TR EMERITUS

Business decisions to maximize profits always has an external cost to be borne by the public, even though profits will be kept privately. When businesses bring in more foreign employees, they add to congestion, worsen pollution, increase the burden on public infrastructure, cause social friction, chase up property prices and increase the cost of living. These “costs” are brought to bear on the people insidiously - we gradually feel that life is becoming more and more uncomfortable, but can’t put a finger on the cause. But the foreign worker dorm catastrophe which is unfolding right before our eyes, is clear for all to see, and the cost to the people is enormous. The government has to prolong the country-wide lockdown, resulting in the economic loss of tens of billions of dollars, taxpayers money is being used to take care of the foreign workers as well as pay their wages for the next few months, hospital resources are on the verge of collapse, denying Singaporeans who need medical help and our country’s reputation has taken a beating. It’s a travesty that the employers of these workers as well as the dorm operators are not held to account for these costs. But there is is an even larger cost to the people that businesses do not care about when they bring in foreigners - the suppression of local wages. Low wage Singaporeans can’t make ends meet despite working full time. Some even take on two jobs and still struggle. The common refrain that Singaporeans do not want to do jobs that foreign workers do is just hogwash - pay a living wage and Singaporeans will come. The cost is too high. Businesses’ over reliance on foreigners cannot go on. But there are powerful selfish forces supporting and entrenching the employment of foreigners. If nothing concrete is done, our over reliance on foreigners, which is now plain for all to see, will be forgotten in due time, and the people will continue to pay the price. For starters, the Opposition has to take up the cause to get businesses to eventually rely on Singaporean workers first and foremost, and the people has to send a clear message to the ruling party at the general election, which is just round the corner.   Foong Swee Fong * The author blogs on Facebook.          Read More →

We have learned at least four things from Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC Seah Kian Peng, who walked around the neighbourhood on Sunday, touring coffee shops and a wet market. One, that he has the authority to appoint himself a safe distancing ambassador (SDA). Two, that he must be a very special breed of SDA – he was not wearing a lanyard with an identification card, which the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources has asked members of the public to look out for to verify if someone is a legitimate SDA or Enforcement Officer. Three, that he was instead wearing what looked like a People’s Action Party (PAP) party T-shirt, with blue and red trimmings that match the colours used by both the PAP and National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). Seah is the Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise and FairPrice. Four, we also learned that Seah uploaded a picture of himself with a market vendor on his Facebook and added the hashtag “#walkabout”. So if we add all these things up and we still believe that the MP was not embarking on a Sunday MP walkabout, then we must be feeble of mind. Seah’s walkabout came despite the fact that the PAP announced on April 13 that it would suspend all on-the-ground initiatives, including market visits and home visits. The announcement came one day after another PAP MP Chia Shi-Lu drew intense criticism for distributing face masks to hawkers at Alexandra Village Food Centre. Chia, a Tanjong Pagar GRC MP, was accompanied by Colonel Eric Chua, director of the SGSecure Programme Office and seen as a potential PAP candidate for the upcoming general election. What are we to make of the actions of the PAP MPs? It clearly shows that they put party before people, party before country, that their minds are more focused on fighting the elections than fighting a pandemic. Singaporeans are asked to stay home, otherwise there will be more deaths. Singaporeans who flout the circuit breaker