More than 1,000 fans attend Hong Lim Park memorial for late Jonghyun of SHINee

More popularly known as Jonghyun, the 27-year-old lead singer of Korean boy band SHINee died on Dec. 18.His death has been ruled a suicide and sent fans around the world reeling.

Orderly tribute

The sombre mood at Hong Lim Park stood in stark contrast to the pubescent hysteria typically associated with K-pop fantaticism.Orderly queues started before 7pm and snaked around the park.
The girls in attendance were in their teens. They arrived in black or white.
They queued up patiently to enter the park. Detailed identity checks against pre-registration forms were conducted.
Those who could not enter — as only 1,000 people were allowed into the compound at one time — patiently waited their turn.
Many of them brought along flowers and personal letters as tributes.
Post-it notes were also available on site for them to pen messages.

Highlight depression

The main organiser, who wished to remain anonymous and declined to be interviewed by The Straits Times, told Channel News Asia that she was surprised at how big a news story the memorial has become.
The 22-year-old said she has been a K-pop fan since she was 14.
She also clarified that she is not part of any SHINee or Jonghyun fan club. She organised the event with a few friends.
She said she hopes this tragedy and spate of events will make mental illness issues less a taboo.

Closure

The fans gathered at Hong Lim Park subsequently observed one minute of silence. Many were seen breaking into sobs when it ended.
Others came forward to comfort and hug those who were crying.
The fans gathered also sang SHINee’s debut song Replay. They waved lightsticks and recorded the moment on their mobile phones.
They also shouted “You did well, you really did well, Jonghyun-ah!” in Korean at the end.
This was a reference to the suicide note Jonghyun left behind, in which he wrote: “Please tell me I did a good job… You’ve worked hard. You’ve really gone through a lot. Goodbye.”

JB petrol station murder: Victim was allegedly a gang leader, dispute due to turf war

A turf war between two underworld gangs is the reason behind the brutal killing of a man at a Johor Baru petrol station on Dec 17, according to Malaysian officials.The victim, 44-year-old Tan Ah Choy, was stabbed and mowed down twice by a BMW at a Shell petrol station in Taman Pelangi, located just 4km from the Causeway.
The victim was conscious but was believed to have died while help was on the way, reports The Straits Times.

"Yes, he was the leader of one of the gangs. It stemmed from a turf dispute between two rival gangs," Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters yesterday.
"The four suspects who attacked the man have also been identified, police are hunting them down as we speak."
Asked about the possibility of retaliation from the murdered man's gang, Datuk Seri Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said: "There is, since it involves secret societies. It is their nature to be vindictive, but the police are always ready. There is never a day without operations being conducted."
The victim was also said to have 14 previous drug convictions.
The victim's wife on Monday took his remains from the morgue of Sultanah Aminah Hospital.
Asked at a function if Tan was indeed a gang leader, Malaysian deputy police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim said: "We don't want to jump to conclusions, let us investigate first. Based on the information that we have, there's an involvement of money but we don't discount the possibility of it being a triad war."
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder as the manhunt for the four assailants continue.

Singer reveals full text of SHINee member Jonghyun's death note: "Why did I choose this path?"

South Korean band Dear Cloud's vocalist Nine9 revealed the late Jonghyun's painful suicide note on his Instagram on Tuesday.The singer, whose stage name is Nine9, released the letter with his family's permission, reported Koreaboo.

In a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday, she wrote: "I was not sure whether I should be posting his will or not, still contemplating in fact, but Jonghyun asked a favour to release his final words if he leaves this world behind. I was really hoping that this day would not come….."

