MRT Full Day Shutdown Didn’t Crash And Burn But It Wasn’t Great Either

Few were expecting this, but the first of two major full-day MRT closures on Sunday (10 Dec), didn’t crash and burn as badly as we thought.

Hiccups on-site were virtually non-existent, or so most mainstream news outlets reported.

With many netizens airing their woes online about the negative experiences they faced, it did seem like regular commuters largely begged to differ on social media.

In short, has SMRT’s efforts finally paid off? We examine if it’s too early for SMRT to break out the durians to celebrate.

In the East they could do Jurong

Come Sunday morning, crowds of commuters gathered around crowd marshals and SMRT staff for assistance. Especially around the shuttle pick-up points to inquire about where to take the shuttle services.

As reported by Yahoo, many of them appeared to be foreign workers who were not aware of Jurong East station’s closure beforehand.

However, the large crowds were efficiently dealt with. Channel NewsAsia reported that buses pulled into the station within 10 minutes and this presumably helped greatly in dispersing the long lines of passengers.

Four routes were plied by the buses, heading towards Choa Chu Kang, Joo Koon, Outram Park and Tuas Link from Jurong East station. The pick-up points were also well spread out, to avoid congestion.

Over 400 staff and crowd marshals were sent in shifts to assist commuters. TODAY reported that most of them were part-timers employed to be crowd control marshals, which actually turned out to be a pretty sweet working gig.

If that wasn’t enough, flyers with vital information about shuttle bus services were distributed to commuters. Signs were also placed at multiple locations to direct the flow of human traffic towards the appropriate pick-up points.

10/10 for effort. Now hopefully this amount of enthusiasm will help fix SMRT’s “deep-seated cultural issues” as well.

Negative online reactions to MRT closures

However, online reactions were mostly negative, especially with regards to commuter experience during the MRT closures.

Some reportedly faced an unexpected increase in travel time. This netizen took to SMRT’s Facebook page to detail his horrible encounter on the shuttle bus.

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Apparently, he was stuck for 45 minutes on a shuttle bus between Clementi and Jurong East MRT stations. Roads were cramped due to an accident on the road, and everyone on his overcrowded bus suffered from the lack of decent air-conditioning.

The netizen urged the public not to be taken in by mainstream press for reporting that it was “smooth-going”, while blaming the delay on bad planning by SMRT.

Others mused that horrific jams were caused by the shuttle buses which serviced Jurong East MRT station instead.

Check out these colourful bus caterpillars spotted near Westgate as captured by a netizen on Facebook.

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Too early to celebrate?

Whether your public transport experience last weekend was mostly positive or negative, we can’t deny that it seems inevitable that some delays are to be expected.

This is because traffic and weather conditions affect shuttle buses plying the roads, much more than train rides.

Just a heads up, there are more station closures and early service terminations scheduled throughout December.

You may refer to the handy guide that we’ve compiled so you can mentally prepare yourself.

We sincerely hope that SMRT will be up to task to deal with the second round of full closures scheduled.

At the very least, commuters now have an idea of what to expect next Sunday.

Featured images from Facebook, Yahoo, Channel NewsAsia and Today.

The post SMRT’s First Full Day Shutdown Went Well According To Media, Despite Social Media Backlash appeared first on Must Share News.

Dpets Centre At Bukit Panjang Plaza Gets Slammed By Singaporeans After Patron Accused Them Of Animal Abuse

Most pet owners often develop an inextricable bond between them and their pets, some to the point that the pet becomes a surrogate child. This often makes them reluctant to leave their bae with a total stranger.

But what happens if you have no choice? Well, that was the dilemma Ms Elizabeth Ting faced when she had to leave for an overseas trip.

Thinking that she was leaving Mocha in good hands, Ms Ting left her toy poodle at Dpets Centre, a pet boarding service, at Bukit Panjang Plaza on 25 Nov. However, that proved to be a costly and painful mistake as Ms Ting learnt when she returned on 4 Dec.

Returned to find Mocha injured

A day before Ms Ting was due to return, she sent her helper to collect Mocha from Dpets Centre. Seeing that Mocha’s left hind leg injured, Ms Ting’s helper immediately questioned the boarding service staff.

However, Ms Ting alleged that the centre’s staff brushed her helper’s questions aside and so a limping Mocha was brought home without any explanation.

When Ms Ting returned home, she was shocked to find her beloved pet in such a state and immediately called Dpets Centre to seek for an explanation.

This was when the horrible ordeal unfolded. In a Facebook post on 9 Dec, that was updated on 10 Dec, Ms Ting alleged that the boss of Dpets Centre had acted unprofessionally and refused to admit that the centre had mistreated Mocha.

Boarding centre owner said not to worry

The sight of the toy poodle limping would have broken the hearts of most people, but Mocha had also lost his voice and emitted a yellow discharge. When Ms Ting contacted Dpets to seek an explanation, she alleged that the boss, one Dennis Ng, had “assured [her]that it was a minor injury”.

He added that the injury was sustained when Mocha’s scratched the cage and that the injury would pass over in a few days.

Ms Ting admitted that she “foolishly” listened to Mr Ng’s advice and decided to wait until 7 Dec (3 days later), to bring Mocha to a vet.

The horror, the horror

Upon seeing Mocha, Dr Lennie Lee from The Animal Clinic in Clementi immediately suspected that Mocha might have sustained a joint dislocation. His fears were confirmed after Mocha was given an X-ray.

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Imagine the pain and anger Ms Ting must have felt after she was told that Mocha’s dislocation on its left hip was not something that “happened easily”.

The veterinarian attempted to relocate the dislocation but was unable to do so as the muscles around Mocha’s leg had stiffened. The only option left was for Mocha to undergo surgery.

On 8 Dec, Ms Ting returned to the clinic with Mocha for the surgery with Dr Hsu Li Chieh. Dr Hsu echoed Dr Lee’s sentiments that the injury due to a high level of trauma.

However, the pet surgeon had more bad news for Ms Ting. Dr Hsu revealed that on top of the join dislocation, Mocha had sustained a fracture near its hip bone. This complicated the surgery process with the only possible treatment being to “file away the protruding bone and let the muscles and tissues strengthen around the joint”.

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Which means that Mocha will unfortunately have a shorter left hind leg. Thankfully, Dr Hsu was confident that it would not affect Mocha in the long run given that it was a small dog.

Ms Ting strikes back

Infuriated by the entire ordeal, Ms Ting went down with her husband to Dpets Centre to seek an explanation.

Mr Ng was present and denied any wrong doings. Instead he argued that Mocha’s injury was sustained after leaving the centre, and insinuated that the dog was abused by Ms Ting’s helper.

In a bid to get down to the bottom of this ordeal, Ms Ting requested for the shop’s CCTV footage. However, Mr Ng conveniently revealed that the CCTV camera’s in his shop were not working.

Luckily, Ms Ting spotted a CCTV that was right outside the shop that belonged to the mall’s management. Reviewing the footage with management staff, Ms Ting confirmed her suspicions that Mocha was indeed injured before leaving the pet centre.

Despicable Ng

Armed with this irrefutable evidence, Ms Ting confronted Mr Ng once again.

Now you would think that given the circumstances, that would be no other excuse to give. However, the boarding centre owner simply refused to apologise or admit his abuse, even after Ms Ting threatened to report him to the police.

In a despicable move, Mr Ng retorted that “he was intending to close down his shop anyway”.

A warning for pet owners and a plea for witness

Ms Ting decided to share this story with the hopes of warning pet owners of such boarding houses.

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In addition, she is looking for more witnesses to come forward and provide evidence after Ms Ting made a police report and filed a complaint to Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.

We decided to do some sneaking on our own and found the company’s motto is pretty ironic given that it reads “Our belief, pets are for life”.

More like “our belief is a lie”.

Featured image from Facebook.

The post Pet Toy Poodle Returns From Bukit Panjang Plaza Pet Shop With Dislocated Hip appeared first on Must Share News.

Bicycle-Sharing Behaviour Still Hasn’t Improved 

You’d think that after ten months since their introduction, Singaporeans would’ve at least started treating shared bicycles with more care by now.

They’re relatively affordable, located virtually everywhere, and provide us with a fun way of getting around short distances. So why do we still keep acting like cycle-paths when handling them?

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Earlier in April, we wrote about 8 cases of bike abuse that show why bicycle sharing in Singapore may be doomed to failure. Unfortunately, it seems that the problems have only gotten much worse since then — a viscous cycle, some might say.

Here are 8 more incidents of bike abuse that show why we can’t have nice things.

1. Lock picking but not really

Let’s start with the most recent incident involving a couple of Ofo bikes.

On 8 Dec, a video showing two boys damaging the lock of the rental bicycles to avoid paying for the fare surfaced online and quickly went viral.

Brandishing what seems to be a hammer, the boy in red can be seen repeatedly hammering on the lock of the bicycle. This goes on until it’s damaged and unable to function properly. His friend in pink then rushes over and they both ride off into the moonlight — leaving the cameraman behind.

Ofo has responded to Channel NewsAsia stating that they were aware of the situation and “will not hesitate to work with the authorities” in such cases.

