The Straits Times : Weekly Overseas Edition, 21 March 1998

Total Pages: 24
1 24 The Straits Times : Weekly Overseas Edition
  • 19 1 The Straits Times WEEKLY EDITION SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1998 Price: 551.20 (in Singapore) Elsewhere by subscription only MITA(P) 047/08/97
    19 words
  • 604 1  -  Interim measure pending full curriculum review By Sandra Davie SCHOOLCHILDREN will have their syllabuses cut by 10 to 30 per cent across the board at all levels from next year, Education Minister Teo Chee Hean announced on Thursday in Parliament.
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  • 114 1 SHIVERING, wet and shirtless, these five suspected illegal immigrants were caught 5.6 km off the Katong shoreline by a Police Coast Guard patrol boat early on Tuesday morning. Armed with just a wooden oar each, they were apparently trying to row their way to Singapore
    Picture by TAN SUAN ANN.  -  114 words
  • 291 1  -  By Tammy Tan MICROSOFT will invest “significant amounts of money” in five major initiatives to help make Singapore ONE the nation’s revolutionary high-speed information network a reality. Mr Bill Gates, chairman and chief executive officer of the world’s leading software company, told the
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  • NEWS FOCUS
    • 472 2  -  By Lim Li Hsien^l SINGLE people aged 35 and over will be'*entitled to a $15,000 CPF grant when they buy resale HDB flats from June 1. but will no longer be allowed to purchase new flats directly from
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    • 364 2  -  Lifesaver found through Internet By Allison Lim FACTORY machinist Yong Chun Ming, 25, is saving the life of a Chi-nese-American lawyer in New York someone whom he has never met and probably never will. He donated on Thursday precious bone marrow, which will
      leukaemia. Picture by STEVEN LEE.  -  364 words
    • 270 2 SPOTTHE PRIME MINISTER DESPITE the gloom of the regional currency crisis, more than 18.000 Singaporeans turned out in full force at Marina City Park on Sunday with wide smiles and deep pockets for the Heartstrings Walk. FTime Minister Goh Chok Tong set a brisk pace
      Picture by STEPHANIE YEOW.  -  270 words
    • 69 3 Singapore Everest team member and communications specialist Johan Annur, 23, attracted the attention of some of the team’s Nepalese porters on Sunday while updating the Everest web site and answering e-mail from well-wishers. The team was then near Phakding, Nepal, at more than 2,600
      Picture bv ALPHONSO CHAN.  -  69 words
    • 502 3  -  By David Miller IN Tlin on-going crackdown on illegal immigrants here, morn than 150 foreigners, most of them from Myanmar, were rounded up at two construction sites in Gul Circle and Bukit Batok on Wednesday morning. One Singaporean
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    • 383 3  -  By Edward Tang Thailand Correspondent BANGKOK Remember Wong Yuuki. the youngest Singaporean child nrodigv to be "admitted to the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin music school in 1992 at the age of nine? Now 16, he has notched another first by landing the
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  • PARLIAMENT
    • 505 4  -  AITfSPs will be required to provide ‘sanitised’ option By Joanne Lee COMING to your children’s computer terminal by year end: a familysafe Internet service without access to pornographic and other offensive web sites. Announcing the introduction of the new service for parents concerned
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    • 267 4 Simplifying permit process A FILM commission will be set up to help movie makers who want to film in Singapore. It will be a “one-stop centre” to help film companies get permits to film here, a lengthy process which drove away the makers of
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    • 217 4 THE Radio Corporation of Singapore will unveil a new 24-hour news station in October this year, announced Information ana the Arts Minister George Yeo. He said of RCS: “They can do this because they already run the 24hour newsroom. The factory is
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    • 363 4 A SlO-MILLION National Education Exhibition will be held in July to help Singaporeans know more about what makes them Singaporeans, announced Information and the Arts Minister George Yeo on Monday. The exhibition, which will be presented in the four official languages, is expected to attract
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    • 633 5 New initiatives by the Education Ministry TEACHERS are stressed and worried about the many new initiatives by the Education Ministry (MOE), Rear-Admiral Teo Chee Hean has noted. But he assured them on Thursday that they need not be concerned as tne changes would be
