Yuan Ching (Jurong) Murder Case - Ken Ong and Mdm Koh

The murder case, now all over the news.  Looks like this chap (Ken Ong) hadn't been working for 6 years.  What do you make of that?

My own personal view - as a man, how can you not be working for 6 years and relying on your wife financially? Unless it is an explicit agreement (i.e. the male becomes a house husband and the wife is fully supportive), I think this is just not right.




Ken Ong's suicide note:

Final Note

It's sad that things had to be in this way, but with 12 years of greivances, suffering in silence and humilation i had with her and what i got in return is her lies, empty promises and betrayal. Totally ignoring my sacrifaces, endurance towards her bad character and wrongdoings. All these years of marriage with her, i had constantly contemplating with the idea of suicide, the mental stress i had with her is too much for me.

My Studies
Only after i started study, i finally gained back some confidence and idea of what i wanted to do again. I had make so much effort in being an “A” student. Time required for to and fro from my place to BCA takes about 4 hours daily and i make sure i went for every lesson no matter how long the lessons are, even for sometimes 1 to 2 hour lesson. Sleep only 4-6 hours daily and the rest of the time are for studies, no TV, no Entertainment. Exam and Project period is even worst, Only 4 hours of sleep and have to sleep at 11pm and wake up at 3am so that i have more time to do what i need to do and prepare for the day. Study at 36 years old after being away from studies about 18 years and especially wanted to fight with the elites from china to be top of the cohort and “A” student is not a joke.

Our Divorce
I had already agree that we can divorce as long as we keep it peaceful as i don't want to hurt the kid in anyway and my studies shouldn't be affected. I came from a divorced family and i know very clearly how much hurt it can give to a kid, firstly, she agreed. However after she talk to her lawyer with APL Law Corporation, she turned and tried to act as the victim, giving false information to discredit me and my contribution to this family, thinking of using Singapore Women's Charter against me. Finally, forced me out of my studies to contest her allegations and the divorce is really the breaking point for me.

Women's Charter in Divorce
That is the worst part in singapore law, totally unfair and biased against guys in divorce, it doesn't consider the fault or problem of the woman in the marriage, all benefits will be given to the ladies. That is why many woman are abusing it for their own financial benefits and using it to threaten their husband during marriage. Although there are appeals for this charter to be abolish or amended but as usual, the government won't do anything against it without any benefits as they worried about losing woman voters and singaporean guys had to live with terms to that. Law should be Fair and Just, but somehow it is no longer the case for me.

Her Family and TYT Corporation
Her family is really a problematic and totally unethical one. Parents are extremely selfish and moral values are totally at ground zero.
Father is only interested in shares, disregard the family and constantly plotting against his own children to seize control of the company that they built.
Mum is totally a irresponsible liar, constantly making empty promises, always like to show off and brag to others how good she and her family is, but never consider her own mannerism and behavior in public. Pack leftover food for friends to show off where she went, for goodness sake, that is not being generous, that is constantly insulting people. Even treat her own home like garung guni, stuffing house with rubbish she find outside and never bother to tidy them.
As for the three pillar of TYT Corporation, Andy, Karen and Rachel. Many would consider Andy and Karen as the Mr nice guy and Karen Ms nice lady and Rachel as the scheming stingy wife. At least Rachel is the only true person to her own character.

Andy Koh, your Mr Nice Guy is actually committing Bigamy for the past 7-8 years. Married in singapore but marry another woman in china, and hiding her in Malaysia with a kid almost 7 years old. His parents and karen, all know about it and all trying to cover up for him all these years. So in singapore as a cover up or make amends, he acts like a caring husband and following Rachel way in the growth of company.
Rachel is not stupid so i believe she knew about the Bigamy as well, because of his frequent flyer to Malaysia with lies of trying to expand TYT Corp to Malaysia and she even got a letter from the mistress asking her to leave him so she could take care of him. Yes, he already expanded his roots there long ago. Why is she enduring all that? Simple, true to perspective, she is the greedy and scheming woman. Would you want about $4.000 in alimony and about a million or two in assets from divorce or constantly drawing around $8,000 in salary and about $7,000 allowances monthly, driving Jaguar and changing car annually with whole company of people have to listen to you and the assets are still under her control if she stay married? Answer is simple, at least to her.

