The final message from Dame Deborah James was: “Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope. And finally, check your poo – it could just save your life.”
Deborah James, a cancer activist and “inspirational” podcaster, passed away on Tuesday “peacefully,” and tributes are pouring in. The 40-year-old British superstar battled bowel cancer for a short time before passing away today surrounded by her family, Sky News reported.
Following her 2016 colon cancer diagnosis, the 40-year-old former deputy headteacher turned podcaster actively promoted bowel cancer awareness on social media.
She was involved in charities, and on the BBC podcast ‘You, Me, and The Big C’. The podcaster has received tributes from James’ family as well as others in politics, the entertainment sector, and other fields.
Days before Christmas in 2016, the mother-of-two, also known as BowelBabe to her hordes of Instagram followers, received the devastating news that her bowel cancer was terminal. She was 35 years old.
Deborah surpassed the odds set against her despite being given an 8% probability of living five years.
The courageous campaigner celebrated the five-year mark a few months after turning 40 in October—a birthday she never imagined she would survive to see.
Following a 24-hour petition drive started by Sun readers last month, Deborah received a damehood.
The announcement of damehoods and knighthoods often occurs only twice a year, during the Queen’s Birthday or New Year’s Honours ceremonies.
What is bowel cancer? Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, develops from the inner lining of the bowel and is usually preceded by growths called polyps, which may become invasive cancer if undetected. Depending on where the cancer begins, bowel cancer may be called colon or rectal cancer.
Finding out you have terminal bowel cancer
When cancer is advanced, it means that it can’t be cured and is likely to cause death within a limited period of time. The amount of time is difficult to predict, but it could be weeks to several months. Doctors might also say that the illness is ‘terminal’.
Photo: You Tube screen grab from PassionGadgets Shop
A former Certis CISCO auxiliary police officer leaked the deployment plan of authorities in catching errant personal mobility device (PMD) riders.
The ex-police officer, Syarifah Nur Nabilah Syed Omar, 24, who took a screenshot of the deployment plan and forwarded it to Afendi Mohamed Rashid, 36, whom she met while doing food deliveries, then forwarded the details in a WhatsApp chat group was sentenced to one-week imprisonment on Thursday (June 30).
Syarifah was a Land Transport Authority (LTA) active mobility enforcement officer during her time with Certis CISCO. She would patrol pedestrian walkways and detect errant PMD riders such as those using modified devices, going over the speed limit or compromising road safety.
As such, LTA staff would devise a daily deployment plan that lists the specific officers and the areas they would patrol for the day.
Details of the deployment plan are changed daily, and they are kept from the public.
Syarifah resigned from her job on May 20, 2021, but remained in the WhatsApp group, where team leaders would send out the deployment plans.
It was reported that she continued receiving confidential information from May 21 to June 1, 2021.
Even though she knew she wasn’t supposed to be receiving the information or circulating it to unauthorized individuals, Syarifah still decided to forward the deployment plan.
Afendi then sent the information to a public group chat with about 211 members. “Don’t I say I never protect ah. Today GM deployment,” he wrote in the message.
“GM” stands for “green men” and is the colloquial term for active mobility enforcement officers because of their vest colour.
The deployment plan was later forwarded by other members to at least three other WhatsApp groups for PMD riders.
The duo would pass each other details on enforcement efforts so that they knew where to avoid the officers on patrol, reported Channel News Asia.
Their actions came to light after an officer came across the deployment plan on an e-scooter WhatsApp group. He then informed his team leader, who was Syarifah’s former team leader, and a police report was made.
Syarifah and Afendi, afraid of being tracked by the police, deleted their message trails and the WhatsApp group chat.
On June 2, 2021, an investigating officer called Afendi, but he refused to go to the police station. He blocked the officer’s contact number and hung up on another officer who tried reaching out. He was arrested in December last year.
They both pleaded guilty to one charge of communicating information obtained in contravention of the Official Secrets Act.
The penalty for this offence is imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to S$2,000.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Seah Ee Wei requested one to two weeks’ jail for each person, noting Syarifah was a former enforcement officer, while Afendi forwarded the information to 211 people. They also tried avoiding the police afterwards.
