How the tax payers' monies are mis-spent

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Woman jailed 27 months for defrauding former Workforce Development Agency​

Elaine Lee

AUG 22, 2023

SINGAPORE - A woman was sentenced to 27 months’ jail on Friday for defrauding the former Workforce Development Agency (WDA) in relation to a funding scheme.
Liu Mei Ying, who was a sole director and shareholder of two training providers – Derma Floral Beauty Academy and Derma Floral Beauty – was on July 3 convicted of 27 fraud-related charges after a trial, the police said on Saturday.
She was also the sole proprietor of Beaux Ex Bellus Trading. The companies are collectively known as Derma Floral Group.
Liu has appealed against the conviction and sentence.
Under WDA’s funding scheme, companies and registered businesses could apply online for training grants to fund their employees’ participation in courses run by approved training providers. The scheme was aimed at encouraging employers to upgrade their employees’ skills by helping to defray training costs.
For WDA to disburse any grant, a participant must fulfil 75 per cent of the required course attendance. For the agency to disburse the absentee payroll grant, the participant must be an employee of the applicant company for the entire course duration. An absentee payroll grant helps an employer defray the manpower cost incurred when it sends an employee for training.
Between December 2011 and July 2013, Liu instigated her employee, Lau Pin Lin, to carry out a series of fraudulent acts in relation to the scheme.

These included deceiving WDA into disbursing $62,983.77 in training grants to Derma Floral Group and two companies that sent their employees for training at Liu’s company. False information about trainees from Liu’s company was submitted to WDA online.
Lau made eight online submissions to WDA, falsely stating that six trainees of eight courses conducted by Derma Floral Group had attended at least 75 per cent of their respective course hours for these eight courses.
Liu instigated Lau to conceal the fraud by creating sham documents and submitting some of them to WDA during its audit of the training grants disbursed to Derma Floral Group.
Liu also instigated Lau to cheat WDA into consenting to Derma Floral Beauty Academy and Derma Floral Beauty retaining the training grants earlier disbursed to them by submitting eight sets of attendance records to WDA falsely showing that two trainees had attended at least 75 per cent of two courses.
Lau was convicted on Aug 23, 2019, after pleading guilty to her offences in this series of fraud. On Sept 13, 2019, she was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail.
WDA was reconstituted in 2016 into two statutory boards, Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

 

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Tuition centre owner jailed over bogus claims for $126k in grants under government assistance scheme​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

OCT 4, 2023

SINGAPORE – The owner of a tuition centre created seven phantom trainees and submitted 63 fraudulent claims to obtain grants totalling $126,749 under a government initiative aimed at helping people improve their employability during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gerard Lim Jian Rong, 36, was sentenced to 22 months’ jail on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating and a forgery charge. Six other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Lim abused the SGUnited Traineeships Programme (SGUT), which the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Workforce Singapore agency introduced in March 2020 to help trainees develop industry-relevant skills amid the weaker hiring climate during the pandemic.
The prosecutor said trainees under the programme were usually fresh graduates, and Success.Nat Tutorial Centre, which Lim owns, was a host organisation under the initiative.
Lim duped the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), which was managing and administering the programme, into disbursing the grants to the centre after submitting the details of people who were not trainees at the centre.
At the time, he was the principal of Success.Nat and its key decision-maker, and was also responsible for its day-to-day operations, which Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh said included planning classes and hiring tutors.
As a host organisation, the firm would administer programmes and pay trainees a monthly allowance.

The DPP told the court that a host organisation could obtain a training grant of 80 per cent of the monthly training allowance paid to its trainees.
This grant would be disbursed by SBF, but the monies for these grants were public funds from MOM’s budget.
Among other things, the host organisation must send supporting documents such as payment slips to SBF every month to claim the training allowance grants.


SBF would then assess and approve the claims before disbursing the monies.
Lim hatched a plan to dupe SBF into disbursing training allowance grants to Success.Nat.

He placed job advertisements for the role of teaching and curriculum executive on several portals, with the hashtag “#SGUnited Traineeships”.
Those who were interested in applying for this role would contact Lim and e-mail him their resumes, NRIC details and academic transcripts.
The DPP said: “The accused would not respond... as he had no intention of onboarding them on traineeships with Success.Nat.
“Instead, the accused used their details to fill up the ‘Appointed Trainee under SGUT’ form and submit the same to SBF.”
Lim would prepare the required documents such as the training agreements, which he submitted to SBF to give the impression that these individuals purportedly had traineeships with Success.Nat from October 2020 to June 2021.
Lim would also indicate to SBF that he was paying the purported trainees the maximum training allowance of $2,500 a month.
DPP Soh told the court: “In reality, the accused submitted the documents... without the knowledge and consent of the purported trainees. The accused never onboarded any of the purported trainees and did not pay them any training allowances.”

