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Singaporeans cancel CNY shopping trips to Malaysia as disputes drag onSingaporean-organised “shopping tours” into Johor ahead of the Chinese New Year are seeing last-minute cancellations as relations between the two countries tense up over a maritime and airspace dispute, reported Sin Chew daily. Community groups in the city state often run annual Chinese New Year shopping trips for Singaporeans to enjoy the cheaper prices across the border and stock up on festive goodies. However, many such shopping trips have recently been cancelled, according to the Chinese-language newspaper. Ms Liao Liyun, chairman of the Sengkang Rivervale Residents’ Committee, said that the annual one-day trips to Johor Baru and Batu Pahat would usually be snapped up by eager shoppers. However, with the relationship between Singapore and Malaysia growing increasingly tense, the committee decided to call off the trip this year, citing security concerns by participants. Ms Liao said residents have been given a full refund, and locals have settled on buying Chinese New Year goods at local warehouses in Singapore. Others have decided to cancel their shopping trips in a move to boycott Malaysian retailers. Ms Li Meihua, a member of the Yishun Constituency, told Sin Chew that residents have decided not to cross the border as Malaysia’s behaviour was “not friendly and they do not want to go shopping there". Malaysia and Singapore are embroiled in a dispute over territorial waters and airspace. Earlier on Tuesday, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said security forces have been ordered to exercise restraint after Johor chief minister Osman Sapian visited a Malaysian vessel in the Republic’s territorial waters. Foreign ministers from both countries met last week in the republic for talks, which will be followed by a meeting between the respective countries’ transport ministers at the end of the month. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT

Hi all, last year my new car was coated (i paid over $1k for it) by one of the more reputable coating companies. Car was only 2 days old when it was coated. 6 months later, there were scratches on the boot surface, and water marks on boot, roof and bonnet. The applied hydrophobic effects on the windscreen is also gone. I sent the car back to touch up. Another 8 months later, I had to respray certain panels because I cannot take the scratches. Yup, some ppl scratched my car. But besides that, I have many lines near the door handle, and lines on the bonnet and boot. I've never put anything on them. The guy who repainted my car told me the water marks on my car very bad. I told him cos I park outdoor daily, thats why I know. I did coating to prevent, also cannot. I have to send it back to be re-coated. So after 1 year 2 months of ownership, I don't think I get what I paid for. Maybe coating is not suitable for people who park outdoors. Am I the only one who feels that coating was over-rated? Or it has limited capabilities when it comes to handling the harsh weather, especially for people who park outdoors. What could be a better solution? (besides clean the car everyday! haha)

will the tyre shop take in my existing rim+tyres? i understand usually if want trade in need buy rims frm them, if i buy tyres from them will take take in?

Sent car for regular servicing. Took a cab to collect my vehicle. Smooth and comfortable ride. I peeked at the odometer and saw it is 400,000 + KM. Taxi uncle shared with me that the vehicle will run fine if: 1. Stick to the servicing schedule, for cabs, they have to send car for servicing at least once a month. 2. Immediately repair or replace faulty or dying parts. "Mai tu liao". The longer you drag, the more related parts it will damage. I thanked him for his advice. Any truth to what he said?

I entered Johor thru Tanjong Kupang on 13 Feb, i remembered I did tap my TnG card at the immigration booth. But when I check my TnG card account now, there is no RM20 transaction, though all the toll charges for that day was reflected in my account. So is the road charge still in effect or just waived for CNY period ? Anyone notice the same?

http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/middle-income-family-hopes-more-help-budget-2018 Really not enough?

Hi all, I just found 4 packs of instant noodles in my cabinet which have expired on Nov last year. However they are not opened yet and I googled in some sites that it is safe to eat because they are dehydrated food and bacteria won't grow inside. The MSG is salt and so won't get spoil too. So should I eat them or throw away?

How come technology still so outdated ?

Dear all bro & Sis, Can i still use back my tyre if i had pump in sealant ? hear from some feedback once sealant being pump into tyre, the tyre cannot be use and got to change new tyre. it is true ?

7 Ancient Cars Still Produced Today!! LAND ROVER JIMNY G-WAGON CATERHAM MORGAN LADA NIVA PEUGEOT

My car's mileage 9 years liao. 155,000km. Nowadays I don't feel like driving and sometimes take mrt also... So what's your mileage like?

