Let's get our basics right

Want to up our X-factor?

Let's get our basics right

RECENTLY, there has been talk of finding the X-factor to up Singapore's tourism potential. The ideas put forward have been innovative and startling, ranging from building an underwater bar and a world-class centre for parks and gardens, to the setting up of a culinary institute. Breathtaking as these proposals may seem, they are but brick-and-mortar ideas.

How about going back to some basic tried-and-tested principles, which worked in the past and still attract hordes of tourists to many countries?

First, cleanliness: Though we have been at it for decades, one has only to walk around or go to the beaches to be confronted by enormous amounts of litter, even near dustbins. Our foodcourts, too, are poor testimony to our insistence on cleanliness.

And what about fair-trading practices? I was saddened to read about the rampant fleecing of foreigners at foodcourts. It has happened to me too. Often I find, though not in coffee shops, that I am charged more than others.

Service here could also be improved. Recently, I went to an Orchard Road shop and decided to test a massage machine. The young salesman was quite ignorant and expected me to buy the $600 item on the spot.

When I did not feel any improvement in the few minutes that I tried the machine, he switched it off and walked away.

And if we want to attract high-profile conferences and exhibitions, we should improve the standard of our spoken English and other languages.

Some years ago, a prestigious international organisation held a conference here. My friend's daughter and classmate, wandering about Suntec City, observed a Caucasian woman who seemed to be in a position of authority.

They approached her for a job and got it immediately, with the woman saying: 'At last, someone who can speak English!'

Singapore is going to host an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting next year. Perhaps the organisers should see to it that those employed to help out are able to speak English and another language well.

Lastly, how about welcoming foreign senior citizens?

Most countries extend concessions to senior citizens without question. In Singapore, only locals get the paltry concessions for public attractions, transport, restaurants and cinemas.

There is a gold mine of seniors out there, if only we can reach out and welcome them sincerely.

They would come to a country that is safe, clean, speaks their language, with honest practices and a respect for seniors. Let us roll out the red carpet.

Murali Kumara Sharma
The Straits Times Interactive
12 April 2005

More relief and rescue workers from Singapore arrive in Medan

ANOTHER wave of rescue and relief workers was sent from Singapore yesterday to help earthquake victims.

Three SAF transport planes carrying 54 men and women and medical supplies took off from Paya Lebar airbase at 11.20am and landed in Medan at 1.30pm.

That brings the total number of people deployed so far from the Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Civil Defence Force to 117.

The SCDF's disaster assistance contingent, codenamed 'Operation Lion Heart', is led by Major Anwar Abdullah. It includes 23 elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) officers.

Armed with rescue equipment such as hydraulic cutters, spreaders and air bags, they will assist with search and rescue as well as other humanitarian efforts.

The advance SCDF team of 14 officers and 15 SAF medics deployed on Tuesday arrived on Nias island yesterday afternoon.

While SAF will help set up medical care facilities, SCDF will help with search and rescue and other relief efforts.

Meanwhile, the Asian Medical Foundation, in collaboration with Singapore Red Cross and Munich Reinsurance Singapore, has sent a team of three doctors and two nurses from the Raffles Medical Group.

The small group is led by 71-year-old Dr Dohadwala Kutbuddin.

Speaking to The Straits Times from Medan, the grandfather said: 'Whether another quake hits in three days or three months, I have no worry or fear. These are just predictions and rumours, but we must be prepared to cope with any eventuality.'

However, fear of another quake made it difficult for Kim Heng Marine and Oilfield to get crew and workers to go to the disaster zone.

The company was commissioned by the Singapore Red Cross to transport more than 1,000 tonnes of Red Cross and Mercy Relief water and food packs, supplies and vehicles to Nias island.

Kim Heng Marine said the trip, partially sponsored by the company, will leave on Monday with two Singaporeans and a mainly Indonesian team.

Singaporean marine supervisor Ramle Ahmad, 43, who delivered aid after the December tsunami, jumped at the chance to help again.

The father of four children, aged between eight and 18, did not even consult his family before agreeing to go. He said: 'I feel proud and happy to go even though I'm a little scared. But if everybody is afraid, then who will help these people?' Mr Ramle said he was motivated by his experience in Meulaboh after the tsunami.

'When I saw the children there crying for their mothers and fathers and women crying for their husbands, I thought about my own family,' he said.

