Like most of the young people working at the Charles & Keith headquarters in Tai Seng Link, Mr Eddie Neo cuts a trendy, sartorially spiffy figure.

His hair barbered into the latest comb-over, the 32-year-old is decked out in a striped blouson jacket, grey sweat pants and a pair of black sequined loafers with gold tips for his interview with The Sunday Times.

What sets him apart from his colleagues are his wheelchair and his past, both of which are inextricably linked.

A former bartender and drug dealer, he was set upon by six parang- wielding gangsters when he was 19. The vicious attack left him with multiple stab wounds and extensive head injuries, which affected his mobility and motor skills.

It put to a stop his income of fast and easy money and bulldozed his dream of setting up a pub or club.

For several years, his life ground to a standstill. Picking up the pieces was a slow and tedious process.

But he is hell-bent on putting the past firmly behind him.

"There is no Take 2 in life so there's no point regretting what happened," says Mr Neo who is now a human resource (HR) coordinator at Charles & Keith, one of Singapore's famous shoe and fashion brands.

He is the elder of two children.

His father, a foreman, had three wives; Mr Neo's mother, a housewife, was the second. Theirs, he says, was not a happy union.

"I'm not sure what went on but I always heard them quarrelling when I was in bed, mostly over money and over me. Maybe because I was a bad boy," says Mr Neo, who spent his early childhood in a two-room flat in Ang Mo Kio.

Tragedy struck when he was 10 years old. Just before dawn broke one morning, he was awakened by a loud thud outside his bedroom on the second floor.

His mother had jumped from the 12th floor.

"She had postnatal depression and couldn't think straight after she gave birth to my sister," he recalls. Her death left a deep psychological scar.

"At her wake, I was not a filial son. I did not take part in the Taoist rituals because I was so scared and couldn't get the sight of her lifeless body out of my head."

Sent to live with his paternal grandparents, the former student of Townsville Primary and Whitley Secondary became reckless and rebellious. He joined a Malay street gang and got himself tattooed.

"Nobody could control me. Maybe it was my way of coping with my mother's death," says Mr Neo, who once punched his secondary school discipline master, who had caught him smoking.

He started working part-time as a waiter in a Clarke Quay bar-cum-eatery after passing his N levels.

He was taught how to mix drinks, and found that he really enjoyed bartending.

His new skills easily got him another job as a bartender at a club, also in Clarke Quay, which paid him $2,000 each month. His studies suffered; he failed his O levels.

"I thought since I could earn so much money, why study?"

Around this time, his gang leader introduced him to a drug supplier.

"He showed me a big stash of $50. I told him I wanted to be like him too," he says.

That was how he became a dealer. The teenager was smart enough not to touch the stuff himself.

"If I sold drugs and touched them at the same time, I would never have enough stock," he says.

Although peddling narcotics was lucrative, he did not give up his bartending job.

"It was my passion. I was born to do it," says Mr Neo, who was adept at flair bartending, the art of entertaining guests with bar paraphernalia and liquor bottles.

What he made from drugs, he spent.

"Old-timers told me I should never keep dirty money. So I spent it all in clubs and nightclubs," he says.

His freewheeling ways and his penchant for undercutting earned him the ire of rival bad hats.

It came to a head in the wee hours of Feb 21, 2003, when he was set upon by six rival gangsters armed with knives, parangs and pool cues near a petrol kiosk in Ang Mo Kio Street 32.

Mr Neo had five friends with him too. "My so-called brothers ran when they saw the parangs and left me alone," he says.

He was stabbed at least eight times in his back and had his skull nearly split open by a parang blow to the head. "I could still run when they stabbed me in the back. But when the parang hit my head, I got knocked out."

He was admitted into the intensive care unit of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) with severe head injuries, bleeding in the brain and multiple lacerations on his face and body.

Sepsis had also set in. He was in a coma for nearly four months.

After he came to, he learnt from two policemen who came to take his statement that his assailants had been caught and sentenced to six years in prison with six strokes of the rotan.

When he asked why his attackers got away so lightly, one of the policemen told him they would have been sentenced to death if he had died.

Although he was fortunate that it did not injure his deep brain tissue, the blow to his head, however, affected his nerves, motor skills and spatial adjustments.

Like a stroke victim, his mobility has been compromised and his speech is now a little slurred. His left arm and fingers are slightly deformed, and he still experiences occasional spasms in his left foot.

"Initially I could walk but I fell so often that I got scared," says Mr Neo who can walk short distances with a walking frame but moves around primarily in a wheelchair.

After spending two months in the hospital's rehabilitation centre, he was discharged in August 2013, six months after he was first admitted.

The next three years were spent at home, trapped in a maelstrom of emotions. He was filled with hatred for his assailants, and consumed by thoughts of revenge.

"I wanted to hire killers," he confesses with a rueful laugh. "But I also told myself I had to accept my condition. I was only 20. If I didn't, how would I spend the rest of my life?"

So he trained hard, lifting weights to build strength and forcing himself to walk.

A doctor later referred him to the SPD, formerly known as the Society for the Physically Disabled.

"SPD helped me a lot. I met a lot of kind people there. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am now. They helped me to get rid of my negativity and to develop a positive mindset" says Mr Neo.