He also forged the signatures of purported trainees on seven training agreements.
Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but Lim was charged in court in March 2023.
He made full restitution on Feb 18, 2022.

 

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No concerns detected during weekly check-ins with girl who was sexually abused for nearly 3 months: MSF​

The girl was taken in by a man after she was traumatised by her mother’s death and father’s sexual abuse. But the man sexually assaulted her almost every day for close to three months.

Photo illustration of a child in distress. (File photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)

Michael Yong​

04 Dec 2023

Warning: This story contains references to suicide.
SINGAPORE: Authorities did not detect “sexual abuse concerns” during weekly sessions with a girl who was sexually assaulted almost every day for about three months by a man who wanted to adopt her.
In response to queries from CNA, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said on Monday (Dec 4) that the girl did not “disclose the abuse to them” until she told a school teacher.
Last Tuesday, the 39-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane for his crimes.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of exploitative sexual penetration of a minor who is 16 or 17, with another nine charges taken into consideration.
The girl was under the care of MSF and in the process of being adopted when she moved in to stay with the man and his wife full-time.
She was sexually assaulted almost every day during her stay from September 2020 to November 2020, the court heard.
Questions were raised after the court case about why the abuse went undetected for nearly three months. The girl also started to engage in self-harm during the period of abuse.
The ministry told CNA that the girl had been receiving support from a team of professionals, which included psychologists and case workers from a treatment centre, a psychiatrist and a psychologist from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and a Child Protection Officer.
During her stay with the couple, check-ins and sessions were conducted every week on average by at least one of the professionals, where the girl's well-being, safety and progress were monitored.
The couple also had regular sessions with the professionals and were "observed to be capable of providing supportive care" for her.
"During this period, the professionals did not detect sexual abuse concerns, nor did the young person disclose the abuse to them until she told her school teacher in Nov 2020," said MSF.
"Although the young person had some signs of self-harm, that would not have indicated that she was being sexually abused, as due to her past trauma history, the young person had ongoing self-harm behaviour before she was under the care of the couple."

THE CASE​

The girl, who is now 19 years old, was 13 when her mother took her own life in front of her in 2017.
She suffered from adjustment disorder with depressed mood after, but the girl’s father did not let her or her siblings mourn their mother’s death.
The girl was sexually abused by her father in January 2018, several months after her mother died. She overdosed on medication and was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health, where she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She was removed from her father’s care about two months later and placed in the care of a family friend. The teenager stopped engaging in self-harm, but this resumed in June 2018 after the suicide of a close friend.
In September 2018, MSF placed her in a treatment centre aimed at helping girls who have suffered trauma or abuse.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, first met the girl that month when he ran a programme at the treatment centre. He was a manager at a company which conducts camps for children.
He and his wife later agreed to adopt the girl, and they were told of the girl’s traumatic past and her mental health issues.
In December 2019, the victim started home leave with the couple and stayed overnight at their home. She sometimes slept on the bed with the couple when she had trouble sleeping.
Between January 2020 and March 2020, her mental health deteriorated and she was moved back to the treatment centre. The couple visited her regularly as they did not want her to feel abandoned.
After the COVID-19 “circuit breaker” in April and May 2020, her home leave with the couple resumed – mostly for two to three days at a time – from June 2020 to August 2020.
The sexual abuse started in September that year, with the man asking her to remove her clothes to participate in an “activity” using a mirror before he molested her.
He also molested her on multiple occasions in the first half of that month.
Despite the abuse, she started extended home leave with the couple and began staying at their home full-time on Sep 15, 2020.
The man began sexually assaulting the girl on an almost daily basis. The girl would experience panic attacks during the assaults.
On Oct 4, 2020, the man and his wife were formally appointed “kith caregivers” by MSF while the adoption process was ongoing.
Kith caregivers are non-familial adults known to a child through family or community connections, and they are not registered as foster parents, MSF said.
Over the next few months, he continued to sexually assault the girl nearly every day until the middle of November. The crimes were only discovered after the girl told a teacher on Nov 30, 2020.
The girl is currently staying with her relatives. She is receiving support from a Family Service Centre social worker and a hospital psychologist, said MSF.