'Then when I tried to help the crying children by giving them food, they refused the food and just kept crying out their parents' names. I could do nothing and was so sad for them that I cried too.'By Tracy Suafrom The Straits Times Interactive, March 31, 2005

SAF and SCDF officers first and only foreign troops on quake-hit island

SUMATRA - IT WAS past noon before Singapore's Chinooks landed. Bad weather grounded their flights to Gunung Sitoli, the main town on the quake-hit Nias island.

The risks of flying in low-hanging clouds in the hilly terrain notwithstanding, air travel by helicopter is, by far, the best and quickest way from the nearest big town, Medan on Sumatra island. This is what made the touchdown on Nias itself an event - even before the actual relief work began.

When the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rescue officers set foot on the ground at 1pm, they were the first and only foreign troops to land on the devastated island.

There are 29 SCDF officers in this contingent, codenamed Operation Lionheart. The initial assessment is that both SAF and SCDF are expected to stay in Sumatra for two weeks.

The SAF team set up base at a mini-hospital built by the International Medical Corp, a California-based global humanitarian organisation, at a school next to a football field.

A group of SCDF officers began search and rescue work in the town. The three hours after their arrival were dedicated to extricating an Indonesian man from the rubble. Identified as Mr Yusri, he was barely alive when he was found under the rubble of a three-storey hotel. SCDF Disaster And Rescue Team (Dart) officers crawled under the debris and found the lower half of Mr Yusri's body pinned under the rubble. They freed him using their handsaws and lifting tools.

The medical team also acted swiftly, unloading their medical supplies. They are equipped to do minor surgery at the mini-hospital.

The more seriously injured are airlifted by United Nations, Indonesian Air Force and SAF choppers to the two nearest hospitals in Sibolga, as the hospital on Nias was completely destroyed in the 8.7-magnitude earthquake.

At a makeshift clinic outside Gunung Sitoli's main mosque, 21 volunteers were running out of supplies.

'I have not slept since the earth began to shake,' said Dr Lucas Sapto as he treated children with cuts on their faces.

At a Buddhist temple, about 20 bodies were laid out in the tropical heat. 'We are waiting for a hearse. Once it comes, I can bury my daughter and two grandchildren,' said 74-year-old Lukmin. Corpses were also lined up outside churches and mosques which have become makeshift collection points for the dead.

On the nearby island of Simeulue, where the death toll was under 10 but is expected to rise, thousands were camping outdoors. Those left homeless by the disaster were joined by thousands too afraid to return to their houses for fear of another quake.

The governor of Sumatra, Major-General Rizal Nurdin, told The Straits Times that the death toll was expected to mount. Maj-Gen Rizal said: 'There are a lot of bodies, and we can't tell how many are dead. Our first priority now is to save the injured, and provide relief to the homeless. 'They need electricity, drinking water, medicine and food.' He said the morale of the villagers is low as the earthquake had happened so soon after the tsunami. 'Although Pulau Nias was untouched by the Boxing Day tsunami, it was still a big blow to the residents. 'Natural calamities are like that - we can only do something after they strike,

By Tanya Fongfrom The Straits Times Interactive, March 31, 2005

Singapore doctor has disease named after him

For that and other milestones, Dr Tay receives lifetime achievement award



Dr Tay has a photo of the children whom he diagnosed with a rare disease, later named Tay Syndrome. That scrap of information represented the only link to Dr Tay Chong Hai's former patients, two siblings who had a disease so rare no one had diagnosed it before. Dr Tay did - and bec ame the first doctor in South-east Asia to have a disease named after him: Tay Syndrome.

That was way back in 1971. All he had now was their old gleaned from patient records over 30 years old. He sent a letter to that address, hoping against hope that the patients would still be there.

'The chances were low I knew,' smiled the spry 73-year-old doctor, who still practises at his clinic in Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre.

In 1968, the siblings had been referred by their school to Outram Road Hospital - as Singapore General Hospital was known at the time - where he was a consultant physician practising internal medicine. The pair had scaly, itchy skin and strangely banded, short hair. Their hair was so brittle that the slightest friction against the pillow or the use of a hairbrush would be enough to break the shafts.

Singapore General Hospital's new museum, which opens in May, will have an exhibit on Dr Tay's myriad discoveries and achievements. 'They were quite skinny and stunted for their age and their skin was so dry that painful cracks and fissures had appeared on their palms and soles,' Dr Tay said.