Coated PPS 1year + already. Got some fine scratches and stains as i park Open car park. Tot of polish if off as cny is coming can i?

glad that the poor old lady managed to have her dream fufillled. i have a granny too. i felt so bad for her when i read that. some of these travel agencies owner really deserved to be hanged by the balls. #FaithInHumanityRestored

HONG KONG—Chinese financial regulators this year slashed red tape and laid out the welcome mat for global bond investors, hoping to lure fresh cash into the country’s $9 trillion market. But new players have been slow to accept the invitation, wary about lingering ambiguity over the rules and how they will be enforced. “There are still too many layers of regulation,” said Jean-Charles Sambor, deputy head of emerging-market fixed income at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in London, which manages $1.2 billion in assets. Mr. Sambor said he is interested in China’s domestic bond market, but isn’t buying yet. Cautious investors cite a wide range of ongoing concerns, from uncertainty over tax treatment to the depth of the government’s commitment to liberalization. Foreign bond buying has picked up since the liberalization took effect earlier this year. Between February and June, the most recent month data is available, foreign investor holdings jumped 15% to 764 billion yuan ($115 billion), according to the People’s Bank of China. That is still just 1.3% of the market, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Among the new Chinese bond investors is Robert Simpson, a fund manager at London-based Insight Investment, which manages £499 billion ($662.73 billion) and bought a small batch of government debt this summer. “It’s a market that we wanted to be at the forefront of,” Mr. Simpson said. Yet Mr. Simpson said his firm is “taking our time to build up our expertise.” The PBOC didn’t respond to requests for comment. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, an industry body that helps oversee the bond market, declined to comment. The changes in China, the world’s third-largest bond market, are part of Beijing’s push to open up the country’s financial system and expand international use of the yuan, while steering domestic borrowers to seek funding from markets rather than bank loans. The bond-market liberalization follows a similar opening of the country’s stock market, where foreign ownership reached $90 billion in June, about 1.5% of the domestic market. Until this year, global fund managers had to apply for permission to buy bonds, and their purchases were limited by quotas governing how much they could buy. They could use only U.S. dollars or yuan parked outside of China’s mainland. In some cases, investors could only repatriate a capped amount each year, or had to keep their money inside the country for up to one year. The few foreign investors who were granted easy access included central banks, sovereign-wealth funds and multilateral lenders such as the World Bank. Advertisement ‘There are still too many layers of regulation.’ —Jean-Charles Sambor Now, a wider range of investors has access to Chinese bonds, including commercial banks, insurers, securities firms, mutual funds, pensions and charities. Instead of seeking regulators’ approval to invest, they can just register before buying. Regulators also lifted investment quotas and eased restrictions on repatriation, as well as limitations on the types of currencies that could be used. China’s bond market remains undeveloped compared with the U.S. and other advanced economies. It is a relatively small source of domestic credit in the bank-dependent economy, and the pool of investors is concentrated largely among the country’s banks. Some investors consider Chinese yields attractive, with the benchmark 10-year government bond returning 2.8%, compared with 1.6% for U.S. Treasurys, and negative yields in Japan and parts of Europe. But gauging risk is tricky, due to grade inflation by local raters, who classify more than 90% of corporate debt as investment grade. There are still boundaries for foreigners seeking to enter the market. Investors can’t buy and sell by themselves, but rather have to work through an approved settlement agency in China to register, trade and repatriate money. By contrast, foreigners can buy bonds in emerging markets such as Thailand and Malaysia simply by placing orders with a broker. China’s bond market also appears to be off limits to the likes of hedge funds. The PBOC said in its liberalization announcement that only “medium-to-long-term institutional investors” were qualified to register. Many foreigners remain fearful that when things get tough, regulators will find ways to clamp down on trading. During last summer’s stock-market crash, Chinese authorities allowed thousands of listed firms to freeze stock trading, forcing locals and foreigners into holding positions while the market fell. “There is a risk of policy reversing with some kind of capital controls being imposed,” said Luke Spajic, head of portfolio management in emerging Asia at Pacific Investment Management Co., which manages $1.5 trillion in global assets. “It could happen. Policy has been in flux.” Some investors also worry about taxes. China’s Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation say foreigners need to pay a 10% levy on interest earned from bonds. But Chinese bond issuers don’t withhold this tax, and the regulator hasn’t spelled out who should be collecting it. The tax authority hasn’t clarified whether foreigners must pay any capital gains tax at all. “One regulator (the PBOC) has opened up its market, but investors are still waiting for another regulator (the tax authority) to come up with rules pertinent to that development,” said TieCheng Yang, a Beijing-based lawyer with the London law firm of Clifford Chance LLP.

For those who frequent JB Shell near to CIQ, u will know what I mean. Wondering the wiper seller lady is still operating there? Next week thinking to go and change...

why the hell is used car still so expensive ?

