8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

1/32

WINNER OFW""1 i IFRAASIA M ED IA A W AR DS . B ES T IN P HO TO JO UR NA LIS M A W AR D (G O lD ~. B ES T IN D ES IG N (S llV ER ~. B ES T IN C RO SS -M ED IA E DIT OR IA L C OV ER AG E ( SIL VEmypaperultll THE BESTOFBOTHWORLDSM O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 1 M I C A ( P ) 01711212010

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

2/32

WINNER OFWAMfj lFaA A SIA M ED IA A W AR DS . B ES T IN P HO TO JO UR NA LIS M A W AR D ~ GO LO ). B ES T IN D ES IG N IS IL VE R). B ES T IN C RO SS -M ED IA E DIT OR IA L C OV ER AG E ~ SIL VEr errnmMONDAY NOVEMBER 21,2011

THE BESTOFBOTHWORLDS

MICA(P) 017{12/2010 WEBSITE: mvpaper.sg ~ A S IN GA PO RE P RE SS I-IO LD ING S P UB LlC AT IO N

Airlines splurgeto pamperVIP passengersNEW YORKFLYING has never heen sogood - for those able tosplurge.While most holiday travellerswill fight for overhead bins andgo hours without a snack orroom to stretch their legs, li fe infirst class is stress free. It's al-ways been a special place on theother side of the curtain, Now,it's getting even cushier.US airlines, profitable againafter a disastrous decade, arespending almost US$2 billion(S$2.6 billion) to upgrade amen-ities for their highest-paying cus-tomers. On the most profitableinternational routes, high fliersare being treated with pre-flightchampagne, flat-screen TV setsand seats that turn into beds.Flight attendants greet them byname, hang upjackets and servemeals on china.The lavish treatment ismeant to keep people like MrTim Carlson happy. Mr Carlson,the chief financial officer of asemiconductor materials compa-ny, has ta.ken 189 flights in thepast two years, travelling568,382km on United and itspartners.After the pilots, Mr Carlsonmight just be the most importantperson on the plane. Uni ted willdo anything to make sure anoth-er airline doesn't steal his busi-ness. Agents call him about de-lays and reroute him so hedoesn't miss meetings.First-class and business-classpassengers make up only 8 percent of international t ravellersbut account fOl"27 per cent ofrevenue, according to the Inter-national Air Transport Associa-

tion. While a round-tr ip coachticket between Chicago and Bei-jing might run US$l,OOO, busi-ness class costs US$4,000 andfirst class, US$12,000."There is a war going on forthe prof itable passenger," saysMr Henry Harteveldt, co-found-er ofthe travel firm AtmosphereResearch Group.On foreign airlines, the goodlife is even better.Emirates Airlines first-classpassengers can shower on itsAirbus A380s, and walled-offsuites come with minibars,Lufthansa has a separateterminal in Frankfurt for itsfirst-class passengers , but it'shardly an inconvenience: Pas-sengers get dedicated immigra-tion officers and are driven totheir plane in a Mercedes-BenzS-Class or Porsche Cayenne.Singapore Airlines trains flightattendants how to walk withoutwaking passengers. And at VirginAtlantic's London lounge, passen-gers can play pool , get a massageor relax in the sauna.To be sure, coach passengersare seeing some improvementsthese days, such as live TV andWi-Fi service on select airlines,But for the vast majority ofpassengers, the gap is growingbetween the front of the planeand the back. That's because theairlines know what matters tothe average traveller. And it'snot caviar."They want their luggage.They want to arrive all. time.They want the airplane to beclean," says Mr Andrew Nocella,US Airways senior vice-presi-dent ofmarketing. "Most impor-tantly, they want a low fare."A P

DPMTeo:Qualityhousingstill possibleand planning, build facilities forour residents.'We opened Punggol Water-way just a month ago and built apark around Punggol to illus-trate that we can still find thespace for good-quality housingfor Singaporeans."On Nov 10, Housing Boardchief executive Cheong KoonHean addressed the space issue,and said that while flats are get-ting smaller, the quality of livingis not being compromised.She explained that the floorarea per person has increasedover the years, due to shrinkingfamily sizes.Mr Teo, who is a Member ofParliament (MP) for PasirRis-Punggol GRC, was speakingat the opening ofthe 1.2km-Joog

By SOPHIE HONGRESIDENTS can sti ll get af-fordable and quality housingdespite Singapore's growingpopulation, said DeputyPrime Minister Teo CheeHean yesterday.Stressing that this can beachieved with planning, hesaid: "Even as our city be-comes more populated, wecan still, with good design C O N T I N U E D O N H OM E A 4

Saying 'I do' on 20.11.2011CIVIL servants Andrew Chen, 25, and Soh KaiYiing, 23, arriving in style at '1Do" Weddings,organised by the People's Association andChinese netoepaper Lianhe Wanbao, yesterday.They joined 101 other couples at MarinaWaterfront to celebrate their marriage on a datethaiforms a repetition of2011.(PHOTO: JAMIE KOH)

JANADASDEVAN

Be com e a fa n ~.o f o ur..Fa c e bo o k .... .page at ~www.fa c e bo o k. . . ..com iMvPape rSGa nd g et d ai lv h ig hl ig ht s

NAV IGATORTravelFR E EA N D E AS YIN T A IWA N -.~Get an . /!l _ ; o . ~ .ad.renalln~.rI::\l~rush in "_""."Ta i tungS EE T RA VE L A 11

Drunk man arrestedfor trying to attackSMRT staffA4Occupy Wall Streetshould morph intoOccupy the AgendaA10Let the digital-musiccompetition begin,says IT GeekA14HOME A4--AWORLD AS-A1DTRAVEL A11 -A13TECHNOLOGY A11LIFESTYLE A1 5SPORlS A16 -A17Bl iSINESS A18 -A20

IN C H IN E SE S EC T IO 'NMove over, AngryBirds; Swampy thealligator is now kingofmobile games83

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

3/32

T o reg i ,5ter, ' P , lease p , roce , e ,d toKOSE c ou nt er, l se ta n S er an go onn ex S ho pp in g M a ll, L ev ell.(Limited slots available)

Spend $120 & above" toreceive a 4-piece Skincare Set.

I L ot io n M a .' i- ic .( l. am l na te d . S - PC s .) Exfal i. 'ing M.ss.ge Gel (67ml) Sekkisei ' L ot io n { 1 O Om l)5 1 1 !- 1 1l ii :s ho. M J sk W h il e [ 7 $g }

sekklse l Supreme . Cleansing Cream (30g)I MQ i st ur iz e r ( S Om l )i R e ti ni !1 g L o ti o n ( S Om l). . E ye M :: 1k e u p R e m ov e r ( 30 g)

" C o sm e ti cs P ou ch

DAILY PROTECTION SET NOURISHING &HYDRATING SET' . E xC I U d ~ 'sp~i(ll bu y and valu~ Ki ts.

F REE SAMPLESS ekkise l S upre m e T wo -w ay Fo un da tlo n. w ith m irror sample (2gl.

AND'Purchase any KOSE products and receive aS ek kise i S up re me M a sk ( La min ate d - l- pc l."

~ - - - .

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

4/32

Home mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 1 A4mypaper

E NG U SH E DI TO R IA LC o ns ult in g E di to r F EL IX S O Hfe l iK@sph.Gom.sgEdito r Y fOW K A I CHA Ik . io~ . i@SDh.oom.sgD eputy E dito r SAR AH NGng"'@'ph .com.sgNews Edito r SUJIN TllO MA5su j in t@sph.com.sgAssistant ~ENNYGHEENews Edi tor k .nnyo@sph.com.sgBus iness Ed i tor 5 UR E5 H M EN O N

sme n o n@Sph . 5 0~ ' S_~Entertainment/ Jill ALPHONSOI i fe st v le Ed it n r l iU .@Sph.oom.sgSpo rts Edito r CH IA H AN ~O NGha n k~o n g@sph . c om . s gAr t& I l as iq n P E T E R WIUJAMSDirector pE l tenNi l@sph.com,sgCopy Ed i to r K ON G S OO N W AHsw@Sph.Gom,sgHOTL INE 6319-8880a -ma i l mvp@sph.com_S9O N T H E W E B mypaper.sgfacebook.comlMyPaperSGTOADVERTISE 1800-822-6382T O G E T A G O PY :G I R M y p @ S p h . r. o m . sgo r c a ll o u r c i rc u la t io n d epa r lm ent u n6388-3838 , M o n - F r i I sam-5pmi'~ II ~ 1Ii1 AP~r PR[lS IQ.DI" C 1 ...unL c~nON

SINGAPORE'ROUND-UPLAUNCH ' OF NEW BOOK BYLEE KUAN YEW ON' NOV 28A NEWbookby former primeministerLee KuanYewwillbejointlylaunched.by LianheZaobao and The Straits Timesat the Singapore ConferenceHallon Nov 2 8 .The book,My UfelongChallenge: Singapore's BilingualJourney, is published inseparate but similarChineseand Englishvers ions .S IN GA PO RE Z OO 'S N ILATH E E LEP HA NT TIJR NS O NEN I L A l lt ar n a , the first elephantto be born atthe Singapore Zooand NightSafari innine years,celebrated hisfirst birthdayatan exclusive partyyesterday.Hewas born on Nov 2 3 lastvsar,Guests were taken on agourmet safari tram ride at theNightSafariwhich stopped atthe Asian elephants exhibit,where the p a rty was held,

S MR T E XT EN DS TR AINS ERV IC E S ' FOR MARA THONSMRTsaid itwilloperate over-nighttrain services on theNorth-Southand East-Westlines and Circle Line forrunnersheading to the three differentstarting pointsfor the StandardChartered Marathon Singapore2011early on 0ec4.The special train service willoperate from about 1 amto5.30am,with a frequency of 15minutes.

Man nabbed for 1 1RT violenceBy GWENDOLY1\l NG

AN INTOXICATEDman passed out on aplatform at PioneerMRT station last Saturdayevening,But, when SMRT staff ap-proached his 36-year-old friend,who was also drunk, he saidthey wanted help to get to ChouChu Kang MRT station - sevenstops away.When advised to rest at thestation's staff room, the man re-fused and turned aggressive sud-denly, abusing staff membersverbally. He also kicked the plat-form doors and swung a wheel-chair that was brought out forhis friend against the passengercommunication booth on theplatform.The staff had no choice butto call in Public Transport Secu-rity Command officers to handlethe matter.The man was arrested for dis-orderly behaviour, while hisfr iend, in his mid-sus, was tak-en to hospital.The SMRT staff memberswere not hurt in the incident.An SMRT spokesman said ina reply to my paper queries:"8MRT takes a serious view of

RESTRAINED: A drunk commuter was arrested by PublicTransport Security Command off icers at Pioneer MRT stationlast Saturday night for being aggressive, (PHOTO; STOM.P)the matter as we believe ourstaff have the right to work in asafe environment, just like every-body (else).''We will not hesitate to callin the police for assistance insuch an instance."The spokesman said that un-der its standard operating proce-dures, staff members would ad-vise passengers who are drunkto rest at the stuff room. This isbecause "it is not safe for themto travel on our system",The police said that they

were alerted to the incident in-volving two drunk male passen-gers at about 7pm.Photographs sent to ci tizen-journalism website Stompshowed a man being restrainedagainst platform screen doors.Commuters whom my paperspoke to said that people whoare drunk should avoid takingcertain forms of public trans-port.Pharmacist Yvonne Zhou,24, said; "You won't know whatyou will do when you're drunk.

