Online Indonesian maid process 'may be more tedi

by Saifulbahri Ismail

TODAY, May 31, 2012

SINGAPORE - With effect from yesterday, maid agencies here will have to apply online with the Indonesian Embassy for employment contracts for Indonesian foreign domestic workers.

The new online system will help the embassy compile data and track the domestic workers from the time they leave Indonesia for Singapore.

The embassy briefed employment agencies yesterday on the changes.

It said that it did not previously have full information of all its domestic workers here because the data was just shared between employment agencies in Indonesia and Singapore.

Employment agencies here and in Indonesia must now key in the necessary data into the online system.

The embassy said that having such information will help it safeguard the welfare of its citizens.

However, employment agencies said the online process may be more tedious. This is because, even after the online process, agencies have to print out the employment contract and submit it to the embassy for endorsement.

Agencies then need to send the contract to their counterparts in Indonesia.

This new system is also expected to stop the practice of some employers who hire maids directly from Indonesia.

Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) president K Jayaprema said: "We are looking at more business for the local employment agencies because it looks like only the accredited agencies with the Indonesian Embassy will be able to download the employment contract.

"So definitely, employers have to go to a local agency to help them with this contract.

"And it's not going to just stop with new (foreign domestic workers) coming in ... it's also for renewal, for the transfer of (foreign domestic workers)."

The Indonesian government has said that it wants to stop sending domestic workers abroad as of 2017.

It wants to provide comprehensive training so that workers are ready to enter more competitive industries. Stricter requirements may also be applied by 2017.

"But it's something we have to wait and see how effective this is going to be because definitely, they see anybody working overseas as a better source of income.

"So, unless they are able to earn equally good salaries, I don't think the ban is going to work," said Ms Jayaprema.

ELDERLY SURVIVOR RECOUNTS CHURCH LIFT ORDEAL - 'I banged on the floor and prayed for my life'

Dogs' barking upon hearing victims alerted others

Straits Times, Published on May 30, 2012

By Amelia Tan 

 

 

Madam Rose Tay, 82, is warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital where she is being treated for fractures in her back. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING

 

ON THE second floor of the Church of St Michael two Wednesdays ago, the congregation was singing hymns.

On the ground floor lay two desperate women, pinned under a lift that had crashed on top of them.
One of them, Madam Rose Tay, 82, told The Straits Times from her hospital bed yesterday that she prayed for her life and banged on the floor of the lift to attract attention.

'When I saw the lift coming down, I prayed in my heart, 'Joseph, Jesus, Mary, save me!'' said the devout Catholic, who hangs a rosary on the handrails of her bed.

She was with Filipino maid Clarita Abanes, 46, who, although more badly injured and groaning in pain, was still conscious.

'She was shouting 'aiyoh, aiyoh'. I think she hurt her head quite badly,' said Madam Tay, who is hospitalised at Tan Tock Seng Hospital where she is being treated for fractures in her back.

She said she had asked Ms Abanes to hit the floor of the lift as well. They did this for the next hour, said the older woman.

'Luckily the dogs in the church heard us. They started barking and helped us to alert other people in the church. So actually, the dogs saved us,' she said.

Although both women made it to the hospital, Ms Abanes died a week later from her injuries.

Her funeral took place on Monday and her body has been flown back to the Philippines.

Madam Tay said she had gone to the church off Serangoon Road alone on May 16 for the evening mass.

She met Ms Abanes and her employers, a couple, on the ground floor.

The Filipina was asked by her female employer to help Madam Tay into the lift.

Madam Tay said that a few seconds after Ms Abanes pulled the glass door of the lift open, it went crashing down on them.

She landed on her back and Ms Abanes landed on her face.

By the time the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force officers arrived, Ms Abanes was unconscious.

Madam Tay, who lives with her husband and son in a terrace house near Potong Pasir and has three other children, said yesterday of the Filipina: 'She was helping me and she died because of that. I feel very sorry for her. I am glad she is in heaven now.'

She added that she did not know Ms Abanes, but saw her employers frequently in church.

Ms Abanes' cousin, who wanted to be known only as Ms Logie and who said she was familiar with how the lift worked, told The Straits Times on Monday that the lift door was designed to open outwards, but that it could be pulled open only when the lift had arrived at the designated floor.

She said she believed Ms Abanes was so focused on helping the older woman that she did not see that the lift had not parked completely on the ground floor when she pulled the door open.

The lift, which was meant for the use of old and handicapped parishioners, served three levels of the church.

Madam Tay is out of the woods, but now has difficulty walking.

She said she is not concerned about how the accident occurred, and is assured that medical insurance will cover her hospital bills.

All she wants is a full recovery.

She said: 'I was able to walk around by myself. But now, I need help even to move.'
 

Church lift that killed maid not registered

Straits Times, Published on May 30, 2012

By Amelia Tan 

 

A LIFT at a church which crashed down and killed a maid had not been registered with the authorities.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said yesterday that the Church of St Michael had not lodged a certificate to prove that the lift, meant for use by the handicapped, had been maintained and tested.

The BCA noted that another lift in the church, a passenger lift, has such a certificate.

Under building regulations, all lift owners, except those in landed homes, must lodge this certificate with the BCA's Commissioner of Buildings before the lift is allowed to operate.

This has to be done annually. Those who fail to do so can be fined up to $5,000.

The accident on May16 left Ms Clarita Abanes, a 46-year-old Filipino maid, with severe head injuries. She died a week later.

Also injured was housewife Rose Tay, 82, who is still in hospital. Ms Abanes had been helping Madam Tay - who was not her employer - into the lift when it crashed on them.

The BCA said it learnt about the accident from The Straits Times' report yesterday and is investigating.

