5 S’pore News That You Should Know About That Were Reported Yesterday (22 August 2019)

Let’s face it: in this social media world, exciting and viral news like a cat feeding a baby beer would often appear in your Facebook news feed, while important news like the GDP growth of Singapore this year wouldn’t get the same reach.

It’s understandable, since social media platforms would prioritise engaging and viral contents to keep users in their platform.

In order to ensure that you’d still know about important news instead just social news, below are the top five Singapore news that was reported yesterday which you should know, simplified for you in bite-sized format:

Kong Hee Released From Prison

Need more context about this high-profile case?

Well, basically, back in April 2017, he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months imprisonment. As inmates typically serve 2/3 of their sentences before being released on remission (unless you do something really silly in jail), the founder of City Harvest Church released today after two years and four months of imprisonment.

During the remission period, the offender is not allowed (not that it’s allowed for anyone of us, anyways) to commit the offence again, or he or she would have to serve the remaining of the prison term plus the sentencing of the new offence.

For more info, tap here.

55,000 Tertiary Students to Benefit from Increase in Bursaries

During the National Day Rally last Sunday, it was announced that there would be an increase of Government bursaries for university and polytechnic diploma courses. Well, the number is out: about 55,000 students will benefit from this, with about 30,000 of them coming from families with incomes at the 30th percentile and below.

Lest you’ve forgotten, university undergraduates will receive 75% bursaries of general degree fees, up from the previous 50%. For polytechnic students, their bursaries will increase from 80% of school fees to up to 95%.

For more info, tap here

More Workers Needed as More MRT Lines are Built

By now, you should know that many MRT lines are in the pipeline: your grandchildren could probably take a train from Jurong West to Jurong East in the future.

But like what Peter Parker’s uncle once said, “With more MRT lines comes more workers.”

Senior Minister of State for Transport Dr Janil Puthucheary said yesterday that with more lines and services, we will need more than 2,000 new engineers and technicians in the next 10 years.

So, if you have a degree in MRT, good for you: you’re highly sought after. There’s such a degree, right?

For more info, tap here.

74YO Man Lost During a Cruise Trip

74-year-old retiree Goh Hai Peng was on his first cruise trip alone from 4 August to 7 August 2019 when he went missing.

The crew had only realised his appearance when the passengers were disembarking. All his belongings were still intact in his cabin. A surveillance camera footage has captured a whitish figure falling into the sea.

It’s still unknown if he has fallen into the sea, but authorities from both Singapore and Malaysia have been alerted and are looking into the matter.

For more info, tap here.

Military Court Rejected Appeal to Extend Detention of Regular CSM Who Kept Blank Rounds to Protect His Men

Blank rounds are “bullets” used by soldiers for training, and they merely make the loud “bang” sound to simulate a discharge of firearms. We soldiers can’t keep any of them, even if they’re used.

In 2017, a Sergeant Major of a company found out that his men had accidentally brought back some blank rounds. After scolding them, he kept the rounds in his office, intending to use them for the next exercise as he didn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands.

A military police raid found the rounds, and he was charged, and sentenced to two-week detention. He was also discharged from the SAF. When the military prosecutors appealed to extend his sentence to four months instead, their appeal was dismissed, with the ex-CSM’s lawyer saying this: “There is no bigger deterrent sentence to any regular than being discharged from the Army…So, what further deterrent sentence do we need?”

For more info, tap here.

Do come back tomorrow to the Goody Feed app so you’ll always stay informed!