Chief calls for respect during torch journey

Singapore on Monday called for respect for the Olympics torch relay as it is a symbol of peace and friendship.

Mr Ng Ser Miang, an International Olympic Committee Executive Board member from Singapore and also chairman of the Organising Committee for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2010, told Xinhua on the sidelines of a seminar on YOG, that he felt sad that the torch relay encountered some disruptions in London, Paris and San Francisco.

‘But we are happy that it was going smoothly at the latter stops which saw a lot of protection and excitement in welcoming the torch,’ he said.

‘I believe that it will get respect’, because ‘it is a very important symbol for Olympic movements, and also a symbol of peace and friendship,’ he added. (story)

Singaporean drug mule jailed 5 years

A Singaporean man who swallowed more than A$500,000 worth of heroin and then tried to smuggle it into Australia, was jailed five years by a court in Brisbane on Tuesday. Ng Teck Boon, 40, had 91 packets of heroin in his stomach when he was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on June 27 last year, The the Supreme Court in Brisbane was told.

He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug, according to a report carried on news.com.au.

Commonwealth prosecutor Paul Huygens told the court that Ng had arrived on a flight from Hong Kong and was grilled by Customs officers after looking ‘nervous’.

He quickly admitted to having swallowed a large amount of heroin before boarding the flight.

He was arrested by Australian Federal Police and spent two days in hospital while he passed out all the packages, said the online report. (story)

Singapore pilot caught with child porn

7 video files were found on the personal computer of a Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot who was fined A$12,000 for trying to bring child pornography into Australia, court documents showed on Wednesday.Some of the videos contained footage of rape, sexual violence and children engaged in sexual activity, the documents said.

Captain Ng Kok Yauw, 41, a Malaysian, piloted a Singapore Airlines flight last Saturday from Singapore to Adelaide, Australia, when customs officials searched his laptop and found video clips of child pornography, Adelaide court documents seen by Reuters said.

Ng, who appeared in court on Monday, pleaded guilty to charges of importing banned material and making a false statement to a customs officer.

He could not be reached for comment but Singapore Airlines, the world’s second-largest airline by market value, said the airline was conducting its own investigation. (story)

William Ng: criminal for life

At the age of 15, William Ng was sent to the Singapore Boys’ Home for three years for robbing and hurting a victim. He proved too troublesome there and was packed off to the Reformative Training Centre.

Since his release, Ng, now 38, continued to be in trouble with the law.

He has been jailed for fighting and causing hurt, theft, drug possession and consumption, as well as fined for traffic offences.

On Wednesday, he was sent to jail again, this time for six years and two months and ordered to be caned six times for a host of crimes.

He committed some of the offences in 2002 while still under supervision for consuming drugs a year earlier. (story)

Marcus Ng Yi Loong gets 1 week in jail

Former teen actor Marcus Ng Yi Loong, 21, began his one-week jail term on Tuesday after he failed in his appeal to get his sentence for insubordination quashed.The High Court on Tuesday upheld the jail sentence meted out by a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) court martial in July last year. He was also reprimanded by a Military Court of Appeal for being rude to his superior.

This is the second time he has been hauled up since he started his military service in September 2006.

Ng, who holds the rank of Private, is perhaps best-known as the rebellious teen in the TV sitcom Phua Chu Kang.

Ng’s troubles in the SAF began in October 2006 when his superiors at the SAF Medical Training Institute slapped him with four charges for offences including not obeying orders.

In February last year, while he was being investigated by the SAF legal process, Ng chased and argued aggressively with a 50-year-old woman Warrant Officer in his unit’s Operations Room. (story)

FairPrice extends holiday saving through Chinese New Year

Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, NTUC FairPrice, starting Thursday, with its new five per cent discount off over 500 house brand items - but only till the end of February. This latest move announced on Wednesday will cost FairPrice $3 million.

The 500-plus discounted products range from rice, bread and cooking oil to household cleaners.

‘As a social enterprise, NTUC FairPrice is mindful of its role in helping to moderate the cost of living in Singapore,’ said the cooperative’s chairman Ng Ser Miang.

For example, Mr Chong Kiang Leong, a taxi driver and the breadwinner of a family of six, has managed to reduce his family’s $160 weekly grocery bill by $25. (story)

Singapore officer lauded for work in Afghanistan

People ould start to queue outside dentist Lee Chee Wee’s clinic from midnight. Many had travelled from many kilometres away. This was not an everyday scene here but in Afghanistan.

Major (Dr) Lee, 32, a dental officer from the Singapore Armed Forces HQ Medical Corps, was part of a five-man SAF team which set up a dental clinic in a hospital in the country’s Bamiyan province.

On Thursday, he was among 46 servicemen who received the Overseas Service Medal and Bar (Enhanced) from Second Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen. (story)

Starworth fails to apologize for hair in bride’s soup

All she wanted was a sincere apology for a strand of hair found in a bowl of shark’s fin soup at her wedding dinner. But the matter blew up into a month-long exchange between the bride, Mrs Wendy Scully, 29, and Starworth, the company which runs events at the Chijmes Hall.

When the public relations manager felt she was getting nowhere, she shot a letter to this newspaper on Tuesday.

By then, it was not just the 15cm strand of hair that riled her, but Starworth general manager K.K. Ng’s suggestion that it could have come from one of her guests.

‘He told me it is common to find hair in food,’ she told The Straits Times. (story)

Workplace discrimination growing problem

Minister for Manpower Ng Eng Hen cited these two examples on Tuesday to drive home the message about giving equal opportunity to all workers so that employers can benefit fully from the individual worth of every worker. Calling discrimination at the workplace a ‘triple tragedy’, Dr Ng, who is also Second Defence Minister, said at the launch of the Tripartite Centre for Fair Employment: ‘It robs employees of a chance to prove their value, make a living and feed their families. It limits employers from getting the most from all available human resources.’

‘Lastly, but certainly not the least, it impoverishes our nation, which has become an icon of meritocracy and equality.’

‘Just think of what might have been lost if their employers chose not to interview Mr Tan just because he was 61 when he applied for the job, or Madam Sarasvathy because she had several young children.’ (story)

Motorcyclist in hospital after freak accident

A freak accident on Sunday afternoon saw a motorcyclist’s neck sliced open after it got caught in a lightning conductor that had come loose from a pedestrian overhead bridge. The motorcyclist Mr Adrian Ng was travelling along Thomson Road with his pillion rider and girlfriend Carol Hwee when it happened just in front of the Thomson Meidical Centre.

The incident left the 28-year-old chef in Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s high dependency unit with severe injury to his neck.

His voice box and thyroid gland is also damaged and doctors have also created a tracheostomy - an opening in his throat - to help him breathe. (link)