I was broken from the inside.
The depression slowly chipped me away, finally devouring me.
I could not beat the negativity.
I hated myself. Even though I tried so hard demanding my memories that kept getting cut off to 'wake up,' all I got in return was silence.
I'd rather stop if I cannot breathe.
I asked who could be responsible for me.
You're the only one.
I felt utterly alone.
It is easy to say "I'm going to end it."
It is very difficult to actually go through with it.
I've been struggling through the difficulty.
I told myself that it's just me wanting to run away from everything.
It's true. I really did want to run away.
From me.
From you.
I asked, "Who's there?" It's me. It's me again. And it's me the third time.
I asked, "Why do I keep on losing my memory?" They said it's due to my personality. I see. It's all my fault.
I wanted someone to notice (my suffering), but no one knew. Of course, they wouldn't. They never met me before.
I asked why people live. Just. Just. They live "just because."
If I ask why people died, they would probably say they couldn't bear it any longer.
Troubling thoughts flooded my head. I never got the chance to learn how to change dull pain into pure joy.
Pain is just pain.
I kept reprimanding myself not to do so.
Why? Why can't I even end my life with my own will?
I tried figuring out the reasons for my pain and suffering.
I already had the answer. I was in pain because of me. It's all my fault that I carry so many imperfections.
Teacher, is this what you wanted to hear?
No. I didn't do anything wrong.
I used to think that it's so easy for doctors to blame your personality for the suffering in their calm voice.
It surprises me how I am feeling this much pain. Those people, who have suffered worse than I, seem to go on living perfectly fine. Those weaker than I am live on as well. I guess not. Among the living, there is no one who is suffering worse and no one who is weaker.
The only answer I got back was "just live nevertheless."
Asking the purpose of life more than one hundred times is not for me. It's for you.
I wanted to do it for me.
Please don't say things you don't know.
How could you ask me to still look for reasons behind my pain? I told you multiple times why I'm suffering. Do I need more reasons to be in pain? More dramatic details in my stories? More stories even?
I told you already. Were you absent-minded when I told you? Things you can bear and even come above do not leave scars.
It wasn't my responsibility to go against the world.
It wasn't my path to become world-famous.
That's why they say it's hard to go against the world and to become famous. Why did I choose this path? It's quite funny now that I think about it.
It's a miracle that I endured through it all this time.
What more can I say. Just tell me "good job."
You did great. Tell me I suffered enough.
Even though you can't laugh right now, just don't send me off blaming me.
Good job.
You suffered a great deal.
Good-bye.

Teen model in apparent suicide in Bangkok

BANGKOK - A 19-year-old freelance fashion model reportedly suffering from depression was found hanged late Sunday night at her boyfriend's house in Bangkok's Suan Luang district.
Pol Captain Ariyalertchaikul of Khlong Ton Police Station said officers were summoned to the two-storey house on Soi Pattanakan 48 just after midnight Sunday.

The teenager was found in a second-floor bedroom, hanging from a ceiling fan by a dog leash.

The body showed no other sign of injury and the room was locked from the inside.
The body was sent to Chulalongkorn Hospital for an autopsy.

Police investigation found that Nannpus stayed at the house with her boyfriend of six months.
Police discovered that Nunnpus had last posted on Facebook at 6.39pm on Friday Dec 15.

Indonesian teen suffers severe head injuries after getting hit by train while taking selfie

An Indonesian girl suffered severe head injuries while she and three other friends were taking a group photo near railway tracks in Purworejo, Indonesia, on Wednesday (Dec 6).
The 16-year-old victim, Ely Hayati had gone for a stroll at the tracks with her friends when they decided to take a 'wefie' - a group selfie - with a selfie stick one of the girls brought, reported World of Buzz and Oriental Daily.The group was busy posing for the photo and did not notice a train which was passing behind them.

Ely, who was at the back of the group, was hit and thrown forward by the force of the train, causing her to bang her head on a concrete slab.

Her friends panicked upon seeing Ely bleeding profusely and quickly ran to look for help.
Nearby residents came and called for an ambulance.
Ely was brought to a hospital for a surgery to stem the bleeding.

