Five domestic helpers have recently been deported back to Indonesia for being supporters of armed violence, one of whom had worked for an employer who reported her to the authorities.
The employer had become aware of a growing problem when the helper’s behavior had begun to change, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The employer had also recently read of other domestic workers becoming radicalized.
She noticed that the helper was watching images on social media of masked men dressed in military outfits, as well as violent footage.
The MHA, who did not identify the individual nor her employer, revealed that the helper was a supporter of armed violence in areas such as Palestine, Myanmar, and Syria, and was in communication with militant individuals online. She expressed a desire to travel to war zones, believing that those who perish in the struggles there are martyrs.
She had also listened to the teachings of extremist preachers.
The MHA believes that the actions of the alert employer in notifying authorities at once allowed for the “neutralization of a potential threat” to the country.
Since 2015, 14 foreign domestic helpers who were radicalized have been repatriated.
The MHA told the ST that social media has been instrumental in the domestic helpers’ radicalization, especially in the 5 most recent cases of radicalized maids being repatriated, which occurred from July 2017 and June 2018.
According to the MHA, one of the helpers was an ISIS supporter, and the other four supported armed violence in places of conflict around the globe, though none of the helpers made any concrete plans to commit acts of violence in Singapore.
There is a counter-terrorism component in the required settling-in program for domestic helpers from overseas who wish to work in the country, but experts say that it’s possible the 5 women had not attended this component, since it was added to the program only in July 2017. A similar component has been added to the program for foreign construction workers.
There are at least 250,000 foreign domestic workers in the country, as for June 2018’s statistics. MHA has said that radicalization among foreign workers is still a persistent issue in the country.
Three foreign work permit holders from Malaysia were also arrested and deported in 2018 due to activities allegedly related to terrorism.
The Care Community Services Society (CCSS), particularly the elderly group, has something to be grateful for this Lunar New Year. The institution is the selected recipient of the Court personnel’ donations worth $15,000 as their selfless assistance to the elderly members.
CCSS is a non-profit voluntary, charitable institution that seeks to provide assistance, education, training, counselling, and therapy to those in need as the group strengthens the family unit.
One of senior beneficiaries was Mr Ng Ah Ngow, 77, who stays in a rented flat in the MacPherson area by himself. Brought by his hip injury 10 years ago, this led to his difficulty to walk again and caused his early retirement.
About 12 Courts staff volunteers took time to make the hand-delivery of the household items at every doorstep of the chosen senior citizens recently. Upon arrival to every household, the volunteers greeted the seniors and assisted them in installing the new household devices.
Also, the volunteers helped them in cleaning their homes and lighting them in welcoming the Chinese New Year.
Both Ben Tan, country chief executive of Courts Singapore and Derwin Lee, CCSS’ executive director personally visited Mr. Ng to hand over his Chinese New Year’s wish list.
Mr Ng said sought a brand new 24-inch television and a low-power refrigerator to replace his non-working devices. It was surprising that the Courts’ volunteers gave him a 32-inch TV instead and a new refrigerator.
Mr Tan noted, as a one-stop retailer of home furnishings, the Courts have the capacity to donate furniture and home appliances.
He added CCSS is very much grounded and the seniors really need assistance.
He cited the institution functions as the middleman to provide activities for the Courts and identify what assistance they can provide the recipients what they needed.
Another grateful beneficiary was Madam Saheya Haji Draman. She is 81 years old. What she asked were a wok and Corelle plates.
For the past 17 years, she never changed her wok when preparing meals for her six children who come to visit her at least once a month.
Upon receiving her new wok, plates and TV console, she was very excited and grateful to the Courts for the household gifts that she really needed.
Advance fee loan scams target the most vulnerable in our society.
By: Hitesh Khan/
With the rapid development of technology, our society is moving closer and closer to a paperless economy. This makes personal loans that much more important in our daily lives. Unfortunately, maintaining good credit can be difficult.
Worse yet, scam artists have found a way to reach out to those particularly vulnerable consumers, those with credit problems or no credit history at all, the unemployed, and even those consumers in emergencies who have an immediate need for cash.
