According to Thai health ministry, more than 80 people in the kingdom have been exposed to MERS virus.

This news came after Thailand confirmed yesterday that she had her first MERS patient who arrived from Oman. More than 80 passengers are being traced for coming into contact with the patient.

The contagious disease center in Thailand where the patient was warded has quarantined 58 staff members.

Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that Singapore will not be conducting screening against visitors from Thailand yet as "the sole case is contained".

Do you agree with Singapore Ministry of Health?

According to Al-Jazeera, The Chinese Communist Party of China has banned Muslim civil servants, students and teachers in Xinjiang from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Muslims are required by faith to fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan but the ruling Communist party has restricted Muslims from practicing their faith for years.

The Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang has also notified food service industries to operate as per normal during Ramadan. Officials in the Bole county were told not to engage in fasting or other religious activities during Ramadan.

The education bureau in a city in Xinjiang has ordered schools to inform students that during Ramadan, ethnic minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques ... and do not attend religious activities".

Human rights groups criticized China's restrictions on Islam have added to ethnic tensions in the region.

"China's goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan," said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.

In response, China says it faces a "terrorist threat" in Xinjiang, with officials blaming "religious extremism" for the growing violence.

According to media reports, a police officer was shot today at Khoo Teck Puat hospital this evening (20 Jun).

He was escorting a 24-year old man who was brought to A & E department with complaints of chest pain and asthma. While inside a private room in the hospital, the man attempted to escape and struggled with the officer during which shots were fired.

The 31-year old injured police officer was shot in the hand and had been taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for treatment.

His condition is believed to be stable.

Lee Hsien Loong says it isn't about the quantity of oppositions, it is about the quality of the oppositions, that must be brought into parliament so that they could have a good debate.

My reply :

It is stupid to listen to his rant, because by having more oppositions in parliament it would benefit the people, why?

By having more oppositions in parliament only then they could pressure the government into having more pro-citizens policies, fight for minimum wages and we can find out what has happened with the citizens money(reserves and taxpayers money) and how our government has been spending them.

I think Lee Hsien Loong saying he don't want too many oppositions in parliament because he fears and knows by having too many oppositions in parliament he can't sign any treaties he wants which has benefitted Temasek Holdings not the citizens.

And he can't anyhow implement his flawed policies without the consent of the oppositions as the oppositions would put pressure on him, this is what he doesn't want.

M. Firdaus

Editor's note: A.S.S is a platform for readers to express their views on matters close to their heart. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own.

Dear Editors,

I am a senior citizen who is writing not just to express my sheer disdain of the pap government and its pretense of "looking after" the elderly but also to dispel the notion that seniors such as myself only rely on news from mainstream media which is totally untrue. We also read hard copies of "The Hammer" and alternative news sites like yours too.

I was recently coerced into selling my 5 room back to HDB which I had purchased in earlier years as I am in frail health now after suffering a stroke due to stress and genuinely cannot afford remaining payments of the mortgage. HDB threatened to repossess my flat if I am still unable to sell it in the open market which only solves half my problem.

After relocation, I thought I am deemed to be in line with the purported "Silver Housing Bonus" that I later discovered was a fabrication. The catch is in the clause: "After you have $60,000 in your R.A. first"! I was very much taken aback when I learned of this as it was only then I realized I had been cheated by the very government that claimed to "be on my side" and "understood my hardships". If the elderly have managed to amass $60,000 in their CPF accounts with the mere 2.5% interest by the time they reach 55, they would not even need the petty $20,000 to begin with.

Never mind they denied me of this miserly privilege but they now want to deduct $30,000 in "resale levies" from proceeds of my current flat as well. HDB reasoned in a reply to Pasir Ris - Punggol MP that they need to "redistribute" and "allocate subsidies" under a "limited resource" situation. I wonder how can this be when every single legitimate inquiry is swept under the carpet with a blanket "OSA", coupled with a substandard 3 room BTO at Bendemeer Road costing a whopping $369,200?

In addition, the HDB had already confiscated 10% of my daughter's down payment for her HDB flat previously when she was forced to withdraw application on grounds of later assessment on "affordability issues".

