Singapore, as the tourism and business destination, has a lot of visitors come by and spent a short-term living on it. The impact is, there are a very lot of options to choose from where somebody wants to stay and spend a night(s). This includes hotels, flat, apartments, condos, etc. But lately, one type of the lodging has been issued as a potential problem to Singapore people and the stakeholder. This lodging we talk about is Home Share, which is Singaporean private and public homeowners rented their properties to the visitors. Sites like Airbnb and PandaBed offer home share on their list of options. Airbnb is one of the biggest that providing this home share on their list. They admit that they have about 6,000 properties listed on home share menu. The examples are Kallang Shophouse ($249/night), Tiong Bahru Flat ($114), and a small room at East Coast with a balcony ($48). PandaBed is an online community for like-minded homeowners and travelers to list, discover and book trustworthy homes, apartments, villa, b&b and homestay across Asia. They aim to provide an authentic and trustworthy hosting or traveling experience for the community. Their PeerMatch feature enables host and guest to be connected in areas like culture, language and religion.

One thing should be considered is a home share is not a legal activity in Singapore. It has ruled under the law which stated that it is illegal for private and public homeowners to lease their properties for less than six months. For breaking this rule, the homeowner can be fined up to $200 and jailed for up to a year.

There are a lot of pros and cons about the rules regulate this home share business. At the cons side, Housing of the Development Board stated that this business will make an effect on the environment because of the high turnover between the occupants of the property. They have worried about the safety of the environment. This issue has been reinforced by the cons opinions from the people experiencing this problem. They stated that tourists who rent the property is more reckless and not as careful as the residents, like throwing the cigarettes butt, how they treat the facilities (Airbnb often offers the facility, such as gym, to the transient tourist), and also afraid of a very easy access of people to get in and get out of the residents near them without knowing who they are, and make them prone to criminalities. Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has noted that in 2013, there were 231 reports of this complaints, and keep increasing in 2014 as much as 375 reports, and in 2015, 377 reports. Singapore Hotels Association also in the cons side since the home share will make a serious competition with hotels and serviced apartment. Besides, the service they provided and the cleanliness won't be standardized as the hotel does. It will affect the tourist opinion of Singapore as a travel destination. 2017 is on track to hit over 700 cases of short-term rentals reported to the government.

Nevertheless, some people might think different and have no problem with this business. They stated that one should have a freedom to decide what to do with their own properties. And it will be saved if there's a rule for their guests to be screened up before accepted. Some also said this home share can make an immersive cultural hub. And it's an organic way to learn the city and the inhabitants, better than a hotel.

The government has a long thought process and a debate about to legalize or not legalize this business activity. On one hand, it makes advantages for the tourists and the homeowner, and on the other hand, they will come up with risks. They are not yet decided whether to legalize it or not, but they still watched closely to this activity with all the consideration, since it is a disruptive technology. Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for National Development has stated that if this activity legalized, then there must be rules to ensure the equity of all the stakeholders.

Handcrafting artisans are some of the most creative minds in the design industry. In this current world and age, heavy emphasis is provided for efficiency and speed, and much effort is needed to be applied in order to cool down and concentrate on quality. There are four 100% homegrown brands that are worth checking out. Their crafts are one of a kind which reflects the designer's creative output and reflecting every inch of their creative mind juice. The products are not only aesthetics to the viewers, but packs with full functionalities that are useful to the lay person. The founders of the respective brands had come out to share their insights on the appeal of artisan crafts in this modern age.

The first would be Bynd Artisan. It was located in Holland Village. It has a wonderful smell of paper as well as leather, due to the myriad crafts made from the 2 main materials. Its vision for the stationery marketplace is reigniting the spark and passion for pen as well as paper, since we have glued to our smartphones and PCs all the time. Their in-house designed stationery are stylish yet functional. Their main field of expertise is bookbinding as well as leather crafting. You can engrave your name on the shop itself instantly when you purchase any stationery and is popular among buyers. Brand Manager for Bynd Artisan, Mr Lin Dan Hong has a strong held belief that handcrafted goods are timeless, and reflects maker's sweat and blood. There are much collaboration done with personnel on the creative industry namely Larry Peh, Erwin Lian, John Clang and Priscilla Ong. Its next collaboration is with local talent Gentle Bones.

