Dear ASS Editors,

My mountain bike got stolen: On 11 Jan 2016, bike was left unattended at casa Maria within the compound of Nativity Church 1259 upper serangoon road at around 2125 hours (9.25pm) A male Chinese suspect believed to be in his 50s wearing white tee and black shorts holding onto a white plastic bag. Suspect was captured on the cctv footage to be loitering around the compound before taking off with the bicycle at about 2135 hours when no one was looking...

Will be requesting for a copy of the cctv footage. A police report has since been made and do inform me at 92973960 if you see anything that looks like the bike in the picture. There is only 2 such frames in Singapore in this colour...

Thank you for taking time to read this post. And God bless you for your help...

Manuel Lee
A.S.S. Contributor

Frame: Voodoo Sobo (platinum blue in colour)
Fork: Fox F100x
Headset: Tune bobo (anodized blue)
Stem: KCNC bone xc 100mm
Handlebar: KCNC bone scandium bars
Grips: ODI rogue
Brakes: Magura Marta SL gold edition
Rear derailleur: SRAM xo 9spd
Shifters: SRAM xo triggers
Chain: Ybn 9spd SL
Crankset: Shimano XTR with middleburn triple chainrings
Bottom bracket: Hope stainless steel (red shell)
Pedals: wellgo orange platforms
Wheelset: Tune King Kong red hubs with Mavic 717 and DT revolution spokes
Saddle: selle italia SLR red
Seatpost: USE alien anodized blue

Poly graduates’ starting salary rise after remaining flat for 2 years

I refer to the article “Salaries for polytechnic graduates rise after remaining flat for 2 years” (Straits Times, Jan 8).

It states that “A graduate employment survey, conducted by the five polytechnics on the class of 2015, showed that those in full-time employment earned a gross monthly salary of about $2,100.

In the previous two years, the salary remained at $2,000.

But the proportion of those with full-time permanent jobs, though, fell from 59.4 per cent for the class of 2014 to 57.9 per cent for those graduating last year.

The polytechnics said most of the graduates taking on part-time or temporary work said they were doing so because they were pursuing or preparing to commence further studies”.

Full-time jobs shrank by 17.4%?

One possible contributory factor for the increase in salary from $2,000 to $2,100, may be that those with full-time permanent jobs has continued to shrink by 17.4 per cent from 75.3 per cent in 2007 to 59.4 per cent in 2014, and now to 57.9 per cent.

5% increase in university places = 17.4% drop in full-time employment?

As to “With the expansion of university places last year, among polytechnic graduates, 20 per cent of them won a place in a publicly-funded university this year.

A few years ago, the figure stood at about 15 per cent” – how can a 5 per cent increase in university places (20 – 15 per cent), account for a 17.4 per cent (75.3 – 57.9 per cent) decrease in full-time permanent jobs?

Economically active decrease by 4.1%? 

The proportion of economically active polytechnic fresh graduates seems to have continued to decline by 4.1 per cent from 93 per cent in 2007 to 89.2 per cent in 2014, and now to 88.9 per cent (overall employment rate).

Why no statistics on “part-time” graduates?

Why are there no statistics as to the salaries of  those in part-time or temporary employment, since their percentage has jumped to 31 per cent?

How many unemployed?

Why are there no statistics on how many are unemployed? Does the overall employment rate of 88.9 per cent mean that 11.1 per cent are unemployed, since as I understand it – those pursuing further studies full-time are not counted in the graduates’ employment survey statistics?

Real starting salary growth -1% last 8 years?

The median starting salary for full-time permanently employed polytechnic fresh graduates increased by only 23.5 per cent from $1,700 in 2007 to $2,100 in 2015. As inflation from 2007 to November 2015 was about 24.7 per cent – does it mean that the real starting salary growth was -1.2 per cent (23.5 – 24.7) over the eight years?

Huge influx of foreign workers?

To what extent has the huge influx of foreigners to an estimated non-Singaporean share of the total workforce to 48 per cent now, and our liberal foreign labour policies contributed to the above?

LeongSzeHian

In response to queries from the Straits Times, it seems that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is reviewing the restrictions on food products from the nuclear waste stricken prefecture of Fukushima, Japan.