Image credit: Pixabay
The scam – Advance Fee Loan – usually “guarantee” or represent a “high likelihood of success” that they can arrange a loan or credit for a consumer, regardless of the consumer’s credit history. The scam differs from legitimate credit offers in one important way – they require payments up-front, before the lender is identified and the application is completed.
Keep in mind, advance fee loan scams are oftentimes advertised in social media outlets – including Facebook and Instagram.
But no matter where it is advertised, it does not guarantee the legitimacy of the company or their offer. Consumers should not pay for a promise which in all probability will not be kept. Be mindful that it is illegal for companies doing business on the internet to promise you a loan and ask you to pay for it before they deliver it.
This means that consumers should ignore any offer that guarantees them personal loans for a fee paid in advance. Legitimate lenders never “guarantee” or say that you will receive personal loans before you apply, especially if you have a damaged credit history or no credit record at all.
Be mindful never to give your credit card, bank account numbers, passport numbers or NRIC numbers, whether it be asked for over the telephone, by e-mail, or any other means unless you are familiar with the company and know why the information is necessary. If you don’t have the offer in hand – or confirmed in writing – and you are asked to pay, don’t do it! Advance fee loan is fraud and it’s illegal.
If you need personal loans remember that credit scores are major considerations on your applications. The higher your score, the better your approval chances. A credit score is a number that the lenders consider before they determine if they should approve your application for loans in Singapore.
It is a joint effort between all the major lenders here, where data about consumers’ credit history is pooled together and aggregated. Within the aggregated data, lenders would have access to records that show the number of accounts that you have across different banks, and your payment history.
After crunching the available data, each account holder is then assigned a credit score. This indicates how good or bad of a risk you might be to the lender as a customer. The higher the number (up to 2,000 and AA rating), the better your credit score.
Although the the exact weightage of how your credit score is calculated isn’t public knowledge, the factors that the Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS) uses in determining your credit score is.
Factors like usage patterns of loan facility (e.g. if you have been making large purchases or transactions lately); your recent credit account activity (The number of credit facilities an account holder has is considered by banks as liabilities as they may perceive that you are over-extending yourself); and your account delinquency data, or how you have fared as a customer (this means where possible, always avoid making late or partial payments for your facilities).
Other factors considered by CBS include your credit account history, or how long you have been a customer (factors like if you have you been a loyal customer of your bank since you received your first credit card from them); how much available credit do you have (your credit score is affected by the number of accounts you have with various banks in Singapore); and enquiry activity of how many organisations have asked about you (having too many enquiries might indicate to banks that you could be taking on more debt than you should).
How to Secure Personal Loans Quickly
Every one needs an emergency source of funds at one point in time or another. And it may be challenging if you do not have extra cash stashed somewhere. So if you want best personal loans but not sure if you qualify – Don’t worry because iCompareLoan loan specialists can set you up on a path that can get you a loan in a quick and seamless manner.
We also can arrange the Best Home Loans in Singapore as our brokers have close links with the best lenders in town and can help you compare Singapore home loans and settle for a package that best suits your home purchase needs.
Whether you are looking for a new home loan or to refinance, our mortgage brokers can help you get everything right from calculating mortgage repayment, comparing interest rates all through to securing the loan. And the good thing is that all our services are free of charge. So it’s all worth it to secure a loan through us.
Kim Bok-Dong was the first South Korean ‘comfort woman’ who mustered enough courage to speak publicly and enlighten everyone about the traumatizing experiences of sexual slavery under the Japanese rule back in World War II. She maintained and continued to express her anger towards the Japanese until she passed away on January 28, 2019, at the age of 92 in Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital in Seoul.
Ms. Kim was an activist who shared her experiences as a “comfort woman” and demanded a formal apology from the Japanese government. In her most recent interview last October 2018 with Asian Boss, she said, “What I want is… an apology from Japan for having dragged us away and asking us to suffer. I want a formal apology. They should say, ‘What we did was completely wrong, and we’ll correct our history textbooks. And say to us, ‘We sincerely apologise.’ If they wrote that kind of formal apology, then we can forgive them.”
