Asking for genuine advice here. We are a young couple (26M/ 25F) who have graduated not long ago and started working. Initially, we had planned to get married in the next couple of years and to have at least 2 if not 3 kids as we loved kids.
However, the bto delays and sharp rise in housing prices especially for HDB flats have badly affected our plans and left us feeling helpless. We are not high earners, me earning 3.5k and my gf 3k. We have some savings for housing but definitely not sufficient to get an overpriced HDB or private housing without overstretching. Living with our parents is not an option as both our places are old and overcrowded- I live in a 3 room flat with 4 other members while she came from a 2 room flat. We have thought of 4 options:
1) Try for a bto. Not easy to get one and even if we successfully ballot for one quickly, it would take 5-6 years for the construction, renovations etc to complete. As we only wanted kids when we have our own place, we may have less kids due to our age.
2) Bite the bullet and buy a high price resale flat in a good location. We can’t afford to lose our jobs in that case and have to scrimp and save for the loan payment. Cutting back expenses means we probably can only afford to have one kid or have to push back having kids till we have better finances.
3) Get a cheaper resale in a far location. We will face a long travel time to our workplaces as we both don’t fully wfh. Means we sleep less and may be bad for our mental health idk. Or we have to spend more on grab/taxi or get a car or bike. 4) Rent somewhere (room/ shared apartment) and wait for the market to cool down. We don’t know if or how long this will take so it’s taking a gamble. It’s also hard to have kids if we are renting a small place.
Applications for travel into Singapore were opened on Tuesday (Oct 12) and 2,409 such applications were approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
These applications came from the eight more countries that were allowed to apply for vaccinated passes, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
They will enter Singapore between Oct 19 and Nov 17.
The highest number of approved vaccinated travel passes came from the United Kingdom, standing at 976.
546 of these applications were from long-term pass holders and 430 applications were from short-term visitors.
France comes in at runner up position with 537, followed by the United States in 3rd place at 440.
Apart from the three countries above, the other five countries involved in this fully vaccinated travellers vaccinated travel lane scheme includes Canada at 29, Denmark at 80, Italy at 136, the Netherlands at 155 and Spain at 56.
CAAS also mentioned that 5,228 vaccinated passes have been issued since Sept 1 when applications were opened for the fully vaccinated from Brunei and Germany.
More than 5000 approved applicants were from Germany and 210 were from Brunei.
A Singaporean woman in Malaysia, Sharifah Mazlan, 51-years-old, was charged on 13 October for allegedly overstaying in Malaysia and abusing a 6-year-old boy who was autistic.
She pleaded not guilty to her charges.
She was the principal of Maikidz Care Centre in Selangor at the time of the alleged offence and the boy was a student at the centre.
She was arrested on 3 October.
The childcare centre was found by the Malaysian authorities to be operating on a license that had expired for 2 months.
Sharifah also purportedly overstayed with a social visit pass that had since expired.
Recap
The boy’s father, Tengku Aminuddin Shafiq, shared photos and CCTV footage of his son’s attack and bruises on Facebook and captioned his post:
“Assalamualaikum and Greetings,
I’m upset and very angry with what happened to my child last night. My child is a student at Maikidzcare Center Bandar Baru Ampang, Selangor. This Intervention Centre is dedicated to autistic children.
The incident which happened on the 1st October 2021, was truly unacceptable and we have lost trust in placing our child in the care of the Centre. My child, Tengku Noah is indeed an autistic boy and the reason we send him to this centre because of the representations given by the school.
We were made to believe by the representations given to us on their capabilities, skills and knowledge, and as the operator of the Centre that they are more well versed, capable and knowledgeable with the specialises skills and techniques in managing these special children.
We sent Noah to the Centre with the hope that our kid will be safe and will be well take care off. I have previously noted bruises on my son’s body and face but I was always under the good impression that it could probably be due to Noah being too active at school, he could have accidently bumped his head at the wall etc. We trust the Centre.