Karen Koh, Ms Nice Lady, the lady i'm with for 12 years. I'm being blinded by her lies and seemingly nice lady nature. Staying with her for 5 years plus before we broke off first. Then she got involve as a mistress to a married guy, got pregnant and abandoned. However, she insisted that she wanted to keep the kid, her parents as usual doesn't care or bother with that. The experience i had with her already told me, she will never be a loving and caring mother. Kid to her is just like me to her, dogs. She just want companionship whenever she want, she won't be responsible to them or show love and care towards them. She promised that she will be a changed person and somehow, i believed her, you can call me blind by love or desperation to settle down, i actually propose to her and we got married. I thought after the last failed relationship with the married guy, she will realise the value of a man when he is willing to stand by you even this kind of thing happened and willingness to care and love a kid that is not his. After all these years, truth be told, she totally possess her parents traits and even worse than that, Ingrate, Liar, Schemer, Irresponsible, Actress, Lack of moral values, really if you named it, she almost got it. For sure even though the kid is not my biological son but i love him maybe even much more than my own, as i actually quit my work to take care of him and this family for 4 years before i started my studies.

TYT Corporation Pte Ltd
As for how much they expolit the company to evade their own taxes and increase their own benefits, that is the job of IRAS, see if the government want to check on them.

The Maid, Jasmen Jamelarin Corpuz
I had already given her many chances, and wanted to terminate her services 4 years ago because of the terrible way she is at managing her job and the kid, which resulted in the kid having skin and allergy issues but she gained the favor of Karen and Karen chose to keep her while ignoring my wish. After that, she had been giving me attitudes and teaching the kid to disrespect me and not greeting me by using the threat of tears and the boy love for her. She is also one of the my greatest mistakes. I shouldn't trust her into this family, let the kid sleep with her and be under her care while i study. Frankly, it is not my choice anyway as Karen is the one deciding them all along, disrespecting my opinions and wish all along. In this family, i'm like the outsider and like Karen is the husband, i'm the housewife and he brought a mistress, the maid, back and can even tell me “I don't care whether you like it or not, i want her in this family. If you have problems with her, work it out with her.” who can accept this kind of nonsense yet i endured for nearly 4 years. An excellent bootlicker, politician and manipulator, destroy my family so that she can enjoy the luxuries of life with Karen.

My only worry, Kid
Her parents groomed such kind of kids, after our death, i can imagine how bad the kid will be in the future with them. Her mum is the one who promised that she would stay at home to take care of the baby so that i can do my own work, however within less than a month, she complained the lack of freedom, body aches and sickness, she can't take care of him, which forced me to stop all my working plans to be a home dad to take care of the kid so that she can continue to work. After i took care of the kid, she immediately recover and going out everyday with her friends, that is the kind of grandma. I sincerely hope that the kid in future won't have the traits of her mum and grandma, be taught that as long as you can cover up your mistakes and problems which Andy and Karen are practicing now, you can get away with anything. So i hope the kid will be set up by the government for adoption, so that he can be brought up in a proper home and are taught the proper manners and ways to be a man. Please do not let him be in the care of the Grandparents or Andy, or else the kid will suffer more and be taught of all the bad ethics and morals in life.

Conclusion
I may not be the best husband around but at least i tried my best and given enough patience to her and her family. Yet you never treated me as a man, husband or allowing me to be a proper father. Even in divorce, you did it in an arrogant way, “take my offer of nothing and leave, i don't care what are your wishes and resolutions as you won't have money to fight against me as well” and using my studies to threaten me to accept your divorce terms. You really insulted my intergrity and pride. I endured for so long, for 12 years even with less than 5 times of sex for all these years, i stayed and support you, i endured what most man can't endured because i love you and last few years for the love of the kid and family. But the way you manage the divorce change everything, i finally realise what kind of devil you are, all should end 3 months ago, but my love and pity for the kid make me give you 3 more months to consider or make amends but you didn't and you gotten worse. I thought of getting justice through Singapore Law however that won't be possible because of Women's Charter, and my endurance for you and the maid is finally to the limit. So time is up. I will give you and the maid what you all deserve before i end mine. I said before for so many years, i don't need anything from you, just need respect and honor as a man, knowing and loving you is really my biggest mistake in life. Son, sorry that you have to go through all these, I love you but your mum force me out of my limits. Hope your new family can help you overcome the trauma.