What "proper" allocation of resources is HDB blabbering about when it places itself to be in a position of constant profitability, confiscating 1 flat below its market value by $100,000 then marking up that same value when selling it to another. I end by assuring the younger generation of our committed love for your future survival and will do the right thing come polling day. We are unlike parents of the palestinians who place selfish religious needs above their children by putting them in the line of firing, we will put the pap MPs in the firing squad instead!

NCMP J.J. Yee, if your party is serious about winning Pasir Ris - Punggol then your leaders must have the courage to do this first: http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/06/19/parliamentary-oversight-of-our-reti... otherwise, its simply empty talk

Yours faithfully,

Mdm Conceicao

Editor's Note: This post was shared to us by a concerned netizen from Singapore Community Cats Facebook. If you are the original person who wrote this and have concerns about this posting, kindly PM us to discuss.

With regards to the poisoning of the cats at Pasir Ris Park, I want to make it known that we have been trying our damnedest.

We are mere park goers that happened to chance upon these furiends of ours over a year ago and have been visiting and feeding them almost daily every night.

When I say feed, I mean that we spend 2-3 hours with them every single night that we are there. We are not from any society. We are individuals that happened to have a common interest at a common place. We feed at different areas of the park but because there is barely anyone in the park past midnight, we eventually dropped over each other's place to say hi and cover for each other when we travel.

Last Sunday was the start of an extremely horrific week. It began with 3 members of The Supper Club not turning up for their daily feed. It was extremely unusual because these four-legged creatures are loyal members who are always there, rain or shine.

After asking around, we found out from cleaners that a body was found that morning by caring members of the public and had been properly sent off. A night or 2 later, at least 8 more went missing and 3 bodies were found by the cleaners of the park the next morning and immediately disposed off. According to the foreign workers, these bodies were all in a completely intact state and still fresh.

We started getting frantic. There have been cases of dogs attacking our loved cats there. We have lost some, we have treated some. But this was just too many and none of them looked like they had been mauled.
We met up that Wednesday afternoon and spent the entire night looking for bodies and trying to trap the remaining cats to be brought home for safety measures. We love them too dearly to leave them there. There were no shelters that we could turn to for help and none of the societies or authorities we turned to offered much assistance.

We are not professional trappers. We did not have the equipments nor cages to store them in. Their main feeder actually went all out to buy cages and litter trays that very day itself. It was costly but we didn't have the heart to abandon them just like that knowing that they are in danger.

Whilst trying to trap the 8 remaining cats, a bunch of fishermen approached us and told us that there was a body by the beach on the sand. We sped over only to be greeted by the high tide. There was no more sand to be seen. We were too late. We were severely disappointed because CWS told us that a body was needed to confirm the poisoning. We really needed the evidence to make our situation known.

The rest of the night was spent catching 6 of the cats. 2 got away. One of them is naturally very scared of every single thing on earth - including us, so we didn't have much hope for him. We left at 4am, mentally and physically drained.

The next afternoon, we got a call informing us of a white cat washed up on shore. It was Cloud9 - the dearie we were looking for. We rushed down and upon seeing his trademark huge, gigantic white body, I broke down. He was an adorable giant and it was all just so unfair. What did they do to deserve this?? We spent that night trying to catch the other female, Angel, that was just too stubborn for her own good. She got away again.

Last night, after numerous calls to here and there over the past few days, we thought the perpetrator was gonna lay low for a while. The other feeders dropped by my area to chit chat for a while before I had to make a move. Just as I was going for some family time, I got a frantic call by the feeder saying that Angel was having seizures and foaming in the mouth in the bush.
Calls were made all over again and yet again, there was nothing that they could do except to drag her out and then put her to sleep.

CWS told us that there was a chance of her surviving if we can get her to a vet in time. In that state of panic, it was our only driving force. They managed to get her out and to the vet. As per the vet, her livers are in a very bad shape but she is still holding on.

Another body was found just a few hours ago in the drain but there were maggots all over it and decomposing beyond recognition so clearly, this baby has been lying there for days. It is a known fact that cats hide to die. Even if they don't, that is their home when humans roam the park in the day.
A very long story but I hope you understand the frustration and worry and exhaustion that we are in right now. Apart from the welfare of the cats, the finance is also taking a toll on us.

