Tuas fire aftermath: Businesses affected by seawater quality; chemical smell still lingers in area
Mr Wong, co-owner of S.E.A Charter Services, said he is worried that the chemicals in the seawater could affect the paint on his boat or cause damage to its engine, shortening its lifespan.
Customers who hire him for fishing expeditions have also expressed their concerns.
“A lot of regular customers messaged me and asked about the water condition – if it is still safe to fish, and if the fish is still edible or not,” he said.
Mr Wong now brings his customers further away from the marina to fish in the open sea.
The longer journey has taken a toll on his fuel consumption.
Meanwhile, wakeboarding operator Astern Wave has seen bookings drop by as much as 50 per cent after the fire.
Some clients have cancelled their bookings, while others have requested to travel to other sites.
Owner Eric Marteles said the firm has been advised not to conduct any water activities in the immediate vicinity for the time being. Instead, they will drive further to cleaner areas.
“We will drive up north but it is a drive to get there. Some people don’t want to spend part of their booking travelling to the area, which is understandable, especially if it’s a short booking,” he said.
Mr Marteles said he hope authorities will provide businesses with regular updates on the seawater’s quality.
REFRAIN FROM WATER SPORTS, SAYS NEA
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has advised against water sports and fishing in the area around Raffles Marina for now.
This comes after complaints surfaced on social media of dark greasy waters and dead fishes floating in the sea.
Water samples taken daily from the Tuas West Canal continue to show elevated oil and grease levels a week after the blaze.
Bali to impose US$10 tourist e-tax from 2024 to preserve culture
More than two million tourists visited the island last year, according to official figures, as Bali rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic after imposing a zero-tolerance policy on rule-breakers. When asked if the new tax would deter visitors, Koster said authorities did not believe numbers would dip. “It’s not a problem.Continue Reading
S112 dominates PM debate
Pita defends party’s policies ahead of parliamentary vote on his nomination
Parliamentarians challenged sole prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat over his party’s plan to amend the law that protects the royal institution and questioned his past shareholding in iTV, before a vote on his nomination on Thursday.
House representatives and senators spent six hours expressing their opinions on whether they should choose the leader of the Move Forward Party as the country’s 30th prime minister.
Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha closed the debate and proceeded with the vote starting at 3.52pm, with 676 parliamentarians in attendance. However, Mr Pita still needs 375 votes — a simple majority of 749 combined House and Senate seats — to win the office.
Outside the parliament complex, crowds were beginning to gather, with orange-clad supporters of Move Forward nervously monitoring the vote to gauge whether Mr Pita could achieve a majority.
Police have declared an area within a 50-metre radius from the parliament a no-protest zone. Shipping containers draped with canvas banners portraying pleasant touristic scenes were lined up along Thahan Road. Two anti-riot armoured vehicles were seen nearby.
Inside the chamber, most speakers opposed to Mr Pita’s nomination trained their attention on Move Forward’s plan to amend Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majeste law.
Chada Thaiset, an opposition Bhumjaithai MP for Uthai Thani, said that any change to Section 112 would cause unrest.
“If you let people insult the monarchy without any laws to keep them in check, our country will burn,” he said. “How about I propose a law allowing people to shoot those insulting the monarchy?”
The law protects the royal institution from offences, insults and threats. But Move Forward contends that has been used mostly by those in power to silence their critics.
Mr Chada said that apart from Move Forward, the seven other coalition allies did not support any change to Section 112. However, Mr Pita has always insisted that his party would propose to amend the section by itself. The proposal is not in the MoU that the eight-party coalition signed.
United Thai Nation MP Wittaya Kaewparadai said Move Forward had brought abnormality to Thai politics because no political party had ever proposed any change to the lese-majeste law.
“At present, 10 political parties in the House, seven other parties that are the coalition allies of MFP and most senators do not support any change to Section 112. This is political abnormality. Only one political party proposes what no other parties ever think about,” Mr Wittaya said.
Satra Sripan, a United Thai Nation MP for Songkhla, said amending Section 112 would cause division and create hatred in society.
