Prime flats in Kallang Whampoa the most popular in February BTO exercise

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” MORE BALANCED” DEMAND-SUPPLY Condition

National Development Minister&nbsp, Desmond Lee said&nbsp, that the&nbsp, general application level for&nbsp, first-timer families was over across all flat types, reflecting” a more healthy demand-supply scenario in the BTO market”.

At lunch, Mr. Lee was considering the information. Data on apps received&nbsp, is updated at 8am, lunch and 5pm routine during the implementation phase. The final results may be updated on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

For first-timer families, the middle program rate for three- and four-bedroom BTO apartments was 1.0.

” This is lower than the median application rates when compared to all of the 2024 sales launches, and also pre-pandemic levels”, Mr Lee said.

There continued to be” powerful attention” from first-timer songs for two-room flexibility flats, he noted.

The lowest program price for three-bedroom, larger Sale of Balance apartments in the past three years was 2.5.

A full of 5, 590 like products are up for sale&nbsp, in February, the largest SBF training to time.

Mr. Lee noted that provide in the resale industry is “relatively small” this season, with fewer flats exceeding their MOP.

This is due to fewer level tasks in 2019 and 2020, partly because of COVID-19 associated construction delays.

” We anticipate a steady increase in the number of new cottages completing their MOP in the upcoming times.”

The number of condos meeting their MOP may improve from 8, 000 in 2025 to 19, 500 in 2028, said Mr Lee.

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Scammers posing as PDPC officers dupe victims of at least S1,000 this year

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Singapore authorities have urged citizens of the country to be wary of unsolicited calls from phony Personal Data Protection Commission ( PDPC ) employees.

According to the authorities and PDPC, at least four cases of this kind have been reported this month, totaling at least S$ 291, 000 ( US$ 172, 000 ).

Victims of these schemes would first be contacted by uninvited calls from those claiming to be members of the PDPC.

They may be informed that their mobile phone number has been used in Malaysia for organized crime, and they would be urged to report to the PDPC department to help with investigations. &nbsp,

The scam wouldn’t appear at the office when the victims came in. Victims may therefore call the scam, who would offer an explanation and inspire the sufferer to move funds to specific lender accounts under the pretext of assisting investigations, according to a joint media release from the police and PDPC. &nbsp,

In some cases, the contact would be routed to a second scammer who claimed to work for Malay law enforcement. &nbsp,

This con artist had further try to deceive the victim by using their alleged” personnel ID card” from the government and urging them to confirm this ID number through a fictitious website for Malay law enforcement.

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Guilty verdict may affect Pritam Singh’s reputation, but unlikely to drastically sway voters: Analysts

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Political analysts in Singapore speculated that Pritam Singh’s guilty verdict may have an impact on his standing, but the Workers ‘ Party ( WP ) is unlikely to see the case change its leadership. &nbsp,

How much will the public’s opinion of him will change as a result of how closely voters followed the case and their initial opinion of Singh, according to Dr. Teo Kay Key, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s ( NUS) Institute of Policy Studies ( IPS). &nbsp,

The innocent ruling may have a negative impact on their opinions if they were initially at odds with one another, but supporters and opponents are unlikely to get swayed, she added. &nbsp,

Because of this circumstance, supporters are improbable to have completely changed their opinions of Pritam, she said, while critics may previously not have had a really good opinion of him in the first place. &nbsp,

The WP chief was charged with lying to parliament on Monday ( Feb 17 ) in connection with a COP investigation into former WP Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan’s actions. &nbsp,

Singh stated to the audience after the reading that he would challenge both his verdict and word. He was fined a maximum of S$ 7, 000 ( US$ 5, 200 ) for each of the charges. &nbsp,

While the scenario is a” loss” that had “minimally impose a social struck” for Singh, how he responds matters greatly and was further affect his position, said Singapore Management University’s law don Eugene Tan. &nbsp,

Any potential repercussions for Singh will also be burdened by him as the party’s president, according to Associate Professor Tan. &nbsp,

Given WP’s position as the main opposition group in Singapore,” but this will not change the outcome of the election.”