      File Picture.  -  633 words
    • 444 5 3,000 more can be enrolled in new facilities FORTY new child-care centres will be built this year, providing about 3,000 places for parents to enrol their children. Community Development Minister Abdullah Tarmugi said on Thursday. He was responding to several MPs who noted on
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    • 307 5 Children of returning expats THE Education Ministry helps ease the children of returning Singapore expatriates back into schools here by exempting them from some mother-tongue exams, said Senior Minister of State (Education) Peter Chen. But it can only delay the stress of the adjustment, not
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    • 450 6 Look after locals first, says MP GOVERNMENT moves to attract foreign talent are good, said Mr K. Shanmugam (Sembawang GRC), but Singaporeans who do not understand what they see as rolling out the red carpet for foreigners are disgruntled and frustrated. Citizens, he said,
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    • 302 6 Family ties and working parents WHO will look after the children when more fathers and mothers go out to work? And what impact will the trend towards dual-income couples have on family ties? Nominated MP Claire Chiang posed these questions on Tuesday
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    • 344 6 Concern over public housing in downturn THE Government is as committed as ever to providing affordable housing for first-time home buyers and low-income families, National Development Minister Lim Hng Kiang said on Wednesday. Responding to several MPs who expressed concern about flat affordability and loan
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    • 458 6 U Levy for maids up in April THE Government on Tuesday rejected calls by two MPs to defer the increase in the levy for foreign domestic maids and unskilled foreign construction workers from April 1. The increases were necessary to control the demand
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  • HOME
    • 610 7  -  About this case LAST year, polytechnic lecturer Faheem U1 Islam, 38, took his daughter on what was supposed to have been a two-week visit to Pakistan, but left her with his family there and returned alone. A permanent resident here,
      Sasaki or khadijah Faheem. Picture by AZIZ HUSSIN.  -  610 words
    • 503 7  -  BEAM BENEFITS < i r Some ways* synchrotron beams can be used: Research: Using the beams to study the structure of atoms, scientists can: 1. Develop more potent chemicals and drugs. 2. Develop new materials for industries. Manufacturing: The beam is also used as
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    • 520 7  -  Doubts also being cast on Asean’s haze action plan By Karamjit Kaur THE haze that cast a thick pall of smoke over most of the region last year burnt a more than slo4-million hole in Singapore’s pocket, about 20 per cent higher than the
      520 words
    • 319 8 Crackdown on illegal immigranfs MYANMAR and Bangladesh nationals entering Singapore can expect to post bonds as part of tougher visa require ments to discourage them from overstaying, said Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng on Sunday. He said the bond amounts can vary between
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    • 289 8 THE navy launched the first of a new family of "ships last Saturday the largest transport and training platform in its fleet capable of carrying tanks, helicopters and troops. Measuring 141 m from bow to stern 20 m longer than most football fields the RSS
      Picture by TAN SUAN ANN.  -  289 words

  • Page 8 Miscellaneous
    • 1116 8 RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL (ENGLISH) PROGRAMME SCHEDULES 1100 1400 Hours (GMT) 6015 KHz (49M BAND) 6055 KHz (49M BAND) MONDAY 1100 News 1109 Business Market Report 1115 Arts Arena 1130 News 1135 The Front Page 1138 E Z Beat 1145 Newsline 1200 News/Weather (Asia-Pacific) 1205 E Z Beat 1220 Business Market
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  • SPORTS
    • $5.5 million fizz
      • 257 9 THE S-League will stop relying on the amateur National Football League as a nurturing ground for future teams. S-League chairman Kwek Leng Joo said on Sunday that there was a strong possibility it “may open membership to the recreation clubs”. Although he did not single
        – Picture by JERRY SEH.  -  257 words
      • 551 9  -  SOCCER By Tay Cheng Khoon TIGER BEER created Singapore sports history when it presented a $5.5 million donation to the S-League yesterday. For, as Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan said: “It is by far the
