In career spanning over 34 years, Peter Ho took on leading roles at ministries and PMO

Former top civil servant Peter Ho heads the list of recipients of this year's National Day Awards.

Mr Ho, 62, who was head of the Civil Service from 2005 until his retirement in 2010, was given the prestigious Distinguished Service Order.

Four other individuals with a record of public service were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

They are: renowned artist and Cultural Medallion recipient Lim Tze Peng, 95; former chairman of the National Environment Agency (NEA) Chew Gek Khim, 54; Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) member and former Supreme Court judge Goh Joon Seng, 81; and National University of Singapore professor and marine biologist Leo Tan Wee Hin, 71.

The awards are given out every year to recognise individuals for their contributions to Singapore.

A total of 3,959 people have been honoured this year, including members of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), community and grassroots leaders, and educators.

Getting this year's top award is particularly sweet for Mr Ho, now chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, as he shares the same birthday as the nation.

His distinguished career, spanning over 34 years in the public service, includes permanent secretary appointments at the ministries of defence and foreign affairs, and the Prime Minister's Office.

A strong believer in a networked government, Mr Ho is credited with having galvanised various agencies to work together on key challenges.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he initiated a series of policy reviews that strengthened its ability to respond to a fast-changing strategic landscape. He also oversaw the setting up of the National Security Coordination Secretariat in the Prime Minister's Office to respond to transnational terrorism, and helped to set up the Centre for Strategic Futures, where he remains a senior adviser.

The former SAF scholarship holder is also credited with initiating changes in the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) to bring about a third-generation SAF by modernising capabilities to better deal with new threats.

Mr Ho told The Straits Times yesterday that he was surprised and honoured at being given the award, noting that he had, even after retirement, been given the privilege to serve in many capacities.

As Singapore strives to be a Smart Nation that harnesses technology to improve citizens' lives, Mr Ho said civil servants can and need to continue to be innovators and risk-takers.

He recounted how his team decided to outsource the development and running of Mindef's first Internet portal for national servicemen to outside experts.

"This was heresy at that time," he said. The Government's response was lukewarm, but his team pressed on and the portal became a model that other agencies began to follow.

Someone has to break the mould, he added. "This underscores the basic principle: If you want to make big improvements, you cannot be timid... You must be daring enough to try new things out, and you manage the risks," he said.

"You must be psychologically prepared for some to fail: If you have done your work properly, a few will fail, but most will succeed."

Retired Supreme Court judge Goh Joon Seng, who was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, has been active on several boards since he left the Bench in 2000.

"I never expected, when given the honour, to serve as a member of the CPA and chairman of the Presidential Council for Religious Harmony," he said.

Fellow recipient Chew Gek Khim, who was NEA chairman from 2008 to 2015, was instrumental in the upgrading of existing hawker centres and the construction of new ones.

Ms Chew is executive chairman of investment company Straits Trading, and also helped galvanise industry associations and companies to work with the NEA on waste minimisation and recycling efforts.

Under her watch, the NEA embarked on a programme to build 10 new hawker centres by 2017, and another 10 centres by 2027.

"It is gratifying to see the creation of more hawker centres, which indirectly help cap rising food prices," she said. "I am also very happy to see how NEA has evolved, and it now attracts qualified and talented young people who aspire to make Singapore's living environment even better."

yanliang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Aug 9, 2016.
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He is on the mend in hometown of Penang after discharge from SGH over weekend

A third-year student from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), who was injured in the Bastille Day attack in the southern French city of Nice, is now recuperating in his hometown of Penang in Malaysia.

Mr Esmond Chuah, 22, was flown back by his parents on Sunday after having been discharged from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) a day earlier.

Mr Chuah's back was fractured when he was hit by the side of a 19-tonne truck that ploughed through a crowd on July 14.

In a statement to the media, an SUTD spokesman said Mr Chuah had made good progress towards recovery and would be recuperating for some time in Penang.

Mr Chuah was one of 12 SUTD students in Nice for a three-week summer programme, which ended on July 22. He had been with a group of young people, including some from other universities, when the attack occurred.

Several SUTD students had told The Straits Times they were at the Promenade des Anglais to watch the fireworks, and fled when the attack, in which scores were killed, began at around 10.45pm. During a roll call at their hostel later that night, they discovered that Mr Chuah was missing. It was not until the next day that the anxious group heard from him, when he contacted them using a nurse's cellphone.

The driver, Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, was shot dead by police after killing 84 people and injuring more than 200 others.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AFP, Reuters

Mr Chuah flew back to Singapore on July 28 with his parents, who had travelled to France to see him. He was admitted to hospital upon arrival.

In a Facebook post on July 27, he wrote: "Everything is fine now. Just need time for my back to heal."

Mr Chuah wrote that he had fractured parts of his spine but his spinal cord was not injured. He added that the tragic incident "has left this beautiful city with a scar", but said the city had shown him the "strength, warmth and support of the locals in times of need".

He wrote: "I urge everyone to not associate Nice with the action of a delusional man, but to remember the city as a paradise with scrumptious cuisine, charming architecture, sophisticated language and a breathtaking coastline."

melodyz@sph.com.sg

See also:

At least 84 dead in Nice truck attack

Malaysian student from SUTD injured in Nice attack

French police arrest three in Nice raid after truck attack

SUTD student injured in Nice terror attack has 'passed critical period'

This article was first published on Aug 9, 2016.
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Ex-world champ, 53, takes shock 2-0 lead before S'porean finds footing and prevails

Two paddlers stood at opposite ends of the table yesterday at the Riocentro Pavilion 3. Both table tennis veterans, both former world champions - one with the Chinese class of 1983, the other earning a historic title with Singapore nearly three decades later.

Many had expected Feng Tianwei to stroll through the third-round singles match but the Singaporean ended up having to claw her way into the fourth round of the Olympics.

She was made to sweat but eventually prevailed 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 against Luxembourg's Ni Xialian, booking a place against Austria's Liu Jia in the evening (7.30am Singapore time today).

Up against an opponent she described as "one of a kind" in the world, the Singaporean said there was little she could do before the match to prepare.

"There's no one else in the world who plays like her," said Feng, the second seed and world's fourth-ranked player, who is playing in her third Olympics.

"She has a very unique playing style so I was completely oblivious to what she might bring. All I could do was get on court, and adapt as I went along."

