Download S`pore to get hotter, more extreme weather in future

A2
TOP OF THE NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015
Temasek CEO goes on
three months’ leave
She will continue with board
duties while on sabbatical leave
By MARISSA LEE
TEMASEK Holdings chief executive Ho Ching has gone on
“part-time sabbatical leave” for
three months, the Singapore investment company said yesterday.
Ms Ho, 62, “will continue
with her board duties and specific stewardship duties”, Temasek
said in a statement. She is an executive director on Temasek’s
13-member board chaired by Mr
Lim Boon Heng.
Mr Lee Theng Kiat, 61, president of Temasek, will cover for
Ms Ho in relation to “all normal
course of business at Temasek as
an investor and shareholder, as
an institution, and as a steward”,
the statement said.
Temasek did not give any reasons for Ms Ho’s leave, which
comes just over three weeks after
the death of her father-in-law,
Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s
first Prime Minister.
But in a Facebook post late
yesterday evening, Ms Ho said
that she plans “to spend some
time on a couple of longstanding
things” which she has wanted to
do.
She thanked friends for their
words of support. She told them
“not to worry” as she is well and
will catch up on sleep and do
more walking.
A source said that with matters to handle after the passing of
Mr Lee, including the fate of his
Oxley Road house, “it’s been
quite gloomy these few weeks for
the whole family”.“It’s possible
she may travel with family overseas at a later date.”
Ms Ho was appointed an executive director of Temasek in
2002 and chief executive from
2004. Temasek yesterday reiterated that the board continues to
review its succession plan annually, and observers agreed that
there is no indication that Ms Ho
might step down soon. Singapore
Management University Associate Professor Eugene Tan said:
“The fact that (Ms Ho) is able to
take a sabbatical with the board’s
approval
indicates
that
Temasek’s leadership team is
more than capable of stepping up
in her absence.”
In recent years, Temasek’s
management has been beefed up
with new appointments such as
Mr Lee Theng Kiat. He is the
former president and CEO of Temasek unit ST Telemedia and
joined Temasek in 2012. He set
up infocommunications firm ST
Telemedia as a new business area, overseeing its investments into Asia-Pacific, Europe and the
Americas. At Temasek, he has
been chairing various senior management committees for more
than a year.
Temasek, which is owned by
the Ministry of Finance, reported
a one-year total shareholder return of 1.5 per cent for the 12
HOTTER, WETTER, DRIER
DAILY TEMPERATURE
Observed
changes in
Singapore’s
climate
Future
climate
projections
for Singapore
From 1972 to 2014, annual
average temperature has
increased.
1972
26.6 deg C
2014
27.7 deg C
Daily mean temperatures are
projected to increase by
1.4 to 4.6 deg C by the end of
the century (2070-2099),
to 28.8 to 32 deg C.
Mean daily
temperature
Action taken against
climate change**
No action taken against
climate change
Ms Ho Ching thanked friends for their
words of support and told them “not
to worry” as she is well.
SEA LEVEL RISE
From 1972, the
number of warm
days and nights
has increased,
and the number
of cool nights has
decreased.
Annual sea levels
in the Straits of
Singapore rose at
the rate of 1.2mm
to 1.7mm annually
in the period 1975
to 2009.
v More warm days and warm nights from February to
September through this century.
v By the end of the century, the number of warm days
from February to May above 34.1 deg C could increase
from 25 days to 74 days or to every single day.
v Under the current climate, February to May has the
highest number of warm days, while June to
September has the highest number of warm nights.
Mean sea-level
could rise by
0.25m to 0.76m.
Mean maximum
daily temperature
28.8 to 30.1 deg C
33.3 to 34.6 deg C
30.3 to 32 deg C
34.9 to 36.7 deg C
Number of warm days above
34.1 deg C (February to May)
74 to 108
A FORMER student is suing Raffles Girls’ School (RGS), claiming
that the school failed to protect
her from being bullied and she
was forced to study overseas.