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Key quotes from the judge in Pritam Singh’s guilty verdict

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1. Singh’s implicit “laundry list” of ways to come clear

Judge Tan said he had trouble accepting the fact that Singh had anticipated Raeesah Khan to understand “without talking to her about the numerous things she needed to do to define the lie” ( in his opinion ).

” These included: ( a ) talking to her parents, ( b ) explaining to them about the sexual assault, ( c ) explaining to them why she lied, ( d ) telling them that the fact she lied was going to become public, and ( e ) coming back to the accused to tell him she is ready to have the matter clarified in parliament”.

None of these ways, according to the judge, were “expressly articulated” to Ms. Khan at her conference with Singh on August 8, 2021.

Therefore, it is obvious that throughout this period, his desired cleaning roster of activities for Ms. Khan were in his head but not left his mouth.

2. On Singh assisting Ms. Khan in keeping her misleading tale.

” By the Oct 3, 2021 meet, it would have been clearly evident to the accused that Ms Khan was unable to ‘ back up and support’ the unfounded anecdote”, said the judge.

The accused was, in my opinion, directing Ms Khan to refrain from clarifying the untruth, even if it came up in parliament by following up with a statement that he would not judge her if she continued to tell the narrative ( i .e., continue the lie she had already told ).

The accused’s advice was that Ms. Khan do not suffer the severe effects of being hauled before the COP if she did not clarify the untruth, the accused said without saying but directly.

3. Absence of foundational research for Ms. Khan to address.

Judge Tan questioned Singh’s “beggars opinion” that she genuinely believed Ms. Khan could speak the truth before Parliament on October 4, 2021 without any prior investigation.

It seems highly unlikely that the WP’s leader of the opposition and its secretary-general would accept a quarterback MP’s request to clarify an untrue statement in parliament without any prep or pre-warning to the WP CEC (central executive council ).

4. Low Thia Khiang’s effect on WP’s change of plan

Mr. Low Thia Khiang, the original WP secretary-general, learned that Ms. Khan had lied during a conference with Singh and Sylvia Lim on October 11, 2021. I stated that it’s not important whether or not the government can ( find ) out. If she tells a rest, I think she really sorry, “he testified.

When questioned about the change of plan for Ms Khan’s admission of truth the following day, Singh told group functionaries Ms Loh Peiying and Mr Yudhishthra Nathan he was concerned the government might already be aware of her lying.

Judge Tan stated that, in addition to this,” the Workers ‘ Party would survive the kind of falling-out that would follow,” which could have comforted the accused ( and his fellow WP leaders ) and influenced them to ultimately choose to have Ms. Khan clarify the lie in parliament.

His view was that” earlier to speaking to Mr Low on this day, and obtaining Mr Low’s opinions, it was not the purpose of the accused for Ms Khan to understand the rest in congress”.

5. Singh’s motive for administrative proceedings against Ms Khan&nbsp,

On Nov 2, 2021, the WP announced that it had formed a disciplinary panel ( DP ) to look into Ms Khan’s conduct on Nov 2, 2021. The DP comprised Singh, WP head Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap.

” No matter which way one looks at it, since these identical Wordpress leaders had known about the untruth for many months before Ms Khan’s personalized statement was made in parliament, and they also, at the very least, did not call her out on it, or disclose it themselves but kept it hidden from the rest of the WP, from parliament, and from the public, it is clear that they were in a position of true or, at least, obvious conflict of interest,” said the judge.

There would therefore be a real concern that they might not be able to conduct themselves fairly or impartially when conducting an investigation into Ms. Khan’s behavior because their own behavior in the case would also be subject to scrutiny. This would not have been lost on the accused or Ms. Lim, both of whom are experienced attorneys.

He continued,” The accused’s troubling insistence on sitting on the DP strongly suggests an attempt to conceal his earlier involvement and knowledge, and lack of action to clarify the untruth, despite being well aware of his intimate role in guiding Ms. Khan in relation to the managing of the untruth since August 2021.