Meanwhile, Syarifah’s defence counsel Azri Imran Tan said that she only sent a screenshot to one person “merely to help him.”
Afendi didn’t have a lawyer and asked for leniency as he was the sole breadwinner of his family. He also needed to care for his wife suffering from anxiety.
Syarifah was a former officer, which “makes this worse,” said Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan. He noted he would not make a distinction in their sentencing, as each had its aggravating factors.
Members of the online community were shocked that the offenders were given only a week’s jail sentence.
“No wonder PMD riders are so brazen & arrogant. It’s coz they have insider’s information. Do you not think 1 week is too lenient?” asked Facebook user Yungz Chang.
“One week jail is total bullcrap. No respect to our LTA law enforcement at all,” said Facebook user Goh Chen Lin.
“What still had to do a show for all to see, what if he or she was (a member of) the public, will get only one week? Let us remember this sentence,” added netizen Lee Lin.
Meanwhile, others wondered why authorities were using free chat software for confidential information. /TISG
Sweden has the highest per-capita rape rate in Europe, says a famous action-hero actor who was very popular in the 80s. He made a call for the country to take action and stop what he claims is an ongoing attack against women in his country.
Dolph Lundgren, the Swedish action film star, has decried the number of rapes in Sweden. He adds that the country is unable to protect women from getting raped. He made the comments on his Instagram page this week.
“Sadly, my home country Sweden still cannot protect their women from rape.”
“Three men were sentenced in the last week for gang-raping a disabled girl – one was sentenced to four years in prison, the other two to two years. Another man was sentenced to four years in prison for repeatedly raping his daughter,” he said, contrasting some of the cases with one in which a man was sentenced to eleven years in prison for selling drugs on the internet.
“Sweden has the highest per-capita rape rate in Europe,” he added.
According to reports, there were 5,000 to 7,000 rape cases in Sweden in the mid-2010s per 100,000 population. But this is probably because of the definition of rape according to Swedish laws.
It puts the rate of rape in Sweden at the highest in many other European countries. There were, at that time, around 200 convictions per year.
Sweden passed a new law in 2018 that criminalises sex without consent as rape even if they were no threats, coercion, or violence.
Some reports say that in Sweden, prosecutors are no longer required to prove the use or threat of violence or coercion to prove a rape case.
This resulted in a 75% increase in convictions to 333 per year.
According to a 2019 report, Sweden saw a 33% increase in the number of rape cases reported to authorities over a ten-year period, with some increases attributed to changes in Swedish law in 2018, when the government approved a law classifying sex without consent as rape.
Migrant rapists
In a landmark study that is one of the first of its kind in the high-migration nation, Lund University discovered that the majority of convicted rapists in Sweden are of migrant backgrounds, with nearly half of rapists born abroad.
The study, which was published online on Feb 22, examined a total of 3,039 convicted rapists and discovered that 59% of the convicts came from ’migrant backgrounds’ — first and second-generation migrants.
Of the 47.8 per cent of offenders born outside of Sweden, 34.5 per cent were from North Africa and the Middle East, while 19.1 per cent were from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Before going for house visits in Compassvale, Pritam Singh met former national football coach PN Sivaji and wrote about how the latter built a “dream team”.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jun 29), Mr Singh wrote that he decided to walk around the Block 259-series. While speaking to Mr Sivaji, Mr Singh wrote that it took him some time before he recognised the former national coach of the Singapore football team.
Thanking Mr Sivaji for building the dream team and the memories he made for Mr Singh’s generation of children, Mr Singh added: “In an instant, I was transported back to my secondary school years. Then, my classmates and I would play truant on a rotational basis to queue up for the Malaysia Semi-Pro League games at the National tickets before matchday weekend”.
However, explaining that there was a deeper significance to Mr Sivaji’s appointment as a national team coach, Mr Singh wrote that the football team between 1989–1992 “hosted a chequered record, and we ended up being relegated to the second division”. But, once Mr Sivaji was appointed as head coach, “Fandi and Sundram returned, as did Abbas and Alistair, but carried by a solid core of Singaporean players like Lim Tong Hai, Kadir Yahaya, Nazri Nasir, Saswadimata Dazuki, Malek Awab, and yet many others. Under Sivaji’s charge, the team won promotion and made it to the final of the Malaysia Cup in 1993. Sivaji left after this, but a solid foundation had been laid for the next coach”.