"I told myself I must find all sorts of ways to find a job and equip myself with skills. Even if the job didn't pay well, I would take it for the experience," he adds.

That was how he ended up as an assistant in a book-binding company, earning just $130 a month. Things looked up after he picked up computer skills at the SPD. Between 2010 and 2013, he found employment doing administrative work and data entry for an electronics company and a printing firm.

Mr Lim Yee Ming, a trainer at SPD, first met Mr Neo six years ago at an IT workshop he was conducting. "He started out with basic stuff initially but over time, acquired more complex skills. He was very keen and enthusiastic and eager to do things on his own."

With a laugh, the 47-year-old recalls the time when Mr Neo worked on a data entry project at The Sheltered Workshop - SPD's outfit for employment and vocational training - some years ago.

"There were about 10 other workers but he was typing so fast that he was doing 50 per cent of the work. We had to tell him to slow down because the others did not have anything to do," he says.

Breaking into a smug smile, Mr Neo says: "Yes, I was a legend at SPD."

He was hired by Charles & Keith about three years ago. His first six months were spent working on the database of the company's VIP customers.

He graduated to HR work and is now tasked with troubleshooting technical problems at the brand's retail outlets.

With bread-and-butter issues sorted out, he has turned his attention to solving other problems plaguing his life.

About two years ago, the determination to get a driving licence seized him. This came after he had to wait in the rain for three hours outside Ang Mo Kio MRT station before he could get a cab to take him home.

While trying to find out how disabled people could learn to drive, he stumbled upon TTSH's Darp (Driving Assisted Rehabilitation Programme), a community outreach initiative by the National Healthcare Group.

Occupational therapist Chan Mei Leng, who is also Darp's coordinator, says Mr Neo is the first direct applicant to the programme.

Although initially sceptical that he would make the cut, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

It took two driving instructors, more than 30 lessons and four attempts but Mr Neo got his licence last year. "He is very determined. The rehab doctor said he would need a long learning curve but it didn't stop him," Dr Chan says with a chuckle.

When told that he lacked the upper body strength to turn the steering wheel, he hit the gym religiously and beavered away to prove his doubters wrong.

Dr Chan says: "People will say that those with head injuries may lack insight and over-target themselves but he is very aware of what he is doing. He is a real problem-solver."

Right now, she is helping him with his appeal to SG Enable - an agency to help people with disabilities - for a certificate of entitlement waiver.

A car will make his life a lot easier. The bus stop, Mr Neo says, is a long way from the Charles & Keith office, and taking a cab daily is costly.

"To others, a car is a luxury. To me, it is hope," says the single who lives with his octogenarian grandmother in Ang Mo Kio.

He hopes to have a shot at being promoted to outlet supervisor - a role which entails visits to the company's retail shops - if he has a car.

Asked if he has other dreams, Mr Neo - who has had a couple of relationships after his accident - grins and says: "Get married if possible."

Meanwhile, his hatred for his assailants - now released from prison - has evaporated.

"It's pointless wasting time and energy on these things. Even if they died, it cannot help me in any way.

"Anyway, I'm too busy to think about these things."

This article was first published on April 10, 2016.
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Some maids in Singapore are being trained to recognise signs of mental stress and to offer help, in a move to improve mental health support for foreign domestic workers here.

The aim is to help distressed domestic workers who have mental stress symptoms that go unidentified, or do not know where to go for help.

By next month, 39 Filipino foreign domestic workers would have completed the training, an initiative by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), a migrant worker welfare group.

One participant, Ms Robina Lavato, 43, for instance, now knows what to do if she spots symptoms of depression, such as being withdrawn and losing sleep, in her friends. She will plan activities they enjoy to cheer them up.

If the situation deteriorates and the friend talks about suicide, Ms Lavato knows it is time for professional help and she has the numbers to dial.

"The idea here is for them to serve as a bridge between the professional mental health community and their own community," said the research initiative's principal investigator, Dr Keng Shian-Ling, assistant professor at the Department of Psychology at NUS.

A study by Home last year found that more than one in five of the 546 maids from Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar polled had psychological distress. This was based on a measurement of nine markers, including depression and anxiety.

Filipino domestic workers fared the worst, with 36 per cent experiencing mental distress, compared with 11 per cent in the Indonesian workers and 26 per cent among those from Myanmar.

Researchers decided to train Filipino maids as "paracounsellors" as they seemed the most vulnerable, said Dr Keng.

More than 200 maids signed up for the training but there are spaces for only 40.

Last month, clinical psychologist trainees Marian Wong and Sudev Suthendran started training the women, who were divided into two groups. The trainees undergo four three-hour sessions conducted on Sundays.

Taught to identify, restructure bad thoughts

The first group completed their training on April 3 and the second group started yesterday.

To gauge the effectiveness of the training, researchers will check if the domestic workers can retain the information, and whether a better understanding of mental health improves their personal mental state.

If the training proves effective, Home aims to develop a peer counselling service and will look for registered counsellors or psychologists who can volunteer to supervise these peer counsellors.

During the training, the women are also taught to identify and restructure negative thoughts.