Her funeral, which was done in a traditional Korean farewell road ceremony, was held on February 1, near the Japan embassy. Hundreds joined the march and showed their support by holding paper cut-outs of yellow butterflies, the symbol of “comfort women.”
The whole event proceeded peacefully although the Japanese government did express their concern about the ceremony and said that the funeral “posed a problem in light of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations if it disturbed the peace of the embassy or violated its dignity.” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a news conference that Tokyo has asked Seoul to assist in maintaining the peace and order of its embassy.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in paid tribute to Ms. Kim and acknowledged her contribution for shedding light on this hidden and sensitive history. The president also promised that Korea will not forget to make history right again. According to a friend of Ms. Kim, she had remained angry and unforgiving towards Japan even during her last moments. Yoon Mee-Hyang, who leads a group of advocates for “comfort women” recalled Ms. Kim suddenly opening her eyes and going into a long story, most of which were incomprehensible, but clearly heard “we must fight until the end.” Afterward, Ms. Kim expressed her strong anger toward Japan before becoming serene once more.
Her story
Ms. Kim had worked as a “comfort woman” for eight years after she was cheated into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII. She was only 14 years old. One of the territories she “served” in was Singapore. Ms. Kim attempted to commit suicide because of her traumatic experience both physically and mentally but was saved by medics. From there, she had the resolution to stay alive in order to share her story to the world.
Years later, she was finally reunited with her family in Korea. And when Japan lost in Singapore, the former tried to hide their tracks by turning the “comfort women” into nurses at an army hospital. It was only when she was 60 years old that Ms. Kim had the courage to shed light and the truth on this part of history. She didn’t stop speaking until her last breath.
Tokyo-Seoul relations
Although it would seem as if Japan has been indifferent towards “comfort women”, albeit a sincere apology is still missing, the opposite is true. According to an article from Nikkei Asian Review published in November 2018, Japan has been urging Korea to uphold their bilateral agreement and keep the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation intact even though the latter has already begun its plans to disband the foundation that was created by the two governments in order to provide financial and moral support to Korean “comfort women”. The foundation was funded with 1 billion yen (S$12.3million) from Japan and it offered 100 million won (S$119,000) to each surviving victim and 20 million won (S$23,800) to each family who have lost a loved one who experienced being a “comfort woman”. The agreement was put into effect in 2015, and out of the 45 victims currently alive at that time, 36 expressed their willingness to accept the support while 34 received the money. From those bereaved families, 78 applied for support and 58 have already received the support. To date, there’s still 580 million yen (S$7.1million) left unused.
In July 2018, the South Korean government solely decided to replace the Japanese funding with its own in order to appear as if none of the victims and affected families ever received support from Japan.
Furthermore, the Moon government is implying no plans in renegotiations and aims to cancel the 2015 agreement completely. Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said that “Japan will patiently persuade South Korea to implement the agreement.”
Singapore – Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin wrote a post via his Facebook profile on January 26, 2019, introducing everyone to Mr. L, a Singaporean with cancer who refused to stay in the hospital and slept on a staircase landing instead.
Mr. L was not a stranger to Mr. Tan and often saw him at their events for the Lee Clan Association. He recalled how Mr. L had always been supportive and encouraging, taking videos and photos. Mr. L even handed Mr. Tan tissue whenever the latter was sweating profusely.
It was during their recent Chinese New Year celebration, however, that he found out about the recent news about Mr. L; how he was found sleeping in the staircase landing and was terminally ill with cancer. According to Mr. Tan, Mr. L checked himself out of the hospital and would rather sleep outside because it was cooler and because his house couldn’t be opened due to his hoarding. He also refused help whenever it was being offered to him.
This was when Mr. Tan asked in his post what to do when someone refuses help. He said, “Mr. L threatened to jump if we send him back to hospital. He also doesn’t want medical staff to see him. I told him to at least do me a favour, give me face and let us bring the doctors to see him. I told him that I won’t send him back to that particular hospital that he came from but can he promise to try others?”