While we’re not advocating such acts of crime, one must wonder if you’re intending to do such a thing, why bother recording – and uploading – the footage in the first place? Just seems like a time bomb waiting to explode.

2. Thrown into a drain

On 19 November, a couple was caught on camera throwing several oBikes into a drain.

According to the video, it seemed that the male got upset after being – presumably – blocked by the bikes in his path.  His solution? Chuck them into the nearby drain.

Believed to have occurred in the late afternoon along Lower Delta Road, the video quickly went viral — with netizens crucifying the couple involved but also debating whether the bikes obstructing the path was to blame in the first place.

The 37-year-old man and 36-year-old woman would eventually turn themselves into the police at Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre, according to The Straits Times.

3. Thrown into a drain, part 2

While we’re still on the topic of throwing bikes into drains, check out the following image:

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We can’t even begin to imagine what happened prior that led to such a decision but this is really just plain wrong.

Not only does this render the bike unusable, it also pollutes the environment as well, but that clearly seems to be the least of the culprit’s problems.

At the very least, throw it into an empty canal lah.

4. Joyridden at Punggol MRT

What is it with people filming themselves and uploading the video online?

Take a look at this shirtless hoodlum who proves that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing.

Here’s a checklist of what he did:

• Hurling an Obike into a canal
• Riding an Ofo inside Punggol MRT and knocking over a bin in the process
• Joyriding in a bus interchange where buses were moving off

What’s the point to all this? Does he get a sense of accomplishment by doing so? And why is he shirtless?

Surely no amount of bike abuse can be worse than this.

5. Hurled down 30 stories

We stand corrected.

This teen just straight up tosses an Ofo bike off the 30th floor of a HDB.

Why? Just, why?

Believed to have taken place at Block 116B Jalan Tenteram, this is just taking things to a whole new level.

6. Left by the highway

On 20 November, The Straits Times reported that 20 shared bicycles were seen left by the roadside. Which is harmless really, except that it was dumped close to PIE.

Where you know, a lot of vehicles tend to be.

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In total, 14 bicycles from Ofo, four from oBike and two from Mobike were found along Adam Road just by the slip road to PIE in the direction of Tuas.

When asked, an oBike spokesperson speculated that the bikes could’ve been as a result of the construction workers cycling around the area before leaving them behind when their company vehicles pick them up.

7. Stripped naked

In our first part, we talked about how some bikes were left in such wretched conditions that pieces of it were missing.

This next culprit takes things even further by stripping an oBike of everything except for the main frame.

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The Local Society reported that this took place at Blk 44 Sims Drive.

Perhaps he or she intends to sell the parts for extra money after stripping them. That’s technically a smart move business wise, right? Yes, but he or she is also a vandal who is ruining bike-sharing for the rest of us Singaporeans.

8. Painted black

Maybe yellow isn’t your favourite colour, that’s fine.

Perhaps you even hate the colour white as well. So what would you do then, get your own bike a colour of your choosing? Of course not, that’s for losers.

Let’s just spray the entire oBike black instead.

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To his defense, black is really fashionable these days.

All things considered, this is actually pretty mild compared to the rest of this article.

Shame on the culprits

There you have it, 8 more cases of bike abuse in Singapore.

First-world country? Yeah, but some of our people aren’t exactly doing their parts to help maintain that. Shame on you people.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and we’ll see you again at part 3.

Featured image from Facebook, Facebook and Reddit.

The post 8 More Bike Abuse Cases That Show Why Bike Sharing May Be Doomed To Failure In Singapore appeared first on Must Share News.

SMRT Chairman Seah Moon Ming Is Slowly Winning Over The Support Of Singaporeans

It is arguably one of the most stressful and thankless jobs in Singapore, but that did not stop Mr Seah Moon Ming from taking up the hot seat of being SMRT’s Chairman in May 2017.

And boy, did he pick the wrong time to join the company.

Although SMRT’s reputation as a world-class efficient train service has been eroded over the past few years, 2017 has been hell for the service provider. From numerous train disruptions to the Bishan Flooding to the Joo Koon train collision, Singaporean commuters have been through them all.

As such, it is unsurprising that they have taken to social media to voice their displeasure at SMRT’s management on social media. However, Mr Seah seems to be on a one-man mission to salvage SMRT’s reputation, and to be fair, he’s beginning to win us over.

Here are four reasons why.

1. Spotted on board train

One of the first few rebuttals netizens use on SMRT and transport bigwigs is that they do not know the true suffering of Singaporean commuters given that they do not take the public transport. Well, it seems that Mr Seah is making the effort to get to the know the issues on the ground and to gather feedback from commuters.

SMRT’s Chairman was spotted interacting with commuters on the East-West Line.

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This gained the approval of a few Singaporeans who argued that at least Mr Seah was making the effort unlike “others”.

Wonder who this “other guy” could be?

2. Went down to inspect re-signalling works

The partial and complete closure of some stations over the 9-10 Dec weekend may have inconvenienced commuters who were heading out to enjoy their weekend. But Mr Seah braved the inconvenience, and got to work instead.

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In a Facebook post by SMRT on 12 Dec, Mr Seah apparently spent his weekend visiting staff that were working hard to complete the re-signalling and maintenance at the closed stations. He was joined by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

Anyone that is willing to work over the weekend to serve Singaporeans must surely deserve commendation, however we can’t say that Singaporeans would feel that a certain hari-kiri master deserves some.

3. Left post as CEO

Just last week, Mr Seah stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Pavilion Energy in order to focus on solving the issues that have plagued SMRT.

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This has been a commendable effort but what caught our attention was a comment made by Mr Ho, a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic Futures.

Mr Ho told the Straits Times that Mr Seah was a real gentleman who felt “obliged to solve the problems” that SMRT faces. Mr Ho added that Mr Seah was not “being paid for any of this”.

To give up a cushy CEO position and concentrate on a job that he doesn’t receive a salary for? That seems pretty noble to us.

4. Bowed to apologise

Some might argue that saying sorry has little use but we would like to add a clause to that statement. Saying sorry is useless if you do nothing to change and improve things, but that has not been the case with Mr Seah.

After bowing to apologise for the Bishan Flooding incident, Mr Seah has been in overdrive and working hard to improve services and the reputation of SMRT.

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While you may argue that it is his job to ensure that nothing goes wrong, we’ve got to him credit for his enthusiasm thus far.

Impressive Seah

Mr Seah’s efforts to improve train services has not gone unnoticed with several Singaporeans giving him words of encouragement on SMRT’s Facebook page.

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This is definitely a good direction for Singaporeans and SMRT to head towards but we all know that if the results do not start to show soon, the hate and criticism directed towards SMRT would arrive right on cue.

Featured image from Facebook and Facebook. 

The post SMRT Chairman Seah Moon Ming Is Single-Handedly Improving The Reputation Of SMRT appeared first on Must Share News.

TODAY Labelled “Trashy” By Netizens With Story Of Family Who Were Affected By Train Closure

Badminton is a quintessential weekend bonding activity for the Chan family but due to the MRT closures on Sunday (10 Dec), they took an additional 30 minutes to travel to their weekly session.

This was apparently so serious that it warranted an article by mainstream media, TODAY.

Oh, the travesty!

Well, it proved to be the wrong move as the publication drew flak from netizens who criticized the online site for complaining about first-world problems.

Putting the bad in badminton

For almost two decades, the Chan family travel to the east to play badminton with their relatives at Tampines Safra.

However, following the closure of certain stations during the weekend, the family who lives in Jurong West had to leave their house 45 minutes earlier in order to reach their 11am badminton game on time.

The MRT station closest to their home, Pioneer, was one of 19 stations along the East-West Line (EWL) that was closed last Sunday for track maintenance and renewal.

Normally, the Chans would take Bus Service 179 to Pioneer MRT before taking the East-West Line all the way down to Bedok before changing to Bus Service 28. However, with Pioneer station down for the day, they had no choice but to take Bus Service 179 to Boon Lay bus interchange where they transferred to Bus Service 174 at Beauty World.

They then took the Downtown Line to Bugis where they switched to the EWL and continued their usual route to Bedok Station to transit to Bus Service 28.

So what implications did the disruption have on the Chan family? Well, they had to wake up 45 minutes earlier so that they could reach on time.

The horror.

Netizens give their take

Describing the disruption as “taxing“, TODAY made the Chan family’s journey seem like a monumental problem. This drew the ire of netizens who felt that the media site was reporting news that wasn’t important at all.

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Others questioned the alternative route taken by the family and why they did not plan their journey better.

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Attempt at flaming, backfires

TODAY probably weren’t expecting such intense flaming when they ran this well-meaning article on a family inconvenienced by the MRT closures. But looks like they’ve finally found out that nothing riles Singaporeans up more than transport-related issues.

Featured image from Facebook

The post TODAY Publishes Story Of Family Affected By Train Closures, Gets Rekted By Netizens appeared first on Must Share News.

China Firm Responsible For NEL Extension Also Involved In Many Other Singaporean Housing Projects

The Land Transport Authority faced harsh criticism after awarding China State Construction Engineering Co. Ltd (CSCEC) with a contract for the construction of tunnels as part of the North-East Line (NEL) Extension Project.

This stemmed from an article posted online alleging that CSCEC was previously blacklisted under the World Bank for corruption and fraud.