But several things aroused his curiosity. For one, they were a brother and sister and whatever afflicted them had to have a common cause - whether genetic or environmental.

Instead of just sending them off with a salve, Dr Tay decided to conduct more tests, including skin biopsies and a specific type of microscopy to examine their hair. He also researched their family history and concluded that they had a rare genetic condition. In 1971, he published his paper in the United States-based Archives of Dermatology journal and identified the syndrome for the first time.

'Soon after, doctors from all over began describing the same group of symptoms in their patients. So a few years later, dermatology textbooks began using Tay Syndrome to describe this particular condition,' he said.

Just last year, US researchers found the genetic mutations that cause Tay Syndrome.

Tay Syndrome is just one of the milestones in an august career that will be honoured tonight, when Dr Tay will receive a lifetime achievement award from President S R Nathan at a gala dinner. The dinner has been organised by the National Arthritis Foundation, which Dr Tay helped set up in 1984 and where he was chairman for 14 years.

Besides Tay Syndrome, Dr Tay was responsible for identifying the first outbreak of the childhood hand, foot and mouth disease in Singapore in 1972.

He also made the news around the same time when he discovered that a traditional Chinese formulation that asthma patients had been taking here contained several thousand times the legal limit of arsenic.

The 'Sin Lak' pills, made by an apothecary in Chinatown, caused a variety of problems, from severe skin pigmentation to skin lesions and liver problems. Four deaths were reported and he was called to court to testify about what he had found. It caused a huge public outcry at the time.

'It was front-page news, because at that time everybody was self-medicating and there were no rules about these traditional Chinese medicines. People were throwing out their old pills!' Dr Tay said.

The pill was banned and the sinseh fined. But more importantly, it paved the way for more checks on other herbal pills, many of which were found to contain heavy metals like lead and mercury.

In 1972, Parliament decided to introduce the Medicines Act to license all drugs in Singapore.

But for all his achievements, it is still the people he helped that matter, he says. So, when Madam B.Y. Li walked into his clinic on March 17 this year, he was pleasantly surprised.

She bore no resemblance to the awkward nine-year-old who had such bad skin and hair. The petite woman he saw now had clear skin, with little splashes of make-up. Her sleeveless top showed off her smooth arms and back.

Said Dr Tay: 'She has grown from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. I am so happy for her. She has two grown children, a happy marriage and she looks very good indeed.'

He has yet to contact her brother, who is not married, but is apparently also doing well.

'This is what it's all about. People. I'm hoping that young people, young doctors will find these stories interesting and maybe they will help inspire them to look for the small things to make a big difference,' he said.

Tay SyndromeWhat: A rare genetic disorder, afflicting only hundreds around the world.

Characterised by: Brittle, banded 'tiger stripe' hair caused by a deficiency in sulfur. Skin is red, scaly and dry. Described in medical journal by Dr Tay Chong Hai in 1971. In 1975, Tay Syndrome appeared in dermatology textbooks.

By Natalie Sohfrom The Straits Times Interactive, March 31, 2005

Korea's Women Golfers

THEY occupy four of the top 10 rankings in women's golf, and have the looks to match their prolific skills.

In August 1999, Pak Se Ri was the highest-ranked South Korean at 11th. Six years on, Pak (world No 6) and her Seoul sisters - Grace Park (No 2), Han Hee Won (No 5) and Kim Mi Hyun (No 10) - have broken into the top 10.

And they look set to stay there.

Despite having only 181 courses for its population of 48 million, South Korean golf is so hot that every United States LPGA tournament is televised.

But it is on the fairways where the Koreans really sizzle.

Pak, 27, (left) was the pioneer, winning two Majors - the 1998 US Open and LGPA Championship - in her rookie year.

That made her a national hero and sparked a golf craze that has led to an invasion of the USLPGA Tour by over a dozen Korean players.





Pak is joined by Grace Park, 26, (left) who has more than just a pretty face. Apart from an elegant and athletic swing, she also has six LPGA titles and one Major - last year's Kraft Nabisco Championship.

But there is much more to Korean golf than just Pak and Park.


Kim, 28, stands at a mere 1.55 metres. But the 1999 LPGA Rookie of the Year packs a swing like former Masters champion John Daly. She quipped yesterday: 'My parents told me, 'If you win the Major, you can marry.' So I have to win a Major.' Her best finish in a Major was second at the 2001 British Open.

The list goes on.