So it might be better to taketaxi."Mr Zachary Pestana, 21, whencountered a drunk man lyinon the floor ofa t rain carriage rcently, said he contemplatedalerting the authorities but dinot do so in the end.The national servicemansaid; "The man's friends lookesober and were there to look ater him. As long as he wasn'bothering anyone, Ithink itfine."He added; "I think it' s safefor (those who are drunk) ttake public transport than tdrink and drive."SMRT advises passengerswho notice any intoxicated passenger to alert its staff at the Passenger Service Centre, or to dso using the passenger communication booth on the platform.nggwen@spl1. com,sg

HE L PDE S K f tM l $ !# lIntoxicated: ~~m~~e zu l dePlatform: .F l g yue ta lRestrained : ~mRyue shuC on te mpla te d: ~ ~ kilo lil

Duo arrested for cheatingFairPrice of $500k vouchersBy VERENA LIMTHEY bought $500,000 worthofFairPrice vouchers last Thurs-day using a cheque which wassubsequently dishououred,The two men, aged 19 and22, managed to use only about$15,000 worth of them beforethe law caught up with them.Police said that the identitiesof the two suspects were estab-lished following intensive inves-

t igations. They were arrested inthe vicinity of Hougang Street91and Bukit Batok East Avenuelast Saturday.The officers managed to re-cover the unused vouchers,worth at least $484,000, togeth-er with cigarettes, liquor andelectrical products that the sus-pects had bought with the vouch-ers.The men are said to have pur-chased the vouchers from the su-

permarket chain's head office inUpper Thomson Road.FairPrice said in a statementyesterday that i t discovered, theday after the purchase, thatvouchers with serial numbers

starting from 607379330 to

607404329 were bought with acheque that was subsequent lydishonoured.A police report was made irn-mediately, after the bank in-formed FairPrice that thecheque had bounced, as the sig-nature did not match, and therewere insufficient funds in the ac-count, FairPrice alerted itsstores immediately and voidedthe series of vouchers.An alert was also sent out viai ts website, Facebook page anda statement to the media, to can-han the public to purchase

vouchers only from FairPricestores.A FairPrice spokesman said;

"We sincerely apologise for theinconvenience caused and willdo our best to assist cus tomerswho are affected by the inci-dent."Members of the public whoare holding on to any of the af-fected Fair Price vouchersshould hand them over at anypolice station.A police spokesman said; "Itis an offence to procure stolenproperty knowing, or having rea-son to believe, the property tobe stolen."

verena l@sph,com,sg

J V I P s willaddresscrisis fearsfR OM P AG EA lPunggolPoint Walk.The walk, located next toPun ggoIJetty, fe atures a0.6ha park which has a view-ing deck, a children's play-ground, an events plaza andtwo lily ponds.A 2.5km Nature Walk, slat-ed to open early next year inPunggol, w:i l l feature fishingplatforms and unpaved naturetrails.Noting that the Sengkangand Punggol populations havegrown, Mr Michael Palmer -the MP for Punggol East SMCwho was at the event - saidthat the walk gives people achance to "get out there" and"have some fresh air", without

FRESHAlR:Deputy PrimeMinister TeoChee Heanat the viewingdeck over-lookingPunggol Jettyalong PunggolPoint Walk.(PHOTO:JAMIE KOH)

feeling the effects of urbanisa-tion and a growing population,"And that's important, because people need space," headded.For engineer Anthony Tan35. who will be moving toPunggol in February, the newamenities are much welcomedHe said: "(The area) hasvery nice view, compared to 1years ago, when it W>lS justbeach."On concerns over an impending economic crisis, MPalmer said the MPs "ill ensure the Government is awareofwhere the shortfalls are.''We need to point out theareas where people are feelingthe pinch," he said.He added that the MPsneed to connect with theground and make sure thatthey givethe Govemment feedback on where people are feeling the crunch, sothat its reaction is faster and it can fill thegaps quicker.

shong@sph,cDm,sg

mailto:feliK@sph.Gom.sgmailto:sujint@sph.com.sgmailto:k.nnyo@sph.com.sgmailto:liU.@Sph.oom.sgmailto:pEltenNil@sph.com,sgmailto:mvp@sph.com_S9mailto:GIRMyp@Sph.r.om.sgmailto:nggwen@spl1.com,sgmailto:nggwen@spl1.com,sgmailto:GIRMyp@Sph.r.om.sgmailto:mvp@sph.com_S9mailto:pEltenNil@sph.com,sgmailto:liU.@Sph.oom.sgmailto:k.nnyo@sph.com.sgmailto:sujint@sph.com.sgmailto:feliK@sph.Gom.sg

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

5/32

mypaper M ONDA Y N OVE MBE R 21 , 2D11 A

Start bidding with The New Paper $ andstand to win prizes worth up to $75,OOO!Fo r 8 w ee ks, T N P$ prin te d in de no m in atio ns o f 1 00 ,2 00 ,3 00 ,4 00 ,5 00ca n be fo un d in T he N ew P ape r a nd T he N ew P ape r o n S un da y.P ic k up a c opy, sa ve up a nd sta rt yo ur bid fo r fa bulo us prize s.

3 0:1-27 Nov 2011

R e g a l R a p t o r B o b b e r 3 5 0 R e g a l R a p t o r S p y d e r 3 5 0

S o n y V A I O S S e r i e s-EXPERIENC'ES

S i n g a p o r e F ly e r F l ig h t E x p e r ie n c eS i n g a p o r e S u p e rc a r E x p e rie n c eD r i v e o r B e O r iv en

P la y S ta tio n 3- -I R'OME,FURNISHINGS

M~ ln S p on s or s:

C'.it '4>!/.J....."."~t ;~- O f fi c ia l S p onso r s: D 1 ' I I 6 :. U U 'I M A T E [ il ll lf E Vis i t www.as iaone . com iT NP a uc tio n 20 11 fo rm o r e i n fo rm a t io nT erm s a n d C o nd iti on s A pp ly .

http://www.asiaone.comi/http://www.asiaone.comi/

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

6/32

Home mypaper M ON DA Y N OV EM BER 21 , 20 11 A6SPEC IA l .Growing up in the

The ir fa th er s a nd g ra nd fa th er s a re p art o fS in ga po re 's h isto ry , Wh ile th ey a re p ro ud o ft he ir l eg ac y, many p re fe r t o b e o rd in ar y c iti ze ns

By REICO VVONGICAN be hard to live with afamous name, as the relativesof Singapore's six formerpresidents would readily agree .Many of them choose to keep

a low profile or even go the extramile to stay out of the publiceye, even ifit means leaving Sin-gapore for good.Small wonder, as many of

them share experiences of beingaccused of leveraging on familyconnections, or even being ex-posed to secur ity threats .Growing up with an illustriousfamily legary is no easy task, MsFatirnah Imran Yusof Ishak, the

e ldest grandchild of Singapore 'sf ir st pres ident, told my papeT inan exclusive interview."We were always expected to

be better than the rest, be it interms of academics or behav-iour, and I think it was a bitunfair," said the 33-year-old. "Itwas often a struggle and I feltvery restricted."She continued to confront

such challenges even after shestarted working.Ms Fatimah, who bas worked

mainly in the public sector, saidher colleagues would inevitablyf ind ant that she is related to thelate president. And more oftenthan not, they would label her a"white horse", that is, someonewho enjoys privileges because o ffamily connections.Many also believed that she

was stuck up, she said, addingthat "I felt t hey were always wait -ing for me to make mistakes,and anything I did wrong wouldseem more glar ing' ,"It was very difficult to goanywhere in my career," she

said. She added that her familymembers often felt that theywere under constant sei-utinvand many have chosen to moveabroad.Ms Fatimah herself will soon

leave for the Netherlands withher 39-vear -old Dutch husband.The couple tied the knot onNov 12,Her main concern after she

leaves is her 78-year-old grand-mother, with whom she has avery close relationship.

"As a newlywed, I have a lotto learn from her. She exerciseda lot of patience during her mar-

riage to my grandfather," saidMs Fatimah,Mrs Yuso f Ishak wed her hus-

band in an arranged marriagein 1949, when she was just 16years old. He was 39, and an es-tablished journalist at the time.Because of the large age gap

and her lack of education, MrsYusofIshak had to be level -head-ed and adapt to circums tances."My husband and Idid 110t

see each o ther until the weddingday," she said, "At the wedding ,he told me, 'Don't be scared. Iwill look after you and our chil-dren)."He was espec ia ll y concerned

about their children as heneared death, said Mrs YusofIshak, as he was worried thatthey would be neglected if sheremarried.'~Isaid to him; 'Don't worry,

OUt son Imran i.s already 20years old, How can I get mar-ried again like this'! People willsee our son a.nd they'd be scaredto marry me'."Mr Imran, who is Ms Fati-

mah's father, now works as adoctor in Brunei, His youngersis te r, Zuri anu, al so lives in Bru-nei, whil e his e lder sis te r, Orkid,resides in Malaysia.HE FUSSED OVER OUR HEAL THMs Maureen Wee Bee Neo, 63,the youngest of the late presi-dent Wee Kim Wee's seven chil-dren, said her family has settledcomfortably in Melbourne.The former market-research

officer is married to an Englishbanker. They have two children- Giles, 27, and Zoe, 25 - andthey are not keen to work inSingapore."Whenever Ijoke with my

daughter and tell her to go toSingapore and see if anyone canhelp her with ajob, she immedi-a tely replies wi th a resolute 'no ', "Ms Wee said with a laugh."My children are very proudof their grandfather, but theyhave their own strong prin-

ciples."Ms Wee would much prefer

that people do not connectthe dots hetween her and her fa-tber. But if they do, she wouldrather that they approach her di-rectly with their specu lationsand not talk behind her back."1want people to take rue for

who J am, and not for who myfather was. I'm my own person,"she said.Her elder sister, Ms Wee Eng

Hwa, 69, agreed. The civil law-yer said, "We don't flaunt ourconnections as Dad would have

FLAVOUR OFLOVE: Ms Wee Eng Hwa still consults her mother, Mrs Wee Kim Wee, whenevershe makes Nonya dishes as they are Mrs Wee's specialities. (PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES)frowned upon that, but we'rehappy to acknowledge them ifwe're recognised."She is proud to be intro-duced as the former president'sdaughter, especially if the otherperson has a nice encounterwith her father to r e coun t.Though their father was ex-ceptionally busy, he still fussedover their health, the Wee sis-ters recalled."Dad would buy us supple-ments, and even made us standin line to feed us cod-liver oiland laxatives," said Ms Wee EngHwa, "The one good thing wasthat they were chucolate-fla-voured!"She added that their mother

was very resourceful, takingcare of everyth ing from cookingto giving them their haircutsand ta iloring thei r c lothes.Now 95 years old, Mrs WeeKim Wee is enjoying her go lden

years in good health. She iswel l-known :for her Peranakancuisine, and though her daugh-ters are all good cooks, they stillturn to her for tips."Our parents were very natu -

ral and humble people, and theytaught us to never let Success guto our heads," she said. "We'vepassed down these values to thenext generation."A N U NU SU AL D ADAt the memorial service forformer president Devan Nair in

A BIG FAMILY: TIle Wee family (from left), Kim Tee, KhengHua, Hock Neo, Mrs Wee, Bee Neo, Hong Neo, Mr Wee KimWee, Eng Hwa and Hock Kee, (PHOTO: WEE KIM WEE)2006, his e ldest son, Mr JanadasDevan, 56, said his father was anunusual person in many ways."He hardly ever corrected us

firmly or harshly, except onquestions of grammar," he said."He spanked me only once,

for being rude to a family maid,and then spent the rest of theday apologising to me."Mr J anadas remembered the

times when his father wouldread works of English l ite ratureto him and his siblings, and en-tertain them with It "near con-cert -qual ity" voice when singingclassical Hindi alldBengalisongs.On one occasion, his father

took them to watch a .TamesBond film. He thought it was achildren' s adventure story.They were yanked out of the

cinema about 10 minutes laterwhen he realised his mistake.TIle family ended up watchingThe Sound Of Music in stead."To this day, every time I

hear Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti,Do, Ithink ofJames Bond," saidMr Janadas."What he had to give us was

so immensely rich. we neverminded in the least that hedidn't resemble the fathers OUrfriends had."C ON TIN UE D O N H OM E A 1

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

7/32

mypaper M ONDAY NOVEMBER 21 , 2 0 1 1 A7

esidents' shadow

':L: Ms Fat imah Imran Yusof Ishak with her grand-Yusof Ishak. (PHOTO: JAMIE KOH)

.:Mr Yusof Ishak (left ) and his wife (second fromlapanese Consul-General's residence to celebrate5 birthday in 1965. (PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES)

I I IANfamily has alwayspped about theirbut daughter Con--scribed her fathermes report as "de-'ambitions",rood memory sheher - who was anmd gynaecologistmed the presiden-her and her twoug to rouse him.imher on Sunday:0 to church.Ik e him and go,dy, wake up, it'schurch'," she said.