PHASED CONTACTS​

During her stay at the treatment centre, she had regular check-ins and therapy sessions with the team of professionals.
Before she started going over to stay at the couple’s home, there were “phased contacts” between the couple and her.
These ranged from supervised visits at the treatment centre, to outings, before progressing to home leave and full-time care.
“For this case, there were regular therapy sessions, check-ins and home visits by professionals both prior to and during the young person’s home leave, as well as during her stay with the couple daily from Sep 15, 2020, onwards,” said the ministry.
But the abuse was not detected by the professionals.
MSF said that child abuse is “often hard to detect, particularly when a caregiver actively hides it”.
“This case highlights how detection can be difficult even with close and constant support provided by professionals,” said the ministry.
“It also shows the critical role of having trusted individuals in one’s life. In this case, if not for the teacher whom the young person trusted and confided in, the abuse might have remained hidden much longer.”
When asked why the couple were allowed to take her in, MSF said the man and his wife had “no prior criminal record and adverse history”.
They were volunteers at the treatment centre where the girl was staying.
“No risk factors emerged during the assessment of the couple’s suitability as kith caregivers for the young person in question,” said MSF.
“Trained professionals assessed them as caring and capable of supporting her needs.”
The couple did not follow through with the adoption process, said MSF.

 

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Man who sexually abused teen girl he wanted to adopt had no criminal record: MSF​

Wong Shiying

Dec 4, 2023

SINGAPORE – The man who sexually abused a teenage girl whom he wanted to adopt had no criminal record and adverse history, and professionals did not detect any abuse during regular check-ins with the offender, his wife and the victim.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on Dec 4 said the couple were volunteers at the therapeutic group home where the girl was residing.
The teenager, who was under the care of MSF, had moved in with the home after her father subjected her to sexual abuse by touching her inappropriately in January 2018.
The girl, who was 16 when she moved in with the couple, was in the process of being adopted when she was sexually assaulted by the man who wanted to take her in.
The 39-year-old man was on Nov 28 sentenced to 10 years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to four counts of exploitative sexual penetration of a minor who is 16 or 17.
Another nine charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
MSF said there were phased contacts between the couple and the victim before the girl started living with the man and his wife in their home.

She met them during supervised visitations at the therapeutic group home, as well as at outings, before it progressed to home leave and full-time care.
“From December 2019 to early April 2020 before circuit breaker, she was on home leave with the couple that started from a day to a few days a week.
“Her home leave was suspended during circuit breaker from April to May 2020 and resumed gradually from June 2020. From Sept 15, 2020, she stayed with the couple daily,” the ministry added.

Between September and mid-November 2020, the man subjected her to multiple forms of sexual penetration, including sodomy. The acts took place almost daily.
MSF said despite weekly check-ins with professionals to monitor the girl’s well-being, safety and progress, as well as the couple’s regular sessions with professionals to assess their ability to care for her, no sexual abuse concerns were detected.
The professionals included psychologists and case workers from the therapeutic group home, a psychiatrist and a psychologist from the Institute of Mental Health, and a child protection officer.
MSF said child abuse is often hard to detect, particularly when a caregiver actively hides it.
The ministry added: “This case highlights how detection can be difficult even with close and constant support provided by professionals.
“It also shows the critical role of having trusted individuals in one’s life. In this case, if not for the teacher the young person trusted and confided in, the abuse might have remained hidden for much longer.”

The man who abused her was a manager at a youth leadership development firm at the time and the father of two young boys. He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity.
The girl was 13 in June 2017 when her mother killed herself in front of her. As a result, she suffered from adjustment disorder with depressed mood.
In January 2018, her father subjected her to sexual abuse by touching her inappropriately. She was removed from her father’s care in March 2018 and MSF placed her in the care of a family friend.
In June 2018, one of her close friends committed suicide and the girl later engaged in self-harm by repeatedly using a blade to cut her limbs.
Assessed to be a suicide risk, she was placed in a centre designed to help girls who suffered trauma or abuse reintegrate into society.
The company that the offender was working in was running a camp for girls in June 2019. This was where he met the victim, who was a camp participant.
During the camp, she told the offender that she was hoping for foster care or adoption, as she could not return to her biological family.
The man’s wife agreed with his decision to adopt the girl. His family was later assessed by MSF to be suitable caregivers.
In September 2020, she was at the man’s home when he suggested they take part in an activity. He told her to stand topless before a mirror and describe what she saw while he stood blindfolded nearby.
She did not know what the activity was for, but assumed it might be some form of therapy for her.
Soon after, he started to rub her chest, claiming it would help her body release some “love chemicals”.
This happened on multiple occasions, and she allowed him to do so as she trusted the man and felt close to him.