Ni, who at 53 is playing her fourth Olympics, is no minnow despite hailing from Luxembourg. She was a two-time world champion even before Feng was born, winning a team and a mixed doubles title with China in 1983, before she got married and moved to Luxembourg.

Just when it looked like Feng would claim the first game easily on the back of an 8-4 lead, Ni took the next seven points, the second game and the momentum in the match.

Said Feng, 29: "I was a little tight as it was my first match, so I couldn't really find my rhythm. My opponent played really well and was very bold too, so it was quite a challenge for me."

Paddlers who use the penhold grip like Ni are a dying breed these days, especially in the women's game.

The fact that the Luxembourger plays with her left hand compounded things for Feng, who is known to be troubled by lefties and defensive players.

But the Republic's top paddler is also known for the fight she displays in matches, staying cool to find a way to victory.

Said Feng: "I didn't get flustered when 0-2 down and just played it one point at a time instead of (thinking about) the consequence of the result. So in that, I think I handled it quite well."

She will take several lessons from the tricky opener as she takes on another left-hander in Liu.

"When I was playing Ni, it occurred to me that there are many things I can learn from a player like her," she said, without elaborating.

"It's going to be very tough matches from here on. I just want to play to my potential, and give everyone a good match to watch."

Team-mate Yu Mengyu was due in action in the fourth round too, playing South Korean Jeon Ji Hee later in the afternoon.

Gao Ning's loss to Briton Paul Drinkhall of Britain in a seven-game thriller marked the end of the men's campaign. The Singaporean was beaten 7-11, 6-11, 11-3, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AFP, Reuters, The Straits Times

maychen@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Aug 9, 2016.
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A new law is being proposed to empower the authorities to force telcos to resolve consumer disputes via mediation.

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) mooted the law in consultation documents released last Friday .

The consultation ends at noon on Aug 24.

Its objective is to pave the way for a new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme under which customers pay a small fee to resolve their billing, contract, service quality and compensation disputes.

Such issues could be over the thousands of dollars that customers unknowingly chalked up in roaming fees.

Or they could be over unexplained mobile data charges.

The ADR scheme could well be a boon to consumers in the long run.

At the moment, though, it is unclear how it improves on the current avenues for dispute settlement.

Consumers can already turn to the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) and its more than 400 mediators, and also consumer watchdog Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) - both for a fee.

The ADR scheme may eventually be run by either the SMC or Case, as MCI said it will appoint a third party.

It is also not clear what triggered the move; the number of complaints has stayed the same.

The volume of complaints over mobile phone, broadband and pay-TV billing and contract issues received by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and the Media Development Authority (MDA) has hovered at about 340 every year over the past three years.

One of the benefits of having such a scheme is that the IDA and MDA would have a dedicated avenue to channel complaints.

Plus telcos would be forced to sit at the negotiation table.

As Case executive director Seah Seng Choon pointed out, telcos have on many occasions turned down consumers' request to participate in mediation.

Even so, merely replicating what SMC and Case currently offer is not good enough.

Telcos and consumers could still walk away from a long-drawn mediation without resolving their disputes.

The system is also open to abuse, as difficult customers could wear everybody out with unreasonable demands that even the Small Claims Tribunal would throw out.

These gaps must be plugged, and the methods must be fair to both parties.

One way of plugging the gap is to provide adjudication, which MCI said it would consider.

The Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (Fidrec), which resolves customer disputes with financial institutions, offers adjudication when a dispute is not settled by mediation.

The case is heard by an adjudicator or a panel. The decision is final and binding on the financial institution.

I would argue that consumers should be bound by the decision too, so as to weed out those with unreasonable demands.

After all, consumers will likely pay significantly less than their service providers when seeking adjudication.

In the case of Fidrec, consumers pay $50 when their cases proceed for adjudication, whereas the financial institutions pay more - $500.

This article was first published on August 10, 2016.
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The water must be cold in the Rio pool because the mood outside it is icy. Fingers have been wagged, water has been splashed and hands have not been shaken. Voices have broken with emotion, tears have fallen and insults have been hurled. Rivals have sat on the same dais and not even acknowledged each other.

Did someone say these Games were about brotherhood?

Of course, this is about drugs and cheats. But also about rudeness, unfairness, silliness and tiredness. At one point it was reported that the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, 198cm, had reportedly splashed water on Australian Mack Horton, 190cm. And these are big boys!

Horton then said, "I don't have time or respect for drug cheats," probably because Sun served a three-month suspension in 2014. The Australian, who won their 400m freestyle battle, had the high moral ground, which of course is always a slippery place. When it was suggested that he was winding up Sun, as a tactic, he appeared to look slightly less noble. But in the water nothing is black or white.

After Russian Yulia Efimova, who had failed a drug test in 2014, had wagged her finger after her breaststroke semi-final, American Lilly King returned the favour by telling a TV station: "You're shaking your finger 'No. 1' and you've been caught for drug cheating. I'm not a fan."

When King won gold later she did not even look at Efimova, who won silver, at the press conference. Asked why she didn't congratulate her rival, which is a routine gesture, King replied: "If I was in Yulia's position I would not want to be congratulated by someone who was criticising me."

King correctly wants clean sport and yet was she a good sport? She was right in fighting for an even playing field and yet she sounded rather too righteous. But it's never quite as simple. If people were to call her disrespectful of a rival then how disrespectful of sport are those who cheat? No one wants a weeping Efimova to be booed as she was; far better one might think to jeer the International Olympic Committee and swimming's governing body, Fina.

Clean athletes are speaking out because they feel let down by fumbling officials. If no one is firm on drugs, then they feel they must be. Even Michael Phelps said: "It's kind of sad that today in sports in general, not just in swimming, there are people who are testing positive and are allowed back in the sport, and multiple times."

Eventually it is those within a sport, who have the most to gain or lose, who must save it. To sweat legitimately for four years and lose to a chemically fuelled athlete is mean, unfair and heartbreaking.

And yet if athletes are going to go to war for their sport, then they must do so with dignity. Insulting rivals with a quick damning quote is easier than working hard behind the scenes to influence real change.

Those who speak out must also be consistent, for courage cannot be a convenience. Cheating, after all, is not confined to particular borders and swimmers must speak out as firmly when their countryfolk in any sport are caught cheating. Patriotism is not protection.