It checked its records and found the lift to be unregistered.

Its officers visited the church yesterday and told the church to appoint a professional engineer to check the lift and submit a report to the Commissioner of Buildings.

The church, which is off Serangoon Road, was also told to stop using the lift. It could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, Madam Tay, speaking from her bed at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, recounted how she and Ms Abanes were pinned under the lift for a terrifying hour before being rescued.

Additional reporting by Amelia Tan Hui Feng

 

Jakarta to stop sending workers overseas by 2017

by AGENCIES

TODAY, May 30, 2012

 

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government is preparing to stop sending domestic workers abroad by 2017, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said yesterday.

"We will do our best to provide comprehensive training so that they will be ready to enter more competitive industries when the time comes," Mr Muhaimin was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post newspaper.

If the ministry found that domestic workers were still leaving Indonesia for work by 2017, then stricter requirements would be implemented regarding their working conditions.

The deadline, if enforced, would result in shortages in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, where Indonesian maids and domestic helpers are employed in many households.

"Our domestic workers will be available for employment again once the host countries agree to implement numerous requirements such as fixed working hours, holidays and insurance," Mr Muhaimin said.

He said Malaysia, where claims of maid abuse have sparked bilateral tensions and led to a ban on Indonesian workers in 2009, has already implemented measures to guarantee such rights for migrant workers.

Indonesia previously imposed a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia due to the use of the death penalty against a number of Indonesian workers convicted there.

Two fined for false declaration of worker's salary

TODAY, May 30, 2012

 

SINGAPORE - They had intended to pay an employment pass holder a monthly salary of S$1,600. But, aware that the monthly salary criteria for work permit applications was S$2,500 at that time last year, they declared the worker's salary as such.

For falsely declaring information to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), two restaurant partners, Singaporean Jackson Tan, 44, and Permanent Resident Canares Lualhati Sikat, 31, were fined S$5,000 each yesterday.

The MOM said investigations showed that the foreign employee was not paid the S$2,500 monthly salary throughout the employment period, from Jan 7 last year to Feb 7 this year.

"Both Tan and Canares had unscrupulously "benefited" throughout the employment period by having to pay S$10,800 less for hiring an employment pass holder," said the MOM.

Both accused were also convicted of employing another foreigner as a waiter without a valid work pass from Dec 10 last year to Feb 7 this year.

They pleaded guilty to the charges, which were taken into consideration during sentencing.

For making a false declaration in a work pass application or illegally employing a foreigner without a valid work pass, they could each have been fined up to S$15,000 and/or jailed up to 12 months.

Between January and last month, the MOM prosecuted 18 employers for illegal employment/deployment offences.

The ministry also prosecuted 14 employers for false declaration offences.

Last year, 68 employers were prosecuted for illegal employment/deployment offences, while 78 employers were prosecuted for false declaration offences. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

Maid dies after being pinned under lift

Elderly woman also injured in freak accident at Church of St Michael

Straits Times, Published on May 29, 2012

By Amelia Tan 

 

 

Ms Abanes (above) was said to have pulled open the glass door before the carriage had parked completely on the ground floor. The carriage then crashed down on her at the Church of St Michael. -- PHOTOS: FACEBOOK, LIM SIN THAI

 

A FILIPINO maid who died after a lift in a church came crashing down on her was given a send-off - in that very church yesterday.

Ms Clarita Abanes, 46, was seriously hurt in the freak accident at the Catholic Church of St Michael off Serangoon Road, and had been in a coma. She died last Thursday.

Police and Singapore Civil Defence Force officers told The Straits Times that when they arrived at the scene at about 8pm on May 16, they found her trapped, unconscious, under the lift.
With her was a second casualty - a woman in her 70s similarly trapped, but conscious. She is still in hospital, but little is known about her.

Ms Abanes' friends and relatives told The Straits Times she was on her way to the second floor of the four-storey building for mass when she stopped to help the elderly fellow parishioner into the lift on the ground floor.

A cousin of Ms Abanes who asked to be known only as Ms Logie, and was familiar with how the lift works, said its glass door was designed to open outward, but that it can be manually pulled open only when the lift has arrived at the designated floor.

She said she believes Ms Abanes was so focused on helping the older woman that she did not notice that the lift had not parked completely on the ground floor when she pulled at the door. The lift carriage then came crashing on her and the elderly woman, trapping them under it.

Ms Logie said in puzzlement, however, that the lift door should not have been able to open.

Ms Abanes' brother Renato, 39, who arrived here last week, is still in shock. He said: 'We want to find out how the accident could have happened.'

Her Singapore employers, for whom she had worked for 22 years, were too distraught to be interviewed. The couple, who live in a Balestier condominium, were at her funeral mass.

The parish priest, Father Peter Tan, said no one appears to have seen what happened.

He would say only that the lift was 'working', but declined to comment.

The church is known to have installed two new lifts last year, and the lift which crashed was to have been withdrawn from use eventually. Most parishioners, except for those with difficulty walking, already did not like using it because it was slow.

It has now been cordoned off.

Those in the lift and building management sector, such as Mr Arthur Ngiam, the vice-chairman of the management corporation strata title for Eunos Tech Park, said the lift should have had a locking system to prevent the door from being opened if the carriage has not reached the platform.

Ms Logie said the church will cover Ms Abanes' medical bills; her employers said they will file claims with the insurer.

Ms Abanes' friends said she was to return to the Philippines to marry her boyfriend next month. She was instead flown home in a casket last night.

Foreign worker welfare group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics is collecting donations for her family.
 

