22 5 October 2008 THE NEW PAPER ON SUNDAY

News Snapshot
MORE TROUBLED YOUNGSTERS NEED HELP
Minister sees key role for mentors

■ Mostly cloudy ■ High 30˚ ■ Low 24˚

CHARRED: The remains of the
CRYSTAL CHAN
van which caught fire on the PIE.
W
ITH more young people getting
into trouble, there is a need for
mentors – those they can turn to,
in addition to their families and schools.
Speaking at the Youth Mentors Summit
yesterday, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Min-
ister for Community Development, Youth
and Sports, gave figures on how young
people were getting into trouble.
■ One in 10 secondary school students
smoked, according to a 2006 study.
■ 14.1 per cent of those aged 18-29 had
experienced binge drinking in 2004.
SINGAPORE WEATHER ■ 6.1 per cent of those aged 20-34 suf-
fered from depression, according to a 2003
survey.
■ The rate of young people getting sexu-
TNP PICTURE: ally transmitted infections has doubled in
the last decade.
Mentoring could help tackle these prob-
lems.
“Youth mentees are assured that there
is someone keeping a watch out for them,
that they matter to someone else, and that
their choices matter,” the minister said.
“Mentees whose lives have been trans-
formed through this one-on-one relation-
ship are likely to mentor others in return.”
Generation Y (those born between 1982
and 1994) are the most socially connected,
as they make the most of a wired world of
instant communications. “Ironically, they
may possess poor people skills, and would
rather ‘log off’ when faced with a difficult
situation or relationship,” he said.
Mentors face the challenge of anchor-
ing them and helping them stay focused
and committed to their goals.

Van bursts into flames on PIE

CABBY Mohamed Nizam, 36, was
driving along the Pan-Island Ex-
pressway yesterday afternoon
when he saw a van catch fire.
“The driver had parked the van
along the road shoulder and got
out with his passenger. A lot of
smoke was coming out of the van, and within
seconds, it burst into flames,” Mr Nizam said.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force, alerted at
1.07pm, helped to direct traffic while the charred
van was towed away.
Its spokesman said: “The flames were extin-
guished in five minutes and nobody was injured.”
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
– Crystal Chan

20-hectare nature area opens

in Admiralty Park
WOODLANDS residents can now
enjoy the biggest nature area with-
in a park in Singapore.
With the opening of Phase Two
of Admiralty Park, they can experi-
ence a rich variety of animals and
plants in the 20-hectare area.
The only park in this vicinity to offer three types
of habitats – open grassland, tropical rainforest and
mangroves – it has three boardwalks and a 2km
nature trail for visitors to enjoy the rustic surround-
ings.
The boardwalks and the trail are carefully placed
to minimise disturbance to the existing mangrove
swamp and habitats.

HK forecast to get out of recession

by middle of next year
HONG KONG is seen as falling into
recession in the last quarter of the
year as global growth weakens, but
it could see a mild rebound in the
second quarter of next year.
That was the forecast from in- PICTURE: AFP
picture

vestment bank JPMorgan, quoted by the South

China Morning Post. It came as Swiss bank UBS
FAREWELL: Family members of former Member of
announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide, caus- Parliament J B Jeyaretnam walk behind the hearse at his
big

ing worries about layoffs in Hong Kong.

The city’s gross domestic product was seen as
funeral yesterday. Hundreds paid their last respects to
contracting by a seasonally adjusted 1 per cent in the opposition veteran and Reform Party leader, who
the fourth quarter and by 0.5 per cent in the first
quarter next year. The full-year growth forecast was
died of a heart attack on Tuesday.
cut from 4 per cent to 3.5 per cent.