1. One of the SMRT at Bishan depot was reportedly vandalized on Saturday morning, and not with a stunning, community-building mural either. This is the fourth act of vandalism on SMRT trains in four years. Commuter frustration, perhaps?
2. The Museum of Art & Design (MAD) has a swanky new space to call home. Over the weekend, it unveiled a sprawling 19,000 square feet gallery over at Tanglin Road. We have to say the interior is pretty impressive and it features works from some 18 artists across the region. Art aside, expect displays of sexy furniture from around the world. For all art and design buffs, this is a must-visit.
3. We might already have a reputation for being a garden city but you can expect more lush greenery coming your way in the next five years. Also part of the newly unveiled Clean & Green 2015 campaign is the nation’s plan to move towards a more sustainable city by cutting down on private transport and increasing parks, walking and cycling paths. We’ll tread carefully in our optimism, but more bike lanes sound nice.
4. In the case of blogger Roy Ngerng and PM Lee Hsien Loong, the two parties didn’t manage to hug it out. On Friday, a judge ruled Ngerng guilty of defaming PM Lee in his blog post dated May 15, which compared PM Lee to the City Harvest Church leaders who are currently being prosecuted for misusing church funds. Damages are being assessed and Ngerng has been told to stop publishing further accusations against PM Lee.
5. Soon, we won’t be able to smoke shisha in this country. Last week, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a ban on the import, sale and distribution of shisha with the changes expected to start kicking in later this month and a total ban happening in Jul 2016 (to give us time to kick the habit?). It might not be such a bad thing though, with health experts comparing a single shisha session to smoking 200 cigarattes. Having said that, we still can’t help but feel sad that Arab Street as we know it is probably about to change pretty radically.
