on expressways

Letter from Danny G Tan

THIS is a daily occurrence on our expressways during peak hours. Many vehicles with a 70kmh speed limit travel in the middle lane to overtake those in the left lane.

Even though the overtaking vehicles are already travelling above their speed limit, they usually travel slower than the 90kmh limit on most expressways. Therefore, both the left and middle lanes get clogged with these slower vehicles, while faster ones share only the right lane.

I hope the traffic police can ensure that trade-vehicles stick to their 70kmh limit this will ensure that these vehicles do not use the middle lane for overtaking and stick to the left lane — and their speed limit — as a result.

They just want to earn a living

Some help with transport concessions, please, for the intellectually disabled

Letter from Huang Lifen

MY INTENT in writing this letter is two-fold: To highlight the financial drag of a transport fare hike on the intellectually disabled and highlight the overall plight of this group of people.

These people join the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) at the same age most people begin primary school and graduate at 18.

They are then deployed to various employment development centres which prepare them for integration into society and to earn a living. However, not all of them achieve this as some of their conditions are too serious or there are not enough willing employers.

At the centres, the trainees are paid an allowance that ranges from S$100 to S$140.

With the current transport fares, they spend almost all of their allowance on transportation.

If fares increase as proposed, they would be forking out more than they are getting.

I am not asking for them to be given a higher allowance. I am asking the public transport companies to consider giving them concessions. They are just trying to lead a normal life and contribute to society.

If the cost of travelling to work is higher than what they earn, parents may pull their children out of the employment development centres.

And the European Union looked the other way.

work to smaller law firms

Letter from Arthur Loke

I am responding to the Ministry of Law’s letter, “Help for homegrown law firms to go abroad” (July 14).

It mentioned that it had helped local lawyers expand abroad by concluding more free trade agreements for better market access for our lawyers, inviting lawyers to join in the trade delegations going abroad, and availing to them tax and non-tax incentives of the International Enterprise Singapore and the Economic Development Board.

To quote: “... the Government strongly encourages local law firms which have the resources and capabilities, to expand overseas ...”

Today, the big local firms and some exceptionally enterprising small or mid-sized firms have met its criteria of “resources and capabilities”, and have taken advantage of these efforts by the ministry.

But I would be surprised if there are more than 15 firms out of the 700 or so firms in Singapore which are abroad having offices.

It is not difficult to understand why only a few firms establish offices or make forays abroad to develop a practice outside Singapore.

In the US, 60 is the new 40 ...

today Tuesday July 19, 2011$399 AFTER CASH VOUCHER REFUNDASH VOUCHER REFUND

Gillian Tett

The other night, I was seated at a dinner next to Henry Gates Jr, a black literary professor at Harvard University, who has forged a brilliant career as a public intellectual (and then shot to the front pages two years ago when he was arrested in a seemingly racist incident by white police when he tried to break into his own house).

The Financial Times Limited

Gillian Tett is US managing editor and an assistant editor of the Financial Times.

Cheerfully, Professor Gates described the dizzy whirlwind of his life: He is making documentaries about blacks in Latin America, writing books, editing a website and sitting on assorted boards. Oh, and performing his “day job” — running a department at Harvard.

But then a twist emerged: Prof Gates casually admitted that he was “60” — or approaching the age that many Europeans start drawing a pension. “Are you going to retire?” I asked.

“Never!” he declared — before outlining a new set of projects that could occupy him for the next 20 or 30 years.

Welcome to one of the subtle divides that separate Europe and the United States. In London, it is unusual to meet a hyperactive 60-year-old who is still building a new career. No matter how dynamic somebody might have been in their 40s or 50s, by the time they move towards pensionable age, most people are in career “maintenance” or downsize mode.

That is partly because many companies have mandatory retirement ages but even in politics or the arts, 60 or 65 is often seen as a natural cut-off point.

But America’s elite dinner tables, by contrast, are buzzing with people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s, who are creating new businesses, projects, careers and relationships.

To be sure, few of these people actually look as if they are 70 but once these dynamoes start talking, not even Botox can conceal their decades of experience.

To this rarefied elite, 60 is the “new 40” — and 80 no reason to keep quiet. Just look, at Henry Kissinger (88), who recently published a powerful foreign affairs book Paul Volcker (83), who has been advising the White House Warren Buffett (80), who still dominates the investment world Carl Icahn (75), the buy-out king Nancy Pelosi (71), the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, or Madeleine Albright (74), currently a professor of international relations.

The work ethic does not stop with America’s privileged elite. On paper, the average American retirement age of 66 is not unusual by global standards.

But what is striking is how many Americans choose — or are forced — to work after official retirement age.

In the United Kingdom, only 40 per cent of people aged 60 to 64 are still working, while among those aged 65 to 69 and 70 plus, the numbers drop to 10 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. In the US, almost half of those aged 60 to 64 are working, as are a fifth of the 65 to 69 age group and 5 per cent of those over 70.

Of course, this does not always represent a lifestyle “choice”.

For millions of elderly Americans today, work has been forced on them by economic necessity, either because the recent recession has devastated their pension plans, or because they were so poor that they never had a chance to “save” at all. And in the future, this squeeze could get worse.

State and corporate pension plans, after all, are in deficit and healthcare benefits are being cut.

There is political pressure to raise the retirement age to 68 and beyond.

That may not necessarily be much hardship for wealthier Americans but poorer Americans have not seen the same increase in longevity.

But while working longer is a cruel curse for some, for those such as Prof Gates it is a liberation.