Fairness is what is at stake, to people, to nations, to a sport. Are we to ban, forever, every athlete who cheats? And wouldn't that be hard on uneducated village girls, in less developed nations, who are trained by patriarchal city coaches and fed medicines which they dare not argue against? Should we accept those who serve their bans because we believe in second chances?

It is clarity we seek in all this, a position on doping and punishment which most athletes respect and accept. Somehow we must find our way to clean sport, but without competition turning into conflict.

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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According to the streaming service Spotify, hip-hop is the most listened-to music genre today.

But few know the origin story of what has become a multi-billiondollar industry and global cultural phenomenon.

This lack of awareness has long troubled director Baz Luhrmann, who felt the tale of the birthplace of hip-hop - New York's impoverished South Bronx neighbourhood in the 1970s - was a missing page of cultural history begging to be told onscreen.

The Australian film-maker's latest music-and-dance extravaganza, The Get Down, finally tells it.

The ambitious Netflix drama premieres worldwide on Friday, having already generated headlines for its US$120-million (S$162-million) budget, which makes it one of the most expensive television shows produced.

"No one's really told this story," says Luhrmann, who spoke to The Straits Times in a one-on-one chat in Los Angeles recently.

"I'll tell you what has been done - the 1980s and the 1990s. A lot of people confuse the feel and the look (of this) with that, which is completely different," he says, referring to films such as last year's Oscarnominated drama Straight Outta Compton, which charts the rise of the hip-hop group N.W.A. in the 1980s and 1990s.

"By then, hip-hop was something, as opposed to being a thing in a borough that the city and the world had forgotten," says the 53-year-old, who became intrigued by this 10 years ago, when he saw a photo of a boy in a hip-hop stance and realised it was taken not in the 1980s, but in 1977, when disco still ruled the airwaves.

The curiosity this sparked led him to create The Get Down, a semibiographical musical drama that follows a group of Bronx boys - Ezekiel "Books" Figuero (Justice Smith), Shaolin Fantastic (Shameik Moore) and their graffiti-artist friends, the Kipling brothers - as they discover this electrifying new sound.

The show also features characters based on real hip-hop pioneers such as Grandmaster Flash (Mamoudou Athie), who teaches the boys how to become artists themselves. Shaolin Fantastic learns to manually mix beats from different tracks using two turntables and a stack of cheap vinyl records, and Books raps his poetry and rhymes over the music.

Luhrmann - who directed The Great Gatsby (2013) and Romeo + Juliet (1996) - seems both bemused and aggrieved that most hip-hop enthusiasts have no idea this is how it began.

"I'm in South-east Asia and China quite a bit and one of the things I am mindful of is that, in that part of the world, there is a perception that it was borne out of South Korea.

"Some Chinese friends of mine think it was a Korean thing... but, you know, South Bronx and South Korea are quite a distance apart," he says, chuckling.

As these stirrings have never been chronicled onscreen and little footage of those pioneering artists exists, most American fans are in the dark too.

"The truth is many people don't know about it. An African American woman got up at the Tribeca Film Festival and said, 'How come no one's told this bit of the story before?'"

Luhrmann was keenly aware that he did not live through this era and thus sought the help of those who did, including Grandmaster Flash himself and The Furious Five, who together formed a hip-hop group in 1970s.

"This is living history, so I started collaborating with the people whose story it was, like Flash and Raheem from The Furious Five, who contributed lyrics and helped our boys become their own characters."

The film-maker also worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis to co-create the series and engaged another iconic hip-hop artist, Nas, to write Books' rhymes.

Grandmaster Flash - whose real name is Joseph Saddler - did not take much convincing to get on board.

Speaking at a press conference for the show, the 58-year-old says: "If hip-hop were a cake, then I cannot tell you how many people took a slice off that cake, be it producers, fans, artists and the like.

"But I can tell you about the recipe - the flour, the milk, the eggs, the vanilla and the secret ingredients - because I am one of the bakers, along with Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa."

Another collaborator was Nelson George, a former music journalist and hip-hop historian, who is one of the writers and producers on the show.

Understanding the genesis of the genre may help explain its continued success and why it has spread so far and wide, with fans and artists everywhere from Europe and Asia to the Arab world, he says.

The key is that hip-hop culture is "multi-faceted", says George, 58. "You can dance to it and the dance evolves, the music evolves, the language evolves - which is very important. So it's something that's constantly updating itself as soon as it gets old.

"I remember when I was covering it in the 1980s - I felt like it changed course every two years."

Youth and rebellion

Luhrmann agrees and says another factor is that this is music "born with no prejudice - you could take a German record and a Japanese beat and put them together and make something new".

"So by the very nature of what it is, it's always transforming for it to be good and fresh."

At its core, hip-hop is always about youthful rebellion too, says George. "It's like with trap music today. You have old-school hip-hop guys who say this is not hip-hop. And they sound just like the old people in our show.

"So it's about young people. Young people take it, it goes for five or six years, they grow up and another generation comes along and goes, 'I'm not doing that s**t.'"

The series will also explore the idea of the music as an avenue of protest and self-expression for young African Americans dealing with poverty and social injustice.

Luhrmann says: "When we get to 1977 to 1978, (the characters) are still kids, but you have a moment when a young man is being told to get an internship downtown at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, essentially in the white world. And another young guy goes, 'No, let's be kings of this thing we invented in the streets.'

"That tension and those choices, that's a big drama as we head into the later episodes. Books has an awakening about who controls his world."

The film-maker - who has a daughter, 12, and son, 10, with wife Catherine Martin, the 51-year-old Oscar-winning costume and production designer of Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby - believes this is a universal story that youth anywhere can relate to.

"I keep saying I'm an outsider because I didn't live in the South Bronx, but this show is no good unless you can relate to it no matter who you are. Any youth should be able to relate to it."

Even one who, like Luhrmann, grew up in a small Australian town in the middle of nowhere.

Asked how he managed to escape that and become a successful artist, he turns pensive for a moment, then jokes that talking to reporters about the show has been a "vast therapy session" that has helped him see the parallels with his own life.

"I've come to the conclusion that although my family was not poor - we had a gas station and a farm - we were very isolated and had very little access to the outside world, except through film and TV.

"So I was forced to use my imagination to build worlds and characters with my brother. I didn't come up with hip-hop, but we were certainly inventing (ways of) storytelling and film-making."

