Rice price survey

A survey on the price of rice by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) is making at least one supermarket chain see red and raising questions on whether its checks are done right.

Case released on Wednesday the prices of 10 brands of fragrant rice at eight supermarket chains.

The survey compared prices of 5kg and 10kg bags of rice - 16 products in all - on May 6 and 7, and showed that Sheng Shiong supermarket at Ten Mile Junction on Woodlands Road had the highest prices for seven.

The price difference was substantial in some cases: A 10kg bag of Golden Phoenix Fragrant Rice that cost $18.80 at a Prime supermarket was tagged at $28 at Sheng Siong, a local outfit which grew from a single neighbourhood store to a major chain in the last few years on the back of a reputation for competitive pricing.

But a Sheng Shiong spokesman said Case’s prices are wrong. (story)

45 minute commute too much for most Singaporeans

Workers in Singapore will grumble if they have to commute some distance to work, but they will readily pack their bags and fly to the ends of the earth for the right job, according to a poll by Kelly Services.

Two in three of more than 2,000 employees here polled by the recruitment firm said they were not prepared to commute more than 45 minutes each way to work, The Business Times reported yesterday.

Nearly eight in 10 of those polled would consider relocating to another country to work.

This shows that despite their reluctance to spend more time commuting, Singapore workers are highly mobile when it comes to securing the right job.

More than half - 56 per cent - of the workers polled were even ready to uproot and move to unfamiliar territories where they don’t speak the local lingo. (story)

Kidnap scam foiled

Desperately pressing a cellphone to her ear and looking confused, Madam Koh Eng Pien, 73, attracted the attention of the staff at a Maybank branch in Ang Mo Kio last month.

Employees suspected something was amiss when she insisted on transferring $2,000 to a bank account in Malaysia.

‘She was having difficulty writing down the name and account number of the recipient,’ said assistant service manager Mr Alex Wong, 28, recently. ‘I could also hear someone shouting at her through her cellphone.’

She initially claimed the money was for a friend, but later admitted it was ransom for her kidnapped son.

Bank staff told her that it was probably a scam and advised her to call her relatives. When she did, Madam Koh found out that her 40-year-old son, a coffee-shop supervisor, was at work. (story)

Jade buyout being investigated

4 organisations are now involved in the widening official probe into the aborted takeover of Singapore-listed Jade Technologies.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) have recently announced that they are also looking into the fiasco.

They have joined efforts by two other regulatory and enforcement bodies - the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), the white-collar crime unit, and the Securities Industry Council (SIC), which polices takeovers.

Earlier this month, major Jade shareholder Anthony Soh pulled the plug on a proposed $117 million buyout of the company after admitting he had insufficient funds. (story)

Singaporeans to receive $3 billion in benefits

2.4 million Singaporeans stand to get benefits of $3 billion which the Government will give out this year, money which will help many households cope with the rising cost of living.

The benefits are part of the $1.8 billion of surplus sharing - including $865 million of Growth Dividends - announced in the 2008 Budget Statement, and other measures such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) offset package, said the Finance Ministry on Monday.

Singaporeans who signed up for the GST credits last year will automatically receive their GST dues this year.

They will get letters from the CPF Board by Tuesday informing them of the amount of Growth Dividends, GST Credits and Senior Citizens’ Bonus they stand to get. (story)

Conman gets 3.5 years

A conman who cheated 10 victims of about $215,000 over the past decade was sentenced to a total of 42 months jail on Monday on nine charges.

Azman Bachok, 41, unemployed, admitted to seven charges of cheating, one count each of forgery and theft between 1998 and last November.

A district court heard that he used ruses such as getting his victim to be his cleaning contract partner, claiming to be an Australian and being able to get jobs for his friends Down Under, and getting loans from his victims to settle his legal fees before he could get hold of his civil suit claims.

He also stole $500 from a 52-year-old colleague who had asked him to withdraw $1,000 on her behalf from the ATM on Nov 20, 2004.

Instead, he withdrew $1,500 without her knowledge and kept $500 for himself. (story)

Medishield insurance gets improvements

For $10 more a month, most people will no longer have to pay huge out-of-pocket payments for big hospital bills.

Now, the Medishield insurance scheme pays only about 55 per cent of big bills in the subsidised B2 and C class wards. This means that a patient with a $10,000 a bill has to fork out $4,500.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan wants the patient’s share to be lower, at about 20 per cent. So he is almost doubling the maximum payouts, making the announcement after launching the job fair for the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Yishun on Thursday.

Premiums will go up by less than $5 a month for those younger than 60 years, and by less than $10 for people aged 60 to 80.

Dr Fatima Lateef, who is on the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health, said the increase in premiums was ‘very reasonable’ and the ‘reduction in out of pocket payment would be a great welcome.’ (story)

Singaporeans living beyond their means

Singaporeans who spend beyond their means and have to go to their MPs for help were placed under the spotlight by none other than Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday. He noted that as MPs, ‘we often see families who have over-committed themselves financially’ - for instance those who have been ‘extravagant in doing up their homes using renovation loans’, or ‘bought expensive furniture or large screen TV sets on hire purchase’.

‘The ones with the most serious problems have bought homes which are larger than they can afford, and taken mortgages which they are then unable to pay,’ he said.

Mr Lee was speaking at the 60th anniversary dinner of the Malay Youth Literary Association (popularly known by its Malay acronym 4PM), a community welfare organisation that helps young Malays.

While families who live beyond their means come from all races, ‘quite a few are Malay families’, he noted. (story)

Singapore ranked at the bottom of corruption survey, that’s good.

The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) expects corruption to emerge as a hot-button issue in Asia this year as slowing growth, rising food prices and political campaigns feed a groundswell against graft.

But Singapore is unlikely to be tainted as expatriates surveyed by the Hong Kong-based group once again rank it the least corrupt economy in the region.

The annual survey also rated Hong Kong and Japan highly among 13 Asian economies.

The Philippines was deemed the most corrupt for the second consecutive year.

Thailand, China, Indonesia, India and Vietnam fared poorly too.

The 1,400 expatriates surveyed in January and February this year were asked to grade the extent that corruption detracts from the attractiveness of the business environment they work in.

Singapore scored with its ‘no-nonsense approach to corruption’, the report said. (story)

SMRT fined $400k for service disruption

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has fined SMRT nearly $400,000 for causing severe disruption to train services betwen the Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris MRT stations on Jan 21. Services were interrupted for seven hours and 17 minutes because one portion of a maintenance train hit another parked portion during routine maintenance works.

This happened at 3.10am on the rail section between the Tampines and Simei MRT stations. The incident immobilised one of the locomotives and a rail grinding vehicle, rendering the tracks impassable.

Normal train services resumed at 12.45pm, after the vehicles were removed.

Investigations showed that the incident was the result of SMRT not complying with operating procedures. It had not secured the parked portion of the maintenance train, made up of a locomotive and a wagon, during maintenance works. (story)