MICA (P) 191/11/2008 THURSDAY, MAY 21 2009
Nearly 100
Lasalle
turns 25
LIFE! PAGE C4
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104 PAGES IN
FIVE PARTS
On ‘silver tsunami’ alert
A “SILVER tsunami” is coming.
This is Health Minister Khaw Boon
Wan’s short form for an explosion in
the number of people aged 65 and up
– a phenomenon the country has to
be prepped for.
In the works: More nursing home
beds, new hospitals and hospices, an
expanded dental care system and
ramped-up training of health-care
professionals.
쐽 PRIME PAGE A4
Undertaker jailed for brawl
THE undertaker known for
shouldering the funeral costs of
victims in high-profile murders here
Ms Esther Tan (left), Ms Jane Lee (right) and Ms Lee Li Hui (below) are the first
Singaporean women to reach the peak. PHOTOS: NATAS SINGAPORE WOMEN’S EVEREST TEAM
has been jailed six months.
Sixty-one-year-old Roland Tay
TOP
Hai Choon’s offence: criminal
intimidation of a business partner and
ganging up with others to attack him.
쐽 HOME PAGE B3
Wounds on dead student
THE inquiry into
the death of
Indonesia
undergraduate
David Hartanto
Widjaja opened
yesterday, with a
pathologist
testifying that
the 21-year-old
had 36 wounds
on him when he
was found dead on March 2.
Mr Widjaja fell four storeys to his
death after allegedly quarrelling with
his final-year project supervisor,
Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk.
쐽 PRIME PAGE A3
Timeshare resale sharks
COMPANIES have surfaced preying
on people desperate to end their
contracts with timeshare firms. They
offer an enticing deal: let us take over
your contracts, do the negotiating and
get your investment back. But
customers often never see any refund.
쐽 HOME PAGE B1
Temasek ups stake
ABOUT US$600 million (S$877
million). That is the sum Temasek
Holdings invested to raise its stake in
China Construction Bank (CCB),
sources say.
Temasek was among those buying
shares of the Chinese bank offloaded
by Bank of America last week.
쐽 MONEY PAGE B18
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Najib calls for
ties to go past
thorny issues
Malaysian PM seeks cooperation in
areas such as the Iskandar project
BY ZURAIDAH IBRAHIM Pattaya last month on the sidelines of the
FOREIGN EDITOR aborted Asean meeting.
“I’d like to facilitate the movement of
people between our two sides. And there
KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore and Malaysia
should not allow thorny or “legacy is- is a committee chaired by our two minis-
OF THE sues” to hobble cooperation in other pro-
ductive areas such as the Iskandar
ters to look into working out some of the
arrangements to facilitate flow of people
between our two countries. And we’ll
WORLD
project, said Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak. take it from there,” he said.
Both sides now enjoy a considerable The Prime Minister, who took office
warming of ties while the sharp rhetoric on April 3, was measured and relaxed
of the past has almost disappeared, he throughout, giving answers off-the-cuff.
said in an interview ahead of his introduc- Asked if Malaysia intends to resume
Singapore tory visit to Singapore today.
Describing relations as much more con-
structive and cooperative now, he added:
the project to replace the Causeway with
a bridge – a project that his predecessor
had cancelled – he responded cautiously.
women reach “I hope that the relationship will contin-
ue to improve in the years to come. It is
He said he wanted a proper study of all
aspects of the bridge and would not want
to put a timeframe on any decision.
Mt Everest incumbent upon our two governments to
not allow some difficult – or if you like,
thorny – bilateral issues to impede and
On how his government would react to
pressure from parties critical of Singa-
pore’s involvement in Iskandar Malaysia,
hamper whatever progress we can
BY GRACE CHUA he said: “That’s an inter-
achieve.”
