//beconfused

Great news for Buangkok citizens. SBS Transit has given the go-ahead to open the once white-elephanted station.

(Eight of these white elephants are spotted at Buangkok MRT Station.)

Buangkok finally joins NEL

AFTER two-and-a-half years of population surveys, appeals and a recent placard protest, the gates to the $80-million Buangkok MRT station will be opened by mid-January.

Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong made this announcement after an event at Changi Airport Friday.

Said Mr Yeo: “We have asked SBS Transit, in lieu of their reduced losses on the Northeast Line (NEL), to consider opening the station.”

Source: TODAY (Singapore) newspaper

Previously, it was considered to be unprofitable to open Buangkok MRT station. But they’ve decided to open it anyway since the citizens are probably flooding their customer response inbox with curses and other assorts.

[EDIT: Opps, missed out my source. ]

In response to yesterday’s news regarding the women’s head found in Orchard, there has been new developments.

*Body parts discovery in Singapore: Filipina worker nabbed*

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested a Filipina domestic worker in relation to the grisly discovery of body parts near Orchard MRT station and at MacRitchie Reservoir on Friday.

A police spokesperson said the arrest was made within 12 hours, at 12.40 am Saturday.

The 29-year-old suspect was arrested at her employer’s flat in Serangoon Avenue 2.

Some red plastic bags and a chopper were seized.

Based on the investigation, police believe that the 26-year-old victim is a fellow Filipina domestic worker known to the suspect.

Police added that they are working on the possibility that all the body parts found on Friday are from the same person, although that will still have to be verified by tests and analysis still being conducted by the Health Sciences Authority.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

It’s some maid incident again. Is it just me or are there an increase of news regarding maids. There used to be a time when having a maid is a status of wealth and life becomes so much easier. Nowadays, it would seem that one should consider not hiring a maid.

My mother just called and tell me not to go to Orchard. She says a woman’s head is found in a red plastic bag behind the MRT station an hour ago.

Woman’s head, limbs found in bag near Orchard MRT station

SINGAPORE : A woman’s severed head and limbs were found next to Orchard MRT Station on Friday.

Police are investigating if a woman’s torso found in a black canvas bag along a path near MacRitchie Reservoir is linked to the body parts found earlier at Orchard Road.

The police had responded to a call about an unattended bag at MacRitichie Reservoir earlier in the evening.

The body parts were stashed in a blue sports bag on the grounds near Orchard MRT Station.

The woman’s head was wrapped in a red plastic bag, the arms and legs in two black trash bags.

A cleaner found the unattended sports bag behind the MRT station, between the mosaic wall and the park.

White sheets have been used to screen off the area, so CID officers can investigate the scene.

Two units of anti-riot police are also at Orchard Road to control a crowd of more than 50 onlookers.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

Gross and scary. I’ll be going to Raffles now.

[Edit: The news article has been updated.]

In Singapore, we have this train system that is called MRT, it stands for Mass Rapid Transit. [By the way, I still feel it is not rapid enough actually.]

A couple of years back, the North East line is completed, most of the stations opened except Buangkok MRT Station and another one I think. For Buangkok MRT Station, the reason cited for its closure is the lack of demand. It’s about economics, you see.

_(Eight of these white elephants are spotted at Buangkok MRT Station.)_

The residents staying around there is particularly upset about it. So when a minister decides to visit, they decide to show him their displeasure by some cute art work.

*Residents bring up ‘white elephant’ Buangkok MRT during minister’s visit*

SINGAPORE : Punggol South residents have tried again to get Buangkok MRT Station opened — in not so many words, but the message was just as clear.

Eight white elephants were erected at the station to indicate just what they thought the MRT station is now.

They did this during Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s visit to the area on Sunday.

At the start of his visit, Dr Balakrishnan got to see how Punggol South, which used to be a fishing village, has grown to become an urban, modern town.

Along the way was an unexpected sight — eight white cardboard elephants in various poses lined the road that leads to Buangkok MRT station.

And the message was not lost on the minister.

Said Dr Balakrishnan, “I saw eight white elephants on the roadside leading up to the station. I think there’s a message which some residents wanted to send to me. I thought since I’m there I might as well take a look at the station.”

The issue of Buangkok Station was also brought up at a dialogue with residents later.

Read more at ChannelNewsAsia.com

Well, I certainly hope that white elephant station opens soon. Perhaps rename it to White Elephant MRT Station too.

I left my house at 7:40 AM hoping that I won’t be late. There was a slight drizzle but I was lazy to get the umbrella out of my bag. I walked to the MRT station. It felt like going to school (Singapore Polytechnic), only that I didn’t stop in Dover station but went 1 station ahead to Buona Vista MRT Station.