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      • 415 9  -  RACING Floodlights to be installed at new home of racing By Danny Khoo THE Singapore Turf Club will have facilities for night racing at its new course in Kranji. The STC invited tenders last Friday to design, supply and install night racing track lighting
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  • MALAYSIA
    • 493 10  -  Move to reduce use of hard currencies in region By Douglas Wong in Kuala Lumpur ALL Malaysian government procurement and tenders will be in ringgit from now on. The move by Malaysia toJaaithtj way in its effort to reduce tfigiise'ijf hard currencies
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    • 300 10 Bemama KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia will commission a Msloo million <S$44 million» radar system that will enhance traffic safety in the Malacca Straits next week. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik said on Tuesday. To be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri
      Bemama  -  300 words
    • 222 10 MUAR (Johor) This is one of the two trawlers earning illegal immigrants from Indonesia that was detained by marine police on Tuesday night. A third got away. Marine police fired three warning shots after their patrol boat was rammed twice by one
      nomic crisis in decades. Sin Chew Jit Poh picture.  -  222 words
    • 178 10 and barely missed kindergarten kids THIS 18-tonne steel coil, which rolled off a lorry in Malacca, flattened an empty house before coming to a halt just a hair’s breadth away from a kindergarten with 18 pre-schoolers in it. Kindergarten teacher Ms Sapiah Yusop, 47. was holding
      The Star picture.  -  178 words

  • SOUTH-EAST ASIA
    • 432 11 AFP, Reuters. HONGKONG Medical teams have been boarding all flights from Thailand since Monday to check for cholera, as the number of victims of a current outbreak among returning tourists increased to 25 confirmed and eight suspected cases, officials said. Quarantine inspectors
      AFP,; Reuters.  -  432 words
    • 711 11  -  Suharto appointees largely unfriendly to reforms Suharto names new Cabinet By Susan Sim Indonesia Correspondent JAKARTA President Suharto last Saturday named a new Cabinet filled largely with bureaucrats and friends whose personal leanings appear to run counter to the reform pressures currently being
      —Reuters picture.  -  711 words
    • 131 11 Reuters. JAKARTA-New Trade and Industry Minister Mohammad “Bob” Hasan is the first ethnic Chinese to be appointed to an Indonesian Cabinet and is a decades-old buddy of President Suharto. They play golf regularly and go deep-sea fishing together. The relationship has been key to
      – Reuters.  -  131 words

  • COMMENT / Pick of the week’s editorials
    • 659 12 MARCH 19 1998 A MASS influx of hungry immigrants from neighbouring countries braving nature to come to Singapore illegally: That thought let alone the sight is not a pleasant one. Turning them back, thereby dashing their hopes for employment: That is a decidedly unpleasant job.
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    • 678 12 MARCH 17 1998 NOW that Indonesia's muchawaited new Cabinet is in place, the markets ought to give President Suharto the break he needs for things to work out. Lest investors, fund managers and the like become too negative. this ought to be said: It is Mr
      678 words
    • 660 12 MARCH 14, 1998 IN COMING boldly to grips with the daunting problems that afflict his country, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai merits admiration and needs support. The former he has received in full measure in the neighbourhood, which is impressed by his courage in grasping
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    • 981 12  -  By Alan John MS MAI Ho is one incredible woman. She has the most cheerful face, lovely laughing eyes and a young girl’s giggle that makes you feel nappy instantly. And there she sat, in the Town Hall of the
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  • COMMENT/ANALYSIS
    • 1055 13  -  Singaporeans spend a heady $1 billion annually on vehicle taxes and COEs, but... By Leong Chan Teik THERE probably was a time very long ago when motoring was a leisure activity. Even a symbol of freedom. But increasingly, motoring is about costs
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    • 810 13  -  Now that even obesity is a national concern, should not more support be given to the ultimate test of human limits that scaling Everest represents? KOH BUCK SONG ON MONDAY SINGAPORE’S Mount Everest expeditioners set off on their quest for the roof
      810 words

  • INSIGHT
    • 2452 14 What impact will the freeze in ministerial and top civil service salaries have on pay expectations this year? CHUALEE HOONG discusses the issue. Implications of ministerial pay freeze PAY for Cabinet ministers here has moved from being a periodicissue to a recurring one.
