Profiles / Aqil Haziq Mahmud

CNA • 14th December 2023

A year after 31 died in landslide near Genting Highlands, wounds remain raw and questions unanswered

On the evening of Dec 15, 2022, Mr Leong Kim Meng and Mr Wong Wai Foong, together with their families, wrapped up an alfresco steamboat dinner in a campsite on the idyllic hills of Father’s Organic Farm, near the popular resort of Genting Highlands.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 29th January 2023

40 years after Sentosa cable car accident, survivor still struggles with trauma

On Jan 29, 1983, Mr Jagjit Singh and six family members had just spent a fun-filled day in Sentosa.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 19th August 2022

Woman selling crochet pieces at Toa Payoh MRT station just wants people to value her craft

It was half past eight on a Thursday morning (Aug 18) at Toa Payoh MRT station, as commuters filed into Exit D on their way to the train platforms.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 15th April 2022

Meet the 86-year-old man who repairs umbrellas out of a little shop in Geylang East

Mr Ng See Tee's shop in Geylang East Central does not really have a signboard. Where the shop's name should be is a white board with the words "IMAGE SERVICE" peeled off.

CNA • 26th March 2021

‘SQ117 owes me a glass of fresh milk’: The Singapore Airlines hijacking, 30 years on

Past 9pm on Mar 26, 1991 – 30 years ago to the day – three men were in various stages of winding down their evening.

Cynthia Goh

CNA • 2nd June 2020

A Bangladeshi worker is dying from cancer. Singaporeans made sure he got his last wish to go home

Bangladeshi worker Rana Sikder, 34, was already losing his battle with stomach cancer when he thought he had lost it all.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA, Ho Kian Joo

CNA • 16th May 2020

50 years ago, he taught himself how to fix TVs. Now, this 75-year-old repairman is still going strong

After both his parents died in the 1970s, self-employed TV repairman Ho Kian Joo faced the problem of there being nobody at home to answer the phone when he went out.

Jeremy Long/CNA

CNA • 21st December 2019

Regret over how he treated inmates: This former prison warden has been counselling them for 15 years

When Achik Ithnin, 70, was asked about his past as a prison warden, he reacted with some surprise. “How do you know?” he replied, eyes narrowing behind silver-rimmed glasses and lips parting behind bushy moustache.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 28th October 2019

This 25-year-old makes clothes for the disabled. She’s still finding acceptance in the design industry

SINGAPORE: In June 2017, fashion design student Elisa Lim capped off her final-year project for Lasalle College of the Arts with a runway show – but not the usual kind.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 3rd March 2019

As a Special Forces soldier, he stormed a hijacked Singapore Airlines plane. Now he's a monk

Fred Cheong, 55, has done a lot more than the average person across two starkly different lives.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 4th August 2018

The elderly shuttlecock recycler on a mission to produce a badminton world beater

Ronald Cheong, 83, is a former pre-independence national shuttler who’s had his fair share of ups and downs.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 16th May 2018

SCDF NSF death: Corporal Kok Yuen Chin’s last conversation with his father

The father of the late Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) full-time national serviceman Kok Yuen Chin said the last contact he had with his son was a discussion about dinner, more than a month before he died on Sunday (May 13).

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 3rd February 2018

'They ask if it’s my business’: Meet the Caucasian who works in a heartland provision shop

Australian Peter Brown has lived in various parts of Singapore for more than two decades. Here he talks about how he ended up in a provision shop in Chai Chee.

Jeremy Long/CNA

CNA • 23rd December 2017

On The Job as a heartland waste collector: A rancid, repulsive and sobering experience

I don't know which was worse: The smell or the creepy crawlies. The stench of rotting food was like vomit mixed with dank, dirty laundry. I struggled not to retch.

Aqil Haziq Mahmud/CNA

CNA • 3rd September 2017

Extraordinary People: In a life of limitations, frustration slowly turns into determination

When this karung guni (rag and bone) man makes his rounds, there is none of the usual tooting of horns or shouted messages. All Seng Boon Hock, 26, has to do is press the doorbell.