Airport service company and ground handler SATS has sought clarification from Aventa Services after claims that the service partner docked S$5 from an elderly Changi Airport wheelchair assistant's pay for being 11 seconds late.

In a viral LinkedIn post, CEO of maid database Maid Without Borders, Juliet Low, said the elderly man said he earned S$7 per hour and allegedly showed her a picture of his pay slip with the deduction.

As of writing, Low's post has over 500 likes and 129 comments.

In response to Mothership's queries, a SATS spokesperson said that it is "aware of, and concerned by" the allegations and "sought clarification from Aventa on the matters raised."

SATS noted: "Aventa has informed us that it is responding directly to queries from the Ministry of Manpower."

"SATS takes such matters seriously and expects all service partners to comply with applicable employment laws and regulations.”

The allegations

In the post, Low said she had a conversation with the elderly man who assisted her husband, who was nursing a fracture.

According to CNA, the couple had just returned to Singapore from their holiday in Da Nang on Aug. 7.

While chatting, the elderly man told her about the alleged pay deduction.

Low noted: "He also told us that almost all the wheelchair ushers are elderly — and that the work is physically painful. Sometimes, they do clock in 11 secs late cos of toilet breaks."

Low tagged SATS and questioned: "Do you know your vendor (Aventa Services) practice this very disturbing policy? Bullying the elderly... "

MOM laws

According to MOM's website, employers can deduct a worker's salary if they are absent from work, with salary deductions for unauthorised absence calculated by the gross rate of pay listed in the Employment Act.

However, the deduction cannot exceed the employee's salary for the period of absence; for example, if the employee was an hour late, only the salary for that hour can be deducted.

Hence, if 11 seconds cost the elderly man S$5 of his salary, at 45 cents a second, his salary would theoretically be calculated as being S$1,636 per hour, which is not the case.

MOM's website also noted that "employers should find out why an employee is late and should not unfairly penalise the employee if there is a valid reason".

The website also noted that if an employer has made excessive deductions from one's salary, the individual can file a claim for mediation at Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), linked here.

Three nurses from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) were recently commended for saving a man who suddenly went into cardiac arrest while they were off duty.

The incident happened during a basketball game at a court near the hospital, according to an Aug. 14 Facebook post by KTPH.

During the game that day, a player suddenly collapsed on the court, creating a commotion.

Although it initially looked like the man had simply tripped, the three nurses quickly found out it was more serious.

The man's body was stiffening, his face had turned blue, and he was gasping for air.

Berbenzana first recognised that he was having a heart attack, but later realised it was worse.

The man had no pulse, which meant he was in cardiac arrest.

Kicking into action

As the nurses were all from the accident and emergency (A&E) department at the hospital, their skills and instincts kicked in.

Berbenzana called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) for emergency assistance.

Urcia went to retrieve an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), while Salvador stayed with the patient.

A bystander had begun performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while they waited for help to arrive.

When Urcia returned with the AED, Berbenzana applied the device to the man with Salvador's help.

As the AED advised a shock, the nurses delivered it while CPR continued.

They remained on site to provide assistance and support until the SCDF paramedics got there and took over.

The man's pulse eventually returned, and Berbenzana accompanied him in the ambulance to KTPH.

"By the time we reached the hospital, he was fully awake and able to speak. That was when I finally felt relieved," Berbenzana recounted.

Calm and confidence

Recalling the experience, Urcia pointed out the challenge of responding to an emergency outside a clinical setting.

"You have limited equipment, you have to assess quickly, and the adrenaline is much stronger than what I feel at work," he said. "But the training kicks in."

Berbenzana added that "the nurse in [him] never really switches off" even off duty.

"It was very frightening, but being calm and knowing what to do gave me the confidence to respond."

The three nurses were presented with the SCDF Community First Responder Award and Community Lifesaver Award in recognition of their actions that day.

This award is given to members of the public who display courage and public spiritedness in emergencies.

A karang guni man stole a sugarcane juicer valued at S$2,000 and sold it for between S$20 and S$30.

Yeo Hoe Chye, 59, faced two charges of breach of trust and pleaded guilty to one on Aug. 14.

