SINGAPORE - Commuters can finally tap with their phones to pay for bus and train rides. This follows two years of Near Field Communications (NFC) mobile payment trials by the Land Transport Authority.

In short, NFC short-range wireless communication technology allows for data transmission between a mobile device and a contactless card reader.

It had several false starts in Singapore dating as far back as 2003, when the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) promoted the use of cellphones to pay carpark charges.

The service failed to take off partly because it was too cumbersome.

As recently as August 2012, IDA revived the concept at retail outlets, but it did not garner much consumer interest.

Today, NFC payment is accepted by 30,000 retail points here, including ComfortDelgro taxis and stores like Watsons.

Missing all these years is what many believed to be the "killer" application: payment for bus and train rides.

Even though this is now possible, there are a few things to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.

1. GET NFC SIM CARD

Commuters must buy a new NFC SIM card from their telcos priced at $37.45, and turn on their device's NFC function before tapping to make payments.

The ez-link purse is stored in the SIM card, not in the mobile phone. It works in the background to enable payment, but the phone must not run out of battery.

2. DOWNLOAD EZ-LINK APP

To check their ez-link purse balances, users need to download the EZ-Link app from the Google Play store. Like the ez-link card, the ez-link purse has a five-year validity.

The expiration date is displayed in the EZ-Link app.

3. ANDROID USAGE ONLY FOR NOW

Only NFC handsets that follow the national standard - the Contactless e-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) found in every ez-link card - can be used here.

Handset certification is done by a consortium that runs the government-backed mobile payment system.

The consortium includes SingTel, StarHub, M1, Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank and smart card chip maker Gemalto.

As of Tuesday (March 29), only 19 handsets from LG, Samsung and Sony have been approved for transit payment here.

4. THE WAIT GOES ON IF YOU ARE AN APPLE IPHONE USER

Apple has reportedly put its NFC chip on "lockdown", restricting its use to only its mobile payments platform Apple Pay, which is expected to roll out in Singapore later this year.

5. NFC SIM V APPLE PAY OR SAMSUNG PAY

Singapore's NFC SIM card is a separate payment system from other digital wallets like Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, also expected to launch in Singapore this year.

Apple Pay and Samsung Pay require users to add their credit card details to a digital wallet stored on their phones before they can tap to pay for goods.

For starters, Apple Pay will accept Singapore-issued American Express cards.

Samsung Pay will accept Singapore-issued cards by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and American Express.

This article was first published on March 29, 2016.
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MENDAKI Sense akan melancarkan pameran Making Sense of SkillsFuture Sabtu ini bagi meningkatkan kesedaran mengenai inisiatif SkillsFuture di kalangan masyarakat.

Pameran sulung itu merupakan usaha Mendaki Sense menyelaraskan pelaksanaan inisiatif nasional tersebut menerusi satu wadah bersepadu yang mengumpulkan penyedia latihan dan majikan di bawah satu bumbung.

Menerusi pameran itu, Mendaki Sense berharap dapat menyediakan peluang kepada pekerja hari ini dan akan datang meraih kemahiran bagi mendapatkan pekerjaan dan kekal boleh diambil bekerja.

Disokong rakan kongsi institusi dan pekerjaan, acara itu akan menjadi wadah yang menawarkan pelbagai kursus meningkatkan kemahiran dan peluang pekerjaan.

Selain peluang pekerjaan yang ditawarkan pelbagai majikan, rakan kongsi institusi Mendaki Sense juga akan menyertai pameran itu. Mereka akan berkongsi maklumat berguna mengenai sektor masing-masing.

Pakar daripada pelbagai bidang pula akan mengongsi topik yang penting kepada tenaga kerja hari ini.

Sementara itu, kursus yang ditawarkan di pameran tersebut termasuk latihan kemahiran seperti pengurusan orang ramai dan kepimpinan dan kursus lebih berkaitan dengan industri seperti kursus keselamatan.

Program penempatan pekerjaan juga akan dijalankan beberapa pemain industri sebagai saluran mencari calon sepadan dengan pekerjaan yang ditawarkan.

Pembimbing kerjaya Mendaki Sense akan berada di sana bagi menyediakan bimbingan kepada pekerja mengenai programme peningkatan kemahiran yang boleh mereka ikuti bagi meningkatkan peluang mereka diambil bekerja.

Pameran itu akan berlangsung dari 2 hingga 6 petang di WIS@Changi di Changi Road.

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
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When Mr Desmond Loh was stopped from re-entering a club, he got irritated and "shot his mouth off".

One of the things he did was to call Yeo Tian Soon, who was a bouncer at the club, fat.

Incensed, Yeo later rained a series of punches on Mr Loh. The beating was so vicious that Mr Loh had to go for facial reconstructive surgery.

Yesterday, Yeo, 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and a count of voluntarily causing hurt.

A third charge of fighting with another patron on a separate occasion was taken into consideration.