This after visiting Japanese agriculture minister Hiroshi Moriyama paid a visit to Singapore and requested that Singapore ease these restrictions during talks here with National Development Minister Lawrence Wong.

Mr Moriyama said that Singapore should follow the European Union's (EU) lead, which had begun relaxing its regulations on Japanese food imports last week.

"The AVA will adopt a science-based approach in its assessment, with food safety for Singaporeans as the key priority." An AVA statement said. The AVA also stated that it would review the EU's import conditions.

Singapore has banned food imports from 11 prefectures of Japan since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which struck a nuclear reactor in the key agricultural region of Fukushima. Portions of the prefecture surrounding the nuclear reactor are still quarantined, while restoration work continues unabated at the stricken reactor.

In 2014, some restrictions on items such as fruit, meat and green tea from 8 prefectures, were lifted following an inspection and "comprehensive risk assessment" of food from Japan, said the AVA.

Bans on some agricultural produce and processed food products from Fukushima were also lifted.

Currently, pre-export tests are still needed for seafood and products from the forests of Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma, such as berries and boar meat.

Seafood, forest and agricultural produce from areas in Fukushima with high radioactive contamination or areas near the nuclear power plant cannot be imported.

A Certificate of Origin is required for all food products from Japan so that their prefecture of origin can be identified.

When kindness goes beyond one act. Many will recall the story of Madam Noriza who had helped to clean faeces off an elderly man, Mr Tan who had soiled himself while shopping for grocery despite being a total stranger to him. Not only that, she also bought him a new pair of shorts and even accompanied him home.

Since then, she has spent nearly all of her days off - she usually gets only one rest day a week, if at all - visiting Mr Tan. In the first half of the year (2015), when he was living in a three-room flat in Potong Pasir, she took food to him, did the household chores and cleaned him up as he has poor bowel control.

Whenever possible, she also took him by taxi to see his wife, Madam Lee Bee Yian, also 76. She was warded at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital for cancer at the start of the year and later moved to a nursing home in Paya Lebar.

Madam Noriza, a single mother with five children aged 11 to 26, said of the couple: "I see them as my parents." She herself was orphaned when she was 21.
In July, Mr Tan wandered out of his flat and did not return. Madam Noriza said he was later found by the police by the roadside, asleep in his wheelchair. Asked for his address, he could not remember.

He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he was diagnosed with dementia. For three weeks, Madam Noriza knocked on the door of an empty flat. "I stood on tiptoe to look through the window and shouted his name," she recalled. "I was scared that he had fallen." Neighbours told her that he was no longer at home.She tried to call his social workers but was bounced around; she finally tracked him down at the hospital.

After being discharged from hospital around September, Mr Tan stayed in a Buangkok nursing home. Now he has been reunited with his wife at another home in Serangoon. They are warded near each other.

In a nursing home ward, Mr Tan Soy Yong, 76, lay listlessly in bed. But when Madam Noriza A. Mansor walked into the room, his face lit up and he raised a hand in greeting. Said Madam Noriza: "I'm very happy that they (Mr Tan and Madam Lee) can be together in the same place. I'm now also able to visit both of them at the same time."

Looking down fondly at the old man lying in bed, she said: "I'm so happy to see him again. He's lost weight, though." Asked if she would keep visiting the couple now that they have full-time care, she said: "Of course. It's harder now because I don't have so many days off and they are very far from where I live, in Tampines.

"But I will always make time for them. How can I not?"

Dear Editors,

Really tired of taxi driver who drives Comfort/Citicab etc. nowadays very hard to get a taxi on the road side. They would purposely put 'on call' and drives aimlessly just because they want that extra $2 - $3 booking fees, and everytime you ride on these taxis they keep on complaining they cannot make money etc, if you guys aren't choosy for destinations and greed for that extra booking fee, you could have make enough money.

And now latest the taxi driver I took just now complain about Uber/Grabcar drivers, calling them motherfuckers and it is a company own by American Jews he said, if you support these companies you are supporting these Jews to bomb Palestine ... too much right these drivers, complain non-stop and always so negative.