Han, 26, is another top Korean golfer. Noted for her putting ability, the 2001 LPGA Rookie of the Year qualified for the US Tour on her first try.


Kang Soo Yun, 28, (left) is one of the fastest rising stars with over US$600,000 (S$980,000) in career earnings since joining the Tour in 2001. Dubbed the 'Fashion Model of the Fairways' for her eye-catching outfits, Kang was in Singapore for last month's Samsung Ladies Masters.

She said: 'We take the game very seriously. In the US, amateur golf is treated as a fun thing. 'In Korea, it's different. Your family pushes you to succeed.'

So who can stop the Korean invasion?

After two rounds of this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship - the first of year's four Majors - Kim is third on four-under 140, a stroke off joint-leaders Annika Sorenstam and Rosie Jones.

Park, fourth on 141, said: 'I want to be at the top. I want to win - that's the only thing I'm thinking about.'

By Alvin Foo
From The Straits Times Interactive, March 27, 2005

Convincing Win for Susilo

SINGAPORE'S Ronald Susilo continued his return from a six-month injury lay-off with two convincing wins at the Thailand Open yesterday.

He eased past Hong Kong's Hung Yuk Wong 15-9, 15-3 in the opening round before crushing Hong Kong's Yohan Wiratama 15-1, 15-5 at the US$80,000 (S$130,000) event.

Kendrick Lee beat Taiwan's Liu Chin-lun 15-2, 15-10 in the first round and Thai Panuwat Pisantakanul 15-9, 15-11 in the second.

Susilo faces Dane Niels Kaldau while Lee plays Thai Boonsak Ponsana today.

In the mixed doubles, Li Yujia and Hendri Kurniawan Saputra thrashed South Korea's Lee Yong Dae and Ha Jung Eun 15-3, 15-3.

Liu Fan and Hendra Wijaya went down 10-15, 15-11, 7-15 to Koreans Lee Jae Jin and Lee Hyo Jung.

Singapore's Li Li faces Australia's Kellie Lucas in the women's singles' first round today while Xing Aiying plays Japan's Yu Hirayama. Shinta Mulya Sari meets Taiwan's Huang Chia-hsin.

from The Straits Times Interactive, March 31, 2005

Just 2 minutes to check in

SIA's trial biometric smart card check-in system was hailed as a breakthrough idea by the Harvard Business Review last month. GRACE CHNG reports

Singapore Airlines' trial biometric smart card check-in system is so brisk and breezy that it has earned international praise as a breakthrough idea set to revolutionise customer service.

Check-in queues at Changi Airport's departure halls may soon be a thing of the past, if SIA implements the biometric smart card system for all passengers. In a report published last month, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) hailed SIA's Fully Automated Seamless Travel, or Fast, as one of 20 breakthrough ideas for 2005. It said: 'Other companies could do the same, customising and streamlining the way people buy clothing, health care, financial services - even a cup of coffee.'

Fast, the first of its kind in the world, rolled out as a trial for more than 500 of SIA's frequent flyers last November.

With it, travellers can check in, select their seats on the plane and clear immigration - all from a touch-screen monitor.

And all in two minutes. The current process takes eight to 15 minutes.

Listed 16th out of a list of 20 ideas, Fast was described as a killer application which can 'lock up' business, meaning that customers used to a system or its convenience will prefer to stick to one vendor.

The HBR draws up its annual survey of emerging management brainwaves 'to capture ideas in just that state of becoming: Things felt but not yet spoken, innovations that will change - something? everything? - and promising or unner-ving developments'.

It first saw the application when Fast was written as a case study by two dons from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Drs Jochen Wirtz and Loizos Heracleous. Dr Wirtz, who teaches marketing service at the NUS School of Business, said what was 'truly novel' was that the project originated from SIA with the clear objective of improving customer service for their best frequent travellers.

The process, he added, is clearly superior to the old as it offers higher security and is more cost-effective.

Fast, which is four months into a six-month trial, is a collaboration among SIA, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. When contacted, an SIA spokes-man said it has received positive feedback from participants, with many other passengers keen to try out the service.

On whether the rivals would cotton on and erode the competitive advantage that Fast affords now, she said that though technology 'can be mirrored, the difficulty of Fast lies in the collaboration of multiple commercial and government agencies, and the integration of the various systems'.

And that 'is not easily replicable'.

from The Straits Times Interactive, March 8, 2005

Singapore team finds nanotech way to treat cancer

RESEARCHERS in Singapore here have found a way to fight cancer that delivers drugs directly to diseased cells, minimising chemotherapy's painful side effects.

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said yesterday that its team's new method involves a 'smart' nanocarrier technology and will 'vastly improve the way cancer patients are treated'.

This transports cancer drugs in particles that are less than 200 nanometres in size. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or roughly one-hundred-thousandth the diameter of a strand of human hair.

Currently, anti-cancer drugs are given using methods that indiscriminately kill both healthy and sick cells, said the project's lead scientist, Dr Yang Yi-Yan. This commonly produces side effects, such as nausea, fatigue and hair loss.

As more than 38,000 people here were diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2002, and 20,000 of them died of the disease, finding a more effective cancer therapy is crucial, Dr Yang said.

She and her colleagues, who began the research more than two years ago, have created nanocarriers that are sensitive to acidity or alkalinity, as well as temperature. They can home in on the slightly acidic conditions characteristic of cancer tumour tissues, and release the drugs there.

Dr Yang explained: 'The novelty of our invention compared to carriers that are only temperature sensitive is the ability of our nanoparticles to target drugs to deep tissues or cell compartments without changes in temperature.'

She said her researchers, who have tested their technology on small animals, hope to conduct clinical trials within five years.

from The Straits Times Interactive, March 22, 2005

Perth's S'pore-style Gum Battle

Civic leader salutes Singapore as he goes for total ban in gum-litter fight

PERTH - THE deputy mayor of the Western Australian capital of Perth has called for a 'Singapore-style' ban on chewing gum amid serious concerns that it is becoming a costly blight on the city's streets.

Councillor Bert Tudori will seek the support of the Perth City Council (PCC) at a meeting on Tuesday to push the state government for a ban on chewing gum sales and for heavy fines on those who drop used gum on the street.

'It's absolutely out of control,' Mr Tudori told The Straits Times.

'I personally would like to see it banned altogether and follow the Singapore style. There is nothing wrong with that. I thought that was very clever of them doing that (banning all but therapeutic gum). I commend the Singapore government for taking that initiative, I really do.'


BANNED IN TAIWAN
TAIWAN banned chewing gum - as well as betel nuts - in trains, MRT stations and some designated public places in April last year.

Those flouting the law face fines of between NT$1,500 (S$80) and NT$7,500. Prior to that, only those who spat gum or betel-nut juice on MRT carriages or at MRT stations could be fined.


Taxed in Britain

IN BRITAIN, local authorities want a penny-a-packet tax on chewing gum to help meet the �150 million (S$468 million) annual cost of cleaning used gum off the streets.

The demand was made by council representatives from London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast at a gum summit in February and is being debated in the House of Commons. While Mr Tudori admits he is unlikely to win the PCC's support for a total ban on gum, there seems little doubt it will adopt a recommendation to seek a 10 per cent levy on any sold within the state.

Such a levy, if imposed by the state government, would then be distributed to local councils throughout Western Australia to help with the cost of cleaning gum off their streets.

The recommendation, made in a report prepared by the PCC's business unit, outlines the response of the Singapore government and steps being taken in South Korea, New York and Britain to try to deal with the gum problem.

The report says pavements in the heart of London have an average of 20 pieces of used gum per square metre - which suggests there are 300,000 pieces of used gum on Oxford Street alone.



In New York, it says, the incidence of chewing gum waste has risen sharply since a hefty new cigarette tax was introduced, and residents are annoyed about it.

'New Yorkers are concerned that their city will become the gum splotch capital of the world,' the report says.

Among solutions being canvassed are changes to legislation to formally classify gum as litter; heavier fines for those who dump it on the street; the introduction of digestible chewing gum; public education programmes; and special boards for the public to stick used gum on.

Levies on chewing gum are already being contemplated in some parts of Britain.



The Western Australian government declined to comment on the issue, with a spokesman saying state lawmakers would wait to see what the PCC presented.

But the national executive officer of the Keep Australia Beautiful anti-litter campaign, Mr Scott Lyle, said his organisation preferred individual action rather than legislative change to improve the environment.

'Our aim is that through education we can empower the public to be responsible themselves,' Mr Lyle said.

The agency was already working with major gum manufacturer Wrigley to educate schoolchildren in New South Wales about chewing gum disposal, he said.

by Trevor Robb
THE STRAITS TIMES
2 April 2005