Fund for foreign workers in need

Public can donate to pool of money to help those without food, medical care or shelter

Straits Times, Published on May 27, 2012

By Amelia Tan 

 

Bangladeshi Bimol Chandra Saha sleeping at an HDB void deck. He is on the streets, having run out of money, and is awaiting the outcome of a work injury claim. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

Foreign workers who find themselves without food, medical care or shelter are to receive help from a newly established fund.
The pool of money, which the public can donate to, will pay for the work of non-governmental organisation the Migrant Workers' Centre.
An inaugural fund-raising event will be held later this year, with details to be 

 

Foreign workers who find themselves without food, medical care or shelter are to receive help from a newly established fund.

The pool of money, which the public can donate to, will pay for the work of non-governmental organisation the Migrant Workers' Centre.

An inaugural fund-raising event will be held later this year, with details to be announced in due course.

Called the Migrant Workers' Assistance Fund, the initiative was granted charity status by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports earlier this month.

The centre's executive director Edwin Pang said the fund will allow it to operate in a sustainable way.
At the moment, it relies on the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation to foot all of its costs. But from now on, these two organisations will need to bear only the operating costs such as staff salary and office rental.

All of the centre's humanitarian work will be paid for by the fund. Mr Pang said helping homeless workers has always been a priority and the money will allow the centre to continue its work in this area.

The centre was set up by the NTUC and the employers' federation in 2009 to help foreign workers who found themselves without jobs, shelter and food after their companies went bust in the wake of the economic downturn. That year, it provided about 100 people from overseas with emergency housing.

Anticipating a possible recession, it increased the number of bed spaces it rents in a commercial dormitory from 20 to about 50 this year. About 10 of them are occupied at the moment.

Mr Pang said: 'Hopefully, a downturn will not hit us. But we want to be prepared to help migrant workers who may find themselves without shelter or are in other forms of distress as companies run into unforeseen financial difficulties.'

Since 2009, the centre has helped about 4,000 foreign workers with various issues including salary disputes. It will also use the fund to help those who are homeless after running away from their employers' lodgings.

In recent years, activists and newspaper reports have highlighted stories of foreign workers who fled their dorms after their bosses made their lives unbearable, either through physical abuse or threats of repatriation. Many end up sleeping on the streets of Little India.

Activists say these workers may not have been kicked out by their employers but still deserve to be sheltered. Foreign worker rights group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) runs a shelter for men but it is full.

There are no official figures on the number of homeless foreign workers in Singapore but rights groups Transient Workers Count Too and Home estimate that there are at least a few hundred of them.

Mr Pang said the Migrant Workers' Centre helps these runaways by working with the Ministry of Manpower to get their employers to agree to house them. Foreign worker rights groups welcomed the fund.

Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, vice-president of Transient Workers Count Too, said: 'Very often, these workers are seen as troublemakers and are ill-treated by their employers.'

***

HE SLEEPS AT VOID DECK, CARPARK
The streets of Little India have been home to Bangladeshi worker Bimol Chandra Saha for close to eight months.

His daily routine of finding a place to sleep in a carpark, alleyway, or void deck starts at about midnight when the crowds thin out and shops are shuttered.

It is close to 3am when he finally settles down to sleep.

He is often joined by dozens of other Bangladeshi workers who have left the lodging provided by their employers because of disputes.

Many have free meals at a restaurant in Little India sponsored by migrant workers group Transient Workers Count Too.

Mr Bimol, 27, came to Singapore to work at a shipyard in 2008. He was happy with his job until 2010, when he slipped and hurt his leg at work.

He said his boss was not happy about paying for his medical bills and started scolding him.

He left his dormitory and started renting a bed space at a shophouse in Little India for about $200 a month. But he ran out of money last September and had to start living on the streets.

He is still waiting for the compensation claim for his leg injury to be settled, but does not know when that will happen.

He said: 'I am very tired of waiting but I have no choice. I want to go back to Bangladesh soon and come back to Singapore again and earn more money.'

***

RAGS TO RICHES? NOT FOR HIM

-- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

Masum Abdul Hamid (right) ran away from the dormitory provided by his employer before getting his first pay cheque.

The 18-year-old came to Singapore in April and had been working on a construction site for a little more than a week when his bosses started finding fault with him and calling him a troublemaker.

Frightened about being sent home, Mr Masum packed his bags and left for the only place he is familiar with: Little India.

But with no money on him, he has been forced to live on the streets.

Mr Masum said through an interpreter: 'I heard so many stories of Singapore, that I can earn a lot of money here and when I go back to Bangladesh I will be a rich man.
'But I've found out that all of these are just stories. They are not true.'

 

Aid for the 'silent' needy

The Silent Foundation helps those overlooked by traditional charities

Straits Times, Published on May 27, 2012

By Judith Tan 

 