The other charge was taken into consideration during sentencing, Lianhe Zaobao reported.

Yeo was fined S$2,500, with the judge permitting him to pay S$500 on Aug. 14; the remaining amount would be split into four instalments, with the last due on Dec. 14, 2026.

If Yeo is unable to pay the fine, the default would be one week's imprisonment.

Machine was in process of being returned to supplier

On Apr. 3, 2025, at around 8:30pm, a 35-year-old female store assistant working in Redhill Food Centre was preparing to return a sugarcane juicer to the supplier.

She put the machine on a table outside the stall so that the supplier could pick it up.

At around 10:58pm, Yeo, who was dining nearby, spotted the machine and used a cart to move it away.

His actions were captured on CCTV footage, according to Lianhe Zaobao.

Missing machine

The next morning at around 10:20am, the store assistant returned to the stall and found the machine missing.

She assumed that the supplier had taken it and went about her day.

However, when the supplier came to collect the machine on Apr. 5, the machine was missing.

The store assistant immediately called the police.

Sold machine for only S$20 to S$30

Investigations revealed that Yeo stole the machine and subsequently sold it for a mere S$20 to S$30.

Yeo has not made any restitution to date.

According to charge sheets seen by Mothership, the second charge stated that on Oct. 25, 2025, at about 7:18pm, Yeo stole an aluminium ladder, a blue office chair, and a bag of gardening and household tools from outside a unit at 89 Redhill Close.

Reverse ageing may sound like science fiction, but perhaps we have more control over the rate we age than we think.

A 47-year-old professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) decided to become his own test subject in a longevity study, and put his body through various fasting, nutrition, and exercise routines since mid-August 2024.

While his experiment continues today, he recently discovered some remarkable results.

His biological age was estimated at around 32, nearly 15 years younger than his actual age, according to a custom AI copilot developed for the study.

Tracking the body's changes

The study known as DELTA, published on Aug. 12 in the journal PLOS One, seeks to rethink how we understand our own health.

Dean Ho, director of the Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM) at NUS Medicine, explained that he was exploring how different each person becomes from themselves over time.

"We started this study to better understand what happens between annual health screenings, which most people rely on as their measure of health — to look beyond static markers and focus on how the body functions and changes in real time," he said, as quoted in an NUS press release.

Rather than "snapshots" taken through annual health screenings, Ho set out to track how his body would change every day.

Turning point

Before embarking on this study, Ho used to take a diet that comprised sugary drinks and various deep-fried foods, according to NUS.

He would enjoy five cups of iced lemon tea in one sitting, for example.

He would also have only about five hours of sleep or less, going to bed at around 1am or 2am.

The turning point came in 2021 when he bought a blood test kit as a birthday gift for himself, to track his daily glucose levels.

It led him to explore how science and data could improve his health, and he began to experiment with intermittent fasting, and diet and workout adjustments.

The regimen

For the study, Ho made deliberate adjustments to his body through a series of lifestyle interventions, while using wearables to monitor how his biology responded in real time.

The regimen included around 20 hours of fasting each day, multiple 48-hour fasts, and 90 minutes of strength or cardiovascular training every morning.

He also ate a structured "clean" diet centred on leafy greens, seeds, olive oil, lean protein, and other Mediterranean-style foods, with beverages limited to water, electrolytes, black coffee, and black tea without milk and sugar.

The results

Ho saw several improvements to his health as a result of this regimen.

His metabolic switching (the rate at which body can switch between burning sugar and burning fat) became faster over time, from over 24 hours before the experiment, to 16.5 hours afterwards.

According to NUS, for someone of Ho’s age, the average metabolic switching is 36 to 72 hours, or even longer, and it often becomes less efficient as one grows older.

Ho’s resting heart rate also improved, falling from 65 beats per minute (bpm) to 46 bpm, which can indicate more efficient heart function and better recovery.

For this study, Ho changed his sleeping habits to sleep earlier at around 9pm instead of past midnight previously.

Consequently, his sleep pattern showed an increase in total sleep from five to nearly eight hours. His sleep quality also improved as he got more deep sleep and woke up less during the night.