After picking him back from school, when we saw these marks on my son’s back, we knew for sure that these were not caused by him, couldn’t have caused by him, this was forced on him. Your justification on my son not wanting to eat is not acceptable or sufficient to support the way you treated him.
My son from this video is clearly terrified of the teacher who was the Principal in the Centre, scared of what the teacher did and I didn’t see any CCTV clips (that I was able to record and that I was not allowed to record and refuse to be pointed out back by the Center) that my son was rude. My child’s fault is that he doesn’t want to eat. Food was thrown out of the mouth again.
I don’t think their actions dragged my child on the floor and injured my child as a reasonable act and yet a ridiculous act. I as a father who pays the monthly fee without fail, annoyed with their actions and asked if there is such service offered to us with a fee that is quite high by me. Is this a technique and how practiced by experts or an experienced person as warranted by the Centre, in handling autism children? By using violence? FYI, the perpetrator in this CCTV recording clip is the owner and CEO of Maikidz Intervention Center Sharifah binti Mazlan.
For other parents, I’m Tengku Noah’s dad, wanted to share videos and photos of my son and what happened. My child was forced to eat because he was a ′′ picky eater “, this case has been extended to the Police and health checks (physical and internal) have been carried out by the Hospital and legal action has been taken by our side.
We regret to know from the Community Welfare Department that this Center does not get approved and license from JKM they operate illegally and trainers and teachers do not have licenses and qualifications in teaching Autism children.What I can’t accept is when I ask for justification from their side, I have been asked among others to accept Divine provisions.
I couldn’t take their actions and had to take proper action against the Centre. These kids are special and if they were treated this way, I wonder what the value of the belittles in these people. What about the fate of the other children?”
The YP who filmed himself breaking into a rhinoceros enclosure at the Singapore Zoo for a TikTok video, allegedly took drugs (cannabis) while he was on bail.
Ralph Wee Yi Kai, 19-years-old, was charged in court on 13 October with 1 count of drug consumption.
He is being accused of taking the drug back in August while he was still out on bail for his previous offences.
He then had his bail revoked for breaching the bail conditions and was subsequently remanded.
What happened?
Wee was supposed to show up for a urine test at CNB while he was out on bail but he had failed to show up.
He had taken MCs for the days where he was supposed to show up for the urine tests.
Lim Beng Wei, 58, was ordered three years of mandatory treatment by District Judge Kessler Soh on Oct 13 for tossing raw pork bones towards the balcony of a mosque in Telok Ayer.
He pleaded guilty to one count of public nuisance earlier this year.
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental disorder for more than 20 years but did not take all his prescribed medication and relapsed twice before.
Two other charges, one of it for throwing butter on a wall at the Singapore Music Box Museum was taken into consideration.
Under the conditions of the mandatory treatment order, the offender has to go for treatment with a court-appointed psychiatrist for up to three years.
Recap of the incident
On the morning of Jan 14 this year, Lim bought a packet of raw bones from NTUC Fairprice in Tanjong Pagar.
He proceeded to Masjid Al-Abrar at Telok Ayer around 11 am, stood outside and threw one of the pork bones towards the second-floor balcony of the mosque.
Court documents revealed that he had thrown another pork bone at the same place, two days prior to the incident.
He was identified by Police CCTV cameras.
Penalties
Offenders convicted of public nuisance can be jailed for up to three months, fined up to $2,000 or both.
22-year-old Ivan Toh Wei Hong was sentenced to one week in jail for trespass and theft.
Ivan is an NSF that is support staff attached to Home Team Academy located along Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
While bringing contractors to visit the female trainee’s bunk, he spotted a power bank and stole it. However, his actions were recorded by the CCTV when he leave the bunk with the power bank.
The female victim made a report after her items were stolen and soon it became a Police case and Toh eventually admit to the crime.
Play with underwear
The next day, Ivan wanted to “get back” at the victim and trespass into the victim’s bunk again, this time he opened her closet and removed the victim’s underwear before placing it on the victim’s bed.
Two other female trainees undergarments were also removed from their closets before displaying them on their beds.
It ended with another Police case and he was sentenced yesterday.