That is why now I boycott Comfort/Citicab etc. as much as possible, unless no choice. I replied to that uncle Grabcar is better off peak period and cheaper (purposely to make him more angry because he's so rude), and then I add, 'passengers can choose whichever they prefer it is their choice', then I kept quiet the whole ride while this rude uncle complains non-stop.

Fadly
A.S.S. Contributor

Some of you may have seen online speculation about the packing of the SAF parachute. Here’s what Chief Commando Officer, Colonel Simon Lim, says:

“The SAF continues to fully employ its Riggers, particularly for key operations and training. In order to optimise our resources, we have outsourced the parachute-packing function to Singapore Technologies (ST) – a reputable local company.

Many of ST’s parachute-packing staff themselves are former Riggers from the Commando Formation, and all of ST’s parachute-packing staff are trained and competent in their roles. The training that they undergo, conducted by the SAF Master Rigger, is benchmarked against the United States Federal Aviation Administration (US FAA) standards.

The SAF Master Rigger certifies ST’s staff to pack the parachutes, and closely supervises the packing process. All equipment for our specialised operations pass quality assurance checks and adhere to stringent safety procedures. The packing and inspection of the SAF's parachutes, whether by our SAF Riggers or ST's staff, is benchmarked against the international standards set by the US FAA.

ST has been packing parachutes for us since 2010, and there have been zero parachute reliability issues. We are confident that this arrangement allows us to optimise the deployment of our SAF Riggers, whilst meeting the full operational and training needs of the SAF Commando Formation.”

Following the surprise launch last week. Netflix is now available in 190 countries. Singaporeans can truly enjoy the Netflix and chill experience.  

Nonetheless, Netflix content is not universal. According to CEO Reed Hastings, Netflix worked hard to comply with the local content standards. That means in accordance to the MDA’s broadcasting guidance, Singapore Netflix will not have many of our favourite titles, such as Breaking Bad and House of Cards.

Fret not, movie junkies, you can always use Virtual Private Network  (VPN) to bypass the geo-restriction and gain access to the US exclusive tittles. These VPNs essentially turns your connection into a US connection, allowing you to be connected to Netflix as as if from the States, and one such VPN is Singapore made Gom VPN

How to use Gom to get access to Netflix US content? Simply follow the steps listed in their blog  http://blog.getgom.com/2016/01/08/jumping-on-the-netflix-bandwagon/

Gom has a trial period of 3 days, but there’s a limited coupon code from Gom for our readers, to extend the trial period to 90 days. Just go to Gom for Netflixand key in the email you use for Gom.

Currently ranked No. 2 in Chrome Web Store, this VPN extension has close to 200k active users, now available for free for 90 days. What are you waiting for? Register now.

Dear ASS,

I was inside taking his cab, he has 3 gps and best part can ask me 3x along the way how to go east coast park lagoon. He has vehicle radar, equalizer, gps, very glaring the top deck board sure block his view cos his height is lower than all these screen .

If handphone can be ban why not all these screens. I more fed up when he keep asking for direction then I ask ummm what is your GPS for... I was like are u a Singaporean? East coast park lagoon hawker he also don know how to go.

But not complaining just sharing cos is unique.

Gordan Giam
A.S.S. Contributor

<Facebook call for help by Stanley Ng>

Sorry for posting again but this is what we can do at the moment. My brother, Nelson Ng,met an accident 3 years ago and suffer a brain damage which caused him to be cognitive disability, all along these years he was staying with us in Johor Bahru. Last week my sister fetch him over to stay in her house at Kovan area to visit his routine brain checkup in Singapore, however, he had went out from home himself and lost his way back to the house. He is penniless and the passport was still kept by us.

We Are unsure on his last wear attire but predict to be short pant and sandal (croc sandal),his height was 172 cm and weight around 70 kg,he is in short hair and at the age of 37 yrs old. No cctv footage was available,his last seen time was at 10am on 08.01.16 at Kovan area, we had lodged for police report but was told that he will not be in wanted list if no crime or offend was convicted by him.