Naturally, netizens took to the internet to show their lack of confidence in the company and some even questioned the legitimacy of LTA’s decision.

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What most people didn’t realize was that the same state-owned Chinese firm, has also been responsible for many other local developments ranging from residential projects to institutional ones.

Odds are, some of you may even be living in them.

Ending up in the World Bank’s “blacklist”

CSCEC first came under World Bank’s scrutiny due to issues regarding the bidding process for Philippines’ road-building project back in 2009.

They have since attempted to clarify the matter officially with the World Bank but to no avail. The latter rejected the appeal, keeping the company barred from future World Bank-funded projects.

However, that was not the end of questions pertaining to CSCEC’s quality and legitimacy.

As a result of World Bank’s investigations in 2013, 15 buildings in China were found to be built with inferior quality concrete which weakened the structure of the affected buildings.

Of the 15 that were found, one of them – the Ping An Financial Centre – was constructed by CSCEC.

It’s still unknown if the company had any involvement with the scandal.

But this explains why people were skeptical about LTA’s choice to award the contract to them.

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After the Bishan MRT flooding incident, the thought of having a tunnel possibly built with cheap concrete, is a scary one.

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Involvement with HDB projects

With all the uproar generated online, it’s no wonder nobody noticed that this is the same firm who builds our HDB flats.

#PlotTwist

Unknown to many, CSCEC – under its South East Asia subsidiary – has won and completed various residential contracts around the island including HDB flats. Take a look.

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According to their official website, even the famed Bidadari Executive Condominiums are going to be built by the CSCEC group.

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CSCEC is also responsible for the construction of Republic Polytechnic and SAFRA@Yishun. Places which many Singaporeans are familiar with, and frequent daily.

The construction company is currently seeing to a handful of projects at the moment including the NEL extension.

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Many of these projects have won excellence awards by the Building and Construction Authority, making it somewhat illogical to assess this company as an illegitimate one.

CSCEC still allowed to operate

Although CSCEC has seen a fair share of bad publicity, China’s largest construction company has still seen significant growth in recent times.

Reportedly, CSCEC has already signed contracts worth $241 billion in the first three quarters of 2017, up by 25% from the same period last year.

Evidently, none of these clients seem troubled by the blacklisting at all.

A review of the 2017 Listing of Illegible Firms and Individuals – the proper name for World Bank’s “blacklist” – reveals that CSCEC is no longer barred from the World Bank.

This is definitely good news for CSCEC, for now.

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Nevertheless, it’s key to note that even though CSCEC was blacklisted, they were still allowed to do any lawful business other than that of World Bank-funded projects.

But the question remains as to whether Singaporeans will trust in CSCEC to deliver when it comes to our new train tunnels.

Of course, Singaporeans will retain the right to remain skeptical of ‘improvements’ to the MRT situation, unless proven otherwise.

Featured image from Facebook.

The post Formerly Blacklisted China Firm Who Was Awarded Contract For NEL Train Extension Also Built HDB Flats appeared first on Must Share News.

Dakota Crescent To Be Repurposed Into New BTO Flats

Many Singaporeans know Dakota Crescent as one of the original public housing estates. It’s been around since 1958 before the Housing and Development Board was even created.

Sadly, due to a need for more public housing, HDB announced that Dakota Crescent was going to be redeveloped.

This meant the buildings, including everyone’s favourite playground – Old Dove playground, were going to be gone for good.

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But through the relentless efforts of a band of passionate conservationists, the preservation of the iconic locale has been secured for generations to come.

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The good news is that Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Facebook on 12 Dec that Dakota Crescent would now feature new BTO flats with key heritage sites of the estate to be preserved.

Scheduled for redevelopment

In 2014, Today reported that HDB was planning to redevelop Dakota Crescent into new residences. The 400 residents living there were given until 31 Dec 2016 to move out.

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According to Channel NewsAsia, by Dec 2016, 90 percent of Dakota Crescent residents had already moved out.

The redevelopment plan also meant the end of the Old Dove playground, which is one of the most iconic and #instaworthy playgrounds in Singapore.

Saving Dakota Crescent

A wave of nostalgia washed over most Singaporeans, when they discovered that Dakota Crescent was scheduled for redevelopment. Art projects, farewell tours and films were even made about the estate.

Notably, a Facebook page called Save Dakota Crescent was created in the hopes of conserving as much of Dakota Crescent as possible.

In 2016, Save Dakota Crescent came up with a detailed conservation report outlining their plans to save Dakota Crescent. The conservation group rallied the community, and their efforts were so outstanding that they got what they wanted.

Without their determination to save this piece of history, Old Dove playground could’ve been nothing more but a distant memory.

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The attention to detail that went into their super-long report is probably one of the reasons why their cause was successful.

In a Facebook post on their page on Tuesday (12 Nov), they also elaborated on the key points of their proposal that were taken into consideration.

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They hoped to conserve:

• Large open courtyards of the iconic estate
• Dove Playground as a landmark
• Geylang river path
• 4 Block types – Slab, Butterfly, 2-Storey & 3-Storey

Their efforts were then bolstered by Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan, who filed a motion in parliament to discuss saving Dakota Crescent.

The Straits Times reported that Mr Lim stated that “the estate has architectural, historical and social significance”.

His motion was backed by nominated MP Kok Heng Leun, a prominent figure in the Singapore art scene, who said that the “ground-up initiative with bold vision” of those organising the conservation efforts, should be taken sincerely.

Successful Conservation

Surprisingly enough, Minister Lawrence Wong recently announced that parts of Dakota Crescent, including the Old Dove Playground, will be retained.

Instead of being removed, they will be overhauled as part of an addition to the new HDB residences.

In the lengthy Facebook post below, he detailed the conservation efforts.

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Here are the most interesting parts of his Facebook post, in case you are too lazy to read it:

1. New HDB flats will be added to the estate while keeping some of Dakota Crescent’s old charm.

2. The central cluster of buildings and the playground are going to be repurposed into public spaces for civic and community use.

3. The new-and-improved Dakota Crescent will have elements of both past and present, merging them together to satisfy the community’s needs.

All in all, it appears that a compromise has been struck. Although Dakota Crescent may not be saved in its entirety, the government has agreed to conserve the areas with heritage value for posterity.

Old is gold

Thanks to the efforts of these dedicated conservationists, another piece of history has been preserved for years to come.

Admiralty Park might have a bunch of cool slides in its park, but nothing will beat the old favourites like Old Dove Playground and Dragon Playground.

Featured image from Frasers Centrepoint.

The post Dakota Crescent’s Dove Playground Saved, Thanks To Conservationists appeared first on Must Share News.

Taobao Accuses Ezbuy Of ‘Scalping’ In Ongoing Fight

Ezbuy just can’t seem to catch a break. On Singles’ Day (11 Nov), they experienced troubles in fulfilling customers’ purchases through their Buy-For-Me service. Troubles to the tune of an estimated 30,000 orders.

Not exactly ideal.

Ezbuy took to posting an open letter alluding to Taobao’s alleged bullying behaviour. This quickly drew the ire of China’s largest e-retailer Taobao, sparking off an ongoing feud.

Taobao countered and accused Ezbuy of ‘scalping’, or profiteering from the premiums Ezbuy charges for their ‘Buy-For-Me’ service.

In lieu of the fallout, could this possibly spell the end for Ezbuy’s operations?

We explore both sides of the debate and how this may affect all you passionate online shoppers.

What is Ezbuy?

Ezbuy is a third-party agent that buys products from Taobao – the largest Chinese e-retailer. The goods are then shipped from their warehouse in China to customers in Singapore.

As Taobao does not offer English translations, Ezbuy’s English interface and translated descriptions of Taobao products typically add value to the online shopping experience of many Singaporeans.

Since Ezbuy had their roots as a simple ‘daigou‘ or ‘buying on behalf of’, purely for bringing Taobao products to Singapore, there wasn’t much of an issue at first.

But this relationship quickly took a turn for the worse, once Ezbuy’s ‘Buy-For-Me’ service came into the picture.

Ezbuy’s ‘Buy-For-Me’ Service made Taobao unhappy

The ‘Buy-For-Me’ service helps users purchase products from Taobao, after consolidating orders from multiple customers in Singapore.

Products are then shipped to a warehouse in China that is owned or rented by Ezbuy, allowing the customer enjoy savings due to free domestic shipping.

Ezbuy then inspects, repacks and consolidates the purchases and ships them out to Singapore. Of course, Ezbuy profits from charging an agent fee, as well as a favourable exchange rate for themselves.

Taobao was gradually became unhappy with this arrangement as this meant sharing a slice of their shipping profits with Ezbuy.

Is Ezbuy guilty of ‘scalping’?

Ezbuy’s troubles began when they realised that most of their purchasing accounts were being continuously suspended by Taobao. Ezbuy was thus unable to make purchases on behalf of numerous customers in Singapore. 

On the 8th, Ezbuy’s founder He Jian, posted an open letter. In it, he aired his grievances and accused Taobao of bullying the smaller company. The total number of suspended accounts purportedly exceeded 1,000.

However, Alibaba – the parent company of Taobao – swiftly fired back, by saying that Ezbuy’s act of creating accounts to buy and resell items was an act of scalping. Taobao had apparently tolerated Ezbuy’s alleged scalping behavior but could not allow it any longer.