Mr. Tan also mentioned, in case many were wondering about Mr. L’s financial capacity in relation to medical bills, that the latter had money because they knew the man and he was on financial assistance. He said that it has been hard trying to get the man who was sick to respond to any form of help. “There is a stubborn sense of pride and dignity that he maintains,” said Mr. Tan, “He prefers to spend his last days here (the staircase landing).” He also said that they will keep on trying especially since Mr. L only had a few months left. He explained that “We should just make it comfortable for him. We work with Cheng Hong Welfare in our community so arrangements have been made when he passes on. Even then, he asks for it to be low key and quiet. That’s the man that he is.”
Through a comment in his post, Mr. Tan gave an update with the sad news that Mr. L has passed away. He wrote, “RIP Mr. L. He is no longer in pain. Admitted to hospital this morning. He was worried that he won’t make it through the new year. He just passed away.”
While many sent their condolences to Mr. L, others were also sending their support to Mr. Tan and those who have helped the man that according to a netizen, “has contributed much to our society and does not burden the younger generations.”
It’s worthwhile to go back to the resounding message within Mr. Tan’s post about extending a helping hand to others, even if they reject it. This is especially true with those who are older and often sick. They become harder to help because of the toxins being released within their bodies which causes them to become stubborn or easily aggravated. But it doesn’t mean that they do not appreciate the help and effort and it shouldn’t hinder others from rolling up their sleeves and actually acting on what they have committed to do. In Mr. Tan’s words, “The more volunteers we have, the more we can outreach to. But as I’ve found in almost all my engagements, audiences go on passionately about the poor, the old, on inequality…but precious few raise their hands when I ask how many put in time to help those they so eloquently championed for just a few minutes prior. Do come forward and try? It makes a difference.”
So maybe there’s something to the ‘snowflake’ label after all? One netizen posted about seeing a woman ‘knitting’ on a bus, and called it ‘quite dangerous.’
She even went as far as expressing hope that the bus company can prevent sharp objects from being brought onboard their vehicles.
On the Facebook page Singapore Silly Cyclists, a person named Sandy wrote, “I saw someone knitting on the bus, this is quite dangerous. What happen if the bus jam brake? The needle might poke someone in the head. I hope bus company can stop passenger from bringing sharp object on bus.”
The post came with a video of a woman peacefully crocheting something while riding a bus.
Aaand then the ridicule flowed in 3…2…1…
As you can imagine, commenters went to town ridiculing the original poster. Comments ranged from the sarcastic
To comparing her to the woman named Jovina in the viral video from a Go-Jek driver last week, whom she accused of locking her in his car
To corrective
To mocking (again referencing the Jovina incident, wherein the passenger said, “Is it because I’m Chinese?”)
To pitying
To challenging
To downright mean, which we choose to refrain from giving an example of.
The moral of this story seems to be this: chill. People have been knitting, or in this case, crocheting in moving vehicles for a long time now, and untoward incidents have yet to be reported. In fact, activities such as these are proven to have a calming effect, and may even help those stuck in traffic to keep their cool.
There will be very serious consequences if the needle impales an eye or other body part of a nearby commuter who could not move away in time. How can the injured commuter seek recourse?”
In the meantime, let’s all hope that the coming warm weather will help melt away the snowflakes from our midst.
Kamaruzzaman Abdul Latiff, a driver for ride-hailing service Go-Jek, posted a 7-minute video, now gone viral, of himself with a woman who accused him of taking her hostage when what he was doing was taking her to a police station to settle a dispute between them.
He posted this video on Go-Jek Singapore Community Facebook page on January 31, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
Kamaruzzaman has received a summons from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to appear before them in an interview on Thursday, February 7, at 10 o’clock in the morning.
The Go-Jek driver is required to bring his vocational license, driver’s license, as well as “the recording device, its recording, and any other evidence”.
The LTA states that Kamaruzzaman’s attendance at the interview is completely compulsory due to Rule 18 of Road Traffic.
In the video that Kamaruzzaman posted last week, he is seen driving a passenger who got upset that he was passing through Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries during the course of her ride. She accuses him of trying to cheat her out of her money.
The passenger made a phone call, wherein the person she talked to can be heard telling Kamaruzzaman, “you have no right to take her hostage” and “you are causing her to lose her freedom”.
