PM candidate won’t get to speak before vote

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Five hours allocated for parliamentary debate on Tuesday with final result expected by 5.30pm

PUBLISHED : 18 Aug 2023 at 16:52

PM candidate won’t get to speak before vote
Parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha speaks to reporters at parliament on July 10. On Friday he announced the ground rules for the vote for the country’s 30th prime minister. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

Prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin will not be asked to deliver a vision statement ahead of a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, a meeting to review procedures for the session has concluded.

The rules were agreed on by whips from the Senate and representatives of political parties who met on Friday with parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.

Mr Wan said the joint sitting of the House and Senate on Tuesday would start at 10am, with five hours allocated for lawmakers to debate — 2 hours for senators and 3 hours for MPs. The vote is expected to start at 3pm and finish by 5.30pm.

Barring any last-minute surprises, the Pheu Thai Party as the head of the coalition is expected to nominate Mr Srettha, the former chief executive of the property developer Sansiri Plc.

Some backers of Mr Srettha were hoping he would have a chance to outline his views in the chamber, if only to win over some sceptical senators.

The Pheu Thai-led coalition is expected to have the support of 314 MPs, meaning it will need another 61 votes from senators to reach a simple majority of 375 out of the 749 members participating.

Mr Srettha did not seek office in the May 14 election as a constituency or party-list MP. There are no rules specifically barring a non-MP from addressing a parliamentary meeting, Mr Wan said.

However, those who attended Friday’s meeting did not believe it was necessary for anyone nominated for prime minister to give a vision statement because the constitution and parliamentary regulations did not stipulate any such requirement, he added.

When regulations regarding this issue were drafted in parliament, only 47 voted in favour of hearing from the candidate while 370 voted against, said Mr Wan.

The whips also discussed a motion raised by Move Forward Party list-MP Rangsiman Rome in a previous parliament session and agreed it could be debated on Tuesday, said the parliament president.

However, they argued that as parliament had earlier voted on the issue in line with parliamentary regulation No 151, the resolution could not be reviewed.

Mr Rangsiman said earlier on Friday that he would urge parliament to reconsider its decision on July 19 to reject the renomination of Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister.

That decision was challenged in the Constitutional Court, which declined to hear the case. It said that only the person directly affected by such a decision, in this case Mr Pita, had the right to file such a petition.

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Pura Luka Vega: Philippine drag queen for dressing as Jesus

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Some clubs have cancelled Pura Luka Vega's shows since the religious uproar in JulyPura Luka Vega/ Instgram
By Derek Cai and Joel Guinto
BBC New, Singapore

Christian groups in the Philippines are suing a drag queen who dressed as Jesus Christ and performed a rock rendition of the Biblical verse, Lord’s Prayer.

The two criminal complaints accuse the performer, 33-year-old Pura Luka Vega, of “desecrating their religious faith and patron”.

A video of a bearded Luka performing the verse in Filipino went viral last month, causing an uproar.

Luka, who has dressed as Christ before, defended their performance as art.

The latest performance seems to have drawn attention after Luka shared a video of it on X, formerly known as Twitter. It has angered the deeply religious country, where some church leaders and lawmakers have called the performance “blasphemous”.

At the end of July, the Philippines for Jesus Movement, comprising Protestant church leaders, registered the first criminal complaint and sued Luka. The second complaint came this week from a Catholic group, Nazarene Brotherhood.

Philippines, a former Spanish colony, is predominantly Roman Catholic – nearly 80% of the country identifies as such, according to the most recent poll in February.

Days after the video went viral, many cities, including the capital Manila, made Luka “persona non grata”, a symbolic move declaring them no longer welcome in the city.

While it does not actually prevent Luka from entering these cities, it has cost them work, with some clubs cancelling scheduled shows. Drag queens like Luka mostly earn a living by performing in clubs.

In the past, other Philippine artists have been criticised for performances or art that some saw as offensive to the Christian faith. In 2011, visual artist Mideo Cruz drew outrage from the Catholic church for an installation that included crucifixes and phallic symbols.

For decades, drag queens in the country have performed mostly as comedians, impersonating singers and actresses and delivering punchlines in stand-up shows, often at the audience’s expense.

Luka is part of a new generation of drag queens who position themselves as artists using their performances to test the limits of free speech.

Father Jerome Secillano, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told the BBC that an expression of faith should contain reverence.

“I know Pura Luka Vega said it was art… What they did was a mockery of our faith,” he said. “We’re calling the act itself offensive, whether it’s done by a man, woman, or a member of the LGBTQ community.”

In response to the backlash, Luka apologised to those who were offended by the Jesus act but defended their right to express their faith.