End up in longkang in the end: https://www.facebook.com/LangkapPerakMalaysia/videos/749253401841847/

The sound of a Honda wail sure is nice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3x-89XSQ9k

Personally I took Scootbiz once was a terrible experience. The food worst than the worst food i ever had in Tekong, they had used spoons on the floor from the previous passenger and they didnt even check for previous passenger belongings! I found a headphone case under my footrest when I couldn't close it Sambal stains and smudges on the walls... all this on a new 787 "Dreamliner" I dont think ill ever take again. With the recent Scoot delay debacle do you all still dare to sit?

for months been craving for one but seems very few hawkers sell nowadays. it used to be a SOP for wantan mee stall to have one but...... until i finally found one in Bt batok.....good sia

interesting... Singapore most complaint car brand? Volkswagen still bugged by consumer complaints Christopher TanThe Straits TimesMonday, May 25, 2015 20150525_ST_volks.jpg 1 0 0 0 0 Print VOLKSWAGEN (VW) continues to have the dubious honour of hogging the pole position when it comes to customer complaints. Data from the consumer watchdog, Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), showed that the German brand garnered 12 new-car complaints from customers from January last year to the first four months of this year. The figure was more than double that of complaints made against BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which shared the second spot. The two brands had five complaints each for the same period. Comparing complaints measured as a ratio against new cars each of the three brands sold, VW's performance was even bleaker. It had 3.41 complaints for every 1,000 cars sold, versus 1.2 for BMW and 0.76 for Mercedes-Benz. VW fared worse than its previous record. Between January 2013 and April last year, it had 11 complaints, earning it the top spot on Case's list. The Straits Times understands most of the complaints pertain to glitchy gearboxes. Civil engineer Uttar Kumar, 52, who bought a VW Passat 1.4 in December 2012, was among those who filed a Case complaint this year. He said he did so after Volkswagen Singapore failed to resolve problems with the car's gearbox despite numerous attempts. He said he noticed the car made abnormal noises on the first day. The noises grew louder and the car became jerky. "It was in the workshop almost every two to three weeks," Mr Kumar recalled. The car, he said, is still not satisfactory, despite its clutch, a component of the gearbox that is used in changing gears, having been replaced in 2013. "It's still not smooth, it shakes when it starts, there is power loss and sometimes there is a grinding noise," he said. Volkswagen Singapore spokesman James Page dismissed claims that its cars were defective. For instance, he said two of the three complaints filed with Case in the first four months of this year were unfounded. "There was absolutely nothing wrong with the cars," he said. "The customers involved perceived there to be some faults, and requested a warranty extension and a car replacement respectively. We could not accede to their requests and they lodged complaints with Case." In the third case, the customer did have some genuine issues with his car, he said, and repairs were covered under the car's warranty. Volkswagen Singapore also extended the warranty by one year. "Nonetheless, he still made a complaint to Case," he said. Checks with independent service quality firm JD Power revealed that VW's ranking in other markets has not been sterling, either. In the United States, JD Power's 2015 Vehicle Dependability Study found VW had 165 problems per 100 cars - more than the industry average of 147. In Malaysia, the brand ranked last in the firm's 2014 Customer Service Index. Even in its home market Germany, VW ranked above average - but below brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi and Skoda - in the 2014 Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study. [email protected] This article was first published on May 25, 2015. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories. - See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/volkswagen-still-bugged-consumer-complaints#sthash.Z8VrPB7W.SBUBorFC.dpuf

nothing gay about this, but does it inspire you to keep fit and toned when you approach 30+, 40+ or even 50+ years old? makes you look young too i admit it does inspired me if he can do it, anyone also can ok, will start exercise tomorrow onwards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGBCkjlVzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRHCUolq2jQ

Sales figure in 2014 Toyota : 10.23m Volkswagen : 10.14m General Motors : 9.92m Hyundai : 7.9m Ford : 6.8m Nissan : 5.5m Fiat-Chrysler : 4.8m Honda : 4.3m PSA : 2.9m Renault : 2.7m

Dear forumners, Recently I have just changed my 4 tyres. After changing, I realized that the car will drift slightly to the left in a short moment. Previously it wasn't like that, I could go straight for as long as I wanted without even literally touching the steering wheel. A week later I went to do a wheel alignment and the person gave me a paper saying "L -0.41 , R -1.12". After alignment, the car was still drifting to the left without much improvement. I asked the mechanic what was the problem, and he showed me that the front left tyre is nearer to the door than the front right tyre. May I know what causes this, and what can I ask the next mechanic to check on? Any advice is greatly appreciated!