We were clueless and just able to search him through the power on the internet, we hope for miracle happen and hope that this message will be share amongst your networks. Would appreciate as if you could send us a photo if you manage to see the person mentioned. i hereby attached with his photo, thank you.

Below are the contact of my family members:
Elder sister: +60127270003 (Jerrene)
Second sister: 96518096 (Joanne)
Mine: +60167471668 (Stanley)
Sister in law:+60127527846 (Haze)

<Facebook call for help by Candy Tay Xinyu>

My sister Jean was involved in a serious accident. Appealing for video footage of accident. Please share this ( especially with friends working in JURONG ISLAND) and kindly email to candy2910@yahoo.com.sg
Or message me @ 98232728.
Venue: jurong island highway ( near oil tanking)
Time: 7:45-8:00am
Date: 11/01
Monday
Please help

<UPDATE 13 Jan>

Dear friends , relatives and jean's friends, in case if I replied slow , do wait patiently for my reply as I'm focusing on her follow up on ops and her progress. It's is a serious accident for her because of her broken thigh, lower jaw all smashed ,fractured ribs n shoulder and multiple places that have not been able to scan . Till date, I've seen her strength as a fighter to stay alive. Jean Tay is a very brave and strong lady. Please pray for her that she can stand up again and be brave to face further obstacles.
At the moment, to let her recuperate , it's not the best time for visitors. But do not hesitate to approach me if u like to send regards to her.
Please continue to share this post. As much as I just wanted to concentrate on her recovery, I know she want justice to be done too. As her sister together with my family, we thank you guys!

Dear Editors,

I really don't understand why Koufu @ commonwealth management never do any thing about this smoking guy. Police officers come down but only ask him to go back..

Is it fair to us as consumer, we paid for wat we drink but this guy making trouble n no action to him.. Is it the law in Singapore??? He smoke at non smoking area but officer never take any actions to him. Is this the way Singapore law???

Vincent Wong
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editors,

Muslimahs donning hijab around Jurong West area should be careful Just happen to me this morning…there was an ah pek who tugged at the tudungs of anyone he see.

Can see that he doesn’t like Melayu. I’m consider lucky because there was a Pakcik who help me if not i don’t know what could have happen to me. So pitiful those makcik-makcik innocent had their tuung taken off.

I didn’t manage to take a pic of the ah pek.#12012016.. Don’t know if other manage to take his pic. Waiting for it to come up in whichever news so that all Muslims can be alert

Dear A.S.S,

Had a bad experience at home keeper Pasir Ris. Took a blur helper (blur as in don't even know how to use house key and open door type or wander in carpark for 2 hours cos cannot find the staircase to come down). She's the type very stubborn and don't want to listen to instruction and continue feeding my kids chocolates even when they have high fever and we ask her not to. She did the chocolate feeding up till the last day she was staying with us when my son was 38degrees, i was too tired to tell her off.

We had her for a year, tolerating and being kind to her cos we pity her and shes young we dont want to fire her and she be in debt. But we found her watching hundreds of pornography on my 5 year old kids Ipad. We counselled her but she decided to quit all of sudden without notice probably out of embarrassment. What I found out later is she had earlier called the agency and a rep actually advised her that she can leave anytime. I suspect they prefer her back so that they can earn more money changing maids around.

Anyway to cut the story short, we went back to agency for advise only to have the agency telling us off that it is our mistake for counselling the maid for watching porn on my toddler Ipad. The staff said we should have just "let her be". After that the agency can even have the cheek to tell my friend she told us off for highlighting the watching porn issue to my maid. Utterly disrespectful. Other good agencies would have been more helpful since the maid addicting to porn is taking care of toddler. Who knoes what she can do to the child when we are not at home. This agency even turn around and said to me "serve you right, who ask you to confront her, now you got no helper, hahaha"

Makes me wonder what type of helper they are representing. We were still so nice and courteous and then I found out my maid stole my bag after she left. I went back to try to retrieve the bag and the agency who is housing the maid for the next employer gave us the cold shoulder cos we decided not to get anymore maid from them.