Trainer Ms Wong cited the case of a foreign domestic worker who felt she was a terrible mother.

"We got her to look at evidence of her not being a good mother, and evidence that does not support that thought.

"We teach them questions to ask their peers so they will have more balanced thoughts," she said.

Ms Lavato, who volunteers her time to man Home's helpline, said she signed up to learn more about how to help her peers, especially where to refer them for help.

"I thought the most useful part of the training was learning about depression and abuse, and self-soothing exercises to improve moods," she said.

This article was first published on April 11, 2016.
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New campaign for maids to get weekly day off generates debate online

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In 1953, bound for Malaya, 27-year-old Jean Mary Gray boarded a plane to Singapore from Heathrow Airport, England. Her father used to say: "If you want to see the world and can't afford to, get a job and see it at someone else's expense."

Jean had got a one-year job as a British Red Cross field officer in rural Malaya.

On April 13, Jean turns 90. She lives in central Singapore in a comfortable apartment that she and her husband David Saul Marshall bought in 1993.

Books in every room attest to Jean's love of reading. As a young girl, she was indignant that her local library in England allowed children just one book that they could exchange only the following day. Finishing her book before day's end, Jean waited impatiently for a new book.

Skimpy library loans are now a distant memory. Distinguished Reader status, given by the National Library Board to select Singaporeans for their contribution to national development and their love of reading, gives Jean special access to the library's collections.

Her personal book collection on Singaporean and Malayan history is full of treasures, and her knowledge of this history, extensive. Rare, out-of-print books sit alongside contemporary publications on her bookshelves.

From 1994 until the store closed in 2014, Jean wrote commentaries on new books for the newsletter of Select Books, Singapore's specialist South-east Asia bookstore.

Photographs in her home - of her parents, late husband, children and their families - bespeak strong family connections. Jean's four children were born in Singapore and schooled here until 1978, when David became Singapore's ambassador to France.

Now, their three daughters live in Europe and their son in Singapore.

Besides photographs, select objects in the apartment evoke family history - a painting that David gave Jean when they got married, by a Singapore artist of whose work David was an early admirer; a Kashmiri papier mache lamp that Jean and David bought on holiday in 1966; a blue ceramic jar from a great-uncle who travelled in Persia; a blue Minton china set that was a wedding present to Jean's parents in 1923.

Born in 1926 in Orpington, Kent, in England, Jean took Singapore citizenship on Nov 28, 1960. This was before she knew she would marry a Singaporean.

FORAY TO RURAL MALAYA

In 1953, while working at the Brompton Chest Hospital in London, Jean responded to a Red Cross advertisement for field officers in rural Malaya. She had studied economics and sociology at the London School of Economics and then trained as an almoner (medical social worker).

She says of medical social work: "I liked the purposeful activity, the sense that one was contributing to human well-being and doing something worthwhile."

She got the job in Malaya and was soon on her way, via Singapore, to Kuala Lumpur where she would find out where her posting was to be.

Jean underplays the magnitude of her move at a time when communication was by post and phone calls only for emergencies: "A one-year contract would be manageable, even if I were unhappy."

She learned to drive and, in her white Land Rover, would traverse miles of mountainous jungle terrain during a turbulent time in Malaya. The Emergency, imposed by the colonial government in 1948 to suppress communist insurrection, was still on.

In Jean's weekly letters home, rich descriptions of landscape, people, architecture, cuisine, social life, history and Red Cross work are set in a context of curfews, roadblocks and security restrictions.

In Kuala Lumpur, Jean recalls: "I ate my first papaya... slept under my first mosquito net, and sweated my first quart of sweat."

Momentarily, the newness of her situation registered and she was "very hot and very bleak".

Sights such as traffic driving on the left of the road and billboards advertising familiar products such as Lux and Bovril, comforted her.

But there wasn't much time for homesickness. Unexpectedly, in Raub and Kuala Lipis in West Pahang, where Jean was posted, she found that her job entailed fund-raising as much as social work. In a circular letter to friends in England she wrote, half-jokingly: "I sped hither and thither with concerts, flag days, funfairs and whatnot springing up in my wake... counting out thousands of one-cent pieces, addressing school children... producing concerts and making collecting boxes out of cocoa tins... (The) dollars rolled in, which leaves us free (for) more constructive ordinary work."

Looking back, Jean says: "Besides providing immediate medico-social services, our job was to leave behind a functioning Red Cross."

Knowing that colonialism was ending, Jean "was surprised that in Raub, colonial attitudes weren't just fiction - indeed, they were alive and active". She remembers, for instance, being told off for taking the children of her local schoolteacher friend to the swimming pool at the Raub gold mine, because "Asians" weren't allowed there. Growing up, Jean had been aware of empire, but Walthamstow Hall, her school in Kent, "fostered an ethos of service rather than imperialism".

Back in England after completing her one-year contract, Jean knew she wanted to return to Malaya. She applied to the Colonial Office and was posted to Kuala Lumpur in 1955 as a medical social worker.

In the course of Malayanisation - the replacement of expatriate government servants with local recruits - her post was "abolished" in 1957.

