Singtel Deactivating User SIM Card without Pre-warning

I have gone through a very frustrated experience when Singtel deactivated my SIM card without informing me.

On 29th Jun, I found that I could not use my smart phone to surf the Internet and thought that it is due to problem in Singtel data service. But on the same day when I need to make an urgent call to my wife, I found that I could not get my phone to register to Singtel network. When I called up Singtel customer service, I found out that they have deactivated my SIM card since 27th Jun.

On 27th Jun, I have re-contracted my mobile plan and have told the officer not to send me a new SIM card as I will be using my existing SIM card. The new phone will be delivered to me on 4th of July. Although it is still one week before they deliver the new phone to me, Singtel has deactivated my existing SIM card without informing me. This is not the only case that Singtel has deactivated user SIM card without seeking user approval first or informing user their SIM card will be deactivated. I have other friends that have experienced the same frustration. Although Singtel had finally reactivated my existing SIM card after my complaint to the customer service, however, I could not know how many phone calls I have missed. As this phone is used for business, there might have miss business opportunities that involve financial loss. I am not sure who is responsible to such financial loss arisen from the misdeed of Singtel.

I think the existing procedure that Singtel could deactivate user SIM card without user approval is not acceptable. Singtel should seek user written approval (email, chat message or SMS) before they are allowed to deactivate user SIM card. Before deactivating user SIM card, they should send a SMS to the phone number so that user could have at least 2 days to reply with an SMS to agree to the deactivation. Singtel should also only deactivate user existing SIM card after new SIM card has been activated. Without the activation of the new SIM card, Singtel should not deactivate user SIM card without any user written approval. Internally, Singtel officer should not be allowed to deactivate user SIM card without their supervisor approval.

Exit Lights Not Functioning at Changi International Airport Terminal 3

I was at Changi International Airport Terminal 3 for my flight to Zurich on 17th Nov 2013. 

Since I was early for my flight, I looked around the exit lights to see whether the exit lights are in proper functioning state or not. To my horror, the first exit light that I have seen have a red light stating that the battery is not functioning. This means that if there is a power failure, the exit light will not light out since the back-up battery is not functioning. For a working exit light, the red light should not light up. Instead, a green light should light out. 

I hope that this is an odd one out of the many exit lights around in Gate A1 to A8. I look at another exit light near to the staircase and found that similarly, there is a red light lighted up. I look at another exit light in the vicinity that is in the cosmetic shop and found that this exit light too has a red light. When I go and look at the exit light at the entrance of the A1 gate, similarly, the exit light has a red light indicating that the back-up battery is not working. 

Look like the maintenance staff is not checking on the condition of the exit light. So far 100% of the exit lights that I have seen are all with back-up battery that is not functioning. 

I informed the staff that is in front of the gate about this issue. She told me that she will bring this up to the management. 

I was very surprised that such an important airport has such a lapse in the maintenance. The responsible fire safety officers are not treating fire safety as their priority. 

This is not an isolated incident in Singapore. In fact, I saw that most of the multi-story car parks have similar problem. Even the new Garden of the Bay has exit lights that are not functioning. Look like our fire safety officers need to put in more efforts to conduct auditing and spot checks.

Purpose of having door on every level of HDB multistory car park?

I could not understand the purpose of having door on every level of HDB multistory car park. Is it for security or for fire safety or just because there is a door way hence you need to have a door there? For users of the multistory car park, it is an inconvenient to have these doors especially when the users are carrying bulky stuff with both hands. Could we reconsider the need to install such doors in car park?

What Can You With 500 Characters on Feedback?

Surprised to see that the Prime Minister Office on-line feedback set a limit of 500 characters on contents. What can you do with 500 characters? Each alphabet counted as one characters. Space is counted too! Such a constrain just shown how lazy the staff in the feedback unit are. Of cause for more efficiency, we do not want a feedback to end up as a book length. But 500 characters, not 500 words, how much detail could you include in these 500 characters? Just for your information, these two paragraphs including the space, have already exceed 500 characters! A feedback has been left on the PMO online feedback as follows:" I do not understand why you limit the feedback to maximum of 500 characters. Try making a reasonable report in 500 characters and you will see how limited in the information you could put in with such a limitation. Your feedback department is pure lazy. Try at least a more reasonable limit of 2000 characters or 3000 characters. At least this will allow a more decent feedback while ensure more efficiency in your staff. Unless you are totally not interested on receiving feedback."

Reject of Full Vacancy Claim for Resale HDB Flat Under Repair and Renovation

I have completed my sales of my private apartment on 7th January 2013 because of the high living cost and have at the same time purchased a resale HDB flat on 12th December 2012. The HDB flat that I purchased is in a tumbledown state that needed major repair and renovation in order to make it inhabitable again. Both toilets are leaking. Floor tiles are popping and the bedroom laminates are rocking. Such conditions are not reflected in the valuation report. But because of the low COV, I have decided to purchase it even though I need major renovation and repair to the flat before I could move in. Because of the extent of repair and renovation needed for this HDB flat, I have negotiated to the buyer of my private apartment to rent the private apartment for a month at $3000 so that I have enough time to repair and renovate my resale flat. In the meantime, my lawyer advised me that since I could not stay in the resale flat and need to rent an apartment during the repair and renovation period, I should be able to apply for Full Vacancy Claim for my resale flat. From IRAS website, I found the information on the conditions and method to make the full vacancy claim. According to the website, it stated that “if your property is continuously vacant for at least 30 days or a calendar month, you may claim a refund of tax for the vacant period if the property is: … or undergoing repairs to make it fit for occupation (repairs do not include renovations, fitting out, alterations, improvements and additions). Since my flat is under repair and renovation, I have gone ahead to file for a claim according to the website. Within days, I received a call from tax officer asking for details of my claim. I told him about my situation. I told him about the full vacancy claim because of repair and renovation but was surprised that he has no knowledge of such claim. He however agreed that I should be able to make such a claim. On 21st Jan 2013, I received a notice from a Tan Quee Chye from the IRAS informing me that as the property is undergoing renovation works but not repairs, they are not able to consider my claim for refund of tax for the vacant period. I am very disappointed on such a policy. The valuation of the property is derived from the potential rental income of the property. However, when the property is under repair or renovation, there is no possibility of rental income. In this case, I even need to pay rental to my buyer in order to tide me over during the repair and renovation period. And the casino government only care about collecting tax even when one could not derive any income during such a repair and renovation period. This is like collecting income tax when one is sick and hospitalized. This is very frustrating.

