The human rights lawyer, who was previously caught in a video smacking opposition lawyer Jeannette Chong Aruldoss to the ground, has regained much of his composure and poise, and has expressed deep remorse over what happened between himself and Chong-Aruldoss.

He says he sent his apologies to Chong-Aruldoss and asked his friends to set up a private meeting to apologize in person.

Speaking on the publication of alternative media articles that slammed him and denigrated his character in public, Ravi reportedly became visibly emotional with tears in his eyes.

“I’m disappointed about how the alternate media has portrayed me and these are the guys that I have supported throughout my career with money, legal advice and articles. And when my chips are down, they turned against me… Now, I know who my true friends are.”

“There is a silver lining in all this – Singaporeans have a big heart and I like to thank them for their support, love and understanding – this is a forgiving society – I love them all.”

He intends to focus his efforts on building his practice on International Arbitration, a practice that does not require him to have a practicing license.

Facebook Post By: Cindy Wong

Need to shame this white Mazda car SKQ 2844Z which didn’t stopped at the junction leading to Tampines One yesterday around 1pm.

My Mother and myself was about to cross the pedestrian crossing when the green man was in our favour and this Mazda didn’t even stopped.

I actually raised my hand nowadays at crossing cos many cars don’t stop to let pedestrian cross. Good thing my Mother was slow in walking if not we will be run over. Can Traffic Police install webcam at such junctions to deter reckless Drivers.

Facebook Post By: Cindy Wong

On 1st Sept 2017, I had a very disturbing experience with the AirAsia staff. I was taking the flight no. QZ 267 with 7 of my family members heading from Singapore to Jakarta.

We checked-in early and everything was fine until the immigration officer requested from my sister to return back to the check-in counter and ask them to do the necessary as her passport will expire in less than 6 months. My brother and I accompanied my sister to AirAsia counter while the rest of our family went to the departure gate.

At the counter, the person in charge, named Ganesh, said that he must get permission from the Indonesian immigration at Jakarta airport before he allows my sister to take the flight. He texted Jakarta regarding the case and asked us to wait for their response. We waited until it was 30 mins to departure, I checked with him if there’s any update, he said no response yet.

At that moment, my brother and I decided to head to the gate hoping that by the time we reach there Jakarta would reply and my sister will be escorted by AirAsia staff to take the flight with us. On our way in, the immigration officer said the gate for our flight is about to close, we won’t be allowed in unless the counter stamps our boarding passes. We went back to the counter, they stamped our boarding passes then we checked about my sister’s case, there was no update. By that time it was only 15 mins to departure, we wished one of the staff will escort us to the gate to avoid the long checking queues and not cause any delay to the flight. No one escorted us. My brother and I had to run our hearts out to make it to the gate as soon as possible and guess what??

We reached the gate 8 mins before departure to find the gate staff, named Renuka, telling us: sorry we have closed the gate because we “thought” you are not coming. I felt so frustrated, how come the counter staff haven’t informed them?! I told her pls do something, my child and my family are on the plane, we want to fly together. She was so cold and slow as if she is telling us I couldn’t care less. Eventually, the staff offered us 2 options to catch the next flight, either to purchase a new ticket for SGD 106 or to use our original tickets but pay fare difference of SGD 100. It was so silly to hear that especially that we couldn’t fly with the rest of our family because of their lack of coordination communication.

I asked to see the manager they said the manager can’t see me, and “over the phone” he’s only offering us those 2 options. My brother and I paid the fare difference of SGD 100 each and took the next flight. Shocking enough, this flight had 5 empty rows (30 available seats) and the gate closed 10 mins after departure waiting for late passengers. Shocking enough, when we arrived Jakarta and told my family we missed the flight because the check-in staff didn’t inform the gate staff my mother said “they are lying”. It turned out that she gave the gate staff our names, they wrote it down saying they will call for us. No comment.

The staff who handled our case were unprofessional, and they didn’t help at all either before or after the departure although they could. That’s one of the worst experiences I ever had with airasia. The staff were careless, irresponsible, and so unprofessional in their approach.

Facebook Post By: Ahmed Basyouni Saad

I refer to the article “$5.2 million lost to fare cheats on public transport in 2016” (Straits Times, Sep 10).

It states that “In the financial year ending March 31, there were 7,618 cases of cheating on public transport.

This is a 15 per cent drop from the 8,986 cases registered in the previous financial year, according to data from the Public Transport Council (PTC).

The cases included commuters not paying their fares, underpaying, or misusing concession passes and non-transferable tickets.

Since Feb 29 last year, the fine for those caught dodging or underpaying fares was more than doubled from $20 to $50. The $50 penalty also applies to those who misuse concession passes. The composition sum for the offences was also doubled from $50 to $100.

As to “The PTC said about 54 per cent of the cases were settled by fare evaders through payment of the penalty fee or composition sum.

“The remaining cases were resolved by waivers granted through appeals or escalated to court due to non-payment of the composition sum,” said its spokesman” – does this mean that about 46 per cent may have been so cash strapped that some couldn’t even afford to pay the fine of $50 or $100?

How many and what percentage of the cases ended up in court?

Does going to court mean a higher fine or jail if one is unable to pay?

The above may indicate that there may be quite a lot of people who may have to resort to cheating in transport fares – just to save a few cents.

Does this indicate that transport fares may not be affordable to some people?

In this connection, there were 69,800 unemployed residents as of June, and 125,900 residents earning a gross monthly income (including employer CPF contribution) of less than $1,000.

407,400 earn less than $1,500?

There were 407,400 residents (about 19.4 per cent of the total workforce of 2.1 million) whose median gross income was less than $1,500 monthly.

After CPF = less than $1,200?

If we deduct the maximum employee CPF contribution of 20 per cent – the net take-home pay may be less than $1,200.

Arguably, most of the 407,400 people with take-home pay of less than $1,200 may be struggling to make ends meet.

47,000 earn less than $500?

If we breakdown the 407,400 earning less than $1,500 into 47,000 earning less than $500, 125,900 earning less than $1,000 and 234,500 earning less than $1,500 – the financial stress that lower-income workers may be facing may be even worse.

No breakdown into S’poreans & PRs?

Moreover, since permanent residents (PRs) generally earn more than Singaporeans – I shudder to think what the above statistics may look like for Singaporeans.

There may also be more than half a million foreign workers also earning less than $1,000 a month.

“Of the 7,618 cases, 62 per cent involved non-payment, such as “tailgating” at fare gantries or not tapping in when boarding the bus.

Underpayment of fares, including commuters who tap out too early or underdeclare the distance they are travelling when paying with cash, accounted for 26 per cent. The remaining 12 per cent of fare evasion came from the misuse of concession cards. This included adults using a child’s concession card.”

By the way, how much did commuters lose when they were still charged fares whenever the MRT breaks down, as well as those who forgot to tap out and were charged the maximum fare?