Curiously, the exact period Taobao decided to take preventive action also happened to be the biggest e-commerce day of the year.

Why did Taobao choose to suspend Ezbuy’s accounts?

How did we get to a point where a Fortune 500 corporation, deemed it necessary to disrupt the business of a comparatively small company from Singapore?

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Well, if we look back in history and examine the Alibaba group’s actions, the answer may become clearer.

The Alibaba group had chosen Lazada as their vessel of choice to expand into Southeast Asia, pumping in S$1 billion into the company not just once, but twice.

They now own an astonishing 83% stake in the e-commerce firm. This partnership was cemented with the unveiling of taobao.lazada.sg, which offers a similar service to Ezbuy’s offerings.

This was a clear signal of the Alibaba group’s intent. Even after offering direct shipping to Singapore, Ezbuy’s native English interface and sheer convenience factor proved to be an irresistible combination.  

Logically speaking, suspending Ezbuy’s purchasing accounts could be Alibaba’s latest move to ensure that their golden boy comes out on top.

How will Ezbuy and Taobao’s damaged relationship affect me?

Online shoppers, you’ll definitely want to note this down.

Ezbuy may well be living their worst nightmare now if they cannot find a solution to this feud with Taobao. 

But if you’re seeking other options for similar services that have yet to catch the ire of Taobao, consider these alternatives.

SGshop, Peeka and Oops are other third party agents that have eagerly scooped up the market share lost by Ezbuy in recent weeks.

There’s only one thing for certain. Ezbuy will have to take steps to lessen their dependence on Taobao, for it’s getting tougher to compete with the titans of the industry.

After all, a middleman’s worst fear is that the seller decides to bypass them and go straight to the buyers.

Perhaps an alliance with a certain American company that gets its name from a rainforest in Brazil may be on the books?

Featured image from Taobao and Ezbuy.

The post Ezbuy’s Ongoing Fight With Taobao Could Spell The End Of Cheap Online Deals appeared first on Must Share News.

Malaysian Baby Hospitalised, Fake Milk Powder Revealed To Be The Cause 2 Months Later

Remember when we reported about how Singaporeans should be wary about buying milk powder in Johor Bahru? Well, it seems that the spread of the fake milk powder is deeper than we first anticipated.

This revelation comes after a Malaysian mother who resides in Petaling Jaya near Kuala Lumpur spoke up about how the fake Enfalac A+ milk powder caused her son to be hospitalised.

While watching your child suffer causes enough pain for most parents, Ms Seila Nawi was made to endure more emotional turmoil.

The reason? Not knowing why baby Mikael was suffering for nearly 2 months.

Found out only after Malaysian media reported product seizures

In a Facebook post on 11 Dec, Ms Seila Nawi shared that it was only recently that she discovered the cause of her son’s earlier hospitalization.

On 10 Dec, the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) published an article which reported that the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) had seized 210 boxes of infant formula that were believed to be fake.

The raid on several shops was a result of a “report regarding a baby who suffered severe vomiting after taking an infant formula which was later found to be fake”.

While the report generated awareness for readers, it served a different purpose for Ms Seila. You see, Mikael was fed Enfalac A+ at home.

If you put two and two together, well you get what we are driving at.

In her post, the mother shared that the article was a godsend as it finally provided her with an explanation on her son’s hospitalisation two months ago.

Rashes, fever and other s…stuff

Ms Seila explained that in Oct 2017, her son Mikael was warded for nearly 2 weeks in hospital. Although doctors conducted many tests on the baby, they were not able to accurately determine the cause of Mikael’s illness, other then attributing it to food poisoning.

Mikael’s illness began after he vomited 9 times in a day.

If that was not bad enough, baby Mikael also developed a fever and rashes all over his body that afternoon.

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Ms Seila decided against bringing Mikael to the doctor immediately, choosing to give him a cold shower to bring the temperature down. However, around 3pm, Mikael had become so weak and did not want to drink his milk.

It was then that Ms Seila decided to bring her son to the hospital.

Doctor unable to diagnose the illness

After clarifying if Mikael had not eaten any solid food or anything that was out of the norm, doctors at the hospital decided to place the baby on a drip and to keep him warded until they could diagnose his illness.

Ms Seila was told to avoid feeding Mikael any solid food as the doctor had suspected that the baby was allergic to some types of food. He was instead put on a drip and fed milk.

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Guess which brand he was fed? That’s right Enfalac A+. Although we are unable to confirm if the milk powder was Ms Seila’s own or the hospital’s, things took a turn for the worse.

The day after being admitted into hospital, Mikael began to have diarrhoea.

His stools was subjected to one of the numerous tests to check if the baby had any allergies. However, results from the test showed that Mikael did not have any allergies.

Weird right?

It gets even worse. A week after hospitalisation, Mikael started to have blood in his stools.

This was particularly painful for for Ms Seila as she had to administer the antibiotics to the baby.

Despite staying in hospital for two weeks, doctors were still unable to diagnose the illness that plagued Mikael.

Discharged

While in hospital, Mikael’s rash and fever fluctuated. However, his health slowly returned towards the end of his second week in hospital.

Seeing that her son was slightly more active, Ms Seila requested to bring her son home.

Mikael’s health continued to improve back at home. However, this could have been because Ms Seila had finished the old can of fake milk powder and was feeding her son from a new can.

A warning to parents

After discovering that the Enfalac A+ milk powder that she had fed her son could have been the fake one, Ms Seila made a police report and is currently working MeadJohnson and the police to crack down on such suppliers.

The Malaysian mother cautioned other parents who use the same brand, urging them to purchase the powder from reputable places such as AEON and Tesco malls instead of pharmacies or smaller shops.

She also encouraged parents to immediately bring their children to the hospital if they displayed similar signs of illness as Mikael.

Milk powder supplier speaks out

Mead Johnson Nutrients Malaysia, which distributes Enfalac A+, issued a warning on their Facebook page warning customers of the fake milk products and teaching them how to spot the difference.

If you see that there is a crease on the side of the packaging or if the packet is not fluffy, there is a chance that you might have encountered a fake bag of formula. The milk formula supplier also warned customers that the fake formula is generally found in 1.8 kg products.

In the event customers have encountered a potentially fake product, customers can contact the company’s consumer care hotline and receive a product replacement.

Be careful

While it has been nearly two months since Mikael has been discharged, Ms Seila shared that she suspects that the active ingredient which cause her son to be ill has not completely left his body yet.

She hopes that no other parent would have to go through her ordeal.

We would like to wish baby Mikael a speedy recovery and remind all Singaporeans to be vigilant when buying the product from Malaysia.

Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.

The post Malaysian Mother Claims Fake Milk Powder Gave Her Baby Rashes And Food Poisoning Symptoms appeared first on Must Share News.

Llaollao Calling Bluff On Yolé Proclamation On Being European

They’ve only been gone for 6 days, but frozen yogurt chain Llaollao has already started fighting back on its replacement, Yolé.

On Tues (12 Dec), Llaollao provided a statement on Facebook with regards to the takeover by the newly established Yolé.

Despite the similarities in the products of the two brands pointed out by customers, they specifically mention that Llaollao “have absolutely nothing to do” with the Yolé brand. Further, Llaollao also claim that despite suggestions to the contrary, Yolé isn’t actually from Europe. They are also “far from finished in Singapore”, and we’ll probably see the return of Llaollao pretty soon.

Pretty serious allegations indeed. But does Llaollao have a point? Let’s take a look at why the original froyo chain is so displeased.

Yolé’s questionable European identity

Many websites, including a report by Channel NewsAsia, has labelled Yolé as an European Brand.

Even own Yolé’s official website hints to the brand being European.

Indulge in our sweet treat to take a dip in Mediterranean bliss.
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However, whether or not Yolé is truly from Europe, is still largely unknown.

Perhaps it is just a cheap marketing stunt to lure Llaollao’s loyal fans.

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Mind you Yolé, yoghurt did not originate from any one culture but any culture that produced milk around 5000BC. #Factcheck

In addition, unlike Llaollao who have stores in 21 countries all over the world, Yolé only has stores in Singapore and Taiwan — countries where Llaollao no longer operates.

llaollao’s international stores
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Yolé’s total stores
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Perhaps they’ve confused “European-themed” with actually being of “European Origin”.

Same same product, but different name

From the aloe vera leaf-shaped spoon to the ambiance of stores, there hasn’t been much changes in terms of concept between the overtaker and the overtaken.

Other than the fact that Yolé has seasonal toppings and a slightly different yoghurt concoction as compared to its unrelated predecessor, a visit to Yolé would probably just make you think that Llaollao changed their colour scheme to blue.

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There are a lot of similarities, except of course of the colour of the branding.

It’s like telling your friend who wants to copy your homework: “eh you copy but change the words a bit ah”, so as to think you can deceive the teacher.

In the end, the teacher still knew someone copied the other.

Nice Try Yolé.

Gongcha and LiHo drama season 2

There has been a comparison of whether this takeover was similar to that of between Gong Cha and LiHo.