These are park cats. They are not condo cats that pee or poop at your front door. We understand why residents get frustrated and call for these creatures to be removed but this is the park. The freaking park. They hide in the day and only come out at night for some play time and food.

I am not pointing fingers at the tentage that has been set up for the event that is happening this weekend of the building that these cats hide in from the wild dogs of the park. I am not. It may just be a coincidence, or not. We will never know because let's face it, nobody is gonna come forward and admit that they called for the culling of these cats.

Thse cats have been living in the park for years. Cloud9 lived by the sea and died with the sea. I don't know how whoever did this, or even called for this, sleeps at night with blood and fur on his hands. We are nobodies, we get that. But I am doing all that I can to be the voice of these furiends of ours that have done wrong to nobody.

These four-legged members of The Supper Club do not deserve this. Angel, our darling fighter does not deserve this. She is the one and only cat that we managed to get to in time and seeing how she fought for her life last night, we vow to do everything that we can for her. We will fight with her. But we need you to help fight with us too.

The PRC woman recently in the limelight for eating at someone else’s buffet has approached the Chinese evening papers Lian He Wan Bao to clarify that her maid was solely at fault for suggesting the idea. According to the paper, 30-year old China National, King Yin, and her husband approached the media yesterday after seeing media reports. King Yin was in tears as she pushed the blame to her maid.

The China National was caught on photo by the host of the private function and posted up on Facebook on Monday (June 15). The host complained that when King Yin was confronted, the latter even argued saying that she believe the food in the function room is always free. King Yin, her maid and her two children then left their mess on buffet line before they left.

Do you think the PRC woman should have just apologised and offered to pay, instead of going to the national media to pin the blame solely on her maid?

Our reader Kader has sent us a complaint about JobsBank.gov.sg, a government web portal that supposedly gives Singaporeans the first priority to apply for jobs.

According to our reader, he has a masters degree from NTU but is switching careers. He has been looking through Jobs Bank for a HR job over the past 2 weeks but to no avail.

Despite sending over 300 applications, he has not received a single reply - except from the usual "financial consultant" companies.

This has led our reader to question whether the government is truly serious about ensuring that companies hire Singaporeans first, or whether this Jobs Bank initiative is merely for show.

A mob of angry PRCs flew in specially from China and showed up at a Seng Kang flat yesterday afternoon to demand their money back from a Singaporean, who used to work for a company that caused thousands of investors to lose millions of dollars in investments.

The scam has allegedly cost PRC investors US$1.2 billion (S$1.6 billion).

The 7 PRCs, most of whom hailed from Beijing, flew in last Sunday. After finding out the address of one of the Singaporean employees of the fraud company, they turned up at his Seng Kang flat banged on the doors for over 2 hours. Although there were signs of activity within the house, the people inside the flat refused to show themselves.

They eventually left, but not before leaving a note demanding the owner return them their money.

The Singaporean allegedly worked for API Premiere Swiss Trust AG, a fraudulent finance company that has allegedly cheated almost 30,000 PRCs of their hard-earned savings.

In January this year, API sent out an email informing investors that their servers had been hacked. Investors were told that they could not access their accounts and that their money was gone.

According to one of the PRCs, Zhao Guangcai, a group had went to Switzerland and found out that the company was a shell.

Another confided that investors were duped by this Singaporean employee, who had invited PRC investors to all-expenses-paid trips to Switzerland and Dubai, where they met with traders. There, they were shown forex trading rooms, where traders worked and made deals online.

Street protests were held in Beijing and Hong Kong earlier this year after investors realized that they had been cheated by the company.

An elderly 72 year-old man living Jurong West was found yesterday, his body decomposing in a grass patch between a large canal and a high speed expressway yesterday morning. Worried relatives had posted a notice looking for the elderly man, who was known affectionately as Uncle Ah Heng, since 21st May.

According to the elderly man's relatives, the man had been suffering from dementia. On 21st May at about 10AM, the man left his home to meet with his daughter, who resides at Jurong, but never showed up.

Foreign workers who discovered him said that they would not have found him if they were not cutting the grass nearby.

An eye-witness at the scene said that the body of the man was facing down. When police searched the body, they found that his belongings, including his wallet and handphone, were still in tact.