There is no question that Mr Teng Ngiek Lian is at the top of his game.
Before he founded Target Asset Management as a boutique fund manager in 1996, he led investment banks such as Morgan Grenfell and UBS Asset Management in Asia.
He has held top management positions elsewhere and sat on many boards in his 43 years in the financial world.
And through it all, he has not forgotten how his success has been entirely self-made.
The 62-year-old Terengganu native was educated in Malaysia, going to school in Dungun and Kuantan, Pahang, and then the School of Business Studies at the Tunku Abdul Rahman College in Kuala Lumpur.
His parents scrimped and saved to pay the school fees for their seven children. Money, for the household of a clog maker, was not plentiful.
To pay his own way through college, Mr Teng took clerical jobs at a mining company and sawmill.
Life would have been that much less of a struggle if someone had extended a helping hand to him, he reckoned.
So now, that is what he intends to do for someone else.
In 2010, he returned more than $2 billion to his investors and told them he was taking a break.
He set up The Silent Foundation to help the 'silent sufferers' with no voices, who are overlooked even by the traditional charity sector.
It helps both human and environmental and animal welfare causes, such as exploited foreign workers; those spurned because of mental disorders; and abused wildlife such as sun bears that are milked for their bile.
'There are some good causes with a voice which will always get attention and be able to raise money easily. And then there are those with no ability to shout for help. But the overlooked equally deserve assistance, and that's what The Silent Foundation will do,' he told The Sunday Times.
The idea for such a philanthropic endeavour started as a 'mid-life crisis', he said, and he could no longer ignore it when he turned 60.
'The Chinese have a saying, 'Even a good party must come to an end',' he said.
He decided the foundation needed his full attention and time. His wife, a 61-year-old housewife, was supportive.
Starting with $11 million, Mr Teng has committed $30 million in total to the foundation.
It will be allotting between one-third and half of its grants to environmental and animal causes, and the rest to overlooked social causes.
It plans to make grants of about $1 million a year for now.
Mr Teng hired environmental conservation graduate Tan En, 25, as the only full-time project manager to suss out which are the worthy causes they should be funding.
'The major part of our funding focuses on catalytic activities, which will help to initiate and gather public support,' Mr Tan said.
He reports directly to its three-member board, which is made up of Mr Teng; his elder son Mark, 35, a fund manager; and Ms Stacy Choong, executive director of the Wealth Advisory Group at JPMorgan's private bank.
Mr Teng has a younger son Matthew, 32, who is pursuing his studies overseas.
Mr Teng said with its modest resources, the foundation is likely to focus on helping non-profit groups with their outreach and education, and achieve a multiplier effect that way.
It has extended $160,000 to the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, to help pay for its educational programmes for schoolchildren.
The foundation's first project, however, was to set up The Silent Environmental Bursary, tied to a new bachelor's degree programme in environmental studies at the National University of Singapore.
The bursary provides loans to students who need financial assistance. The foundation has committed $1 million, which the Government has matched with $1.5 million.
In philanthropic work as well as investments, Mr Teng draws from the example of American investment guru Warren Buffett.
'As a human being, he is a great human being. How many people would contribute by giving billions, not in his own name, but through the Bill Gates Foundation, because he believes they can do a better job?'
He said: 'As a boy growing up in Terengganu, I dared not venture to dream where I would be today. It's not all about my capability, but about opportunity, and assistance given by a lot of mentors.
'Looking at where we are today, I told my family, most of what we reasonably want, we already have. Those things we don't have, we don't really need. So giving away part of what I don't need is not difficult.'

Australia acts to woo foreigners

Investor visa created and foreign workers for mining to be allowed in
Straits Times, Published on May 26, 2012

 

People thronging a street in central Brisbane. Some 50 per cent of Australians want an end to the nation's immigration programme because they think the country has too many people, a poll showed on Tuesday. The survey of 2,000 people, conducted for the Sydney Daily Telegraph tabloid, found only 32 per cent of respondents felt Australia should welcome more immigrants. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

 

CANBERRA - Australia announced key changes to its immigration policy, designed to boost the economy and to woo workers to jobs shunned by its citizens.

A new visa category is being created to give permanent residency to wealthy migrants who invest at least A$5 million (S$6.3 million) in the country.

The government has also decided to allow foreign workers into the booming but labour-short mining sector.

Australia is moving to attract talent at a time when governments elsewhere are tightening the screws on immigration, or facing a political backlash on account of rising anti-foreigner sentiments.

Policies to attract talent have boosted economic growth in Singapore, which recorded the world's fastest rising number of millionaires in 2010, while adding about one million foreigners since 2005.

Foreigners can be found in many industries in Singapore, from construction to hedge funds.
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the new visa for the wealthy will shore up investments in Australia, particularly in infrastructure and managed funds.

The visas will be open to all nationalities and he said he expects keen interest from China.

'Australia is well-placed to attract investors who are looking for the financial security offered by a stable government and economy,' he said.

Starting in July, the visas will be issued to people who invest in either state and territory bonds, Australian Securities and Investments Commission regulated managed funds or directly in Australian companies.

Mr Bowen also said that the government has approved mining magnate Gina Rinehart's plan to bring in 1,715 workers for her A$9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project.

The mine is in the booming but remote Pilbara region of north-western Australia and the approval clears the way for the resources sector to use more foreign labour in major projects.

'There is no doubt that the Roy Hill project is one of national significance,' Mr Bowen told the National Press Club as he announced the first Enterprise Migration Agreement with Ms Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting.

Australia's economy avoided recession following the global financial crisis, with unemployment currently at 4.9 per cent, well below that of the United States and Europe.

But the resources sector, supported by continued demand from China and India, has long complained that worker shortages are constraining expansion.

The latest government figures show that more than A$260 billion worth of mining and energy projects are under way in Australia. There are A$450 billion of resource projects either under way or being planned.

The government estimates that the resources industry will need an extra 89,000 workers by 2016.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said projects worth more than A$2 billion and with a peak workforce above 1,500 people can apply to bring in foreign workers. The workers will have the same rights to workplace protection as Australians.

The new immigration rules are controversial.

Australia's unions say it is 'sheer lunacy' to let foreign workers in, saying they will take up jobs at the expense of Australians.

'This is just sheer lunacy, sheer lunacy, that in a week when so many jobs have been cut, to give Gina Rinehart the massive pat on the back and free Christmas present they did today,' Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes told reporters.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG

***

CONTROVERSIAL MOVE
This is just sheer lunacy, sheer lunacy, that in a week when so many jobs have been cut, to give Gina Rinehart the massive pat on the back and free Christmas present they did today.
- Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes, on the move to allow the mining magnate (above) to bring in 1,715 foreign workers

Illegal China worker escapes deportation

by Lianhe Wanbao

inSing.com - 1 hr 6 mins ago

 

Illegal worker uses girlfriend to avoid being deported.