PS: Please help me spread this to let the Singapore government understand the kid predicament and send him for adoption, never ever let him stay with the grandparent who are terribly selfish and irresponsible, or with Andy who commit bigamy, he already have 2 wife and 3 kids, he won't take good care of the boy.

More Articles - Ken Ong's Dad didn't know that Ken Ong was married.

Istanbul Turkey, Part 3

Today, it would be a leisurely day in Istanbul. The all aboard time was 7:30pm, which meant we had a lot of time. We had visited most of the sights that we wanted to see yesterday. So, today, was just to explore a bit more, and the one more major sight to cover would be the Hagia Sophia.

 Looking out of the balcony on a foggy morning, I realised that the Bosphorus Straits was really busy, with all the ferries.

I even made a video. Check out the sea gulls chasing the ferry.

This was how the pier looked like.


In this video, I show you the walk from the Sali Pazari pier, across the Galata Bridge all the way to the Spice market. Not a difficult walk Originally, we planned to take the Tram from Tophane station to the Hagia Sophia (drop at the Tram station for the Sultan Ahmed mosque). However, the machine was faulty at Tophane station and there was only one machine (see the video). We then decided to take a leisurely walk into the city. It wasn't far.

Just as you get off the ship, there is a convenient place to take taxis, if you wished to. They even put up the prices. Here it is. The video shows you the exact location of this place.

BEWARE THE SHOE SHINE CONMAN

Now, be very careful with these shoe shine guys. I got tricked by one of them and they use aggressive tactics. One of the most common trick is this. You see this guy carrying something like a bucket and pail of stuff (brushes, liquids) to do shoe-shine. As he approaches you, he will deliberately DROP a brush in your way and then keep walking.

He hopes that the good samaritan in you would either pick up the brush and give it to him, or you would shout out to him that he has dropped his brush. That is where he has caught you as he would come close and start to do your shoes very quickly. Nothing is free. He would then charge you an exorbitant sum. Don't fall for this dirty trick. If you see that somebody dropped something, especially a shoe-shine chap dropping a brush, just ignore and walk on.

This was taken at the start of the Galata bridge, before we crossed over to the other side of the city with all the historic sites.

A view of the ship from the bridge. For some reason, there were many men fishing from the bridge. Beware their fishing rods, especially when they throwing the line out.

Straight ahead, you see the Spice Market. You also can see a mosque on the left of this picture. This is NOT the Blue Mosque.

Inside the Spice Market. A cool place. All the colours. Just fun to walk around.

I put together this video showing you clips from the Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar and other Bazaars (when we were walking between the Grand and Spice Bazaar). Seriously, the entire Istanbul felt like one big Bazaar. Interesting to visit but I'm not a big fan of Bazaars. Call me silly, but I much prefer modern shopping malls. The Bazaars will get very crowded during summer. Take all sensible precautions and beware of your belongings. (i.e. from pickpockets)


From the Spice Bazaar, we made our way towards Gulhane Tram station. We walked past some streets, which had many hotels. One of the streets was called Ibni Kemal Cd. I put together a slide show showing the street view as well as the hotels from the outside.

From Gulhane Tram station, just follow the track and you will get to the Sultan Ahmed square. Lo and behold, lines for the Hagia Sophia! I took these photos of the line in front of me,



and behind me.Remember, Istanbul is a crowded place. And you can see the Blue Mosque in the distance.

