Indian national wins big in Korean survival drama Squid Game at Singapore company dinner-dance
Singapore, Jun 1: An Indian national has won SGD18,888 in cash at the company's dinner-and-dance event in the hit South Korean survival drama Squid Game, where players compete to win life-altering rewards, but minus the deadly stakes.
The prize money is equivalent to one and half years' worth of his salary at the heavy vehicle leasing firm Pollisum Engineering which hosted the event last Saturday, reported The Straits Times.
Selvam Arumugam, 42, had not heard of the show before.
Selvam works as a rigger and signalman, inspecting and maintaining crane and lifting equipment to ensure the safety of lifting operations at construction sites for Pollisum Engineering which gave out a total of SGD100,000 in prize money during the event.
Selvam, who studied up to Secondary 1 in India and joined the company in 2015, supports 15 family members back home. His parents and two brothers have died, leaving behind their wives and a total of seven children. He also provides for his in-laws.
Selvam said he will use the prize money to build a family home in India the family currently lives in a rental flat and help his brothers' children pay for their studies.
"When I found out that I had won, I couldn't believe it... I called my entire family to tell them about this good news," he said in Tamil.
"My wife thought it was a joke at first until (my friend) spoke to her. All of them were celebrating and crying at the same time. This will be a moment that we will never forget for our entire lives," Selvam added.
In the Netflix series, hundreds of cash-strapped contestants compete in children's games for a huge cash prize while risking their lives in the process.
Players at the dinner and dance sported red tracksuit jackets with number tags, while game masters wore red hooded jumpsuits, like characters in the drama series.
A giant inflatable ball filled with money hung from the ceiling in full view of the players, similar to the show' piggy bank.
Despite not understanding the rules of the games, he tried his best, said Selvam, who has a wife and three teenage children. He first came to Singapore to work in 2007 from Tamil Nadu.
He copied what players in front of him were doing and ran as fast as he could during the Red Light, Green Light game and managed to escape elimination.
In a TikTok video of the event, Selvam is seen falling to his knees and covering his face with his hands in disbelief when he learnt he had won the top prize. He won SGD18,888 (more than Rs 11.50 lakh) in cash.
The company's annual dinner and dance was attended by 210 employees, including mechanics, drivers and sales staff.
Executive director Chris Ang said the company wanted to reward its workers as it has been doing well and expanding in the past two years.
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US vetoes Palestinian bid to gain statehood at the United Nations
United Nations, Apr 19: The US has vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on the latest Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations, an outcome lauded by Israel but criticised by Palestine as “unfair, immoral, and unjustified".
The 15-nation Council voted on a draft resolution Thursday that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto.
To be adopted, the draft resolution required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Palestinian attempts for recognition as a full member state began in 2011. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state, a status that was granted in November 2012 by the UN General Assembly.
This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions. The only other non-member Observer State at the UN is the Holy See, representing the Vatican.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the US for vetoing what he called a “shameful proposal.”
“The proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists was a reward for terrorism”, Katz wrote on X, after the US veto.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, said in the explanation of the vote at the Security Council meeting on Palestinian membership that Washington continues to strongly support a two-state solution.
“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.”
Wood said there are “unresolved questions” as to whether Palestine meets the criteria to be considered a State.
“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas - a terrorist organisation - is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said, adding that “For these reasons, the United States voted “no” on this Security Council resolution.”
Wood noted that since the October 7 attacks last year against Israel by Hamas, US President Joe Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed.
"There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own. And there is no other path that leads to regional integration between Israel and all its Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticised the US veto, saying that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said that “our right to self-determination has never once been subject to bargaining or negotiation.
“Our right to self-determination is a natural right, a historic right, a legal right. A right to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign. Our right to self-determination is inalienable...,” he said.
Getting emotional and choking up as he made the remarks, Mansour said that a majority of the Council members “have risen to the level of this historic moment” and have stood “on the side of justice, freedom and hope.”
He asserted that Palestine’s admission as a full member of the UN is an “investment in peace.”
On April 2, 2024, Palestine again sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again.
For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.
Earlier in the day, Guterres, in his remarks to a Council meeting on the Middle East, warned that the region is on a “knife edge”.
“Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Guterres said.
“Failure to make progress towards a two-state solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence,” he said.
The UN, citing the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that between October 7 last year and April 17, at least 33,899 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 76,664 Palestinians injured. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on October 7.
As of April 17, Israeli authorities estimate that 133 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