Between September and November 2020, he also sexually penetrated her, made her perform sex acts on him and would sometimes use his mobile phone to take photographs and videos of the acts.
The court heard that the girl felt guilty after the sexual acts and started harming herself again. She also felt that she was “trash and worthless”.
She told a teacher about her ordeal, who then alerted the police.
MSF said in its reply that all volunteers in MSF-funded programmes involving contact with clients undergo background reference checks and suitability assessments by social service agencies.
“No risk factors emerged during the assessment of the couple’s suitability as kith caregivers for the girl. Trained professionals assessed them as caring and capable of supporting her needs,” the ministry added.
Kith caregivers are non-familial adults known to the child through family or community connections, and they are not registered as foster parents.
MSF said the girl did not disclose the abuse to professionals supporting her until she told her school teacher in November 2020.
MSF added: “Although the young person had some signs of self-harm, that would not have indicated that she was being sexually abused, as due to her past trauma history, she had ongoing self-harm behaviour before she was under the care of the couple.”
The teen is now staying with her relatives and receiving support from a family service centre social worker and a hospital psychologist.

 

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S’pore won’t claim from climate fund, but will help others access it: Grace Fu​

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said Singapore will not claim from the fund despite investing heavily in coastal protection measures. PHOTO: REUTERS

Cheryl Tan

DEC 12, 2023

DUBAI – Singapore will not be claiming from a fund that compensates countries for the loss and damage that they face arising from climate change.
Instead, it will support fellow countries from the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) to help them receive money from the fund, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said on Dec 11.
Speaking to reporters outside the Singapore Pavilion at the United Nations COP28 climate talks, Ms Fu said the Republic will not claim from the fund despite investing heavily in coastal protection measures. Singapore has estimated that at least $100 billion will be needed in the long term to fight against rising sea levels.
“What we really want to see is help (given) to our fellow islanders, our brothers and sisters in Aosis, to help (them) tap these funds, as many face difficulties doing so due to a lack of technical capacity,” she added.
At least US$790 million (S$1.06 billion) has been pledged to the historic loss and damage fund, which sees developed countries that have contributed largely to climate change paying developing countries for the climate-induced damages they are experiencing.
The fund will be hosted through the World Bank for the first four years.
Singapore is part of the Aosis negotiating bloc, which includes many small island states such as the Pacific island nations, which have already suffered from climate change acutely through the loss of land and property damage due to sea-level rise. Some communities have also been forced to relocate.

To receive money from the fund, countries must submit plans and feasibility studies. The lack of technical capability to provide such information is often what is holding them back from submission, Ms Fu said.
Singapore could help countries that are developing their national adaptation plan, which needs details on how they deal with food and water security.
“So, I think Singapore plays a useful role in getting capability building, technical assistance, working with other countries that have the ability to do so, the resources to do so, to help our fellow island states to get better access (to the fund) to help them recover faster from disaster,” Ms Fu added.

The World Bank being the host of the fund was a sticking point for developing countries.
They were worried that it was not truly an independent fund as it is based in the United States, and the administrative processes required of them would hence make it difficult to access the money.
In February, Ms Fu said in Parliament that Singapore, classified as a developing country in international negotiations, is an eligible recipient of the loss and damage fund.
She added at the time that Singapore had not decided if it would contribute to the fund, or claim from it, a position that drew the ire of youth climate groups here.
The groups felt it would be unjust for the Republic to take from the fund as it could deprive other climate-wrought countries from getting the compensation that they needed.
Asked by The Straits Times at COP28 on whether Singapore will be contributing to other sources of finance, such as adaptation or climate finance in general, Ms Fu said: “We see our role really as galvanising finance...
“The idea is that from the little resources that we have in Singapore, how (we) can lever up... like a fulcrum. From $1 that we are putting on the table, we are able to get $7, $8, $9 of funding.
“We have put in some money to start that funding arrangement, and we are very optimistic that the amount that we have on blended finance, the amount that we put into the seed companies, for example, will see scaling effects in the years to come.”
The Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership’s US$5 billion blended finance initiative is meant to channel finance to projects that would otherwise not be profitable, such as those in clean energy, nature-based solutions, and waste and water management.
This initiative involves Singapore’s central bank and other partners like the International Finance Corporation and Temasek.
Ms Fu and Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide are facilitating negotiations on mitigation at COP28, which is a key prong of the Paris Agreement as it entails reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C.