Good thing that the line moved quite quickly. I don't recall having to wait that long. We were soon inside the premises. While in line, you will get propositioned by licensed tour guides, who will offer to bring you into the Hagia Sophia via some express route. I recall they charged 10 TL more per person, as compared to you buying your ticket direct at the ticket booth. Tickets were 30TL per adult. If you went with the tour guide, you paid 40TL per adult, at least according to the guides that tried to sell us their services. They were all wearing this licensed tour guide ID tag, similar to the one worn by our licensed tour guide in Ephesus.

I guess if the lines were really long (and the weather was really hot in summer), going with the licensed tour guide may not be a bad idea given that it was only 10TL more per person. But that's just my guess. I didn't try - at your own risk.

The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D.

It contains two floors centered on a giant nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above.

“Hagia Sophia’s dimensions are formidable for any structure not built of steel,” writes Helen Gardner and Fred Kleiner in their book "Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History." “In plan it is about 270 feet [82 meters] long and 240 feet [73 meters] wide. The dome is 108 feet [33 meters] in diameter and its crown rises some 180 feet [55 meters] above the pavement.”

In its 1,400 year life-span it has served as a cathedral, mosque and now a museum. When it was first constructed, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This state, officially Christian, originally formed the eastern half of the Roman Empire and carried on after the fall of Rome.

One of the most well-known mosaics is located on the apse of the church showing a 13-foot-tall (4 meters) Virgin Mary with Jesus as a child. Dedicated on March 29, 867, it is located 30 meters (almost 100 feet) above the church floor, notes University of Sussex professor Liz James in a 2004 article published in the journal Art History. Another chapter in the Hagia Sophia’s life began in 1453. In that year the Byzantine Empire ended, with Constantinople falling to the armies of Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Piltz writes that “after the Ottoman conquest the mosaics were hidden under yellow paint with the exception of the Theotokos [Virgin Mary with child] in the apse.” In addition “Monograms of the four caliphs were put on the pillars flanking the apse and the entrance of the nave.” Read more here: http://www.livescience.com/27574-hagia-sophia.html

There was a lot of restoration work going on, but the place was certainly quite majestic, even behind all the scaffolding.


Outside, you can see remains of the Theodosian Hagia Sophia, from the 5th Century.

Starbucks, Istanbul, Turkey.

Short video of the Starbucks.

This picture shows you the Cemberlitas Tram stop, which is the one stop in between Sultan Ahmed (Blue Mosque) and Beyazit (Grand Bazaar).

Another picture of Turkish Delights. Didn't try any.

A picture of a Tourism Police car we spotted. Quite cute.

We also bought some roasted chestnuts to try. Unfortunately, they weren't roasted very well. Some were still rather raw.

Here is the Galata Bridge again, with many men fishing. I did wonder how they spent their time. Just fishing? Anyway... Well, that's about all I have to share for our second day in Istanbul. We spent some time exploring the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, but didn't buy anything save for a couple of scarves at 10TL each.

Well, that's about all I have to share for our second day in Istanbul. We spent some time exploring the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, but didn't buy anything save for a couple of scarves at 10TL each.

Since we weren't too tired, we decided to walk back to the ship. So this was a day where we walked all the way from the cruise ship (Sali Pazari pier), over Galata Bridge, to the Spice Market, then to Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar, back to the Spice Market and then back to the cruise ship, all on foot. Good day to burn off some calories after all that good food on board.

Let me end this post on Istanbul Turkey with a submarine sighting. Yes, I sighted this submarine sailing out while on the deck of the Norwegian Jade. Check out this video.



Thanks for reading!

Istanbul Turkey, Basilica Cisterns, Grand Bazaar, Tram Ride, Part 2

Continued from Part 1 After the Blue Mosque, we went to visit the Basilica Cisterns. This place is only about 100M walk from the Mosque. This is the video I made.

 


This place was fascinating. I hadn't expected to see anything like this before I came here. Basilica Cisterns? Wow. This subterranean structure was commissioned by Emperor Justinian and built in 532. The largest surviving Byzantine cistern in İstanbul, it was constructed using 336 columns, many of which were salvaged from ruined temples and feature fine carved capitals. Its symmetry and sheer grandeur of conception are quite breathtaking.