In his work and art, Luhrmann believes he is "really a child of the hip-hop generation" and that is why "I think I've tried to help get a musical made that celebrates the birth of this form".

"I'm probably at the older end of it, but the biggest, freshest and most astounding influence in my life would've been the whole thing of taking two records and putting a poem over it and being able to make mash-ups."

This is why his films, such as his breakout hit Strictly Ballroom (1992), have typically blended different music and visual styles.

"It's quite collage-y. Flash saw it and said, 'You're like a deejay when you make movies', and I think he meant I was taking two beats and making something different out of them.

"So I'm thankful that these young people, however it came about, lived their imaginations."

• The Get Down premieres worldwide on Friday on Netflix. The second half of the series debuts next year.

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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Celebrities usually baulk when reporters grill them after they are caught smooching and hugging women who are not their wives or partners.

Not Taiwanese actor-singer Michael Huang Chung-kun, 58 - he does not bat an eyelid when the local media ask him about his alleged dalliance with two women which was caught on camera last year.

Answering matter-of-factly, he says: "The aunties pictured are my super fans. I was giving them a treat after my concert in Taichung. We were all in a good mood that day and got drunk. Honestly, I can't remember what happened.

"Who knows maybe the women were the ones who forced kisses on me. The two aunties called me the next day and we had a good laugh about it."

He was in town recently to promote a concert here on Aug 28, where he will be performing alongside fellow Taiwanese singers Yu Tai-yan, Chiu Hai-cheng and Lin Hui-ping.

The paparazzi incident appears to have done no harm to his marriage, since his celebrity yoga instructor wife Lulu, 41, and their son I Le, eight, tagged along on this trip.

How did his wife react to his drunken stupor? Huang says half in jest: "She told me to shut my mouth tighter in future."

The couple have forged a trusting relationship. He says: "My wife can tell what kind of person I am from my daily actions. I wake up at 6am to send our son to school and then pick him up every day. Where will I find the time to stray?"

The hunkle made his debut as a singer in the 1980s, scoring hits such as ballad How Much Of Love Can Be Repeated and Remember Me. A pin-up star, he even posed nude for a lads' magazine at the age of 40.

"I was the only male to grace their cover. I heard that I was the No. 1 fantasy of gay men that year.

"I felt honoured to be on the cover of the lads' magazine that most boys grew up reading surreptitiously. I never imagined that one day someone would pay me to pose in the nude and grace the cover," says Huang, who adds that people these days call him the Richard Gere of Taiwan.

He is mostly an actor now, with TV drama roles ranging from a noodle seller in Story Of Time (2008) to a gangster in Monga Woman (2014).

Outside of filming and family commitments, he spends his free time in his personal sanctuary - a forest in Taipei that he owns.

"I love nature. So I bought a piece of land when I made some money. I built a wooden house in the middle of the forest. I can do whatever I want there. I sometimes invite my friends over. It's my secret garden," says Huang, who also has a 25-year-old actor son, Sean, from a previous marriage.

Now that he is older, his exercise regimen is no longer what it used to be, although he says he still has six-pack abs.

"I used to do 900 sit-ups and 300 push-ups a day. These days, I've reduced them to 450 sit-ups and 150 push-ups. I think I'm getting old. I shouldn't push myself too hard. Previously, I would push myself. I want to lead a carefree life."

BOOK IT /MY SONGS

WHERE: Resorts World Theatre, Resorts World Sentosa, 8 Sentosa Gateway

WHEN: Aug 28, 7.30pm

ADMISSION: $38 to $148 from Sistic (go to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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Singer-songwriter Lew's national service stint has given his music talent the greatest exposure so far, but it has also led him to turn down two potential big breaks.

A Singapore Police Force National Day music video he sang in went viral last year.

Separately, he was talent-spotted by the producers of the popular TV show Sing! China and also by its American counterpart, NBC's The Voice, through his own YouTube videos, but he passed on those golden opportunities.

"The first reason is NS," says the 20-year-old, whose name is Lewis Loh. He would not be able to commit to filming schedules as he will complete his full-time national service as a singer in the Singa- pore Police Force band only in December.

The other reason is that I want to focus on my original songs. If you do those competitions, you get exposure, but I still feel that I have a lot to learn with my own music."

The video of him singing last year's National Day theme song, Our Singapore, was posted on the Singapore Police Force's Facebook page and shared more than 450,000 times. It was highlighted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as a "beautiful rendition" .

Apart from that, Loh has been steadily building up an audience for his original, soulful folk-pop tunes through his YouTube channel as well as at regular shows that take place whenever he is off-duty. In February this year, he released a single and music video, Two, and plans to release another, Loved You So, later this month.

On Sept 2, he will perform a live set, backed by a full band, at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, a show that is part of the Esplanade's Mosaic Music Weekend.

At the show, he will sell thumbdrives containing four demo versions of new original songs that he recently recorded.

While he has been singing and playing the guitar since he was 13, he made up his mind to focus on a music career after taking up a summer programme at United States music school, Berklee College of Music in Boston, at age 16.

It was also around that time that he started to develop what has become his signature husky voice.

"I used to suck so bad at singing," says Loh, who takes inspiration from British singer-songwriters such as Ed Sheeran, Passenger and Birdy. "And then puberty came and my voice changed."

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Loh would visit Singapore only during Chinese New Year, but has been living here on his own since he enlisted in national service in December 2014.

His Singaporean parents are divorced. His businessman father lives in Hong Kong while his mother, a housewife, lives in the United States. His twin sister is studying in Switzerland.

Last year was a watershed year in his musical development. In March, he took part in the National Arts Council's Noise Singapore Music Mentorship programme and was taken under the wing of 53A singer Sara Wee and singer-songwriter Vanessa Fernandez.

It was Wee who gave him his first public gig at restaurant/live music venue Timbre in May that year.

As the most promising mentee, he was awarded the programme's Noise Singapore Award for 2015.

"I actually learnt a whole lot, but the highlight of that whole thing was just meeting people. Prior to Noise, I didn't have friends for three months."

Loh intends to plunge full-time into his music career after national service. His plan is to release an EP and a full-length album before going back to enrol in Berklee to study songwriting in September next year.

Realistic about his prospects in the fickle music industry, he says: "In this line of work, most of the time things don't go as planned and a lot of things have to do with being in the right time and place.

