The 48-year-old man who was killed in a fire that broke out at a Jurong East HDB flat on 16 August, had been living there with his sister.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the deceased is 48-year-old Huang Mingquan, who lived there with his older sister, 50-year-old Huang Xiumei.

The sibling’s other 43-year-old sister told SMDN that the older Ms Huang sells newspapers and makes less than $300 a month; while Mr Huang works odd jobs and often took in old appliances and recyclable items.

The 43-year-old also said that the deceased would repair the electrical appliances that he brought home and sell them to the neighbours for just $2 or $3, or even give them away sometimes.

Recap

[Final Update: Block 236 Jurong East Street 21]

At about 2.50am today (16 Aug), SCDF was alerted to a fire at the above-mentioned location.

Upon SCDF’s arrival, the fire was raging inside a unit on the 9th floor. Firefighters penetrated into the heavily smoke-logged unit to conduct firefighting operations. In addition, a Combined Platform Ladder was deployed at the rear of the block for external firefighting.

SCDF firefighters extinguished the fire using three water jets. As a result of the fire, the entire unit was affected by heat and smoke damage.

An occupant in the affected unit self evacuated before SCDF’s arrival.

Due to the close proximity of an adjacent unit, SCDF firefighters conducted forced entry into this unit and rescued three occupants.

A body was found in the affected unit and pronounced dead by an SCDF paramedic.

Damping down operations* are currently ongoing.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

*Damping down refers to the application of water to wet burnt surfaces immediately after a fire is put out. It is to prevent any potential rekindle of fire from the hot burnt surfaces.

A netizen shared how his neighbour keeps live chickens in cages outside their first-floor HDB unit of Block 358 Yishu Rig Road.

The chickens are directly outside the netizen’s residents and the smells and sounds coming from the chickens are affecting his family, with the cages being outside his children;’s bedroom.

The netizen, Mr Suhardi, said that as a result of the foul smell from the chickens, one of his young daughters is choosing to stay at her grandmother’s home instead and doesn’t want to come home anymore.

Speaking to Stomp, Suhardi said: “This has affected my relationship with my family negatively. The owner has been feeding the chickens leftover food. This causes a very strong and unpleasant smell, especially combined with the chicken’s faeces. On top of that, the leftover food is attracting rats, especially during the night.”

Suhardi added that he has brought the issue up to the town council, the police and his MP; which resulted in the authorities telling the neighbours to move the cages, but the neighbour hasn’t done so.

A warning letter was also issued to the neighbour to remove the chickens by 1 May this year but Nee Soon Town Council said that the neighbour requested for alternative ways to keep the chickens.

NSTC said “Nee Soon Town Council believes in taking a compassionate approach towards solving issues for residents. As such, we are attempting mediation between the neighbours. We are also exploring alternative ways for the chicken owner to keep the chickens while also considering the living environment of the feedback provider.”

Some 28,000 lower-income workers will be able to apply for a payout of up to #150 under an NTUC aid package to help with their daily expenses.

NTUC’s deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan, shared about the NTUC Care Fund on Facebook:

“At NTUC, we always place the interest and welfare of our workers at the centre of what we do. And we know cost of living is a big concern to many of you now, especially our lower-income union members and workers.

To support them, NTUC has launched a new NTUC Care Fund (Special Assistance) Programme which will provide a one-off cash assistance of up to $150 to eligible members. The $3.66 million set aside by NTUC-U Care Fund will benefit some estimated 28,000 lower-income members. Applications open on 22 August, in two days’ time. I hope you can share this news with your union member friends 😊 We hope that this assistance will bring some relief as we walk this journey with our members.

The NTUC Care Fund (Special Assistance) application will open from 22 August (Mon), 0900hrs to 30 September (Fri), 2200hrs via the new system – OneCARE at https://ucare.ntuc.org.sg/assistance/.

Glad to be part of the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) to present educational awards to more than 250 children of our SISEU members. The SISEU Education Awards Ceremony 2022 was made possible by the U Care Education Co-Funding Scheme (an NTUC-U Care Fund programme) to reach out and motivate these students to excel in their studies.

We will continue to watch the macro-economic conditions and look at ways to better support the welfare of our lower-income members.”

About the NTUC Care Fund

NTUC Care Fund (Special Assistance)

The NTUC Care Fund (Special Assistance) provides one-time cash relief to ease their financial burden on the rising cost of living for daily essentials.

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all union members with minimum 6 months of membership tenure at point of application and must not in arrears:
 

**Note:
1. Applicant’s immediate family members living in the same household in Singapore excluding domestic helper.
2. Gross income is defined as all income derived from employment/business, inclusive of overtime and allowances.

Documents Required

How To Apply

The application period opens from 22 August to 30 September 2022.
Successful applicants will be notified by email and received their one-time cash relief via bank transfer

Please ensure you have both email address and mobile number to register for an NTUC Linkpass account

A teenage boy allegedly took a woman’s wallet at a playground in Punggol on 5 August, before confessing to his misdeeds and returning an empty wallet to her.

The money that the boy took was the woman’s financial assistance from the Social Service Office, because she is an unemployed single mother with 5 children and has to take care of her baby who has separation anxiety.

The mother of the boy who stole the money, told the woman that her son regrets taking her wallet, which contained the $1,690.

She told the woman, Ms Nora, that they promise to pay back $100 monthly, as they are having financial difficulties as well.

Nora then said that she will be reaching out to the police to see if the police report that she had filed could be rescinded.

Background

The woman was with her children at a playground in Punggol Central on 5 August, when a boy about 13 to 15 years old asked her for directions to the bus exchange.

She had placed her wallet in her stroller bag before talking to the boy, and it was hanging from her stroller.

She told STOMP that the money that was stolen was her financial assistance from the SSO, which was $1,690 in $50 notes.

She said that the money that was stolen was the only income she had to sustain her family’s expenses, and she was left with $0 in her bank.

She added that she sat down in front of her home and cried, while thinking back about the “high possibility” that the boy had stolen her purse, citing how “quickly” the boy had run off after asking for directions.

The story was published on STOMP and the boy’s mother then reached out to her, telling her that she found the wallet under her son’s pillow but there was o money left inside it.

She texted Nora ad told her that “U have son and I’m sure u will do anything for ur so not go jail”.