Best of our wild blogs: 24 Aug 15



How will the new Punggol SIT campus affect wild habitats?
wild shores of singapore

5 Sep (Sat) evening: Free guided walk at the Pasir Ris mangroves
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Sea Herp: An injured Marbled Sea Snake @ Chek Jawa
Herpetological Society of Singapore

Injured Marbled sea snake at Chek Jawa
wild shores of singapore

Traps – still dangerous, still deadly
Life of a common palm civet in Singapore

Clouded Monitor (Varanus nebulosus) @ Hindhede Nature Park
Monday Morgue


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New Punggol campus for SIT

Singapore Institute of Technology's intake to rise to 3,500 over the next five years
Sandra Davie Senior Education Correspondent Straits Times 24 Aug 15;


The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), set up for polytechnic graduates, will become Singapore's university in the north-east and be integrated with the creative industry cluster that will rise up there.

SIT, which now runs its courses at its satellite campuses in the five polytechnics, will have a centralised campus in Punggol, announced Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night. Residents there will get to use SIT's facilities, including classrooms, workshops and a multi-purpose hall.

"We have Punggol 21 Plus. With SIT, it will be Punggol 21 A-Plus," he said, drawing laughter from the audience gathered at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio to listen to his National Day Rally address. Punggol 21 Plus refers to the plan to transform the former fishing village into a model town for 21st century living.


An artist's impression of the campus boulevard (above) at the Singapore Institute of Technology. Punggol residents will get to use its facilities, such as classrooms, workshops and a multi-purpose hall.PHOTO: SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Mr Lee also announced that SIT's yearly intake will rise to 3,500 over the next five years, up from this year's intake of 2,000 students in over 30 courses. This is in line with the Government's promise to enable 40 per cent of each age group to study for full-time degrees in the six local universities.

Mr Lee did not say when the Punggol campus will be ready, but said it will be linked by bridges to the creative industry cluster that will be built by developer JTC across the road.

"Students can easily go from classroom to workplace and apply what they learn, and companies can go to SIT to get help if they need some new idea or some problems solved," said Mr Lee, highlighting SIT's distinctive education model which integrates work with study.

SIT aims to nurture "best-in-class specialists" - graduates with deep knowledge and skills in a particular field - and requires students to spend eight months to a year on a work-study programme designed to be more in-depth and structured than traditional attachments.

Mr Lee said SIT's focus on applied learning is in line with the Government's SkillsFuture initiative to build deep skills and expertise in Singaporean workers.

He cited SIT graduate Chen Zhangkai, 27, who went from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to polytechnic and then SIT, as a prime example.

Earlier this year, the Government announced several schemes under the initiative, including the Earn and Learn Programme where ITE and polytechnic graduates can further their qualifications while working.

"SkillsFuture will produce more success stories like Zhangkai," said Mr Lee, but quoted a Chinese proverb to stress that it is a long-term endeavour. "We are planting for the long term, planting seeds now to bear fruit many years from now."

Two Punggol residents interviewed welcomed SIT's move there, saying higher education institutions are now mainly in the west.

The National University of Singapore, SIM University and Nanyang Technological University have their campuses in the western and north-western parts of the island; while SMU has a campus in Bras Basah. The Singapore University of Technology and Design opened its campus in Changi in May.

Said Mr S. Suppiah, 35, a manager, who lives in Punggol and has two children in primary school: "It is good that the Government is spreading the higher-education institutions around."

When contacted, SIT president Tan Thiam Soon said the university is extremely grateful for the land.

He said: "SIT's Punggol campus will be borderless and integrated with the surrounding community and industry, providing a vibrant learning environment which underpins the applied learning pedagogy that we are developing.

"We will work closely with all the relevant agencies as well as community groups to ensure that the campus becomes a beacon for industry, adding vibrancy to Punggol and turning it into a true university town."

NDR 2015: SIT to get a new centralised campus
The Singapore Institute of Technology's new centralised campus in Punggol will be integrated with a JTC-built creative industry cluster said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Channel NewsAsia 23 Aug 15;

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) will get a new centralised campus located in Punggol, announced Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally on Sunday (Aug 23).

Currently, SIT - Singapore's fifth autonomous university which provides applied-learning pathways for students - has a main campus at Dover Road, with branch campuses in all the polytechnics. "We will bring all the branch campuses together," said Mr Lee.

Across the road from the new campus, JTC will build a creative industry cluster which SIT will be integrated with. Students will be able to "easily go from classroom to workplace and apply what they learn", said Mr Lee. At the same time companies can cross the road to approach SIT with any problems that need solving.