"But I'm trying not to stress and worry so much about long-term plans. I just want to focus on building my portfolio and a solid foundation in music, even if it takes a long time. I'm still learning and growing every day."

VIEW IT /MOSAIC MUSIC WEEKEND-LEW

WHERE: Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, 1 Esplanade Drive

WHEN: Sept 2, 7.30pm

ADMISSION: Free

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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Iris recognition was thrust into the limelight last week with the launch of Samsung's new flagship smartphone Galaxy Note7.

The move by Samsung to let users unlock the Note7 by just staring into the phone's camera also signalled accelerated development in the biometric space to meet rising demand for better handset security.

Analysts said there are more uses for the high-tech security measure today.

"Fingerprint scanning is not just used for unlocking the phone but also for authenticating purchases online and at physical counters with e-wallet services like Apple Pay," said Mr Clement Teo, principal analyst at market research firm Ovum.

Fingerprint sensors were first introduced in phones in 2011 with Motorola Mobility's Atrix 4G. But it was Apple which made fingerprint sensing more commonplace with the iPhone 6s models.

Similarly, Samsung is not the first company to introduce an iris scanner on a smartphone - it was Fujitsu in March last year.

But Samsung is expected to drive the popularity of iris scanning through uses such as payment authentication with its e-wallet service Samsung Pay.

Mr Anmol Singh, principal research analyst at market research firm Gartner, said that iris recognition is more stable than fingerprint scanning.

"An iris is less susceptible to external damage," he said.

According to Gartner, at least 57 per cent of smartphones sold worldwide will support biometric security technologies by 2019.

Another report from Juniper Research also projected that 770 million biometric authentication apps will be downloaded in 2019, more than a 100-fold increase from the six million downloaded last year.

The tipping point will be when cheaper phones get the technology too. Said Ovum's Mr Teo: "The technology will take off when it is available in less expensive handsets."

Smartphones with biometric-authentication technologies tend to be high-end models for now.

There is room for further development to bring down the cost of biometric implementation in phones as the technology matures, said Mr Nick Savvides, security evangelist at cyber-security firm Symantec.

The jury is still out on whether the future belongs to fingerprint or iris scanning.

Ms Kiranjeet Kaur, market research firm IDC's research manager, said the option that is easiest and most convenient to use will be the most widely adopted.

"Biometric scanning on the smartphone is as much about convenience as it is about security," she said.

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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Electronics retail chain Harvey Norman is doubling down on gaming with a dedicated video gaming section at its Millenia Walk outlet.

Launched last week, the Harvey Norman Games Hub is the first such gaming-focused installation by the Australian retail chain, which has 13 stores in Singapore and is present in eight countries.

"Singaporeans are very sophisticated with their technology and this is a great test case to take it to the rest of the world," said Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page.

She revealed that, since the December opening of the Millenia Walk store, internal figures showed that the gaming category was growing quickly.

"We found that consumers wanted their own area, but a contemporary games hub, not like the 90s, where it was all dark and for young men," she said.

Nestled within its flagship 100,000 sq ft outlet, the Harvey Norman Games Hub offers shoppers the opportunity to try out the latest gaming hardware, including computers, peripherals and video-game consoles.

The store is one of the few places in Singapore to offer a full-fledged virtual reality (VR) experience. Gamers can experience the HTC Vive VR headset in a glass-enclosed booth with plenty of room to move around. There is also a Samsung Gear VR demo station.

While the HTC Vive VR headset is not yet available for sale in Singapore, HTC vice-president Raymond Pao told The Straits Times that the company will launch the product in a few months.

Besides testing the VR demo stations, gamers can have a go at a racing car simulator. The store also sells popular comic-book figurines such as Iron Man.

Harvey Norman has partnered local games and collectibles chain PLAYe to offer a pickup service. Gamers can order video-game titles via PLAYe's website or app and pick them up at the Games Hub.

In conjunction with the opening of the Games Hub, Harvey Norman has organised a League of Legends competition at its Millenia Walk outlet, with the finals taking place on Saturday. Gamers can also take photos with cosplayers and meet the all-girls gaming team Girlaxy.

This article was first published on Aug 10, 2016.
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This must be what Judgment Day feels like, I thought to myself.

A bright white light shone down on me, illuminating the uniformed official that hovered as I stood sheepishly at the counter.

I opened up the little red book that was in my hands.

Inside were small slips of white paper, a receipt for every sin I had committed during my long weekend in Tokyo.

Two indiscretions at Isetan Shinjuku - reckless and impulsive!

Three more at the Hankyu Men's sale - bad, bad, bad!

Two shirts, a tie and a pair of shoes at Dover Street Market - which could have been so easily avoided with moral fortitude and prayer.

The list went on and on. And as I stood there, carefully peeling each slip from my passport, I heard the familiar voices of my fellow countrymen.

"Wah liao, everyone has gone and we are STILL here doing this," said one young woman, as she counted her many misdemeanours one by one and her husband shook his head in amusement.

Then I spotted another traveller doing the same with his Singapore passport. And another, and another.

As we silently deposited our little slips into the grey tray of transgressions that spilled over, I glanced up at the official that was literally looking at his government's sales tax dollars slip away.

He was grinning from ear to ear.

Right at that moment, I understood why the Singapore retail scene is dying.

For those who aren't familiar yet with Japan's new system of retail self-flagellation, let me explain.

In October 2014, the Japanese government raised its sales tax (the equivalent of our GST) from 7 to 8 per cent.

To pacify retailers that were worried that consumers would buy less, it started a new tax refund system for tourists.

The old system was the one you see in most other countries, including Singapore.

If a tourist bought something in Tokyo from a shop that offered tax-free shopping, he would pay the amount (say 20,000 yen) plus the tax (in this case, 1,600 yen) at the cashier (21,600 yen in total).

He would then claim the 1,600 yen at the airport before he left the country.

This is usually a consuming and sometimes nerve-racking ritual.

In some countries, customs officials will want to inspect the goods before giving the tax refund.

After the rebate is granted, tourists have to go to another counter to receive the refund either in cash or in the form of a credit card rebate - minus a processing fee.

The whole process is often cumbersome enough to deter tourists from shopping too much.

You often see long queues of frustrated-looking travellers arguing with surly customs officials, having to unpack their belongings in front of total strangers.

