Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was seen visibly overcome with grief as he prepared to lay his late wife Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali to rest.

She passed away on Sep. 28 at the age of 100, leaving behind her husband and seven children.

Overcome with emotion

An Instagram video by Sinar Daily showed Mahathir overcome with emotion as he laid her to rest.

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim bersalaman dengan Tun M ketika tiba di Masjid As-Syarif sebelum memberi penghormatan terakhir kepada Jenazah Allahyarham Tun Dr Siti Hasmah. pic.twitter.com/QYhV9o3wda

— Scoop (@Scoopdotmy) September 28, 2026

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was also present and shook hands with Mahathir before he paid his last respects to Hasmah.

She died at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur at about 9:25am on Sep. 28, according to Free Malaysia Today.

The news was confirmed by her son Mokhzani Mahathir, The New Straits Times reported.

Mahathir also posted about his wife's passing on his Instagram.

On Facebook, the Malaysian Agong (king) Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar expressed condolences to Hasmah's family for their loss.

Born in 1926 in Klang, Selangor, Hasmah was one of the first Malay women doctors in Malaysia after studying medicine at Singapore's King Edward VII College of Medicine in the 1950s.

That was also where she first met Mahathir, who is now 101.

Under Malaysia's Ministry of Health, Hasmah became the first woman to be appointed the State Maternal and Child Health Officer in Kedah in 1974.

Later as the prime minister's wife, she continued to advocate for family planning, mental health, drug abuse prevention, and more.

Following the announcement of her passing at Malaysia's Parliament, a brief Islamic prayer was held in her honour, the Malay Mail reported.

A Singapore-registered car was caught on video ramming into a food stall in Johor Bahru, and Malaysia police are tracking down the driver.

In a widely-shared video from Facebook group Community Roda Johor, a Mercedes-Benz hatchback with a Singaporean licence plate was seen driving recklessly in the parking lot of a Malaysian food street in the late hours of Sep. 27.

Allegedly swung pipe at bystander

According to the New Straits Times, the Johor Bahru police confirmed that they received a report on Sep. 28 at 2:27am.

The 41-year-old person who lodged the report claimed that he was eating at a porridge stall when a man approached him and allegedly swung an iron pipe at him.

He managed to dodge the blow.

He told the police that the man appeared to be intoxicated and got back into his car when members of the public tried to intervene.

The suspect then rammed into the stall's tables and chairs, prompting onlookers to run out of the way.

He then drove off.

The Johor Bahru police stated that the case is being investigated under Section 279 of the Penal Code for reckless driving, which carries up to six months' imprisonment or a fine of up to RM2,000 (S$625), or both.

It is also being investigated under Section 324/511 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means.

Under those provisions, if the suspect is found guilty, he could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.

The suspect is still being tracked down, and the Johor Bahru police urged members of public with information to contact their headquarters.

A 22-year-old worker died after falling from a height at a Build-To-Order (BTO) construction site on Sep. 28.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said the incident took place at about 4:15pm at the Tanjong Rhu Riverfront II worksite.

Separately, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the worker had been carrying out concrete casting works with co-workers using a mobile concrete pump on the 12th storey when the incident occurred.

Investigations are ongoing.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at a construction site in Tanjong Rhu Road at around 4:20pm.

The person was pronounced dead at the scene by an SCDF paramedic.

Investigations are ongoing

HDB expressed its condolences to the worker's family and said it will provide the family with the necessary support and assistance, together with the contractor, BHCC Construction Singapore.

"We are saddened by the fatality and extend our heartfelt condolences to the deceased’s family. Together with the contractor BHCC Construction Pte. Ltd. Singapore, we will render all the support and assistance needed to the family."

All works on site have been suspended until further notice.

HDB said it takes the incident seriously and that safety at its worksites remains a top priority.

The agency added that it is working with the contractor and assisting the authorities with their investigations.

It will also continue working with industry partners to strengthen workplace safety at its worksites.

According to MOM, concrete casting equipment has to be inspected before use, work activities must be properly supervised, and measures must be implemented to prevent falls when work is carried out at a height, as general safety requirements.

A 24-year-old man in Singapore has died after he was conveyed unconscious to hospital following a bout at the National Stadium more than two weeks ago.

The police confirmed on Sep. 28 that the man subsequently passed away following the event.

The cause of death remains unknown to the public.

They also said a police report was lodged on Sep. 13 at about 8am, after the man participated in the AMC 13 Fight for Hope tournament on Sep. 12.