"And he would say: 'You go.You have to learn to be good. Idon't need to go, I do good workevery day.' And be would goback to sleep."r e i coW@sph .co l l 1 .sg

HELPDESK J lI 'i lJ ~AIllustrious: 'f!j':gmli~you m in g w an g deScrut iny: il'iiJJ;l~ m i q ie zh O yiRecoun t : f i l i i 2 $ . rnao shuTight- I ipped: '

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

8/32

W O r l d mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 1 A8WORlDROUND-UP

u . s . D EB T P AN EL N EA RS11TH HO UR. W ITH NO DE ALA UN IT ED S ta te s C o n gre ss. ,s up e r co mm i tt e e " g re w m o repe ss im i s ti c y e st e rd a y a bo utre a ch in g a de a I t o sh rin ks wo lle n U S de fic it s a s itre m a in e d u n ab le t o c lo sep a rt is an g a ps o n r ai si ng t ax eso n th e ri ch .T he pa ne l f ac es a ra pidlya ppr o ac h in g Wed n e sd a yde adlin e to a do pt a pla n to c utUS$1.2 t ri ll io n ~S$ I . 6 t r il li o n ) f r omd ef ic it s o v er 1 0 y e a rs .AFPAR RO YO W ilL G ET FA IRH EA RIN G, S AY S A QU IN OFORMER Ph il ip pi n e l e ad e rG lo ria A rro yo , u nde r g ua rd in aM a n il a h o sp it al a f te r b ei nga rr es te d o n c ha .rg es o f e le c to ra ls ab ot ag e, w ill b e g iv e n a fa iro pp or tu ni ty t o d ef en d h ers el f i nc o urt , P re si de n t B e n ig no A q ui nosaid.M r A quin o swe pt to po we rla st ye ar o n a pla tf orm o ft ac kli ng c o rr up ti on , i nc lu di ng av ow to p urs ue a lle ga tio ns o fc o rr up ti on a ga in st M rs A rr oy o.R E U T E R SASSAD VOWS NO EXIT ASA RA B D EA DU NE P AS SE SSYR IAN P re si de n t B a sh a rA I- As sa d d ef ia n tl y v o we d t ofight a nd die if n ee de d a s a nA ra b L ea gu e de ad li ne f or h isg ov e rn m e n t t o s to p i ts c ra c k-d ow n o n p ro te st ers e xp ire d w it h1 7 m o re p eo pl e k ill ed .

M e a n wh ile , a t l ea st t woro c ke t- pr op el le d g re n ad es h it aru li ng B a a th P a rt y b ui ld in g i nD a m a sc us y es te rd ay , i n t he f irs ti n su rg e n t a t ta c k r e po rt e d i n si deth e S yria n c ap ita l si nc e th ee i gh t- m o n th -o l d upr is in g be ga n .A F P , R E i IT E R SA FG HA N S TU DE NT S P RO TE STA GA IN ST P AC T W ITH U .S .MORE tha n 1 , 00 0 un iv e rs it ys tu de nts a re b lo cki ng a m a inh ighwa y i n e a s te rn A f gh a n is ta ni n p ro te st a g a in st a p ro po se da gre em e nt to ke ep U S t ro ops inA f gh an is ta n p a st 2 0 1 4.P ro te st ers i n J a la la ba d c it yb lo ck ed th e ro ad to K a bu ly es te rd ay , s ho ut in g " D ea th t oA m e ri ca I D e ath to K a rz ai 1"APIT AU AN C OllR T C ON VIC TS1 10 A mR MARA TRIALA CO URT i n th e n orth ern Ita li ancity o f M i la n l as t S a tu rd ayo rd ere d p ri so n s en te nc es o f u pto 1 6 ye ars fo r 1 10 p e ople in am a jo r tria I o f th e C a la bria nm a f ia , t he N dr an gh et a, A NSAreported.T h e d ef en da n ts b oo e d t he iro wn la wy ers a m id n oi sy p ro -te sts a s t he s en te nc es w ereh an de d do wn , th e c ou rt c on -v ic ti ng th em o f o ff en ce s re la te dto m e m be rs hi p in th e m a fia .A F P

Fears for ancient Thai templesAIVTTHAYA

THE ruined temples of Ay-utthaya have survivedcenturies of tropical heatand rain, but experts fear somehave been weakened by Thai-land's devastating floods andmay be at risk ofcollapse.Unusually heavy monsoonrains caused a deluge that sweptacross much of central andnorthern Thailand from July,leaving more than 600 peopledead.Ayutthaya, around 80kmnorth of Bangkok, was in one ofthe wors t-hit parts of the coun-try and dramatic aerial imageslast month showed its templesas islands in a vast lake of floodwater.The structures spent weeksswamped by the murky watersand now fresh cracks have ap-peared in some of the pagodasthat dominate the historic capi-tal, a major tourist attractionand Unesco World Heritagesite.As the waters retreat, visitorshave been warned not to climbonto the structures, in case theycollapse.Mr Chaiyanand Busayarat, di-

CLEANUP: The area around the Reclining Buddha at Wat Loka-yasuthararn temple in Ayutthaya needs cleaning up. (PHOTO; AFP)rector of Ayutthaya. HistoricalPark, estimated at least 650 mil-lion baht's (S$27 million) worthof damage had been done, butsaid the fuJl consequences ofthefloods Were not yet known."The monuments' construc-tion was not designed to carrythis much weight (of water).The floods have also softenedthe ground, making i t unstable.Buildings could sink 0[, in theworst C

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

9/32

WorldArrest of Gaddafi'sson poses challengefor new LibyaLONDONT H.E capture of COlon.el MuammarGaddaf i's son ties up an awkwardloose end for Libya's new rulers,but disputes over what to do with himcouLd severely strain the country's fledg-ling systems and structures,Saif Al-Islam, once held up as a po-tentially progressive future leader ofLib-ya, was seized in the deser t and flown tothe western mountain town of Zintan,In the shor t term, his capture may bea useful distraction from tbe growingproblems faced by post-war Libya, Butsome fear i t may simply end up fuellingfurther division or damage to the reputa-

tion of those now in charge,"This is an acid test of the NationalTransitional Council's (NTC's) authority,"said Mr Henry Smith, Libya analyst forLondon-based consultancy Control Risks."The capture presents a challenge ... Ifthey want to try Saif, then what can theydo to make Zintan hand him over'?"While Saif seems for now to haveavoided the brutal fate. ofhis father, whowas killed shortly after his capture, it isfar from dear what will happen next,Zintan was one of the western townsthat bore the brunt of Col Gaddafi's mil-itary wrath during the ear ly days of theconflict.Like many other regions, it now hasits own largely autonomous forces that

are yet to be brought under the directcontrol of the me.

NABBED:Saif Al-Islamwas once seenas a potential-ly progressivefuture leaderof Libya, buthas since beenindicted forcrimes againsthumanity.

mypaper M OND AY N OVE MBE R 21 , 2 011 A9

Western states in particular are keento have Saif handed over to the Interna-tional Criminal Court, which indictedhim earlier this year for crimes againsthumani ty during the crackdown on pro-testers.Senior members of the NTC havesaid they would rather have him tried inthe country but , for now, lack a coherentlegal system to do so'A s things stand, it is far from clearwhether those in charge in Tripoli havethe clout to take control of the prisoner.R E U T E R S

HELPDESKJfB IJ 'AL o os e e n d: m f l i i D J J l N yi Ii Ll we n 1i.Acid test: tl~:JEtEBi]; l ff,Ljue din g xin g de kilo va nBore th e brunt ~!t)'"shou d an g q t c ho n gC lo ut ! ll 3~ J O J: :t :Ji ng x ia n g I I

C a in yo u H a rn e ss the E ne rgy o fthis VoLatile Market and Surqe Ahead?

Let Award Winn[ngCoach Show youin this FREE.3-hour Seminar I di o t' s I n v. 5 1i ngGu i deHow to make the most returns in t he shortest t ime?,0 W i,y m an y in v e sto rs m ake O NLY sm all g .;n s but b ig losses'.r J H ow to m ake c on siste nt pro fits in the sto c k m arke t?,r J We a l! h c re at io n .5 in co me s tra te q i esri W itn es s ~ pro ve n s ys te m that w orks in a ny m arke t & any t i me

F ie st 3 2Reg . is t ran ISO n l y I wo r th $3991

R EG IS TE R N O W ! call 6 45 3 03 08 srns 96 8 7 1 1 6 63Em ail: S .m ln a rra A si"C ha rts c om W ebsi le : wwwAsi.C ha rts (o mSR T ra de rs H ub. 1 1 1 N orth B ridge R oa d. P en in sula P la za #1 3,0 & O"lom

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

10/32

World fuypaper M ONDA Y N OVE MBE R 21 . 2 011 A1 0BETW EEN THE L IN E SNext change: ToOccupy the Agenda

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFTHE NEWYORJ(TIMES

Y OU have to wonder;Could New York MayorMichael Bloomberg andpolice chiefs around the countryteach englishoverseasI N TE R H AT IO N A U- -V ( o! !t l' lg n ls er JTESOL t ra l l1 r ri g - ' Sui t s i l ll ~ g . :; ~T ca : e :h l n gt n gl i sh 1 0 Sp e ~ke rs o fO t he r L i ! n g1 J ~g e sT R ,A V E Lt he WORLD a n d g e t p a i d~

C A L L U ~ N O W I62213957

T Ii' F '\ C' " D E \1 Y ~~g!j5! ! L II !1_~~ ll I l; o; T!)!I~b(f"

be backing the Occupy WallStreet movement secretly? TheOccupy protests might havedied in infancy, had a senior po-lice official - who was caught onvideo - not used pepper sprayon young women.Harsh police measures in oth-

er cities, including a clash inOakland that put a veteran in in-tensive care and the pep-per-spraying of an 84-year-oldwoman in Seattle, built popularsupport.Just in the last few days, MrBloomberg - who, in other res-pects, has been an excellent may-or - rescued the movementfrom one of its biggest conun-

drums.It was stuck in a squalid en-campment in Manhattan's Zuc-eotti Park, antagonising localresidents, scaring off would-hesupporters, and facing monthsof debil itating snow and rain.Then, he helped save thedemonstrators by clearing them

out, thus solving their real-es-tate problem and re-establish-ing their narrative of billion-aires bullying the disenfran-chised.Thanks to Mr Bloomberg,the protests are growing bigger

than ever.I watched in downtown Man-h attan last week as the policemoved in to dl"ag off protesters- and several credent ialed jour-nalists - and the action seemedwildly over the top.Sure, the Mayor had legiti-mate concerns about sanitationand safety, but have you lookedaround New York City? Many lo-

cat ions aren't so clean and safe,hut there usually aren't hun-dreds of offi eers in riot gearshowing up in the middle of thenight to address the problem,Yet, in a larger sense, the fu-rore over the eviction ofprotest-ers in New York, Oakland, Port-land and other cities is a side-show. Occupy Wall Street isn't

about real estate, and its achieve-ment wa s not assembling shiver-ing sleepers in a park,The high ground that the pro-testers seized W::l.S not an archi-pelago of parks in America, hutthe national agenda ..The move-ment has planted economic ine-quality On the nation's COD-sciousness, and it will be diffi-cult for any mayor or policeforce to dislodge i t.A reporter for Poli tico foundthat use of the words "income in-equality" quintupled in a newsdatabase after the Occupy pro-tests began.That' s a significant achieve-ment, for this is an issue thatgoes to our country' s values andour opportunities for growth -and, yet, we in the news busi-ness have rarely given it the at-tention it deserves.The statistic that takes mybreath away is this, The top 1per cent ofAmericans possess agreater net worth than the en-tire bottom go per cent, accord-ing to an analysis by the Eco-nomic Policy Institute.It would be easier to acceptthis gulf between tbe haves andthe have-nets if it could bespanned by intelligence andhard work. Sometimes, it can.But, overall, such upward mo-bil ity in the Uni ted States seemsmore constrained than that inthe supposed class societies ofEurope.