Extremely rude and bad experience. I guess its boils down to luck on what helper you get, but if like me, get a bad helper will probably end up having more issue cos have to deal with agency. We thought going to a big chain will guarantee a good experience cos they will help bridge the gap, but not in this case. We are now with another agency in Tampines, so so much difference and very happy now. Really see the difference in professionalism and how they manage the centre, not haphazard, messy or rude.

Jen Mun

Dear Editors,

I bought (ICool 50,000 mAh quad-port power bank) on mid December last year. To my surprise, I could only use this charger for 2 weeks! This charger functioned such that when I charge it, 0 means empty and 99 means full.

When I used it on first week, I could charge my Samsung notebook and iPhone quite a few times. On the second week, when the charging capacity reached 58, it turned to zero immediately. Meaning to say, the capacity became 25,000 mAh instead. On my third week, even though I charged the charger to full to 99, I could only charged my iPhone for 10 mins and the charger auto off!

I will never buy technology products from Groupon anymore!

Ex-Groupon User
A.S.S. Contributor

Associate Professor Chia Ngee Choon, an economist from the National University of Singapore, lashed out at the amount of CPF payout for low income elderly and lambasted the present CPF retirement system for being inadequate.

Low income elderly tend to receive about S$300 CPF payout when they retire and the professor said that the CPF “doesn’t address the retirement adequacy for vulnerable groups”. Among this group, she explained, constitutes the low income group, casual workers, stay-home mothers and singles with no family support.

The Professor then proposed a minimum CPF payout of S$450 to S$600, based on her calculation off the basic income and expenditure patterns of retiree households. This amount, she said, includes only food expenditures and basic goods like utility bills. Non-basic goods like recreational activities are excluded in her calculation.

Professor Chia also criticised the present CPF system saying it risks unintended consequences, such as disincentives to save, work and creating a clutch mentality.

Another professor from the NUS Business School, Professor Joseph Cherian, agreed with her presentation and suggested two-way transfers between the Special Account and Ordinary Account.

Presently, CPF funds are indirectly managed by Temasek Holdings which borrowed from the CPF Board through a series of cheap bonds called “Special Singapore Government Securities” (SSGS). Any difference in profits from SSGS and the investments made by Temasek Holdings is pocketed by the Singapore Government in the pretense of filling in the national reserves, instead of returning the extra profits to CPF account holders.

The CEO of Temasek Holdings is the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is also the chairman of the other sovereign wealth fund company, GIC. The former chairman of GIC is Lee Hsien Loong’s father, the deceased dictator Lee Kuan Yew.

My cousin from Yale NUS has been dating her bf from NTU since uni. When the bf graduated, he started working as a RM at a bank, but had some self esteem issues while dating my cousin. They were supposed to go Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms together but he was feeling emo about himself being poor and less successful than most guys, so decided to offer his ticket to the mutual friend, to go Kyoto with my cousin.

This mutual friend, let's call him G, has always been interested in my cousin but never make any advances on her because she is attached. He is decent looking, stays in private property around Tanglin area and is based in HK working for a top tier bank.

After months of struggling to salvage the relationship, my cousin and her NTU bf officially broke up, leaving the way open for G to step in.

Do you think my cousin should give G a chance? He will make the effort to visit my cousin and spend time with her when he is in Singapore, to be by her side when she is down. I am currently rooting for him because he seems like a smart, genuine guy, who has enough wealth to provide for the family in future.

apple
A.S.S. Contributor

<Image for illustration purposes only, contributor did not have time to take photo of his O level results>

Dear ASS Editors,

It is 4:16AM and I am writing to you from McDonalds. I kena kicked out of the house because i failed my O levels. My L1R5 is 38 points. My father so angree he take chair throw and chased me out of my house. He say I am a useless bum and do no deserve a house over my head.

I had no time to pack my bags, I scramble to grab my handphone charger, wallet and mobile and here i am. I have been loitering at 24 hour places and sleeping at playgrounds. I tried calling my father but he reject all my calls.

I have some friends who can give me some help but how much can a 16 year old do for me? I haven't bathe in 2 days, where is a good place to wash up without having to pay for money?

How can I convince my father to take me back? I come from single parent family and have no siblings to help me. I know its my fault for skipping school and flunk my exams but is this how you treat your own child? Is this consider child abuse?