Commenting on the extent of Mr Loh's injuries, District Judge Mathew Joseph said: "The court is amazed (that) using just your fist can cause such major injuries... It seems as though it was a sustained attack."

The incident occurred on May 3 last year when Mr Loh, 28, and a friend, Mr Chua Hoe Ann, 27, went to Club Sonar at Orchard Hotel, where Yeo was working as a bouncer.

When they were checked by Yeo at about 4.05am, Mr Loh made "uncalled-for remarks" which annoyed Yeo, the court was told.

Yeo let the pair enter the club but then asked Mr Loh to leave. Mr Loh tried to re-enter the club five minutes later but was turned away by Yeo.

In an interview with The New Paper yesterday, the 28-year-old fraud analyst conceded that he had shot his mouth off as he was annoyed.

"I (told him), 'You're rejecting me entry cause you're fat'. It was caught on CCTV according to the IO (investigating officer)," he said.

The comment was the last straw for Yeo, a taekwon-do blue-belt holder who watched self-defence videos in his free time.

He looked for Mr Loh at Club Aura, another club in Orchard Hotel. Club Sonar's security supervisor and Yeo's accomplice, Chee Chu Siong, followed shortly after.

PINNED

The court heard that Yeo threw multiple punches at Mr Loh and pinned him to the ground.

When Mr Chua tried to stop the fight, he was confronted by Chee.

Mr Loh did not retaliate. He then went home and tried to sleep but woke up coughing blood, he said.

He was later taken to hospital.

A CT scan revealed fractures on the left side of his face. According to court papers, the injuries were so severe that he had to undergo an open reduction internal fixation - an operation to fix a bone using surgical plates and screws.

As a result, Mr Loh said, that part of his face has lost some sensation.

He told TNP that his vision was also affected, and an eye surgeon had to fix it.

The severe injuries led Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Lau to call for reformative training for Yeo.

Throughout the attack, Mr Loh had not blocked Yeo's blows or retaliate in any way, she said.

Yeo's lawyer said in mitigation that the attack was an unfortunate one-off incident.

"This was not an act of gangsterism... It was an event that took place where tempers were lost and it went beyond what it should have been," he said.

Judge Joseph called for probation and reformative training reports.

Yeo, who is now in remand, is expected to be back in court on April 19 for sentencing.

His parents, who were present at the hearing, looked resigned as the hearing was adjourned.

When approached, Yeo's father, who declined to be named, told TNP: "What can we say? Of course we hope for the best."

Mr Loh, who took two months to recover from the injuries, finds it difficult to forget and forgive.

"I do (get angry at Yeo) when I see the scans of my (facial) fracture, which was really crazy. Life threw me a curve ball," he said.

Adding that there had been no apology from Yeo, Mr Loh said: "I don't think anyone should do this to anyone especially when I couldn't really defend myself... He was determined to take aim at my face, and that was the only part that was hit."

fjieying@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
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It has been doing so implicitly for the past year. Now, Uber is making it quite explicit that it is targeting people who want to own a car but cannot afford the 40 per cent to 50 per cent down payment required by law.

In press advertisements yesterday, the San Francisco-based transport app provider marked its third anniversary in Singapore by launching a bold car-financing scheme that seems at first glance to flout regulations introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) three years ago.

It says Uber consumers can secure loans of up to 80 per cent of the car's price, claiming: "Your dream car is now within reach!"

Uber, which is no stranger to controversy the world over, said the deal does not break any law in Singapore. It stated that cars must be registered under a company name, and under a scheme that allows them to be used for offering paid rides - even if not with Uber.

"The government scheme applies to personal cars only," Uber Singapore general manager Warren Tseng said.

MAS concurred: "MAS' motor vehicle financing restrictions do not apply to loans for the purchase of private-hire cars. Drivers should be aware that they will incur additional costs, including higher insurance premiums, should they enter into such arrangements."

Mr Tseng claimed, however, that Uber has "negotiated deals with insurance partners which can offer premiums at as low as $1,300 (per year) for a comprehensive insurance package which covers personal and private-hire use".

Industry sources said premiums for private-hire cars are typically three to five times that of those for normal private cars.

Checks by The Straits Times also revealed higher interest charges. For instance, Fu Yiap Motor Trading, one of several used car dealers Uber has paired with for this deal, quoted interest rates of between 2.98 and 3.25 per cent - more than one percentage point higher than what leading lenders are quoting.

A customer borrowing $60,000 over five years would end up pa- ying some $4,000 more.

While the deal is not tied to any obligation to drive for Uber, Mr Tseng said the scheme "gives people a way to afford a car... earning money in their spare time and also helping to cover car costs".

Industry watchers are not impressed. Mr Neo Nam Heng, chairman of diversified motor group Prime, said: "It is no big deal. Uber is merely a match-maker, bringing customers to these car dealers. Of course it hopes that these people will end up doing Uber rides."