Angelia He Xue Li, whose life was tragically cut short at the tender age of 22 as a result of the reckless driving of Regan Lee Da Wen.

In October 2005, Lee had walked into the showroom where Ms. He worked, saying that he wanted to test drive a Mazda MX-5 sports car. Ms. He agreed to attend to him even though she was already off duty and planning to meet up with friends after work. Despite his unfamiliarity with the Paya Lebar area and extensive road works there, Lee still drove at speeds in excess of 90km/hr. He lost control of the car, causing it to cross a road divider and crash into a BMW approaching from the opposite direction. The impact then caused the car to flip over and crash onto the roof of an oncoming van. Ms. He died of her injuries an hour later in hospital, while both the occupants of the BMW were seriously injured.

Despite killing a young woman who was “a very nice helpful girl” according to everyone who knew her and seriously injuring two others, Lee remained free while the police “investigated” the case. That would have been the end of the matter, except that Lee showed absolutely no remorse over causing the death of Ms. He and the injuries to the occupants of the BMW. Instead, he went on an online forum for car owners and buyers and bragged about how he may end up having to but two different sports cars if he couldn’t decide how to choose between them. On of the forum members who went by the handle of “Legendkiller” recognized Lee as the driver whose reckless stupidity killed his friend, Ms. He.

Angered by the fact that Lee was still free and driving, and showing absolutely no remorse for killing Ms. He, as seen by his shopping for sports cars, Legendkiller paid $1,000/- of his own money to hire a private investigator to obtain evidence that Lee was the driver of the MX-5. The PI found the evidence, and Legendkiller presented it to the Traffic Police. Incredibly, the TP said that they don’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute Lee. They even said that as the road where the accident had occurred had been resurface, they might not be able to obtain evidence that Lee had been speeding.

Outraged by the attitude of the police, Legendkiller publicly unmasked Lee as the man who caused Angelia He’s death. It didn’t take long for mounting public anger to result in Lee receiving threats of physical violence and even death. At this point, 18 months after killing Ms. He, the police finally charged Lee. Incredibly, he was allowed to plea bargain from a reckless act, which would have earned him several years in prison, to a rash act, which earned him only a fine and seven months in prison and a 10 year ban from driving.

Following sentencing, Ms. He’s father, and odd-job laborer, lamented that he wondered who would now look after him and his homemaker wife since their only child had died.

Pearlie

Editor's Note: A reader sent us this old article about this man, Regan Lee Da Wen, because his 10 year driving ban expires this year in October. If you are the original poster and have concerns, please PM us to discuss.

Update: 3 shots were fired.

The Singapore Police Force issued a statement on the shooting at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital that happened on Saturday.

"The suspect will be produced in Court on 22 June 2015 (Monday) at 2pm on a holding charge of Unlawful Discharge of Firearms under Section 4(1) of the Arms Offences Act Chapter 14, which carries the death penalty," the statement said.

A 24-year old suspected of vehicle theft was brought to the hospital on Saturday after complaining of chest pains. In a private examination room, the suspected attempted to escape but was blocked by the 31-year old police officer. The pair got into a struggle which the suspect snatched the police officer's revolver and three shots were fired.

The suspect was subdued but the police officer suffered gunshot wounds to his hand and foot.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean stressed on Sunday that it is "a very serious offence to discharge a firearm illegally".

A shocking case of poor maintenance or simple bad luck has left one 59 year-old Madam Zhuo with serious head injuries.

Yesterday morning at about 10.30AM, Madam Zhuo was walking underneath a sheltered walkway towards the Jurong West Food Center located at Jurong West Street 52, Block 505.

Unexpectedly, a roof tile dislodged itself and fell straight onto Madam Zhuo's head. Shocked and in pain, Madam Zhuo instinctively reached for the wound on her head and became even more frightened when she realized she was bleeding profusely.

More than 10 passersby stepped up to help Madam Zhuo while some called an ambulance.

According to media reports in Jiangshu, China, an elderly old woman was left in the wild to die. The picture above was taken in Pizhou city Jiakou village. Sources said that the lady was abandoned for "a few days" and left on the verge of death. Reporters have confirmed the authenticity of the incident and the public security bureau revealed that the matter has been taken care of.