He held up Iskandar Malaysia, the
SINGAPORE’S first women’s Everest team reached the top of the world economic corridor in Johor, as one ar-
early yesterday, after a night of hard climbing. ea ripe for further cooperation, as Bumiputera
Ms Lee Li Hui, 27, Ms Esther Tan, 26, and Ms Jane Lee, 25, reached the well as trade, tourism, cultural ex-
summit of the world’s tallest mountain respectively at 3.45am, 3.54am changes, security and defence. policy ‘needs to
and 4.43am Nepalese time.
For the trio, who were among more than 60 people who reached the
“When I was defence minister, we
had put forward one or two rather
be adjusted’
summit of the 8,850-m-high mountain yesterday, the climb marked the positive proposals, where our mili-
realisation of a five-year-old dream. taries can be engaged in a more coop-
At Republic Polytechnic, where the two Ms Lees are members of the erative arrangement,” he said in an in-
staff, colleagues and students could barely contain their pride and joy EXTRACTS FROM THE INTERVIEW AND
terview with The Straits Times and
yesterday. Likewise, their families and boyfriends are also whooping it up. Business Times at his Parliament of-
MORE REPORTS ON PRIME PAGES A12-13
For Li Hui’s boyfriend Ted Hoong, the team’s feat ends his days of fice on Tuesday.
worry for her safety. She had fed him a steady stream of text messages Mr Najib, who arrives in Singapore nal matter. We’ll manage that.
and e-mail to assure him she was fine. They were short, but he hung on to this afternoon overland after visiting “Both countries stand to gain. The
them because they meant a lot to him, he said.
Iskandar, will hold meetings with Prime most important thing is to be in a positive
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and team mode, think in terms of what we can gain
patron Vivian Balakrishnan called the feat “a historic achievement for Minister Lee Hsien Loong tomorrow.
Singapore”, saying: “It takes courage, determination and excellent He said he hoped to establish a good from our bilateral relationship rather
leadership and teamwork to scale the world’s highest peak. They have working relationship with Mr Lee. While than going back into the old mindset
once again demonstrated what our people can do against all odds when we he had no specific issues to discuss, he where we start exchanging rather sharp
set our minds to it.” would put the Iskandar Malaysia project rhetoric between our two countries.”
high on the agenda. On the legacy issues between Singa-
On their way up, the women were beset by stormy weather, low pore and Malaysia, he noted there were
temperatures and narrowly escaped an avalanche. Launched in November 2006 and with
several, including the Points of Agree-
Singapore adventurer Khoo Swee Chiow, 45, who has scaled Everest an area nearly three times the size of Sin- ment on developing Malayan Railway
twice, said he is happy for the team, but that they now have to focus on gapore, it is reported to have netted land in Singapore and water. Some were
getting back to base camp safely. US$11 billion (S$16 billion) of its US$13 bil- easier to resolve than others, he said.
The country now looks to Friday, when a second team of Singapore lion overall foreign direct investment tar-
women is expected to reach the summit. Last night, the duo – Ms Joanne
“These are longstanding issues and if
get for the phase ending next year. Mr Na- they could have been resolved easily,
Su, 39, and Ms Lee Peh Gee, 32 – were at 7,470m. A third team member, jib said last month that Johoreans would they would have been resolved earlier. So
Ms Sim Yihui, 27, will not climb to the summit for reasons unknown. not be sidelined in the corridor and called I don’t want to prescribe any timeframe
By last night Singapore time, the first team’s two Ms Lees were back at for the project not to be politicised. To but we should make steady progress,”
6,500m, while Ms Tan was at 7,920 m. The steely women kept in touch make it easier for visitors from Singapore said Mr Najib.
with their supporters back home through their website. Ms Tan, who to enter Iskandar, an automated clearing He added that getting past these issues
works in advertising and is cast as the group’s writer, wrote: “It is only would take “a lot of political willingness
system will be implemented in phases.
when you put your life at risk, when you face death, that you realise what
life means to you, what others mean to you.” During the interview, Mr Najib said he to be pragmatic about it, to be as flexible
was keen to get off the ground some icon- as possible to find common ground”.
ic projects, as discussed with Mr Lee in zuraidah@sph.com.sg