Senator Khamnoon Sitthisamarn said a previous MFP proposal to amend the lese-majeste law would either reduce jail terms or even lift punishment for offences against the royal institution.
Senator Praphan Khumee told the joint sitting of the House and the Senate that Mr Pita was unqualified to serve because of his past holding of 42,000 shares in the defunct broadcaster iTV Plc.
The constitution prohibits a shareholder in a media organisation from running in a general election.
Mr Praphan warned parliamentarians that if they voted for an unqualified person, they could be considered as performing duties or exercising their authority in an unconstitutional manner.
Mr Pita told parliamentarians that he was qualified for the premiership, adding that he had never been informed officially about any questions related to his MP qualifications.
He was referred to the move by the Election Commission, which has asked the Constitutional Court to rule on his eligibility in light of the iTV shareholding.
Earlier, Mr Pita complained that the EC never informed him of its doubts or invited him to defend himself.
The EC on Thursday stated that the constitution allowed it to find relevant facts and seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court without having to press an accusation against Mr Pita and call for his defence. It would be up to the court to decide whether it wants to hear from the candidate.
Explanations from an accused person are sought when the EC is dealing with alleged violations of electoral and political party laws, the EC said. In cases where MP qualifications are in doubt, the EC says it is empowered to gather facts without calling an MP to lay a charge.
The EC also denied complaints by Mr Pita and his party that its fact-finding process in the case was unusually quick.
Supporters of Move Forward Party prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat sell merchandise outside the Parliament complex in Bangkok before the vote to decide on the country’s next prime minister. (Photo: AFP)
Shipping containers draped with banners showing touristic scenes are placed in front of the Parliament complex to provide security on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)
More supply chain management jobs, skills development initiatives available as Singapore looks to grow sector
The company said it has seen its processes transformed and enhanced by digitalisation and automation over the years.
“Our factory in Tuas is highly automated. The skillset has changed from people doing very manual, very mundane jobs to be able to utilise digital tools and use data to make decisions. This is also the upskilling that we need to continue to do,” said the firm’s chief supply chain officer Michelle Shi-Verdaasdonk.
“Ten years ago, people might not want to have a job as a warehouse or logistics executive, because they think of the environment as dirty, or of the work being heavy duty,” she added.
“But with all the automation that have come into modern warehouses, and also the technologies that are applied literally at your fingertips, it’s (different and) a lot safer today.”
TALENT AND UPSKILLING
Government agencies such as SkillsFuture will work with institutes for higher learning to translate these increasingly sought-after skillsets into training programmes, said WSG’s manufacturing division director Anderson Ee.
They will cater to both employers looking to upskill their existing workforce, as well s individuals seeking to equip themselves with relevant knowledge to join the sector or to progress in their current roles.
“There are ongoing efforts to enhance public awareness of SCM, such as collaboration with industry stakeholders,” Mr Ee said.
“(Our partners have also) launched masterclasses equipping individuals with digital and sustainability skillsets to manage the flow of goods and services in the new world. There is a lot more to be done, and we are working on developing and attracting talents in this particular sector.”
SCM professionals command a median salary of approximately S$5,900, higher than the national median salary of S$4,680, the EDB said.
The EDB and SSG has developed a reference guide on trends reshaping SCM jobs, in-demand skills, and information on training. It will be available on the EDB website on Jul 31.
“These insights will guide our training providers in curriculum development and help enterprises enhance their in-house SCM training programmes,” said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling.
“They will also help workers get equipped with the necessary skills to upskill and reskill for a rewarding career.”
ASEAN, China agree on guidelines to accelerate South China Sea code of conduct negotiations
JAKARTA: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China on Thursday (Jul 13) agreed on guidelines to accelerate the negotiation of the code of conduct for the South China Sea.
The guidelines were adopted in a meeting between China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and ASEAN’s foreign ministers in Jakarta, where the group has held its annual foreign ministers and related meetings.
Indonesia is the current rotating chair of ASEAN.
“This achievement must continue to build positive momentum to strengthen partnerships that advance a paradigm of inclusivity and openness, respecting the international law including UNCLOS 1982, and encourage the habits to hold dialogues and collaboration,” said Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which China has ratified.