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    • 1163 15  -  Thinking aloud Sonny Yap THANK you, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Sh'oon. for reminding us to strengthen our social safety net. But if you want to heed the Bukit Tim'ah GRC MP's advice, how do you go about making the most of your savings ana
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    • 953 15 Fourteen government scholars are now studying in China as part of the move to develop Singapore’s Chinese-educated elite. Kao Chen finds out more about the Chinese tertiary system. Brief WHEN Philip Ong first walked under the portal of Beijing University in
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  • MONEY
    • 421 16  -  Market review PATRICK TAN. STEADY institutional interest pushed share prices higher, with property counters leading the week-long charge amid optimism that the sector may bottom out by year-end. Although the Indonesian crisis was still far from over, dealers said any negative sentiment from
      421 words
    • 1771 16 Company D*tt •Aft Net earn TV LV <Sm) ($m> EPS TV LV lets» (ctl) Asiematrix SOc F«b 24 P 2.18SL 3.2331 8.1L 13L ASJ Hldgs 20c Mar 9 P 4.582 4.522 5.16 6.03 Auric Pacific Mar 13 1 1.268 1033 1.01 0.83 Aztech Sc Mar 10 P 2.348
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    • 173 16 RIGHTS ISSUE Company Ratio Exdate Boohs close Acc 6 Paymt Easyknit Three-for-Two<TMKlOC Doc 31 Jan 7 Feb 4 BONUS ISSUE ExBooks Company Ratio date close Hup Seng HuatOno-for-fivo Feb 2 Feb 9 Feb 19 Eng Wan Ono-tor-two Feb 13 Feb 20 NA OTHERS ExBooks Acc 6 Company Ratio
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    • 77 16 ST Industrials Index The Straits Times Industrials Index rose 80.48 points on the week to 1679.11. DAY CLOSE TURNOVER Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1604.79 6.16) 1621.26 (+16.47) 1645.301+24.04) 1698.75 (+53.45) 1679.11 (-19.64) 155.031 ($223.926m) 309.477 ($571.412m) 242.481 ($390.855m) 693.434 ($895.260m) 393.850 ($538.935m) BT— MGA Index The
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    • 610 16 Payment Ex Books Pay <*) date close date Asia Pac Brew F 11N Feb 27 Mar 6 Mar 17 Avimo 20C F 16.25N Mar 11 Mar 18 Apr 3 Australand SOc F 6.4N Mar 2 Mar 9 Mar 20 Berjaya Grp 1 2.0 Fob 11 Feb 18 Mar
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    • 84 16 Company RIpM* It too AISB Thraa-for-fiva M$S.SO Inno-Pac Ona-for-ona $0.30 Matanal M 0na-for-ona#$0.20 PMt Tlvaator-two 9 MSI.00 Comppny Bonut Ittua H Royal Two-tor-thrao H Sanq Muat Ona-for-fiva Kamayan Corp Onaforthraa Lum Chanq Onyfor-flva NBT Ona-for-fiva PMI Ona-for-four Company Othort Inno-Pac Proposad ittua of ona «art for avory four
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    • 96 16 Company Plata Data Tima Tan Chong Motors C 3rd Floor 21 Jaian Ipoh Kacil KL(*****) Mar 18 2.30pm Pacific Can A 19 Cacll St #04 00 Pacific Can Bldg (*****4) Mar 20 10.00am Control Prop A Tudor Ballroom Goodwood Park Hotal 22 Scotts Rd Mar 21 12.00n STIC
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    • 408 17  -  By Chang Ai-Lien in Toulouse (France) SINGAPORE Telecom should start reaping the rewards of the country's first satellite in six to 10 years. And Sing Tel is already making plans to coordinate an orbital location for a second satellite, even
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    • 550 17  -  Property market downturn By Yeow Pei Lin THE property market, long dominated by the big boys such as Far East Organisation. may see more small de velopers coming on board as they take advantage of the slump to build up their land
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    • 178 17 COUNTER RATES Singapore dollars to one unit of foreign currency Selling Buying 00 US dollar ***** 1 6307 Sterling pound 2 6363 2 7306 Australian dollar 1 0391 1.0838 Canadian dollar 1.1167 1 1540 NZ dollar 0 8816 ***** EC unrt 1.7766 Singapore dollars to 100 units of foreign
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    • 111 17 Contract date: March 20 1998 UNIT ONE MTH 3 MTH 6 MTH 9 MTH 12 MTH CALL VALUE DATE uss S'U 5*4. 5’4. 5’4 5'4 4'4« 24-3/98 A$ 4V„ 4V, 4*4« 4*4« 4*4« 3V« 24/3/98 NZS 8V„ 87* 8*4« 8>r* 8'4 7** 24/398 STG 6% 6% '4
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    • 442 17 March 20.1998 HK$ ASM Pacific 5 50 Allied Ind Int 1 0 26 001 A'lied Oversea 054 -001 Asia Sec lot 0 75 unch Bank of EA 15 85 ♦0 50 C P Pokphand 1 29 007 COL Hole' 300 -0 05 Cafe Oe Coral 1 87 002 Cain