measures have been penalised heavily. And yet the MPs themselves make a mockery of the circuit breaker measures. Seah’s Sunday MP walkabout also flouts the PAP directive to suspend all on-the-ground initiatives. We should not at all be surprised. When the electoral boundaries report was released back on March 13, it was a sure sign that the government was prepared to call a general election even amidst the pandemic. In subsequent interviews, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong did not rule out a pandemic election, saying the government needed “the strongest team and mandate” to battle the crisis. So if we have a government who has no qualms about politicising a pandemic, we can only expect the MPs to follow suit and toe the party line. During this difficult time for Singapore, it is a crying shame that the PAP stands for Politicising A Pandemic.   Augustine Low      Read More →

As of 29th April 2020, 12 pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 690 cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows: Imported Cases: 0 Dormitory Cases: 660 Community Cases: 30 Community Un-linked* : 20 (Total: 709) * Un-linked cases in the community regardless of nationality and excluding "Dormitory Cases". Total indicates the number of un-linked cases to date. [Source: MOH] Medical Worker Infected Another medical worker with National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) has been infected by Covid-19. The 23 year-old Malaysian nurse (case 15237) reported onset of symptoms on 23rd April and was admitted to NCID on 29th April. Prior to hospital admission, she had mostly been on medical leave and had only gone to work for a few hours. Status of Confirmed Cases Of the total confirmed cases, 1188 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital while 22 are in critical condition and  12,725 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. A total of 14 patients have passed away. Known Clusters An additional 5 (new) clusters were announced, bringing the total number of known clusters to 133. Item Location of Cluster Cases New 1 S11 Dormitory  @  Punggol (2 Seletar North Link) 2436 2 Sungei Tengah Lodge @ 500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road 919 3 Tuas View Dormitory @ 70 Tuas South Avenue 1 906 4 Kranji Lodge I @ 12 Kranji Road 330 5 North Coast Lodge @ 51 North Coast Avenue 325 6 Hulett Dormitory @ 20 Senoko Drive 323 7 Changi Lodge II @ 80 Tanah Merah Coast Road 321 8 Mandai Lodge I @ 460 Mandai Road 312 9 Cochrane Lodge II @ 49 Admiralty Road West 298 10 Woodlands Lodge I @ 50 Woodlands Industrial park E4 286 11 Jurong Penjuru Dormitory @ 58 Penjuru Place 252 12 Westlite Mandai @ 34 Mandai Estate 252 13 PPT Lodge 1A @ 8 Seletar North Link 227 14 Cochrane Lodge I @ 51 Admiralty Road West 219 15 31 Sungei Kadut Avenue dormitory 213 16 Westlite Toh Guan dormitory @ 18 Toh Guan Road East 206 17 Seatown Dormitory @ 69H Tuas South Avenue 1 203 18 Kian Teck Dormitory (26 Kian Teck Avenue) 187 19 21B Senoko Loop (Tellus Industrial Complex,) 168 20 SJ Dormitory @ 180 Woodlands Industrial Park E5 155 21 Woodlands Lodge II @ 190 Woodlands Industrial Park E7 148 22 Alaunia Lodge @ Admiralty Road West 138 24-4 23 Homestay Lodge @ 39 Kaki Bukit Avenue 3 136 24 32 Tuas View Square Industrial building 134 25 Sembawang Shipyard @ Admiralty Road West 133 26 Toh Guan Dormitory @ 19A Toh Guan Road East 133 27 Tech Park Crescent dormitory @ 43 Tech Park Crescent 124 28 17 Sungei Kadut Street 4 (Group Industries) 123 29 10 Shaw Road Industrial Building 118 24-4 30 Mustafa Centre @ 145 Syed Alwi Road 114 31 Shaw Lodge @ 12 Shaw Road 112 32 Tuas South Dormitory @ 1 Tuas South Street 12 111 33 CDPL Tuas Dormitory @ 6 Tuas South Street 15 111 34 Jurong Apartments @ 553 Upper Jurong Road 110 35 13 Senoko Way Industrial Building 109 36 Avery Lodge Dormitory @ 2D Jalan Papan 106 37 Acacia Lodge @ 530-540 Bukit Batok Street 23 102 38 8 Sungei Kadut Avenue Industrial Building 102 39 Woodlands Dormitory @ 27 Woodlands Sector 1 95 40 Tampines Dormitory @ 2 Tampines Place 91 41 Kranji Dormitory @ 17 Kranji Way 88 42 Project Glory construction site 82 43 2 Sungei Kadut Avenue Industrial Building 82 24-4 44 Kenyon/ UBS construction site @ 9 Penang Road 81 45 SCM Tuas Lodge @ 80 Tuas South Boulevard 78 25-4 46 Cassia @ 15 Penjuru Walk 75 47 33 Sungei Kadut Loop (Zap Piling Industrial Building) 68 28-4 48 4 Sungei Kadut Street 2 (Teacly Building) 68 49 The Jovell construction site 66 50 3 Sungei Kadut Street 6 64 26-4 51 21 Defu South Street 1 63 25-4 52 18 Sungei Kadut Avenue Industrial Building 60 53 Pesko Engineering Pte Ltd @ 2 Joo Koon Road 57 54 85 Kallang Dormitory @ 85 Kallang Avenue 57 55 17 Jalan Besut Industrial Building 55 56 59 Sungei Kadut Loop Commercial Buildinig 55 57 Leo dormitory @ 23 Kaki Bukit Road 3 51 58 SAFRA Jurong (private singing event) 47 59 12 Loyang Drive (Jackly) 46 60 51 Paya Ubi Industrial Park 42 61 61 Senoko Drive Industrial Building 42 62 36 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 40 63 36 Tuas View Square (Factory Building) 37 64 Kian Teck Hostel @ 30 Kian Teck Avenue 35 25-4 65 5 Kian Teck Crescent 32 26-4 66 TTJ Design & Engineering Pte Ltd @ 57 Pioneer Road 32 67 Westlite Woodlands Dormitory @ 2 Woodlands Sector 2 31 68 10 Kian Teck Crescent dormitory 31 69 National University Hospital @ 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road 30 70 Proptech Pte Ltd @ 38 Senoko Road 30 26-4 71 11 Tuas Avenue 10 Commercial Buildinig 29 24-4 72 107 West Coast Vale Construction Site 29 25-4 73 Westlite Juniper @ 23 Mandai Estate 28 24-4 74 PCF Sparkletots @ Fengshan 27 75 23H Sungei Kadut Street 1 27 28-4 76 5 Sungei Kadut Avenue Commercial Building 24 77 182 Woodlands Industrial Park E5 24 29-4 78 Grace Assembly of God church 23 79 SSKBJV Dormitory @ 31A Tanah Merah Coast Road 23 24-4 80 8 Martin Place Construction Site 23 25-4 81 2 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 22 27-4 82 Lingjack Dormitory @ 1 Woodlands Terrace 22 27-4 83 11 Defu Lane 1 22 29-4 84 10 Kranji Link.(Siong Kee Building) 18 85 40 Tuas View Square Commercial Building 18 86 CitiWall @ 34 Kaki Bukit Crescent 17 87 10 Tagore Drive 17 28-4 88 Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home @ 1 Thomson Lane 16 89 51H Tuas South Ave 1 16 28-4 90 8 Sungei Kadut Loop Commercial Building 16 91 3 Senoko Link 16 27-4 92 ASPRIWestlite Papan @ 5 Jalan Papan 15 25-4 93 Wing Fong Court Condo @ 10 Lorong 14 Geylang 15 94 Wizlearn Technologies @ Singapore Science Park 14 95 Acacia Home @ 30 Admiralty Street 14 27-4 96 Blue Stars Dormitory @ 3 Kian Teck Lane 14 97 ABC Hostel @ 3 Jalan Kubor 13 98 106 International Road. 13 29-4 99 Grandwork Building @ 7 Sungei Kadut Street 3 12 100 Dover Court International School 11 101 234 Balestier Road Shop Houses 11 102 44 Toh Guan Road East 11 27-4 103 17 Shaw Road Dormitory (Poh Wah Group) 11 29-4 104 Life Church and Missions Singapore 10 105 Wilby Residences @ 15 Queen Street 10 106 55 Sungei Kadut Loop dormitory 10 107 Yong Thai Hang health products shop 9 108 Hero’s Pub @ Circular Road 9 109 9 Gul Street 1 (Positive Engineering Pte Ltd) 9 27-4 110 SingPost Centre @ 10 Eunos Road 8 8 111 Keppel Shipyard @ Pioneer Sector 1 8 112 Black Tap Restaurant @ Marina Bay Sands 8 113 McDonald’s @ Forum, Lido, Geylang East Central and Parklane 7 114 Northpoint City @ 930 Yishun Avenue 2 7 25-4 115 33 Senoko Way Dormitory (Poh Wah Group) 7 29-4 116 Maxwell MRT station construction site@ Neil Road 6 117 Singapore Cricket Club @ A Connaught Drive 6 118 Natureland East Coast @ 907 East Coast Road 6 24-4 119 112 Neythal Road Commercial Building 6 24-4 120 Hai Leck Engineering Pte Ltd @ 12 Tuas Drive 1 6 27-4 121 Ce La Vi @ 1 Bay Front Avenue (Marina Bay Sands) 5 122 The Orange Ballroom @ Tanjong Katong Complex 5 123 6 Battery Road construction work site 5 124 ICA Building @10 Kallang Road 5 125 Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site 5 126 Strand Hotel @ 25 Bencoolen Street 5 24-4 127 Church of Singapore @ Bukit Timah 4 128 The Wedding Brocade @ Yishun 4 129 133 Tuas View Square 4 26-4 130 Grand Hyatt Hotel (business meeting) 3 131 A boulder+ Gym shop @ Aperia 3 132 Masjid Al-Muttaqin @ 5140 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 3 133 Little Gems Preschool @ 3 Ang Mo Kio Street 62 3 The island city is currently the most infected country in Southeast Asia and the 2nd most infected country in the world in terms of residential land mass. 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