But Jean was immediately appointed to teach a new course in medical social work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Malaya in Singapore. Ann Wee, the distinguished Singapore social worker, says in Daughters Of Singapore (Part 2), a 2015 Media- corp documentary about Jean, that with excellent training and hospital experience in Britain, and experience in Malaya, Jean was by far the best qualified for the position.

ENTER DAVID

One afternoon in 1958, at a university convocation, Jean was introduced to David Marshall, a prominent lawyer and former chief minister of Singapore. Jean soon became a regular guest at David's famous Sunday lunches at Tumasek, his house in Changi.

In early 1961, when Jean was considering moving to Chicago, United States, to pursue a higher degree in social work, David proposed. She accepted and stayed in Singapore. They got married in April.

Marking exam papers left little time to fuss over a wedding dress. She had one tailored by Elsie Mary, a couturier on Battery Road - "plain, light ecru figured silk with a kind of drape, close-fitting hat, ecru shoes", Jean wrote to her parents.

Jean is Christian; David was a leading figure in the Singapore Jewish community. Bishop Amstutz, David's long-time friend from when they were Japanese prisoners of war, performed a simple ceremony of blessing for the couple. A registry wedding followed.

After marriage, Jean stopped doing full-time, paid work. But she started volunteer work at a Singapore Children's Society convalescent home near her new home in Changi. She was soon pregnant, so the flexible hours and location suited her. "The convalescent home work fitted right in," she says. She worked there for almost 20 years.

Jean and David had four children: Ruth, Sarah, Joanna and Jonathan, born between 1961 and 1969.

In 1972, David was suspended from legal practice for six months for alleged professional misconduct. Jean remembers that year as "murderous... the most difficult time of my life, without a doubt. The whole family's future and stability were at stake".

Finances and children's education apart, Jean worried for David who was "desolate beyond measure". The family moved temporarily to Jean's holiday home in Kent. Jean's children remember how their mother soldiered on, holding things together during that dark time.

Soon after their return to Singapore, the Marshalls had to leave their Changi home in 1976 to make way for the new airport.

Then in 1978, to his surprise, David was appointed Singapore's first ambassador to France. In France, Jean worked hard as an ambassador's wife. Her son, Jonathan, comments in Daughters Of Singapore: "I got the sense that being an ambassador's wife was... a full-time job that was not paid."

Jean says she took seriously the work of "representing Singapore to France, and France to Singapore". Before leaving Singapore, besides shopping for accoutrements for the ambassador's residence, Jean met the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for advice about her new role.

Looking back now, she laughs over such incidents as using a hairdryer on lilies, willing them to open in time for one of the many official, "studiously correct" dinners she and David hosted in France.

After 15 years in France, Jean and David came home. David was 85 and ailing. Jean was 67. They moved into her present apartment. Looking out at the flower-filled ledge fronting her living room, Jean remembers David, in his last months, sitting where he could see sunbirds feed from a glass tube of honey water suspended from an orchid plant - appropriate for a man referred to in Paris as "the orchid ambassador" for the distinctive orchid he always wore in his lapel.

Asked why she stayed on in Singapore after David died and her children were grown, Jean is bemused: "I just assumed I'd stay; it never occurred to me to relocate to England. Of course, my ethnicity is permanent. But after 60 years, I identify with Singapore. It is possible, though, to think of more than one place as home."

If any other physical place is close to her heart, it's the "wild, windswept countryside" of Romney Marsh on the south-east English coast. In 1972, Jean bought Romney Cottage, near her parents' home on the Marsh, so her children might visit their ageing grandparents.

Jean recognises her English roots, albeit no longer physical since she sold the cottage. "But my basic roots are here," she says of Singapore.

In Daughters Of Singapore, she says: "I'm glad I've spent the greater part of my life in Singapore... that I've been part of the development, in a small way, of the last 50 or 60 years; never thought it would happen that way, but it has."

This article was first published on April 10, 2016.
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A gambler with assets in Perth failed to shake off a debt of over $620,000, owed to Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), on grounds that Western Australian law does not allow gambling on credit which he used to chalk up the losses here.

The Western Australia (WA) Supreme Court dismissed the move, making clear that while many in Singapore and Western Australia may think it is morally and ethically wrong to allow credit for gambling, that is not the point.

"It cannot possibly be said Singapore is not entitled to make its own decision on that question," wrote Master Craig Sanderson of the WA Supreme Court in judgment grounds released last week.

Some countries' judicial systems have a Master. This is a judicial officer who usually deals with preliminary or short matters assigned from a judge's list of cases.

The case is significant in testing whether the Western Australia law that forbids credit gambling serves as grounds to stop any Singapore judgment on casino gambling from being recognised and enforced there.

RWS had taken the case to Perth to recover the debt owed by Mr Lim Soo Kok, a Malaysian who is understood to have assets in Australia. He had incurred losses when he visited RWS several times over four months prior to March 2013.

He had sought credit facilities, the terms of which included having to repay within seven days of drawing down. By March 2013, he owed $622,363. Talks followed and both parties agreed in August 2014 for him to repay thisin $50,000 monthly instalments.

But he reneged on the deal after the first instalment and RWS sued him in the Singapore High Court where it won a default judgment against him in December 2014.