Ms Cheryl Tan, now 18, wants
RGS to pay not just for her pain
and suffering, but also the
$220,000 it cost to continue her
studies at the prestigious Wells
Cathedral School in England. She
is currently completing her A levels there, said her mother, Madam Ng Wee Ching.
A spokesman for RGS, which is
denying the claims, told The
Straits Times yesterday that the
school and its teachers “have always acted in the best interests of
its students”, and ensured their
health and safety within the
school.
The case revolves around how
Ms Tan fell out with fellow members of the school’s Chinese Or-
RAINFALL
2014:
1980:
2,727 mm
2,192 mm
General uptrend in annual
average rainfall.
v The contrast between the wet months
(November to January) and dry months
(February and June to September) is
projected to become more pronounced.
v By the end of the century, the February
rainfall could drop by 83.2 per cent to
just 24mm.
WIND
v General wind patterns
influenced by northeast and
southwest monsoons.
v No clear trends as wind
speed is environment
dependent (e.g. presence of
buildings and trees).
v Singapore will continue to be
influenced by the northeast
and southwest monsoons.
v No substantial changes in
wind direction, but wind
speeds could increase during
the northeast monsoon
season.
Mean sea level (range)
0.6m
0.25m
0.76m
105 to all days
0.35m
NOTE: *All of the changes are relative to the baseline period of 1980 to 2009.
**Annual global emissions peaks in around 2050 and starts to fall.
ST GRAPHICS, METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE SINGAPORE PHOTOS: ST FILE
Former RGS student claims she was bullied, sues school
SENIOR LAW CORRESPONDENT
Singapore’s climate is expected to get hotter by the end of this century.
Storms will also be heavier and dry periods drier, according to projections* by the
Meteorological Service Singapore’s Centre for Climate Research Singapore.
FREQUENCY OF WARM DAYS
AND NIGHTS
months ended March 31 last
year, down from 8.9 per cent in
the previous year.
The firm held a portfolio of
$223 billion as at March 31 last
year. Most of its assets are in Singapore and Asia.
[email protected]
By K.C. VIJAYAN
chestra in Secondary 3 in 2012.
That year, she was appointed
secretary of the co-curricular activity (CCA). According to the
suit, she was told by teachers that
she would double as a student
conductor, along with another
student. This allegedly antagonised other CCA members, particularly its student executive committee (exco), which “ostracised
and bullied” her at various points
over 12 months from July 2012.
According to the suit, Ms Tan
was seen as being “selfish” and
“greedy” for taking up two positions.
Ms Tan, who joined RGS
through the Music Elective Programme, claims that she was repeatedly badgered during practice
by a particular student. She says
she was also criticised online for
bringing up the matter to staff.
She and her parents repeatedly
informed the school about the bullying, according to the suit, but
the abuse persisted and she left
Bringing quality products to
the world. It’s a Swiss tradition.
From watches to chocolate, the Swiss are known for quality products. As the airline of Switzerland, we offer another ne
export: relaxation. Find out more on swiss.com
TOP OF THE NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015
the orchestra in March 2013. She
withdrew from the school at the
end of July.
It is also claimed that the repeated bullying caused her eczema to worsen and skin on her
hand to crack, affecting her ability to play instruments. She needed treatment at KK Women’s and
Children’s Hospital.
In RGS’ defence filed with the
High Court, its lawyer, Senior
Counsel Thio Shen Yi, has described the claims as frivolous.
S’pore to get hotter,
more extreme
weather in future
Temperatures could hit 36.7 deg C
based on extreme climate projections
By FENG ZENGKUN
ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
SINGAPORE at the end of this
century is expected to be hotter,
and have more extreme weather
fluctuations.
Temperatures could soar to a
blazing 36.7 deg C – up from the
previous high of 36 deg C on
March 26, 1998. And every single
day between February and May –
the period which now has the highest number of warm days – could
exceed 34.1 deg C too.
