foreigners' shareholding in banks. 20 May – The North East MRT line (NEL) and the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines are awarded to Singapore Bus Service (present-day SBS Transit) to foster competition with SMRT, the first rail lines to be operated by SBS. In addition, SMRT and Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) will merge. As a result, SBS will take over bus operations in Sengkang and Punggol from TIBS with TIBS taking over bus services from SBS in Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok. 30 May - Causeway Point shopping mall in Woodlands is officially opened. June 1 June – The National Neuroscience Institute starts operations. 13–16 June – Singapore hosts the 1999 Rotary Convention. 15 June – The Singapore International Media group of companies is restructured into MediaCorp in preparation for media competition in Singapore. 21 June – SingPost and CISCO signed an agreement to create a new certification authority for e-commerce, thereby increasing security. 26 June – The National Sailing Centre is officially opened. July 18 July – The new Woodlands Checkpoint starts operations. 21 July – DataOne (D1) is awarded a licence to run an ISP network in Singapore, thus making D1 the fourth operator after SingNet, Pacific Internet and Cyberway. The ISP commenced operations in November. August 12 August – The Underground Ammunition Facility starts construction, which will be ready by 2003. It eventually opened in 2008. 17 August – The SAF Basic Military Training Centre is officially opened on Pulau Tekong. 18 August – Nomination Day for the 1999 Presidential Election: S.R. Nathan won the election via an uncontested walkover since he was the only candidate eligible to contest in the election. Nathan was sworn in as the sixth President of Singapore on 1 September. September 9 September – The Portrait Series notes are officially launched. 11 September – The SAR 21 rifle is launched. 14 September 1999 – In the first case of kidnapping by ransom for over a decade, 33-year-old Vincent Lee Chuan Leong and his two Chinese accomplices Zhou Jian Guang and Shi Song Jing kidnapped a 14-year-old schoolgirl for a ransom of S$330,000. All three were arrested, and sentenced to life imprisonment. October 4 October – The new Parliament House is officially opened. 18 October – The merger between TIBS and SMRT fails to go through. 20 October – The Monetary Authority of Singapore awards four foreign banks with Qualifying Full Bank