The 2nd mention is Leather Mallet. Brian Ho is one of a kind creative in this current digital age. His daily routine consists of photographing timeless shots on his trusty analog camera. At the same time, he develops his own black white film, with handcrafting process at night. Leather Mallet's main objective when starting out was to transform discarded goods into a brand new item. Film canisters are aplenty, and he changes them into adorable nostalgic looking flash drives. These can be tailored by inserting photo of your choice, where the printing will be on high grade long lasting Monet art canvas produced by German manufacturer for fine art papers, Hanemuhle. Handmade products are lively and very “human”. Each handmade crafts are different, even though the items are similar. The individuality of every products made by hand is the charming aspect for these products.

The 3rd local brand worth noting is Obbi Good. Obbi Good may sound cheeky for a handcraft product label, but the leather goods company takes their product designs seriously. Their leather crafts are produced from specialized tools such as awl, stitching pony and prong, with the occasional use of vintage sewing tool. It is a combination of exquisite skills, materials and fine workmanship. James Dung, Obbi Good anchorman commented that the handcrafting sector have been able to return the fundamental of everlasting products in this high technology era. Its flagship Avaitor Bags are especially captivating, which features natural tan leather and solid hardware coupled in sturdy canvas.

The final local brand that warrants special mention is Palinoia (image by palinoia). A quick glance on the outer designs for Palinoi's accessories may pass by as any other common labels. However, detailed look will reveal stunning well-crafted designs, with colourful scales latering over each gradient. The founders' vision for the brand was to attain perfection in design, by repeating unique patterns. Tracy Mah, the founder remarked that handmade crafts can connect makers as well as buyers, with buyer having his appreciation for fine art perfection within an imperfection. Many would marvel at the complex and intricate designs. Each clay puzzle piece is remolded by steady hands, hence creating a vibrant collection of earrings and necklaces.

The Changi Airport store FairPrice's Finest is well known for a man that carries a notepad along wherever he goes. He scribbles down various items on the notepad, while he moves between different aisles, checking the products and looing through them. However, he is not at the supermarket to shop for himself. Mr. Louis Chua is an employee of the supermarket – their first deaf and mute one.

With the aid of the notepad, Mr. Chua is better able to interact with the customers that come to supermarket and help them in their shopping. He finds various ways to communicate with the people he works with, including basic hand gestures and simple sign language. This has been his way of life for close to thirty years, rising up the ladder the FairPrice shop.

Louis Chua began his journey at the age of 22, and has been working with the supermarket ever since. He is a store assistant and is beloved by the customers that come in to shop. Most of the regulars are familiar with him and often gravitate towards him when they need help. This reflects in his attitude with colleagues as well, who learn from his positive attitude and work ethics.

The store manager, Mr. Philip Ang, praises Mr. Chua, noting that he often walks with the customers and delivers their bags till the departure areas. He was even featured in a video on the FairPrice Facebook page, which was rapidly shared and viewed by people around the world. Taking note of his work, Mr. Chua was interviewed about his life at the supermarket and he opened up about it in a candid manner.

He notes that the start of work life was marked with hesitation, as communication was not easy with co-workers and customers both. He worried that they would not understand the interaction and cause problems in working. However, he now feels that the work he has been doing is an experience of a lifetime and there are no regrets. Mr. Chua is fond of meeting the locals and the tourists that come to the Changi Airport.

One of his well-known local customers is Ms. Priscilla Chew. She has been shopping at the FairPrice market for close to a year now and has become friends with Mr. Chua. She notes that he approaches each customer with a big smile and a friendly attitude, determined to help them out in any way possible. She makes it a point to meet him whenever she goes for shopping, in part to experience his service.

Louis Chua handles housekeeping, stocking of goods and customer service at the supermarket. He has worked hard to reach his position in life. Part of the journey has been the happiness of the customers and their compliments regarding his work. Moments when customers appreciate his out-of-the-way help in their shopping are of great importance to Mr. Chua.

While he was born with hearing, a subsequent bout of fever at the age of one left him deaf. He enrolled in the Singapore School for the Deaf to and become proficient at sign language after nine years of study. Currently, he resides with his brother and sister at their home in Little India. His siblings are more than supportive of his career, and are proud of his efforts.

His sister admits that there were reasons to be apprehensive when Mr. Chua was first offered the job. She was unsure about his communication skills when it came to customer interaction. These days, she feels a sense of relief and happiness when his work is highlighted and praised by others.

The director of the Singapore Association for the Deaf has noticed Mr. Chua. Ms. Sylvia Teng notes that his long lasting employment and loyal work ethic is laudable, as are the relationships he builds with others. The loyalty and commitment he has shown is what sets him apart from the others.