Fortunately, Ely survived the ordeal and is in a stable condition although she is still warded in the intensive care unit (ICU).
After news of the incident spread online, some netizens have criticised the teenagers' actions and said they should not have gone so close to the railway

AVA temporarily restricts some Dutch poultry imports after bird flu outbreak

SINGAPORE: The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has temporarily restricted the import of poultry and other products from an area in the Netherlands, following an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in a duck farm there.
The import of poultry, poultry products and ornamental birds that come from a 10km restricted area around the affected duck farm in Biddinghuizen, the Netherlands, will be temporarily restricted, the authority said in response to Channel NewsAsia queries on Friday (Dec 15).
This follows the outbreak of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza in the duck farm.
However heat-processed poultry products, which meet the requirements for the destruction of the virus, will not be affected, said AVA.
So far this year no poultry, poultry products or ornamental birds have been imported from the affected area, the authority added.
The Netherlands has confirmed an outbreak of highly contagious bird flu that has led to the culling of nearly 16,000 ducks, the World Organisation for Animal Health said earlier this week.

The highly pathogenic H5N6 strain was discovered on the duck fattening farm in Biddinghuizen on Dec 7, and a 3km surveillance zone and 10km protection zone were established around the farm.

Source: CNA/nc

Australia failed children, national sex abuse inquiry says

SYDNEY: Australian institutions "seriously failed" children in their care over decades with tens of thousands sexually abused, the final report from a five-year inquiry said Friday (Dec 15), calling it a "national tragedy".
The government ordered the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012 after a decade of pressure to investigate widespread allegations across the country.
The commission was contacted by more than 15,000 survivors who detailed claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools, often dating back decades.
It heard horrific stories during often confronting and emotionally exhausting public and private hearings.
In total, more than 4,000 institutions were accused of abuse, with many of them Catholic-managed facilities.
"Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions. We will never know the true number," the final report said, making hundreds of recommendations to improve children's safety and make it harder for paedophiles to operate unpunished.

"Whatever the number, it is a national tragedy, perpetrated over generations within many of our most trusted institutions."
It said abuse occurred in almost every place where children resided or attended for educational, recreational, sporting, religious or cultural activities.
And it was not a case of a few "rotten apples".
"Some institutions have had multiple abusers who sexually abused multiple children," it said.
"Society's major institutions have seriously failed. In many cases those failings have been exacerbated by a manifestly inadequate response to the abused person.
"The problems have been so widespread, and the nature of the abuse so heinous, that it is difficult to comprehend."
More than 2,500 referrals have been made to police, with 230 prosecutions under way.
Among the 17-volume report's recommendations was the creation of a National Office for Child Safety, and for religious ministers to be required to report abuse confided to them during confession.
During its hearings, the commission heard that seven percent of Catholic priests were accused of abuse in Australia between 1950 and 2010, but the allegations were never investigated, with children ignored and even punished when they came forward.
There were more than 1,800 alleged perpetrators, with the average age of the victims at the time 10 for girls and 11 for boys. The St John of God Brothers religious order was the worst, with just over 40 percent of members accused.

The inquiry embroiled Australia's most senior Catholic cleric George Pell, now the Vatican's finance chief, who was questioned over his dealings with paedophile priests in Victoria state in the 1970s.
Pell is currently accused of multiple historical sexual offences, with a committal hearing in March due to decide if there is enough evidence from the prosecution for the case against him to go to trial

Boy, 12, flees home as grandparents and siblings are 'murdered and set on fire'

BANTING, Selangor The fire at a house in Tanjung Sepat here, which killed two senior citizens and two boys, took a terrible turn after the police found a slash mark on the victim."The victims are believed to have been killed and burned."However, the cause of death will only be confirmed after postmortem," said senior CID chief Asst Comm Fadzil Ahmat in a statement Wednesday.
Fire investigations at home after fire


Postmortem is expected to take place on Thursday (Dec 14).

He added that the case was investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for the murder.

The victim was identified as a 73-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman, while a nine-and-a-half-year-old boy.

In a video circulating on social media, a 12-year-old boy, believed to be the only survivor in the incident, voiced a masked intruder into the house and killed his brothers and grandparents.