When asked if countries are going to agree on a term like the “phase-out” of fossil fuels, or whether there might be other options that come up later on, she said: “The issue about energy transition is a significant one.
“The presidency has really made this the core issue. What we have found over the last few days is that there’s a great convergence over the need to move to 1.5 deg C and for (greater climate) ambition.”
However, countries are divided on how to get there, especially as they all have many concerns and expectations, she added.
One of the hotly debated points of COP28 is the language around the “phase-out” of fossil fuels, and whether it will be a complete phase-out, or only the phase-out of “unabated” fossil fuels. Abated fossil fuels refer to the use of carbon capture technologies to ensure emissions are less intensive.
Ms Fu said: “So we will have to work through the language to find possible landing zones... I think the intention is to have a good energy transition message, and I think that is still a work in progress.”
As for Singapore’s position on fossil fuels, she said that Singapore is still reliant on these, given the limited natural energy and renewable energy sources here. Singapore is powered by around 95 per cent natural gas.
“We’re also talking about the possibility of importing renewable energy from the region, which is really going out of our comfort zone, if you think about issues with energy security, but we felt that it is an important part for us to decarbonise our energy sector,” she added.
Singapore is also looking at new technologies like green hydrogen, which is not cost-effective at the moment but crucial for the Republic to explore to play its role in energy decarbonisation.
“We are also accountable to our own people for the economic livelihoods... so we have to strike a balance in accelerating our decarbonisation journey and also making sure that the transition is an orderly, reasonable one that gives us affordable and accessible energy,” Ms Fu added.

 

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$40 million spent

LTA shelves plan to replace older public transport payment cards with SimplyGo by June 1​

The authorities will spend an extra $40 million to allow commuters to continue using ez-link and Nets FlashPay cards. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Lee Nian Tjoe and Kok Yufeng

Jan 22, 20234

SINGAPORE - Holders of older ez-link cards that are not on SimplyGo, an account-based ticketing platform, will no longer have to update their cards by June 1 to pay for public transport.
Nets FlashPay cards will also continue being accepted for adult fare payments, and there will be no need to exchange them for a Nets Prepaid card to pay for bus and train rides by June 1.
The authorities said on Jan 22 that they are pulling the plug on the planned transition after public backlash.
Announcing the change in a Facebook post on Jan 22, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the authorities will spend an extra $40 million to allow commuters to continue using ez-link and Nets FlashPay cards, which use a card-based ticketing system that stores transaction data on the cards.
This is unlike SimplyGo, which processes fare payments at the back end.
“We have decided to extend the use of the current (card-based ticketing system) for adult commuters, and not to sunset the system in 2024 as originally planned,” Mr Chee wrote.
The decision, he added, was made after considering concerns among commuters since the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) announcement on Jan 9 that they would not be able to see fare deductions and card balances at fare gates and bus card readers with the switch to SimplyGo.

Mr Chee apologised for the delays experienced by commuters who tried to convert their older ez-link cards since Jan 9.
The Straits Times reported that the SimplyGo app became overwhelmed a day after the news broke, with users unable to use some of the app’s features. Passengers also faced difficulties in upgrading their ez-link cards to SimplyGo at ticketing offices and machines at MRT stations and bus interchanges, with the problem persisting into Jan 11.
“This could have been avoided with better preparation,” Mr Chee acknowledged, adding that LTA has worked to deal with these issues by updating the SimplyGo app and speeding up the card-conversion process.

Those who updated their ez-link cards to SimplyGo between Jan 9 and Jan 22, or bought SimplyGo-compatible ez-link cards during that period, will be able to exchange their cards for those that rely on the older ticketing system for free, if they prefer.
LTA said details about how this card exchange will be done will be made public by the end of February, citing the need for preparation time to minimise inconvenience to passengers.
Concession card holders, such as students and seniors, will also be able to revert to non-SimplyGo cards as part of this exchange.

Mr Chee said he has given LTA the task of studying ways to improve account-based ticketing cards. In particular, he has asked the agency to look into possible solutions for these newer cards to display fare deductions and card balances at fare gates and bus card readers.
The minister noted, however, that for the moment, there is no technical solution to this problem, and Singapore is not alone in facing this issue.
Like SimplyGo, account-based transit cards used in London and Hong Kong do not display fare deductions and card balances at fare gates as well, he said.
Earlier, LTA had said in response to media queries that while it was technically possible for fare and card balance information to be shown at fare gates and bus card readers with SimplyGo, it would take a few seconds to retrieve this information from the back-end system, and slow down the entry and exit of passengers. This would result in longer queues.
With SimplyGo, the idea was for a user to be able to view fare deductions and balances using a smartphone app, which can notify the user once he or she taps out from a bus or MRT stop.
Alternatively, users can also obtain fare information at ticketing machines at MRT stations and bus interchanges.
Other touted benefits of SimplyGo are that users are able to block further transactions through the app if they lose the cards and top up their travel cards on the move.
Yet many who still use older ez-link and Nets FlashPay cards expressed frustration over the reduced functionality that came with switching to SimplyGo. For instance, after the transition, the updated ez-link cards can no longer be used to pay for motoring expenses such as parking and Electronic Road Pricing charges.
After drawing flak from the public, a sign that the authorities had changed their minds came on Jan 19, when a free exchange of Nets FlashPay cards for Nets Prepaid cards that was planned to start that day was postponed on the day itself “until further notice”.