Mdm Marsudi said she hoped that China would be ASEAN’s trusted partner to foster an “open and inclusive regional architecture”.
“Only then can we achieve win-win cooperation for the sake of creation, of peace, stability and shared prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” she added.
Details of the guidelines were, however, not revealed.
About one-third of the world’s maritime shipping passes through the South China Sea every year, carrying over US$3 trillion in trade.
It is a hotly contested region with overlapping claims. China claims much of the South China Sea, but ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are also claimant states.
Current ASEAN chair Indonesia is not a claimant state in the South China Sea, but it has clashed with China over fishing rights around its Natuna Islands near the disputed waters in the past few years.
Gig workers âmost financially stretchedâ with spending exceeding income: DBS study
RISING MORTGAGES LOOK “MANAGEABLE” FOR NOW
Turning to household debt, DBS said mortgage repayments have increased over the past year amid rising interest rates but remain “manageable” for now due to income growth.
The bank’s median customer is now borrowing around 3 per cent more for a home purchase. Median mortgage payments have also increased by about 12 per cent.
So far, the income growth across all customer groups has been “more than sufficient to offset the rises to mortgage rates and with some to spare”, said DBS Group Research’s analyst Fang Boon Foo.
Nevertheless, higher monthly mortgage payments could still impact those earning below S$5,000.
Firstly, these home owners are allocating a bigger portion – more than 50 per cent – of their income growth to service the increase in monthly mortgage repayments, according to the report.
This is higher than the 45 per cent for those earning between S$5,000 to below S$7,500, 40 per cent for those with income of S$7,500 to below S$10,000, and 43 per cent for income earners of S$10,000 and more.
Secondly, more than half of those earning below S$5,000 have mortgage loans under floating rates, meaning that additional stresses could arise when mortgages are refinanced on higher interest rates, the bank said.
Mr Seah sees more upside to come in the Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA), which is the benchmark interest rate used for various financial products, including floating home loans.
Amid the successive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, SORA has risen more than 10-fold from 0.3 in May last year to about 3.6 currently, he said.
“Our expectation is that the bias is still marginally on the upside. We do expect the SORA to end the year at about 3.7, with one more Fed hike coming up,” the economist added at the media briefing.
Meanwhile, DBS customers have increased their usage of credit cards, with spending up 12.8 per cent as of May 2023 from a year ago.
Reasons for the rise in usage include the ability to tap on card promotions and rewards, as well as qualify for higher interest rates under DBS’ Multiplier savings account.
Despite the increase, credit card debt looks “manageable” as customers are paying their credit card bills on time to avoid the high interest charges, the bank said.
Looking ahead, DBS expects inflation and interest rates to remain elevated. There could also be an additional challenge of slowing growth momentum, which would in turn weigh down on income growth.
“I think the underlying message to everyone is that we need to live within our means. We need to essentially practice prudent budgeting and also to be more watchful in terms of our spending,” said Mr Seah.
Police seize speedboat of Pattaya murder suspect
Investigators say owner might have planned to use it to dump German businessman’s body at sea
PATTAYA: Police have seized a speedboat belonging to a prime suspect in the murder of a German property broker, as they believe he might have intended to use it to dump the victim’s dismembered body at sea.
Investigators from the Nong Prue police station took the 18-foot speedboat from a house on Phra Tamnak Soi 5 in Pattaya on Wednesday night.
The boat was owned by Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann, 52, one of four suspects arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of Hans Peter Mack, 62. The boat was kept at the house of a German friend who alerted police after learning about the arrest of his compatriot, said a police source.
His friend told investigators that Mr Brinkmann had sought help on July 8 to tow his speedboat from Nong Krabok Soi 4 to the Chokchai Garden Home housing estate in Nong Prue.
On July 9, the friend told Mr Brinkmann that he would tow the boat to the Ocean Marina pier in Pattaya. But because it had no registration documents, the boat could not be moored there. He then brought the boat to Phra Tamnak Soi 5.