A foreign worker from China who faced deportation had apparently used his girlfriend to escape at the airport.

According to his employment agent, a woman known only as Michelle, the foreign worker, 24 year-old Long Tao, has been working in Singapore as a mover for over two years.

The employment contract of the Shandong native was terminated recently after he was caught smoking illegal cigarettes at the end of March.

He was ordered to be deported back to China on 23 April.

On that day, his girlfriend had accompanied him to the airport. Michelle was also at the airport to make sure Long leaves Singapore.

With an hour to go before his flight, Michelle kept asking him to head to the boarding gate. But Long replied that he was waiting for a friend who wanted him to bring something back to China for him.

Later, he said that his friend was lost in the airport and he wanted to go and find him.

As Long walked away talking on his mobile phone, his girlfriend began bombarding Michelle with a lot of questions. The agent later thought she saw someone resembling Long entering the gate.

But the next day, Michelle found out from the airline that Long did not board the plane. She called the police immediately.

Suspecting that he was hiding at his girlfriend’s home, Michelle visited the place a few days later. Other tenants confirmed that Long was still staying there, but would return later than usual.

Michelle returned again with the police at 2am the next day, but could not find the illegal immigrant. However, the police found a piece of men’s clothing on the bed, which Long’s girlfriend claimed to be hers.

The employment agency is not letting matter rest. It is now offering a $3,000 reward to find Long.
If he cannot be found in a month, the company will be blacklisted by the Ministry of Manpower.

Family of OFW who died in fall in Singapore cries murder

Philippine Daily Inquirer 10:07 pm | Thursday, May 24th, 2012


DAVAO CITY—The family of a 23-year-old Filipino domestic help who died in a fall from a condominium building in Singapore last May 11 is demanding an investigation of the migrant worker’s death, saying signs of foul play were found by a forensic expert based here.

Apple Gamale was barely two days in the employ of couple Chew Li Ching and Ling Kah Hing, both doctors, in Singapore at the time of her death.

Her elder brother, Reynaldo, said the family believed Apple had been murdered.

Citing a copy of a report of the Singapore hospital where Apple was declared dead, Reynaldo said Apple died from multiple body injuries after she fell from a condominium building adjacent to the building that housed her employers’ condominium unit.

“She was a happy girl. She had no depression,” said Reynaldo. “She did not commit suicide.”

One indication of foul play, Reynaldo said, was that Apple fell from a building different from the one where her employers lived.

If Apple really wanted to kill herself, Reynaldo said, “she could have simply jumped off the window of her employers’ condominium unit.”

Dr. Danilo Ledesma, head of Davao City’s medico-legal team that performed autopsy on Apple’s remains, said the team found “blunt head injuries” that could be the cause of death.

“Blunt head injuries can be caused by anything beyond suicide,” said Ledesma.

The forensic team also found bruises in the remains’ knees, shoulders, elbows and hands.
“She might have been beaten,” Ledesma said.  

Karlos Manlupig and Mick Basa, Inquirer Mindanao

Maid stole from boss after memorising ATM PIN

Straits Times, Published on May 24, 2012

Indonesian maid Ratna Muhammad, 34, was jailed a year for stealing from her 86-year-old employer. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE

 

AN INDONESIAN maid went with her aged employer to the ATM often enough to memorise the personal identification number (PIN).

Between last October and March, Ratna Muhammad, 34, stole 86-year-old Mah Puay Hoon's DBS ATM card 72 times.

With it, she made her way to ATMs, mostly in Holland Village and the National University Hospital at Kent Ridge, withdrawing sums of $100 to $1,000 each time. None of the $12,600 she stole has been recovered.

Yesterday, the maid pleaded guilty and was jailed a year on the 20 charges of theft of an ATM card the court proceeded on; the sum run up in those charges came to $2,800.

The other charges were taken into consideration.

Ratna, who remitted whatever she stole back to Indonesia, said in mitigation that she was desperate for money when she learnt that her diabetic mother had been diagnosed with cancer.

District Judge Low Wee Ping said he could not accept her mitigation that she stole because her mother was ill. He said that given Madam Mah's age, the money stolen from her could well have been her life savings.

Ratna could have been jailed up to seven years and fined for each ATM card theft charge; for the illegal cash withdrawals, she could have been jailed up to three years and fined on each charge.

 

Cabby jailed for molesting maid

Straits Times, Published on May 24, 2012
By ELENA CHONG

THE first time he was caught sexually harassing his maid, Chua Chee San was apologetic.

He told the 24-year-old Indonesian that he was sorry for hugging her from behind and touching her inappropriately.

But that did not stop him from doing it again - this time pulling down his underwear and flashing at her.
Yesterday, the 42-year-old cabby was jailed for six months.

Chua, who has two children, first molested the maid in October 2010, just two weeks into her new job with the family, the prosecution told the court.

After entering her room in the Sengkang flat, he placed his hands on her upper arms while she was ironing clothes. She covered her chest with her hands as Chua hugged her from behind.

The maid told his wife, who confronted him. A few days later, he apologised.

In January last year, the maid was cleaning the toilet in the master bedroom when she saw Chua lowering his underwear and exposing himself to her. Again, she told his wife, who scolded him.

The offences came to light last September when the maid wrote about them on a feedback form that she sent to the Manpower Ministry. Staff called the police.

Chua pleaded guilty to outraging and insulting modesty. A similar charge was considered.

