06/11/2012

Watz Online - 6 Nov 2012

No Cecilia Sue, but drama continues at ex-CNB chief's trial



Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) deputy director Teng Khee Fatt interviewed former Central Narcotics Bureau chief Ng Boon Gay on 9 March for alleged offences related to filming an obscene act, the Official Secrets Act as well as corruption, reported the TODAY newspaper.

This was revealed when entries from the station diary were read out in court today by Teng on day eight of the sex-for contracts trial involving Ng who is facing charges of corruption for allegedly obtaining sexual gratification from Cecilia Sue in exchange for favouring her company’s contract bids. She worked for Hitachi Data Systems and Oracle Corporation Singapore. He allegedly engaged in oral sex with Sue on four occasions.

According to the station diary, Ng had asked Teng if the case would go to court and that if it did, whether the authorities can “cover up” the name of the girls involved, reported the TODAY newspaper.

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Defence asks court to dismiss Ng Boon Gay’s case

 

Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay’s lawyer Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng has asked the court to dismiss his client’s case, reported the TODAY newspaper.

Tan maintained that Ng and Cecilia Sue had an intimate sexual relationship.

The newspaper quoted Tan as saying: “There is not a shred of evidence in any form remotely suggesting impropriety, let alone any favours asked, expected or promised".

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Trial dates fixed for former SCDF chief Peter Lim

Trial dates for former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) chief Peter Lim Sin Pang have been fixed.

The eight—day trial will take place in January and February.
The charge against Lim relates to the 52—year—old allegedly obtaining oral sex from Ms Pang Chor Mui in May 2010 in exchange for advancing her company’s business interests with the SCDF.

Speaking to the media after a pre—trial conference on Friday, Lim’s lawyers — Mr Hamidul Haq and Mr Bala Chandran — said another pre—trial conference will be held in November.

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Splits in the Singapore elite — Michael Barr

The dramatic electoral setbacks suffered by the People's Action Party government in Singapore during 2011 have led to speculation about the possibility of a future opposition victory A major line of thinking within the opposition camp is that such a change would most likely come about following a serious split in Cabinet whereby a strengthened parliamentary opposition could align itself with a dissident faction in Cabinet Should such a development come about it would be emulating the Taiwan model, whereby democracy and a change of government were brought about when the Kuomintang's President Lee effectively endorsed the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and brought about a two-way split in his own party and a three-way split in his party's popular vote

I contend that this is a most unlikely development in Singapore for three distinct reasons

The first and main reason for this logic is that the Singapore elite is much more risk averse than the Taiwan elite ever was Singapore is so much smaller than Taiwan its economy is so much more fragile and vulnerable to the mood swings of international finance and markets that such a split is unlikely unless the country itself is nearly on its last legs Dissidents in Cabinet would be in their minds putting at risk the fundamentals that give the international financial and investment markets confidence in Singapore and I do not believe that they would take such a risk.

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PM living in a very different era

Lee Hsien Loong may have been groomed by his father Lee Kuan Yew to be the prime minister but nothing could have prepared him for the Singapore of today.

IF Lee Hsien Loong had indeed been groomed for political leadership from childhood as popularly believed, nothing could have prepared him for the Singapore that he leads today.

In particular the change in values wrought by the Internet. Underage prostitution, online pimping, teacher-student affairs, schoolgirls film–ing themselves in the nude, etc are on the rise!

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Norway is world's most prosperous nation, reveals survey

Norway has topped the list of the world's most prosperous countries for the fifth time, followed by Denmark and Sweden in the annual rankings. The U.S., however, has dropped out of the Legatum Prosperity Index's top ten for the first time to 12th position, reports the Daily Mail. 

Scandinavian countries have continued to dominate the top of the global index, which takes measurements from across eight categories: economy, education, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, health, personal freedom, safety and security and social capital.

In Europe, overall prosperity has risen, with the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany climbing the rankings into eighth, tenth and 14th position

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Baby girl suffers stroke on first birthday



The birthday cake was ready. So was the present - a pretty skirt for baby girl Siew Jing Yew, known affectionately as Yew Yew, who turned one on Oct 16.

But what was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into a nightmare for Yew Yew's parents. The baby was warded in a Kuala Lumpur hospital on Oct 14 after coming down with a cough and fever.

Initially, 28-year-old housewife Chin Yu Fung thought her daughter would recover in time to celebrate her first birthday at home. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

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Decomposed body of elderly man found in Jalan Kukoh flat



Neighbours last saw him walking to a rubbish chute at the end of his HDB corridor several days before he was found dead. Mr Soh Boo Tuan, 81, was discovered in his one-room flat in Block 3, Jalan Kukoh, last Sunday after someone called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to say that there was a bad smell coming from the flat.

The SCDF said Mr Soh's body was already in a state of decomposition when they entered the flat. When The New Paper visited Mr Soh's flat last Thursday, neighbours said there had been a strong smell coming from the flat.

"The smell was very bad. I could even smell it from my flat on Friday (even though the body had been taken away)," said a neighbour, who lived a few doors away from Mr Koh and wanted to be known only as Kelvin.

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Public housing must keep up with rising aspirations of people: Ex—MM Lee



Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said public housing has to keep up with the rising aspirations of Singaporeans and that the facilities and design of older estates should also not fall behind newer ones.

Mr Lee was speaking at a tree planting event at Havelock View on Sunday.

Many residents of Havelock View turned up to welcome Mr Lee Kuan Yew who was there as part of the Tree Planting day celebrations.

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SDP launches policy paper on housing

As housing continues to be a talking point, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) yesterday weighed in with a new policy paper.

Entitled "Housing a nation - Holistic policies for affordable homes", the paper argued for a Non-Open Market Scheme, in which Housing Development Board (HDB) flats would be sold without land cost being factored in. Buyers of these flats would only pay the administrative, labour and construction costs of the flats, but they cannot be sold in the open market and can only be sold back to the HDB, the SDP said.

Another suggestion was a priority scheme for young families which would allow for families with two or more children under the age of 12 to be placed at the top of the queue for flat selection under the Sale of Balance Flats and Build-to-Order exercises in non-mature estates. Families with a child under the age of 12 or expectant couples would have the next pick, while other applicants such as singles would also be eligible but would be given lower priority.

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Owners of S$1.77m condo unit are a young couple

 

Channel NewsAsia understands that the owners of the record—setting Heron Bay penthouse are a young couple, who are also first—time property buyers.

The unit was sold for S$1.77 million — a high price for an executive condominium in Singapore.

Couples cannot exceed a monthly household income of S$12,000 if they want to buy an executive condominium unit.

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CCTV cameras installed to deter litterbugs in Jurong East



The National Environment Agency (NEA) has installed CCTV cameras to deter litterbugs in Jurong East, after residents living close to Block 275 Toh Guan Road complained of a foul smell coming from the trees nearby.

The cameras were fixed some 10 days ago.

And NEA said it has not received any complaints since.

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