The tournament took place over three weekends in August and September.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) previously said they received a call for assistance at 1 Stadium Drive at about 7:05pm that day.

A person was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The man had trained at Muay Thai gym Inspire Fitness Asia.

No foul play is suspected based on preliminary investigations.

Investigations are ongoing.

What was reported previously

The Singapore Muaythai Association (SMA) confirmed on Sep. 17 that an incident had occurred during the tournament.

SMA had said in its Instagram post: "Medical assistance was administered by the on-site medical team before the individual was conveyed to the hospital for further medical attention."

It added that it was working with relevant parties to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and launching a formal review.

SMA subsequently denied claims made online that the fighter had been knocked out: "Both athletes were present during the announcement of results and walked off the ring unassisted. There was a medical emergency later."

The Fight for Hope tournament was organised by SMA to raise funds and awareness in support of Breast Cancer Foundation Singapore.

A Singaporean man in his 30s said he may lose S$157,000 of the S$368,000 he transferred to an Indonesian woman's company.

According to the man, this was done across 84 bank transfers to her corporate account, which she is said to solely own.

This was done to fund the production of padel sports gear in Bali, Indonesia.

Speaking to Mothership, the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said the transfers took place between February 2026 and August 2026 before he lodged police reports in Singapore and Indonesia on Sep. 19.

84 bank transfers

The man, who visits Indonesia regularly, came to know of the woman who allegedly operated under a false name.

The man, who plays padel for social purposes, has friends who own padel courts in Indonesia.

Padel is a racket sport combining parts of tennis and squash.

Sometime in February 2026, he visited Batam, Indonesia, and was playing padel with friends, when they introduced him to the woman, Mariie.

Later, at a cafe in Batam, she asked if he was keen to participate in the production of padel gear.

The two purportedly came to an understanding of a proportionate divvying of profit to production.

For example, he would get 90 per cent profit for footing 90 per cent of the production bill.

Over the course of more than half a year, he made 84 bank transfers amounting to S$368,000.

The man told Mothership that 25 production batches were reportedly never delivered. This was expected to net him a profit of S$394,000.

Small batches first

He told Mothership that the items ordered included padel covers, towels, bikinis and mugs, with clients ranging from individuals to Pilates studios and padel courts based in Bali.

"...She builds trust by saying let's do a small batch first and let's keep it informal, no agreement, nothing. So small batch, the money came back," the man said, adding that the woman also provided proof of her supposed company information.

The arrangement started in February 2026.

Money for the first few batches came back, he said.

However, he felt something was off.

Given that the factories for producing the items were supposedly based in Indonesia, the man said it was weird that the receipts and invoices were in English.

Scammed

Trouble began in June 2026 when he noticed that things had started to "slow down".

On top of that, there were allegedly clients ordering items in large quantities, such as 2,000 towels and bikinis.

But the man only realised he might have been scammed when a Pilates studio in Bali supposedly ordered 300 padel covers and 300 padel cover bags.

It was said to be a collaboration between the studio and the supposed padel business, he said.

He added that there is a trend where people in Indonesia would play padel and go for Pilates afterwards.

The owner of the Pilates studio, however, told him that she had never made such an order.

He also found older reports of what appeared to be the woman allegedly involved in another case of embezzlement.

Following this, the woman has allegedly continued to operate with a Singapore-based number, the man added.

While he has since made police reports in Singapore and Indonesia, he believes the woman is still at large.

Responding to Mothership's queries, the Police confirmed that a report was lodged and are looking into the matter.

The woman did not immediately respond to Mothership's request for comment.

A 69-year-old Singaporean man has been convicted of breaching a protection order taken out by his neighbours after he sang and struck metal outside their flat for about 11 minutes.

Heng Choo Hwi, whose trial began earlier in August 2026, was convicted in court on Sep. 28, 2026.

He had contested a charge of breaching the order by making loud noises outside his neighbours’ home on Feb. 5, 2026.

Sentencing has been adjourned to Oct. 21, 2026.

Background to the case

It was reported that Heng initially had a friendly relationship with his neighbours, a married couple, Alvin Chan and Sheryl Seet.

However, their relationship later soured, with the couple alleging that Heng had repeatedly harassed them.

In December 2025, they applied for an expedited protection order against Heng, which took effect on Jan. 19, 2026.

The order prohibited him from discharging or placing liquid in the common corridor, making abusive or insulting gestures towards the couple, and deliberately making loud noises in the immediate vicinity of their flat.

Heng claimed that the order had not been properly served on him.