6. Singh’s motive for lying to the COP

Judge Tan cited earlier studies on Singh’s “efforts to cover his own tracks” as the justification for convening the DP.

It can be inferred that this is a similar motivation to the lies he told the COP. In the words of the ( deputy public prosecutor ), this was to protect his political capital.”

7. On Singh’s credibility in court

When the prosecution inquired about Ms. Khan’s ability to respond to an email the police sent her on October 7, 2021, Singh gave a number of different responses at his trial when the prosecution asked him whether she could accept the fact that her anecdote was false.

The accused changed from ( a ) claiming that he did not believe Ms Khan could respond to the police’s email to clarify that the anecdote was untrue because of an alleged “diversity of powers,” to ( b ) claiming that he was acting under the illusion that there was some legal right to ignore the police, to ( c ) claiming that he was operating under the falsehood that she could not ignore the police, to ( d ) referring to section 5 of the Parliament

” All in all, it is clear that the accused’s flip-flopping in court to what is plainly a simple question, shows him to be evasive and unreliable”, said the judge.

8. On Ms Khan’s credibility as a witness

During the trial, Singh’s lawyers attempted to get Ms Khan impeached as a witness, but Judge Tan found her credible.

He claimed that there was” no reason for Ms. Khan to falsely implicate the accused because it provided no benefit to her when she testified in this court more than three years after the incident.”

Additionally, it does not appear to be the defense’s case that Ms. Khan has an axe to grind with the accused or that she harbors resentments toward him, which could have allowed her to fabricate an elaborate story against the accused.

The evidence demonstrates that Ms. Khan has always shown respect and even reverence for the accused, whom she treated as a mentor, which is especially true.

He continued,” I acknowledge that she has repeatedly shown regret and remorse, and has been forthright in this court about her wrongdoing, even though she has clearly shown flaws in lying in parliament and to those around her.”

9. On the bravery of the two former WP cadres who testified.

Ms. Loh Peiying and Mr. Nathan, Ms. Ms. Khan’s close party aides, provided important supporting evidence that supported her account of her encounters with Singh.

There is no reason for either of them to have falsely implicated the accused, aside from Ms Loh and Mr. Nathan having had close relationships with both Ms. Khan and the accused prior to this incident, having been long-time WP members up until 2022, and also having been heavily invested in and involved in the WP at the time.

” Instead, in my view, they displayed courage in testifying and speaking the truth in this trial. Both have since left a party where they spent a sizable portion of their lives as members.

10. On Singh’s S$ 7, 000 fine for each charge

The court must convey the importance of providing accurate information when under oath, and this can be done by imposing the maximum fine, especially in a situation like this.

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Pritam Singh sentencing: AGC warns public against publishing unfounded allegations against the judiciary

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SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General’s Chambers ( AGC ) on Monday ( Feb 17 ) warned the public against making unfounded allegations against the judiciary after Workers ‘ Party chief Pritam Singh was fined for lying to a parliamentary committee. ” While we regard the government’s right to post on judge decisions,Continue Reading

Lim Tean gets jail, fine for practising law without a valid certificate

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SINGAPORE: Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean was given six weeks ‘ jail and a S$ 1, 000 ( US$ 745 ) fine on Monday ( Feb 17 ) for practising law when he did not have a valid certificate.

After the judge granted his lawyer’s request to postpone his word, he will begin serving his prison term on March 3.

Lim, 60, also faces four other fees, including criminal breach of trust as an attorney and immoral chasing, that are pending before the court.

After a test, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun convicted Lim in the present scenario in July 2024.

He was found innocent of three counts under the Legal Profession Act for acting without authorization as an activist and counsel between April 1, 2021, and June 9, 2021.

Lim’s riding license was issued solely on Jun 10, 2021.

In the two months prior, Lim conducted or defended jury deliberations on 32 times and organized files or other papers as many times as necessary.

According to Lim’s attorney Patrick Fernandez, the training certificate required that Lim be “authorised to practice as an advocate and lawyer in Singapore during the practice year that ended on March 31, 2022.” &nbsp,

This exercise time, which was from Apr 1, 2021, to Mar 31, 2022, may have captured the time when Lim was accused of acting as a lawyer without license, the army argued.