The amount of rainfall during
the year could swing wildly, with
much more rain during the northeast monsoon from November to
January, at about 439mm each
month. Currently, the long-term
average falls short of 300mm –
from about 241.3mm in January to
288.1mm in December.
February, already the driest
Former Raffles Girls’ School student Cheryl Tan (left), who says she was bullied, is suing the school for her pain and
suffering, and the $220,000 it cost to continue her studies at the prestigious Wells Cathedral School in England.
It was pointed out that school
policy defines bullying as involving “hurting, frightening or intimidating others using power of
strength” while cyber bullying includes the sending of hateful messages.
The school found no instance
of bullying after investigating Ms
Tan’s complaints. The defence
papers pointed out that RGS staff
had frequently engaged Ms Tan’s
parents over their concerns.
The defence also claims that
Ms Tan had wanted all along to
study overseas and had taken active steps towards this even before the supposed bullying.
Ms Tan, it was pointed out,
was never told she was going to
be a student conductor. Instead,
she was chosen to attend a conducting course with another student. The CCA’s teachers-incharge were considering the possibility of having two student
conductors to cope with a larger
number of events in 2013.
A3
The CCA’s student exco was
not told of this however, and on
its own, voted for the other student. Ms Tan found out about
this and it led to her parents becoming involved. According to
the defence, some students in
the exco then ended up feeling
that the school was only considering a second conductor to give in
to Ms Tan’s demands.
A High Court pre-trial conference is due today.
[email protected]
month of the year, could have far
less rain – about 24mm or oneeighth of the long-term average.
These were some extreme climate projections outlined yesterday by the Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS), provided that the world does nothing to
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and limit the effects of climate change.
Even if some action is taken,
however, Singapore is still likely
to become hotter and have more
pronounced contrasts between
the wetter and drier months, although the changes would mostly
be on a smaller scale.
The CCRS, part of the Meteorological Service Singapore, developed the projections as part of
Singapore’s Second National Climate Change Study, which aims
to prepare the nation for climate
and weather changes up to the
year 2100.
A landmark report released by
the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change in 2013 also projected higher temperatures and
more extreme rainfall for Singapore and the surrounding region,
although its global scope meant
that the findings were not detailed enough for Singapore’s use.
The CCRS worked with
Britain’s Met Office Hadley Centre – one of the world’s leading
climate change research centres –
to use high-resolution climate
models to project regional climate
and sea level changes with finer
spatial detail across the region,
centred on Singapore.
Two scenarios were examined:
if the world does nothing to act
against climate change; and if
some action is taken, resulting in
annual global emissions peaking
in the year 2050, and then falling.
All projected changes used the
period of 1980 to 2009 as the baseline, as that was when Singapore
started to collect more comprehensive data on rainfall.
The projections will be used to
examine the changing climate’s
possible impact in areas such as
water resources, drainage systems, biodiversity, greenery, infrastructure and buildings. The key
findings from this are expected to
be ready by the year end.
This, in turn, will guide government agencies in shaping the
country’s plans to adapt to the
changing weather.
Said Mr Lim Zhi Yang, director
of energy and climate policy at
the Ministry of the Environment
and Water Resources: “One of the
key takeaways from a policymaker’s point of view is that we
can’t afford not to do anything
about (climate change).”
Commenting on the uncertainties and variations in the projections, he added: “As we put in
place some plans, we will ensure
that these plans will not overly
constrain what future generations
can do for themselves. We will
put in place measures that will allow space for them to add on their
own measures in future.”
For Singaporeans, the Met Service said the findings mean that
the unusually warm temperatures
Singapore now experiences occasionally could become the norm.
It said in a statement: “Due to
the high levels of humidity in Singapore, these projected rises in
temperature will lead to increasing... discomfort and heat stress
for those working outdoors.”
[email protected]