I thinking of complaining to Govt or sue my bapak to force him accept me in the house. Any one in same situation can advise me? I left 20 dollar in my pocket. Any advice is welcome.

Hariss
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editors,

Be aware of foreign bikes installing nails on their number plate. I came across this at the bike lane in Woodlands checkpoint as I am queuing for my turn. The bike as pictures shown installed sharp and Long nails in his bike number plate to avoid others to touch his bike from the back.

Luckily i saw the nails and avoid it if not the nails would have went into our tyre and cause our tyre to puncture. I hope you can take action regarding this as it is very inconsiderate and dangerous.

Thank you

Rashid
A.S.S. Contributor

Former EPL player Jermaine Pennant has agreed terms with S League contenders Tampines Rovers making him the highest paid player in Singapore history. Speaking to members of the press, Pennant revealed he was looking at various apartments and his family will join him in February.

On his experience during the one week trial with Tampines, Pennant said: "Everything has been positive since I landed. I have enjoyed training with my Tampines team-mates and learning from the coach and chairman. You can expect some news either later today or tomorrow."

Pennant's last drawn salary was £25,000 (S$52,000) a week at English Championship side Wigan Athletic. He is taking a 70% pay cut to join Tampines putting his salary at $62,400 a month. The previous top paid S-league player was Hungary's Zsolt Bucs who was paid $21,500 a month with Home United.

When asked why he would take such a huge pay cut and play in a lesser league, Pennant shared: "The monetary hurdle has been crossed long ago. I knew before I flew here I would have to take a big pay cut, but you must look at the bigger picture.

If you do well for the S.League and Singapore football, you will be rewarded in different ways and, in the long run, it may be a no-percent pay cut. Furthermore, there are other things here in Singapore that I value much more than money." He added that Singapore's stability, safety, cleanliness and good education system were factors that attracted him.

There have been reported cases of individuals receiving emails, letters, Short Message Services (SMS), or phone calls purportedly from IRAS, requesting you to do one or more of the following:

Open an email link or file attachment to review your income or tax statement;

Transfer a sum of money, supposedly for tax purposes, to accounts belonging to named individuals (usually an overseas account); and/or

Pay sums of money to named individuals (usually a party not residing in Singapore) before an inheritance/estate of a deceased party is released.

Provide your bank account numbers to claim tax refunds, enjoy cash rewards, or pay outstanding tax bills; and/or

Provide confidential personal information such as personal particulars, personal identification numbers, passwords and bank account numbers, either by completing a form on a website or to someone who impersonates as IRAS staff.

For your own interest, please be extra careful when you receive unsolicited emails, letters, SMSes, phone calls, online chats or all other forms of communication asking you to provide confidential or personal information. Under no circumstances should you give personal information including credit card or banking details to third parties via email, letter, SMS or phone.

Important Note:

Lately, scam emails that mimicked IRAS’ email address ending with “ @iras.gov.sg” have been sent to some members of the public. Certain parts of the email details have been changed by the scammers to make them appear as if the email was sent by IRAS. Such scam emails usually carried a file attachment requesting the recipients to open it. You are advised not to click on any link or open any attachment in the email as it may contain computer virus.

IRAS does not send out official emails from personal email accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail, or other unfamiliar email domains. IRAS’ email replies are usually signed off with an officer's name, designation and contact information. IRAS also does not send out confidential documents such as tax return forms, notices of assessment, refund letters or other tax statements through unsecured emails. Confidential documents are deposited in the secured tax portal at mytax.iras.gov.sg. Taxpayers may log in to the portal using their SingPass to retrieve their tax statements or e-File their tax returns via mytax.iras.gov.sg.

IRAS will not ask you to provide your confidential personal details through emails. We encourage you to use myTax Mail to correspond with IRAS. If your enquiry contains confidential information, we will respond to you via myTax Mail.

When you make a cheque payment for tax, it must only be made payable to one of the relevant payees, as given below :

Comptroller of Income Tax

Comptroller of Goods & Services Tax

Comptroller of Property Tax

Commissioner of Stamp Duties