The Occupy movement is aso right that one of the driverof inequality (among many)the money game in politics.Dr Michael Spence, a. NobePrize-winning economist whshares a concern about rising inequality, told me that we've see"an evolution from one propertied man, one vote; to one manone vote; to one persoli, onvote; trending to one dol lar, onvote",The resolution ofthese inequities and injustices is not smuch setting- up tents at hits orea) estate here or there, butrelentless focus on tbe costs oinequality. So, as we move intan election year, I'm hoping thathe movement will continue anmurph into Occupy the Agendamyp@sph.com.sgThis "isan abridged oersion.of the toriter's commentarypublished in The New YorkTimes yestelday.

Pepper spray: lilHI~~,jj~hujil io pen w uSqualid: llllj~~ la til deDislodge: ~ t : : zhu chORelentless: l' fi i ~9 bt l dU8n de

UNVEILING THE NEWP EA CH B LO SSOM SNew ly r enovated P each B lo ss oms reope: :ns wi th t he d eb ut o f C hi ne se E xe cut iv e Ch ef C he n Sh uI 1Won g

l rom Hong Kong, who proudly cernes on the uadlnon ot servtng aurhemlc C;J:1110ne;eculslnc.R e o pe n in g S pe c ia ls f ea tu re s ig na tu re f av o ur it es Whole Peking Duck an d Sieamed Live Bamboo Ctem< II:h "l F t h e p ri ce , a nd a 13 ca rs e a nd w ee kda y d im s um di sh es ill 2 0% of f. Or o pt f or Ch et C ha ns

Ce!ebriJ l ion Se t Me [J lJ~ a nd 1 d in es f re e w it h e ve ry 3 p"yil1g dirn:!rs~*

MARINAMANDARINiHIC;,I.. ..a.1!'"" f ""~MIII . !

f O l " ~1J0iUi. p le .l "S l! ' c a ll 6 f MS ' 11 1 1 (}f OOMII c.rl ll inJ iie ;O:f ir~ lTi

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

11/32

Travel mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 . 2 0 1 1 A1 1FREE .A ND EASY IN TA IW ANWild rides in the Garden of Taiwan

GRAND RAPIDS: When water is released from the dam at the Beinan Creek near Taitung City, powerful gushes of water rushdown the gorge, making this a perfect spot for a white-water rafting experience. (PHOTOS: TAIWAN TOURISM BUREAU)In this 13th in sta lm e nt o fa 26-part series, myp ap erftn ds th at T aitu ngh as m an y a dv en tu ree xpe ri en c es t o o ff er

ByJoY FANGTHE tropical county ofTai-tung, set between themountains and the oceanat the southern moutb of theEast Rif t Valley, is a rustic gem,as yet untouched by commercial-isation.Home to seven aboriginalgroups, such as the Bunun, Pai-wan, Rukai and Amis, it retainsan unaffected charm, alongwith beautiful orchards, farm-land, rift valleys and greenmountains,Taitung also serves as a cen-t re for adventure-enthusiasts to

engage in thrilling activities. mypaper lets you in on what thereis to do.J O Y R ID E SThe city of Taitung is just ashort bus ride away from theLuye township, whicb boas ts a.spectacular plateau call ed theLuye Gaotai.Rising sharply from theplains below, it serves as an ex-hilarating spot for paragliding

SAIL AWAY: An afternoon spent paragliding ingorgeous Gaotai is a must-do in Taitung.(the best time to try this is fromMarch to October).Once you make the leap offthe ledge, you'd be stunned bythe views. Valleys and moun-tains, as well as pineapple- and.tea-growing terraces spread outlike a carpet before you.Beginners will have an experi-enced trainer flying with them.Expect to pay aroundNT$2,000 (S$85.(}0) per ride atthe various operators that offerthis experience.Gaotai is also the spot for thecounty's annual InternationalHot Air Balloon Fest ival (fromJuly 1to around the end of Au-gust).During this time, the sky isfilled with vibrant, colourfulhot-air balloons, launched byteams from countries such asAustral ia, the Netherlands andthe United Arab Emirates.A ride is about five minuteslong, taking you up about nine

storeys high. It costs NT$500

BIKE TRIP: Taitung's 21km-long "bikeway"takes yon on a laid-back leisure r ide.per go. Tickets sell out fast themoment they are released at6 ..30am, so you'd have to headthere to queue early.Mr Alex Xu, a member of theTaitung County GovernmentTourism Department, told mypaper: "Taitung is a beautiful,scenic place. The fairy-tale, ro-mantic beauty associated withhot-air balloons and paragliding-is a perfect fi t for this place."To get to Gaotai, take a TourTaiwan Bus from Taitung Rail -way Station.SCEN IC CYCL INGTaitung city also boasts a21km-Iong "bikeway" whichloops around the ent ire ci ty.Start at Seashore Park,where you can rent a bike fromany of the rental shops aroundthe area. The tide shows you ex-actly why Taitung is known asthe "Garden of Taiwan".Cycle past undevelopedbeaches, an old train track, as

well as the Forest Sports Recrea-tional Park where you can visitLushui Bridg-e and three g-or-geous lakes.You can also take a shor ttrain ride from Taitung to Guan-shan, where a rskm bike track- Taiwan's oldest - takes you bybeautiful rice paddies surround-ed by mountains, flower fieldsand a water park.WH rrE -W A T ER AD VEN TUR EWhen water isreleased from thedam at the Beinan Creek nearTaitung City, powerful gushes ofwater rush down the gorge. Itserves as a perfect spot forwhite-water rafting.A ride along-the 12km creektakes about four hours, includ-ing transport there and brieftraining. The experience costsabout NT$700 per person atvar-iousoperators.You11 get to admire the love-ly jagged mountain cliffs, sus-pension bridges and beautiful

G E T T I N G T H E RE

Ta iper -- - : ; :- - -8 l

SouthChinaSe al'ilitUllgCity

-I

T O G E T to T ai tu ng f ro m T ai pe i, ta ka t ra in fro m T ai p ei M ain S ta tio n toT a it un g I ne w l R a il wa y S ta ti on .Fro m n ow un til D ec 31 . visitorsto T ai wa n a re e n ti ne d to g if ts . w hils ta c ks la st F la sh yo ur a ir ti cke t a nh ote l c on firm a tio n to re de e m th emf ro m T 8 i w a n V is it ors A s so c ia ti onS in ga po re a t 5 S h en to n W a y. U ICBuilding. # 3 1 -1 1 . C a ll 6 2 2 3 -6 5 4 6 ,7 oe -ma i l tbrocsin@singnetcom.sgT o v ie w pa st in sta lm e nts o f thisse r ies , v i s it lMNW.sgt rave l ie r s .com

natural surroundings. To get tthe starting point for this adventure. take a short train ride tRuiyuan Train Station.G O -K A RT F U NOver at Guanshan, a small Fkarting facility (No. 28-20, Xinfu Road, Guanshan township,tel: 089-815-008) allows you tlive out YOUl" racing dreams anpropel a one- or two-seatergo-cart, or, i fyou prefer, a minmotorbike, through a windingrace track.A round costs about NT$200per person. The facili ty also haa paintball arena. for militarbuffs. Weave past tyres and barrels as you try to get one up oyour "enemies".What a great, intense way tspend an afternoon.joy fang@sph.com.sgT his pa ge is bro ught to yo u bV theTa iwan Tour ism B ure a u a n dTaiwan Visitors Associa tion

Unaffected: I 1 ' l m~~i ran deParagliding: ;1l l '~;' jl :hu a xia ng sa nBikelrack:I 1 ' l ;T$~ zi xing che daoWh i te -wa te r r a ft in g :~ ; _ i :\ '. IJ f l ll ,j T l iLl hua !Tng

mailto:tbrocsin@singnetcom.sgmailto:joyfang@sph.com.sgmailto:joyfang@sph.com.sgmailto:tbrocsin@singnetcom.sg

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

12/32

Travel mypaper M ON DA Y NO VE MB ER 2 1, 2 01 1 A12TRAVELROUND-UP

R D D M D RA M A .C D M L A UN C H ESF E A tu R E O N T R AV E L . T HE M E SWEB S IT E R o o m o ra m a .c o m ,w hi ch o ff er s lo dg in gs to r short-te rm re nta l, h as a nn oun ce d thela u n ch o f R oo m ora m a T he m es,a bra n d- ne w n a vig atio n fe a turetha t a llo ws pe ople to se arc h fo rd es ti na ti on s a n d a c co mm o d a-tio n base d on the mes - a wayto v ie w un iq ue a n d o rig in alt ra v e l e xp e ri e n c es .I ts c a te go ri es i nc l ud es ug ge s ti on s f or s pi ri tu al tr ip s,r n cu n ta i n -c li m b i n g e x pe d it io n s ,a d ve n tu re t ra v e l. c o un t ry si deS O jo ur ns a n d w in e -c o un tr y t ri ps .a m o n g o th er s.M AN D A R IN O R IE N T AL G ET SF O R B E S A VE -S TA R R A T IN GL AS T T ue sd ay, th e Fo rb esT ra ve l G ui de - th e o ri gi na to rso f th e fi ve -s ta r- ra ti ng a n dc erti fi ca ti on s pro gra m m e -un ve ile d its list o f f iv e- a ndf o ur -s ta r h o sp it a li ty e s ta b li sh -m e n t s w o rl dw i de .M a n da ri n O ri en ta l S in ga po reha s be co m e th e f i rst h ote l i n th ec oun try to re ce iv e th e gu id e'sl iv e -s la r- ho te l r ati ng , w hi le T heS pa a t t he M an da rin O rie nta ljo in ed the A urig a S pa a t C a pe llaS in ga po re in a ch ie vi ng th eF o rb e s f iv e -s ta r -s pa r a ti n g.T he M an da rin O rie nta l is theo n ly F or be s f iv e -s ta r- ra te d h o te li n A s ia .F our o th er pro pe rtie s -C a pe ll a S in ga p or e, F ai rm o n tS in ga po re , F ou r S e as on s H o te lS in ga po re a n d T he F ul le rto nB ay H ote l, S in ga po re -m a i nt ai ne d t he ir F or be sf ou r- sta r- ho te l r at in gs i n th e2 0 1 2 F orb es T ra v el G ui de .J E T S TA R 'S S 'P O R E -H A N O IF L IG H T S S T AR T IO N I D E C 1 5J ET ST AR ha s a nn oun ce d th atf ligh ts fro m S in ga pa re to H an oiw ill be gin o n D ec 1 5, a n d t ha tthe re w ill be fo ur f ligh ts a w ee k.W ith a ble nd o f C hin ese a ndFre n ch in flue n ce s, H a no i is on eo f th e m o st be a uti fu l c olo n ia lIn do chin ese c itie s - a nd a tripthe re is gre at fo r a s h or t b r ea kJetstar's o n e -w a y S ta rte rFa re s w ill be gin a t $ 1 2 8 . Vis i tj et st ar .c o m .s g to b oo k.S D F IT E l 'S F O S HA N H O T E L T OB E C I T Y 'S T A L L E ST B U I L D I N G .SO FI TE L L ux ur y H o te I s h asa nn oun ce d tha t it w ill o pe n apre sti gi ou s h ote l in th e bo o m in gc ity o f Fo sh an in 2 01 4.T he p la n n ed e s ta b li sh m e ntwill sta nd a t a he ight o f 2 36 m,a nd w ill be the C hin ese c ity 'st al le s t b ui ld in g, t he c o m pa n ys aid i n a re le as e.F os ha n i s a c e ntu ri es -o ldbu t f as t- gro wi ng c ity in C hi na 'sG ua n gd on g p ro vi nc e. It h aslo ng be en fa m ous fo r itsf ur ni tu re , p or ce la in a n d m a rt ia l-a r ts i ndus t ri e s .T he S o fite l Fo sh an w illf ea tu re 3 2 5 s pa c io us h ote lro o m s a n d s uite s; f ou rre sta ura nts a nd th re e ba rs ; th egro up's sign ature S o S pa ; ayo ga ro om ; a be auty sa lo n; a nda n in do or sw im m in g po ol.