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    • 571 17 Mgrs Prices. March 21 Aberdeen Asset Mat Asia ltd Aberdeen S pore G'hund 002-1 053" Aberdeen Select Portfolio (it NAV) Asian Fmeo Income c uno PacAc Egmtv c unc 0915" 0979" Indonesian Equity Fund 0 722" Malaysian Equity Fund 119" Pnilipome Equity Fund 0966" Singapore Equity Fund 0955"
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    • 8978 18 iiiiiiim lj I NDUStf^li COMMERCIAL T ransaction Date: March 20.1998 I 1997 98 CutT Last Vol Day Gr's Net M Cap Wt Avg High Low Company Traded Sale ♦or000 High Low Oiv P/E Smil Price 157 185 e ACE Dynamics60c ASE NTJ10 200 US 36 unch 46
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    • 638 20  -  Launch of residential, developments is out this year Corporate resultsi: DBS Land By Kalpana Rashiwala DBS Land reported on Monday a 12 per cent fall in fullyear net earnings to $182.3 million, dragged down by $30.3 million provisions for potential losses in its
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    • 503 20  -  Corporate results By Chan Wee Chuan ST COMPUTER Systems Services proposed on Tuesday a one-for-two bonus issue after delivering a sterling performance in 1997. Group net profit more than doubled to $13.8 million from $6.3 million for the year ended Dec 31, surpassing
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    • 497 20  -  By Narendra Aggarwal THE Philippines has emerged as Singapore’s fastest growing export market, two years after the countries mended bilateral ties damaged over the execution of a Filipino maid here in 1995. Singapore’s exports to the Philippines grew 35 per cent last year, overtaking China,
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  • Page 21 Advertisements
    • 931 21 m The Slrails Times Weekly Edition iW i ill i T I i i 11^ M M wm m m <■*■ U OH-CAL IB RE TnEEDEI to build UPON 1 IA FOUNDATION The National Kidney Foundation of Singapore is Asia’s largest non-profit provider of dialysis with 1,100 patients. As a
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  • Page 22 Advertisements
    • 731 22 Poweffic millerm INTO THE NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE Requirements: A recognised degree with 2 1 years' relevant experience in business development Strong analytical skills, good business acumen and perspective Good understanding of project development and project finance Able to manage complicated business issues and make decisions in a timely manner
      731 words

  • FORUM
    • 409 23 Do not wait till situation spills into schools I READ with shock, as I am sure many other older Singaporeans also did, about the attack on a teenage boy by a gang of teenagers armed to their teeth with knives. This, mind
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    • 254 23 IS IT not ironic that personal satellite television receivers remain banned even as gov-ernment-linked company SingTel is poised to enter the satellite television broadcast business? SingTel’s ST-1 satellite will have transponders for television transmissions. The Ministry of Information and the Arts said
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    • 208 23 'Ait>ii<S Orchard Road AS THE next millennium approaches, I wppder what the authorities are planning to commemorate this«occasion. Many countries have announced plans on ushering in the new millennium. For example, I believe Britain is planning a giant ferris-wheel along the banks of
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    • 495 23 UNKINDESTCUTOFALL I REFER to the practice of film distributors in Singapore opting to release certain movies with censorship cuts under the PG rating, rather than uncut under the R(A) rating. I have just seen the movie “Good Will Hunting" (rated PG) and
      495 words
    • 504 23 IT SADDENS me to read about the predicament of Care Centre in The Sunday Times report “Halfway houses in a tight spot” (March 15). I would like to enlighten the public on the role and contribution of halfway houses to our society.
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  • 771 24 A BUSINESSMAN, who was a bookie, and a footballer were given more severe sentences by the Chief Justice on Thursday after he allowed the prosecution’s appeal. Rajendran R. Kurusamy alias Pal, 37, who had paid the maximum $200,000 fine for match-fixing, had
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  • 484 24  -  Tribute to parents By Yong Siew Min LEADING banker Elizabeth Sam added another feather to her cap when she received the Woman of the Year 1997 award on Wednesday night. In her acceptance speech during the gala dinner and award presentation ceremony at
    – Picture by STEPHANIE YEOW.  -  484 words