 

Maid spiked boss' coffee with her menstrual blood

Straits Times, Published on May 23, 2012

AN INDONESIAN maid was charged with mischief in court yesterday for adding her menstrual blood to her employer's coffee.

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty through an Indonesian interpreter.

The petite woman, who goes by the single name Jumiah, is said to have served the spiked coffee at the man's HDB home at about 6am on Aug 31 last year.

At the time, she had worked for the 38-year-old man for about a year.

No other details were available.

Her case was adjourned to another court for mention next Tuesday.

Bail of $5,000 was offered, but she was remanded because she could not get a Singaporean bailor.

The maximum penalty for the offence is a year's jail and a fine.

In July 2009, a 26-year-old Indonesian maid was cleared of a similar offence - she had mixed her discharge into a pot of vegetables.

The prosecutors dropped the case against her.

It was reported then that the charge could not be sustained when the government laboratory and doctors said menstrual blood is not toxic, although it may carry viruses.

Maid dies in fall from 13th storey

Straits Times, Published on May 22, 2012

ANOTHER maid has fallen to her death, this time from a 13th-storey flat in Sembawang.

The employer, who wanted to be known only as Madam Goh, suspects that the Myanmar maid was trying to run away when she fell out of the kitchen window yesterday. She had asked the agency to take back the 24-year-old maid.

The maid was found motionless at the foot of Block 421, Canberra Road at about 6.20am. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. The police are investigating it as an unnatural death.

The night before the incident, Madam Goh said she did not sense anything amiss.

'She even wished us all a good night before going to sleep at about 10.30pm,' said the employer, who is in her 40s and has three young children.

She woke up at about 6am yesterday to find the maid - who had been working with the family for two months - missing, and immediately thought she had run away. She was the family's second maid, and her duties were to do housework and take care of Madam Goh's wheelchair-bound father.

Madam Goh wanted the agency to take the maid back as the latter was defiant and would not follow instructions.

'When I told her to clean something, she would pretend she did not hear me and walk away,' said Madam Goh, adding that the maid had agreed to stay a few more weeks until a replacement came.
She said the maid knew where the keys to the front door and gate were. 'I'd rather she had run away using the gate instead of the windows.'

It's a struggle to be a maidless, working mum

Straits Times, Published on May 20, 2012

By Jane Ng, Seriously Kidding 

 

A week after my domestic helper of two years left, small blisters started appearing on my hands.
'I've been washing too many dishes,' I lamented to my husband while slathering on hand cream.

But the blisters continued to appear and started popping up on my feet as well. Then I had ulcers in my mouth.

'It looks like hand, foot and mouth disease,' said the doctor. 'Better check into a hotel for a staycation if you don't want to spread it to your kids,' he joked.

I wished I could. I left the clinic with a bottle of calamine lotion and a sense of dread, wondering why I couldn't have caught HFMD while my maid was still around.

Over the next few days, a box of surgical hand gloves and a pair of bedroom slippers became my new favourite accessories. Blisters or no, meals had to be cooked, laundry done and bums washed. That is the life of a maidless mum.

I slipped on the gloves a few times a day, to the fascination of my two-year-old daughter. 'What's that, mummy?', 'Why must you wear that?', 'I want gloves too,' said Shannon.

I gave her a pair of gloves and made everyone at home pad around in bedroom slippers, believing it would contain the spread of the virus.

Thankfully, it coincided with a long weekend and my husband was home. We made our extended family stay away, and since we couldn't go anywhere, my husband was in charge of entertaining the kids, while I did the household chores so that I would have minimal contact with them.

Mine was apparently a mild case that cleared up in a week but the experience of washing and cooking with painful hand blisters encased in impermeable silicon gloves is one I never want to relive.

But it was good for one thing: I don't complain about having to do housework now that the blisters are gone.

So we've survived seven weeks without a maid. Well-meaning friends and relatives ask ever so often: 'Are you sure you can manage?'

My reply is a yes, only because we're sticking to our decision not to employ another maid.

It helps that I now work from home, I have a husband who helps out and a mum and mother- in-law who chip in. But it's still a struggle.

There's a never-ending list of chores to be done and the home often looks like the aftermath of a warzone, toy soldiers included.

I've lowered my standards for a clean and well-kept home but am persevering to cook dinners four days a week, with the menu determined by the amount of work I have.

On Mondays, when I usually start working on my stories, dinner comprises a meat, vegetable and soup.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are when the pace picks up - I conduct interviews and start shaping the stories. Dinners would include a soup and one other dish, possibly a stir-fried meat and vegetable.
Thursdays are when things get frenzied as I file my stories and do last-minute interviews. Dinner is a one-pot meal.

On a particularly bad week, I served yong tau foo (hurriedly bought from the market) with some noodles thrown in. Not that my family has noticed a difference.

As I was describing my weekly dinner plan to a friend, my husband turned to me in surprise. 'I didn't notice the meals got simpler. In fact, I prefer the one-pot meals. Easier to wash up,' said my ever pragmatic husband who, if you haven't already guessed, is in charge of doing the dishes.

The children, mostly six-year-old Jason, have been assigned simple chores such as feeding the fish ('I already fed them yesterday'), watering the plants ('maybe it will rain today, mummy') and packing the schoolbag ('Why can't my bag pack itself?').

After the initial resistance and tantrums, Jason now does his part by putting his dirty uniform into the washing machine and packing his schoolbag in the morning with a clean set of clothes and a filled water bottle.

He has left his bottle at home a couple of times and forgot to put in his uniform to wash twice, and ended up having to wear his school shorts for another day.

Possibly, the best thing that came out of going maidless is that the kids are learning to help each other, out of sheer necessity.