Mr Singh added: “that’s what I remember about PN Sivaji’s dream team. The smiles it brought to the country, and how people of all races and walks of life came together and rallied behind the team after a difficult few seasons. They electrified the cockles of our hearts”. He wrote that Mr Sivaji went on to coach and lead many lesser-known teams in countries around the region.
Mr Singh concluded his post by saying: “And therein is an important life lesson especially for young Singaporeans, especially those who feel downcast about finishing second or third or way behind sometimes, or tripping up here and there in the journey of life. Success is what you make of it. And very often, the journey can be as, if not more important, than the destination”. /TISG
Singer R.Kelly is going behind bars for possibly a few decades when he is sentenced on June 29, nine months after being found guilty of trafficking women and children.
Kelly, 55, was convicted of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking in September. The singer will receive 10 years to life in prison depending on the sentence. Prosecutors are pushing for at least 25 years.
His fall from meteoric heights marks a big win for women post’s the Me-Too movement, as finally justice has been served.
The singer whose super hit songs include I Believe I Can Fly, Step in the Name ofLove, Ignition and Burn It Up played an instrumental role in a violent and cruel scheme to lure women and children for his sexual pleasure.
His trial uncovered how he trafficked women between states in the US with the help of managers, security guards and other entourage members over a period of two decades. Prosecutors said that he showed “callous disregard” for his victims and was not remorseful.
“Indeed, the defendant’s decades of crime appear to have been fueled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct-no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others- to the strictures of the law,” said prosecutors.
The trial also revealed how Kelly had obtained illegal paperwork to marry singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 years old in 1994. Aaliyah later died in a plane crash.
The fraudulent certificate listed Aaliyah’s age as 18 at the time.
In addition to sentencing on Wednesday by the US District Court in New York, Kelly is also facing a separate trial in Chicago for child sex pornography, obstruction, and sex abuse charges.
The million-dollar question many have posed though is if his behaviour started in the 90s, why did it take such a long time for him to be brought to trial. The sad truth is that the singer had an expansive network of people who enabled his megalomaniac behaviour, ranging from close confidants to people in the music industry who knew what he was doing but turned a blind eye.
In fact, according to one of the prosecutors, Elizabeth Geddes, Kelly often paid people off to keep quiet and when that failed he “used his henchmen to lodge threats and exact revenge” going so far as to blackmail women with nude photographs of themselves.
After being held under investigation for three public assemblies held outside Changi Prison Complex and in nearby Mariam Walk, activist Kirsten Han took to social media on the matter.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday (Jun 28), Ms Han shared a screengrab of a Straits Times article where Prime Minister Lee explains Singapore’s approach to criticism.
She shared the following excerpt: “PM Lee also said that when criticisms are incorrect or unfair, the Government will respectfully disagree and set out its perspective to convince Singaporeans and to prevent any confusion. Ultimately, elected leaders are responsible to their people and face elections, he stressed. “If the people endorse what we do, we will continue to serve them with their mandate. If we are not doing the right thing, well, another team will be in charge. “On that basis, you can accept criticism without being defensive or without being overly swayed by different views and find the right path forward for Singapore.”
In her Tweet, Ms Han said: “I have been smeared, harassed, investigated, and on Friday the police took the shirt off my back”.
Ms Han, another activist Rocky Howe and several others were taken in for investigations. In a statement on Sunday (June 26), the police said Ms Han and Mr Howe were interviewed on Friday as part of investigations into the assemblies. T-shirts with anti-death penalty slogans that Ms Han and Mr Howe wore on the day of the interview were relevant to the probe, the police added in response to queries. The police also added that Ms Han and Mr Howe had agreed to hand over their t-shirts.
