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From gang fights to mentor

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14 years ago

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David is a student of the Singapore Management University (SMU), with a double major in Psychology and Human Resources. He was the recipient of the Youth Shine Award 2010, which celebrates youth achievement. He has appeared in newspapers, his success story held up as an example for all to see.

But David was not always a star pupil.

In his secondary school days, he gang-hopped between 9 to 10 gangs, playing truant and getting into fights. He failed his Secondary 3 year three times, even after he was moved into the Normal (Academic) stream. He lost his best friend after rivals seeking revenge attacked his gang, and David was jailed for 18 months for rioting.

Upon his release, he went back to his old ways and got into more fights, attracting more trouble that landed him in jail for 6 years for attempted manslaughter.

These 6 years in jail was a wake-up call and a turning point for David, who began to pay more attention to his education. He went from a boy who could not pass Secondary 3 to the O Levels top-scorer in his class. He also scored well enough in his A Levels to gain admission into SMU.

David now works with Architects of Life as a mentor to “at-risk” youth, guiding them away from the mistakes that he had committed in his teenage years.

In this short video, David talks about his experience.

Join the Facebook group in support of giving second chances to youths like David – “We Believe In Second Chances”.

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IMDA to probe Singtel’s island-wide landline outage of 8 October

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is investigating Singtel’s island-wide landline outage on 8 October, emphasising its commitment to thoroughly examining any public telecommunications service interruption. A Singtel spokesperson described the outage as an “isolated incident,” adding that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

Published

2 days ago

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9 October 2024

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On 8 October 2024, a significant landline outage affected Singtel customers across the island.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stated that it takes any public telecommunications service interruption seriously and will investigate the incident thoroughly.

In a Facebook update at 8:25 PM on the same day, Singtel announced that its fixed voice services had been fully restored.

The telecommunications provider expressed its apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused to customers.

Earlier, the disruption also impacted emergency call services, affecting both the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Members of the public experiencing difficulties reaching emergency numbers 995 or 999 were advised to send an SMS to SCDF at 70995 or SPF at 70999.

Both SPF and SCDF later reported on 7PM that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The authorities assured the public that they could resume using these hotlines for emergencies and expressed gratitude for the public’s understanding during the outage.

Earlier that day, around noon, multiple users reported difficulties making calls through landlines on Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter), including problems with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for Singtel beginning around 2 PM, peaking at 2,781 complaints. By 5 PM, the number of reports had decreased to over 500.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

According to CNA, a spokesperson from Singtel described the outage as an “isolated incident” and stated that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

 

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Emergency phone services restored following Singtel landline outage

Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced at 7 PM on 8 October that the disruption affecting 995 and 999 hotlines had been resolved. This followed Singtel’s island-wide landline outage earlier that day. The public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies.

Published

3 days ago

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8 October 2024

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SINGAPORE: Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced via Facebook at around 7:00 PM on 8 October that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The issue followed an island-wide outage of Singtel’s landline services, which occurred around noon.

The authorities confirmed that the public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies and expressed their gratitude for the public’s understanding during the disruption.

At 5:07 PM, Singtel posted an update on Facebook stating that their engineers had isolated the problem affecting their fixed voice services.

The telco provider added that recovery measures were swiftly being deployed, and services were progressively being restored.

Earlier, users had taken to Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) to report difficulties making landline calls, including issues with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for SingTel starting around 2 PM.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

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