 

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Forum: ‘Yes’ to new fare cards if commuters had known about $40m​

JAN 30, 2024

I am disappointed that the Land Transport Authority is thinking of spending $40 million to extend the usage of the existing fare cards, mainly so that commuters can see fare deductions and card balances when tapping out at fare gates (Phasing out older payment cards in SimplyGo switch a ‘judgment error’, says Transport Minister, Jan 26).
If the public had known that so much money would be involved in keeping the old system, we would definitely be able to accept the minor inconvenience of not being able to see fare deductions and card balances when we tap out.
Therefore it was the right decision to retire the older cards but commuters just needed to know the reason for the change and the costs involved for keeping them.

Lin Hay Tsu

 

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Forum: Explain what happened during SimplyGo U-turn​

JAN 24, 2024


The announcement that commuters no longer need to switch to SimplyGo as the Land Transport Authority reversed its decision to scrap the older ticketing system by June was unexpected (LTA shelves plan to replace older public transport payment cards with SimplyGo by June, Jan 22).
After money was spent on a supposedly well-thought-through initiative, another $40 million will be spent so that commuters can continue using ez-link and Nets FlashPay cards for public transport.
It was reported the funds will be spent on maintaining and replacing the hardware of the card-based ticketing system. The authorities should still give a breakdown and account for the money spent.
In addition, the hiccups commuters experienced in the upgrading process are disappointing.
It was reported that people could not use some of the SimplyGo app’s features and passengers faced difficulties in upgrading their ez-link cards to SimplyGo cards after the news of the conversion broke.
I hope the authorities will explain clearly to commuters what happened during this U-turn.

Ng Lee Kwang

 

[50000]

govt collects too much money
budgets become too fat and easy to obtain
the agencies will create grand schemes to justify their budgets and to show that they are proactive
this is made worse by the fear that if the budget is not spent, it will be reduced the following year hence leading to even more frivolous spendings

I would like to see the day that the finance minister actually maintains or cut the budget, that's when priorities will be given and proper spending is made

 

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Forum: Merge OneService and LifeSG apps into one​

JAN 17, 2024

Like others whom I have spoken to, I am confused that OneService and LifeSG apps have overlapping services.
For example, when you report illegal parking in HDB estates on the OneService app, occasionally you will be prompted on whether you want to use the LifeSG app or stay with OneService.
Other services in the OneService app such as those on helping neighbours, booking facilities, construction noise, cleanliness, maintenance issues, HDB facilities and greenery are also found in LifeSG.
To avoid duplication, LifeSG should just focus on issues such as those concerning citizenship and community, education and learning, end of life, and family and parenting; and OneService solely on municipal issues.
Or both apps could be consolidated into one brand-new app that is more user-friendly.

Cheng Lai Wah

 

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Forum: Amount of carbon dioxide to be removed by $27m facility just a drop in the ocean​

MAR 05, 2024

I question the ecological and fiscal wisdom of investing $27 million to remove some 3,650 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the ocean yearly (PUB to build world’s largest facility to help remove CO2 from ocean, Feb 27).
The article states that by removing the CO2 from the sea, the seawater can absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere when it is pumped back into the ocean. Does this absorption of additional CO2 – a minuscule fraction of all the carbon dioxide the world economy pumps into the earth’s atmosphere – make the world a better place?
We are spending $27 million on a project that provides no ecological benefit to the world – and no material benefit to Singaporeans. This money could have been better spent on the physical infrastructure or economic security of Singapore’s people.