On Tuesday (Jun 28), “7 human rights organizations urgently call on the Singaporean authorities to drop their criminal investigations of human rights defenders Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe and cease harassing them through legal processes for their work”.
These organisations are Access Now, Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, FORUM-ASIA, Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Jurists.
In their email, the seven organisations “also call on the Singaporean authorities to repeal or substantially amend all laws that are not compliant with international human rights law and standards, including the Protection Against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act and the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act”.
I have been smeared, harassed, investigated, and on Friday the police took the shirt off my back
The rumours about BTS singer RM (Kim Nam-joon) getting married to a non-celebrity are apparently untrue. Its agency Big Hit music has unequivocally denied the gossip, stating “RM’s marriage rumors are groundless. We are continuously taking action against malicious rumors that are started on YouTube.”
Talk about RM’s marriage first started when one netizen (whom we will refer to as Miss X) posted, “I received a call from a junior colleague who is seven years younger than me saying, ‘I’m marrying RM.’ She’s from a prestigious university and has a decent family. I heard that she met RM at a fan meeting between 2014 and 2015.”
“X” also unveiled texts she exchanged with her junior colleague, who said, “I can’t tell you the exact date, but he’s a celebrity. It’s still a sensitive time, so just keep it to yourself. [The groom-to-be] is the leader of BTS.”
In addition to this, the YouTube channel Sojan also reported that RM is preparing for marriage. The same channel had earlier disclosed the relationship between Seo Taeji and Lee Ji Ah. “When asked when he wants to get married, he said at the age 32 or 33. He’s currently 29 years old, so that means he wants to get married soon.”
Back in 2021, the agency also denied RM’s dating rumors.
The last time RM caught the public’s attention, fuelling wedding rumours, was when the K-pop star was seen removing a ring from his wedding finger. Those tales were equally baseless, however, RM has confessed to being in a relationship and spoken about it openly.
In 2015, he spoke about being heartbroken on the South Korean television show, Problematic Men. He said that he had been dating his high school sweetheart, but things didn’t work out between them as her behaviour and the things she did were quite unacceptable for her to be his girlfriend.
BTS recently announced that they will be taking a break from the group to focus on solo projects. Among the seven members, J-Hope has been the first to announce his solo album since the disbandment. J-Hope will launch Jack in the Box on July 15.
Talking about how to move Singapore forward, Yee Jenn Jong said that the best way was to “get on the ground”.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Jun 28), the former Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) and Workers’ Party politician wrote: “I wonder how many national conversations our first generation leaders had”.
“The best way to listen is to get onto the ground and dirty your hands. See things in the most unglamourous manner”, he wrote. He said that that was probably how the first generation leaders understood how to move Singapore forward.
In May, following the announcement that Sengkang Town Council was to manage the town directly after no bids were received in agent tender, Yee Jenn Jong expressed that he was not at all surprised.
The former Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) said that the nature of Town Council work has always been political, and added that it was designed that way when the People’s Action Party (PAP) first conceived it.
“As a matter of prudence, SKTC called a tender for (managing agent) services for Buangkok, Compassvale and Rivervale divisions in April, well in advance of the expiry date,” said the town council.
However, no bids were received at the close of the tender on Apr 29.
In his post on Wednesday (May 18), Mr Yee said: “I had always believed that eventually, the town council had to be self managed whether we like it or not. During one of my GE2015 rally speeches, I had said if we win Marine Parade GRC, it will be self managed”.
He added that the situation had been designed to be such “given the heavily lopsided nature of Singapore politics”.
An Australian doctor who posted images of his patients online without their consent has been disqualified from practising as a doctor until 2023.
The doctor also made xenophobic, sexist and degrading remarks online, with misogynistic comments like “some women deserve to be raped.”
The doctor in question, Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee’s registration, was suspended in 2019, by the Medical Board of Australia.
Lee had been writing on a forum which was hosted in Singapore, thinking he could get away with it, as he said, “Aussies don’t care about what goes on in a separate forum in another country.”
The posts were made in 2016 and between 2018 and 2019 and were extremely offensive.
The decision to cancel Lee’s medical registration and disqualify him from reapplying until December 9, 2023, was made on June 27, 2022, by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat).
