TR EMERITUS

[Letter was sent to Ministry of Manpower and copied to TRE.] Your govt invited us here. Without us, Singapore will sink. Now give us your jobs!Dear Mr Loh, I refer to the various propagandist programs your ministry has put in place since GE 2011. I am writing to you as I do not feel that all the statements made by MOM so far accurately reflect the actual status and feel on the ground even as your ministry is trying hard to convince citizens that it is restricting foreign labor. Let me cite you an example. I left Singapore in 2012 and have just returned since. I approached my Pasir Ris-Punggol MP who referred me to North East CDC for ComCare Employment Assistance. While awaiting for NECDC approval and WDA to locate a job for me from March 15 until now, I went job hunting myself. I responded to an ad posted by BCS Information Systems Pte Ltd on April 21 requiring Data Entry and Cheque clearance specialist and have only worked for them once in April 28. Their HR then told me that they will call as and when we are needed and Singaporeans will have to go for trials after trials while the plentiful Filipino office workers in there were offered "security of tenure". May I ask if such is your so-called 'tightening of foreign labor' where three-quarters full of almost every office in Singapore are either filled with Filipino, PRC Chinese, Caucasians and India Indian workers? I hope your bosses will stop deceiving themselves that everything is in order to address citizens concerns and that the ground has been sweetened. They should also stop continuing to listen to grassroots leaders who tell them only what they want to hear like Gold 90 FM as well as arrange only selected persons to go for or be interviewed by the Main Stream Media to propagate how they have benefited from tweaks made to policies. By the way, I have not been paid for that one day and am not pinning my hopes high as the employment and CPF acts here are unenforceable, if not already one-sided in favor of all employers. In the meantime, I have to resign to fate that I am living in an uncooperative and selfish society where economics and materialism is the driving factor for the country. Yours faithfully, Juliana O * Submitted by TRE reader.  Read More →

The slap that was heard around the world Police Operations Director Lau Peet Meng is one in favour of recruiting foreigners for the Singapore Police Force (SPF). From what he says, it appears that permanent residents can currently be (and probably are already) recruited to police Singaporeans, "what kind of numbers, as an organisation and as a society, we are prepared to take in...  is something that still needs to be further deliberated on”. Perhaps Lau should also consider what kind of foreign talent will be wearing the blue uniform. We could end up with these types of law enforcers gainfully employed at their respective domicile countries: Rashid Rangiris, the Philippines Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer who roughhoused a female Chinese national at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on May 5. Jiang Huixiang was barred entry into the country because she was allegedly teaching in the Philippines without required papers. A cell phone video making the internet circuit shows her being dragged along the floor by the immigration official. Next, the official is filmed shoving her with brutal force and slapping her several times before pushing her into a nearby room and out of the camera's field of view. Ibrahim Latif, the police chief of Acheh, Indonesia, who is insisting on caning the 25-year-old widow gang raped by a group of 8 overzealous vigilantes enforcing the Shari‘a religious bylaw on sexual relations. Accusing her of adultery, the vigilantes beat up her 40-year-old partner, indulged in their own wanton lust by having their way with her, and then doused the two with sewage before turning them over to the police. Manila is standing by their immigration officer and plans to file assault charges against the Chinese national. Indonesian Shari‘a police in Langsa plans to go ahead with the public flogging for adultery, and take care of the rapists separately in a criminal court, but not according to Shari‘a penal code. Do we really need to integrate these bewildering administrations of justice into our legal system? The BI employee may be a good fit in the prison system; with his skill set of making the sure his victim is out of camera range before dishing out the heavy treatment. Which could explain the lack of CCTV footage of Dinesh Raman's final moments. But Lau can't be seriously thinking of implementing Shari‘a law when he said, "We need, to some extent, some sensitivity to understand our foreign population. The danger is if it’s (purely Singaporean), you will lose touch with the people you’re policing." Bringing in the foreigners is bad enough, do we have to ship in their variants of policing methods? Tattler * The writer blogs at singaporedesk.blogspot.com.  Read More →