The driver had decided to bring her to the nearest police station in order to settle the matter in a civil manner. They arrived at Toa Payoh Lorong 4.
However, the woman got hysterical, claiming that the driver had locked her into the car with the intent of kidnapping her. Kamaruzzaman claims that the auto-lock function of his vehicle had merely done its job. Even the police tried to placate and assure the passenger concerning the auto-locked door.
The incident went viral and sparked a number of memes, mostly making fun of the woman’s reactions, especially when she seemed to be playing the racist card, when she said, “Is it because I’m Chinese?”
However, the Straits Times reports that in a Skype interview with the passenger, “Jovina,” on Sunday, February 3, the woman said that she had not filed a police report yet since she left for Taiwan immediately after the fateful Go-Jek ride but she’s “thinking about it.”
When Kamaruzzaman posted the letter from the LTA on Facebook, he asked that the passenger be left alone. He captioned the photo of the letter with, “At last here it come. Just pray for me. Pls don’t bother that girl anymore. When some1 never learn the 1st mistake …some 1 will make more mistake.”
On Sunday, February 3, a group of protestors gathered against shoppers from mainland China near the western border of Hong Kong, in the most recent display of sentiment against mainlanders that has erupted around the city.
As the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports, the protest was particularly timely since they held it on the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve, when many families go shopping just before the festivities begin.
Visitors have kept coming into the town of Tuen Mun by the busload. The town is a short distance from the Shenzhen Bay border crossing.
A handful of activists stood at the terminal of the cross-border bus, telling tourists that it’s better to shop for their CNY needs at home. The activists are from the Population Policy Concern Group, Tuen Mun Siu Tsui Concern Group, and Tuen Mun Community Network.
Their message: “Please stop coming to Hong Kong. You should go back and strive for better food safety and lower import tariffs.”
Locals consider the tourists to be a ‘nuisance’ since their presence has led to overcrowding, higher rental rates, and has been detrimental to the survival of smaller businesses.
A spokesman for one of the groups, Lance Yan Pui-lam, said, “They have brought very serious nuisance to the whole community. Only the landlords and big businesses benefit from the rising number of tourists. Common people cannot share the benefits but have to bear the negative consequences.”
The locals treat the situation as a serious problem. The SCMP reports that a convenor of the policy concern group, Roy Tam Hoi-pong, points to the number of tourists that come into Hong Kong every day.
In 2018, Hong Kong was visited by 65.1 million, an all-time high for the city. Seventy-eight percent are from mainland China, which means that 140,000 mainland Chinese arrive daily. Tam pointed out that should this number be spread out evenly across Hong Kong’s 18 districts, it would still mean that each district would receive 8,000 tourists per day.
He asked, “How do we find space to absorb all these extra people?”
The protestors ask Beijing to curb the volume of tourists from the mainland, limiting individuals to one visit within a six-month period.
While the demonstration stayed calm for the most part, two additional activists who do not belong to any of the groups joined the protest and started heckling the tourists, shouting expletives and holding up a sign saying “Hong Kong people do not welcome Chinese people.”
The sentiment against mainland Chinese visitors has made itself felt in different places in the city, especially in areas where many tourists visit, such as Tung Chung, Sheung Shui, and Kowloon City. As a result, the government is making an effort to divert tourists to other areas.
Singapore – On February 3, 2019 (Sunday), the CEO and founder of a Singapore-based company called Simply Safety uploaded a post on Facebook that addressed a problem of Singaporeans. Raj Singh, in his post, mentioned how the society now is lacking in long term goals and only looks for short term or immediate gratification.
He said:
“Singaporeans have a problem.
It’s called short term gratification even immediate gratification. They no longer have long term goals.
Look at society now-
People want quick easy get rich schemes – then fall victim
People want to have “34” properties after attending a free course
People want to “hang/tear others up” when opportunity arises (vigilante behaviour) then within
1 week move on to something else (BMW $10 full? cyclist vs lorry, Gojek…)(like Romans and the gladiators?)
Complain about costs, hikes and GST but move on
The moment a chicken wing is produced- you forget everything else.
Short term gratification
And your bosses know this.”