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The theory of rebranding and a comeback to regenerate hype for a brand sounds plausible, as we don’t truly know the value of things until we lost them. But we can never really be sure what happens behind the corporate doors who dictate the fate of our beloved food makes.

In the end, although Yolé seems like a fitting substitute for yoghurt fans in Singapore, it still looks like Yolé is a simple copy from Llaollao.

At least LiHo tried to formulate its own image rather than redressing Gong Cha’s brand.

Feature image from Facebook & Eatbook

The post Llaollao Calls Out Yolé For Not Actually Being European, Says They’ll Be Back Soon appeared first on Must Share News.

Grab Rewards Driver And Family After Baby Was Delivered During A Grab Ride

What was supposed to be a regular Grab ride to Mount Alvernia Hospital turned into a a different kind of delivery for Grab driver Mr Mohammad Fazli Bin Omar.

His passengers, Mr Reuben Chow and Mdm Cindy Lim, welcomed the birth of baby Elora-Fae Chow whilst in the backseat of his Toyota Altis on 21 Nov.

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Grabdelivery?

Now we have heard of Ubereats, but it seems that rivals Grab are gaining a reputation for being the best baby delivery service. After all this is the second time this year that a couple has given birth on board a Grab ride.

On 21 Nov, Mr Fazli picked up Mr Reuben Chow and his wife Mdm Cindy Lim at 2.42am.

However, after just one to two minutes into the ride, Mdm Lim went into labour. This “definitely shocked” Mr Fazli but the Grab driver tried to remain calm and focused on driving them safely to the hospital.

According to Mr Fazli, it helped that the drive was a short one and the night traffic was smooth.

Why didn’t they take the ambulance?

Given the circumstances, you will not be faulted for questioning why Mr Chow and Mdm Lim did not call for an ambulance instead.

However, this is what the couple had to say about the entire event.

Mr Chow shared with MustShareNews that he had booked a GrabCar as his wife “wasn’t having any regular contractions at that point”.

Based on their prior experience with their two previous childbirths, Mr Chow was confident that the “entire labour process [would take]a couple of hours”. The fact that the Chow family’s house was just a 5-7 minutes drive away from the hospital added to his belief that he still had time.

This is probably a good time to believe in Murphy’s law that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Just moments before the couple left their house, Mdm Lim’s contractions intensified and escalated quickly.

Improvising on the spot, the couple delivered the baby in the backseat of Mr Fazli’s car.

After ensuring that Mdm Lim got the required attention at the hospital, Mr Chow offered to help Mr Fazli clean his car before parting ways.

A whole new meaning to Grab Rewards

The celebrate the birth of Elora-Fae Chow as well as the touching story, Grab Singapore decided to reward both Mr Fazli and the Chow family with Grab vouchers during a reunion on 13 Dec.

Mr Andrew Chan, Head of GrabCar Singapore presented Mr and Mrs Chow with a Grab voucher worth $8,000 in order to commemorate the second GrabCar baby.

But what about the calm and composed driver? Well, Mr Fazli was rewarded with fuel vouchers worth $800 for his 5-star service.

However, that was not all he left with.

Thankful for helping her parents as well as her new born sister, the Chow family’s 5-year-old daughter, Sarah-Ann, presented Mr Fazli with a hand-drawn card.

She even gave him a 5-star rating.

We salute all of you

It seems Grab heard us loud and clear when we mused about whether the company would adopt the tradition airlines have of rewarding parents when a baby is born on board their planes.

The MustShareNews team would like to congratulate the Chow family on the birth of their latest family member as well as Mr Fazli for his role in the delivery.

Featured image courtesy of Grab.

The post Pregnant Woman Gives Birth During Grab Ride, Gets Rewarded With $8,000 Grab Voucher appeared first on Must Share News.

Meet-Ups With Famous Singaporean Personalities Without Their Permission

Advertised as a “marketplace of time”, new website Interwovn promises to link you up with your favourite local celebrities and personalities for the right price.

Except, some of the famous people featured apparently did not consent to having their time sold at all.

The site currently features pretty convincing profiles of well-known people in Singapore. Unique experiences for sale include starring in a movie with Eden Ang from wahbanana! or learning how to buy bitcoin from a financial pro.

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You can even hangout with the likes of Sandra Riley Tang from The Sam Willows. Starting bids for “45 minutes one-on-one meeting/coffee chat” are only priced at an affordable $20.

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Since real money is involved, this could potentially amount to fraud or false advertising if the celebrities did not actually agree to having their profiles featured on the site.

Once the 4-day bid is concluded, the highest bidders will be able to enjoy the “unique experience” while the seller gets to take home the winning bid in cash. With the two lucky people meeting for this unforgettable experience, it does seem like a win-win situation.

However, as no service fees are currently visible on the site, we are unsure if Interwovn will take a cut of this transaction, similar to other service sharing websites like Airbnb.

We pry into whether this service is indeed a sham, or if it is 100% legit.

Non-consensual transaction

Interwovn actually sounds like a pretty brilliant idea of matching famous celebs with fans who are willing to pay for a “unique experience” of a lifetime.

Unlike Airbnb’s host experiences service, whereby the transaction usually involves two willing parties, some personalities have publicly alluded to the fact that Interwovn did not actually contact them to ask for their permission to advertise for meetings with them.

How does Interwovn work?

Interwovn’s about page describes their service as a “marketplace for unique experiences”. Users are split into two categories, the bidders and the sellers.

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Bidders simply start bidding for experiences via their Facebook accounts. These experiences include a chance to meet famous entrepreneurs, local celebrities and social media influencers.

Sellers, on the other hand, are allowed to sign up via a Google document to advertise for their time to be sold as a “unique experience” for their fans.

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Is Interwovn a scam?

Unfortunately, though connecting mutually consenting celebrities with their fans the experience of a lifetime seems like a good idea, some personalities have already come out to deny their knowledge of Interwovn’s supposed service.

Actor Maxi Lim who starred in Jack Neo’s Ah Boys To Men movies has publicly condemned Interwovn on Instagram.

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Evidently, he clearly states that he had no prior knowledge of why the site decided to advertise a meeting with him.

What happens when a winning bid on Interwovn is decided for the Maxi Lim fan meeting he never agreed to? We frankly have no idea.

Be wary of paying for shady deals

As to whether Interwovn is a scam or not, it’s a tad early to tell. But only one thing’s for certain.

It’s not very nice to sell a famous person’s time online without their consent. Even if their willing and adoring fans don’t mind shelling out the cash for the experience of a lifetime.

Everyone knows that it’s only fair for Interwovn to at least ask the celebrities for their permission BEFORE featuring them onsite.

In the meantime, we think this profile of our friends at TSL looks cool. It’s just unfortunate that no one at TSL knew they were part of this arrangement.

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Featured images from Maxi Lim, Interwovn.

The post New Website Sells Meet-Ups With Famous Singaporeans Them Knowing appeared first on Must Share News.

Much Of Private Homes Are Still Not Allowed To Host Tourists

With Singapore having one of the top home-ownerships rates in the world, one might get the impression that home-sharing would be a boom here.

Contrary to that belief, Singapore still has heavy regulations that prevent such a trend from latching on.

Prosecution for disobeying the rules

On 5 Nov, two men faced charges for reportedly renting out four condominium units to users of the popular online home-sharing platform, Airbnb.

This went against rules that prohibited home-owners from renting out their homes below the stipulated minimum rental period set by the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The case was the first such prosecution to take place here.

Assuming that we might see more of such cases in the future and of the vast spectrum of homes in Singapore, how far is your home “legal enough” to host foreign tourists?

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Definitely-don’t-even-try-level illegal

If you own a HDB flat like the majority of Singaporeans, the proposition of being a Airbnb Host is not an option open to you from the start.

HDB disallows its residents to sublet or rent out their spaces below the minimum period of six months.

This means the only foreign individuals you are allowed to rent your flat to are those with Student Passes or Long-Term Social Visit Passes – definitely not hitchhikers.

Those found not abiding these policies can face a fine or, depending on the severity of the case, find their flats being reacquired by HDB.

If you don’t want to lose your home, I highly suggest you comply.

Maybe-you-can-try-level illegal

For those with private residential properties, such as landed housing and condominiums, like many existing Airbnb hosts you might be tempted to give it a try.

After all, it is 100% your own property.

Here, private residential properties refer to: condominiums, private apartments, walk-ups and own residential homes built on privately own land.

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Like HDB however, the URA – who is the reviewing authority for private properties – has also set a minimum rent duration for such spaces.

Until 30 June 2017, private property owners were bounded by the same six-month minimum rule as mentioned previously.

It has now been reduced to a minimum of three consecutive months, to be more competitive towards serviced apartments.

Owners may apply with the URA to rent out your space for short-term but it is unlikely that the application will be approved as the URA considers the security and comfort of your neighbours more than the potential earnings you want to receive.

Potential Airbnb landlords should also be aware that certain public housing rules do apply to Executive Condominium (EC) until after the property matures beyond their 10th year.

In 2017 alone, the URA has investigated over 600 properties who has been suspected for subletting without proper permission.

It is unknown if any of these 600 properties have applied for permission before (and got rejected) or been reprimanded, for there are many of these types homes and rooms still listed on Airbnb.

After all, it’s only illegal if you get caught right?