TEMPLE TIME: The writer at Prambanan, a 10th-century Hindu temple compound east of'Yogyakarta, (PHOTO: LYNNEHONG)Ancient marvels inYogyakartaBy LYNNE HONGIM IN a minivan travellingalong a gravel road just out-side the heart of Yogyakarta,and things are getting decided-ly, shall we say, rustic.The souud of cicadas chirp-ing accompanies a chorus ofbullfrogs. I stare out ofthe win-dow tentatively, my eyes adjust-ing slowly to the fading light.Ithink: This can't be wherewe're staying. We're in the mid-dle of nowhere.A s if sensing my hesitation,

illy tour guide, Made, smilesand says: "Hang on, just waitand see. The hotel isvery beauti-ful; it overlooks a paddy field."The wait is worth it.

A s soon as the van turns intothe premises of a private villa,the beautiful Rumah SlemanPrivate Boutique Hotel, Iamawed by the large wraparoundverandah that does indeed over-look a.paddy field.The setting is perfect for get-ting back to nature. And thereare many other wonders in storeon my four-day trip.A 45-rninute drive awayfrom the villa is the BorobudurTemple, and I delve into the an-cient mysteries of this UnescoWorld Heritage site.

ODE TO BUDDHA, Borobudur is a Buddhist pilgrimage site.(PHOTO: MINISTRYOF CULTUREANDTOURISM, INDONESIA)Built in the 8th century over

a period of about 70 years, thetemple was abandoned in the14tb century fallowing the de-cline ofBuddhism in Java, thenrediscovered in 1814., by Si.tTho-mas Stamford Raffles - fiveyears before he set foot in Singa-pore.Listed as one of the SevenWonders ofthe World, Borobu-dill is both a shrine to Buddhaand a place for Buddhist pilgrim-ages, as the temple isa Mahaya-na Buddhist monument, with

2,672 relief panels and 504Bud-dha statues.Here, the journey for pil-grims hegins at the base of themonument, which isshaped likea mandala in a series ofplat-forms - fivesquare platforms be-low, four circular platformsabove - with a pathway thattakes pilgrims through three lev-els of Buddhist cosmology.Unlike most temples, whichwere built on a flat surface,Bnrobudur was bui lt on a hil l. I

climb to the top, beads ofsweatrolling down my forehead as thesun beats down mercilessly,But, upon completing the as-cent, Iam rewarded with a spec-

tacular view of volcanoes.A stone's throwaway fromBora budur is the PrambananTemple - another designatedUnesco World Heritage site -which is another must-see,Built in the roth century, thisisthe largest temple compounddedicated to Shiva in Indonesia,and is about rskm east of themain city ofYogyakarta.Its proximity to the Buddhist

Borolrudur temple is an indica-t ion that in Java, Buddhism andHinduism were able to coexistpeacefully.At Prambanan, Isee the sil-houettes ofa collection of sharp,jagged sculpted towers standdarkly against the pink salmonskies at dusk.After dinner, Icatch the

Ramayana ballet on the premis-es of the Prambanan temple,performed on an open stage un-der the stars. The hallet isbasedon the epic Hindu tale of thesame name, set to gamelan l11U-sic and featuring .Javanesedance.Back at the hotel, I wash

C O N T I N U E D O N T R AV E L A 13

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

13/32

mypaper. M ON DA Y N OV EM BE R 2 1, 2 01 1 A13

'JUR.' Mount Merapi, which erupted last year,d Yogyakarta - killing more than 240 people -t out smoke benignly on the writer's trip.rNEHONG)

TR IP ESSENT IALSFUGHTFly d ire ct fro m S in ga po re toY o gy ak ar ta v ia A ir As ia( ww w. ai ra si a. co m J . A sea rc h f ortra v el n ext m o nth re ve als fl ig htss ta rt in g a t 8 3 3 5 (round-tr ip) .L O D G I N GT o e xpe rie nc e sta yin g a t a privatev illa i n c la ss ic al J av an es e s tyle ,c ho ose R um a h S le m an P riv ateBoutique H o te l . V i si t r um a h s le m a n .co m to m a ke a re se rv atio n. P ri ce sar e 1 .2 m i ll io n r up ia h ( S $ 1 7 2 ) a ndup .

O r, l iv e it up a t a f iv e-sta r in te r-n a ti on a l h ot el, th e S h era to nM us ti ka Y og ya ka rta R es ort A ndSpa (www.s ta rw o odh o t e ls . c om /sheratonl f e a tu r in g s t a te - o f -t h e -a r tf ac il itie s, w he th er fo r b us in es s o rle is ure . R ate s s ta rt a t o ne m ill io nrupiah.

F o r t ho se w it h a b ud ge t toc on side r, ye t wa nt to e njo y a c osya m bie nc e, sta y a t P uri A rtha H ote l( ht tp l/p uri ar th ah o te l. co m /I , ab ui ld in g w it h a c ha rm i ng b le ndo f J av an ese style w ith m o de rnf ac il it ie s. E a ch ro om ha s a v era n-d ah th at o ve rlo ok s g ard en s. R a te ss ta rt a t 659,000 ru pia h fo r as up e ri or r oo m .

2

E:HOLD: Sunset or sunrise at Borobudur, a Mahayana Buddhist monument which'eVen Wonders of'the World, is always spectacular. (PHOTO: INTERNET)

me accumulated'climb ing centu-_ e s .here, history

the volcano whose eruptionsk illed more than 240 people inOctober and November lastyear. The torrents of lava de-stroyed en tire villages near thevolcano then, lea.ving thou-sands displaced and homeless.I watch as the volcano's

vents emit gas douds gently,and seeing an act ive volcano -even one in relative repose -commands reverence.For a mare thrilling adven-

ture, you can go up the moun-tain trails via b ike tOU1"S.Ileave Yogyakarta feelinglike I have touched anotherrealm - one that almost de-mands that I return, to seemore.

ih Sleman hotel ,inutes away fromot o International:milt in 18H and, Indonesian sul-fore it was trans-boutique hotel .19 st ill ret ains tbenl Javanese styl e.: reple te with her-re that exudes a.nce taking youone era.ay, I am back onsee the sacredFire, otherwiseunt Merapi - yes,

myp@Sph,com .sg

~ The Jakarta Post reportedfluoding and landslides in

seoeral areas in Indonesia lastueek, due to the rainy seasOn.As ofpress time, no traveladvisory for Indonesia WaSi.ssued by the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. CaUl-800-476-8870 to get updates if youplan to travel there.{> The author is a freelancezoriter. Her trip waS sponsoredby AirAsia.

HELPDESK 1 ! tQ !J *f tShrine: ~Z ; shenq timMonument J7 i . I i : '@ : . l l i ' n shl yf jiB yg on e e ra :~)\ I I JS ; f1 - \ ' : yiwilng de sh f da iE r u p t i D n s :j..:,LlJj:$ h ub s ha n baa fa

ADVENTUBE VOYAGEReady for a 5 ,OOOkmtrek from Mongoliato Hong Kong?

By ROB LILWALLWHEN I was a child, I used toenjoy the thrill of going on aplane but , nowadays, Iam morelikely to complain. Just think ofthe queues, cramped seats, de-layed take-offs and jet lag.However, I was remindedabout just how comfortable

plane travel is, as Ilew from myborne in Hong Kong to the Mon-goUan capital of Ulan Bator lastweek.It was a one-way ticket be-

cause, over the next six months,a cameraman and I would at-tempt to walk 5,000km back toHong Kong. Tbe journey wouldtake us through Mongolia viathe Gobi Desert and rural cen-tral China.As we looked down at theendless expanse of tbe desert,

we calculated tbat for every twominutes we sat in that planetravel ling a t hundreds of kilo me-tres an hour, it would take us awhole day to walk the same dis-tance.I began feeling a little daunt-ed, and rather rel ished the planeride.Another reason for havingreservations about the trip isthat we are embarking on thisjourney in winte r,By the time we put our feet

on the trail, the temperatureswill be cold, seriously cold - itdropped to minus 18 deg C in Ul-an Bator two weeks ago.But I love to see a country inwinter when rivers freeze over,and hills and villages are cov-ered under blankets of Snow.It does mean, however, thatwe have to carry sturdy tents, ex-tra-warm sleeping bags and lotsof extra supp lies offood and "fuelas we walk, to endure the lowtemperatures.Our first leg will take usacross the Gobi Desert, and intoInner Mongolia in China.This will be gruell ing, . and po-

tentially monotonous, and itwill be the most empty and iso-la ted leg of the journey.The second leg will see us setoff f rom the industr ia l c ity of'Da-

tong, along a crumbling Mingsection of the Great Wall, and

ALL SET: The writer with hisgear . (PHOTO: ROB LILWALL)then we will paddle down the(hopefully unfrozen) Yel low Riv-ertoXiAn.From there, we head throughthe mountains of central China- thev're not massive mourt-tains, "but def init ely big euoughif you are on foot. After crossingthe Yangtze at the Three Gorg-es, we will make it to Guilin,from wh.er e it is a si rup le800km paddle on the PearlRiv-er to Hong Kong.Walking home from Mongo-lia is going to be a tough adven-ture, and I expect it to be ashard as, if not harder than, myprevious three-year Siber ia ad-venture, which had me cyclingto Britain, where I was then liv-ing.But the thing about an adven-ture voyage is this: I feel aliveand excited to be setting out onanother good challenge.myp@sph .com .sg~ London-bon, Rob Lilwall 'sprevious expedition; CyclingHorne From. Siberia , becamethe subject qf an acclaimedmotiuational talk, a bouk, anda National Geographic TVseries.my paper will run storiesof hi Walking Horne FromMongolia voyage. Visit www.walkinghomifrom'i1longolia.COm far mal'r on the project.

30'~N 1 ! - 1 Kf&E fr $$11504N HI( Shcflzhe-nrr $5-91i4D3N ,11K Disney fr 5621HI( Mact'l.{!I :fr $6511'H,I

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

14/32

Technology mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 . 2 0 1 1 A1 4TECHl\!OLOGYROUND-UP