SIT will also be integrated into Punggol Downtown and HDB's upcoming Northshore District - the first new public housing estate to test-bed smart technologies. The community will share SIT's facilities, such as its classrooms, workshops and multi-purpose hall.

"So we have Punggol 21 plus, and with SIT it will now be Punggol 21 A-Plus!" Mr Lee said.

SIT was established in 2009. It awards its own degrees as well as degrees in collaboration with overseas partners such as the Culinary Institute of America and DigiPen Institute of Technology. It is expanding its intakes, to 2,000 students this year and 3,500 by 2020.

- CNA/yv

National Day Rally 2015: Singapore Institute of Technology's new central campus to be housed in Punggol
Lee Min Kok Straits Times 23 Aug 15;

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Institute of Technology's (SIT) new central campus will be located in Punggol, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.

SIT's campus will be integrated with a nearby creative industry cluster to be built by the JTC Corporation, along with Punggol Downtown and the Housing Development Board's upcoming Northshore District.

"So Punggol 21 Plus will now be Punggol 21 A-Plus!" said PM Lee, expanding on the vision of Punggol that he first unveiled in his 2007 rally speech.

The university's main campus at Dover Road - along with its five satellite campuses located in the various polytechnics - will be housed together in the new Punggol site, he added.

SIT, which was set up in 2009 with the aim to offer degree opportunities to polytechnic graduates, took in 2,000 students this year. It plans to expands its courses and have an annual intake of 3,500 by 2020.

This is in line with the Government's goal to enable 40 per cent of each age group to study for full-time degrees in the six local universities.

"Students can easily go from classroom to workplace and apply what they learn," said PM Lee. "The community will share SIT's facilities - classrooms, workshops and multi-purpose hall."

PM Lee also provided a sneak preview of how the new campus will look like, with the university campus connected to the JTC cluster by link bridges.

Mr Lee, who visited the SIT campus at Dover Road earlier this year, cited one its students, 27-year-old Chen Zhangkai, as a prime example of how SIT's focus on applied learning is in tune with the SkillsFuture initiative. The initiative aims to build deep skills and expertise in Singaporean workers.

Mr Chen took a less direct path than the average student - after his Primary School Leaving Examination, he ended up in the Normal (Technical) stream in Secondary School before moving to the Institute of Technical Education.

He then went to Nanyang Polytechnic before embarking on his SIT journey.

"Step by step, he perservered and overcame setbacks."

Mr Chen graduated from SIT last year. The director of an animation studio was so impressed with his final year project and portfolio that he offered him an internship.

He is now working as an animator.

Earlier in his speech, PM Lee also spoke of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's wish for Singapore to become a "rugged society".

He said it was key for the country's people to still be robust and tough, take hard knocks and strive to be better.

"But a rugged society doesn't mean every man for himself; we are strong even though we are small, because we are strong together," he said.

"The ethos of our society is clear. If you work hard, you should do well. And if you do well. we expect you to help others. And everyone has to work together so that we succeed as Team Singapore."

On the need to inculcate this value in the young, PM Lee explained why it was important to send them to Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) in Pulau Ubin and overseas expeditions for adventure learning and character education.

He recounted about his own OBS experience in Secondary 4, which left an indelible impression.

Nowadays, students have many more opportunities to go for adventure learning, here and abroad, he noted. Tanjong Katong Primary School, for instance, has a very successful programme - the Omega Challenge - which has been going on for seven years.

The most recent expedition to climb Mount Kinabalu ended in tragedy when the group was caught in an earthquake, resulting in the deaths of seven students, two teachers and a guide.

"We all mourned them, and grieved with their families. We held a National Day of Remembrance, and it will take us a long time to get over this tragedy.

"But we have to go on with adventure learning. Take necessary precautions, but keep on pushing our limits."

Locating SIT in Punggol 'a sensible move'
Danson Cheong Straits Times AsiaOne 27 Aug 15;

The Singapore Institute of Technology's centralised campus will be built on a site behind the Punggol Waterway. Experts say Punggol is a natural choice for the new campus as the estate is one of the few left in Singapore with enough space to accommodate it.

The move to site the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) in Punggol was a natural one, as the estate is one of the few left in Singapore with enough space to accommodate it, experts said.

They added that infrastructural developments in the pipeline will also be more than adequate to cater to the influx of students commuting in and out of the area when the campus is completed.

The decision to locate a centralised campus for SIT in Punggol was announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech.

PM Lee did not reveal when the campus will be ready or when construction will begin, but the Singapore University for Technology and Design's campus, which opened in May, took about four years to build.