Frequent travellers to Japan have for years known that certain big department stores such as Takashimaya and Isetan processed the tax rebate in cash at the point of sale, eliminating the need to negotiate customs procedures at the airport.

But Japan's new system post-2014 is far better than that.

As long as it is a tax-free shop, you don't pay any sales tax at all when you buy something. In our example, it means you pay only 20,000 yen at the cashier.

The cashier then puts a little slip of paper in your passport to tell customs: We did not charge the 1,600 yen sales tax for the item (so don't come and claim it from us later).

Crucially, at the airport, customs does not even ask to see the items purchased.

When the new system first started, only a few shops offered tax-free shopping.

Now, almost two years later, tax-free shops are everywhere.

At Recofan Shibuya, I was surprised to find that my stack of second-hand vinyl records - as cheap as 500 yen (S$6.60) each - would be tax-free.

Even consumables such as food and drinks can be tax-free as long as a minimum of 5,000 yen is spent.

It's a simple initiative and the tax is only 8 per cent, but I can tell you that it works.

For big-ticket items, the convenience of not paying tax at all was often the factor that made me pull the trigger.

For cheaper items, there was no thought process at all.

The finger was on the trigger all the time, automatic weapon-style.

As I was happily accumulating little tax-free slips in my passport, I realised many of my former colleagues at the Ministry of Finance would have been aghast at the potential "tax leakage".

After all, if I were a Japanese resident, I could wait for an overseas friend to come to town and have him buy expensive items for me that would never leave Japan.

In that way, I would avoid paying the sales tax I would normally have to pay as a resident.

For such a system to work, therefore, you would have to be reasonably sure that there will not be widespread abuse.

In Japan, this seems to be the case.

I have never once seen a Japanese resident go up to tourists to ask them to buy something on his or her behalf at tax-free shops.

Try it in China and the situation could be quite different.

More importantly, I think the Japanese government has calculated that even if there is abuse of the system, at least the net effect will be that more Japanese residents would end up buying goods in Japan and not from anywhere else.

This is an effect not to be sneezed at, especially in today's hyper-connected world.

Budget air travel has made it easier for Singaporeans to travel to pretty much every major shopping hub in Asia.

In the past, consumers here compared prices between stores. Today, they compare across cities.

Add to that the advent of online shopping, which extends comparisons of price and range of goods beyond physical geography.

International delivery costs have come down dramatically and are sometimes as low as zero, whereas at physical stores in Singapore, consumers know that hidden in the mark-ups are high operating costs such as rent and manpower.

So there are very few reasons left for a Singapore consumer (or any consumer really) to shop in his own country.

Especially not when it's often way too hot here to step outdoors and no one seems to be able to accomplish something as basic as air-conditioned walkways to link Orchard Road malls.

I think something must be wrong when someone like me visits Isetan Shinjuku more often than Isetan Orchard.

There are many other issues that need fixing to rescue the Singapore retail sector, such as the cookie-cutter character of our malls, which are filled with the same names selling the same goods.

During a recent business trip to Chicago, I stopped over in London for three days.

In those 72 hours, I did not use a single penny.

Whether it was train travel, Uber car rides, sandwiches for breakfast or sweets from the grocer, I would use my credit card or Apple Pay.

Singapore is a global city and plenty of people stop over or are here briefly on business.

Yet so many of our retail shops will not accept anything other than cash (which tourist wants to be saddled with Singapore dollars?) or Nets (which no global traveller can use).

Some strategic thinking and collective action are badly needed here if Singapore wants to keep its retail scene alive.

Otherwise we will be saying sayonara to it real soon.

This article was first published on August 10, 2016.
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It is easy to see where Vietnamese-American TV host Jeannie Mai gets her famous bubbly personality.

Her mother, Madame Olivia TuTram Mai, was in town to accompany her for the two weeks that she was here to film and promote Season 2 of popular TV makeover show How Do I Look? Asia.

Despite Mama Mai's short two-week stay in Singapore, she had become quite the celebrity here in her own right.

Sitting in on local press activities alongside Mai, she was spirited and cheery the entire time, even after a long day of back-to-back interviews.

Mama Mai would hug you as soon as she saw you and gush excitedly in English, albeit with a thick Vietnamese accent, about the "beautiful, just beautiful" teal colour of your manicure.

The 53-year-old, who does not appear on the show except to pop up in a handful of short promotional trailers, started an Instagram account (@themamamai) to document her Singapore trip and has racked up more than 41,000 followers to date.

Mai, 37, pretending to be exasperated at being overshadowed, tells The Straits Times: "People just love Mama Mai.

"They don't even care if I'm around or not - everywhere we go in Singapore, people will just go up to her and ask for pictures and they'll chat for ages.

"She's always very honest and she'll tell it like it is, so people like that, I suppose."

In jest, she rolls her eyes, but it is clear that she looks up to her mother.

Mai even has tears in her eyes when she recounts a story of how her mother had been the one to tell her to stay true to her own style.

As a child, Mai once went to a new school wearing an outfit comprising a pair of pants - one leg was black and one was red, a polka- dotted top and colourful glitter in her hair.

She felt like she was "so cool", but she was mocked as soon as she stepped into the school, where the other kids were all wearing Levi's jeans, OshKosh B'gosh tops and "other brand-name stuff".

When she went home crying to her mother about it, Mama Mai, who worked as an assembly-line worker in a factory at the time, told her that she should be proud of the fact that everyone in the class had noticed her.

Mai, who has two younger brothers, says: "She asked me, 'How many of your new classmates' names do you remember? And how many of them remember yours now?'

"She told me that I should make myself stand out and just be proud of my own style and I never forgot that."

It is a piece of advice that she continually relays to the participants of her show How Do I Look? Asia, a spin-off of the hit American original that she also hosted from 2009 to 2012.

Each episode of the new show features an Asian woman who undergoes a fashion and hair makeover, but who also becomes more confident in her own skin.

Mai, who is married to actor Freddy Harteis, says: "I'm so big on personality and individuality, which is why I'm totally fine if I happen to wear the same outfit as someone else to the same event - because we can all rock our outfits differently.

"This season, it has been amazing meeting some unique women and helping them get through some of their issues."

One episode features a Singaporean woman named Amy Law, who has a hard time letting go of her "phantom fat": "She lost nearly half her body weight, but still dresses like her old self," Mai explains.