Surveillance video at a fishing supplies shop showed Mr Brinkmann and another suspect, Shahrukh Karim Uddin, buying some gear at the shop. Mr Uddin, 27, a Pakistani with Thai nationality, was arrested in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday afternoon after trying to flee across the border to Myanmar.
Police believe the two men were planning to go to sea and dump Mack’s body overboard to destroy evidence. However, the dismembered body of the victim was found hidden in a freezer at a rented house in tambon Nong Prue on Monday night — six days after the German man went missing.
Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann, 52, one of three German nationals held in the murder of a 62-year-old compatriot, is arrested at a pub in Bangkok on Tuesday night. (Photo supplied/Chaiyot Pupattanapong)
Officers who searched the house found the freezer containing the body, along with an electric saw, ropes, food seals and bottles of drinking water, soda and beer. The victim’s body had been dismembered, with the head, torso and limbs separated and put into bags inside the 1.50-metre-long freezer.
Mr Brinkmann and Mr Udin were among the four suspects arrested for the murder. Also in custody are two other German women: Petra Christl Grundgreif, 54, and Nicole Frevel, 52. Ms Frevel, who is disabled, rented the house where the body of the German businessman was found.
Mr Uddin was taken to Nong Prue police station on Wednesday night after his arrest in Kanchanaburi, and placed in a cell next to Mr Brinkmann.
His parents and his elder brother arrived at the police station to see Mr Uddin. The tearful parents were seen hugging their son.
Mr Uddin’s parents, who run a frozen seafood business in Phuket, told reporters that they knew Ms Grundgreif, a land broker, as she had approached them two years ago about jointly investing in the seafood business.
The German woman wanted the couple to supply products to her in Pattaya. However, they were reluctant to comply with her request that they send products to her first before receiving any payment.
They said they had had no contact with the woman since the negotiations failed. However, they later learned that their son had contacted the woman about investing in a property business.
The parents said they tried to persuade him not to do business with the woman, but to no avail. Mr Uddin later told them that he had received money from a land sale in Phuket from the woman. After that, the parents said they had not paid further attention to their son’s business.
They said they were shocked after learning that their son had been arrested.
Shahrukh Karim Uddin, 27, a Pakistani with Thai nationality, is taken to Nong Prue police station in Chon Buri on Wednesday night after he was arrested in Kanchanaburi. (Photo supplied/Chaiyot Pupattanapong)
Childcare centres not required to operate on Saturdays from 2025
Speaking at the Professional Development Programme appointment ceremony organised by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said a survey found that 98 per cent of families using preschool services do not need them on Saturdays.
There was general consensus among more than 8,000 parents surveyed that closing childcare centres on Saturdays would enable educators to have better work-life balance and improve their well-being, he added.
“The expectation to work on Saturdays weighs down on educators, who want to spend more time with their families on weekends and recharge,” he said.
MINORITY REQUIRE SATURDAY SERVICES
There were a small number of families who require care arrangements on Saturdays as both parents may be working, Mr Masagos noted.
With the changes taking place in phases, preschools, parents, and employers have sufficient time to work out the arrangements, he said.
“This timeline allows the small number of families affected by this change to work out arrangements with their employers or to make alternative caregiving arrangements,” he said.
He urged employers to support affected employees and suggested that families can consider tapping on paid or community-based options, such as engaging informal babysitting services.
“We will continue to explore ways to improve the caregiving options available to families who really need it,” he said.
TRANSFORMING THE SECTOR
The proposed change is part of the government’s plan to transform the sector through digitalisation, to better address evolving preschool needs, and make early childhood education a more attractive career choice.
Shanghai legislation chief Dong Yunhu purged in China corruption investigation
BEIJING: Shanghai’s top legislator is under investigation for corruption, making him the most senior official to be disgraced since the Communist Party wrapped up a major reshuffle last October. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on Wednesday (Jul 12) that Dong Yunhu, head of the city’s lawmaking body, isContinue Reading
The danger of US-China hedging in SE Asia
The study of hedging emerged because the traditional security concepts of balancing and bandwagoning are insufficient for understanding how smaller states are responding to US-China rivalry.
While there is no scholarly consensus on a definition, hedging offers an alternative approach to categorizing the foreign and security policy choices exhibited by Southeast Asian countries.