“What people don’t understand is that Luka grew up with a religious background [and] still practices their faith in their own way,” said Dulcinea Zulueta, who works with Luka. Luka did not wish to speak to the BBC.

Ms Zulueta says they have both received death threats: “I got called an accomplice to a crime just because I supported Luka. We got messages from pastors telling us we’re going to hell.”

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Singapore wins big at orchid conference, but local growers lament challenging conditions to cultivate hybrids

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Singapore swept the top three spots in the best plant category, as well as the top two prizes for landscaping.

Singapore Botanic Gardens, which won the orchid landscape competition, said its display showcased some of the nation’s heritage orchids created by local breeders, as well as some naturally occurring native species.

“One of the orchids that we wanted to showcase over here is the deer antler orchid because its inflorescence kind of resembles that of a deer. It puts up small, dainty beautiful red blooms,” said National Orchid Garden manager Jeremy Yeo, who designed the winning landscape.

Participants will also attend seminars on the science of orchid growing and how best to cultivate and cross breed them.

Some 50,000 orchid enthusiasts and experts from around the world are expected to attend the five-day event, which is being held in Singapore for the first time.  

Mr Tan Puay Yok, group director of Singapore Botanic Gardens and NParks, which are co-chairs of the conference, said that hosting the event is of much significance to Singapore.

“Over time, the national flower has become incorporated into our currencies, our notes, our stamps, floral prints for dresses and so forth,” he said. “So for me, this is particularly significant because a humble flower like that has helped to strengthen the national identity of Singaporeans.”

The event will run until Aug 20.

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Regional security concerns accelerated ties among Japan, South Korea, US: Analysts

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“This broad cooperation coming out of Camp David is not a formal alliance or a collective security, but it’s getting close to that step,” said Dr Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific Security chair at think tank Hudson Institute.

“If a war were to break out in the region, these three countries would be ready from day one to cooperate across a range of contingencies,” he told CNA938’s Asia First.

REGIONAL SECURITY COMPLICATIONS

The summit comes amid concerns over provocative behaviour from North Korea and perceived threats from a growing Chinese military and its activities in the South China Sea.

Dr Takuya Matsuda, research fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, said that the improving relationship between Japan and South Korea, which has for decades been strained due to historical disputes, is mainly a by-product of China’s actions in the region.

He said the speed of warming ties came as a surprise to most Asia observers, who were not expecting so much progress in so little time.

“Chinese provocation inadvertently brought together Japan and South Korea, who would have had trouble getting on the same page just four or five years ago,” he told CNA’s Asia First.

He drew a parallel to Europe, where Sweden’s and Finland’s ascension to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“Provocation does invite others to unite together. When there are security challenges that jeopardise the security of countries in a region, that actually brings nations together in unexpected ways. This is why (the summit) is very historic and also a very promising development,” said Dr Matsuda.

Dr Cronin cited an incident earlier this month, when China’s coastguard fired a water cannon on Philippine vessels near a disputed shoal, as one such instance of Beijing flexing its muscle in the South China Sea.

“If China is going to intimidate and use force and coercion or economic statecraft against others, then they should expect this reaction,” he said, referring to the summit.

“The region is responding to China’s actions. We don’t want decoupling, but we’re going to have some protection, form some alliances, and have some security partnerships.”

JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA RELATIONSHIP

Japan’s shift away from its decades-long pacifist ideals have been in the spotlight in recent years as Tokyo struggles to strike a balance between the need for defence and its post-World War II constitutional restrictions on its military.

For South Korea, while North Korea remains a primary threat, Seoul has also begun to view China as a potential security issue.

“For example, a Taiwan contingency does not only affect Japan. South Korea’s tankers, vessels, and trade ships go through the Taiwan Strait. So if there’s a blockade over Taiwan, it will affect South Korea as well,” said Dr Matsuda.

“So, while China is more of a threat for Japan and the US, Seoul is also starting to feel the potential security challenge.”

These common security concerns have pushed the two major US treaty allies to work together.

While Japan needs South Korea as a partner for regional defence, Seoul also needs Tokyo to elevate its position on the world stage in order to play a global pivotal state role, said Dr Cronin.

This is one key priority for South Korean President Yoon, and he has made tremendous efforts to improve ties with Japan after he came into power last year, he added.

“(Yoon does not want to) simply focus on the North Korea problem. He wants to really try to have some muscle in the region and globally. So he needs a good relationship with Japan to deal with North Korea, and also as a bridge to deal with other regions of the world.”

WHY IS THE SUMMIT SIGNIFICANT?

Aside from Japan-South Korea ties, observers said the Camp David summit is also significant as it is a first step for the three countries to put in place a security framework.

It will also pave the way for their national security delegates to coordinate on regional matters more frequently, and establish a shared command and control structure.