His appeal failed and RWS then applied to register and enforce the judgment in Western Australia under reciprocal arrangements between the two judicial systems.

Mr Lim applied in the Perth court last month to set aside the move, arguing it was against public policy in the state - which meant the court could intervene and reject enforcement. But the judicial officer ruled that for the court to intervene, it was not enough to show Australian law would have produced a different result for the issue of gambling on credit compared to Singapore law.

While Western Australia law prohibits credit gaming, he said, such a prohibition does not "in any way" undermine the judgment obtained in Singapore. He said the Western Australia legislature exercised its power to enact laws to reflect its approach to gambling and the social problems it can cause, but it does not apply universally.

"A system which does allow the provision of credit for gambling is not so inherently evil as to render it contrary to public policy," he said. It was for Singapore to decide its stand on the question.

"Having made the decision, and having availed himself of that facility, public policy in Australia does not dictate that registration of the judgment be set aside," said Mr Sanderson.

This article was first published on April 11, 2016.
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You see a 1.1m-tall sculpture of an adorable bird standing on a public lawn. What do you do?

Admire it? Take a selfie as you pat its beak? Or get someone to snap a shot of you sitting astride it?

It seems the last two options are the most popular when it comes to Local Mynas, a trio of sculptures of the titular bird outside the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall.

This, despite a nearby A4-sized sign that reads "Please refrain from touching the sculptures" in font size 10, which is just slightly bigger than this story's text size.

The sculpture is among 14 sets of artworks on display as part of an outdoor exhibition called Envision: Sculptures @ the Garden City stretching from The Arts House to Fullerton Bay Hotel.

Launched on Jan 16, it features works by 11 home-grown and international artists. It ends on April 23.

Like Local Mynas, a few other sculptures have had to suffer the same indignity. The results are ugly scratches, cracks, holes - and a group of concerned artists and curators.

A bronze sculpture showing four people seated round a table even had a sticker stuck on the lower half of the work.

German tourist Reinhold Pause, 44, was seen placing his 1 ½- year-old son on top of one of the mynah sculptures on Wednesday.

Why put the boy on the mynah?

"It makes a good photo. The bird is cute," he says, adding that he did not see the sign.

His reaction is like that of many people The Sunday Times interviewed when asked why they touched or sat on the art installations.

Organisers of Envision estimate that at least three of the artworks have been damaged.

The biggest casualty is Road To Fifty, a display of 50 giant saga seeds made of fibreglass.

Three of the seeds sport cracks and gaping holes likely as a result of people lifting, moving and sitting on them.

Indeed, Instagram and Facebook abound with photographs of people doing just that.

Although the organisers had allowed visitors to touch this display, they did not expect people to sit on the seeds.

A 49-year-old man, who declines to be named, posted on Instagram photos of his family of five perched on the seeds in January. He says: "So many people sat on the seeds, I thought it was okay."

Singapore art gallery iPreciation, which is behind the outdoor exhibition, is "disappointed" with the public's lack of respect for the artworks.

In total, there are 15 signs telling visitors to refrain from touching, and four smaller plates, where the line "Please refrain from crossing the barrier and touching the sculptures" is printed in font size 22.

iPreciation's managing director, Ms Helina Chan, says: "The signs are fairly prominent and they are a standard size for art exhibitions in an outdoor environment."

For the artists involved, the public's careless treatment of their works has left a sour taste.

Singaporean artist Kumari Nahappan, 62, who was behind the saga seed sculptures and whose public artworks have been vandalised, says: "I am surprised that this happens time and again.

"With all the exposure that people have had to public artworks over the years, I would have thought their attitude and sense of appreciation for art would have progressed."

She adds: "I'm happy people engaged with the work. But I wish they can see the bigger picture that it should be shared with a larger audience over a longer duration."

Home-grown sculptor Lim Soo Ngee, 54, who created the mynah sculptures, has been touching them up since the exhibition started, applying fresh paint twice to areas where the paint has chipped or peeled off.

He is resigned to people damaging his work, saying: "When people encounter something unfamiliar in a public space, it is only human nature to get excited and want to touch it."

But in the eyes of some people, it is only natural for members of the public to want to touch public artworks, especially when the works are not cordoned off.

Can the public be educated about respecting public artworks? Singaporean artist Karen Mitchell, 42, whose installation at the 2013 Night Festival was tampered with, says that oil and dirt from fingers can cause artworks to deteriorate faster.

She usually sets aside half the amount of money spent on making an artwork towards fixing and maintaining it.

Ms Cheryl Ho, director of private art consultancy Articulate Consulting, says: "People will always be curious about public art and a small percentage will always cross the line. I think that if people understand the value of artworks as well as the tremendous effort that it takes to create each sculpture, they would think twice about touching it."

Veteran artist Lim Leong Seng, 66, who has created more than 30 public sculptures here, says: "I don't think Singaporeans have reached the stage where we are all culturally informed. There are people who still do not cherish artworks."

Artist-architect Kum Chee Kiong, 53, who is not involved in the Envision event, says: "If there is a sign saying the artwork should not be touched, then viewers should follow it.