However, CCTV footage showed him seated outside his unit with several items as a man approached him and showed him some documents.

The man was a process server who had gone to serve Heng with the protection order.

Weeks later, Heng was accused of breaching the order.

Singing and striking metal objects

According to court documents seen by Mothership, at about 5:35pm on Feb. 5, 2026, Chan called the police and reported that Heng was singing and striking metal objects outside his flat.

Chan also told the court that when he returned home from work, Heng saw him and began banging cans loudly and singing.

He said the noises continued even after he entered his flat.

The prosecution sought two to three weeks' jail for Heng, saying that the victims had felt "extremely uncomfortable and unsafe", CNA reported.

Heng was unrepresented in court and listened to proceedings through a Mandarin interpreter.

He told the court that he was working part-time and if he went to jail, he would lose his job.

As such, he sought a fine instead.

If convicted of breaching the expedited protection order, Heng can face up to six months' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.

Judge rejected arguments

Heng had earlier argued that he had the liberty to do his "own things" outside his Yishun flat.

According to CNA, the judge rejected his arguments.

The judge said an individual's liberty is subject to the law, including court orders such as the expedited protection order.

Heng also claimed that he had left the protection order in a basket containing old newspapers, which was later cleared by the town council.

As such, he had not read the order, Heng said.

He further claimed that town council staff refused to return the documents when he asked for them back.

The judge was unconvinced by Heng's account, noting that Heng had acknowledged that the documents were important.

It therefore made little sense for him to have left them outside his flat, the judge said.

The judge also rejected Heng's explanation that he had "trusted" the security in Singapore, noting that the area outside his flat could be accessed by members of the public.

He found it "implausible" that the town council would have thrown away Heng's court documents and newspapers despite his protests.

The judge found that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted Heng.

4 people were arrested on Sep. 23 at around 1am after a fight outside a restaurant in Geylang.

A video uploaded on  Complaint Singapore showed at least three people engaged in a physical altercation on the pavement, with one person pinned to the ground.

Two people in red uniforms appeared to be trying to break up the fight.

This purportedly took place outside a restaurant called “Dong Bei Jiao Zi Wang” at Geylang Road.

In a statement to Shin Min Daily News, a female employee of the restaurant stated that those involved in the fight had not been customers of the store.

“They are not our customers, and I am not aware of what happened.” She said.

Another owner of a nearby grocery store stated that although he had not witnessed the situation for himself, they are used to drunk customers causing trouble, especially on the weekends.

The police confirmed that they had received a report, and stated that three men aged between 30 and 42 and a 31 year-old woman were arrested. The woman and one of the men were taken to the hospital, Shin Min reported.

Investigations are still ongoing.

The police will be charging a 30-year-old man in court on Sep. 29, 2026 for his involvement in communicating false message and obstructing the course of justice.

According to a police news release, preliminary investigations revealed that the man had created an AI-generated image depicting a crocodile at Pandan Reservoir and sent it to his colleague.

The man subsequently deleted the image and the related application in an attempt to conceal his actions.

Public advised to exercise caution

On Aug. 20, 2026, national water agency PUB was notified that a crocodile had been sighted at Pandan Reservoir.

Members of the public were advised to exercise caution in the area while water activities at the reservoir were suspended, the police said.

PUB and the National Parks Board (NParks) also deployed resources to conduct search and capture operations in the area.

Subsequently, PUB discovered that the photograph provided in relation to the reported sighting was fake and the matter was referred to the police on Aug. 21.

Offence

The man will be charged with the offence of communicating false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act 1906 and obstructing the course of justice.

The offence of communicating false message carries a jail term of up to three years, a fine up to S$10,000, or both.

The offence of obstructing the course of justice carries a jail term of up to seven years, a fine, or both.

Police advisory

The police said they will not hesitate to take action against anyone who communicates falsehoods.

Apart from causing fear and inconvenience caused to members of the public, such falsehoods also result in public resources being unnecessarily deployed to deal with these incidents, the police said.

The police also urged the public to act responsibly and refrain from circulating false information or edited images that could cause unnecessary public alarm.

"The public should also not submit fabricated or manipulated information, including AI-generated or digitally altered images, to the police or other government agencies while presenting such information as authentic."

On Sep. 25, 2026, Mamun AL, 36, a Bangladeshi national, was sentenced to two years, ten months and five weeks' jail as well as two strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to four of nine charges, with the rest taken into consideration.

According to charge sheets seen by Mothership, his charges included theft, intentional assault, reckless conduct, and extortion.