“While they are well-prepared for deterrence in peacetime, they’re not as well-prepared as they need to be for a range of crises. The leaders need to align their policies and capabilities, and talk seriously about extended deterrence,” Dr Cronin said.

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Director misappropriated S.5 million woman gave to secure loan from financier who was actually bankrupt

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SINGAPORE: A director of a consultancy business misappropriated a sum of S$1.5 million (US$1.1 million) a woman had forked out as a deposit for a loan of S$15 million she intended to get for her real estate business.

The director kept S$250,000 for himself and gave the rest to the purported financier, who had actually been declared bankrupt in two countries. 

Vincent Jason Sadok Fook Tai, 43, was sentenced to three years and nine months’ jail on Thursday (Aug 17).

He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating S$1.5 million, with another two charges taken into consideration.

The court heard that Vincent was a director of AEC Development, a consultancy business for funding and financing of projects, and Asia Alternative Fund, a restricted scheme fund.

WONG APPROACHES HIM FOR LOAN

Around May 2020, Vincent was introduced to Wong Poh Kun, now 69. Wong was looking for a loan of at least S$150,000 for personal reasons, and Vincent heard that Wong needed the loan as an interim measure.

Wong later asked Vincent for a loan of S$1 million. 

In December 2020, Vincent’s company AEC entered into a loan agreement with a group of real estate companies including Abiel Holdings, whose director was 48-year-old Maureen Li Ee Ling.

AEC was to disburse a loan of S$15 million to Abiel Holdings, in return for preferential shares of Abiel Holdings. The loan was for the development of a commercial site in Aljunied.

At the time of the signing of the agreement, Vincent’s company did not have the funds available to be disbursed, and the loan was purportedly to be financed by a funder based in Hong Kong.

Vincent later shared with Wong that his company had entered into an agreement over this project. Wong asked to be linked up with Ms Li, with Wong possibly financing a loan to the Abiel companies with a deposit of S$1.5 million with Vincent’s AAF company as proof of fund.

Vincent was promised S$500,000 if he could secure S$1 million for Wong from Ms Li, and he agreed.

He introduced Wong to Ms Li as a potential investor who could provide the funds required under the agreement. 

At a physical meeting of the trio on Feb 25, 2021, Wong lied to Vincent and Ms Li that he was a wealthy businessman who was a seasoned property developer and financier of projects in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

He also claimed that he had sources of funding from a pool of Australian investors.

However, in reality, Wong had been declared bankrupt in Malaysia since October 2019, and was declared bankrupt in Singapore in June 2020. Vincent knew about Wong’s bankruptcy status in Singapore in December 2020, but did not know that he was also bankrupt in Malaysia.

At the meeting, Wong allegedly claimed that the Abiel companies had to provide S$1.5 million as proof of funds before he could organise his funds to arrive from Australia.

The money was to be transferred to Vincent’s company, AAF, and held for three months. Ms Li was assured that the S$1.5 million would be kept in the account of AAF, and not utilised or withdrawn.

Ms Li expressed concerns, but Vincent assured her that AAF was a regulated fund by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and that her funds were protected.

Ms Li agreed to the terms and delivered a cheque of S$1.5 million to AAF. 

Vincent withdrew the entire sum and handed over S$1.25 million to Wong in cash and bank transfers. He kept S$250,000 for himself, claiming to have used it to upgrade his office.

In May 2021, when Ms Li was chasing him and questioning the delay in the disbursement of the loan, Vincent forged a bank statement purporting that his company had received a transfer of S$15 million, to deceive MS Li into believing that the loan quantum from Wong had been received.

Vincent also forged a letter from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore purporting that his company had outstanding overdue corporate tax, so Ms Li would believe the bank account had been frozen because of this.

The finance director of one of Ms Li’s companies lodged a police report in July 2021 over the S$15 million loan that did not materialise.

Vincent made restitution of S$1,000 to the victim in January last year, while Wong has not made any restitution.

The prosecution sought a jail term of between four and four-and-a-half years for Vincent, pointing to how he had abused the trust that commercial transactions operate on.

He had dishonestly misappropriated the sum transferred to his company, which he had specifically assured would be protected.

Wong’s case is pending. When he was charged in January last year, he had claimed that he was a respectable businessman who had completed multimillion-dollar development projects. He asked why he would cheat someone “for a small sum of S$1.5 million”, saying “it doesn’t make sense at all”.

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China’s new rules on AI-generated content

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Their software should not create content that contains “false and harmful information”. AI programmes must be trained on legally obtained data sources that do not infringe on others’ intellectual property rights, and individuals must give consent before their personal information can be used in AI training. SAFETY MEASURES Companies designingContinue Reading

5 things to know about Bearbrick, the collectible toys seized in a money laundering probe in Singapore

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3. WHY ARE BEARBRICKS SO POPULAR? 