SIA, Air China planes in minor collision at Beijing airport - An Eye Witness Account

"A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight was canceled Saturday morning (July 31) after the aircraft hit an Air China plane while departing from the Beijing Capital International Airport.

Singapore-bound SQ803, which was a Boeing 777, was taxiing out to the runway when its right wing tip struck the tail of the Air China Boeing 737, an SIA spokesman told The Sunday Times Saturday.

The accident took place at around 9am. But it was not until two hours later that all 248 passengers on board the SIA flight were told to disembark." Extracted from http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=13390&sec=1"

I was also on the same SQ803 flight and was seated at 45H on the right side of the airplane to witness the actual situation. This is the second incident I have with SIA in Beijing Airport. The first incident happens on 9th Sept 2006. The experience is worst than this. You could see my experience I posted in my blog here: http://yhkoh.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2006-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B08%3A00&updated-max=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B08%3A00&max-results=4.

All I could say is that, this time I have a much better experience then the experience I have in 2006. SIA has indeed improved in handling such situation. Maybe I am more realistic this time round and maybe I could understand the many unknown not only to us as passengers but also to the airline as not all decisions are made by them. They will still need to get approval from engineering and flight safety authority.

I would however agree that the least SIA could do is to provide update hourly and have a station manager station in the hotel to answer any inquiry from the affected passengers. Best if SIA could provide options for affected passengers to have a day tour around the city so as to occupy them.

During my trip back home, I have spoken to other affected passengers, they have even gone to the Beijing International Airport to make inquiry and found out when is the flight they could take to leave Beijing. They got the answer at around 10pm on 31st July. This compare to me being informed at 4.55am by the hotel staff that the breakfast is ready at 5.10am and we are leaving for airport at 6.00am is a far cry. That means SIA already know when and which flight we could take in the late evening but fail to inform the affected passengers immediately. This leaves a bitter taste to the affected passengers. For anyone in such a situation, the timely information is important.

On the other hand, news report has reported that the accident is caused by pilot error due to poor visibility. As an eye witness, I agreed that it is due to pilot error. But to blame on poor visibility is hardly convincing to me. 1.1 km of visibility means you could see thing as far as 1.1km. The airplane is not taxiing on the runway at high speed. The pilot is sure to be able to see the parked airplane clearly while taxiing. I believe that it is pure misjudgment by the pilot.

Who is the Girl that was Charged for Appearing Nude in Public at Holland Village?

The Uncovered

The Cover-up after the Open up

The couple, Jan Philip and Eng Kai Er, was finally charged in court for causing a stir by strolling down naked along Lorong Mambong at about 11pm on Jan 24 this year.

In the news, not much regarding the girl and boy was released. We were only told that the girl, Eng Kai Er is a university student in Sweden and is 24 year old. No other information was released. The girl is actually not the typical Ah Lian. She is a National Science Scholar under A*Star. And she is not under a basic degree program. She is under a PhD program for Biomedical Sciences. She is studying Infection Biology in Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Now, does it make you wonder how such a highly educated girl end up doing such brainless and shameless thing in public?

Does it make you wonder what type of scholars we have in Singapore?

Does it make you wonder what happen to the moral standard in our selection of scholar?

Needless to say, under the casino government of the New Singapore, what is so big deal for a few naked girls walking around in the government if they could trade moral with economy?

What a sad situation for Singapore.

'Buddha Boy' back in jungle

In the breadking news for Asia of the Straits Times, there is a story titled: 'Buddha Boy' back in jungle. In this story, it stated that a 18 year old young man from Nepal by the name of Bomjam is believed by followers to be a reincarnation of Buddha. His supporters claimed that he was a reincarnation of Siddartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. The reason for this claim is because: 'We have never seen him eat or drink and we believe he's a god in human form,' According to the statement of Bed Bahadur Thing, president of the Buddha Jungle Meditation Conservation and Prosperity Committee.

On the other hand, The president of the Nepal Buddhist Council said that the claims by his supporters were not credible.

'We do not believe he is Buddha. He does not have Buddha's qualities,' said Mahiswor Raj Bajracharya, president of the Nepal Buddhist Council, a centre for Buddhist study and research in Kathmandu.

'He may have achieved great heights in meditation, but that alone does not make him a Buddha. A Buddha needs life experience, a young man who has not seen the world at all cannot be a Buddha,' said Mr Bajracharya.

This is the interesting story that shown the contridition on the definition of Buddha in the Buddhism. The buddists believed that Buddha is one that has acheived enlightenment. And the Buddha has reached parinirvana which is the final nirvana, which is the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice and implies a release from the bhavachakra, samsara, karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of all worldly physical and mental aggregates or skandhas. So, if the Buddha has already acheived parinirvana, why is he still reincarnated in a human form?