Boarded taxi with beer bottle in hand

According to court documents, Mamun was drinking with his friends in Lorong 22, Geylang on the morning of Jan. 27, 2024.

He consumed a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of beer before flagging down a taxi and boarding it at about 6:15am.

He sat in the backseat whilst holding the glass beer bottle.

While the victim was driving, Mamun used the bottle to smash and break the rear windows of the taxi.

Mamun's actions were caught on the taxi's in-car camera.

The taxi driver stopped driving along Kallang Road upon hearing the sound of his rear windows being broken.

Punched windscreen before collapsing on road

The taxi driver stepped out of his taxi and realised both rear windows were broken, with glass fragments strewn across the taxi's interior.

Mamun got out of the taxi, and when the driver asked what happened, Mamun began shouting and ran to the front of the taxi.

Using the beer bottle and his fists, Mamun hit and punched the taxi's windscreen, causing it to crack.

Following this, Mamun collapsed onto the road and fell asleep.

At around 6:30am, the victim called the authorities and said in Mandarin: "They take glass bottle and smash my taxi they bang the car window."

Police officers arrived at the scene at around 7:25am and arrested Mamun.

Mamun was subsequently released on agency bail on Jan. 28, 2024.

Mamun's actions endangered the taxi driver's safety and caused the driver to incur repair costs totalling S$2,197.92.

No restitution was made.

Extorted man whilst on bail

Whilst on bail, Mamun and four accomplices extorted a man by falsely accusing him of stealing an electric scooter at the underpass of the Merdeka Bridge in Kallang on Feb. 12, 2024 at around 5pm.

Court documents noted that the men demanded S$1,000 from the victim as compensation.

The victim denied stealing the scooter and refused to pay the sum, resulting in an accomplice taking a bicycle lock and attacking the victim.

The five men threatened to hurt the victim unless he paid the sum; the victim denied their claims and was punched, kicked and attacked with the bicycle lock and a wooden stick.

According to court documents, the victim begged the five accused to stop attacking him but was told they would only stop if he paid them.

The victim eventually gave the five men around S$50 in cash, a bank debit card and his OPPO mobile phone.

Eventually, the victim was able to run away and call the police.

The victim sustained multiple bruises and was granted four days of outpatient medical leave.

During investigations, the only item recovered was the victim's phone, and no restitution was made.

Stole influencer's bicycle

On Feb. 15, 2026 sometime between 3:45am and 3:53am, Mamun stole influencer Royal Pek's silver-coloured "Broadman" bicycle valued at S$650 from an HDB bicycle rack in Geylang.

Court documents stated that Mamun stole the bicycle because he wanted to give it to his friend.

The bicycle was subsequently recovered and returned.

However, Mamun had tampered with the bicycle by replacing the handlebar and tyre with components he stole from other bicycles.

The prosecution urged that the court impose a sentence of at least two years, 10 months, and five to six weeks' imprisonment, a fine of S$1,000 and two strokes of the cane.

The prosecutors noted that Mamun was a "serial, habitual offender" with numerous offences from 2024 to 2026, with three of his charges committed on agency bail.

I will admit, I have been unsure about the benefits of AI.

At work, my colleagues and I mostly use AI for grammar checks and reviewing content.

While we definitely see its merits, beyond that, using AI for any further benefit feels like we need to spend more time figuring it out – time that unfortunately, we do not have because of our workload.

And it would seem that this is a prevalent sentiment among many SMEs. In the Singapore Business Federation’s National Business Survey 2025, nearly half of all firms surveyed cited lack of knowledge and expertise, as well as high costs of implementation with regard to adopting AI.

After all, it can feel overwhelming, having to think about how to make use of AI better, particularly if you are in a small business. Why should I be typing more prompts into AI, not when I have emails that need to be replied or messages to colleagues that need to be sent?

Plus, our usage with AI feels experimental and informal. Not all of my colleagues use AI, and some of them, such as my colleagues on the video team, would probably see it as a distraction from their daily job of editing and shooting videos for instance.

But all that being said, the few of us who do use it are cognisant of how there’s much more that can be achieved with AI. The question is: How do we go about it?

I was therefore excited when I was given the opportunity to attend Enterprise Singapore’s AI workshop titled “Turn Sales Data into Business Action”, hosted by GrabAcademy and OpenAI.

Using AI to cut down on your administrative work

As the workshop’s name suggests, it is primarily aimed at teaching attendees how to key better prompts into ChatGPT to make sense of their sales and cost data, create marketing visuals, organise workflows and even gain business insights.