"Whatever happened with the sculptures is beyond meaningful interaction. These are artworks. It is not a playground."

Lim proposes using reason to inculcate civic consciousness.

He recounts how he once ran into a man who let his elderly father sit on a public sculpture near the Merlion. Lim borrowed a chair from a nearby cafe for the older man and took the chance to educate them.

"I told them it was not good to sit on a public sculpture, which an artist probably took a long time to make. If they were tired, they could always order a drink at a cafe and rest there."

And if all else fails? Mitchell suggests in jest: "Maybe harsher signages such as 'High Voltage' or 'Toxic Paint' would work."

This article was first published on April 10, 2016.
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SINGAPORE - Have an idea to transform a public space into an active community space to facilitate greater interaction? You can now submit a proposal to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to get support for your project.

In a statement on Monday (Apr 11), URA said that it had formalised a public space programme to support community-initiated projects to enliven public spaces across Singapore.

Called "Our Favourite Space", the programme will provide more opportunities for the community to activate public spaces, such as a space under a viaduct or a plot of vacant land, to allow more people to experience and enjoy them.

Under the programme, proposals will be assessed on their location, timing and activities. They must also be community-centric, non-commercial in nature, relate well to the proposed site and supported by the local community.

In turn, URA will provide successful proposals with varying levels of support, which may include:

- A one-stop assistance with agency consultation and advice on required licenses, 

- up to $5,000 seed funding for short term projects (six months or less), or up to $10,000 for long-term projects, or

- matchmaking of potential space owners or sponsors to realise the projects.

URA's previous public space programme in 2013 saw it work with private and public organisations on a number of pop-up installation projects, such as "Chairs in Squares", "Picnic in the Park" and "Play Space".

URA said that these projects were well-received by the public, and "showed how communities could be brought together through simple but creative ideas".

The authority added that participants at the SGfuture dialogue on public spaces held earlier this year had also expressed interest for more of such opportunities.

Interested participants may submit their applications at ura.sg/ourfaveplace.

URA also revealed that it will organise networking workshops for people to learn more about the "Our Favourite Place" programme. The first workshop is scheduled for May.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

The refrain is familiar by now: Singapore's tech startup ecosystem lacks technical talent, particularly in the engineering/programming/coding fronts. It was the one thing the city-state scored really low on in the Compass' Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2015 report.

That's why the government is taking steps to address it. The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) today announced it will tackle the problem by setting aside S$120 million for training information and communication technology (ICT) professionals.

Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said the ministry anticipates an additional 30,000 ICT jobs that need to be filled by 2020. The ministry will organise an Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates (iPrep) Program that will aim to get 6,000 students from each cohort of the Code@SG initiative co-organised by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

Through iPrep, the IDA will work with universities to prepare students for internships and mentorships so they can get the work experience employers usually look for.

The minister also said the MCI will partner with more private companies and industry players to boost the TechSkills Accelerator, announced during the Budget 2016 speech. Finance minister Heng Swee Keat said at the time that the accelerator will help "pioneer a new way of enabling our people to acquire expertise and skills."

Read the full article here

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SINGAPORE - A man who killed his wife in a jealous rage two years ago escaped the gallows when he was jailed nine years on Monday (April 11).

Truck driver Zheng Xianghua, 38, killed 37-year-old Wang Xueyan at a Tampines block on Dec 16, 2014, over his suspicions that Wang was having an affair with her supervisor.

He then went to a neighbouring block of flats where he slashed himself three times and contemplated taking his own life, before he was eventually coaxed down by police officers.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the couple, both Chinese nationals, had met in 2010 through Chinese social networking platform QQ, and were married in 2012.

At the time of the incident, the couple rented their own rooms in different locations, as Madam Wang was working in Woodlands while Zheng's company was in Changi.

He suspected that his wife was having an affair after finding out that she had begun wearing make-up and receiving attention and complements from male colleagues at work, evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported.

Acting on his suspicions, Zheng asked his wife's roommate to spy on her. The roommate revealed that Madam Wang had secretly bought a mobile phone to contact her supervisor.

Woman in Tampines flat murdered, 37-year-old man arrested

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Aw Cheng Wei, The Straits Times, Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min

On the night of the incident, Madam Wang visited Zheng at his room in Tampines, and the couple had dinner together before having sex.

But a quarrel broke out soon after. Zheng was enraged when Madam Wang declined his move to embrace her, Shin Min Daily News reported. He then grabbed a knife he had bought two days earlier and used it to hit Madam Wang over the head before stabbing her repeatedly.

An autopsy report found that Madam Wang had 14 stab wounds on her abdomen and back, 13 of which had pierced her lungs.

On Monday, Zheng was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He had initially been charged with murder.

Lawyer Ng Shi Yang, who represented Zheng, had earlier asked the court to impose a sentence of not more than nine years jail, saying that Zheng did not intend to kill and had committed the crime "in the heat of the moment", Lianhe Wanbao reported.

Psychiatric reports also showed that Zheng suffered from severe depression and pathological jealousy.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - The Constitutional Commission formed to review Singapore's elected presidency will hear from a number of contributors at public hearings in April and May.