Additionally, his gut microbiome health showed positive changes, including better energy conservation during certain fasting periods.

While his weight used to be around 90kg or more, he has reduced it to about 72kg now.

Sharing what he felt during the study, Ho likened the experience to a game.

"It was like playing a game—adjusting my lifestyle in small ways and watching the numbers shift in real time," he said. "Having visual access to my own data in motion got me hooked and kept me going in adopting a healthier lifestyle."

Through this study, Ho and his team hope that others can feel empowered to engage with their own data to make better lifestyle adjustments, rather than copy another person's routine or pursue perfection.

After setting his childhood friend on fire, a man fled Singapore and was only arrested when he returned five years later.

While out on bail for the offence, he attacked his girlfriend at that time by punching her and stabbing her with a pair of scissors on separate occasions.

Donovan Doran Chung Yi Peng, now 36, pleaded guilty on Aug. 14 to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt.

Four other charges for a similar offence, harassment, and criminal intimidation were taken into consideration for sentencing.

He was sentenced to a year in prison backdated to Aug. 28, 2024, the date of his first arrest.

The fire

On Aug. 24, 2019, Chung caused a fire in a workshop in Eunos where his childhood friend worked as a carpenter, according to The Straits Times.

The two friends reportedly had a disagreement at the time.

Around 1:40am that day, Chung and another friend of his used lighters and cans of sealer spray they found at the workshop to set fire to the place and Chung's childhood friend.

The childhood friend ran out of the workshop and fell to the ground.

Chung scolded the man about their earlier disagreement, then left the place with his other friends while the workshop was still on fire.

The childhood friend was taken to hospital with burns on 11 per cent of his body surface area, requiring skin grafting and at least three operations, though he did not go through with one of them.

Hours after the fire, Chung and his friend, who was also involved, fled Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint.

Chung managed to avoid capture for five years, until he was detained in Thailand and sent back to Singapore in August 2024, when he got arrested.

He was released on bail the day after his arrest, ST reported.

Assaulting his girlfriend

On two occasions in September and October 2025, Chung attacked his girlfriend at the time while still on bail.

She was a woman he was acquainted with in secondary school, and they got into a relationship in August 2025, according to ST.

On Sept 24, 2025, the woman had just returned from a trip, and the pair was in Chung's house.

Chung asked to see her phone because he suspected she might have been unfaithful to him.

When she refused, he pulled her by the arm and punched her in the face multiple times.

As she lay on the floor in a cradled position, Chung stabbed her thigh using a pair of scissors.

She screamed, alerting Chung's domestic helper, who then informed his mother. She called him to ask what was happening.

The attack caused a laceration over the girlfriend's thigh, and bruising over her eye and nasal bridge.

She sought medical attention after leaving Chung's house, and had the stab wound stitched up.

Despite the incident, the couple continued to see each other.

The second assault

Chung assaulted his girlfriend again less than a month later on Oct. 13, 2025.

While the couple were out eating dim sum at around 12am, they began to argue.

They later got into Chung's car, where he started to punch his girlfriend in the face multiple times, and took out a knife to threaten her.

After arriving at Chung's house around 12:30am, they continued to argue, and he punched her face repeatedly again.

Chung’s father came into the room when she cried for help, but he only told the pair to talk things out and left.

Chung then took out a metal rod about 80cm long and threatened to use it to hit her. He put it down after she pleaded with him.

When the woman sought medical attention later, she was assessed to have several injuries, including bruises, cuts, and abrasions on her head, legs, and fingers.

The court ordered Chung to pay her S$785.35 as compensation, or be jailed for an additional two days.

As of Aug. 15, he has yet to pay this sum.

Now engaged

According to Chung's lawyer, the couple's relationship ended soon, having lasted about a month, ST reported.

The lawyer also told the court Chung is now engaged and in a stable relationship with another woman. They are expecting their first child in October.

As part of the mitigation plea, Chung's lawyer said the impending birth of the child has given Chung a renewed sense of responsibility, making him determined to remain on the straight and narrow.

