Local Brand Called ‘Gross’ For Jumping on Inuka Bandwagon: 6 Topics S’poreans Talked About Today (27 Apr)

The whole of Singapore is reeling from the death of Inuka, the first polar bear to be born in Singapore and the last of Singapore’s as well.

Everywhere you turn on the street, you’ll see someone suddenly break out into tears and fall to their knees, screaming, INUKA, I MISS YOU, RIP!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, okay, I jest. It’s not that bad, although it seemed like that online.

Sometimes, you can’t help but look at the comments on Inuka and wondered if they really care about the greatest polar bear to ever live, or they’re just jumping on the bandwagon.

Kind of like what everyone is thinking about the home-grown retailer, IUIGA.

Here’s what happened.

Home-Grown Brand, IUIGA, Tried To “Honour Inuka”, S’poreans Finds It “Tacky” & “Insensitive”

On 26 Apr, IUIGA, a homegrown retailer uploaded this post on their Facebook page.

In case you can’t read it:

In honour of the joy and delight Inuka has brought us, we’ve decided to name our porcelain tea series after him.

White, beautiful and commanding a strong presence, the porcelain tea series will cement Inuka’s legacy as the last Polar Bear in Singapore.

And as expected, the internet erupted.

One issue people had with this proclamation is how IUIGA seemed to be profiting off the death of Singapore’s beloved polar bear.

If they had at least did something special to “honour him more” or volunteer to donate proceeds, it’ll be a bit better.

But just like any comment section, there’s bound to be a few MVP comments like the ones below.

App Exclusive: Wong Li Lin Suddenly Stepped Down From Her New Job in Less than a Year

Eight months into her job, Wong Li Lin suddenly stepped down. Read about this in our free app as this is an app-exclusive article:

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Ex-Gang Leader Gets 28 Years’ Jail & 24 Strokes of Cane For Raping Underage Girl Repeatedly

Even in a country with strict laws like Singapore, we have our share of gangsters.

True, they’re not on the scale of Hong Kong’s gangsters but here, they can do harmful things to normal Singaporeans as well.

Like what this ex-gang leader did to a then-13-year-old girl.

Meet Koh Rong Guang.

At the age of 21, he raped a 13-year-old girl three times, took nude photos of her and threatened her with a spanner and a brick.

The girl knew him through a male acquaintance, Fu, who was part of Koh’s gang.

Once, Koh took a spanner and smashed it against the wall near her face. He forced her to perform oral sex on him then raped her after.

After that, he told her to strip and took nude photos of her.

Another time, she went to meet up with him with Fu who was supposed to protect her.

Koh beat Fu up, raped the girl then force both the girl and Fu into compromising positions before taking photos of them.

Then, he spread her nudes on social media.

The girl lodged a police report and Koh claimed trial, denying that he ever touched the girl.

He was sentenced to 28 years’ jail time and 24 strokes of the cane on 26 Apr.

He is appealing against the sentence and is currently out on bail for $100,000.

Netizens have expressed concerns about him being out on bail.

LTA To Review ‘Discretionary Right Turns’ After String of Fatal Collisions

Who says petitions are useless? Because there’s one petition that seemed to be working for Singaporeans.

In case you’re wondering, it’s the “disallow discretionary right turns at traffic junctions” that we wrote about yesterday.

We also wrote a commentary on why it should be removed in an app-exclusive article (which can only be read in our app: download our free app here!)

LTA said in a statement on 26 Apr that drivers will have to wait for the green arrow light before being allowed to make a right turn at a huge majority of 1,600 traffic junctions in Singapore.

They have already installed red-amber-green amber lights at 200 junctions, and the remaining will be completed in 5 years time.

And at junctions where they’re not able to put the lights, they are considering other safety features like “turning pockets, lighted road studs, integrated pedestrian countdown timers, dashed pedestrian crossing lines and “Give Way to Pedestrians” signs”.

They added that they do regular reviews to identify accident-prone locations and make it safer with special lights, signs or road markings.

Sounds all good and all, but for us, Singaporeans, we need to remember this:

At the end of the day, these features are just “reminders” put in place to remind drivers about road safety.

There’s no accounting for human stupidity, so always pay attention when you are on the streets.

I mean, if rules are enough to deter people, you wouldn’t see so many crimes happening liao, right?

Drivers in Fatal Accidents at YCK, Clementi and Bukit Timah Arrested

Since we’re on the topic of fatal collisions, here’s one more that might give you some closure.

A 54-year-old taxi driver was arrested in relation to the Clementi car accident, killing a 19-year-old undergraduate.

A 24-year-old female driver was arrested for the Bukit Timah fatal accident, killing a 23-year-old NUS graduate.

And finally, a 25-year-old lorry driver was arrested for the horrific Yio Chu Kang traffic accident which killed a father, his daughter and a close family friend.

The 25-year-old lorry driver was charged with dangerous driving causing death and can be sentenced up to 5 years jail time if found guilty.

He claimed that he experienced blurry eyes right before the accident took place.

The police advised pedestrians to exercise care when on the road, calling them the “most vulnerable group on the road”.

In other words, don’t jaywalk, always look left and right before walking across a traffic junction, even if the green light is on.

Remember, there’s always room for…

Lift Door At Yishun Broken Badly, Investigations Revealed It Was A PMD

Given how lift accidents dominated 2017, Singaporeans don’t really have much faith in our lifts and their maintenance.

So when we saw this image in Yishun, we were like, maintenance guys sleeping again ah?

But no, not this time.

This time, it’s just the ugly side of Singaporeans.

According to a statement put out by Nee Soon Town Council, the dislodging of this lift door was caused by an elderly man who had trouble walking.

He jammed his Private Mobility Device (PMD) against the doors to prevent it from closing when he tried to enter the lift.

And the end result is what you see in the picture above.

Some netizens wondered why the lift’s sensors didn’t detect the old man.

But really, just like “discretionary right turns”, it all starts with human behaviour.

Like Michael Jackson always say, always start with the Man in the Mirror.

NEA Responds To Incident Of Smoker Being Targetted By Enforcement Officer ‘Unfairly’

In case you’re unaware, a video of an NEA enforcement officer who charged a smoker unfairly was making its rounds on the internet recently.

You can watch the video below:

The video showed an NEA officer who allegedly charged a man for littering when he threw his cigarette butt into the dustbin.

The man told the person taking the video to post it on Facebook.

The person taking the video claimed that he was threatened by the officer before the video cut off abruptly.

NEA Responds: Man Threw First Cigarette onto The Ground, Second into The Bin

NEA said that the video is not representative of the entire incident.

The cigarette butt that was disposed of properly was, in fact, the man’s second cigarette. He threw his first cigarette on the ground and was caught by the officer thereafter.

A third party entered the scene and encouraged other people around to record the incident to post on social media.

Police officers arrived at the scene after and a ticket was issued to the offender.

NEA clarified that if members of the public do not cooperate, and verbally or physically abuse their officers, they will not hesitate to take action.

You have been warned.

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