S IN G A P O R E W IN S B IG A TR E G IO N AL G A M E C O N T E S : rFOR t he f irs t t im e , S in g a p o rete am s wo n a ll th re e a wa rds o fth e stu de n t le g o f a n A si a-P a c i li c g ame -d e ve l opme n tcompet i t ion ,T he win nin g te am s - fro mt he D i gi P en ln st it ut e a fT e c hn o lo gy a n d S i nq a po re - M I TG am b it G am e L ab - w erea nn ou n c e d o n Nov 12 a t t het hi rd I nd ep en de n t G a m e sFe st iv a l Ch in a , Th e y we res e le c te d f rom 3110 entr ies,A S in ga po re D ig iP e n te ama lso w on th e E xc elle nc e i nT e ch no lo gy a wa rd i n th ec on te sts m a in le g, w hic h isa ls o o pe n to independen tc ompa n ie s , b e a ti n g. 5 7 0 entr ies,A P P L E . W O R K I N G ro R E S O L V EC R A C K P R ON E . iP H O N E G L AS SAPPLE 'S I a te s t p a te n t a pp li c a -t io n s ug ge st s t ha t t he c o m pa n yi s f in din g w ay s to k ee p i tsc ra c k- pro n e i Ph on e g la ssblemish- free ,A ptly n am e d a "s ho ckm o un ti ng c ov er g la ss inc o n sume r e l ec t ro n i c d e vi c e s" ,t he i nv e nt io n c la im s a t un a bles ho c k mo un t s a n dw ic h e db etw ee n th e p ho ne 's g la ss a ndo th er h ar dw are , t ec h s it eEngadge t r epo r ted ,M O D E R N W A R F A R E 3' s $ 1 BS A lE S B R E A K A L L R E C O R D SCA L L O f D u ty : M o de rn W a rf ar e3 h as b ro ke n th e g lo ba l s ale sre c or d f or a v id eo g am e , g ro ss -i ng U $ $7 75 m i lli on j$ $l b illi on I i ni ts f irs t f iv e da ys o n s ale ,M o de rn W a rfa re 3 be at la sty ea r' s r el ea se COD : B l ac k O p s,w hi ch g ro ss ed USS 6 50m i lli onw o rl dw id e o v er its f ir st f iv ed ay s, B BC N e ws re p ort ed ,M o de rn W a rf are 2 .e a rn edUS $ 55 0 m i ll io n o v er a s im i la rp e ri od t he p re v io us y ea r,A M AZ O N L O SE S U S$ 2 . 7 0 F ORE V E R Y K IN D L E F IR E I T S E L LSAM A ZO N 'S K in dle R re , w hic hs ta rt e d s hi pp in g t hi s w e e k,c o st s US$ 2 0 1 .7 0 I S$ 2 6 2 1t om a ke , a re se arc h f irm s ai d la stFriday,T ha t i s U S $2 ,7 0 m o r e th anA m a zo n c ha rg es f or i t. T heana lys is b y I HS i n di c at e s t ha tAm a zo n i s, a t l ea st i ni ti all y,s elli ng th e ta b le t a t a lo ss th at i th op es to c ov er th ro ug h sa l es o fb o ok s a n d m o v ie s f or t he d ev ic e .A P1 M H IG H - R E SO L U T IO N iP ADD IS P lA Y S A N D C O U NT IN G , . .SUPP LI ERS S a m su ng , L G a n dS ha r p s a id th ey ha ve m a de o nem i l li o n h igh - re so l ut i o n d isp l a ysfo rthe n ew iP ad fo r A pple ,D i gi tim e s r e po rt e d t ha ta n ot he r t wo m i lli on will bep ro du ce d b y t he e n d o f th emon th by t he t hr ee s uppl ia r s.B ut i t d o es n ot s ay e xa ctly w ha tit m e a n s b y h ig h- re so lu ti on . s o i tre m a in s u nc le ar i f t he n e xt-g en era ti on i Pa d w ill h av e ar e ti n a d isp la y ,

THE I.T . G EEKLet digital-music rivalry beginBy I{Nl\1Y CHEEMSlC. fans disappoint-ed that la st Wednes-day's launch of GoogleMusic was only for the UnitedStates can take heart in this:The service may be extended toother parts of the world.And that includes Singapore,a Google spokesman told melast week.The new service for comput-ers and phones rivals Apple'si 'Tunes music store - stil l not of-ficially open here - by offeringl3 million copy protection-freeMP3s for purchase,It also allows users to upload

20,000 of their tracks online,for free, so they can listen totheir music on multiple devices,But that's not all Even morelegal digi tal-music services areon the hor izon, posing a happyproblem for music lovers: Toomany services to choose from,A Nokia spokesman said lastweek that the Finnish phonemaker plans to bring its MixRa-dio music streaming service -unveiled last Tuesday - to Singa-pore in the future.The service, which can createcustomised online radio stationsbased on your favourite songsand music genres, is expected tobe available on Nokia's Win-dows Phone 7 handsets.men the Windows Phonedevices hit stores here by year's

BRICK-AND-MORTAR LURE: Besides allowing customers tobrowse CD racks, HMV's new Marina Square store also givesthem the chance tomeet their idols. (PHOTO: JAMIE KOH)end, a Nokia Music app in themwill allow users to buy from a se-lect ion of "mill ions" of digitaltracks for $1.29 each,Late last month, SingTel alsoupdated its AMPed unlimitedmusic-download app, It nowadds unlimited music streamingfor its over 500,000 users,StarHub and Ml havepay-per-download digital-musicstores for their customers too,By year's end, French musicwebsite Deezer is expected tolaunch a paid music-streamingservice here for Facebook.Back in May, Ireported thatstreaming services Rdio andSpotify could come to Asia with-in a year, thanks to Universal,mat would ".II this augur forconsumers like you and me?For one thing, brands such asSpotify, Deezer and Rdio are al-ready known by consumershere, especially among the

youth, said Ms Nikki Chee, mar-keting manager of music mar-keting, events and licensingfirm Swat Enterprises."(So) any plan from thesecompanies to move into Singa-P01'C will no doubt be met withenthusiasm," she said,And if past price wars fromcompet it ion in the technologysector are anything to go by, youcould see digital-music servicesoffer better value in t ime, too.This could mean price cuts,more attractive bundled dealsand promotions, or both,More services might also bedriven to offer other perks ormake improvements, such as of-fering exclusive tracks andbump up ease of use (some suf-fer from clunky user interfaces),Yeolde brick-and-mortar mu-sic stores will likely have toevolve to survive.Ms Chee said physical music

stores that continue to embracnew technology and lifestyle eperiences "will grow in stature"But she said that shops canignore the increased demand fomusic on the vinyl format anvalue-added offerings such as colectible memorabilia and accesto singers,Some stares like HMV continue to give customers the chancto meet their idols. Since its newMarina Square. store opened oNov n, HMV has organisedmeet-the-fans session with Ameican singer Greyson Chance,But some digital-music services like 8ing,Tel'sAMPed are aready encroaching into this territory with exclusive artist accessItwill certainly get more diffcult for the physical shop to compete as even more digital services make their way here wittheir varied offerings,Still, nothing can quite beabrowsing CD racks, opening intricate music packaging and taking in the glossy album art,The question is: How cathose experiences be made morexciting and yet be married witthe convenience that digitatracks bring?kennyc@sph.com.sg

H E L P D E S K ftrrtJ*Y'lDigitalmusic :l!:Il:liW~~ shu rna yi n yueStream ing:"" i l i i : c hua n liuUn l im i ted:7[:~lUI!:Ii~ u xia n lia ng deGlossV:: J \ ' : ~ ' \ ' f ~uang cai duo rnu d

NYmuseum exhibits comealive with mobile appsNBWYOR/(NEW York's museums havemoved beyond the audio wand.The American Museum ofNatural His tory is opening anexhibi t, Beyond planet Earth,with a. mohile application thatconjures up three-dimensionalimages of solar systems and.spacecraft on visitors' phones,The Guggenheim recentlylaunched its first mobile app,for its retrospecti ve on artistMaurizin Cattelan.Mr Philip Katz, assistant di-rector for research at the Ameri-

can Association of Museums,said half of its member muse-ums will be using mobile devic-es in sume v.'ay by year-end,He said that a cottage indus-try of technology firms focusedon museum apps is emergingand almost all museums see

mobile technology as a part oftheir future,Last year, the natural-histo-ry museum spent US$1 million(8$1,3 million) to create aWi -Fi network throughout itsbuilding to facilitate the use ofits mobile apps: the Guggenhe-im also installedWi-Fi when itreleased the Cattelan app,At the natural-history muse-um, the effort extends far be-yond smartphones, Users canpress a button and smell themoon, participate in the terra-forming ofMars or playa video-game that illustrates the op-tions for deflecting asteroids.The museum's latest applets visitors view 3-D modelsvia augmented reality. Pointingthe phone at a picture of the so-lar system would make a minia-ture system "hang" in the air.NY T

New materialweighs nextto nothingMAUBV, CALlFORNL1

A TEAM of researchers led byMr Tobias Schaedler of HRLLabs has developed a materialwhich they say is the world'slightest.The substance ismade oftinyhollow metallic tubes arrangedinto a micro-lattice - a criss-crossing diagonal pattern withopen spaces between the tubes,The researchers say the nl-tra-light cellular material is100 times lighter than styro-foam and has "extraordinarilyhigh energy-absorption" proper-ties, reported BBC News,The material has a densityof less than O,gmg per em' -less than one-thousandth thedensity ofwater - said technolo-gy website TeclrNews'World.

LIGHT: The substance is amicro-lattice of tiny tubes.In contrast, the density ofsiica aerogels - the world's lightest solid materials - is only alow as lmg per em",Ultra-light cellular materi-als can be used in thermal insulation, battery electrodes anddamping for acoustic, vibrationand shock energy.

A G E N C I E S

mailto:kennyc@sph.com.sgmailto:kennyc@sph.com.sg

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

15/32

Lifestyle mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 . 2 0 1 1 A1 5LIFESTYLEMOMENTUkraine's'DarthVader'seeks landKIEVA UKRAINIAN wearing aDarth Vader costume madean unexpected appearanceat a city hall in the south ofthe country, demanding aplot of land on which topark his spaceship, the localauthorities said last Friday,In a video posted onYouTube, the man dressed

as the Star Wars villain isseen walking up to OdessaCity Hall 'witha plastic lightsabre, as wind ruffled hislong black cloak"I am Darth Vader," hetold a guard at the entrance,

speaking through a voice-distorting mask.Holding up his righthand, he said: "I heard thatland is being carved up inthe city ofOdessa, And thatmany deputies, city-admi-nistration (officials), and themayor have joined the DarkSide,"I have come for myparcel of land for thespaceship."The visit comes on the

heels of a controversialdecision by the municipalauthorities to distributecoveted coastal-land plotsamong just five Ukraiuiansfor free, said local websiteDumskaya.net,Although the local mayor

has admitted publicly to themistake) he has not reversedthe decision, the websitesaid,"Darth Vader" is shown

delivering his official appli-cation to a dour municipalofficial,who stamped itonce the man removed hishelmet mask - revealing hisyouthful appearance,"Iwill receive an answerwithin 30 dayswhether ornot 1can receive land onthe hills of Odessa for mylanding craft. I thinkeverything will go smoothly,as the mayor and manydeputies are (on) the DarkSide," he said,Said a spokesman: "Theapplication has beenregistered and will beconsidered .She added: "We are not

on the Dark Side, we arelight-side people,"AGENCIES~ To watch the "ideo, oisitwww,youtube.comjwatch?,,=AS.9dcN.1 Im7lk

M A N I C M U M M YTill we meet again, in 2015By CL'ffiA CHOWI2007, acting on a whim, Irounded up all the youngmothers I worked with inthe newsroom as an arts report-er, and organised a mega mum-mies' outing.Back then, there was only a

handful ofus in the features sec-tion, trying to balance the irregu-lar hours of journalism withfirst-time motherhood. My sonJulian was not yet two years old,and a couple of close colleagueshad just given birth.In particular, our gamine

friend, MsT, had complained ofbeing cooped up athome duringher maternity leave, Together,we had hatched the idea of agathering over brunch, sa thatshe could put on something chicand pretty, and leave the houseto preserve her sanity.And soit was that fivemoth-

ers - with infants, toddlers andhusbands in tow - descended up-on the then newlyopened Mimo-lette restaurant in Green Fair-

ways. While the dads ably jig-gled the tots on their knees,while swapping burping tips,the mums relaxed over drinksand cooed overone another's ba-bies.It's a.moment in time we alltreasure, Ihave the pictures of

us - stylish, smiling and proudlyholding up our kids - on Face-Book to prove it.So, recently, when Iheard

that Mimole.tte has been madeover into a Marmalade Pantry, Idecided to organise a reunion,We invited the girls in our workcircle who had become mothersin the intervening years, too, Isent out the e-invites months inadvance. It's nojoke trying to co-ordinate the schedules of half adozen families.Finally, the day of the reun-

ion rolled.around. And the heav-ens opened, Trying to wrestletwo umbrellas and two sunsfrom the muddy open-air car-park into the restaurant, Ide-spaired that anyone would turnup. For a while, Isat alone atthe long table for 18 I had re-served and felt a little foolish.Then, Y , uber-mum of two,

arrived. Four years ago, at thefirst mummies' outing) her new-born daughter had been asleepthroughout inher pram in a , cor-ner. Now, the precocious nurs-

ery kid dangled gymnasticallyfrom the back ofchairs a la thewell-loved children's-book char-acter Eloise,And four years ago, K hadbeen telling me how much shehated kids and wanted to swatthem when they irritated her inpublic. But there she was, hug-ging her 22-mouth-old. son ashe sat excitedly in a high chair.Ms T, who has added a20-month-old daughter to heraccomplishments a fewyears af-ter hankering to be liberatedfrom maternity house arrest,was sitting with infinite poisenext to the little girl, Her daugh-ter is the spitting image of herhandsome husband - only withsuper-long eyelashes,And.the little man whom weall met for the first time fauryears ago? Despite the long ab-sence, Ms T's son is now Jny newbest friend. We sat next to eachother eating rainbow-sprinklescupcakes, chatted on and on inMandarin (refreshing for me, asmy son is not yet proficient inhis mother tongue), and giggledover photos and videos on hismum's if'hone.Meanwhile, the older kidswere running wild outside theeatery. My Julian was with Y'skids, and they were deliberatelygetting drenched in the alfrescoarea, putting their heads under

It gushing rain gutter.