Punggol residents will get to use SIT's facilities, including classrooms, workshops and a multi-purpose hall.

At the moment, the university is housed in a main campus in Dover Road and five satellite campuses across the island.

Experts told The Straits Times that locating the centralised campus in Punggol was a sensible move.

Transport expert Park Byung Joon noted that the campus will be quite big and it will be linked to a forthcoming creative industry cluster around it. "We need a huge space, and I think Punggol is the only space left for such a purpose," he said.

Addressing concerns about whether transport infrastructure will be equal to the task of moving thousands of students, Dr Park said that he is sure the Government will build new roads and provide more bus services.

There are plans to expand Punggol bus interchange, he noted.

National University of Singapore (NUS) transport researcher Lee Der Horng also pointed out that there are three unopened Punggol LRT stations - Samudera, Punggol Point and Teck Lee - located near the future SIT campus that are surrounded largely by dense vegetation.

Professor Lee added that he is glad the Government will provide other amenities in Punggol.

But NUS geographer Lily Kong said the influx of students will increase the pressure on other facilities. "There will also be spillover into the surrounding area beyond the campus itself, in terms of food and beverage and other retail, as well as recreational needs," she said.

Businesses and residents feel that SIT will invigorate the area, which is almost deserted during the day.

"On the weekdays right now, there is not much business," said Mr Ravi Anchan, general manager of Indian restaurant Curry Gardenn near Punggol Jetty.

Property agent Edwin Lim, 43, is looking forward to moving into a flat in Sumang Link, near the planned campus.

He remarked: "If my son wants to go to university, this will be very near for him."

Transport consultant Gopinath Menon added that the new campus is a chance to test bicycle-friendly infrastructure.

SIT president Tan Thiam Soon said that the "smart and green campus" will be consistent with Punggol becoming the first eco-town in Singapore.

He added that the campus would feature "tinker spaces and maker spaces" - where students and faculty can test new technologies alongside industry players.

"We will ensure that the relationship with industry is symbiotic, such that both students as well as the industries benefit," he said.

Second-year SIT engineering student Tengku Muhammad Khalaf, 26, will probably not get to study at the new campus, but he feels that the changes will greatly benefit his juniors.

"Right now, if we have laboratory sessions, we may have to go to another satellite campus. If everything is in one campus, it'll be a better university experience," he said.


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Number of GBS cases fall after restrictions on raw fish dishes: MOH

The number of GBS infections reported per week has decreased from 20 since the beginning of the year to an average of three in the last three weeks, says the Ministry of Health.
Channel NewsAsia 23 Aug 15;

SINGAPORE: The number of cases of Group B Streptococcus infections has gone down since mid-July this year, following restrictions on the sale of certain types of raw fish dishes, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday (Aug 23).

The number of cases of such bacterial infections reported to MOH has decreased to an average of three per week in the past three weeks, from an average of 20 cases per week since the beginning of 2015, said the ministry in a news release. The current number is similar to the baseline level before the outbreak, added MOH.

The decrease came after the National Environment Agency (NEA) advised food stallholders to temporarily stop selling raw fish dishes made using Song (Asian Bighead Carp) and Toman (Snakehead) fish, said MOH. In July, some samples of raw fish were found to contain GBS bacteria.

Some GBS patients had told Channel NewsAsia that they had painful swelling in their limbs after consuming yusheng, which is a popular raw fish dish at hawker centres.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore investigated the entire food supply chain of these fish, MOH said. Tests have so far not detected the same strain of GBS that has been detected in humans. "Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, NEA’s advisory to licensed foodshop and foodstall holders to withhold the sales of raw fish dishes using Song and Toman fish continues to be in place," the ministry said.

NEA, MOH and AVA will conduct further investigations. In the meantime, the Health Ministry advises vulnerable groups such as young children, pregnant women, the elderly, or people with chronic illnesses to exercise caution by avoiding raw ready-to-eat food.

GBS is a common bacterium found in the human gut and urinary tract of about 15 to 30 per cent of adults without causing disease, said MOH. However, GBS may occasionally cause infections of the skin, joints, heart and brain. Most GBS infections are treatable with antibiotics.

- CNA/xq

GBS infections fall after curbs on sale of raw-fish dishes
Today Online 23 Aug 15;

SINGAPORE — The number of cases of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infections has gone down since mid-July this year, following restrictions on the sale of certain types of raw fish dishes, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) today (Aug 23).

The number of cases of such bacterial infections reported to MOH decreased to an average of three per week in the past three weeks, from an average of 20 cases per week since the beginning of 2015, said the ministry in a news release. The current number is similar to the baseline level before the outbreak, it added.