Bearbrick’s first drop was simple, following self-explanatory themes such as basic, flag, cute, jellybean, animal and pattern. They also had a horror category, starring the likes of Joker from Batman and Jason Vorhees from Friday The 13th; and a sci-fi category, because how can any self-respecting toy brand leave Star Wars behind? 

Today, Bearbrick is on its 46th series, and the variety it has under its belt is mind-blowing. It’s the art toys equivalent of a cinematic universe, where the most influential brands, icons and personalities from all realms converge. Fashion, sports, entertainment, art, culture, you name it

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Woman instigated employee to cheat S,000 in government training grants, says she’s framed

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SINGAPORE: The owner of three business entities offering beauty services and related courses masterminded a series of scams by instigating her subordinate to defraud the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) into disbursing almost S$63,000 in training grants.

However, Liu Meiying claimed at trial that it was her subordinate and whistleblower, Jovis Lau Pin Lin, who was the real mastermind and that she had been framed.

Liu was convicted nonetheless of 27 charges. These are for instigating Jovis to carry out acts to perpetuate the fraud – including making online submissions to WDA and creating false receipts.

She was sentenced to 27 months’ jail on Friday (Aug 18), but she intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence.

THE CASE

The court heard that Liu was the owner of Derma Floral Group, a trio of businesses offering beauty services and related courses, between 2011 and 2013.

In that same period, WDA had a scheme that disbursed funds to employers who sent their employees for training, and to business entities providing the training. Public funds were used to finance the training grants.

Liu used Jovis to defraud the funding scheme, by deceiving WDA into disbursing S$62,984 in training grants by submitting false information, concealing the fraud with sham receipts and submitting fraudulent documents during its auditing process.

Liu got Jovis to apply for training grants on the false premise that six trainees had met attendance requirements to qualify for the grants.

She also masterminded the collection of money from two trainees to make CPF contributions on their behalf, to give the false appearance that they were her genuine employees.

She also instructed Jovis to submit falsified trainee attendance records to WDA, so that the agency would not discover the scams and allow the company to retain the training grants.

The prosecution said Liu “showed no remorse” at trial, pushing the blame to Jovis and her former trainees and employees and painting Jovis as the mastermind behind all the offences.

She also claimed that Jovis had conspired with her former trainees to frame her in court, calling her a psychopath.

Liu’s lawyers, Mr Shashi Nathan and Ms Laura Yeo from Withers KhattarWong, said the charges came as a complete surprise to Liu.

They said Liu was not involved in ensuring that the students attended the requisite number of hours for the claims.

The lawyers also said that any false or inaccurate attendance sheets submitted by Jovis were her own doing, and that Liu had trusted her entirely, believing she would perform her job dutifully.

According to the defence, Jovis did a poor job and the company’s administration was poorly managed.

Liu’s lawyers charged that Jovis had lied that she was acting on Liu’s instructions, in order to exculpate herself and because of a personal grudge she held.

However, District Judge Salina Ishak found that Liu was not a credible witness. Instead, she had known that four trainees were not her employees for the entire duration of their courses, and that she had knowingly directed Jovis to submit the applications and claims to WDA.

While she found the prosecution witnesses reliable, she said some of the defence witnesses had clearly come to court to give evidence in favour of Liu and not the truth.

Jovis had been sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail in 2019 for her role in the ruse.

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Mr Tan reiterated that he is an “independent” candidate while Mr Tharman and Mr Ng “represent the establishment candidate”.

He said he believes voters strongly prefer an “independent” candidate, adding: “I believe that that proportion will probably be more than half, so I stand a very good chance.

“Because I’m reaching out to people who say they want to have an independent president who can be independent of the ruling government and see things from a different perspective.”

Mr Tan previously said he would step aside if Mr Goh qualified as he did not want to split the votes of Singaporeans who prefer an “independent” candidate.

On Friday, he said that he had expected a two-way or three-way contest all along.

He said he was “personally disappointed” that Mr Goh did not qualify for the election, but believes the votes from Mr Goh’s supporters will come to him instead.

“When Mr Goh is no more in the contest, I will be likely to get (the) majority of those votes of people who want an independent president. The votes will not be split. Therefore I’m very confident that this very large segment will support me.”

He added: “My aim is to also reach out to the middle ground. They sometimes vote for the current establishment, sometimes they don’t. That middle ground is very important to me.”

The eligible candidates will next have to submit their nomination papers on Aug 22. If more than one candidate is nominated, Polling Day will take place on Sep 1.

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