Myyounger SOD, Lucien, twowas sharing flies with his "mibrother"- that's what we caK's son, as she had kindly supplied.me with her surplus milfor Lucien when I needed iThe kids' manner-isms are uncannily alike, right down to thway they munch their food.We all said goodbye afterfewhours, but not before I reaised I wasn't just having luncwith my dear friends; I wabonding with their beloved ofspring, too,A baby in my arms later,squashed the older boys to m

side and made them promise tcome and see me again at thsame place, in a few years.Catching up with other people's kids is therapeutic. Andhope they enjoyed the fuss u

aunties made over them. Unt2015, then,c larac@sph.com.sg

Ouling:M ~ J U huiBrunch: - 9 l - " l : : f ! i ' zao w u canHigh chair ji\'jlllll~ gao jiao yTMannerisms: : ' g ' t ' t xi xing

Joel Madden gets'Singa-poured' at J D gigBy VICTORIA BARKERW H AT : T he J D S et P re se nts: G oo dC ha rlo tte L iv e I n S in ga po reVENUE : T h e C o li se um a t H a rd RockHotelAT IENDANCE : Around2 , 5 O UWHEN : L a st F ri da yBOY, do the Good Charlottebandmates know how to have agood time.The American pop-punkershad such a good time duringtheir 70-minute show that, atsome points, it seemed asthough the Maryland band -most-recognisably fronted bysinger Joel Madden, 32, andtwin brother/guitarist Benji -had had one too many.Joel, who was last here inApril to playa DJ set at MarinaBay Sands nightspot Ku De Ta,was particularly loose-lipped be-tween the songs they per-formed, which spanned theirfive-album career,The singer, who ismarried toNicole Richie, went on several

off-kilter spiels, from praising

the 'ulot'her-P**ing crazy"crowd to requesting for some-one, anyo ue, to "Singa-pour-me-another-drink",Still,the tunes were ultimate-ly the focus of the show, withthe band's biggest hits, from2002's The Anthem, to 2005's IJust Wanna Live, drawing theloudest respaHse.In fact, it seemed like the

guys could do no wrong in theeyes of their audience - whichranged from kohl-eyed young-sters to the middle-aged, whohad earlier been hyped up byPhilippine rockers Urbandub -even when they mucked up en-tire songs,One suchnumber wasWe Be-lieve, from 2005 album TheChronicles Of Life And Death,which got off to a rough startand was eventually abandonedmidway, with Joel apologisingthat, in truth, the band had for-gotten how to play it."That was s: he admitted,laughing.Perhaps the party spiritcould have been attributed to

the Singapore setting, at Resorts

HA VING A BLAST: Singer Joel Madden went on off-kilterspiels, but Good Charlotte could do no wrong in the eyes offans, who lapped up their biggest hits, (PHOTO: RYANPETERSWorld Sentosa's Hard Rock Ho-tel Coliseum,After all, it was the first time

American whisky brand JackDaniel's had presented its flag-ship music programme here,and the booze was a-flowin',And the quintet redeemed

themselves when they returned

for an unplanned encore, whicincluded a cover of Blink-l SzDamrnit - a punk classic abougrowing up.Clearly, for Good Charlottegetting older doesn't necessarilmean doing exactly that.But, hey, life wouldn't he amuch fun ifthey did, would it?vbarker@sp l l , c om.sg

mailto:clarac@sph.com.sgmailto:vbarker@spll,com.sgmailto:vbarker@spll,com.sgmailto:clarac@sph.com.sg

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

16/32

Sports mypaper M ONDAV NO VEM BER 21 , 2 011 A1 6SEA GAMESROUND-UP

K L F OO TB A L L S o.U AD T O U SEA R M O UR E D V E H IC L ES ?THE M a la ys ia n f oo tb al l s qu a dm a y u se a rm o ure d v eh ic le s toge t in a nd o ut o f th e G elo raB un g K a rn o s ta diu m f ort on ig ht 's S EA G a m e s f oo tb al lf in a l, t ea m m a n a g er H a m id inM o h d Am i n s ai d y es te rd ay .H e s ai d th e s af ety o f t hep la ye rs w a s o f p ara m o un ti m po rt an c e, a n d h op e d t ha t t heI ndonesia n Foo tba l l Asso c ia t i o na n d t he p ol ic e w ou ld d is cu ssth e m a tte r b ec au se a bo ut100 ,000 ra u cous s uppo r te rs o fth e In do ne si an te a m w eree xp ec te d a t th e sta di um a re a,re p or te d B e m a m a .5%10% M O R E T O UR IS T S INJ A K A R TA D U R IN G G AM E STHE Jakarta Tau rism a nd C u1 -t ur e D e pa rt m en t p re di ct ed l as tS a tu rda y th at th e n um b er o ff o re i gn t o ur is ts i n J a ka r tain cre ase d a s m uc h a s 5 - 1 0 pe rc en t du rin g th e S E A G a m es ,re po r ted Be r i ta J aka rta .c om .M r A rie B udhim a n, h ea d o ft he d ep art m e nt , s ai d t ha t m o s to f th e f ore ig n to uris ts a re f ro mAs e a n c o un t ri e s v i si ti n g J a ka rt at o s uppo rt t he i r c o unt ry 'sa th le te s, a s w ell a s t o v is itt ou ri sm p ia c e s i n Jakarta.H UN D R E D S O F B IK E S S TO LE NF R O M G AM E . S V E N UE SL A X s ec uri ty a t S E A G a m esv e n u e s i n J a k a b a ri ng S p ort sC ity i n P a le m ba ng c au se d th eloss of h u n dr ed s o f b ic yc le s, a no ff ic ia l t old A n ta ra w ir e a ge n cy .T he o rg an i se rs h a d p re pa re d30 0 b ic yc le s f or a th le te s a n dt he ir o ff ic ia ls t o t ra v el a ro un dt he s po rt s c it y, bu t o nly te ns o fth em re m ai n a t th e v en ue s.A G E N C I E S2 0 1 0 W O R LD 9 - B A L L C H A M PS E IT lE S F O R B R O N ZEFORMERw o rld c ha m p io n O ja n goB u st am a n te o f t he P h ili pp in e sh ad to se ttle f or th e b ro nz em e da l i n t he 9 -b al l b ill ia rd sc o m pe ti ti on i n P a le m b an g la stS a tu rd ay , r ep or te d GMA N ews .The 2010 w o rl d 9 -b a ll c ha m -p io n dro pp ed a 3- 9 d e ci si o n t oIndones ian Ricky Y a n g i n t he irs em i -f in a l c la sh . Y a n g w il l f ac ec o m pa tri ot l rs al N a su ti on i n t hego ld -m e d a l m a t c h t o da . y.O P E N -W A T E R S W IM M IN G 'SG O L D E N D UO W IN A G A INMA LA Y SIA 'S H e id i G a n a ndV ie tn am 's B a A nh T u C ha up ro v ed t he y a re t he d om i n an ta th le te s in th e re gio n i n o pe n-w a te r s wi mm in g, b ot h w in n in gt wo g old s e a ch , ra p ort edSw imm i n g W o rld m a g az in e .Y e ste rda y s aw th e du o w inthe lO km c om pe titio n to a dd tothe ir 5 km go lds, B a A nh w ont he m e n 's c a te go ry b y n ines ec o nd s o v er R i ck y A n gg aW i ja ya o f In do n esi a, w hi le G a nwo n by a huge le ngth o f 1 4m i n ut es o v er V i et na m 's T h iN go c Y e n N gu ya n.

V I EWPO I N TGolden trio deserves coffee talkBy CHJA HAN KEONGTHE GAMES GUYIN PALEM.Bf Il I iGTHE true joy of watchingthe South-ea.stAsia(SEA)Games comes from find-ing great Singapore championswho livejust like us in this smallisland but possess outstandingqualities that set them apart asspecial sporting talents.They could be your classmateor neighbour, who toil quietlyand persistently to hone the win-ning traits that make themstand out.Here are three great champ-ions, not exactly the best goldmedallists of the Games, butunique nevertheless in theirsteadfast drive towards gold.And they all deserve mention inupcoming coffee-shop talkamong Singaporeans.M O S T E X H IL A R A T IN G W IN N E RSurely it must be Fu Mingtian,who achieved an epic feat bywinning the badminton wom-en's singles gold.To say i t was an unl ikely goldisto underplay the situat ion shefaced at last Saturday's final: apacked, rowdy and partisan Isto-ra Senayan Stadium, a superioropponent in Indonesia's Adrian-ti Firdasari, and a hear t-stop-ping rubber set that seemed justout ofreach for the Singaporeanshuttler.

'Boos' forCherie onher way toMasters winTOWARDS the end of her domi-nant step-ladder final victory inthe women's Masters event yes-terday, national kegler CherieTan bowled a modest six-pinfallframe with the title virtuallysealed.Mock jeers rang out from theSingapore bowling contingent,who were supporting herthruughout her final against Ma-laysia 's Sharon .Koh at the JayaAncol Bowling Centre.For the first time in the final,Tan grinned widely as she tookthe good-natured ribbing fromher teammates,Otherwise, the 23-year-oldwas a picture of oceanic calm asshe converted strike after strike,

CHAMPIONS: (From left ) Shuttler Fu Mingtian, air-rif lechampion Zhang Jin and swim team co-captain Amanda Lim.What no one inthe aren a had fac-tored in was Fu'sextraordinary resil-ience. The day be-fore, she was in-volved in a gruelling three-setsemi-final against Thailand's

Ratchanok Intanon,She could have caved in afterthe second set after she wastedbig points to let the Thai comeback and level the t ie.But she never succumbed.Even though she never led inthe final set, she chipped awaypatiently until the last twopoints, when the Thai cracked atlast to give her a 22-20 victoryin the decisive set.I t was almost the same storvagainst Firdasari , who showedequal courage by playing on de-spite an abdominal injury.The third set played out likea long-drawn thriller. Everypoint was fought with long,desperate rallies as the crowdgot more vociferous, groaningevery time Fu crept back fromdeficits.She finally grabbed the leadat 19-18, but Firdasart reachedmatch point first at 20-19. Thatwas when Fu rode on some luckas the Indonesian committed

errors.When Fu deliv-ered the winningshot, the silencethat descended onthe raucous arenawas the sweetest sound Singa-pore sports fans could hear.Fu's unf linching will to winhas made her Singapore's firstSEA Games badminton wom-en's singles champion - and anew athlete to admire and exhi-larate over.

M O S T N ON C H A lA N T W IN N E RMost athletes claim they needmaximum preparation time toget themselves into peak condi-tion for gold.Zhang Jin had 48 hours to flyinto Palernbang, defend his 10mair-rifle shooting title and re-turn to Singapore for his univer-sity exams,He could easily have giventhis Games a miss because of hisacademic commitments, but thedesire to defend his title wasjust too strong.No preparation, never mind.He did just enough, finishing0.1 points ahead of all competi-tors to retain his title. ~It proved to be the only goldwon by the entire shooting con-

hardly giving Koh a sliver of achance, as she w-On the t\VO-game final with a total of 497pinfalls to Koh's 372.It was her third gold of theSEA Garnes, after triumphs in thewomen's singles and team events.She also became the first Singapo-rean womun to win the Mastersevent at the SEA Games, sinceGrace Young did soback in 1991.