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Probably legal

There are certain properties that are in the grey about the whether or not owners of these properties could rent out their spaces to tourists.

For example, shophouses are the most flexible properties on the island.

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They are able to convert from residential to certain commercial spaces without the need for permission by the URA.

Because there are no explicit restrictions on shophouse spaces being rented out, they seem like a safe place for you to host guests.

Renting laws are still developing

Unlike many other dos and don’ts in Singapore that are clearly set out, the rules on using our properties for the purpose of supplementing our income is still in its developmental stages.

This explains the grey areas within the legality of adopting personal property sharing systems such as Grab and Airbnb in our society.

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Airbnb has stated that it working closely with the government in straightening out the rules of home-sharing.

For now government remains firm on prohibiting short-term subletting among our homes, but it is still looking towards classifying some homes as “suitable” for home-sharing.

So until we know exactly which properties can and cannot accommodate our international friends, owners would have to carefully consider the risk of “illegally” renting out their spaces for the time being.

Feature Image From Twitter

The post Most Singaporean Properties Are Not Airbnb Legal appeared first on Must Share News.

Local Wildlife Photographer Wins National Geographic’s Nature Photographer Of The Year Award

Lots of us take pictures just #forthegram, but this dedicated photographer does it for mother nature.

On Wed (13 Dec), Singaporean-based photographer Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan won the title of Nature Photographer of the Year, .

The award came after this winning photograph was picked among 11,000 other photo submissions:

As mentioned, Jayaprakash Bojan’s photograph featured a grown male orangutan, “waist-deep in a river” and “shyly peeking from behind a tree”.

The winning factor of the photo was how the “poignant image” gave an alarming narrative regarding the impact of deforestation on critically endangered animals.

In other words, Mr Bojan’s photo raised awareness on how important rainforests are for animals of all sorts, especially species who are already at risk of becoming extinct.

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Imagine children hiding behind their mothers for protection whenever a scary clown or a random stranger shows up. Here, the vulnerable is the orangutan, and his protection, the forest — take that away, what happens next?

Getting down and dirty for the wild

Mr Bojan mentioned as he saw the orangutan enter precariously into the water, he decided to do the same so as to “get a different perspective of this natural history moment”.

No matter how hypebeast a photo opportunity is, willingly entering crocodile-infested waters doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Even though Mr Bojan was hiding behind a tree, the sound of the camera shutter eventually gave his position away which prompted the orangutan to hide before moving away.

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The now-Photographer of the Year took 20 to 30 shots, documenting the primate climbing down the tree and crossing the river.

He even waited 2 days for the chance to catch upon this rare moment.

That’s real dedication right there.

Kudos to you Mr Bojan.

Saving animals one picture at a time

They say a picture says a thousand words. Mr Bojan’s photo probably says a thousand more.

In an interview with Channel NewAsia, he explains the story beyond the lens.

It is not typical of an orangutan’s nature to dip itself in a river, let alone cross one where crocodiles are actively hunting.

In Indonesia – where the photo was taken – palm oil cultivation is rapidly expanding, and natural habitats which animals such as this primate live in are slowly disappearing.

This leads to animals taking drastic risks like crossing dangerous rivers in order to survive.

Mr Bojan hopes that the attention brought to this photo would bring more aware to these issues.

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Mr Bojan first came to Singapore with his wife two years ago and draws inspiration from the Singapore Zoo — a place that is sometimes undervalued by Singaporeans.

Perhaps in this rapidly urbanising country we should start paying more attention to our wildlife friends.

The title of National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Award comes together with a prize money of above $10,000.

But the true reward for Mr Bojan is the fact that his photo is able to make an impact in improving life for animals.

That in itself is invaluable.

Once again we congratulate Mr Bojan for this remarkable achievement and hope to see many more people with the unwavering dedication as displayed by him.

Feature image from Facebook 

The post Singapore-Based Wildlife Photographer Wins Prestigious Nat Geo’s Photography Award appeared first on Must Share News.

Ex-Zimbabwean Prime Minister Robert Mugabe Loves Travelling To Singapore

Human-rights abuser, prestigious winner of the Best Dictator award, and political genius Robert Mugabe understands the importance of tourism to our country’s economy. So much so that the 93-year-old has made it a point to travel over 8,000 km several times a year to come to our sunny shores.

Here?
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Singapore isn’t exactly next door neighbours with Zimbabwe. In fact, it’s a 16-hour flight that separates both countries, quite dissimilar to driving across the Causeway.

So what makes the ex-Zimbabwean Prime Minister keep coming back to the Lion City? We explore the possible reasons why.

1. He received treatment for cataracts from Gleneagles Hospital

Singapore is well-known for its excellent medical facilities and infrastructure. The nonagenarian has been happily reaping the benefits of our cutting-edge medical expertise since 2011, when he underwent cataract surgery.

He has gone under the Singaporean knife on several occasions since, and returns to Parkway Eye Centre regularly for checkups. 2017 alone has seen him making two visits, in March and July.

Due to his eye condition, official spokesmen have gone on record as saying that he is required to ‘avoid bright lights’.

In that case, he better not look at his country’s future prospects without him at the helm.

He’s just ‘resting his eyes’.
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2. His daughter is a Singaporean university graduate

Mugabe’s daughter, Bona, graduated with a Master of Science in Management (Banking and Finance) at private university Management Development Institute of Singapore.

She seems to like being here, even choosing to have her first-born child, Simbanashe, in a Singaporean hospital.

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3. His wife enjoys retail therapy in Singapore

Maybe a bit too much. His wife Grace has been known to steal from her country’s diamond supply to fund extravagant shopping sprees, earning her the moniker Gucci Grace.

Really GG.
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Once splurging £8,700 (S$15,722) on a handbag in Singapore, shopping seems to be a favourite pastime of hers. Along with leaving 7.2 million Zimbabweans on the verge of hunger and purportedly assaulting members of the press.

4. He sees us as a second home

So this was lifted from a quote from a Zimbabwean opposition party spokesman, but you don’t send your daughter to school here and unleash your wife upon us without some sort of affection for the place.

Before you ask, no. We don’t think you’ll run into the former oldest world leader at a lift lobby near you anytime soon.

5. He is a proud landowner here

As part of his combined US$1 billion of assets, he reportedly owns real estate not just in Singapore, but also in Malaysia and Dubai.

However, details are scant on the actual property he owns here.

While we don’t think Mugabe owns jumbo HDB flat here like Madam President Halimah, there’s no chance it holds up to his residence back in his home country. Known as the Blue Roof, his Zimbabwean property boasts “25 bedrooms, a large outdoor pool, two lakes, a massive dining room seating 30 guests, a large master bedroom with super king-sized bed and a multi-million dollar radar system”

Now that’s living the Zimbab way.

6. We were first on his mind after his ouster

Scheduled to visit Singapore on the 16 Nov, Mugabe’s travel plans hit a snag in the form of a coup d’état by the military that placed him under house arrest the day before.

Accepting a resignation deal, the news sparked wild celebrations all across the country. After which, he promptly made his way here on 12 Dec.

We can only wonder why he chose to miss the grand party in his homeland this time, given that he famously celebrated his 93rd birthday with a 93kg cake.

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Dictator-in-chief

Most people only know Zimbabwe as the country with inflation rates that make our eyes glaze over with a bunch of zeroes.

AKA 50¢ SGD.
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But after 35 years of reported corruption, torture and economic woes under Mugabe’s rule, it’s no wonder that the citizens who’ve not exactly prospered under his reign are rejoicing now that he’s gone.

Featured Image via YouTube

The post 6 Unexpected Reasons Robert Mugabe Loves Singapore, Not Just For Our Chicken Rice appeared first on Must Share News.

SumoStory’s Founder Chris Chong Personally Emailed Person Who Asked About His Wealth

Most entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of free time at their disposal, but serial startup founder Mr Chris Chong seems to have lots to spare. At least enough time to clarify his $24 million net worth with a member of the public apparently.

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Mr Chong recently took issue when Mr Jacob Puthenparambil, a PR agency owner, questioned the legitimacy of his $24 million fortune upon viewing Channel NewsAsia’s (CNA) documentary Millionaire Minds.

Triggered, Mr Chong drafted a savage reply to Mr Puthenparambil, sending it directly to his private email address.

That’s perfectly acceptable, except for one thing. How did Mr Chong get Mr Puthenparambil’s contact details in the first place?

As it turns out, a screenshot of the private email was shared with Mr Chong by an unnamed member of CNA’s production team.

Now, said unnamed employee is being investigated by CNA and may potentially face disciplinary action. Here’s how it all went down.

Millionaire mind your own business

According to Mumbrella Asia, Mr Puthenparambil, a PR agency owner, had filled in CNA’s inquiry form to ask for the sources which valued Mr Chong’s sale of his startup, Beeconomic, to Groupon at $24 million.

This came after his curiosity was piqued while watching CNA’s documentary Millionaire Minds, which Mr Chong was featured on.

An unnamed CNA employee then sent a screenshot of the inquiry to Mr Chong.

Unfortunately, the staff member forgot that the screenshot contained Mr Puthenparambil’s private information including his real name and email address.