It was said that an emergency response team was notified and they immediately transported the old lady to the hospital where she eventually died. The identity of the woman is unknown. Her remains have already been transported to the city funeral parlour. The public security department is carrying out an autopsy and plan use blood samples and various other methods in order to find the origin of the body.

The 31-year old police officer who was shot at Khoo Teck Puat hospital on Saturday has sustained serious injuries on his hand. He was hit between the thumb and index finger. As there was a specialist hand surgeon on duty at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the police officer was rushed to the hospital for emergency operation.

It was believed the suspect had discharged 3 rounds which hit the police officer in his hand and foot.

The suspect will be charged in court on Monday (22 Jun) and faces the death penalty.

HDB residents in Puggol Edgefield Plains have to pay more for their mobile phone bills despite the poor coverage they are receiving.

The mobile phone reception of local telcos in block 672D was so weak that residents often unknowingly latched on to mobile phone networks of Malaysian telcos. Many residents were not aware that their phone network had auto-roamed into Malaysian networks and ended up making long-distance calls back to Singapore unknowingly that resulted in IDD charges.

One resident complained that relatives who visited him often ended up with extra IDD charges in their telco bills.

Another resident gave feedback that he was able to receive mobile coverage from Singapore networks in his living room but he "auto roamed" into Malaysian network while he was in his kitchen.

Apparantly, the issue affected all three local telcos.

The three telcos are currently in the process of adding more base stations into the area to improve the reception and the works are scheduled to complete in the next few months. In the meanwhile, residents are advised to configure their phone to lock on to Singapore mobile networks.

Do you think IDA should issue a warning to the three telcos? What do you think?

A SEA Games supporter who was among the hundreds locked out of the National Stadium last week on Tuesday during the closing ceremony of the Games has posted on Facebook to give her compliments to the SEA Games organizers, who are giving out refunds, a supporters' medal and a goodie bag to those affected.

According to Facebook user Clarice Teo, the man who delivered her refund and other goodies was none other than Mr Toh Boon Yi, Chief of Strategic Development & Marketing of Sport Singapore. She praised Mr Toh for going the extra mile by apologizing and personally delivering the refunds to fans.

Clarice Teo's full statement:

"So after the SEA games closing ceremony issue, I wrote in amicably for a refund and the fun pack on Tuesday. Within hours, I received a call with endless apologies, procedure of the refund, and a follow up email.
Today, I received a text from a gentleman by the name of Boon Yi, informing me that he will deliver the refund and the fun packs. When we met, Boon Yi was perspiring but still smiling widely. He again apologized for the inconvenience and asked for a recount of my experience. He then explained the situation, accepting full responsibility of the inconvenience and how they will work to improve for future events.

As someone who has organized events for 300 people, I experienced my share of difficulties and I can imagine the level of complication a 45,000 crowd-strong ceremony entails.
Boon Yi handed me the refund and the fun packs and asked if he could take a photo. I asked if he was going to post this on social media, but he reassured he will not. I kindly obliged and started striking a pose with my medallion.

I got home and the inquisitive side of me had me googling his name...Little did I realize, this gentleman Boon Yi that I was speaking to like a friend, drama posing with my props is Mr Toh Boon Yi, Chief of Strategic Development & Marketing of Sport Singapore.

Mr Toh, looking tired and perspiring from all the delivering, and still had to listen to me a good 5-10 minutes. Seriously?! Talk about service with a smile.

Yes, you can say how this was their blunder and and it's only right they do it, but the Chiefs doing this personally? What's the possibility of this happening in other organizations or even countries?

Today, I experienced first hand, true servant leadership and how glad am I to know we still have leaders like this who exist smile emoticon

So, Thank You Mr Toh and Team, for converting my first SEA games experience frown to a smile!

Clarice Teo"

On Friday morning, the Singapore Police Force were alerted to a man's body floating off Punggol Beach, also known as Punggol Promenade.

A passerby who identified himself as Sufian Saud said that he and a friend were fishing nearby when they came across a body floating near the shore. They alerted the police immediately.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel retrieved the body using a life buoy and paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. The police are now investigating the case as "unnatural death".