He had been suspended from working by the Tasmanian health practitioners tribunal for six weeks in early 2019 after he admitted to posting the sexist and racist remarks online.
Subsequently, upon investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, it was found that Lee did not just make offensive remarks but also shared images of dead bodies, videos of fatal car crashes and sexually explicit photos of his wife.
His blatant disregard for doctor-patient confidentiality also led him to post pictures of patients including one of a foot that had been infected by gangrene which he described as “thoroughly septic” in addition to giving details about the patient’s mental health, age, and treatments.
The Vcat said that Lee’s conduct was “outrageous” and “far beyond the standards expected” of the profession.
On his part, Lee admitted to “utterly unacceptable” behaviour amounting to professional misconduct but stated that he disagreed with the Medical Board of Australia’s decision that his registration should be cancelled. This was attributed to the fact that Lee had untreated autism spectrum disorder.
“On the one hand, the behavior is so offensive and so far beyond expected standards – and relying on medical practitioners – it is difficult to see that Dr. Lee can ever successfully return to practice in such a way as to allay community concerns and protect the medical profession’s reputation.
“On the other hand, we have little doubt in our minds that his ASD is now being effectively treated and managed and because of his relatively young age [35]. It would be unfortunate if he could never return to practice,” said Vcat.
The tribunal found that when Lee’s registration needed to be revoked, the total disqualification period should be four and a half years, backdated to June 2019 when he was last allowed to practice.
The Medical Board of Australia’s chair Anne Tonkin applauded the decision.
“Doctors are respected and trusted members of the community,” she said.
“When that trust is eroded by unacceptable and abhorrent conduct, whether in person or online, that can have serious consequences for patient safety.”
Photo: Unsplash/
Patrick Langwallner (for illustration purposes only).
As Covid-19 pandemic restrictions ease and industries open job opportunities, more Malaysians are being enticed to work elsewhere due to higher pay.
However, this is causing a serious local manpower crunch, and Bloomberg Opinion writer Daniel Moss points out that it’s particularly problematic because it is Malaysia’s top talent who are choosing to work in Singapore.
Mr Moss, who writes about different issues facing Asian nations, pointed out in a June 29 piece the irony of Malaysia’s economy coming to life at a time when many are choosing to work elsewhere.
“To graduate to the next tier of prosperous economies, Malaysia must staunch the flow of talented citizens abroad.”
He further explained that Malaysia is currently experiencing shortages on two fronts: those who are highly-skilled looking for greener pastures, as well blue-collar workers in short supply due to pandemic border closures and a hiring freeze.
Nevertheless, there are some Malaysians, however, who are opting to work close to home.
The Star recently interviewed several Malaysians who had formerly worked in Singapore who, after the long separation from their families due to Covid, is staying put for now despite the lure of higher pay.
These workers are opting for local jobs instead.
Tan Sheau Hui, 48, a business systems analyst who worked in Singapore for almost three decades, resigned, so she could be with her family.
Fortunately, the Melaka branch of the firm that she worked for in Singapore offered her a job shortly afterwards.
One reason why she decided to stay is concern over borders closing again in the future.
“Although I am now working in Melaka and not living near my family in Johor Bahru, at least I know that in case of any emergency, I can still make my way back home.
That was not the case for me during the pandemic, as I could not simply travel back to Johor from Singapore,” The Star quotes Ms Tan as saying.
Bloomberg’s Mr Moss pointed out that while Singapore is also experiencing a labour crunch, Malaysia appears to be facing greater challenges as it “faces a brain — and brawn — drain, driven by hard-to-extinguish racial preferences that favour ethnic Malays at the expense of minorities.”
He quoted a 2021 World Bank report that said that one-third of Malaysia’s emigrants are highly educated and skilled, who “leave the country for lack of opportunities.
“Malaysia has long aspired to join the ranks of advanced economies and proudly paraded some of the baubles of such status: a domestic auto industry, the world’s tallest building and so on. It would do well to focus on less jazzy but vital components of success, like a labor market that can drive development in coming decades, not a relic of the go-go years of the late twentieth century,” he added. /TISG