The defense argued that Lim did not have the intentions to commit the crimes or that he had used affordable care.

Mr. Fernandez claimed Lim had requested if he could still go to judge after making it clear to the Law Society that he did not possess a riding license. He was told he was, but he had to tell the prosecutor.

Lim claimed to have informed the judges about this incident during judge hearings, but that no records of the conversation were made public. &nbsp,

But, Judge Ong determined that Lim had failed to demonstrate how he could have been mistaken in his views and that there was no ambiguity in the appropriate part of the Legal Profession Act.

Ng Yiwen, Edwin Soh, and Bryan Wong, the assistant public prosecutor, were ordered to serve five to eight months in prison.

They argued that the judge’s statement should indicate the need to outlaw “glaring lack of remorse” and signal condemnation of Lim’s “glaring lack of remorse” by the judge’s word.

Mr. Fernandez, the defense attorney, argued that Lim’s actions did not fall within the sentence of imprisonment and that a full great of S$ 4,500 was required.

The judge and the trial agreed on Monday that Lim had not shown any remorse and that his customers were exposed to the possibility of having no remedy to professional liability insurance.

” He had in the operation deceived his clients, other professionals, public officials and the magistrates”, said Judge Ong.

As a prosecutor for many years, Lim should have known that he had until the end of April to renew his practising certificate when it expired on March 31, 2021, and that he would be deemed to do so as an illegal person, according to the judge.

Lim could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$ 25, 000, or both for acting as an attorney without a true training license under the Legal Profession Act.

Lim also stands accused of misappropriating S$ 30, 000 that was entrusted to him between Nov 14, 2019, and Dec 4, 2019.

This amount, according to police, was paid to his former clientele as a settlement in a civil lawsuit involving motor vehicle accidents.

In 2020, he is also accused of harassing a former law firm employee, among other things, by allegedly sending seductive text emails.

Lim recently indicated through his attorney that he intends to challenge these allegations. His event is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 3. &nbsp,

Lim is the leader of the Peoples Voice group and the secretary-general of the Women’s Alliance for Reform, a gathering of antagonism events.

In the 2020 General Election, he led a four-man staff from PV that lost to the Women’s Action Party in Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency.

Lim’s statement does not meet the requirements to be eligible for an MP election.

Anyone who is fined at least S$ 10,000 or jailed for at least one month for a second offence is not eligible to run for office as an MP under the laws of the Constitution.

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Social media platforms must do more to protect children and act on user violations, says IMDA

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USER SAFETY MEASURES FOR CHILDREN ARE THE X SCORED LOWEST LOWEST RATES.

Results revealed that all six systems had safety measures in place– such as group guidelines, material restraint, tools for users to control their own health and Singapore-based health resources. Nevertheless, some did not do as well for customer protection measures for kids, with&nbsp, X scoring the lowest with two out of five items.

Despite claiming to have discovered and removed six parts of child sexual exploitation and abuse materials from Singapore, testing found” significantly more circumstances” during the same time period, according to the IMDA report. &nbsp,

The media body needs to increase the effectiveness of its efforts to identify and remove child sex exploitation and abuse material, according to the media body. &nbsp,

Additionally, the report found that the platform’s efforts to impose limitations on child access to adult sexual content failed. Tests showed that minors could easily find and access explicit material, including hardcore pornography, with simple search words.

Additionally, X took action on 54 % of user-agreed content, but only the remaining 46 % of that content when IMDA notified X directly. &nbsp,

It also took 10 days on average to act on reported violations. &nbsp,

” Specifically, X took an average of seven days to take action on sexual content, nine days for suicide and self-harm content, and between 10 to 20 days for other categories of harmful content”, IMDA said. &nbsp,

Responding to the report’s findings, X said that it has “zero tolerance” towards material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation, &nbsp,

Additionally, X asserted that it has measures in place to ensure that minors have a safe and secure experience on the platform and that users between the ages of 13 and 17 are more vulnerable. &nbsp, &nbsp,

HOW OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES SCORED&nbsp,

YouTube and Facebook received four out of five and HardwareZone received two out of five for their child safety measures, while TikTok and Instagram received full marks for theirs.
 