A Go-Ahead bus captain on duty found a lost purse containing S$1,200 in cash and returned it in accordance with lost-and-found protocols.

According to a Facebook post by Go-Ahead Singapore, Er Soon Beng, who drives bus service 72, discovered the purse on the evening of Aug. 12.

Besides the cash, the red purse also contained the commuter's identification card and bank cards.

Er secured the purse without hesitation and handed it to Go-Ahead's passenger service office.

Owner reunited with purse

An interchange support officer contacted the commuter, and she was reunited with her purse on the same day.

Go-Ahead Singapore's Senior Operations Manager, Hock Chuan and Operations Director, Kastriot, met Er on Aug. 14 to thank him for his service.

Go-Ahead Singapore said they were honoured to have team members like Er "who embody our commitment to service and trust".

A 17-year-old student in Rawang, Selangor died in a suspected hit-and-run while riding home from delivering a knee guard to his mother at her workplace.

Megat Alifamin had gone straight after school without eating lunch, according to Sin Chew Daily.

The errand

His mother, who works at a restaurant in the Mutiara Rawang area, had called to ask him to bring her a knee guard as her knee was hurting.

His brother, Adham Basri, wrote in a Facebook post that after Megat had delivered it, their mother asked whether he had eaten. He said he had not, so she bought food and packed it for him to eat at home.

Photographs from the scene show the food scattered across the road.

The crash

Gombak district police chief Ibrahim Hussin confirmed the fatal accident involving two motorcycles occurred at around 4:40pm on Aug. 10 along Jalan Pintas Rawang.

Megat was riding a red-and-black Yamaha LC135 when the accident occurred.

Ibrahim told Sin Chew: “Preliminary investigations show that the victim is believed to have been struck from behind by another motorcycle, causing him to lose control and fall onto the road.”

He was taken to Selayang Hospital and pronounced dead by the medical staff at about 1:39am on Aug. 11.

"He sobbed and begged to eat"

Adham wrote that his brother's hip was crushed, with damage extending down to his legs, his lung had collapsed, his bladder had ruptured and he was bleeding internally from multiple organs.

He was given four packs of blood but continued bleeding.

Adham also wrote that while hospitalised, his brother was hungry and wanted to eat, but could not because of his injuries. He sobbed and begged for food, but all their mother could do was wet his lips.

He also added that the family intended to seek justice for his brother.

Family appeals for dashcam footage

Adham appealed on Rawang community Facebook page for anyone who drove past the area between about 5pm on Aug. 10 to check their dashcam footage.

He wrote: “My beloved younger brother has passed away. If anyone has information or dashcam footage from Rawang Mutiara heading towards KPJ, near the traffic light before Mydin on Aug. 10 around 5pm, you can PM me.”

These days, it’s easy to overlook how most of our public notices and announcements, such as those at the MRT stations, are done in four languages.

Many of us probably take it for granted, but it's a quiet reminder that everyone, regardless of language, has a place here. It's also a symbol of the choice to belong — one that has been made so consistently, and for so long, that many of us have forgotten it was ever a choice at all.

I was reminded of this during a visit to Our Community Gallery at PA's training campus in Buona Vista, where the recreation of a typical community centre (CC) in the kampung days still bears a simple welcome in all four official languages.

Standing there, it struck me that this was never just about signage — it was about making sure everyone felt that they were part of the community. And it made me think about how we define that belonging today.

For many, the kampung spirit has always been tied to a sense of community that looks out for its own.

But then there's my parents, who are fond of repeating that the kampung spirit has been lost to the rush of Singapore's development. For them, it was encapsulated in something as simple as gathering at the CC to watch television — the one place where neighbours would meet.

But what if, quite simply, we've been missing how the kampung spirit has always been there, and has evolved over time?

If the kampung spirit can persist during a racial riot, why not in times of peace?

It’s easy to forget, but once upon a time in the 50s and 60s, as depicted in Our Community Gallery, Singapore was a pretty rough place.

One might question if Singapore could be said to even have a kampung spirit at all, especially during the racial riots of July 1964.