Like most sites in İstanbul, the cistern has an unusual history. It was originally known as the Basilica Cistern because it lay underneath the Stoa Basilica, one of the great squares on the first hill. Designed to service the Great Palace and surrounding buildings, it was able to store up to 80,000 cu metres of water delivered via 20km of aqueducts from a reservoir near the Black Sea, but was closed when the Byzantine emperors relocated from the Great Palace.

Forgotten by the city authorities some time before the Conquest, it wasn't rediscovered until 1545, when scholar Petrus Gyllius was researching Byzantine antiquities in the city and was told by local residents that they were able to miraculously obtain water by lowering buckets into a dark space below their basement floors. Some were even catching fish this way. Intrigued, Gyllius explored the neighbourhood and finally accessed the cistern through one of the basements. Even after his discovery, the Ottomans (who referred to the cistern as Yerebatan Saray) didn't treat the so-called Underground Palace with the respect it deserved – it became a dumping ground for all sorts of junk, as well as corpses.



The cistern was cleaned and renovated in 1985 by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and opened to the public in 1987. It's now one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. Walking along its raised wooden platforms, you'll feel the water dripping from the vaulted ceiling and see schools of ghostly carp patrolling the water. (reference - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/turkey/istanbul/sights/other/basilica-cistern#ixzz3NqzkkhdW)

There was even a medusa's head, kind of squashed under a large column. Very odd looking.

We spent about 45 minutes in the Cisterns. Be wary that the floor is wet and you often feel water dripping from the roof. Quite an experience and well worth the visit. I think it was 20 Turkish Lira per adult.


After we exited the Cisterns, we decided to make our way to the Grand Bazaar, on foot. It was easy because we just had to follow the route of the Tram, and according to my GPS, it wasn't too far away, less than 1km.

After all that walking, it was time to get a little bite to keep the energy levels up. So we stopped at a MacDonalds for a bite. My kids were with us, so I definitely wasn't adventurous with food.



I even made a short video of the MacDonalds and McCafe experience, including the prices.


Of course, since you were in Turkey and if you wanted to try local fare, there were plenty of cafes and eateries along the main road from Blue Mosque to the Grand Bazaar. I must say that the Turkish Delights looked really pretty.


After the break at Macs, we kept walking and found ourselves at the Beyazit Tram station, which is the station for the Grand Bazaar. There would be an entrance to the Grand Bazaar here. Bear in mind that the Grand Bazaar is very large, with more than 5,000 shops and various entrances. There were large streets (not sure what to call them) and also many smaller alleyways, all very bright lit and full of people. I can only imagine how crowded this place must be in summer. Remember to bargain aggressively if you want to buy anything from this place. I overheard some people on the cruise ship saying that they paid only 10% of the asking price.

Anyway, we didn't explore the Bazaar very much because we knew that we were likely to come back here tomorrow to take a look again. The kids had been great (with all that walking) and it was time to get back to the ship, get some food and rest. We took the tram back. Beyazit station was very bright lit and it felt very safe even though it was dark. The entrance to the platform where you put in a red token (cost 4TL for adults).

This is the video I made while waiting for the Tram at Beyazit station. To get back to the ship, we dropped off where we boarded earlier that day, at Findliki station, and then back-tracked to the ship. It was not difficult, however, beware that the road from the Findikli station to port gates was rather dark. Well, just take sensible precautions.
 

Onwards to Part 3.

Istanbul Turkey, Topkapi Palace and Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) Part 1

We were in Istanbul, Turkey.

We were in Istanbul, Turkey! This was an overnight port of call. This port was the highlight of our cruise. The ship would arrive at 1pm. All aboard time was the next day at 7:30pm. We had plenty of time to explore.We were docked at Sali Pazari Pier, which was very convenient.



This was Findikli Tram station. Walking here was very easy. Head out to the main port gates, take a right and walk about 5 minutes. Total time to get here from the ship is about 10 minutes. Trams were quite frequent. Cost was 4 Turkish Lira per person, my kids travelled free. This was Findikli Tram station.   