He said he was hiding in the toilet during the riot and fired a shot when the intruder left him.

From childhood friend to torturer: Annie Ee’s sister on the woman responsible for family heartbreak

Annie Ee's sister has told Channel NewsAsia that the prison sentence given to Tan Hui Zhen "is never enough compared to the sufferings my sister has gone through".

SINGAPORE: She was a close friend of the Ee family, and doted on the children. Little did they know that housewife Tan Hui Zhen, 33, would be the cause of devastating heartbreak in the years to come.
More than two-and-a-half years after she was found dead on Apr 13, 2015, 26-year-old Annie Ee Yu Lian’s tormentors – Tan and her husband, Pua Hak Chuan, 38 – have been sentenced to jail.
Now 26, Annie’s younger sister has told Channel NewsAsia of Tan’s transformation from friend to tormentor.

“I’ve known her (Tan) since I was seven. She was always doting on us … I never would have thought that she would torture Annie,” said her sister, who asked that her name was not published.
The couple physically and psychologically abused Annie for eight months, from August 2014 until she died in her sleep, severely injured. The couple had battered Annie’s body and mind and shattered her self-worth. She was beaten daily, taunted and intimidated, and forced to hand over her entire paycheck.
An autopsy detailed the extent of the physical abuse she suffered: Twelve fractured ribs and seven fractured vertebrae, a ruptured stomach and a body crowded with blisters and bruises.
“(Tan) was in total control of my sister,” said the sister, in an interview conducted via WhatsApp.
She recalled the shock of finding out that Annie had been battered and abused by Tan. Though the police had visited the Ee household to break the news of their sister’s death, “we only knew about the abuse the next day, when we saw (a picture of) her bruised face in the newspaper,” she said.
Tan was so close to the Ee family that it was to them she turned to when she faced trouble in her marriage. Once, Tan showed up with a bruised face after a fight with Pua, and the Ee family took her in. “She stayed with (us). We gave her shelter and food,” Annie’s sister said.
“WE TRIED TO STOP HER”
Though Annie was the eldest of the Ee siblings, her younger brothers and sisters were fiercely protective of her.
“Her freedom was sometimes compromised,” her sister admitted, because the family worried Annie would be “bullied or cheated” due to her simple nature.
She described Annie as a friendly girl who loved dogs and who would strike up conversations with strangers.
“My sister felt that our family was being unfair to her (by) not giving her the freedom to make her own friends … she felt that she was old enough to look after herself,” her sister said.
It seems that Annie eventually decided to strike out on her own, and ended up moving into Tan and Pua’s flat in Woodlands.
Annie agreed to earn her keep by doing the housework, but ended up cooking and cleaning for the couple, who “exploited her low intellect and social isolation, and manipulated her into thinking that she was insurmountably indebted to them,” prosecutors had said.
“We realised my sister’s behaviour and attitude started to change … we knew that Tan was trying to manipulate my sister, so we tried to stop her from contacting Tan."
But Annie was very defensive of Tan, the sister said, and drew more distant as her family tried to intervene. “She was in total control of my sister,” she said of Tan.
“My sister loved (Tan) … no matter how we tried to stop her … she didn’t believe what we told her, because she felt that (Tan) was always (on her side).
“Some of the family (went to) where Annie worked, but she would avoid eye contact. We tried getting her number, but she was stubborn and said she would contact us … and asked us to stop forcing her.”

“WE ARE GRATEFUL, TOUCHED BY ALL THE SUPPORT”
When Tan and Pua were convicted of multiple charges of assaulting Annie on Monday, Annie’s story went viral and triggered an outpouring of public outrage and support in equal measure.
“We are really grateful,” Annie’s sister said. “Though some people might have misunderstood … that we kicked Annie out, many others have grieved with us.
“We are really touched by their words - sincerely, thank you.”
Turning to the public apologies by the Tan and Pua families, Annie’s sister said the Ee family “will never be able to forgive what (they) did, especially Tan”.
And while the pair received long sentences, that is scant consolation: “The sentence, of course, to my family is never enough compared to the sufferings my sister has gone through.”
But there is some relief that Annie’s suffering has ended, her sister said.
“We hope she finds peace … be happy … and be free.”