The first thing that struck me upon starting the workshop was finding out that ChatGPT has a Work version. Specifically, a version that allows you to plug in Gmail, Google Drive and many other applications.

Suffice to say, when the first lesson in the workshop involved simply trying out ChatGPT, I ended up asking it to read my emails and update me on my timeline, as well as help me sort out my emails by deadline and client.

After some refining of my instructions, I found that it was able to do so with a very high degree of accuracy, much to my amazement.

If you have ever wondered how to cut down on your neverending pile of administrative work at the office, this is a tool you should definitely check out.

Small business owners might appreciate a means of being able to quickly see what their important emails are in the morning, and asking ChatGPT to help craft a reply so that they can focus on other more important matters.

And speaking of asking ChatGPT to craft something, being distracted in sorting out my emails with ChatGPT meant I had missed out the exercise for the workshop’s first lesson – getting ChatGPT to respond to a poor customer review, and asking it specific questions to improve the quality of the response.

If your business is a cafe for instance, you would probably appreciate the ease of having ChatGPT generate a reply for you, instead of having to work on crafting one entirely from scratch.

Talk about service recovery finally being made simple and convenient.

ChatGPT can also serve as a useful tool to guide your business analysis

For the next part of the workshop we were tasked with conducting business analysis with ChatGPT – researching trends, rent, competitors and locations with regard to setting up a cafe in Singapore.

For the sake of roleplaying, and to give an added challenge to the workshop’s exercise, I decided to ask ChatGPT these questions in relation to opening a cafe that serves insects in Bugis, with the aim of improving traffic on Tuesday and Thursday.

Impressively, it was able to give me an analysis that first broke down consumer trends, and provide its own hypothesis of what customers might be looking for.

It was also able to share which locations could serve as an ideal location for a new cafe and was even able to account for insects permitted under the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) framework.

On top of that it could even generate a table giving some rough estimates of the cost in setting up a cafe, broken down by item.

At the end of it all, ChatGPT was even able to generate a document detailing the next steps that should be taken, complete with what should be done to understand the prices of nearby competitors, to better price our own products.

At this point, we were taught how to input an important prompt into ChatGPT – to separate information from assumptions, given that it is prone to mix information with its own interpretation.

Another important prompt is to ask ChatGPT how it arrives at such numbers and to indicate its sources so that you can do your own verification.

Those of you who are actual cafe owners or aspiring entrepreneurs might appreciate how this can serve as a useful starting point in carrying out your own research and analysis into any new neighbourhood or consumer base for your own cafe, or even as a handy method in organising your own thoughts.

Running sales analysis

We were then brought to the third and last lesson of the workshop – carrying out analysis and generating images.

Again, I found myself amazed by how the tool was able to take the sample excel sheets we were provided with to give a breakdown of the cost and profit for the items sold in our sample “cafe”.

It was also able to create a new chart that showed a breakdown of the bestselling items per hour based on the information provided.

I then followed the instructions to get ChatGPT to re-engineer my menu and indicate my recommended next steps.

This included keeping Teh C as the default drink of choice in the Insect Explorer Breakfast Set, and retaining the traditional Kaya Butter Toast Set, while adding an optional side of cricket.

If you are someone who has always felt intimidated by spreadsheets for instance, because of the insurmountable wall of formulas and models, AI can definitely help you tremendously in this aspect.

You don’t have to worry about needing any special data analyst skills – all you need to do is to upload a set of data into ChatGPT and voila, you have a powerful tool that can help you make sense of your data and even present insights for you to work with.

Powerful practical daily applications

It was at this point that I realised – it’s not that difficult to use AI to get what you want after all.

Not only that, but the capabilities it provides are pretty handy – cutting down on your administrative work, providing business analysis and making sense of your sales data among many more things.

If you have to wear many hats at work, from sales to finance, because your business is modest, this is definitely one such AI tool you want by your side, given that it can help you save a tremendous amount of time in doing things like replying emails or generating excel sheets.

Getting better results for your business now no longer requires any special technical expertise; all you really need to do is to have an idea of what you want to know.

And even if you don’t have the clearest idea, AI can still serve as a useful starting point to begin your exploration and research for your learning process, or to help you solve any specific issue you might have.

Want to see how AI could help your business save time, reduce manual work and make better decisions?

Find out more about EnterpriseSG’s Driving Entrepreneurship with AI workshops here.

This sponsored article made the author decide to make ChatGPT an integral part of his daily work