After spending two weeks to film here, she says one of her biggest bugbears about Singaporean women's style is that they tend to use the word "comfortable" as an excuse for sloppiness.

"Comfortable - just kill me, it's the worst word in the world.

"I love being comfortable myself, but it's not the same as looking lazy. If you look like you took only 20 seconds to get ready, it doesn't present the best version of yourself," she says.

"Ultimately, women should remember - what do they want to tell the world about themselves? If they want to say that they're professional, then dress the part.

"If they want to look sexy, that's fine too. But don't be lazy."

•How Do I Look? Asia Season 2 premieres on Diva (StarHub TV Channel 513, Singtel TV Channel 303) on Aug 29 at 8pm.

•Follow Yip Wai Yee on Twitter @STyipwaiyee

This article was first published on August 10, 2016.
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The firm that owns California Fitness was already $21.7 million in the red in January last year, but that did not stop the gym chain from signing new members and getting them to pay their fees up front.

That is how owner JV Fitness kept the chain going despite money troubles, until the chain's closure last month.

Around 27,000 members are now owed $20.8 million in unused gym access and unredeemed personal training sessions, it was revealed in a liquidation report presented to court yesterday. The debt forms most of the $30.8 million which the chain's owner is liable for. JV's total assets on record are worth $5 million and include rental deposits paid to its landlords.

Read also: California Fitness shuts all branches in Singapore

Financial statements also show that for years, JV has been accumulating losses, which stood at $25.6 million by the end of June this year.

Liquidator Tim Reid, describing the losses as "staggering", said: "The members who paid in advance... have every reason to be annoyed." He added that there is "no prospect" of getting back their money through any asset sale. After the chain closed its Orchard branch in February, the gym equipment was sold for just $20,000, he explained.

Members were shocked to hear that the gym had been losing money since 2013, and asked why it was allowed to continue selling packages.

Consumer watchdog head Seah Seng Choon called for the authorities to look into what he called a questionable practice. Said the executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore: "Case will discuss with the ministry and the relevant stakeholders to look into protection for consumers' pre-payment."

In the liquidators' report, Mr Reid and his colleague Theresa Ng said the way the firm obtained payments in advance when it was clearly insolvent "warrants further close review".

Lawyer Lionel Tay, who acts for the liquidators, added that they will also be investigating all potential breaches of the Companies Act or any other law.

When California Fitness shut its Orchard branch six month ago, leaving it with three other outlets at Raffles Place, Bugis and Novena, it said it was a strategical business decision. Last month, after all 12 California Fitness gyms in Hong Kong were shut due to debt, a spokesman here would only say that the Singapore chain operated separately.

But on July 16, California Fitness announced that it had closed the Raffles Place branch and directed its members to the Novena and Bugis outlets. Shortly after midnight on July 20, the liquidators, who were appointed just hours earlier, announced all outlets were closed.

Read also: California Fitness liquidators looking to sell off gyms, members urged to be patient 

Property valuer Lai Kin Hoow, 32, who used only two years of his seven- year package worth over $5,000, said there were no signs that the gym had been facing mounting debts.

Another member who paid $1,700 for a 26-month package just nine days before it closed has given up hope of getting her money back. "Going forward, I hope more can be done to protect consumers," said the 38-year-old woman who works in a logistics firm and wanted to be known only as Ms See.

Lawyer Amolat Singh said it would have been up to JV's directors to make the call to stop taking in members. "If the directors continued to trade and operate when the dark clouds had clearly gathered on the horizon, that could potentially make the directors personally liable. Then again, that would be cold comfort to the members as the directors may not have the financial muscle to satisfy all the debts."

Last month, it was reported that two senior California Fitness executives in Hong Kong had been arrested by the authorities there. They are suspected of infringing Hong Kong's Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which takes to task traders who promise goods or services when knowing they cannot deliver.

Meanwhile, when asked about news that it is opening a new gym at Bugis Junction, Fitness First made it clear it is taking over the space vacated by the Shaw Theatres cinema, and not California Fitness.

Members

$20.8 million Amount owed to 27,000 members

$5.5 million in unredeemed personal training sessions

$15.3 million in unused gym access

1,468 members have filed proof of debt forms to make claims

At least 500 have yet to collect their belongings from gym lockers

Landlords

$1.8 million Amount owed in rent

• Novena outlet: $565,000

• Bugis outlet: $680,600

• Raffles Place outlet: $550,500

Employees

249 employees' services terminated, foreigners repatriated

$548,000 Amount owed

• $145,000 in CPF contributions for June

• $403,000 in salaries for July

Financial position

$200,000 Paid-up capital

$25.6 million Accumulated losses (as of June 30)

$30.8 million Total liabilities

$5 million Total assets

This article was first published on Aug 13, 2016.
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Chasing pocket monsters down hospital corridors is a "no-no" for staff at the National University Hospital (NUH).

At a meeting yesterday, staff were told not to play the popular Pokemon Go mobile game while on duty, in the first reported case of a public institution advising its staff not to play the game at the workplace.

One nurse, who declined to be named, told The Straits Times: "We are supposed to focus on and take care of our patients." Another nurse said this was to maintain professionalism and ensure safety, as some people have reportedly fallen down and hurt themselves while playing the game.

Gotta catch 'em all: Pokemon Go now in Singapore

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The Straits Times, Facebook / RSAF, Facebook/SPF, AsiaOne, Capitaland

When contacted, an NUH spokesman said: "Staff have been reminded not to play the game, or any other game, while they are on duty, and to remain professional while caring for patients."

She added that the hospital also discourages members of the public from playing in areas that could affect the normal operations of the hospital or infringe on patients' privacy.

In response to queries, a Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesman said NUH's move was not part of any Pokemon "ban" by the ministry. Still, it said, hospital staff are expected to focus on their work.

"Patient care and safety are our hospitals' top priority," the spokesman said. "To ensure that attention to patients is not compromised, our public hospitals periodically advise their staff to refrain from engaging in non-work-related activities during working hours and within the institution's premises."

Read also: Don't call me stupid or crazy just because I play Pokemon Go

Since the launch of Pokemon Go in Singapore on Saturday last week, players of the game have gathered at parks and public housing estates to catch the game's virtual pocket monsters, which seemingly pop up in real locations.

