortly before 7am last Saturday.

For dangerous driving, Yuan could face up to five years in jail.

30 flights affected due to baggage system fault at Changi Airport

A system fault that affected Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 baggage sorting system caused the delay of 30 outbound flights on Thursday morning.

Most of the flights were delayed by less than an hour, although some flights were held up to for as long as 90 minutes, according to Channel NewsAsia (CNA)

The affected flights were scheduled to leave between 6am and 8.30am, added CNA.

A spokesperson from the Changi Airport Group said that the terminal had arranged for additional manpower to sort out the baggage manually when the incident occurred.

Six men were charged in court on Friday with having sex with underage prostitutes

The men, aged 24 to 59, were charged with obtaining the sexual services of three Vietnamese girls, aged between 16 and 17, in July last year.

They allegedly paid the girls S$100 to S$200 per session for sexual services.

The accused are 55-year-old Loh Kian Ann, 45-year-old Yee Yew Seng, 40-year-old Chan See Sean, 54-year-old Wee Lian Kee, 59-year-old Seah Seng Kok, and 24-year-old Justin Guo Zhijia.

If convicted, they could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or both.

Under the law, it is illegal to pay for sex with anyone under the age of 18.

Three other men were charged in connection with this case.

The three -- 69-year-old Loy Hee Cheng, 60-year-old Tan Wah Eng and 52-year-old Chong Heng Kow -- were charged on Friday morning with abetting the offences in March, June and July 2011.

They will face the same penalties as the six men.

Court documents stated the three men had conspired with Seng Swee Meng and his Vietnamese wife Ngo Tien and obtained money ranging from S$100 to S$120.

This was said to be for the consideration of sexual services of the underage girls and they have thereby abetted the offences of the six men.

Seng faces multiple charges of harbouring 30 hostesses and prostitutes and also of running a brothel.

The Vietnamese girls were said to have worked at various pubs located in Joo Chiat and Geylang at the time of the offence.

Seng is expected to be sentenced on 11 April 2012.

His wife has skipped town and a warrant for her arrest has been issued.

These cases are not related to the ongoing online vice probe.

Doctor who exposed himself to girl back seeing patients

Changi General Hospital (CGH) has been helping one of its doctors get back on his feet after he admitted that he wore a schoolgirl's uniform and exposed himself to a student.

The efforts have led to Ivan Ngeow Ko Yen, a specialist in geriatric medicine, being allowed to see patients again.

A hospital spokesman said he remained under the close supervision of his head of department.

On Tuesday, Ngeow, 37, pleaded guilty to insulting the modesty of a female university student in 2010.

Two arrested for attacking Ferrari driver at Orchard Towers

Police have arrested two men who assaulted a driver of a Ferrari outside Orchard Towers earlier this week.

In a post on its Facebook page on Wednesday evening, the police said the duo will be charged in court on Thursday for rioting.

They are also investigating the involvement of the driver and his passenger in the incident.

A video that went viral on Tuesday showed a group of youths beating up the Ferrari driver outside Orchard Towers, then leaving him lying on the street.

According to various media reports, the driver, who seemed to be in his 40s to 50s, was challenged by a youth -- who was with his girlfriend -- when they were nearly hit by the driver.

Woman causes scene on Tiger Airways plane

A woman allegedly assaulted two men on board a Tiger Airways flight from Ho Chi Minh to Singapore on Saturday after she accused one of them of kicking the back of her seat, according to various media reports.

The incident involved Yeo Chia Keat, 37, a project executive who was with his wife, as well as his friend Chua Teck Kwang, 37, a technician who was with his family on the same flight.

According to socio-political website TR Emeritus, Yeo bumped the seat in front of him while stretching his legs. Upset, the daughter of the Vietnamese lady seated in front of him then started yelling at Yeo and his wife.

The daughter then started “shifting her seat up and down repeatedly”, Yeo told local Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, but the couple ignored her.