In this context, hedging means sending signals that generate ambiguity over the extent of a state’s shared security interests with rival major powers, representing its interest in maintaining positive relations with both.
While security interests are normally reflected in policy choices like purchasing weapons, joint training exercises and security treaties, Washington and Beijing increasingly see economic policies as signals of friendship or animosity.
Australia learned this lesson in 2018 when it excluded Chinese company Huawei from its 5G network. Canberra claimed that this decision only concerned internal network security, but Beijing understood it not only as a signal of lack of trust but of hostility. Conversely, it was praised by then-US president Donald Trump.
Those governments that have followed Australia typically share fewer security interests with China compared with those utilizing Huawei’s 5G technology. Economic policy can now be a meaningful indicator of security alignment.
Economic and technological connectivity is increasingly being “weaponized” and is becoming a source of geopolitical power and vulnerability. The United States can affect Beijing’s battlefield capabilities by restricting semiconductor technology, while China has disrupted multiple bilateral trading relationships, including with key US allies, in pursuit of strategic aims.
Weaponized interdependence means governments are wary of the national security and geopolitical implications of existing and potential economic relationships. How governments manage these economic relationships offers insight into their underlying security interests.
Washington and Beijing are expanding the scope of what policy domains and behaviors affect national security. The Trump administration claimed that “economic security is national security,” while US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor explained that maintaining “as large a lead as possible” in certain technologies was a national security imperative.
The Chinese Communist Party is even more expansive in its “securitization of everything.” China’s interests as a rising power are naturally expanding, but its political system means that the Party does not separate its interests from the nation’s.
Hence any behavior — including economic policy — at home or abroad that potentially affects the Party’s political legitimacy is considered a threat to China’s national security.
Southeast Asian states want a stable geopolitical environment to focus on their economic development. They do not want to be forced to “take sides” in any hegemonic rivalry whereby Washington or Beijing could conclude that the smaller state’s security interests oppose theirs.
But if weaponized interdependence means more economic and technological policies are perceived as zero-sum by great powers, the policy space for hedging shrinks regardless of the smaller state’s motivation.
A government might choose Chinese telecommunications providers purely based on cost, speed of rollout and quality, and be relatively unconcerned about national security risks.
Yet Washington might assess this as compromising defense or economic cooperation and step back. Alternatively, Beijing may judge as hostile decisions to exclude Chinese providers based on network security risks.
Over the short-to-medium term, Washington and Beijing will continue their partial decoupling and vigorous competition across a range of emerging and critical technologies. These may include digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and materials, energy and biotechnology.
Given the perceived vulnerability of technological interdependence by both sides — a technology security dilemma — partial decoupling between the superpowers is probably needed for longer-term strategic equilibrium.
Maintaining a hedging strategy will require Southeast Asian states to locate themselves economically within a partially decoupled system in a way that avoids taking sides. This will be challenging, especially as the great powers build walls to separate themselves economically and technologically.
Southeast Asian governments will have to make choices regarding who provides technology products and the standards embedded within them. These choices may have a strong zero-sum element.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong argues that regional states should be confident in exercising their agency to shape their external environment. Hedging, especially to avoid taking sides, risks sidelining Southeast Asian states at arguably the most consequential geopolitical moment since their independence.
Even if hedging is preferred, policymakers must be creative to shape the regional order actively and positively.
One area where economic hedging may have a real impact is critical technology standards. Standards are historically developed and propagated by the most powerful countries. Their experts dominate international standards-making bodies and their companies embed these standards in their products, which purchasers then adopt by default.
Fundamental to technological standards is interoperability — meaning that systems are compatible with one another. Technology standards must support interoperability by enabling the development of new products and technologies that can connect with existing systems.
But in an age of technological decoupling, interoperability may be yielding to closed and fragmented systems.
Individually or working collectively through ASEAN, hedging by Southeast Asian states may require the promulgation of technology standards that do not force countries to choose one technology ecosystem over another.
Darren J Lim is Senior Lecturer at the School of Politics and International Relations, The Australian National University.
This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.