At around 10pm, a riot was started by an angry mob along Race Course Road in Little India. The rioting mob is consist of mainly foreign imported workers overturned police cars and then set them on fire. The riot began shortly after a 33-year-old worker from India was ran over by a private bus operated by BT&Tan Bus Transport Service. The accident happened at around 9.20pm at the junction of Tekka Lane and Race Course Road. Emotional people that witness the accident started hitting the windshield of a bus with sticks and garbage bins. The first responders to the accident, believed to be extricating the accident victim, were verbally abused by the crowd which later turned to a full blown riot. Read more »

Singapore has pledged S$5 billion (US$4 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “War Chest”. This increases its capability to provide money to fight future economic crisis and for the IMF to draw down should the need arise. According to insider, the amount represents only 2% of Singapore’s S$243 billion foreign reserves. Read more »

After four decades of service, Singapore Airlines bids farewell to the last of its Boeing 747 fleet on Good Friday. Singapore Airlines (SIA) held special return flights from Singapore to Hong Kong to commemorate the aircraft’s retirement. In 1973, SIA received delivery of the first two Boeing 747s. In 2003 at its peak, it had 51 Boeing 747 aircrafts. The worst time for SIA 747 was when SQ006 crashed in Taipei in 2000. Read more »

They are part of the events lined up to mark the 70th anniversary of the fall of Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. Singaporeans remembered and learned valuable lessons from the resilience and strength of spirit that their forefathers demonstrated during the Japanese Occupation. He said in the midst of this dark chapter in the country’s history, they endured tremendous hardship between 1942 and 1945. Many struggled to rebuild their dreams, homes, lives and adapted in the face of hardship and challenges. Read more »

Singapore’s former Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister, Dr Toh Chin Chye (1921-2012), died in his sleep. In 1988 Dr Toh retired from politics and was conferred the Order of Nila Utama (First Class) in 1990. Dr Toh was educated at Raffles College and the University of London. He received a PhD in Physiology from the National Institute for Medical Research in London. Read more »

Parliament has accepted the proposals made by the Committee to Review Ministerial Salaries after a three-day debate. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also Minister-in-charge of civil service, said both sides of the House (PAP and two opposition parties) have moved much closer together. 30 MPs took part in the debate. The new salary structure will be backdated to 21 May 2011. Huat Ah! Read more »

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has unveiled its long-haul budget carrier. It was given a name of Scoot. Scoot will begin flights from mid-2012 with a fleet of four Boeing B777-200 aircraft purchased from SIA. “Scoot is for you,” is its tagline. The budget airline is expected to have 14 planes by 2016, which will let you “scoot-off” to places like India, the Middle East, Africa and possibly even Europe. Read more »

Pulau Bukom Shell refinery was engulfed in a huge fire. It took the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and oil company Shell more than two days (32 hours) to extinguish it. Read more »

During the ceremony held in the State Room of the Istana, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore had just gone through a watershed 2011 General Election. Almost all the seats were contested, for the first time in decades. Many Singaporeans were voting also for the first time. Singapore has entered a new phase in its political development. Head of government included Prime Minister LEE Hsien Loong (since 12 August 2004); Deputy Prime Minister TEO Chee Hean (since 1 April 2009) and Deputy Prime Minister THARMAN Shanmugaratnam (since 21 May 2011); Senior Minister HENG Chee How (since 21 May 2011). Read more »

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has instructed DBS Bank to set aside additional SGD $230 million in regulatory capital for operational risk, as part of its supervisory action against the service outage of the lender’s online and branch banking system suffered recently.

DBS Computer System crashed in the early morning which affected their front office, internet banking and even ATMs. The more than seven-hour outage caused significant inconvenience to the bank’s customers. The breakdown was in part a result of the failure by the bank to put in place a robust technology risk management framework.

The Singapore Airshow 2010 is a 6-day event, taking place from 2 to 7 February 2010. The first 4 days of the Singapore Airshow are exclusively for trade attendees and the final 2 weekend days are open to general public at large. Show visitors are treated to an extra 30-minute aerobatic flying display taking place at this year’s Singapore Airshow over the public weekend on 6 and 7 February. This is in addition to the 60-minute aerial display. Read more »

What was thought to be impossible, the COE (open bidding system for car buyer) had crashed. At the close of the tender, COE premium for cars was at an unprecedented $2. Motor traders were shocked. All said the market was soft, but no one expected the price to crash. The number of bids submitted exceeded the COE supply of 1,851 by only one. The last time it crashed was in 1997 when the bid was stopped at 50 bucks .

The landmark free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Singapore, which is the Chinese government’s first with an Asian country, will eliminate tariffs for 85 per cent of Singapore’s exports to China from January 2009. An additional 10 per cent of exports, or 95 per cent of Singapore’s exports to China, will be duty-free from 2010 onwards. The Singapore exports covered by the FTA, which include such items as instant coffee, aviation kerosene and ornamental fish, have a total trade value of over $18 billion. As part of the China-Singapore FTA , Singapore will lift tariffs for all Chinese exports to Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao signed the FTA in Beijing.

Singapore government sets aside SGD $150 billion to guarantee all Singdollar and foreign currency deposits of individual & non-bank customers in licensed banks, finance companies and credit co-operatives. For the guarantee to be called, two things have to happen: a bank has to fail, and at the same time its assets must be worth so little there is not even enough to repay its depositors. Singapore government has assured that its banking system continues to be sound and resilient, but it said precautionary action must be taken to avoid an erosion of the banks’ deposit base.

The Singapore is in a technical recession dragged down by a slump in exports and a weak property market. The real recession which usually cause job losses, will probably come 2009 when Singapore feels the full impact of the global economic slowdown. It is Singapore first technical recession since 2002, after the dot-com bubble busted. The week ending 10 October 2008, saw the Singapore Stock Index drop by more than 15% from 6 October 2008.

Singapore stock markets went into a dizzying fall as the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers sparked fears that more bad news is on the horizon for the finance sector and the economy. The collapse of Lehman Brothers has sent a major jolt through global financial markets as it is by far the biggest victim of the credit crisis that started in August 2007. It had been previously considered that firm like Lehman Brothers are too big to fail.

At 4.05pm Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the JI leader, escaped from the Internal Security Department’s Whitley Detention Camp where he was being detained. His family was visiting him at the time, and he was being led to a room to meet them when he asked for a toilet break. Mas Selamat had escaped through an unsecured bathroom window and fled. A massive manhunt comprising personnel from the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent, the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit were deployed in the vicinity of the area immediately after the escape. Followed by thousands of Singapore Armed Forces Personnel combing the forested area (very much like time the black panther escaped from the Singapore Zoo).