According to the report,” HardwareZone did not have additional measures for children, such as accounts with more restrictive default settings and dedicated tools for parents or guardians to manage children’s safety,” according to the report. &nbsp,

Although the site’s terms of service prohibit users under 18 years old from accessing the service, its age-gating measures were easily bypassed. &nbsp,

While YouTube and Facebook performed surprisingly well, the report found instances where kids could access inappropriate content that violated their rules.
 

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Pritam Singh to appeal conviction and sentence after being fined for lying to parliament

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When asked about the possibility of him being forced to consider stepping down, Mr. Singh responded that it was necessary for him to” move upwards, no move down.” &nbsp,

” Elections are inevitable, and it’s not going to become an easy vote, as I have frequently shared in the course of my common speeches to other Workers ‘ Party users”, he said.

” So we’ll have to struggle hard, and that’s what we will do”.

WP head Sylvia Lim said the group is” no man to challenges and may rise to the occasion,” as it has stated numerous times in the past in a speech posted on the group’s Facebook page.

” We are appreciative of everyone who has supported us in difficult days and in difficult days,” she continued.

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China condemns US after line on ‘Taiwan independence’ cut from site

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A statement from the US State Department’s site that claimed Washington opposed Taiwan’s independence has been removed from its webpage has sparked outrage in China.

China said the update” sends a wrong… sign to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan self-reliance”, and asked the US to” proper its mistakes”.

The agency’s point plate on Taiwan-US relations earlier included the word” we do not help Taiwan independence”- this was removed last week as part of what it said was a “routine” release.

A US spokesperson was quoted as saying that it remains committed to the “One China” policy, it said, where US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than Taiwan.

Taiwan, which is self-governed, is seen by China as a breakaway state that will ultimately be a part of the nation, and it has not ruled out using force to do so.

However, the majority of Japanese believe they are a separate country, despite the fact that Taiwan does not formally renounce its independence from China or ties with it.

As well as dropping the word, the brief, which was updated last Thursday, also says the US will help Taiwan’s participation in international institutions “where appropriate”.

A representative from the US’ de facto embassy on the island, the American Institute in Taiwan, commented on the changes, telling local media that the truth plate had been “updated to inform the general public about]the US’s illegal relationship with Taiwan.

” We have long argued that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.”

On Sunday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the US for what he called “positive, Taiwan-friendly wordings”.

But in their regular press conference on Monday, Beijing’s foreign ministry slammed the move, calling the revision a” serious regression” in the US ‘ stance on Taiwan.

This sends a wrong and serious signal to separatist forces calling for Taiwan’s independence, according to Chinese spokesperson Guo Jiakun, and it is yet another illustration of the United States ‘ stubbornly using Taiwan to contain China.

” We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes]and ] earnestly adhere to the One China principle”.

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Pritam Singh sentencing: Workers’ Party chief can contest in 2025 General Election

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Pritam Singh, the leader of the opposition, will be able to contest the approaching General Election because the sentences for separate offenses cannot be added up to preclude him as a Member of Parliament.

Singh was on Monday ( Feb 17 ) found guilty of&nbsp, two charges of lying to parliament&nbsp, over false testimonies he gave to a Committee of Privileges on Dec 10 and Dec 15, 2021, during its inquiry into former Workers ‘ Party MP Raeesah Khan’s conduct.

He was given the maximum S$ 7, 000 ( US$ 5, 200 ) fine for each of the charges. &nbsp,

Following the hearing on Monday, the Elections Department ( ELD ) announced in a statement that the eligibility for an MP is determined by the sentence for a single offence.

The ELD stated that a person is not disqualified from serving as an MP if the word for each of the crimes does not exceed the dismissal level of prison for a word of not less than one time or a great of not less than S$ 10, 000.

” The respective sentences for distinct offenses may be added together for this objective.”

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