The video below starts with Findikli Tram station and waiting for the Tram. This afternoon, we would take the Tram to Gulhane and then walk to Topkapi. It was quite a walk because there was an uphill clilmb, but we made it.  The video shows you a glimpse of the Topkapi Palace.



The Topkapi Palace was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for about 400 years of their 600 year reign. Today, it is a museum and a major tourist attraction. It contains many exhibits, including Muhammad's cloak and sword (as claimed by the museum). This museum became a UNESCO Heritage Site, and is described as "the best examples of ensembles of palaces of the Ottoman period.

Walking into the complex.


The place was rather large, with many rooms to explore, and also many tourists. We took about 1.5 hours to view the rooms. We definitely didn't cover all the exhibits and didn't see the Harem either. But I think we saw the most important ones.


Thereafter, we walked towards the Hagia Sophia. I used my phone GPS to guide me. The Hagia Sophia was just next to the Topkapi. We exited the Topkapi compound through these gates. Notice the armed guards.


Once you exited the correct gates, she was there, about 200M. However, she was closed today. So we decided to proceed to the Blue Mosque, which was just opposite the Hagia Sophia, on the other end of the Sultan Ahmet square.

This is the Hagia Sophia. Closed today. So we will come back tomorrow.

That's the Blue Mosque in the distance, located right opposite the Hagia Sophia.

Note the opening hours. I am not sure if these hours change on a daily basis, but it is not open the entire day. The Blue Mosque is used by worshippers for their prayers.

The official name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, built by Sultan Ahmet I, on the site of imperial palace of the Byzantine empire, opposite the Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofya as the Ottomans called it). The Blue Mosque is called Blue because of the blue paint used. See this picture of the interior.

Interesting to note that Pope Benedict XVI visited the Blue Mosque on 30 Nov 2006. This was only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship.

I made this video of our trip into the Blue Mosque. This place is definitely a 'must-see' in Istanbul. The insides were splendid and peaceful.



Move on to Part 2 of our stay in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr Adam El-Gamel of New Zealand Arrested for Shop-lifting

This Doctor is supposed a top surgeon in his field. Yet, he was arrested for his alleged involvement in shop-lifting by the Singapore Police while on transit through Changi Airport.

The article below was taken from Straits Times, 10 Jan 2015.



Thanks for reading.

Costa Victoria Cruise to Phuket and Langkawi, out of Singapore

My parents went for a cruise on the Costa Victoria out of Singapore. It was a 4N cruise, with ports of call in Phuket, Thailand and Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia.

 My Dad passed me some of his photos and videos, so I am using them to do some reviews and videos. I have no first hand experience on this ship, so I would have to rely on my Dad's views. By way of background, my parents are avid cruisers too. They have sailed more times than us and they are Diamond on Royal. They also sailed with us on our recent Norwegian Jade cruise out of Rome to Greece and Turkey.



Not sure what was happening here. Maybe the spa was doing a public show?

Deck 6 - I think this was where most of the action was.

The food wasn't good at all. My Dad complained about it. He also heard any other passengers making similar comments. This photo of a rice dish sums it up.

Here are some videos to share.

Costa Victoria Snippets of Cruise Ship

Costa Victoria Venetian Night Dancing!

The ports that the ship visited were interesting. Only 2 ports on this 4N cruise. The first was Phuket, Thailand. Phuket is actually an island, with her own international airport. Famous for her beaches, seafood and nightlife. I think it is a favourite place to visit for many Caucasians. You will see in the video that most people on the beaches were not locals. Phuket was also hit by the 2004 Tsunami.

Phuket was a tender port. The ship employed local tenders, pretty big boats. The boats brought the passengers right up to Patong Beach, which I think is the most famous of Phuket beaches. The tender ride was about 20 minutes .



This video shows the para-sailing at Patong Beach. I don't think it is very safe.

The second port was Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia. They call this the Jewel of Kedah. Langkawi is also a touristy, resort-type island. This place was certainly not as busy as Phuket. The port of call was rather short, 7:30am to 12:30pm. The scenery was pretty nice though, because it is actually an archipelago of 104 islands in the Andaman sea.



Thanks for watching!