Yet, what struck me, as the gallery showed, was that throughout the riots, there were still accounts of people from different races coming to help each other, and that in the wake of the riots, there were tangible efforts by different communities to help diffuse tensions.

In fact, I daresay that taking for granted how our MRT signages and announcements are now in four languages is a testament to just how successful these efforts in building social cohesion and strengthening the kampung spirit have been.

Perhaps the real question is: if the kampung spirit can survive in times of crises, how can it continue during peace time?

A case of nostalgia much?

Seeing the gallery's recreation of a CC in the kampung days made me realise that nostalgia plays a part in shaping perceptions.

And for my parents and their generation, it remains a powerful lens through which they see the kampung spirit.

Going to the CC in the past as kids to watch television and socialise with neighbours carried a kind of special excitement that, for better or worse, has since been replaced by the convenience of smartphones.

Granted, but what about the generations after? The Millennials, Gen Z and Gen A and more to come.

Acts of kindness and coming together, whether there’s a crisis or not

To many of us, CCs are places we can turn to during times of crises.

When I came across the gallery’s feature on the haze periods of 2013-2015 and the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-2021, it brought back to my mind the sheer number of volunteers coming to help set up the vaccination facilities and mask distribution centres at the CCs and making sure everything ran smoothly, with everyone waiting patiently for their turn, instead of fighting like it’s the end of days.

The gallery is a reminder that these volunteers were pretty much ordinary people — your everyday coffee shop or supermarket regulars — who chose to come together in a crisis, rather than stocking up on masks and toilet paper.

Kampung spirit can sometimes be little acts of kindness that we overlook.

When I scanned the RFID tag that had been provided to me as part of the exhibition and discovered my unique community archetype, I realised that both my parents and I have been displaying the kampung spirit without even knowing it.

Neither of us had been engaging in any grand acts of volunteering – just sending food to friends who were quarantined throughout the pandemic, while my parents offered to help our elderly neighbours buy groceries whenever they headed out.

At the end of the day, perhaps this is what the kampung spirit is really about – offering help whenever we can, regardless when and where.

Free exhibition to spend your weekend with friends and family

Beyond the recreation of old kampung spaces, Our Community Gallery is filled with stories of everyday people who stepped up for their communities. Who knows, it might just inspire you to do the same.

Oh and the best part? Admission is free!

If you're looking for a meaningful way to spend a weekend with your loved ones, whether it's reminiscing about the past with your parents or inspiring the next generation, this gallery is for you.

Will it help my parents see past their nostalgia-tinted glasses about the lost kampung spirit?

Well, I’m optimistic.

In fact, if you and your friends wonder if the kampung spirit in Singapore still exists, hold your judgement and visit this gallery first.

Book your next visit here.

Our Community Gallery by the People’s Association

Location: National Community Leadership Institute (NACLI), 70 South Buona Vista Rd, Singapore 118176

Opening hours: 9am to 4pm, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. (Closed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays*, eve of public holidays and public holidays)

Guided tours: Saturday, 10am and 12pm

*For two months only, Our Community Gallery will be open on Sundays from 9am to 4pm (Last entry at 3pm), exclusively for August and September 2026. Secure your visit before this limited run ends.

This sponsored article made the author a little more optimistic about Singapore’s future.

A Singapore-registered company and three individuals have been charged over an alleged scheme to falsely declare the origin of bedding products and other goods exported from Singapore to the United States.

The scheme appears to have been an attempt to get around U.S. import duties.

Healthy Living Biotech (Singapore) Pte Ltd, along with Singapore permanent resident Yin Yuxi, 28, Chinese national Xue Xin, 37, and Singaporean Bernard Koh Wee Yiap, 54, were charged on Aug. 14, according to a Singapore Customs media release.

What the charges are

All four face one or more charges relating to false declarations, false statements and incorrect trade descriptions.

The company, along with Yin and Koh, has also been charged with fraudulently evading Goods and Services Tax (GST) on its imports.

How it came to light

Singapore Customs began investigating in Feb. 2026 after mattresses exported from Singapore to the U.S. were declared as Singapore-origin goods.

Their actual country of origin turned out to be China.