Source: CNA/vc

1 killed, 2 injured in Serangoon road accident

SINGAPORE: A man was killed and two others were injured in an accident along Serangoon road on Saturday (Dec 2) evening.Channel NewsAsia understands that the accident involved a lorry and a motorcycle.Images and videos circulating online showed a stretch of the road near Race Course lane and Roberts lane cordoned off by police.

The Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at approximately 7.50pm and immediately dispatched its resources to Serangoon road.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, while another two were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), SCDF said, adding that the hospital was alerted to be on standby.

 

Source: CNA/mn

 

 

S’poreans heap praise on woman who chased down child-kicker in Yishun, man arrested

The man in Yishun who kicked a passing 10-year-old boy for no apparent reason has been arrested under the Mental Health Act, Channel NewsAsia reports. 
The incident occurred on Thursday, Nov. 29, around 12.30pm along Yishun Ring Road. In case you haven’t yet heard about it, here’s the story:

From this unfortunate incident, however, we find ourselves more interested in the stranger lady who managed to chase the perpetrator down, even convincing him to return to the scene and wait till the police arrived.
She has now been identified as one Doreen Chew, a resident of the hallowed Singaporean town Yishun. She relates her experience of the events that unfolded that day in a Facebook post:
According to Chew’s post, she was on the way to buy some books with her daughter when she heard a commotion, and subsequently saw the young boy flat on the ground.
The boy’s elderly relatives were asking for help to catch the culprit, but no one from among the bystanders at the scene went to their aid.

“I have a mental cert” / “Me too”

In the spur of the moment, Chew decided to run after the man.
When she caught up with him at a traffic junction with red light, she described his manner as “defensive and aggressive”. 
Nonetheless, Chew remained undeterred, and managed to convince him to head back to the scene of assault with her.
The man even told Chew that he has a “mental cert”, to which she replied, surprisingly, “Me too”.
Halfway through the walk back, however, the man punched Chew from behind, almost making her fall over.
After a warning from Chew, he stopped the physical attacks, but started ranting instead.
Thankfully, the police arrived just five minutes after Chew called them.
Besides the boy’s family who thanked her profusely, people of the internet were coming forward to heap praise on her as well:

Chew writes in her post: “Nothing beats knowing my kids is as proud of me as I am proud of them.”
Indeed.

Supermoon will be out tomorrow night, Dec. 3, 2017, visible in S’pore from 11:46 pm

The moon is going to look huge tomorrow night (Dec. 3) because it’s a supermoon.
And it will be the first and last time we will see a visually larger moon in 2017

When to see it in Singapore

According to Moon Phases for Singapore, the supermoon will occur on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 11:46 pm.
Interested Singaporeans can try to catch a glimpse of it around that time.

What is a Supermoon?

A supermoon is popularly known as a full or new moon that coincides with the lunar orbit making an especially close approach to Earth.
It appears to be visually brighter and larger than normal to the naked eye.
The scientific term for supermoon is perigee syzygy.
Gurtina Besla, a professor at the Arizona University, explains:

“Perigee refers to the moon being at its closest distance to the Earth, and syzygy refers to the alignment of multiple bodies — the moon, Earth and sun need to be aligned for us to see a full moon.
So it translates to the closest separation between the moon and Earth when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned.”

Next supermoon in 2018

If for some reason, you can’t catch the moon in its full glory, you can always watch the live stream of the celestial event at the Virtual Telescope (3:45 am ET, or 16:45 pm local time on Dec. 4).
But if you’re too busy for that, you can always wait till the next supermoon occurs on Jan. 2, 2018.
The last supermoon we saw was on Nov. 14 last year. It was the closest to Earth since 1948, making it the largest moon Earthlings saw in 70 years. The next time the moon appears this big will be in 2034.