Mr Chong then took matters into his own hands and personally contacted Mr Puthenparambil. He quipped via email,

Thanks for your interest in my personal wealth. It certainly makes me feel a sense of accomplishment that people joke with me that you put so much effort into your hobby.

Well, they say curiosity killed the cat. In this case, it almost killed Mr Puthenparambil too. His email’s inbox that is.

Understandably, a confused Mr Puthenparambil wrote back to question Mr Chong on the issue. Mr Chong then replied,

My friends at Channel News Asia must have sent me an enquiry form from another Jacob Puthenparambil then.

Wow, talk about being triggered.

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Scandal after scandal

No stranger to scandals, Mr Chong has recently come under media scrutiny for writing biased editorials about his own clients for Forbes Asia.

He has apologised publicly to Forbes and vehemently denied being given monetary incentives by the firms for his articles.

Forbes has since pulled Mr Chong’s column and articles from their site, leaving Mr Chong with one less side lobang to be busy with.

Perhaps this is why Mr Chong now has more free time to correct everyone about his personal net worth.

Don’t be kaypoh

Although Mr Chong was once lauded for remaining humble despite his success, some say that wealth does have a funny way of changing a man’s heart.

In the end, Mr Chong didn’t actually clarify if the sale of Beeconomic was worth $24 million as quoted in CNA’s documentary.

Either way, to personally go after somebody who simply asked for sources on information seems like a pretty bad PR move.

Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.

The post PR Startup Founder Chris Chong Triggered By Email Enquiring About His $24 Million Wealth appeared first on Must Share News.

Roadblocks Set Up To Facilitate Standard Chartered Marathon Hindered Patients From Receiving Urgent Medical Attention

During the annual Standard Chartered marathon on 3 Dec, it seems like the participants were not the only ones running against the clock.

Like any other marathon, roadblocks were set up along running routes to facilitate the event.

However, while these blocks cleared the roads for runners to blaze on, they also prevented doctors and patients from reaching Raffles Hospital directly.

This motivated Dr Chan Wen Yan to write in to The Straits Times, highlighting how patients were allegedly put at risk, due difficulty accessing the hospital.

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Dr Chan emphasised that the roadblocks were “poorly organised”, disallowing doctors and their patients access to the hospital despite a medical emergency.

This meant that responses to patients’ emergencies were slow and this subjected them to higher health risks.

One of the patients was even forced to walk to the hospital despite bleeding from a miscarriage, as the roadblocks prevented her from receiving immediate help.

Yikes.

Dr Chan’s statement of the incident

According to Dr Chan, those who were responsible for rerouting traffic at roadblocks were unable to do so effectively and “did not allow” access to emergency cases.

She also mentioned that the event resulted in ambulances facing significant difficulties in reaching hospital grounds.

Roadblocks at major intersections such as along River Valley Street and Eu Tong Sen Street
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Patients and doctors had to alight from their vehicles far away from the hospitals, walking on foot to complete their journey — as if they were part of the actual marathon.

Of course, this was especially dangerous for patients with conditions which constituted a medical emergency.

Dr Chan also stressed that by delaying doctors from reaching the hospital, it deprived patients from the proper care they required.

She also brought up the incident where a woman had to give birth in the A&E department instead of the labour ward due to these delays. Also, her obstetrician could not get to her in time as he had parked at a carpark further away due to road closures.

Dr Chan finally mentions that even though special events take place, providing essential medical services should never be compromised.

Organiser’s apology and response

As stated in TODAY’s report, event organisers Ironman Asia offered their “sincere apologies to those affected by the closures for the marathon”.

However, despite accusations from Dr Chan regarding roadblocks being a hindrance to medical services, the organiser rebutted that an agreement was reached with Raffles Hospital to facilitate access by all emergency vehicles into said hospital.

It was also reported that “access to the hospital was available to all vehicles”.

Who’s telling the truth is still a mystery.

However, Raffles Hospital also admitted that some doctors had to park their cars in other buildings around the area and non-emergency patients were the only ones inconvenienced by the road closures.

Though I’m pretty sure that a miscarriage and a premature baby delivery are severe enough to be considered an emergency.

Guess someone forgot to cover up that loophole.

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True enough, Raffles Hospital declined to comment on the premature delivery incident.

Reviewing this year’s marathon and pledging improvements for the next one

As organisers plan routes with more heritage sites, this has been the first time that road closures occurred around Raffles Hospital for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

The organiser – Ironman Asia –  has stated that it will make improvements not only for marathon runners but for the wider community as well.

Hopefully, next year we wouldn’t see sick patients seemingly running as part of the marathon again.

Featured image from Facebook.

The post StanChart Marathon’s Roadblocks Allegedly Prevented Ambulances From Reaching Raffles Hospital appeared first on Must Share News.

Comparing Rail Networks Across Asia

Stuffy, overpacked, and constantly breaking down. 

There’s no doubt that taking trains during peak hours – or in general – has become less comfortable in the last few years. Especially with so many incidents happening to trains in the recent months, from flooding, to a “coming together” of trains, to delays that have appeared so often, we take them as a normal part of life now.

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It’s likely that most Singaporeans have accepted that our rail network is not up to par with other countries. But is this as true as we like to believe?

Here’s a comparison of Singapore’s MRT compared to other Asian cities. For the purposes of this comparison, we’ll be comparing Singapore’s MRT to similar rail services in Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, and Hong Kong.

Money Talks

Much to everyone’s surprise, Singapore fares pretty well when it comes to how much we pay on average for a train ride.

That’s because we pay way less in comparison to other countries.

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Based on a study by SIM University, a 40km MRT ride only costs an average of $2.02.

Across the same distance in these four other Asian countries, a ride will set you back $3.85 in Tokyo, $2.30 in Seoul, and $2.21 in Taipei.

Hong Kong comes in as the winner, with a measly $1.84 covering the same distance.

Who would’ve guessed that the most expensive city in the world has one of the cheapest train fares?

At least our fares aren’t the most expensive.

Overcrowding Issues

It’s hard not to complain about the MRT especially when we are packed in like sardines during peak hour.

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You can blame this on the 3 million people on average that take the MRT daily, according to Data.gov.sg.

Yes, you read that right. Every. Single. Day.

That’s more than half the people that live in Singapore!

TripSavvy states that daily ridership for Tokyo (8.7m), Seoul (7.2m), and Hong Kong (4.6m) are all higher than Singapore’s. The only city that has a lower ridership than Singapore in Taiwan, which see 2.2m riders daily, according to Taipei Metro. 

If we compare this to the size of their populations, the figures show that the percentage of the population that take the train daily accounts for:

Tokyo: 90% of population

Taipei: 81% of population

Seoul: 73% of population

Hong Kong: 63% of population

Singapore: 53% of population

Which means that even though the MRT is known for being notoriously overcrowded, a much lower percentage of the Singaporean population take the MRT daily. 

Network Connectivity

Even though Singapore is known as the little red dot, we sure do have an incredibly complex MRT line. 200 kilometres long, to be exact. Just look at how extensive our MRT map is.

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This rivals the likes of Seoul (326km), Hong Kong (220km), Tokyo (195km), Taipei (131km). 

If these figures are compared to the populations of each of the cities, Singapore’s network is pretty well-connected, only behind Seoul and Taipei:

Seoul: 53% connected

Taipei: 48% connected

Singapore: 27% connected

Tokyo: 8.6% connected

Hong Kong: 7.9% connected

When it comes to network connectivity, Singapore lands in the middle of the competition.

So Who Wins?

Hong Kong’s rail network is ranked the best in the world by CNN. Surprisingly enough, Singapore comes in strong, at 3rd best in the world.

Tokyo lands at 8th place, Seoul at 2nd, and, Taipei remains unranked.

Although Taipei is unranked, The Straits Times expresses that in terms of reliability, the Taipei Metro should be the standard in terms of improvements to the MRT. Which means things in Taipei are probably better than in Singapore.

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When looking at the cold, hard facts, it’s true that Singapore doesn’t come in first place every single time. However, there’s no denying that Singapore is on par with some of the best rail networks in the world. We may have a long way to go when it comes to reliability, but it seems like Singapore isn’t faring so badly after all.

Featured image from SG Trains and MTR.

The post How Singapore’s MRT Compares To Other Asian Rail Networks appeared first on Must Share News.

Low Thia Khiang Gets Personal In Workers’ Party Documentary Walking With Singapore

2017 will be remembered by Singaporeans for a wide slew of reasons. Like the Bishan MRT flooding incident and the inauguration of our first female Malay President.

But for many Workers’ Party supporters, 2017 will be remembered as the year that Low Thia Khiang announced that he would be stepping down from his position as Secretary General of the Workers’ Party (WP) once his current term ends in 2018.

Perhaps it’s timely to rediscover the man who has become the face of Singapore’s political opposition.

We take a look at the WP’s 60th anniversary video and uncover 4 reasons why Low Thia Khiang has remained a political mainstay for such a long time.

1. He cried because of unfair educational policies

Mr Low is known to be a no-nonsense parliamentarian who’s unafraid to speak his mind.

So we were pretty taken aback when we saw a softer side to Mr Low.

Speaking in Part I of WP’s commemorative video Walking With Singapore, Mr Low shared how the government’s educational policy of making English the lingua franca caused many problems for Singaporeans.