Kaki Bukit Citizens’ Consultative Committee chairman David Poh Cheng Seng (Source: his Facebook page) Kaki Bukit Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) chairman David Poh recently posted a letter on notice boards in Kaki Bukit, informing the residents that Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) had not nominated the ward for the HDB Home Improvement Programme (HIP). Mr Poh said that the relevant town council must nominate projects before they are selected and that AHPETC did not nominate any such projects for Kaki Bukit this year ('Kaki Bukit grassroots find fault with AHPTEC again'). HIP is an initiative of HDB for flats built up to 1986 which have not undergone the Main Upgrading Programme (MUP). It is meant to help HDB residents deal with common maintenance problems related to ageing flats, such as spalling concrete and ceiling leaks. “The CCC understands that many of our residents are facing problems like spalling concrete, toilet floor water leakage etc, and look forward to HIP coming to their blocks. Kaki Bukit is one of the oldest estates in Singapore, with some flats as old as 37 years,” Mr Poh wrote in his letter to the residents. Responding to the latest assault by the grassroots leaders of Kaki Bukit, AHPETC published a response on its website on Friday (9 May). In its reply, AHPETC revealed that for the last 2 years - 2012 and 2013 - AHPETC nominated various clusters in the Eunos, Hougang, Paya Lebar and Kaki Bukit wards for the HIP program. The Kaki Bukit cluster (Blocks 533 to 536) was, in fact, eventually selected by HDB for 2013. For 2014, AHPETC nominated clusters in the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol, Serangoon and Paya Lebar wards for the HIP to give the flats in these places a chance to be upgraded. HDB eventually selected the clusters in Bedok Reservoir-Punggol and Serangoon wards in Aljunied GRC to be upgraded for 2014. AHPETC noted that HDB has since announced that it would ramp up the HIP project, increasing the number of eligible units per year from 28,000 units to 35,000 units. It promised to nominate more clusters in Aljunied GRC for HIP and would "look forward to HDB’s fair consideration of the nominations". Ever since Aljunied GRC fell into opposition hands, the Kaki Bukit grassroots leaders have been finding fault with AHPETC, complaining about every little thing. Last year, the complaints against AHPETC about cleaning Kaki Bukit hawker centres were so great the matter was brought up by Minister Vivian in Parliament for debate at the national level. Who is David Poh? Before Kaki Bukit was made part of Aljunied GRC in 2011 by the Election Department, it resided in Marine Parade GRC. David Poh Cheng Seng was, in fact, a member of the Marine Parade Town Council Executive Committee before 2011 [Link]. Further checks on the internet show that Mr Poh is also the President of the Moneylender’s Association of Singapore [Link]. In 2012, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that some debt collectors had gone overboard with their tactics [Link]. It reported David Poh, President of the Moneylender’s Association, as saying that those who take loans may not be prompt in their repayments. Therefore, there was a need sometimes to take steps to recover the sums i.e. principal plus interest. Mr Poh said during the interview: We did receive complaints that there are harassment, going down to their offices where they work to collect money. We as an association try to discourage and do it more professionally rather than harass them in the workplace and embarrass (them). I also received complaints that in front of their family, the house and the children, that also shouldn’t be done in a harassment way. We also play a very important role where small time businessmen, blue collar job (workers), they need this moneylending rather than bank, they don’t get credit easily, we moneylenders will fit in this role. One of the objectives of the Moneylender’s Association is stated on its website [Link]: To maintain good relations with governmental authorities and to assist them through regular feedback. Last year, in other CNA news [Link], it was reported that the Registry of Moneylenders uncovered 50 advertising-related breaches by licensed moneylenders as of end February 2013. Moneylenders are only allowed to advertise through specific channels such as business directories in print or online media. Furthermore, they are only allowed to place advertisements within the approved place of business. Regular enforcement checks on licensed moneylenders are carried out. Those who flout the rules may be warned, lose their security deposit, or have their licence suspended or revoked. Mr Poh then blamed the 50 breaches on errant moneylenders who did not attend training sessions his association provided. He said, "I think it is quite substantial - 50 breaches to the rule. I think we, the association, have already provided training and yet they breached the rule. I feel they might not have attended our training and they might do it on their own. And after going through the trouble, they will come to us for appeal and end up with either warning or suspension but we do help them since they are our members." Mr Poh and his younger brother Mark are incidentally the proud owners of the Sentosa Cove "death bungalow" where a PRC KTV hostess was found naked and drowned in a swimming pool some years back [Link]. The bungalow originally belonged to Adrian Chua, the chief executive and founder of real estate investment management firm Roundhill Capital. Mr Chua moved out of the bungalow after Li Hong Yan, a young PRC KTV hostess drowned in the swimming pool after a night of laughter, drinking, and sex on 24 March 2009. Her naked body was found by Mr Chua's maid the next morning in the swimming pool. 5 months later, the 3-storey waterfront bungalow was bought over by the 2 Poh brothers for $13.6 million, saving them around $6 million. According to reports, Mr David Poh and his brother took only 1 hour to seal the deal with their real estate agent. The brothers, who live in individual units in a Bukit Timah townhouse, planned to use the bungalow as a "holiday home" for family gatherings. They reportedly spent about a million dollars renovating the bungalow's exterior and interior. Mark Poh is the managing director of Nam Leong, a steel piping equipment supplier in Singapore, while David Poh is its chairman: Mark Poh (right) is the managing director of Nam Leong, a steel piping equipment supplier in Singapore, while his elder brother David is the chairman of the company. (Photo: ST) According to a Business Times (BT) report in 2009 [Link], Nam Leong started out as a licensed moneylender. It later branched into supplying sanitary ware and bathroom accessories. From there, it expanded into steel products. BT said: Nam Leong has clinched major contracts at the two integrated resorts - Marina Bay sands and Resorts World Sentosa. Besides private contracts, government bodies such as JTC Corporation also form a major part of the company's clientele. David Poh revealed on his Facebook page that he has been Kaki Bukit CCC chairman since 2008 [Link]: He appears to be well-liked by his compatriots at Kaki Bukit Community Centre as they remembered him on his birthday [Link]:   UPDATE: Thanks to information provided by a TRE reader, we confirmed from PMO site that Mr David Poh Cheng Seng was awarded the PBM medal in 2012: The Public Service Medal 2012 ALJUNIED GRC Mr Poh Cheng Seng Chairman, Kaki Bukit CCC  Read More →