President Joko Widodo said he ordered the Finance Minister to reallocate the state budget to provide free vaccines. - Reuters
JAKARTA (The Straits Times/ANN): President Joko Jokowi Widodo announced on Wednesday (Dec 16) that he will be the first recipient of a Covid-19 vaccine in Indonesia and the vaccination will be available free to all Indonesians. I want to emphasise once again that I will become the first one to be vaccinated. This is to build trust and certainty among the public that the vaccines are safe, he said in an address from the presidential palace live-streamed on YouTube.
Joko also said that after receiving a lot of suggestions and recalculating state finances, he decided the vaccines would be free for Indonesians.
11:47 AM MYT
Tourist attractions will be allowed to increase their operating capacity from the current 50 per cent to up to 65 per cent. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The move to relax restrictions and enter phase three of the economy s reopening on Dec 28 has been welcomed by businesses, with those in retail, restaurants and the tourism sector hopeful of a boost to sales or footfall by 10 to 20 per cent.
But a real game changer for the economy could be when enough people take up the Covid-19 vaccine, so more restrictions can be relaxed, including border controls, businesses and analysts told The Straits Times on Tuesday (Dec 15).
Sadagopan Premnath pleaded guilty to four charges of conspiring to misappropriate gas oil from the company. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A former employee of oil giant Shell Eastern Petroleum on Tuesday (Dec 15) admitted to being involved in a conspiracy to misappropriate about US$36.1 million (S$49.1 million) worth of gas oil.
Indian national Sadagopan Premnath, 40, pleaded guilty to four charges of conspiring to misappropriate gas oil from the company. Five other similar charges will be taken into consideration during his sentencing.
Sadagopan received about US$150,000 for his involvement in the plot and has not made restitution to Shell.
10:41 AM MYT
This verification feature was previously only available to users with the SingPass Mobile app on their smartphones.-ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Residents are now able to verify their SingPass account identity by scanning their faces using computers and camera phones, or by inputting a one-time password sent to another trusted SingPass user.
These two features are made available to all SingPass users accessing government digital services from Wednesday (Dec 16).
They come as an addition to existing verification methods such as the SingPass Mobile App and the SMS-One Time Password (OTP), announced the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) in a statement on Wednesday.
People can start applying for the grant from Jan 18 next year. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Lower- and middle-income workers affected by the pandemic will get more help from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) under a new grant.
Called the Covid-19 Recovery Grant (CRG), the scheme announced on Wednesday (Dec 16) is for those who continue to suffer significant job or income losses despite earlier measures to help workers.
People can start applying for the grant from Jan 18,2021. Applications will close on Dec 31 next year.
The new grant is different from the existing Covid-19 Support Grant or Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (Sirs). Applications for the Covid-19 Support Grant will close by Dec 31, while the Sirs will lapse by year end.