Singapore Customs found the alleged scheme had run from Aug. 2024 to Sep. 2025, involving goods worth about S$1.9 million in total.

Investigators also found an alleged scheme to understate the declared value of the company's imports and fraudulently evade about S$111,000 in GST.

What the penalties are

According to Singapore Customs, making false declarations or statements, including in cargo clearance permits, carries a fine of up to S$10,000, up to two years' jail, or both.

Causing incorrect trade descriptions to be applied to exported goods carries a heavier penalty.

On a first conviction, that is a fine of up to S$100,000 or three times the value of the goods, whichever is higher, up to two years' jail, or both.

The same penalties apply for making a false statement when applying for a Certificate of Origin.

For fraudulent evasion of duty or GST on imported goods, the penalty is a fine of up to 20 times the amount evaded, plus up to 12 months' jail.

Court proceedings are ongoing.

Consumer complaints against the beauty industry rose to 1,124 over the first half of 2026, the most reported among Singapore industries to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).

Over S$1.9 million losses from prepayment packages were recorded from these complaints.

This is close to 18 times the S$108,000 in losses recorded from 558 beauty-related complaints in the first half of 2025.

Abrupt beauty business closures

"The increases in complaints and prepayment losses were largely driven by the abrupt closure of several beauty and wellness businesses," CASE explained.

Following such sudden closures, consumers were not able to utilise their prepaid packages. The association highlighted recent examples that made headlines.

The Wan Yang chain of massage and foot reflexology parlours, which abruptly closed all outlets in November 2025, led to over S$137,000 in losses for unutilised prepaid packages.

The February 2026 closure of Royal Secrets Wellness beauty salon and spa resulted in prepayment losses exceeding S$1 million. One person reported a loss of about S$50,000.

Nearly four in 10 complaints CASE received against the beauty industry were related to businesses failing to honour these types of contractual obligations.

About 15.3 per cent of complaints involved alleged unethical sales tactics, while a further 13.8 per cent concerned delayed, refused, or withheld refunds.

Risks of making upfront payments

CASE President Melvin Yong called the sharp rise in beauty-related prepayment losses "deeply concerning".

"Behind the reported losses are consumers who paid in advance for services they may never receive. This underscores the risks of making large upfront payments for beauty packages, especially when businesses close suddenly."

CASE will continue to call for stronger safeguards to better protect consumers' prepayments.

In the meantime, Yong advised consumers to avoid making large advance payments where possible, and consider paying per use or in smaller instalments.

Electrical and electronics

After beauty, the four most complained-about industries for this period are, in descending order, electrical and electronics, motorcars, travel, and renovation contractors.

The number of complaints against the electrical and electronics industry dipped slightly from 571 in the first half of 2025, to 530 in the same period in 2026.

Most of them (about 38.9 per cent) involved products that were defective or did not conform to contract terms.

About 14.7 per cent were related to businesses failing to honour their contractual obligations, and 9.4 per

cent concerned delayed, refused, or withheld refunds.

Motorcars

Motorcars, which received the highest complaints the previous year with 573, fell to third place this time with 488 complaints.

About 45.7 per cent of them were related to purchases and privately owned cars, while another 12.5 per cent involved car-sharing services.

Travel

As for the travel industry, complaints increased by 19.3 per cent from the previous year to 192 in the first half of 2026.

About 36.9 per cent of complaints against the travel industry concerned delays or refusals in processing refunds.

A further 17.3 per cent were about businesses failing to honour confirmed bookings or agreed travel arrangements.

CASE said that the rise in travel and airline-related complaints comes amid recent air travel disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions and changes to flight schedules.

As a result of these conditions, chances of cancellations, itinerary changes, and service disruptions increased.

It is particularly common in cases where consumers make transactions through intermediaries such as online travel agencies.

Renovation contractors

CASE received 402 complaints against the renovation contractor industry in the first half of 2026, a very slight 1.5 per cent decrease from the same period in 2025.

Most consumers reported dissatisfaction with the quality of services rendered such as poor workmanship, and contractors' failure to honour obligations.

Defective or non-conforming goods, and delays in delivery were also key concerns raised.