Eric J. Brooks

Article below:

PUB to build world’s largest facility to help remove CO2 from ocean​

Once fully operational in 2025, the facility can remove 3,650 tonnes of CO2 from the ocean yearly. PHOTO: EQUATIC

Cheryl Tan
Correspondent

FEB 28, 2024

SINGAPORE – As part of its efforts to tackle climate change, Singapore will be constructing the world’s largest facility to boost the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
The US$20 million (S$27 million) plant, once fully operational in 2025, will be able to remove some 3,650 tonnes of CO2 from the ocean yearly, while helping PUB to decarbonise its water treatment processes, the national water agency said on Feb 27.
When the seawater is pumped back into the ocean, it has the capacity to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere.
The plan comes after two smaller pilot facilities – one in PUB’s R&D desalination plant in Tuas, and the other in the Port of Los Angeles – proved successful in removing CO2.
Both plants, which were set up in April 2023, are each able to remove some 100kg of the greenhouse gas from the ocean each day.
The technology, designed by American start-up Equatic, works by pumping seawater from adjacent desalination plants through electricity. This leads to a series of chemical reactions that split the seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. The dissolved CO2 is combined with minerals in seawater like calcium and magnesium to produce solid limestone – essentially trapping the CO2 for at least 10,000 years.
The process mimics the natural formation of seashells, and the solid calcium and magnesium-based materials can either be stored on the ocean floor, or potentially be used for construction materials if found viable.

The new plant known as Equatic-1, which will replace the one in Tuas, will demonstrate if the CO2 removal technology can work on a larger scale to meet PUB’s targets.
The planned facility will also produce some 300kg of hydrogen daily, which can power the plant or be used in other industrial applications.
Equatic-1 is expected to begin operations in the last quarter of 2024, starting with one tonne a day, with help from a multidisciplinary team comprising researchers and technology-scaling experts from the start-up and the Institute for Carbon Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This will be scaled up to 10 tonnes per day in the second quarter of 2025.

As PUB’s water treatment processes, including desalination, are energy-intensive, it is looking to invest in research and development to reduce energy use and help capture and remove CO2 from its operations. The agency has a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
The new plant will be equipped to remove some 10 tonnes of CO2 a day – a hundred times more than each of the two existing pilot plants.
PUB said the processed seawater will be further treated to reduce any potential impact to the marine environment. “PUB and Equatic will closely monitor any environmental impact arising from the operations of the demonstration plant (Equatic-1) via an independent consultant,” said its spokesman.
Once the new facility proves successful, Equatic will scale and commercialise its technology globally, said Professor Gaurav Sant, co-founder of the start-up and director of the Institute for Carbon Management.
On a commercial scale, the plant will be able to remove some 110,000 tonnes of CO2 yearly, equivalent to the carbon emissions of 25,000 people.
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A number of US start-ups are making headway in technologies to remove ocean-based carbon dioxide. For instance, California-based firm Ebb Carbon is planning to use electricity to make ocean water more alkaline, which would help absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere. It is planning to build its first small-scale plant in the Californian city of Pasadena to remove CO2 for storage underground or to be used for industrial processes.
RunningTide, based in Maine in the United States, signed an agreement with Microsoft, which aims to be carbon-negative by 2030, to remove and store some 12,000 tonnes of CO2 from the ocean by growing seaweed, which absorbs CO2 as it grows.
A 2018 report by the United Nations’ top climate science body – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – projected that around 100 to 1,000 gigatonnes of CO2 will need to be removed by the end of the century in order to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C.
Some methods of CO2 removal include planting new trees and using direct air capture technologies that suck CO2 from the atmosphere for permanent storage deep underground. Ocean-based means can also be used, and these involve harnessing various physical and chemical properties of the ocean to enhance its ability to store carbon.
Oceans are a natural store of CO2, absorbing around 30 per cent of CO2 emissions from human activity.
However, the increased uptake of CO2 has caused warming oceans, ocean acidification and oxygen loss, destroying many marine ecosystems and habitats. This affects the ocean’s ability to continue providing food, supporting livelihoods and insulating the world from the worsening impacts of climate change.
The costs of technologies that remove CO2 from oceans still remain high, and it is unclear what their impact might be on the ocean ecosystems, or if they could still be viable at a larger scale.
The project is funded by PUB, the National Research Foundation and the Institute for Carbon Management.
Once Equatic-1 is operational, carbon credits will be generated through the process, each representing a tonne of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere.
PUB said that the credits will be allocated to each of the three project partners according to the proportion of funding that they had put in.


Equatic has already entered into agreements with companies like Boeing for the purchase of carbon credits from future commercial plants.
PUB added that it will continue to study the potential of integrating the technology as part of the desalination process in its plants, to determine which stage of the process would provide the most benefits in terms of net carbon abatement.
For example, capturing carbon dioxide from seawater at the beginning of the desalination process could help lower the overall energy requirements of desalination.
PUB’s chief engineering and technology officer Pang Chee Meng said: “We are pleased to further our collaboration with UCLA and Equatic to develop a solution that has potential synergies with PUB’s desalination plants.
“We firmly believe that technological advancements, delivered in partnership with academia and the private sector, hold the key to addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.”