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
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Hokkien vulgarities and Singlish took centre stage at yesterday's trial of Yang Kaiheng, the Singaporean charged with seven counts of sedition for anti-foreigner articles on now-defunct socio-political website The Real Singapore (TRS).

Yang insists he was hardly involved in the running of the site, but the prosecution yesterday produced logs of several online chats to try and show otherwise.

The chats, which took place between 2012 and 2014, were with Web developer Damien Koh and a Vietnamese information technology company, and were written under the Skype account "able_tree", which was used by both Yang and his Australian wife Ai Takagi, 23.

She was given 10 months' jail last week after pleading guilty to four sedition charges, and is due to start her sentence next month.

While the defence argued that Takagi was "able_tree" in the logs, the prosecution drew the court's attention to conversations where Singlish words such as "lah", "lor", "leh'' and "meh", Hokkien phrases, vulgarities and Singapore Armed Forces ranks were used.

In one conversation, "able_tree'' disclosed to Mr Koh that Takagi was "quite zai sia" (Hokkien for steady) and that "she type e-mail like lawyer like that''.

The prosecution also alleged that in one conversation, 27-year-old Yang had boasted about buying a A$350,000 (S$362,000) house in Australia from the income generated by TRS, and urged Mr Koh to "help me protect our passive income".

Bank statements showed that the couple earned between A$20,000 and A$50,000-plus a month.

Yang also allegedly discussed the possibility of setting up a citizen journalism website similar to Singapore's Stomp in Australia. "You handle website, I handle marketing.

It is an ugly culture, but can make money," he purportedly told Mr Koh. When asked where the articles would come from, "able_tree'' replied: "Leave it to me la. I pro shit stirrer.''

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Roy Lim Eng Seng, who took the stand yesterday, was asked by Yang's lawyer Choo Zheng Xi if Takagi could have been behind such conversations.

DSP Lim, who is from the Special Investigation Section of the Criminal Investigation Department, felt that the language and words used at times gave him the perception that it was Yang.

"The use of the Hokkien vulgarities was very, very Singaporean, and I said that I do not believe that Ai Takagi knows these vulgarities," he added.

Still, when asked if he was able to attribute a single political article on TRS to Yang, DSP Lim replied "no", unlike in the case of Takagi.

If convicted, Yang could be fined up to $3,000 and/or jailed for up to three years on each charge.

The charges include one for an article, put up on Feb 4 last year, which falsely asserted that a Filipino family caused an incident between the police and participants at the Thaipusam procession last year.

The hearing continues.

elena@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
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FORMER China tour guide Yang Yin is expected to claim trial for all 349 criminal charges brought against him, his lawyer said yesterday.

Yang, 42, was in court yesterday as his criminal case was scheduled to be mentioned.

After a meeting with Deputy Public Prosecutor Leong Weng Tat, Yang's lawyer, Wee Pan Lee, told reporters that he had received "no instructions" on whether his client would plead guilty.

Speaking to The Straits Times later, Mr Wee said: "He is claiming trial. This is for now. Things can change."

The criminal trial will also be separated into two parts, as "the facts are different", added Mr Wee.

Yang's charges include alleged immigration offences and falsification of receipts made to his company, Young Music and Dance Studio.

The receipts allegedly made it seem that his firm, through which he obtained permanent residency, was viable and had received $450,000 in payment for services.

The most serious charges are two counts of criminal breach of trust, of allegedly misappropriating $1.1 million from 89-year-old widow Chung Khin Chun. These will be heard in a separate trial.

He allegedly misappropriated $500,000 from her in 2010. Two years later, he allegedly misappropriated another $600,000 from the widow, who was diagnosed with dementia this year.

In court yesterday, Yang was in remand uniform - a purple jumpsuit - and had neatly trimmed hair.

The Chinese national, who has been in remand since October 2014 after he was denied bail, peered out of the holding room occasionally.

The case involving Madam Chung and Yang broke in 2014 when her niece, Hedy Mok, started a series of legal actions against him for allegedly manipulating her aunt into handing over her assets.

Madam Chung owns a bungalow in Gerald Crescent and her assets are estimated to be worth $40 million.

A pre-trial conference for the criminal case is scheduled for today.

kcarolyn@sph.com.sg

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Local vegetation fires and wind convergence over Singapore on Tuesday afternoon could be among the reasons why you may have noticed a burning smell lingering in the air over parts of the island on Tuesday (March 29) night and early Wednesday morning.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) added in a press statement on Wednesday (March 30) that weather conditions here and in the region have been generally dry with little rainfall in recent days.

In addition, there have been a rise in the number of hotspots in the northern ASEAN region - which are generally low in numbers - and this could have resulted in an increased concentration of particulate matter such as dust particles in the atmosphere over the region.

As of 1pm on Wednesday, the 24-hr PSI reading was 68-82, in the moderate range.

24-hour PSI at 2pm is 67-82. https://t.co/FrzbHR5QhC#sghaze

— NEA (@NEAsg) March 30, 2016

The air quality for the rest of the day is expected to remain in this range. NEA said it is monitoring the situation closely and will provide further updates when necessary.

It added that the public can continue with normal activities.

For updates, visit the NEA website, the haze microsite or follow NEA on Facebook and Twitter.

sujint@sph.com.sg

For more haze updates from AsiaOne, click here:

Despite her advanced age and having money, she insisted on collecting cardboard.

So much so that she had been a familiar sight in her neighbourhood for more than 20 years.

But tragedy struck yesterday afternoon when Madam Poh Ah Gin, 78, was looking for cardboard behind a coffee shop at Block 123 next to an open-air carpark at Bedok North Street 2.

A Comfort taxi trying to reverse into a parking space suddenly mounted the kerb at high speed and rammed into her.

She died at the scene despite attempts to save her by doctors from a nearby clinic, a witness told The New Paper.

CAR ALARM

Madam Ismail Meera, 64, said she immediately ran out of her shop when she heard the shrill of a car alarm.

She noticed that a blue taxi had hit vehicles on the other side of the carpark. The impact was so great that the vehicles had mounted the kerb and other hit vehicles behind them.

When she had a closer look, she realised that two people were trying to resuscitate the elderly woman lying in a pool of blood on the walkway.

That was when Madam Meera recognised her as the neighbourhood's cardboard collector.

"People started to crowd around her within seconds. When I went closer, I saw two women who looked like doctors from a nearby clinic attending to her," she said.

Madam Meera, who owns a nearby Internet cafe, saw one of them performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, while the other put an oxygen mask on Madam Poh.

She then ran back to her cafe to check on it before going out again about 10 minutes later.

By then, Madam Poh had died.

Another witness, Madam Rohana Ramlan, 28, was outside her shop when she saw the accident.

Describing it as horrifying, the owner of Atok Mart provision shop said: "I heard a bang and saw that the taxi had mounted the kerb.

"After that, he lurched back and forth at a high speed twice before hitting cars in the lots opposite his."

Then she saw Madam Poh on the ground and the taxi driver out of his cab, wobbling to the side of the road.

"His face was pale and he looked very shaken," said Madam Rohana.

Mr Lim Kah Hong, a 35-year-old tow truck driver, told The Straits Times Online that he ran towards the taxi after hearing a deafening screech, followed by a crash.

"I shouted at the taxi driver to stop because I realised he had hit the woman. But his car continued to lunge back and forth, and he hit her again," he said.

He said he instinctively reached out to open the taxi door and grab its key, but was unable to do so as the taxi was moving at a high speed.

Taxi reverses into woman collecting cardboard, and kills her

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The New Paper

SISTER

Madam Poh's younger sister (right) told TNP that Madam Poh had money but stubbornly insisted on collecting cardboard.

"She lives alone so my brother and I take turns to check on her and buy her food," she said.

Her brother revealed that Madam Poh was the third of 11 children.

Madam Wee Goh Lian, 80, said that since she moved into the neighbourhood more than 20 years ago, she had seen Madam Poh collecting cardboard.

"She was a very quiet person and kept to herself. There was one time when I told her not to dirty the void deck with her cardboard. She listened to me and never did it again," Madam Wee said.

Other residents said that Madam Poh was well-known in the neighbourhood for "not only collecting cardboard but keeping the neighbourhood clean as well".

Madam Wee said: "I will miss her. It will feel unusual to not see her around any more."

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said they was alerted to the accident at 3.15pm and sent an ambulance. Madam Poh was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

Police said they had arrested a 64-year-old taxi driver for causing death by a negligent act.

Investigations are ongoing.

MY DAD SOUNDED TERRIFIED WHEN HE CALLED ME ABOUT CRASH

The cabby's son said his father was about to end his shift and hand over the taxi, a Hyundai Sonata, to the next driver when the accident happened.

"My father told me that he was trying to park his cab when it surged backwards, mounted the kerb and hit the woman. He then switched gears and the cab rushed forward and hit the vehicles in front," said the 27-year-old (above, in yellow), who wanted to be known only as Sam.

"Almost every day, my father parks at the same stretch of parking lots so the fact that he hit someone really shocked him.

"He repeatedly told me that there was something wrong with the cab, but there's nothing we can do about it now. We just have to wait for further instructions from the police."

He described his father as an experienced driver who did not have any traffic offences.

CHOKED UP

"When he called to inform me about the accident at about 4pm, he sounded so terrified over the phone," he said.

"It was the first time in my life that I've ever heard my father's voice all choked up."

fnawang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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AIRPORT-services provider dnata Singapore has broken ground on the site of its S$17 million maintenance base at Changi Airport, which will enable it to triple its capacity for its repairs and maintenance activities.

With the aid of new equipment and technology, dnata will boost its handling capacity beyond 9,000 repairs and maintenance activities per year as it eyes future growth in line with the upcoming Terminals 4 and 5. Its existing facility, which was launched in 1981, can handle 3,000 maintenance and repairs activities annually.

The 6,900 sq m maintenance base, slated for completion by the first quarter of 2017, will be sited next to the dnata Cargo Centre within the Changi Airfreight Centre.

Mark Edwards, chief executive of dnata Singapore, said: "We need to be prepared for the future today and we are taking this opportunity to expand the maintenance base infrastructure.

"The maintenance base is an important facility to keep our fleet of ground-service equipment (GSE) operating smoothly and efficiently, so that our teams can rely on the GSE to deliver the service we promise to our airline customers."

dnata Singapore's current fleet of over 320 motorised and 1,200 non-motorised pieces of GSE will be serviced at the new maintenance base.

Mr Edwards added: "As our reliance and usage of the GSE increase, the demand for repair and maintenance of the GSE will also go up. I want to be sure that the maintenance team is ready and prepared for this increased demand."

Meanwhile, new technology will be introduced to boost the efficiency of its staff. These include underground diesel tanks with dispensing pumps, high overhead cranes with bigger capacity and a dumb waiter lift for spare-parts movement to maximise storage space, as well as a centralised oil-dispensing and collecting system.

The Middle-East headquartered airport-services provider also plans to adopt green technology and equipment, starting with fast-charging bays for electric tractors at the new maintenance facility.

dnata offers services such as ground and cargo handling, travel, technology solutions and in-flight catering.

In Singapore, it employs 1,800 staff and provides passenger and ramp handling, flight catering, cargo handling and security services to more than 40 international airlines.

nishar@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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For the last eight years, she would return home to see her paralysed husband lying on his bed, yet always with a smile on his face.

But when Mrs Angeline Aw went home last Saturday, the bed was empty.

Her husband, Mr Aw Kian Chow, died in hospital after suffering breathing difficulties.

"The house felt empty all of a sudden. It is so difficult for me to look at his bed," said the 47-year-old mother of two children, aged 15 and 18.

Mr Aw, 59, was in the news in 2011 when he sued the Sembawang Town Council for negligence and breach of duty.

The former freelance accountant had slipped and fallen at a sheltered walkway near his home in Sembawang Drive on a rainy day on Aug 26, 2008.

The fall fractured Mr Aw's spine, causing him to be paralysed from the neck down. 

Since the fall, Mrs Aw, who works in a bank, became the sole breadwinner. She also had to hire two full-time caregivers to look after Mr Aw, who was bedridden.

"For the first few years, he was in and out of the hospital, but it had been close to four years that he hadn't been hospitalised. That's why his demise is still a shock," she said.

Mrs Aw described her family as a happy one.

"At night, we would set up mattresses in the living room so that we could sleep beside him. My husband and I wanted our children to know that we would always be a family, no matter what happens.

"Even though my husband couldn't walk and talk, he was a good listener.

Whenever my daughters and I had a rough day, we would look forward to coming home to him."

Mr Aw Kian Chow leaving court in January 2013. He had testified from a stretcher while hooked up to life support equipment. According to a report then, he laboured to speak in court and became breathless at one point. Photo: The New Paper

LEFT HOME

However, they did not expect their time with him to be up so soon.

At about 10am on Saturday, Mrs Aw attended a volunteer programme with her youngest daughter. Before leaving home, the pair kissed Mr Aw on his cheek, something they always did.

Mrs Aw's older daughter had gone to church that morning.

Said Mrs Aw: "He looked well that morning, so I left him in the care of his two caregivers."

But after the programme ended at about 2pm, she received a call from the hospital telling her that her husband had to be resuscitated.

"I was shocked, but I was still calm because he had been in hospital for breathing difficulties just a month ago. I didn't think it would cost him his life," she said, adding that Mr Aw had spent 22 days in the intensive care unit in February.

Mrs Aw then checked her mobile phone and realised there were missed calls from the caregivers.

Sensing that something was wrong, she rushed to the hospital.

"The doctor came out of the room and sat me down. She had a sombre look on her face so I knew that something terrible must have happened," said Mrs Aw.

Choking back tears, she added: "When the doctor told me my husband had died, I was furious at first.

"I felt like he had a fighting chance to live if they hadn't given up on him so easily.

"When I saw my husband's body cleared of all the life-support equipment, I felt lost for the first time in my life. At least when he was paralysed, I could still see his face and feel his presence beside me.

"I regretted not being by his side in his last moments.

"He was such a good husband and a loving father. I don't know what to do now that he's not around."

Mr Aw was cremated yesterday morning.

"My daughters hated attending his wake because they hated to see their father's body just lying there. It's unusual for them to see him so expressionless," said Mrs Aw.

"We are still struggling to cope with the loss. It's so hard coming home to his empty bed in the living room."

Even though my husband couldn't walk and talk, he was a good listener.

- Mrs Angeline Aw

fnawang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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Needy commuters such as the elderly, pregnant and parents travelling with strollers will soon get to enter trains and lifts first at all MRT stations, in a move towards a more gracious society, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Thursday (March 31).

Priority Qeueus will be implemented at platform screen doors and passenger lifts to complement the current queue lines provided for commuters to wait to let passengers alight from trains before entering.

LTA said it has worked with transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit to first implement the Priority Queue stickers at six MRT stations.

These are namely: Novena (North-South Line), Outram Park (East-West and North East Line), Chinatown (North East Line), Sengkang (North East Line) and Kent Ridge (Circle Line).

The stations were chosen for their close proximity to hospitals and high usage by seniors, and the stickers have already been put in place.

The locations at the platform screen doors correspond with the wheelchair parking space allocated in train cars and they are also generally closer to the lifts and away from escalators where human traffic is heaviest.

A survey will be conducted over two months to gather public feedback.

Based on the feedback received, LTA said it may modify the design of the Priority Queue before calling a tender to roll out the markings at all MRT and LRT stations.

At LRT stations, the Priority Queue stickers will be placed only at passenger lifts. Stickers will not be installed at platform edges due to the limited number of train doorways at LRT stations, added LTA.

sujint@sph.com.sg

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam has called on Singaporeans to reach out to their Muslim neighbours and build social cohesion, saying they are obliged to do so as the recent string of terror attacks threatens to fray the trust between the communities here.

He underlined the need to thwart Islamophobia - or prejudice against Muslims - from developing, after a closed-door meeting yesterday with 60 students from the six full-time madrasahs, or Islamic religious schools, in Singapore.

"Whatever it is, we're Singaporeans together and that trumps everything else," he told reporters, adding that "the 85 per cent who are non-Muslim have an obligation to reach out to the Muslim community and make sure the bonds are strong".

He noted that after each of the recent terror attacks in Europe and the United States, the number of attacks against Muslims shot up threefold.

While there was no immediate threat of such violence erupting in Singapore, he warned that non- Muslims could start developing negative attitudes towards Muslims.

"People will be too politically correct to express them, but internally, they will start looking at Muslims differently," he said, adding that feedback from Muslims indicates they are concerned about rising Islamophobia in Singapore.

Before the dialogue, Mr Shanmugam visited the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) and later, the adjacent Madrasah Irsyad Zuhri.

Muis chief executive Abdul Razak Maricar and Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin also took part in the dialogue.

Mr Shanmugam said the students raised the topic of Islamophobia in Singapore, adding that it was an issue the Government recognised as a significant risk to the country's social fabric.

If Singaporeans become prejudiced against Muslims, terrorists will find it easier to recruit them, he said.

"If 85 per cent of the population that's non-Muslim starts developing Islamophobia, that's precisely what the terrorists want you to do... When the minority Muslim community feels marginalised and discriminated against, that's when you get fertile ground for recruitment."

"We'll be playing right into their hands," he added.

A student at the dialogue, Madrasah Al-Maarif student Afifah Shameemah, recounted to reporters an incident at a school camp two years ago when a participant from another school made a joke about Muslims being terrorists.

The 17-year-old said the remarks hurt her feelings, but she did not speak up at that time. But if it were to happen today, she would, she said.

"It may be a joke, but because we are in a multiracial country, we really have to be careful about what we say and make sure we aren't hurting anybody with our words."

Madrasah Al-Arabiah Secondary 3 student Kasyful Azim, 15, who also took part in the dialogue, suggested including madrasah schools in more national sports and academic competitions, so that their students can better integrate with their peers in mainstream schools.

ziliang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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After months of clear skies and fresh air, air quality in Singapore deteriorated over the past two days, with a strong burning smell hanging over many areas.

Although the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index, a measure of air quality here, continued to hover in the moderate range, it reached a high of 84 in northern Singapore at 8pm yesterday.

This is the highest 24-hour PSI reading registered this year.

The culprit this time may not be Sumatra in Indonesia, where most of the haze-causing fires that affected Singapore in September and October last year were located.

This time, the pollution is likely to have come from Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo or even Singapore's own backyard, experts say.

Winds blowing from the north-east and east could be carrying the haze to Singapore.

Local vegetation fires reported on Tuesday could also be a contributing factor, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the largest fire it responded to on Tuesday was near the junction of Tampines Avenues 1 and 10, and it, too, was relatively minor.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, AFP, The Straits Times, Berita Harian

Associate Professor Koh Tieh Yong, a weather researcher from SIM University, said there was a spike in the number of hot spots in Peninsular Malaysia, particularly in Pahang, over the weekend.

"In the late afternoon on Tuesday, moderate hazy conditions reached Singapore. The time lapse is consistent with our distance from the hot spot sources," he said.

Mr Chris Cheng, strategic development and research director at volunteer group People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze), suspects the haze may be coming from peat fires around an oil palm plantation located at eastern Sedili Kechil in Johor, Malaysia.

"We checked the wind direction, hot spot, peat and plantation data, but we need an image of a local fire, and on-the-ground investigations there to verify the data," he said.

The current monsoon season, when winds blow mainly from the north-east, is transitioning to the inter-monsoon season, when winds are more variable.

Skin and haircare tips to beat the haze

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The Straits Times, Shutterstock.com

Over the past few days, they have been blowing from the north-east and east, said Dr Erik Velasco, a research scientist from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. "It is probable that winds blowing from the east brought plumes from fires in Borneo to Singapore," he said.

While only a small number of fires were reported there over the past week, cloudy conditions could be preventing satellites from picking up more hot spots, he added.

Singapore could still be badly hit when the usual haze season rolls in around June.

Dr Velasco said: "We are still experiencing the effects of a monster El Nino that started last year. In the region, El Nino enhances dryness, and therefore fires.

"Because of the magnitude of El Nino this year, we must be prepared for a new period of intense haze similar to last year's, once the winds start blowing from the south and south-west, bringing plumes from Sumatra and Kalimantan."

Today, however, the NEA says the air quality is expected to stay in the moderate range, and normal activities can be carried out.

audreyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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Every day at 5.30am, retiree Victor Devan, 70, wakes up to the sound of the azan sounding from the nearby Abdul Gaffor mosque.

The Rochor Centre resident of 25 years - a familiar face to many in the area - has never needed an alarm clock.

Instead, the retired oil trader and father of two grown-up daughters relies on the Islamic call to prayer as the call to start his day.

The familiar sound is one of the things he will miss the most about Rochor Centre, apart from his favourite wonton noodles from a stall at one of the centre's coffee shops.

Like most other residents there, Mr Devan will be moving to a new flat in Kallang in May, as the centre makes way for the new North- South Expressway by the end of this year.

A cluster of four Housing Board blocks, each painted mainly in red, blue, yellow or green, Rochor Centre is one of the few remaining landmarks from 1970s Bugis, where sailors, transvestites and night soil could be found before the area was cleaned up in the 1980s.

Completed in 1977, Rochor Centre was originally home to 183 shops and 567 households.

But these four busy blocks on the city fringe have lost some of their bustle. As of January, 106 shops had closed, while 36 households had moved out.

Rochor Centre is one of three iconic public housing estates soon to be demolished for redevelopment. The others are Dakota Crescent, built in 1958, and four low-rise HDB blocks in Siglap built in 1964.

Many long-time residents of the centre are wistful about leaving.

"This place is real heartland Singapore; it reminds me of the kampung that I grew up in when I was little," said Mr Devan, an Indian who speaks English, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese, and enjoys the affectionate nickname "orh hia" (literally "black brother" in a Chinese dialect), given to him by neighbours and shopkeepers.

Moving is heart-wrenching, he added, and he and his wife will host a farewell party for their neighbours before they go.

"We have developed great relationships with our neighbours. Each neighbour is worth a million bucks," he said.

Another long-time resident, Mr Ng Poh Pang, 73, who lives with his wife in a three-room flat where he raised his three children, said: "I honestly thought I would live here until the end of my days."

Said his eldest son, Steven, 48, a shipping manager: "I always tell my two children stories of my childhood here - playing games with my neighbours, cycling at the playground. It's incredible to see them play in the exact spot, and yet it saddens me that it's all going to be gone."

The HDB said that 91 per cent of the residents at Rochor Centre will move to replacement flats at the nearby Kallang Trivista. Of these residents, 15 per cent chose flats located near their old neighbours or relatives.

Said Jalan Besar GRC MP Denise Phua, who has served the residents for the past decade: "Life will not be the same but not all is lost... Residents can look forward to a more serene setting of greenery and peace different from that in busy Rochor."

With Rochor Centre's impending demolition drawing closer, Singaporeans have rushed to document it for the last time through social media posts, music videos and sketching events.

A local photographer known only as Nguan, who photographed the iconic centre last year, said: "I'm envious of its former residents, who got as close as you can to knowing what it's like to live inside a rainbow."

chiaytr@sph.com.sg

domteojy@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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A new programme to better coordinate support services for the elderly will be piloted in three to five precincts over the next few months, and then be scaled up if successful.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the Community Network for Seniors pilot in his Budget speech, and disclosed further details yesterday during a visit to the Thong Kheng Senior Activity Centre (TKSAC) in Bukit Merah.

Institutions such as schools, businesses and non-profit organisations could be among those providing support, such as by offering befriending services or delivering food.

At the heart of the scheme will be a small team of full-time government officers who will study the health and social needs of seniors and coordinate help efforts.

The Government hopes to help seniors discover any health issues they may have earlier, so that they can be managed.

Mr Heng said: "Our population is ageing rapidly. To enable our seniors to age with dignity and vitality, we need to shift our centre of care from the hospital setting to the neighbourhood."

Asked how this initiative differs from existing social service offices (SSOs), which also help to coordinate support efforts, he said: "SSOs look after broad social needs, but if you look at the healthcare needs, (we need to see) how we can work more closely together with the Health Promotion Board and hospitals... This is a very important initiative."

Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health, and Ms Joan Pereira, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, joined Mr Heng on the visit.

Dr Khor said the pilot programme could lead to stronger partnerships between the help groups and better coordinate support services.

The TKSAC is in Ms Pereira's Henderson-Dawson ward, which now has a network that is similar to the Community Network for Seniors pilot.

The network is coordinated by the Henderson-Dawson Citizens Consultative Committee.

Ms Pereira gave an example of an existing programme to help socially isolated seniors.

Students are involved in befriending the elderly, shopkeepers and hawkers help to provide food rations and financial help, while welfare groups offer therapy and counselling services.

She said she hopes the Community Network for Seniors will be piloted in her ward.

"It can build on what we already have and we can reach out to more people in a systematic approach."

No firm date has been set for the start of the programme.

Key social measures in Budget 2016

• The Silver Support Scheme gives quarterly payouts of between $300 and $750. It supports the bottom 20 per cent of senior citizens aged 65 and above, with a smaller degree of support extended to cover up to 30 per cent of seniors.
• The new Child Development Account First Step grant will be introduced for all Singaporean children. Parents will automatically get $3,000, which can be used for their children's childcare and healthcare needs. This applies to babies born from March 24.
• The basic monthly cash allowance under the Public Assistance scheme, for those permanently unable to work, and with little or no means of income and family support, will be raised by $80 to $870.
• Households will get one to three months of service and conservancy charge rebates.
• Households that qualify for the GST cash voucher will get more this year, through a "cash special payment" of up to $200 to be made in November.

goyshiyi@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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The end of the road nears for the 39-year-old Rochor Centre, which is making way for the upcoming North-South Expressway.

By September, the complex with its four iconic blocks - painted green, yellow, blue and red - will be consigned to the pages of history.

The signs of abandonment can already be seen. The stench of urine at some lift landings and deserted corners hangs heavy in the air. The shutters are down and there is hardly a soul around.

More than half of the shops and offices that used to occupy the first three floors of the four blocks have relocated.

Some people have even made the nearly vacant third floor of the centre their temporary sleeping area.

The residents who live on the fifth floor and above are waiting for the keys to their new flats at Kallang Trivista, also a Housing Board project.

They have already discarded television sets, cupboards, stoves, mattresses and other bulky household items and these have started to accumulate at the void decks.

Come September morning...an icon becomes a memory

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, HDB

10 facts about the building

ALL-WHITE BLOCKS: Built by the Housing Board in 1977, the four blocks that make up Rochor Centre used to be all-white until they were repainted to their current four colours during the Interim Upgrading Programme in 1994.

PODIUM-AND-TOWER STYLE: Like other estates built in the same period, Rochor Centre was designed in the "podium-and-tower" style. It has three floors of retail space, a playground on the fourth floor, and residential units from the fifth to the 16th floor.

BOTTOMS UP: The unit numbers of flats in Rochor Centre are placed underneath staircases linking the levels, instead of on the walls like in most HDB estates.

NIGHT SOIL POINT: In the 1970s and 1980s, it was often associated with the odour of faeces, as there was a night soil deposit point located opposite it, where Albert Complex stands today.

TRANSVESTITES AND TOURISTS: When the old Bugis Street closed in 1985, transvestites frequented the area near Rochor Centre to pose for pictures with tourists.

HOME FOR THE AGED: Rochor Centre housed the first old folks' home located at a void deck, on the fourth floor. Called the Rochore Kongsi Home for the Aged, it was opened in 1977 by Dr Toh Chin Chye, then Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament of the area.

LITTLE JOHOR: In the 1980s, Rochor Centre was called "Little Johor" as it was popular with Malaysians, who found shopping there cheaper than in their home country.

CABS TO MALAYSIA: The nearby Ban San Street Taxi Kiosk is the only place in Singapore where people can get a Malaysia-registered taxi to ferry them to any location in Malaysia.

'ROCHORE': For years, Rochor was spelled with an "e". The last known use of the name "Rochore" was in the 2000 Budget debate.

ERP TECH FOR CARPARK: In 2003, Rochor Centre's carpark was one of the first public carparks - along with one in Toa Payoh Central - to implement an automated charging system using Electronic Road Pricing technology as well as per-minute charging.

This article was first published on March 31, 2016.
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