VlCTORYGRIN: CherieTan becamethe firstSingaporeanwoman, since1991, to winthe Mastersevent at theSEA Games.(PHOTO: THESTRAITSTIMES)

That Tan did so in such con-vincing fashion actually madethe victory a little anti-climacticfor her."Don't get me wrong, I woulddefinitely prefer a big win to anarrow victory," she said, "But itwould have been more thri llingto win a nail-biting victory."Earlier yesterday, Singaporeearned its 40th gold medal from

tingent, proof that sometimesdesire alone is enough to makone stay at the top.B E S T U N S U N G W IN N E RTao Li may have overshadowedan with her seven-gold featwhile Joseph Schooling showeenough talent and innate charmto be swimming's next idol, buAmanda Lim deserves kudosfor her four-gold performance.She is an ou ts ts anding swimmer who unfortunately playsecond f iddle repeatedly to hetalented teammates, five-goldQuah Ting Wen at the 2009Garnes, and Tao at this GamesBut she never showed any resentment orjealousy, and playethe perfect teammate in a highlindividualistic sport, as shownby her three relay golds.Eloquent during interviewsshe also played the swim team'co-captain role to a tee andjudging by her teammates' wilcheers when she won her 50mfrees tyle, she is a popular presence in the team as well.Here's a winner who doenot get on anyone's nerves, wita heart of gold that deservesmore approval from Singapo-reans. More coffee, please.hankeong@sph.com.sg

HELPDESKf t t I f J *ASteadfas t i l: E ~ jia n din g deVociferous:l @ " i ! ! I' a 9 xuan hu a deUnflinching:::rilHlii~ bu lui suo deKudos:M.tiX,~~1~HiIidul c he ng. jiu de za n ya ng

M ED AL TALLYC O U N T R Y G S _:[I ndones ia Hi1 1 2 5 1 16Tha i land 95 82 1 0 5Vie tnam 84 8 3 8 9Malays ia 52 45 70S i ngapo re 4 1 43 7 1Phi l ippines 2 5 47 6 8Mya nma r 11 2 3 2 8Laos 8 6 3 5Cambod ia 3 11 2 0Tirnor -Leste 1 1 IIBrune i 0 2 7an unexpected source - bridge,The women's duo of SeeChoon Cheng and Tan Yoke Laemerged champions inthe women's Open pairs competition.C H IA H AN K EO NG

mailto:hankeong@sph.com.sgmailto:hankeong@sph.com.sg

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

17/32

Sports fnypaper M ONDA Y N OVE MBE R 21 . 2 011 A17L O C K Y E R R E T IR E S IN G L O R Y AA US T R A U A C R U S H E N G L A N DPORTSROUND-UP

P A R K M A T C H E S G A L A F TE RT IT L E H O lD E R S T H IR D R O UN DS O UT H K o re a n P a rk H e e Youngf ir e d he r s e c o nd t hr e e -u nde r -p a r69 in a ro w la s t S a turda y tom a tc h G e rm a n y's S a nd ra G a ltar th e le a d a fte r th re e ro un dso f t he L P G A T i tle h ol de rsto urn am en t B oth a re o n a to ta lat seven -unde r 2 0 9 g o in g i n tot he f in e I r ou n d,

T R O UB LE D IN T E R E AR N , O N t YT HE IR T H IR D W IN O F S E A SO NB A RC A S N A P A T R E A L 'S H E E LSW IT H 4 - 0 W IN O VE R Z A R A G OZ AB ARC ELON A k e pt t he p re s su reo n le a g u e -I ea di n g R e a l M a dr ida ft er b e ati n g R e a l Z a ra g oz a 4 -0in th e S pa n is h P rim e r L i ga l a stS at ur - d av , a s R e a l re s po n de dw it h a h a rd -f o ug ht 3- 2 successo v er V a le n ci a in th eir la te r m a tc ht o p re s erv e t he ir t hr ee - po i nt l ea d ,R e a l b a tt le d ha rd ag a in s tV a l en c i a , w 'l th C r is ti a n o R o n a ld as co ri ng t he d e ci si ve g o al tot hw a rt B a rc a 's o v e rt ak in g a tte m p tAfP

IN T ER M ila n e a rn e d onlv the i rth ird Ita lia n S erie A win o f th es ea so n la st S a tu rd ay a s th eyb e a t C ag li a ri 2- 1 a t t he S an S iro ,to s ti ll la n gui sh i n 1 6 th p la c e,lazio w en t te m po ra ri ly to th eto p o f th e ta ble de spite a 0- 0dra w a t N a po li. A C M ila n fa ile dto m ake the m ost o f Lazio's slip

a s the y we re a lso he ld to a 0 -0dra w a t Horentlna. l e a vi n g t hema po in t be hin d th e R om e club,A F f '

R E fE R E E A TT E M P T S S U IC ID EB E F D .R E B U ND E S U G A G AM EA G E RM A N re fe re e a tte m pte dsuic ide h ours be fo re h e w as dueto ta ke c ha rg e o f la st S a tu rd aysB un d es li ga g am e b et we e nC o lo gn e a n d M a in z 0 5 , b ut iso ut o f da nge r a nd in a s ta blec o n di ti on , t he a ut he ri ti e s s a id ,B a ba k R a fa ti , 41 , h as b ee na re fe re e s in c e 1997 . Co l ognepo lic e sa id h e w as fo un d by h isa s si st an ts i n h is h o te l- ro o mb at ht ub w it h h is w ri st s s li ce d ,R E U T E R S

AU S TR A L IA s e nt re ti ri n g n a ti o naru gb y- le a gu e c a pt ai n D a rr enL oc ky er o ut i n s tyle , w in n in g th eF o ur N a ti o ns t it le la s t S a tu rd ayb y e xt en di ng t he ir 3 9 -y ea r d om in an ce o ve r E ngla nd in th e fin alwith a 30-8 victory,A f ter 5 9 T e st s a n d 3 5 5 Na t i ona l R ug by L e ag ue m a tc he s, lo c k-ver 's i ll us tri ou s c a re e r e n de d i no ne la st glo ry wh en h e s co re dt he f in a l t ry ,A P

STAND INGSPW D L F APts

1 Man City 1211 1 04211342 Man U td 12 9 2 1291229J Newcastle 12 7 4 1 18 11254 Chelsea 11 7 32415225 Tonenham 10 7 22115226 A r se na l 12 7 42522227 Li~.'~ 1 11 5 4 214 1019B AstnnViii . 11 3 6 2 16 15159 UPR 12 4 3 5 13 221510WestBrom 12 4 2 611171411 Norwich 12 3 4 517 201312 Everton 11 4 1 6 13 161313 Swansea 12 3 4 5 12 161314 StokeCity 12 3 3 6 10 221215 Sunderland12 2 5 514131116 ftllham 12 2 5 514151111 Wolve. 12 3 2 713201118 Bolb," 12 3 0 91929 919 Blackburn 12 4 71627 720Wigan 12 3 81023 6" Do es n o t i n c lu d e C h e ls ea v L i ve rp o olma t ch

Mancini cautious despite winning streakMANCHESTERM ANCHESTER City manager RobertoMancini insists his Barclays PremierLeague-leading side will not gothrough the entire season undefeated, despitetheir 3-1 victory over previously unbeaten New-castle at Eastlands last Saturday,Mancini's team are the only remaining unde-feated side in the top flight and their impressive

run of 11wins and one draw from the opening12 games is a .BPLrecord,The commanding start has prompted manyobservers to debate whether City can match thegreat Arsenal "Jnvincibles" side of the2003/2004 season that went through the whole38-game league campaign without a single defeat.However, the cautious Italian manager willnot entertain such talk"I hope we continue like this," he said, "But Ithink in the 26 games we have left, we will reacha time when we lose a game, I'm sure of it.."A s players, as a team, we are very strong nowbut the season is long and there will be difficult

Woods finds his form to sealAmerican win in Presidents CupMELBOURNETIGER Woods sealed the winningpoint as the experience of the UnitedStates staved off a stiff challenge by theIternationals to seal the PresidentsCup at Royal Melbourne Golf ClubyesterdayThe 14-time Major champion, whoseselection as one of Fred Couples' twocaptain's picks was controversial, foundhis putting groove at the right time tomarch to a 4 and 3 win over Australia'sAaron Baddeley and give the Americansthe trophy again,"It does feel good, I was hoping itwouldn't come down to my point,"Woods said in a greenside interview af-ter sealing the win on the 15th green,'We didn't get off to a good start ear-ly, We needed to get our point, We wentout there and played really well todayand put a lot of heat on Badds (Badde-ley)."Leading the Internationals 13-9 go-ing into the final day, the US needed on-ly five wins from the singles matches,but were made to work hard to close itant,The Internationals charged out ofthe blocks early to win the first fourmatches, but Hunter Mahan and NickWatney steadied the US ship before theseasoned campaigners took over,

It doesfeel good.I was hoping itwouldn't come downto my point.T I G E R W D O D SDavid Toms blasted Australia's Roh-ertAllenby 7 and 5 to leave the USneed-ing only two points to win, before JimFuryk rolled in a five-foot putt to beatSouth African Ernie Els 4 and 3_"Iknew our guys would set tle down,"said Couples, who won his secondstraight Cup over counterpart Greg Nor-man, "The old stand-bys in the endworked well,"Woods, who credited teammate Ste-ve Stricker with helping him rediscoverhis touch on the greens after strugglingthroughout the tournament, dropped asubl ime shot from the bunker w. .thin afoot ofthe pin, leaving Baddeley a mon-ster putt to take the match to the 16th,Baddeley didn't go close and the UScelebrated their fourth straight Presi-dents Cup win at the venue of their saleloss in 1998,Woods' win was a repeat of 2009,when the former world No, 1 strokedthe winning putt against South Korea'sYang Yong Eun at San Francisco,

REUTERS

moments ahead, For this reason, it's im-portant we know we can score goals andwingames in a row,'Mancini, who nOW turns his attentionto tomorrow's vital Champions League

gTOUp game in his homeland against Na-poli, also picked out fellow Italian MarioBalotelli for special praise,The controversial forward scored theopening goal with a nonchalant penaltybefore Micah Richards and Sergio Ague-ro, again from the spot, put City 3-0ahead, Dan Gosling scored a last-minuteconsolation for Alan Pardew's side,"It was fabulous!" said Mancini of the

Balotelli penalty, "It 's impossible to thinkthat Mario will ever miss a penalty, Donask me why,"A F P

Command i n g : r , 5 ;/ O I iI Ii li T I - J j O ga o lin xiii d eHome l and : t l l .g] zO gu 6Nonchalant l ' ~ i \ l J l - J bu iT dong deConsolation: ~ !M a n wei

r! T o o f a t II' Cel lul iter! B l o a t e d ~ e s sV ! B u lg in go r f la bb y tu m m y ="=:: Ir! Flabbya r m s & thighs'r!P os t- Na ta l w e ig h t g a in

8/3/2019 MyPaper - 20111121

18/32

Business mypaper M O N D A Y N O V E M B E R 2 1 . 2 0 1 1 AlBVVEEKLYWATCH

F OR W E E K N O V 1 1 - 1 8

F O i l . W E E K N O V 1 11 -1 8

i - i i f , V ! H i f . i M I... 2_90%DQW JONfS IA

11,796.16ft-257.52ifTS:E 1005,362.94(-182.441

S TR AIT S T IM ES IN DE X

1.30%KOSPI1,839-.171-24.281

3.38%HANGSENG18-491.23(645.941

.2.60%COMPOSITE INDEX

2,416.56(64.S21

3,500------------m@. _

.1.64%NIKKEi8,374.9'11-13 s, 56)

3,200/~oh~ if I2,900 Mil. I.!.

2 , BOO " _ y _ . I - _ .~300~_+~~~+_~_+~+-+Nov'lO J.e'11 Mar May Jul Sep Nov '1

1.2630BU Y 1.3260SELL

BUSINESSROUND-UPS . K O R EA N E C O N O M Y S E E NG R O W IN G 3 _ 6% T H IS Y E ARSOUTHKorea's economy willslow more than expected thisyear on cooling domesticdemand but not so muchthatthe c e n t r a l bankwilllowerinterest rates soon,the COUIltry'Stop governmentthink-tanksaidyesterday.The US$ltrillion~S$1.3trillionl economy willgrow 3.6per cent this year after a 6.2per cent rise last year, theKoreaOevelopmentInstitutesaid.R E U T E R S