Tears welled up in the opposition leader’s eyes when he discussed why left his teaching position to enter politics.

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Following the merger of Chinese-based Nantah University (Nanyang University) English-based University of Singapore in 1980, Chinese-educated students like Mr Low quickly found themselves marginalised.

He later faced rejection from majoring in political science, as his professors thought his command of English was too poor.

Armed with a degree in Chinese instead, Mr Low trained as a teacher at Institute of Education (IE), hoping to prevent his students from facing a similar fate.

However, the emotional politician then recounted how yet another educational policy hindered his efforts in helping his students.

The new policy that Mr Low was talking about was the streaming of 10-year-old students.

Mr Low shared that the system was unfair because it did not provide students with a second chance. He also stressed that these educational policies “would kill [students]no matter how hard [they]work” as they would not be able to escape the system.

Finally tearing up, Mr Low argued that “it was unbecoming of the government to do this to [their]own citizens and [their]future generations of Singaporeans”.

Realizing that “this was the last straw”, Mr Low eventually decided to leave his post as a teacher to become a politician.

2. He created his own education bursary

Mr Low later joined the WP, winning a seat in Parliament after his victory in Hougang’s Single Member Constituency in 1991.

Despite a change in his career path, Mr Low never forgot his struggle with the government’s educational policies. Being in a position that gave him more power to affect change, the WP decided to help students from poor families by creating his own education bursary.

To raise funds for the Hougang Constituency Education Trust, Mr Low even approached “organisers of Seventh Month dinners” and “temple dinners” to seek donations.

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According to WP member Ms Ng Swee Bee, organisers were very supportive of this initiative. She added that the WP would “send out the Education Trust Plaque for yearly auctions to raise the bursary funds”.

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We don’t know about you, but Mr Low’s actions and sincerity towards his cause, do seem to speak louder than his words.

3. He ensured that not any Tom, Dick or Harry could join WP

Back in the 2001 General Elections, opposition parties in Singapore were having trouble fielding candidates. This led to one of the largest PAP walkovers in Singapore’s history.

This caused some concern amongst Singaporeans, like Sylvia Lim. She along with like-minded colleagues had decided to join the opposition party to provide the people with an alternative choice to the PAP. However, it seemed that not all who joined opposition parties were of a similar calibre.

Need we remind you of this man?

Thankfully, there has not been an equally embarrassing politician in the WP.

The reason? An extremely stringent admissions stance by the Secretary General.

Mr Low mentions in the documentary that his intention is to ensure “that the party is in good hands” and consists of people who did not join for “personal benefit or personal glory”.

WP’s reputation as viable alternative to the ruling party has since been enhanced, attracting well-qualified candidates such as Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao and Pritam Singh to name a few.

This could have given Singaporeans the confidence to vote the opposition into Parliament, as seen in the 2011 WP victory in Aljunied GRC.

4. He hesitated about leaving his beloved Hougang SMC

Talking about WP’s victory in Aljunied GRC brings us to the last notable point about Mr Low.

Now, we all know that Mr Low is practically worshiped in Hougang, having served as their Member of Parliament from 1991 to 2010. Residents even cooked and gave him herbal drinks during his walkabouts.

With Hougang residents showing Mr Low so much love, it was understandably hard for him to leave the Hougang to run in Aljunied instead.

But Mr Low went ahead with his strategic move, resulting in the first ever victory for an opposition party in a GRC.

However, what Singaporeans probably didn’t know was that Mr Low struggled with decision up to the very last moment.

Party Assistant-Secretary General Pritam Singh remembers this well. Mr Singh shared that the telling point for him came, when party members were about to board the buses which would go to the different nomination centres in 2011.

Mr Singh quipped, “everyone was wondering which bus would Mr Low get on”. Mr Faisal Manap added that WP members were getting a bit “kan cheong because time was running out” as Mr Low remained undecided on which nomination centre to head towards.

Although, only WP Chairman Sylvia Lim knew what was going through Mr Low’s head. She quipped calmly that his hesitation was for “maximum impact” and that the strategy “fed into our battle plans”.

Whether it was last minute jitters or a well-kept game plan, we only know that it was a “stressful and emotional journey” for Mr Low to make the move.

Long-service award

Mr Low will fondly be remembered as the politician at his incendiary best during the Oxley Road Saga, dropping savage lines that made us laugh “until pants drop“.

Come 2018, Mr Low will become the longest-serving member of the opposition in Parliament. Given that it will be his 27th year, he will even eclipse Mr Chiam See Tong for the honor.

We may not know if Mr Low will be running in the 2021 General Elections, as he will be 65 years old by then.

But given this timely opportunity, we would simply like to thank Mr Low for his service as a check and balance to the ruling political party.

Featured image from Facebook and YouTube.

The post 4 Reasons Low Thia Khiang Remains A Political Mainstay In Singapore, Other Than His Tears appeared first on Must Share News.

HDB Neighbours From Hell In Singapore

It’s super frustrating when you’re trying to sleep but you hear your annoying neighbour having a party until the wee hours of the morning.

But surely, that’s not as bad as some of the things the neighbours on this list have done.

Here are 8 classic cases of bad neighbours who made it their personal mission to put everyone who lived near them, through hell and back.

1. Dung Was Flung

A woman staying in Hougang was stuck in a really crappy situation when her upstairs neighbour started throwing faeces from upstairs, down into her flat.

According to The New Paper (TNP), she was forced to cover her windows with plastic sheets, to stop the poop from landing inside her house.

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She was even afraid that the poop would break her windows. Now that’s some hard crap to deal with.

It started to occur so frequently that the poop was being thrown at her windows three times a day.

Good to know that the culprit had consistent bowel movements.

2. Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat

A couple in Bedok North was found to be hoarding 30 cats in a three-bedroom flat, AsiaOne reported.

Their neighbours were complaining because the cats were raising a stink. To be fair, the couple wanted to give away the cats for adoption but no one wanted them.

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They should’ve just started a Hello Kitty collection instead.

3. Phantom of the Aroma

For 6 years, a resident in Geylang received visits from various authorities over a reported smell coming from her flat, states TNP.

A neighbour who reported her multiple times, insisted that there was a pungent smell coming from the flat. The neighbour even claimed that the smell was disrupting her family’s peace and health.

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But over the span of 6 years and many visits from authorities, no smell was ever detected.

Sounds like a visit to a doctor to clear her sinuses would’ve done the trick.

4. The Big Bang

A large number of Pasir Ris residents complained to the authorities that their neighbour was causing a ruckus for 7 years.

The Straits Times (ST) mentioned that the neighbour was making so much noise that two separate tenants planned to move out because they could no longer bear it.

He was so loud that even though he was on the second storey, he could be heard from as high as the 13th storey.

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He even left objects dangling precariously outside his flat, creating a hazard for residents walking by on the ground floor.

This guy was truly dedicated, for it takes a lot of commitment to make noise round the clock.

5. Wall Brawl

While Trump wants to build a wall to keep immigrants out, some Yishun residents had to build a mini wall to keep an annoying neighbour far away from their corridor.

ST states that the residents made a makeshift wall with cacti acting as barbed wire to keep a woman away from throwing things outside their flats.

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The woman was videotaped splashing oil that smelt like urine on their walls. That’s not even the worst part though, she even left used sanitary napkins on a bicycle in the corridor.

6. Shitty Paint Job

In Toa Payoh, another literal shitstorm was caused when a neighbour was caught flinging faeces at her neighbour’s wall.

AsiaOne relays the ingenious way this neighbour from hell went about throwing her business at other people’s wall,

“She used a mug to scoop faeces from a bucket and splashed it on my front door. The paint wouldn’t dry so fast, so the faeces would stick onto it.”

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That’s actually pretty clever, I guess? If you’re going to do something, do it right. Or make sure it sticks, in this case.

7. Keep Calm and Curry On

In 2011, headlines were made when it was reported that a Chinese family had issues with an Indian family cooking curry because of the smell.

The Indian family tried to keep calm and curry on respectfully by closing their windows and doors while cooking, but this was not enough to appease the Chinese family.

The families had to go for mediation, where it was agreed that the Indian family would only cook curry when the Chinese family was not in.

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Many people thought this was not fair or racially tolerant, so a campaign called “Cook and Share a Pot of Curry” was started on social media. The aim of this was to bring Singaporeans together and encourage togetherness.

Awww, at least one of these stories had a good ending.

8. Lepak in Corridor

A common area in Choa Chu Kang was regularly converted into a neighbour’s chillout area for him and his friends, late into the night.

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It had been going on for five years, as of February 2016. The noise was so bad that it was reportedly affecting their sleep.

They would crowd along the corridor, even hosting BBQs which posed a serious fire hazard at some point.

Maybe if they’d invited their neighbours to the BBQ, they wouldn’t have gotten so mad.

Bad Neighbours?

Some props have to be given to the people who were so dedicated to making their neighbour’s lives hell. But to be fair, no one truly deserves to be put through this on a daily basis.

If you thought your neighbours were annoying, maybe this list will make you reconsider your feelings towards them.

Featured image from Facebook.

The post 8 HDB Neighbours From Hell We Hope You’ll Never Encounter In Singapore appeared first on Must Share News.