In a statement on Monday (Apr 11), the Commission revealed that it had received more than 100 written submissions from the various contributors on specific aspects of the elected presidency.

It had invited the public to send in their views on Feb 18 this year.

The nine-member Commission said that it had "carefully considered all submissions, and has decided to invite a number of contributors to make oral representations clarifying or elaborating on their written submissions".

The public hearings are tentatively scheduled for Apr 18, Apr 22, Apr 26 and May 6, between 9.30am and 5pm. They will be held at the Supreme Court auditorium, and will be open to the public.

The public will be informed if the Commission decides that it needs more hearing dates.

The Constitutional Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Jan 27.

It is tasked with looking into three key aspects of the elected presidency system. These are the qualifying process for presidential candidates, the framework governing the exercise of the president's custodial powers, and ensuring minorities have a chance to be elected.

The Elected Presidency was introduced in 1991, and the next election must be held by August next year.

The Commission expects to complete its report, containing its recommendations, by the third quarter of the year.

A look at the presidents of Singapore

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, Zawiyah Salleh, New Nation, Wee Kim Wee, The Business Times, The New Paper, The Ong family, Lianhe Zaobao

seanyap@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - An island-wide crackdown on errant massage parlours have found that a number have been operating without a license.

In a statement on Monday (April 11), the police said that they had conducted the operations between January and April this year, targeting massage establishments that flouted regulations under the Massage Establishments Act.

The establishments are located in Chinatown, Little India, Lavander Street, Jalan Sultan and Coleman Street.

A total of 13 unlicensed massage parlour operators will be prosecuted.

The police said that anyone found guilty of carrying on a massage establishment without a valid license may face a fine of up to $1,000, as well as a further fine of up to $50 for every day that the offence continues after conviction.

See also: 'Special services' offered in Bukit Batok massage parlour

seanyap@sph.com.sg

A taxi crashed into a shop under renovation at Level 1 of Bugis+ mall on Monday night (Apr 11), according to online reports.

The accident left one construction worker injured.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told AsiaOne that it received a call at about 10.55pm on Monday requesting for assistance at Queen Street.

An ambulance later brought the casualty, who was still conscious, to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The construction worker, in his 30s, sustained head injuries and complained of giddiness.

Stomp contributors Wayne, Lim and aprileleven witnessed the incident and submitted photos of the scene to the citizen journalism website.

Their photos showed how the taxi had driven through the temporary walls that were put up due to the restaurant's renovation works.

They added that they had also spotted police cars at the scene.

Channel NewsAsia reported that police investigations are still underway.

Taxi crashes into restaurant undergoing renovation at Bugis+ shopping mall

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Stomp, Lianhe Wanbao

ssandrea@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - Public transport company SMRT has begun a WiFi-On-The-Go trial in two of its buses on the 176 service as part of a trial.

Commuters in these WiFi-enabled buses can go online by connecting to the Wireless@SG network on their smart devices.

The buses are connected to M1's 4G+ network through an intelligent in-vehicle unit that boosts the bandwidth available to the on-board wireless network.

By the end of April, M1 customers will also be able to use the M1WiFi service, with download speeds over ten times faster than on Wireless@SG. These customers will be able to seamlessly connect to the WiFi-On-The-Go service before, during and after their journey, to prevent uninterrupted streaming of content.

The Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) trials are held in collaboration with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), and will test the network's capabilities in providing pervasive and seamless connectivity in a real-life setting.

"Beyond the trials, we look forward to working closer with companies in the tech, engineering and R&D space to develop solutions that can meet pressing connectivity challenges," Mr Khoong Hock Yun, assistant chief executive of IDA said.

Vice President of SMRT Buses Mr Tan Kian Heong said that the service could be extended fleet-wide if the trial is successful.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore for the development of a high-speed rail (HSR) linking both countries by the middle of 2016, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"We expect to sign MoU in the middle of this year with Singapore," Najib said of the proposed HSR link with Singapore.

In his keynote address at the 12th Invest Malaysia (IMKL2016) here on Tuesday, Najib said the development projects under the 11th Malaysia Plan would remain unaffected despite the Government having to revise its Budget and cut spending in response to the drop in crude oil prices.

He said the Government had structured the reduction in expenditure in such a way that it would not affect public service delivery.

"The HSR link to Singapore; the Pan Borneo Highway; the MRT and LRT; the Pengerang in Johor - they are all still going ahead... we need them," Najib said, noting these projects would be part of Malaysia's future.

"So it is clear that we have an economic plan, that it has worked, and that it is still working. It is a long-term plan that works for the benefit of Malaysians not just today, but tomorrow, and in the years and decades to come, " he explained.

Singapore, Malaysia push back deadline for high-speed rail link

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AFP, Reuters, The Straits Times, Google Maps, Facebook screengrabs

SINGAPORE - Should human errors be found as the cause for causing the recent MRT track incident that killed two SMRT maintenance staff, actions will be taken against those found responsible.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who was speaking in Parliament about the fatal accident that happened on March 22 at Pasir Ris MRT station, said that investigations will reveal if SMRT staff did not follow safety procedures, or if the safety procedures were lacking.

He added during his ministry's budget debate today (April 12) that the Land Transport Authority will work with SMRT to do a thorough review of safety procedures.