Singaporeans have a problem.It’s called short term gratification even immediate gratification. They no longer have…
His post can be justified with the recent trends in human interest news circulating Singapore’s social media platforms. From the road rage battle between the arrogant bicyclist and lorry driver a few weeks ago to the “Is it because I’m Chinese” incident that is currently blowing up online.
It’s understandable that trends are meant to be fleeting yet we cannot merely focus on trends but must also give attention to other things that are more long-term and permanent.
While there are numerous reasons why immediate gratification is the preferred type of consolation and band-aid fix for the country today, one of them could be the lack of definite long-term plans the government is failing to provide. This is visible with the frequent meetings between Singapore and Malaysia’s ministers revolving around the maritime and airspace issues that until now has not been resolved. While these may be complex in nature, concrete plans and resolutions would do well in providing the country with some foresight that could be beneficial in addressing the “quickie” problem of Singaporeans.
The desire of wanting something without delay is the immediate gratification mentioned by Raj Singh and according to netizen Henry Goh, it’s better to indulge in instant pleasure because of the missing long-term goals that everyone has been waiting for, like returning their CPF money or action steps to ensure the safety of the country’s NSmen.
Photo: Facebook screengrab
Meanwhile, Christopher Chaw has addressed another reason why the “quickie” problem is being faced by many Singaporeans today; that being money and the lack thereof.
Photo: Facebook screengrab
Another cause was pinpointed by a few more netizens like Mai Hum Goring Mee and Stephan Roy who said that this problem is the result of the education system. Students are not trained to think critically and creatively, hence the acceptance of whatever is the latest fad or the easy way out.
Simply Safety is all about providing the best training for safety and health professionals. They offer courses on Workplace, Health & Environmental Safety to professionals belonging in various industries. Started in 2009, Simply Safety is one of the few training providers accredited by NEBOSH and have worked with local and international companies like Shell Eastern Petroleum, SADAF (Saudi Arabia), CBI Toyo and many more. They are also Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and Ministry of Manpower (MoM) accredited.
Singapore stays on top of the game for its dominance in providing reliable, efficient, and affordable digital connectivity and the related workforce skills across the Asian region.
This was based on the recent Asian Digital Transformation Index, a global research ranking, which was facilitated by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and funded by Telstra, a leading telecoms and technology firm.
With the country’s advancement in implementing a strategic ICT infrastructure as seen in the recent portfolio such as the 5G development plans and fibre network rollout, no doubt that EIU was very convinced that Singapore’s digital vision is a driving force in the region that puts them at the highest spot in the ranking.
Among the nations with the most reliable internet connectivity, nearly all in Singapore have superfast accessibility to the internet at 97%. Mainland China placed second at 77% and followed by Hong Kong at 74%.
The Index highlighted the significance of 5G mobile connectivity in achieving the full potential of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of things (IoT), Industry 4.0, and autonomous vehicles. By 2020, Singapore and South Korea are chasing each other to be the Asian leader in introducing 5G services. Also, Japan and mainland China are visibly busy in 5G planning for the near future.
In EIU’s rankings regarding digital skills and education, Singapore showed significant milestones, climbing three notches higher since the first Index release in 2016. The Lion City took the first rank in the Index, overtaking the other market leaders such as South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan in the human capital category.
Oliver Camplin-Warner, Telstra’s Head of International, noted that digital skills have ever since been an issue among Asian economies in their quest for embracing digital transformation.
Warner cited although Singapore’s digital transformation setting is one of the best globally, the shortages of skilled workers remain a barrier in achieving its full potential in the digital sphere.
Across Asia, the Telstra executive said hiring the right people with the right digital skills continues to be a short-term challenge that impacts many regional business operations. He added the West had the advantage over the East, but in the recent findings, we are seeing an improvement.
Based on EIU, Singapore is the strongest in Asia with the capacity to respond to talent and skills challenges. Initially, Singapore has a solid foundation in math and science education, which sets the needed trend for the pool of talents today and in the future.
Also, Singapore has put in place the greatest proportion of skilled telecommunications workers within its labor force. This brings a major impact to the region as IoT, AI, and Industry 4.0 technologies evolve as everything is getting connected.