 

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Forum: Change in funding models essential for Healthier SG’s success​

MAR 05, 2024

I found the recent Opinion piece on Healthier SG’s potential highly insightful (Art therapy and befriending services: Doctors should prescribe these in some cases, March 2).
Healthier SG represents a significant step towards improving public health, but its success hinges on addressing inconsistencies between the programme’s goals and existing healthcare funding models.
A crucial oversight lies in the programme’s apparent disregard for those who rely mainly on employer-provided insurance, which often restricts coverage to only specific networks of general practitioners (GPs). These GPs may not be enrolled in Healthier SG.
Some companies may subsidise non-panel clinics that are enrolled in Healthier SG, but employees may have to fork out more than at panel clinics.
This problem is particularly acute and disruptive when employees switch employers, or when employers change insurance providers. In both scenarios, individuals are forced to navigate a new network of enrolled GPs, hindering the crucial continuity of care essential for successful preventive healthcare.
Building trust and rapport with a familiar GP is vital for individuals to openly discuss health concerns, adhere to treatment plans, participate in preventive screenings and, as the Opinion piece mentioned, receive social prescription. Employer-provided insurance plans, with their limitations, directly contradict this fundamental requirement.
To ensure Healthier SG’s long-term success, a shift in funding models is essential. We need a system that prioritises continuity and incentivises all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, employers and insurers, to engage in long-term relationships.

The Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) existing efforts to promote portable medical benefits, while facing a low uptake, offer a valuable head start.
Collaborative efforts between MOM and the Ministry of Health may be crucial to ensure Healthier SG reaches its full potential.

Shawn Lee Chieh Loong (Dr)

 

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15 police cars to search for 2 hours to find a mobile phone snatch thief!

Woman who lied to police that her mobile phone was snatched gets 5 days’ jail​

Lee Yi-Ching’s lies caused the police to activate 15 fast response cars to conduct a manhunt that lasted nearly two hours. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

MAR 21, 2024

SINGAPORE – A woman lied to the police that a man she did not know had snatched her mobile phone in Geylang when, in fact, her boyfriend was in possession of the device at the time.
The prosecution said that she dropped the device when they quarrelled, and she was aware that her boyfriend had picked it up.
Thirty-six-year-old Lee Yi-Ching’s lies caused the police to activate 15 fast response cars to conduct a manhunt that lasted nearly two hours.
Police officers were also tasked to review footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around Lorong 32 Geylang.
The truth emerged when the police interviewed the Taiwanese woman’s boyfriend who said that he had taken the mobile phone and had intended to return it to her.
Lee finally admitted to her lies on Aug 25, 2023.
Deputy Public Prosecutor John Lu told the court: “The accused confessed that she had quarrelled with her boyfriend the previous day and he wanted to return the mobile phone to her, but she was upset with him.

“The accused also clarified that her boyfriend did not snatch or steal the mobile phone from her.”
On March 21, Lee pleaded guilty to giving false information to a public servant and was sentenced to five days’ jail.
Her boyfriend told investigators during an interview that he was with her at a pub in Sembawang on Aug 24, 2023.

The couple left at around 9pm and he drove her home in a van. For reasons not disclosed in court documents, Lee, who had consumed alcohol, screamed at the man before she alighted.
The man also got out of the vehicle and was walking her home when she dropped her mobile phone.
He picked it up but Lee refused to take back the device. Instead, she screamed at him when he tried to return it to her.
Her boyfriend left the premises with the mobile phone and decided to hand it to her the next day.

Shortly after 10pm, Lee went to Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre and told a police officer that an unknown man had snatched her mobile phone while she was on her way home in Lorong 32 Geylang.
During the investigation, officers viewed CCTV footage showing her getting out of a van with a man before she got into an argument with him.
Police officers interviewed the boyfriend at around 3.15am, and he revealed that he had kept the mobile phone after Lee refused to take it back from him.
On March 21, the DPP urged the court to sentence Lee to up to a week in jail.
Stressing that her lies had resulted in a complete and significant waste of public resources, he added: “The accused maintained the false narrative for 16 hours and 42 minutes which resulted in the accused’s boyfriend having to be inconvenienced by the surprise and unpleasantness of the police investigations.”
For giving false information to a public servant, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined.