Wednesday, April 09, 2008

The Electric New Paper :
Chopper attack after complaint over cold chicken rice
Incident stuns diners at Smith Street
A CHICKEN rice chef allegedly went berserk on Sunday night in Chinatown, slashing a customer with a chopper after he had complained that the chicken served was too cold, reported the Lianhe Wanbao.
09 April 2008
A CHICKEN rice chef allegedly went berserk on Sunday night in Chinatown, slashing a customer with a chopper after he had complained that the chicken served was too cold, reported the Lianhe Wanbao.

The incident happened at 8.40pm, just as the dinner crowd was out in full force at the stall in Smith Street.

Stall helpers had taken back the customer's dish after his complaint, allegedly dunking his chicken into hot soup to warm it up.

They also told the customer he need not pay for his meal.

But the man, who was there with his girlfriend, remained unsatisfied.

Eyewitnesses said he walked up to the glass counter separating the kitchen from the dining area and scolded the chef, and allegedly challenged him to a fight.

One eyewitness, Mr Tan K C, a lawyer in his 40s, claimed: 'The customer was hurling vulgarities, scolding the chef's father and mother.'

The chef kept silent and continued working as the dinner crowd looked on stunned.

He ignored the customer's taunts but, as the man turned to leave with his girlfriend, the chef snapped.

He charged outside with his chopper and allegedly ambushed the customer as he was walking down the road, slashing him on his back and thigh.

CHEF TURNS HIMSELF IN

The customer collapsed, bleeding profusely, as his hysterical girlfriend scrambled around for tissue and cloth to stop the bleeding.

Eyewitnesses said the chef looked shocked afterwards and fled, before returning later to turn himself in.

In the meantime, the customer was taken to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The chef started working at the stall about four years ago.

Helpers at the chicken rice shop said the chef would often buy food for them or treat them when he won the lottery.

'He was always joking around,' said Mr Andy Puah, 26, a stall assistant.

Mr Tan said the customer was about 1.8m tall and weighed about 90kg.

A police spokesman said they recived a call at 8.40pm about a fight at Smith Street. When they arrived, a man in his 40s was found with injuries on his back and thigh.

The spokesman added that the police later arrested a man in his 60s.

Investigations are ongoing.


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Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.
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The Electric New Paper :
Tekka Market stallholders upset
Temp site too tight
Space given is 4sq m, while temporary stalls elsewhere have areas of 5 sq m to 13sq m, claim stallholders
FOR the past two weeks, Madam Kelly Lim has had trouble sleeping at night.
09 April 2008
FOR the past two weeks, Madam Kelly Lim has had trouble sleeping at night.

The 41-year-old, who runs a beancurd stall at Tekka Market is worried about the impact that upcoming renovation at the market will have on her business.

From 1 May, the popular Serangoon Road wet market will be closed for about 16 months.

The stallholders will operate at temporary premises on Race Course Road until work is completed.

But many stallholders have already complained about the temporary market's space constraints, though construction is still going on.

Each stall is only 2m by 2m (about the size of a HDB flat toilet) - an area they say is far too small for their equipment, workers and products.

Madam Lim is worried about the lack of space for her two helpers - her sister and daughter.

About 25 stallholders were present when The New Paper spoke to them at the site yesterday morning.

Mutton seller Mohamad Suban, 55, said that on 28 Mar, the stallholders received an official letter instructing them to vacate the market by 30 Apr.

At a meeting last year, they were told that each stall at the temporary market would cost $4,500.

No mention was made of the stalls' dimensions, said Mr Mohamad.

The stallholders assumed that they would be identical to those in the temporary markets at Chinatown and Geylang, and did not raise the issue.

According to several Tekka Market stallholders, the stalls there have dimensions of about 2.4m by 2.4m (an area of about 5.8 sq m) and 3.7m by 3.7m (or 13.7 sq m) respectively.

But when they first visited the Race Course Road site on 31 Mar, they said they were 'shocked' to see that the stalls were smaller than they hadexpected.

Said Mr Mohammad: 'We've been in the business for a long time. With one look, we can tell whether things will fit in the stall.'

He has been working at his family's stall at Tekka Market for more than 30 years.

The stallholders said they had approached various parties asking for changes, but were told it would not be possible.

Lamented a chicken seller, who wanted to be known only as Madam Zamela: 'Ten years ago, I spent $25,000 on an icebox to store mymeat.

'Now, my stall is too small and the icebox cannot fit. Am I supposed to buy another one just because of this?'

Stallholders also had concerns about security and fire safety in the temporary market.

Also, would they have to worry about pickpockets if the small market gets too crowded?

'CUSTOMER DISCOMFORT'

Customers will also find it uncomfortable navigating the narrow aisles between stalls, said spice shop owner Rejina Begum.

Also of concern is the location of particular stalls.

Stallholders said that a ballot had been held on 31 Mar to determine the location of each stall.

But the ballot slips had not been divided according to the type of product the stalls sell.

Said Madam Lim, whose beancurd stall will be situated between two pork stalls: 'Many of my customers are Muslim. If I work beside a stall selling minced pork, will they buy my beancurd?'

Mr Loh Yong Hup, who sells flowers, said his stall is also between stalls selling meat.

He complained in Mandarin: 'How can they do this? The flowers are often used for prayers.'

Stallholders point out that they have also incurred additional costs during the course of construction.

For instance, those who wanted the wiring altered to suit their individual needs had to pay $80 more, they said.

When contacted, Mr Johnny Chia, chairman of the Tekka Market Friendly Association, said that the unfavourable layout of stalls sometimes could not be helped, given the sheer number ofstalls.

The association has been holding regular meetings with the parties involved, and ensuring the smooth progression of construction, he added.

He also said the stalls' dimensions are the norm for temporary markets.

The National Environment Agency could not be contacted by press time to confirm the dimensions of the stalls at the Chinatown and Geylang markets.

As of now, the stallholders seem resigned to the temporary market's limitations.

Mr Lim Bok Thiam, 46, who sells poultry and frozen food, expects his business to fall by about 30 per cent.

But he is mentally prepared for that.

He just hopes his regular customers will continue to support him.

He said: 'We don't need luxury, just a comfortable place to work in.

'If changes cannot be made now, we at least hope others won't have to suffer so much during future renovations.'

By Aditi Shivaramakrishnan, newsroom intern


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Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.
Privacy Statement and Conditions of Access

Is this the vision for tomorrow? A place of turmoil and insecurities that everyone is going berserk? Not to mention, depression and suicide rates of not just adults, but youths are on the rise. Reading an article ytd, i was deeply shocked with the minds of people. successful girl turns to selling her body to be rich. there is another story similiar to this below.

The Electric New Paper :
MATHS PRODIGY TURNS PROSTITUE
HAUNTED BY WHY DAUGHTER SELLS HER BODY
M'sian-born mum hasn't seen daughter in years
UNTIL a week ago, Mrs Halimahton Yusof's routine had been the same.
07 April 2008
UNTIL a week ago, Mrs Halimahton Yusof's routine had been the same.

Every time she left her family home in the outskirts of Coventry in England, she would look around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her daughter's face.

Mrs Yusof got her answer in the most heart-wrenching way possible.

British newspapers published pictures of her daughter Sufiah, 23, selling sex from the dingy basement of a Salford flat.

Styling herself under the name Shilpa Lee, MsSufiah Yusof was said to be offering her services for £130 ($360) a session on the Internet.

'For the past few years, I didn't even know whether she was alive,' the Johor-born 51-year-old scientist said.

'Every time there was a story on the news about an accident, or a death, I feared the worst. I just wanted to know she was alive,' she told The Daily Mail in her first interview since her daughter's lifestyle was exposed.

The sordid revelation was a stunning fall for MsSufiah, a child maths prodigy who was admitted to Oxford University at just 13, making her the youngest undergraduate to do so at that time.

But at 15, MsSufiah ran away and revealed that her father Farooq, 50, had made her childhood a 'living hell' by 'hothousing' her in pursuit of academic success.

Just a week before MsSufiah's activities were revealed last Sunday, Farooq, a Pakistan-born teacher, was jailed 18months after pleading guilty to two charges of sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls.

Mrs Yusof is in the process of divorcing Farooq after more than 30 years.

WANTS TO RECONCILE

And she longs to reconcile with her daughter.

'I was shaking when I found out what had become of her. No mother expects that, and part of me is haunted by the notion we had driven her to that.

'I have no idea what is going on in her mind, but I refuse to judge her and I want her to know my door is always open, that I am here for her,' said Mrs Yusof.

She has been trying to reach MsSufiah through the young woman's old handphone number but it has been ringing unanswered.

Said Mrs Yusof: 'I haven't seen the pictures in the papers, and I don't want to see them. My sons have told me it's not good for my heart. I want to think of her as I remember her.

'I have no idea why she's doing this, whether she's trying to make her father angry or whether it's just desperation.

'I asked my solicitor if there is anything I can do to help her, but she's an adult and beyond my reach. I can only pray that she comes to her senses.'

Mrs Yusof relies on the support of her children - Abraham, 26, Iskander, 21, and Zuleika, 14 - who live with her in the family's comfortable five-bedroom home. Her eldest daughter, Aisha, 25, lives nearby with her husband and visits regularly.

The house is warm and comfortable, strewn with the usual paraphernalia of family life.

All the children are fiercely intelligent - Iskander and Aisha studied at Warwick University when they were only 12 and 16 respectively.

OUTSTANDING GENIUS

But Ms Sufiah stood out.

Said Mrs Yusof: 'When she was barely 18 months, she could sing whole nursery rhymes.

'She could recognise numbers and letters at 10 months old, and do a 20-piece jigsaw upside down. Farooq said she was a little genius even when she was a baby.'

And by 12, she had already passed three A-levels.

But Mrs Yusof said she never realised the pressure that MsSufiah was under and that she was only a child.

Said her brother Iskander, a computer programmer: 'My father found out she had not been doing as well as he hoped and he took it very badly.

'He became obsessed with her getting back on track. For Sufi it only exacerbated the pressure she put on herself. She felt she couldn't get away from him.'

Ms Sufiah accuses Farooq of bullying his children intellectually and physically, going into a rage if he felt they were not working hard enough.

She reached her breaking point in June 2000 and ran off after finishing her third-year exams, leaving most of her possessions behind.

Mrs Yusof recalled: 'I had spoken to her in the morning and she sounded flat, which I couldn't understand. I offered to pick her up and she said: 'I'm okay, momma, I'll make my own way'.'

Ms Sufiah eventually reached Bournemouth, where she worked as a waitress and e-mailed her sister Aisha about her unhappiness at home.

When police found her three weeks later, she asked to be taken into foster care.

Father and daughter reconciled briefly when MsSufiah married Mr Jonathan Marshall, a law student four years her senior.

By then, at 19, she was back at a local college and even talked about returning to Oxford. Ms Sufiah agreed to introduce her fiance to her father.

Said Mrs Yusof: 'She was anxious, I could see, but it all unfolded very calmly. Her father hugged her and she hugged him back.'

The family even reunited for a civil wedding dinner in July 2004.

And in 2005, when Mr Marshall was posted to Singapore on a short-term job contract, MsSufiah moved back to the family home.

But within days, another argument exploded between Ms Sufiah and her father.

Said Mrs Yusof: 'They had a row and I heard Farooq tell her to shut up, then within minutes she had packed her bags and was out the door.

'I rang her and she was getting a train to London. She said, 'I'm fed up with him, he needs psychiatric help'.'

Since then, Mrs Yusof has had no verbal contact with her daughter.

The only contact has been a terse e-mail, sent in August 2005, in which Ms Sufiah revealed that she and Mr Marshall were separated.

'I felt numb. I didn't understand why she felt this way. I always thought her quarrel was with her father, not us.'

Yet, while she yearns for her daughter's return, Mrs Yusof admits she should have noticed MsSufiah's problems.

'Farooq could be difficult and I would try to talk to him, but I would not have picked Sufi out as suffering. She was the one who got criticised least.

'But I realise now she kept everything bottled up.'



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M'SIAN GOVT CAN'T GET UK AUTHORITIES TO HELP

MALAYSIA says its attempts to track down Ms Sufiah (left) have been met with resistance from the British government.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibraham, told Malaysia's Berita Harian that the British authorities are not willing to divulge any information to the Malaysian government over this matter.

Said Datuk Mashitah on Friday: 'We received news yesterday morning that attempts to contact the authorities over there have been unsuccessful. Instead, they have advised us to contact the association for Malay-Muslim residents over there.'

She added that Sufiah's mother, Mrs Halimahton Yusof, has so far given permission only to Mr Hamidi Abdul Rahman, the president of the Malay Society in the UK, to help them.

Mr Hamidi told Berita Harian that his society is trying all means to contact Sufiah.

'I believe Sufiah is not a bad person and now, she is under pressure and needs help. We need to acknowledge that she is a victim who needs immediate help,' he said.



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HOW HER DOWNFALL STARTED

1997: Ms Sufiah first makes headlines when she is admitted into St Hilda's College, Oxford University, to read mathematics at the age of 13.

June 2000: After her third-year exams, MsSufiah skips the train home and instead boards a train to the south coast. She ends up in Bournemouth, working as a waitress.
When police find her three weeks later, she asks to be taken into foster care.

July 2004: Ms Sufiah and her family are reunited when she marries MrJonathan Marshall, a law student four years her senior. By then, she is back at a local college and even considers returning to Oxford.

2005: Mr Marshall is posted to Singapore on a short-term job contract and Sufiah moves back to the family home.
Within days, she gets into an argument with her father and moves out.

August 2005: Ms Sufiah sends a terse e-mail to her family to say she and Mr Marshall have separated. She says she wants no further contact with any member of her family.

March 2008: British paper News Of The World publishes an article on Ms Sufiah, alleging that she has been selling her body for £130 ($360) an hour on the Internet.