2 SMRT staff die in incident on MRT tracks

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Stomp, The Straits Times, Berita Harian

SMRT's internal investigation has concluded and is being reviewed by independent experts, Mr Khaw said.

The external reviewers are from Keppel Corp and Transport for London - the equivalent of Singapore's Land Transport Authority - and a former executive of Hong Kong's MTR Corp, The Straits Times reported last Friday (April 8).

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the police are also conducting their own probes into the accident, Mr Khaw said, while a Coroners' Inquiry will be conducted in due course.

Responding to queries from Members of Parliament (MPs) about the reliability of the MRT network in the wake of the incident, Mr Khaw said: "Our common objective is to prevent such an accident from occurring again."

On Monday (April 11), MPs questioned the role of driverless vehicles, and asked if safety is being compromised as the MRT network expands rapidly.

"Is this a case of biting off more than we can chew?" asked Mr Sitoh Yih Pin, MP for Potong Pasir.

"Are we equipped to ensure reliability across the entire MRT system while rapidly expanding its capacity at the same time?"

The two fatalities in the incident, Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26 and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24, were part of a 15-man team who were on the track to investigate a reported alarm from a condition monitoring device for signaling equipment.

Mr Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari (left) and Mr Nasrulhudin Najumudin. (Photo: Facebook)

On that fateful day, both men were undergoing on-the-job training, having joined SMRT in January this year.

The next day after the incident, SMRT revealed that the 15 technicians, including the victims, failed to notify a station signal unit that they were stepping back onto the track, The Straits Times reported.

As a result, the oncoming train that was traveling at 60km/h was not diverted to an alternate platform or told to stop. By the time the driver spotted the technical team, it was too late.

grongloh@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - Smoking will be banned in reservoirs and more than 400 parks islandwide from June 1.

Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources Dr Amy Khor made this announcement in Parliament today (April 12), and detailed the prohibited areas:

1) All 17 Reservoirs

2) Five parks under JTC Corporation and in Public Housing Estates

3) 251 neighbourhood parks under NParks within private housing estates

Previously, Singapore Armed Forces camps and bases, and premises owned by the Ministry of Home Affairs had banned smoking voluntarily since 1993 and 1998 respectively.

These places will now be formally included in the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act from June 1, Dr Khor added.

Designated smoking points can be set up in these prohibited places, and the owners of these premises are responsible for their upkeep, The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources said.

Those caught smoking in these newly announced prohibited areas within the first three months from the implementation date will be given a warning. Following the warnings, repeat offenders can be fined up to $2,000.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that it will install "No Smoking" signages in the new premises. Bins with ashtrays in these areas will also be replaced without the ashtrays, while an education drive will be launched to update smokers on these changes.

Dr Khor said that in the long term, the government aims to prohibit smoking in all public places. This will protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

grongloh@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - More benefits will soon be given to unwed mothers to reduce the disadvantages that their children face, Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-jin said in Parliament on Tuesday (April 12).

These benefits include extending the 16-week Government-paid maternity leave, currently only enjoyed by married mothers, to unwed mothers as well. At present, unwed mothers are only entitled to eight weeks of maternity leave.

In addition, children of unwed mothers will also qualify to get a Child Development Account (CDA), while the $3,000 CDA First Step grant announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in his Budget speech will be extended to them too.

Mr Tan said that the maternity leave benefits will apply to unwed mothers from early next year, as the relevant legislation would need to be amended.

However, children of unwed mothers will be included in the CDA scheme from the third quarter of this year, as the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) is currently working on the legislation and system enhancements needed to get it in place.

"These benefits are useful in the child's developmental or caregiving needs. They also support the unwed parent's efforts to provide for the child," Mr Tan said.

Revealing the changes, he added that he was sympathetic to unwed parents who may face difficulties raising their children single-handedly without family support. He also pointed out that some may have become unwed parents by circumstance.

But Mr Tan noted that the extension of these benefits does not undermine parenthood within marriage, which is the prevalent social norm and which his ministry still encouraged.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - You can now cycle or scoot on the pavements without worry, after the government accepted recommendations from an expert panel's recommendations on active mobility.

Responding to concerns by Members of Parliament about the panel's recommendation to allow illegally modified power-assisted bicycles, or e-bikes, on cycling paths and shared paths within speed limits, Mrs Josephine Teo said these e-bikes have to be registered.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport also said authorities will clamp down on reckless cyclists with stiffer penalties.

A dedicated enforcement team will conduct joint-patrols with the Traffic Police at hotspots, Mrs Teo said, while NParks will target errant cyclists in parks and park connectors.

Mrs Teo said that details of most of the changes will be announced and implemented at the end of the year.

These moves are part of the government's strategy to reduce Singapore's reliance on cars, she added during the debate on the Transport Ministry's budget in Parliament today.

To educate the public on these policies, a nationwide Active Mobility campaign will be launched in April, which will be supplemented by a new Cyclist Education Programme in May.

The Cyclist Education Programme will be launched in schools, community centres, and foreign workers' dormitories, with a focus on safe and considerate cycling.

grongloh@sph.com.sg