Buona Vista – that’s the area I work at. I alighted. You know this thing about morning crowds? Everyone just tries to rush to work. Singaporeans must have been a hardworking bunch. Or perhaps they just woke late you know.

When the train door opens, everybody just rushes out of the train. It’s amazing how people manage to squeeze out from the train. It’s like there is an explosion or something and everyone just got pushed out of the train interiors.

I walked towards the stairs and this lady bumped onto me. I walked aside and was prepared to apologize even though it’s not my fault in the first place. She looked at me angrily as if I offended her and her ancesters.

“‘xcuse me,” she said. [That means "Excuse me" by the way, some people just shorten it into "'xcuse me" - pronounced as 'skews me'.] She was displeased. Hence my conclusion – when they’re rushing to go to their workplaces, many people just forget to bring a couple of things, and one of which would probably be their courtesy.

Creative’s Muvo2 is taken advantage of? Let’s see, the mini hard disks are being removed from the players and later sold at a higher price. “Blunder,” I thought.

Let’s see.. hmmmp.. I wonder where to get a Muvo2, lol. Okay, I am done with the article.
Please flip.

Hey, why are you reading so slowly. I finished reading already, you tortoise. Finally. Good work, you flipped. What’s there now? Digital cameras. Let’s see, the Canon IXUS.. hmmmp..

Wait! Don’t flip. That’s interesting read. Damn you. You’re flipping again. What the hell. How do you expect me to read like that.

Do you know what the paper is for? You can’t possibly have just bought the paper to flip. Oh no, you closed the paper. I can’t read. Damn you. I was hoping to read the article on digital cameras. Why can’t you just let me?Situation: Attempting to read a fellow passenger’s newspaper without his or her permission in the train I ride to school.

Okay, the paper guy alight one train station before mine. No more papers. No wonder he was flipping at such a speed. I doubt he suspected that I was reading his paper from behind him.

Ever since two of the largest media companies in Singapore offered free newspapers on weekdays, reading news in the train has became a rather common thing. Likewise, reading other’s newspaper in the train has became an equally common thing.

It’s hard to get these papers, they’re rare items. The paper guy I mentioned was reading Computer Times; it is a free weekly publication as part of The Straits Times which is a paid paper. I have been using other people’s things without their permission.

I look at their newspapers. I look at their watches. I even peeped at another student’s university notes realizing she belongs to a similar field as me and I understood her notes. [The notes is about carbohydrate structures.]

I just want to thank these people, who have unknowingly supported me for years. They prevent me from getting bored at trains.

The people are complaining again! You see, local newspapers has increased their pricings by 20 cents on news stands and 10 cents on subscription based papers.

Local press – Singapore Press Holdings – announced such bold moves a week ago and it has gone onto effect already. The increment of newspaper cost is the worst thing to welcome the lunar new year with. And Singaporeans, being Singaporeans, voiced their opinions out rather critically.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has seen their profits increased last year, so the price increment is basically made to earn more cash. SPHalso operates the money-losing television station – Mediaworks. SPH’s top-selling paper is The Straits Times.

The clear rival for SPH is MediaCorp, which does television as well. MediaCorp also has a newspaper called TODAY. TODAY is a free daily newspaper, it’s a joint venture by 3 companies I think. I think it’s MediaCorp, Singapore Mass Rapid Transit and Singapore Telecommunications.

So everybody who is angry about the price hikes posted their opinions into forums. Into TODAY’s forums in particular. TODAY is so pleased about these complaints that they place the reader’s opinions on the top of their forum pages, sometimes even highlighted. Topic headlines like “Read TODAY instead of The Straits Times” can be seen.

TODAY happily ran articles against The Straits Times and SPH. I have to admit that it’s always nice to read their articles, lol…

SPH is trying to get newspaper readers to turn to subscriptions by offering a 10 cents incentive to the cost of each paper when you do a monthly subscription. Apparently SPH wanted to secure their subscription customer base. For what then?

About 2 years ago, MediaCorp has obtained a licensed to do newspapers, they rolled out of their free paper – TODAY. It’s a better of time that MediaCorp goes into paid daily publications. [MediaCorp does have a paid newspaper but it's a weekly paper.]

Both companies aren’t doing very well in the television competition. It is seen as impossible for 2 television companies to co-exist in Singapore. It’s probable one of the companies will end up buying over the television assets of the other. [I am not speculating this possible merger or buy over, the Senior Minister or some big shot commented on this.] If that’s the case, I believeMediaCorp to end up buying over Mediaworks.

Now that I completed my post, I’m wondering what spurred me to write this…