“America is all about reinvention — we can now have multiple lives!” he enthuses.

And his enthusiasm is infectious.

As a 43-year-old Brit, I used to assume I was halfway through my career but I am starting to rethink.

Could “retirement” turn into a quaint 20th-century idea?

Could we all have more “lives” ahead of us than we realise?

Better keep popping those vitamins. And reaching for the hair dye.

Gary Younge is a US-based columnist for The Guardian.

They would rather do all this than raise taxes on corporate jet owners, hedge fund and private equity investors and oil and gas companies.

The US government will effectively run out of money. But it would go into default not because it can’t pay its bills — like Greece — but because it won’t.

It will be S’pore’s Bund

Marina Bay waterfront promenade to be a catalyst for future growth: PM

Claire Huang

clairehuang@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE — The Marina Bay waterfront promenade will be a key platform and catalyst for Singapore’s future growth, defining Singapore the same way the Bund defines Shanghai, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Flash flood frustration

Mica’s Lui to speak with Mewr privately

Satish Cheney

satishkumar@mediacorp.com.sg

Leaving his Telok Kurau home with his wife, he had driven 30m along the street outside his home to join the main road when he saw a car stalled in the flood. He then reversed to use the exit at the other end of the street, only to encounter deep floodwaters.

With both exits blocked, Mr Lui and his wife returned home.

Mr Lui, speaking on the sidelines of a community event, said he will speak to the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources privately about conducting dialogues.

Affected residents would want to know how the PUB can alleviate the situation, he said, amid public clamour for explanation as to how such floods can occur in Singapore.

PUB has advised the public to exercise caution as flash floods may occur in the event of heavy storms, adding that the Marina Barrage gates were opened to maintain the water level at Marina Reservoir within the normal range.

But some exasperated residents wondered about the frequency of floods since the Marina Barrage became operational.

PUB will hold a media briefing today shortly before Parliament is scheduled to debate the problem.

Life slowly returned to normal esterday for some of those affected by Saturday’s downpour.

Some suffered a loss of revenue as deep waters ruined goods in shops.SINGAPORE — Like many Singaporeans on Saturday morning, Acting Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew had his morning plans thwarted by rain and flood water.

Ex—StanChart consultant swindles more than S$105,000

Ex—StanChart consultant swindles more than S$105,000

 

Ma Shumei (Photo: Singapore Police Force)

SINGAPORE: A former personal financial consultant with Standard Chartered Bank, who was tasked to advise customers on its wealth management products, abused her position and siphoned off monies from their bank accounts instead.

Ma Shumei, 26, transferred more than S$105,000 of customers’ money without their authorisation into other accounts between October 2009 and February 2010.

On Monday, the court heard that she got hold of her customers’ money by forging their signatures.

In most of the cases, Ma transferred the funds into her friends’ bank accounts.

They would then transfer the money back to her via internet banking.

In the case involving the largest amount, Ma forged the signature of 61—year—old Brian Wayne McLachlan, one of the bank’s customers, to open an e$aver Account under his name without his permission.

She did this as such accounts are paperless and no physical bank statements are mailed to account holders, therefore making it easier for her to cover her tracks.

By forging the Australian’s signature again on bank documents, she managed to transfer more than S$34,000 from his bank account into the e$aver Account in December 2009.

The court heard that Ma managed to make off with S$20,000 of Mr McLachlan’s money by 24 December, 2009.

In January 2010, she forged the signature of another customer, 52—year—old Suparmi Sakri, and illegally transferred S$20,000 from the Indonesian’s account into an e$aver Account.

The court heard that she intended to use the money to pay back the amount she had taken from Mr McLachlan.

But Ms Sakri noticed the unauthorised transactions in March 2010 and notified the bank.

Ma made off with about S$51,000 from the monies she illegally transferred.

She has since made a full restitution.

For offences including cheating and forgery, Ma was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to eight of 23 charges.

—CNA/ck

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Champion gymnast's downfall shocks China

A champion gymnast forced to turn to begging after injury ended his career prematurely has become a media sensation in China after a fan recognised him eking out a living on the streets of Beijing.

Zhang Shangwu's case throws the spotlight on the plight of top athletes in China, who are taken from their homes as young as five to be trained in special schools, then struggle to adjust to normal life once their careers are over.

The 27-year-old said he had been inundated with requests for interviews and offered jobs by well-wishers, including one of China's richest men, after his spectacular fall from grace was made public and splashed across newspapers.

" In China, there are many athletes who have experienced the same thing as me, so I'm one of the lucky ones as the media and society uncovered my plight," he told AFP in a telephone interview.

Zhang said he won two gold medals at the 2001 Universiade, an international sports event for university athletes that took place in Beijing, but a year later sustained a tendon injury which brought his promising career to an end.

With little education, he took jobs as a waiter and a care worker, but his injuries hampered his ability to work and he was eventually forced to turn to theft, spending nearly five years in jail before being released in April.

Then last week his luck changed when he was recognised performing stunts on the street for money, and his story has now been picked up by dozens of media outlets.

Billionaire recycling magnate Chen Guangbiao even offered to give him a job, although Zhang said he was too busy with media interviews to think about what he would do next.

Authorities in the northern province of Hebei, where Zhang is from, refused to comment when contacted by AFP, but his story has captured the public imagination and raised questions about the state's duties to former athletes.

Weightlifter Cai Li, a gold medalist at the 1990 Asian Games who could only find work as a security guard after he retired, died in 2003 from causes related to years of hard training.