I was driving when Shannon started whining about mucus dripping from her nose. Without kakak sitting between them, it was up to Jason to help her clean her nose or put up with her whines. He chose to help, not without saying how disgusting it was, of course.

When Jason did not clear his breakfast mug despite my reminders, Shannon in a helpful mood, hopped off her seat and did the job.

To maintain my sanity, we're getting part-time help to clean the home.

I've learnt to count my blessings, like how my husband gives Shannon her morning feed before he leaves for work so I can get an extra 15 minutes of shut-eye or how the kids (touch wood) did not come down with HFMD.

Ideas for one-pot meals, anyone?

BY INVITATION - What Singapore can learn from Europe

Four Nordic nations do better in birth rates, equality, heritage and the environment

Straits Times, Published on May 19, 2012

By Tommy Koh, For The Straits Times 

 

IT IS a sad reflection on human nature that when a region is faced with a crisis, it is often treated with disdain instead of sympathy. I recall that during the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, some of our European and American friends were extremely unkind and predicted that Asia would suffer a lost decade.

We must not do the same to Europe which has been faced with a serious financial and economic crisis since 2008. I have, therefore, decided to swim against the tide of anti-Europe sentiments.

I wish to highlight the fact that not all the countries of Europe are in crisis. Last year, of the 27 European Union countries, only three had a negative growth rate. In the 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, six EU countries were ranked among the 10 most competitive countries.

I wish to make the case that Singapore has much to learn from the successful countries of Europe. I will focus on four European countries whose populations are below 10 million - namely, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

LESSON NO. 1
Inclusive growth
THE citizens of the world aspire to live in fair societies. One important aspect of fairness is the equitable distribution of income and wealth. This is the moral force behind the economic doctrine of inclusive growth. As a result of globalisation, technological change and domestic policies, many countries have become extremely unequal.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a reflection of the American people's sentiments against a growth model which over-rewards the top 1 per cent and under-rewards the remaining 99 per cent. The inequality in Singapore, as measured by the Gini coefficient, is even greater than that in America. Too great a gap between rich and poor undermines solidarity and social cohesion. It poses a threat to our harmony and our sense of nationhood.

Let us compare Singapore, on the one hand, and Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden on the other. Their per capita incomes in 2010 were as follows:

 Singapore: S$59,813

Denmark: S$69,249(€42,500)

Finland: S$54,584 (€33,500)

Norway: S$105,096 (€64,500)

Sweden: S$60,613 (€37,200)

The Gini coefficient is used universally as a summary measure of income inequality. It is based upon the difference between the incomes of the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent. Zero represents total income equality and one represents total inequality. What are the Gini coefficients of the five countries? In 2010, they were as follows:

Singapore: 0.46

Denmark: 0.27

Finland: 0.25

Norway: 0.24

Sweden: 0.24

In order to get a better sense of the wages earned in the five countries by the bottom 20-30 per cent of the working population, I have chosen the cleaner and the bus driver. The average monthly wages of the cleaner and bus driver in the five countries are as follows:

Singapore
Cleaner S$800
Bus driver S$1,800

Denmark
Cleaner S$5,502
Bus driver S$6,193

Finland
Cleaner S$2,085
Bus driver S$3,910

Norway
Cleaner S$5,470
Bus driver S$6,260

Sweden
Cleaner S$3,667
Bus driver S$4,480

A few observations are in order. First, Singapore's per capita income is roughly similar to those of Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Second, the four Nordic countries are much more equitable than Singapore. This is reflected in their Gini coefficients as well as in the average monthly wages earned by the cleaner and the bus driver. Third, some Nordic countries have a minimum wage and some, such as Denmark, do not. The minimum wage is, therefore, a means but not the only means to ensure that workers earn a living wage.

Fourth, the argument that the only way to raise the wages of our low-wage workers is through productivity increase is not persuasive. I would like to know, for example, how the two women who clean my office can be more productive than they already are in order to deserve higher wages? I would like to know how the Singapore bus driver can be more productive so that his income will approximate those of his Nordic counterparts?

The truth is that we pay these workers such low wages not primarily because their productivity is inherently low, but largely because they are competing against an unlimited supply of cheap foreign workers. Because cheap workers are so plentiful, they tend to be employed unproductively. In the Nordic countries, unskilled workers are relatively scarce and thus deployed more productively, with higher skills, mechanisation, and better organisation.

What is the solution? The solution is for the State to reduce the supply of cheap foreign workers or introduce a minimum wage or to target specific industries, such as the hospitality industry, for wage enhancement.

LESSON NO. 2
Higher fertility
ONE of our challenges is our low fertility rate. For a country's population to remain stable, it needs a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.14. Singapore's current TFR is 1.2. Our population experts tell us that our population will begin to shrink by 2025. They have, therefore, argued that, to make up the deficit, we need to import foreigners to add to our population.

Importing foreigners is the second best solution. The best solution is to raise our TFR. On this point, our policymakers seem to have run out of ideas. The various incentive schemes, such as baby bonus, do not seem to be productive. It is time to look at our four European countries for inspiration. Their 2010 TFRs were as follows:

Denmark: 1.87

Finland: 1.87

Norway: 1.95

Sweden: 1.98

The four Nordic countries have TFRs which are close to the replacement level. This achievement seems extraordinary. They do not have the benefit of maids. There are over 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore. They also do not have grandparents who help with child-rearing. At the same time, they have very high participation of women in their workforces. In terms of availability of time and help for child-rearing, common sense would suggest that the TFR in Singapore should be higher than those in the Nordic countries. How do we explain this paradox?