Last month, the authorities asked eateries to suspend the sale of raw-fish dishes that use Song fish and Toman fish as a precautionary measure, after tests on samples of these species found traces of GBS bacteria.

The MOH said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore has investigated the entire food supply chain of these fish. “Tests have so far not detected the same strain of GBS that has been detected in humans,” the ministry said.

But as a precautionary measure, the restrictions on sales of raw fish dishes using Song and Toman fish will remain. Further investigations are being conducted by the MOH, AVA and the National Environment Agency.

“As a general precaution, vulnerable groups of people, especially young children, pregnant women, elderly persons, or people with chronic illness such as diabetes, should continue to exercise caution by avoiding raw ready-to-eat food,” the MOH said.

GBS is a common bacterium found in the human gut and urinary tract of about 15 to 30 per cent of adults without causing disease, said MOH.

However, GBS may occasionally cause infections of the skin, joints, heart and brain. Most GBS infections are treatable with antibiotics.

No link found between GBS and sashimi consumption: MOH
The Health Ministry issues a clarification in response to a rumour circulating via WhatsApp and SMS.
Channel NewsAsia 26 Aug 15;

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has not found any link between the Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection and consumption of sashimi-style raw fish, it said on Wednesday (Aug 26).

It posted a clarification on Facebook, stating that its investigations have only found an association between GBS infections and the consumption of "yusheng" - a raw fish dish. It had earlier detected traces of the bacteria on samples of Toman fish and Song fish.

MOH's Facebook note comes after was alerted to a rumour being circulated via WhatsApp and SMS. The message claims one person died from a bacterial infection after eating sashimi over the Jubilee weekend and that a professor was critically ill from consuming salmon sashimi two months ago.

In July, the ministry noticed a spike in GBS cases and advised food stall holders to temporarily stop the sales of raw fish dishes using Song fish and Toman fish. A few GBS patients told Channel NewsAsia that they had painful swelling of the joints and some had to have surgery.

The health ministry on Wednesday reiterated that there has been a downtrend in the number of GBS cases since mid-July, after the sale of yusheng was halted.

“MOH would like to reiterate that GBS is a common bacterium that colonises the human gut and urinary tract. While GBS does not usually cause disease in healthy individuals, it may occasionally cause infections of the bloodstream, skin and soft tissue, joints, lungs and brain. The risk factors for GBS infection include underlying chronic or co-morbid conditions,” it said.

“As a general precaution, vulnerable groups of people, especially young children, pregnant women, elderly persons, or people with chronic illness such as diabetes, should continue to exercise caution by avoiding raw ready-to-eat food.”

- CNA/dl


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Malaysia: Haze hits southern Sarawak

YU JI The Star 24 Aug 15;

KUCHING: Southern Sarawak is shrouded in haze, with pollution readings breaching unhealthy levels. At the start of the weekend, the Air Pollutant Index (API) was still within the moderate range of 51 to 100 on Friday evening but rose steadily later.

By noon on Saturday, visibility had reduced to about 5km and yesterday morning, the smell of ash was evident.

Visibility was reduced to 1.5km yesterday afternoon at the usually picturesque Kuching Waterfront along the Sarawak River, with an API reading of 117.

Over in Sri Aman, a small town of 20,000 people about 160km from here, the API reading of 125 was the highest recorded in the country.

Further north, the API was 92 in Sibu and 90 in Miri.

According to satellite imagery from the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre, no hotspots were detected within Sarawak.

But this could be due to cloud cover. Data showed that most of the haze was transboundary, with as many as 85 hotspots detected in Borneo on Friday, which reduced to 35 yesterday.

“Drier weather conditions over the region in the past few days led to an escalation in the number of hotspots,” according to the latest report from the Singapore-based centre. The report stated that dry weather conditions were likely to persist in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

“Under prevailing wind conditions, transboundary smoke haze is likely to affect other parts of the region should the hotspot activities continue to persist,” it added.

Since Aug 18, the centre has categorised South-East Asia at “Alert Level Two”, the second most severe level. It indicates moderate to dense haze is likely to occur.

Since July, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have been receiving lower than normal rainfall which is partly due to the prevailing El Nino conditions.

A Malaysian Meteorological Department seasonal forecast stated that there was a 90% probability for moderate levels of El Nino conditions to continue well into March or April next year.

The worst affected areas will be in southern Sarawak. The department said Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman, Betong and parts of Sibu, Bintulu and Mukah would experience slightly drier weather in September.

The average monthly rainfall forecast until September is between 130mm and 190mm. This estimated reduction translates to between 20% and 40% less compared with the long-term average rainfall amount.


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