Louis Chua notes that it takes patience to work alongside deaf people, but it is not impossible. He fees that the support of coworkers and customers has had a lot to do with his success in life as well. Either way, Mr. Chua is a constant fixture at the FairPrice supermarket and continues to make the people around him smile.

Employment Support For Deaf Individuals

Ms. Teng notes that deaf individuals are easily employable in varied careers, but find it hard to gain initial employment. There are far too many employers that do not provide basic facilities for the deaf employees, such as communicating via notes and sign language. This hampers their career growth, making it difficult for them to reach better positions. She says that employers must be sensitized on the issue and learn how to work alongside differently-abled people.

Furthermore, she offers methods of interaction in a professional setup with deaf people. The best way to move forward is to reiterate instructions by noting them down and showing it to them. Ask them if there is any issue or if they need anything at all. For employers, having a sign language facilitation workshop is a must. Engaging with deaf people requires patience, but more importantly, respect.

NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd was founded by the labour movement in 1973, with a social mission to moderate the cost of living in Singapore. From one supermarket, it has grown to become Singapore's largest retailer serving over half a million shoppers daily, with a network of over 130 outlets, comprising FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra. Its convenience arm comprises a network of over 160 FairPrice Xpress and Cheers convenience stores, which serves over 100,000 customers daily. FairPrice Online caters to over 115,000 subscribers offering a hassle-free online shopping experience. NTUC FairPrice also owns a Fresh Food Distribution Centre and a centralised warehousing and distribution company.

Singlish words have been accepted and adopted into the oxford dictionary. The publishing bureau gives credit to the language as being part of the community and thus the need to be incorporated in such a huge publication project.

Some of the terms being used in Singlish have been adopted from the Chinese speaking inhabitants and another linguistic group called the Malay. The words are as a result of language dynamics that have brought about the sense and validity for use as a language. These singlish terms are more so the most commonly used words by the people of Singapore.

It takes a long period of time for some words in any dialect to gain the respect and credibility of being recognized as words of good quality. Academicians in the field of literature and languages from Singapore acknowledge that Singlish being incorporate into an international word reference book is a major breakthrough.

There should be a rise in the way Singaporeans value and gauge their pride and value as it patterns to their take on others. This will help in gaining confidence in the future endeavors when it comes to innovation and bringing of new dialects. The current status of the way the people of Singapore value themselves is not as expected and should now.

For those people speaking Singlish , it has been their believe for a fact that they would one day in the future have their mode of communication being an integral part of their way of life. There has been numerous times when terms used in English by the Singaporeans has been added into the dictionary. Lah as well as Sinseh makes some of the words that have ever been added into oxford dictionary, some years back.

Adding Singlish words into the dictionary of Oxford is major breakthrough when it comes to raising the identity status of Singapore. This has been received well and positively by the iconic celebrities as it would open various opportunities and niches for them to explore and exploit. It has been good news to musicians and song writers as they now have to bring in a new twist to sprinkle their rhyme and rhythm with the Singlish words. This comes as a wakeup call to many other artistes to spread out and give their audiences with a new taste of music with the new Singlish terms, now formerly accepted.

Singlish does not necessarily mean that the formal English will be squirted, rather it is a language that has found a people in their inhabitants and at a time that was defined to bring out the language. New words will be there, today, tomorrow and in the new future, the English previously known and understood will not turn to being obsolete. Simply, the language is an added advantage to their mode of communication and will serve to their unity. Other communities and interested people willing to know and understand the language are also at liberty to do so.

Grammar is the major constituent in English, whereas there are Singlish words that can substitute those means that all will be fine, with the mode of communication and the understanding of other people. The naivety will come to an end when people understand that this is not a non-familiar scenario as there are also some words that are French and also used in English.

For many people in Singapore, Singlish has been their favorite and continues to being one. It is a huge disillusion for them that there are a certain people that still perceive Singlish as being incorrect and uncivilized. The people that put down the Singlish words might have felt the need, urgency and logic of being incorporated into the dictionary.

There are still those that are finding it confusing for the inclusion of those words into English dictionary. They are of the opinion that, since the language might have been brought or borrowed from the Malay dialect. It is a surprise for them that an English words regulator as Oxford can allow such a move. It is bad English to them, bad English trying to find its spot and maybe stand out to the rest of the world. FYI. Latest feed is on Twitter.