Players are able to spot them through their smartphone cameras.

The game makes use of popular landmarks and points of interests to serve as "PokeStops", where players can obtain free items, or "Gyms", where players battle one another. These places can be located all over the island, such as at MRT stations, parks and even hospitals.

Human resource experts said NUH is doing the right thing, noting that playing games at work affects productivity.

Ms Linda Teo, country manager at recruitment firm ManpowerGroup Singapore, said "it will not reflect well on the company if frontline employees are caught playing the game by customers".

Shipyard and factory workers operating heavy machinery could also jeopardise their safety if they are allowed to play the game, she added.

Pokemon Go: A beginner's guide

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The New Paper

This article was first published on Aug 13, 2016.
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Three Nominated MPs (NMPs) have made the unusual move of proposing changes to a Bill on laws of contempt of court, as they believe it will make the legislation clearer.

NMP Mahdev Mohan, an assistant professor of law at Singapore Management University, told The Straits Times yesterday that the amendments would bring the Administration of Justice (Protection) Bill more in line with existing common law, which is built on judgments of previous cases.

The proposed changes, listed in a notice of amendments issued by Parliament yesterday, will be tabled at a Parliament sitting on Monday, when NMP Kok Heng Leun will also present a parliamentary petition on behalf of a group seeking to delay the passage of the Bill.

The 249 Singaporeans who signed the petition contend that it may restrict legitimate discussion of issues that are of public interest.

One clause in the Bill says contempt by scandalising the court is committed if a publication "poses a risk that public confidence in the administration of justice would be undermined".

The NMPs want the phrase "real risk" to be used instead of just the word "risk".

The term "real risk" is from a 2010 judgment by High Court judge Quentin Loh, who ruled that for a statement to be in contempt, it had to have a "real risk" of scandalising the judiciary.

"If the Ministry of Law prefers a test which departs from the current legal position, (we would like) for it to formally offer an explanation," Mr Mohan said.

Another change that the NMPs are seeking relates to a clause in the Bill that states that a statement by the Government on an issue in a pending court proceeding is not contempt of court "if the Government believes that such a statement is necessary in the public interest".

The NMPs want the words "the Government believes that" to be removed.

The 14 proposed changes were submitted by Mr Mohan, Mr Kok, who is a theatre group artistic director, as well as NMP Kuik Shiao-Yin, a social entrepreneur.

Mr Mohan said they had worked together on the changes after they found, while discussing the Bill, that their concerns were similar.

The Bill was introduced in Parliament on July 11, and is scheduled for debate next week.

It covers three main areas of the law of contempt: prejudicing court matters, disobeying court orders and scandalising the courts.

Currently, there are no statutes on contempt of court, and existing laws are built on common law.

A spokesman for the Clerk of Parliament's office said the proposed amendments will be considered after the Bill is debated during its second reading.

It takes place when Parliament forms a committee of the whole House to scrutinise the Bill.

If the House agrees to the changes, they will be made before the Bill's third reading, which is the final step when the House decides whether to give it the nod.

This article was first published on Aug 13, 2016.
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A sergeant with the Singapore Prison Service, who molested a male inmate in Admiralty West jail, grabbing his buttocks and even groping his private parts, was on Friday (Aug 12) put behind bars for more than two years.

In sentencing Mohamed Faris Osman to 27 months' jail, District Judge May Mesenas said the prison officer had failed to live up to his organisation's core values.

"Captains of Lives is the oft seen tagline which the Singapore Prisons Service prides itself on, for which prison officers aspire to make a difference in the lives of inmates and where they are fair yet firm in the treatment of inmates, and carry themselves as role models ..."

However, Faris, who had worked for the prison authorities for 27 years, abused his position to commit the crimes.

"On the contrary, his numerous acts of molest on an inmate, ironically and regrettably, destroyed the life of the very inmate he was meant to help rehabilitate."

The judge also said a stiff sentence is needed "to reflect the court's abhorrence for such acts of molest committed by (Faris) on a vulnerable class of persons like the victim".

The father of three children stood expressionless in the dock as he was sentenced. He was later handcuffed and led away by policemen. His wife was in court.

Faris was found guilty in June of nine charges of outrage of modesty, after a nine-day trial. He molested the 20-year-old inmate from China on seven days between July and October last year.

Twice, when he was rebuked, Faris asked the inmate: "Officer sayang (love) you, why you no sayang officer?" But the inmate put up with the abuse as he was afraid his jail term would get increased.

It was only when another prison officer noticed that the inmate was depressed and distressed that the matter came to light. The prison superintendent immediately transferred him to another housing unit.

Faris was deployed as a logistics officer at the prison, where the inmate, who was engaged to get married in China, was serving a jail term from April to November last year.

The inmate was part of a team of four to five prisoners tasked to do maintenance and cleaning work at the prison. Faris was the only guard who supervised them every day.

The victim was first molested in July. He was sweeping the floor when Faris slid his hand down his arm. The inmate told him: "I no like you do that."

The next month, Faris' abuse escalated. One day, he poked the inmate's buttocks with his walkie-talkie antenna, and on another occasion, grabbed his buttocks. Two days later, he rubbed his buttocks.

In September, when Faris again poked the inmate with his walkie-talkie antenna, the latter reported sick for two days to avoid seeing the sergeant. Later that month, the court heard, Faris said, "I love you" to the inmate before he touched his private parts twice. The officer then asked the inmate: "Why you no sayang officer?" The inmate replied: "If you really sayang me, you will not do that."

On the morning of Oct 16, Faris patted the inmate's buttock when he bent forward to pick up a box. More incidents followed that day until the inmate refused to work. He was escorted back to his housing unit by the sergeant, who handed him over to a rehabilitation officer.

Noticing that he looked distressed and tearful during a strip search, the officer asked the inmate what happened and was told of Faris' abuse. He also requested to see the prison superintendent.

The inmate said he did not report the abuse earlier because he did not want to get into trouble or be mocked by other inmates. He added that he had also heard of other inmates being sexually harassed.

In a statement in June, the Singapore Prison Service said it takes a serious view of any acts of misconduct by its officers. "When the allegations were made against Faris, SPS immediately reported the incident to the police, and now that he has been convicted, civil service disciplinary proceedings will commence against him, with a view towards his dismissal," it added.

This article was first published on Aug 13, 2016.
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