Lawyers to assist family of 4-year-old who fell from Yishun flat
Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Lawyers have come forward to offer their help to the family whose four-year-old son fell to his death from their ninth floor Yishun flat, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam today (Oct 18).
Grilles have also been installed on the windows of their home, said Mr Shanmugam, who is Member of Parliament for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency.
The boy was home alone at the time. Mr Shanmugam had last Thursday said in a Facebook post that the conduct of the family’s contractor — who is said to have failed to instal window grilles in the flat as agreed and who has been unreachable — was, if described accurately, “irresponsible” and contributed to the tragedy. In the same post, he also said he would help the family seek legal recourse.
Speaking at a mass tree-planting event in Nee Soon today, Mr Shanmugam said regardless of responsibility, the contractor has kept quiet since, even after the family tried to contact him. “That upset me ... So I have said, ‘Look, we’ll help you find lawyers’, and some lawyers have come forward, and I have given the names to the family,” he said, declining to elaborate further.
More than 600 Nee Soon residents planted about 200 trees at the new Khatib Bongsu Park Connector by Yishun Ave 11. The event is part of the national “Clean & Green Singapore” campaign. The trees planted at the event are native to Singapore, with some growing in the Nee Soon Swamp Forest.
Mr Shanmugam, who planted a Malabera Bukit tree, also said there are plans to increase the green coverage in Singapore, adding that protecting the environment and climate change have been significant issues to Singapore for decades.
“Thankfully, in Singapore it’s something we started much earlier,” Mr Shanmugam said. “If you notice, in the ‘70s, ‘80s, you went around Asia, many places, you really saw urban jungles. Singapore is the exception, because Mr Lee Kuan Yew wanted to make sure that we paid a lot of attention to the environment, trees, tree planting.”
He also said protecting the environment and being “green conscious” is important for a small place like Singapore, especially in the face of high costs of alternative forms of energy. “In economic terms, we are very challenged when it comes to alternative forms of energy – hydro-electric – it’s not really feasible for us.”
“So we are really dependent on carbon. But we have to make sure we use it efficiently, and we have to try and make sure we have a green consciousness. If we tried alternate methods, today that would have a deep economic impact, given the cost of the alternate resources.”
More than 5,000 trees will be planted across Singapore from Aug 1 until the end of the year, as part of the national clean and green campaign, said the National Parks Board (NParks).
The Khatib Bongsu Park Connector was opened to the public last month, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Park Connector Network. CHANNEL NEWSASIA