Our population experts cannot explain this paradox. I will venture a hypothesis. I believe that the high TFR in the Nordic countries could be due to four factors: the availability of convenient, affordable and good childcare; good work-life balance; an excellent and relatively stress-free education system; and the relative absence of male chauvinism.

Let me say a few words on each of the four factors.

First, one of the missing links in Singapore is the inadequate supply of conveniently located, good quality and affordable childcare for infants and young children.

Second, the work-life balance in Singapore, especially for many young professionals such as lawyers, architects and teachers, is poor. Singaporeans work one of the longest hours in the developed world. They have little energy for life other than work and thus little time for meaningful family life.

The Government and our employers should reflect on whether the existing climate of encouraging or requiring our young professionals to work late into the night is necessary or desirable.

Third, sociologists like Paulin Straughan have pointed out that Singapore's highly competitive and stressful education system is also a deterrent to working parents having more children. The Nordic countries, on the other hand, are famous for their high quality, egalitarian education which fulfils the children's aspiration for a happy childhood. It is a paradox that Finland, with no streaming, no elite schools and no private tuition industry, is ranked as having the world's best education system.

Fourth, it is significant that the developed countries with low TFRs include Japan, Korea, Italy and Spain, which have a high degree of male chauvinism. Is it possible that Singapore too has a high degree of male chauvinism? The women of Singapore are often blamed for not marrying and having children. Perhaps, the main problem is not our women but our men. Perhaps, what we also need is a mindset change on the part of our men towards the status and role of our women and the shared responsibilities of the husband and wife, and father and mother in domestic chores and child-rearing.

LESSON NO. 3
Embracing nature and sustainable development
SINGAPORE is probably Asia's cleanest, greenest and most liveable city. Our air is healthy, our water is potable and our land is wholesome. In addition, we enjoy good public health and food safety. Visitors are astonished by the fact that, in spite of our high density, 47 per cent of our land is covered in greenery. In view of this, the reader will ask what can we learn from the four Nordic countries? I suggest three things.

First, people there love nature and their natural heritage. They seem to have an emotional, even a spiritual, relationship with nature. They love their forests, lakes and fjords. In contrast, most Singaporeans tend to have a more pragmatic relationship with nature. They apply a cost-benefit analysis to the destruction of a natural heritage. Pragmatism is one of our virtues. We should, however, be aware of the defects of our virtues. Not everything in life can be monetised.

Second, we can learn useful lessons from the way in which the Nordic countries have been able to reconcile economic competitiveness with a deep commitment to sustainable development. After the 1992 Earth Summit, each of them has established a national commission to mainstream sustainable development.

In the case of Finland, the Prime Minister chairs the National Commission on Sustainable
Development. The result is that there is a national consensus in each of those countries to internalise the ethic of sustainable development into all aspects of life.

Third, at the micro-level, there are lessons in areas where Singapore has room for improvement - for example, in energy efficiency, the use of solar energy, the recycling of waste, the use of non-polluting buses, changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, etc.

LESSON NO. 4
Heritage, culture and the arts
IN THE past two decades, inspired by the 1989 Ong Teng Cheong report and Mr George Yeo's leadership at the then Ministry of Information and the Arts, Singapore has undergone a paradigm shift in the areas of heritage, culture and the arts. The arts have blossomed. More and more Singaporeans are interested in knowing their history and preserving their heritage. The trend is, therefore, favourable. What can we learn from the Nordic countries?

First, we can learn the importance of giving all our children a good education in the arts. We have made good progress in recent years. The opening of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the School of The Arts were important milestones.

We can strengthen arts education in our schools. We should consider starting courses in art history and museum studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This will help in the training of teachers, curators, dealers, collectors and museum administrators, all in short supply.

Second, we can emulate the achievements of the Nordic countries in respect of museums. They have an impressive range of museums with strong collections. They have been able to harness the benefit of public-private partnership. Their museum collections extend beyond their nations to the cultures of the world.

For example, the David Collection in Copenhagen is one of the world's best collections of Islamic Art. The Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki has a very ambitious programming agenda, covering Western as well as Asian and African art.

Third, because of their ancient Viking past and current strength in shipping and other maritime industries, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have outstanding museums of maritime history.
Given the importance of maritime trade to Singapore's past and present, it is puzzling that we do not have a museum of maritime history. I hope one day the historic Clifford Pier, which now houses a restaurant, will be the home of a world-class museum of maritime history. When that time comes, we can look to the Nordic countries for inspiration.

The writer is chairman, Centre for International Law and Rector, Tembusu College, National University of Singapore.

By Invitation is a new column featuring leading thinkers and writers from Singapore and the region.

 

Help centre in Orchard for sex workers

Home to open a drop-in centre there, and a shelter for victims of trafficking
Straits Times, Published on May 19, 2012

By Janice Tay 

Ms Bridget Tan, president of Home, said that with more nightspots and more tourists, the spread of HIV is a problem. -- ST FILE PHOTO
 

MIGRANT worker rights group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) will open a third drop-in centre and hopes to open another shelter as well.

The drop-in centre will offer help and advice to migrant workers in the sex and nightspot trade; the shelter is meant for suspected victims of labour and sex trafficking whose cases are under investigation.

These plans come even as a government inter-agency task force looks into whether there are enough shelters for victims of human trafficking, under a national plan drawn up to address the issue.

Home, a non-government organisation set up in 2004, already runs two drop-in centres - one for foreign domestic workers and the other for construction workers. Besides this, it also runs two shelters, both operating at full capacity with a total of 75 residents.

Its new drop-in centre, to open next month in the Orchard vicinity, will have a reception area and three rooms where visitors can be counselled and, if necessary, referred to relevant welfare agencies for other forms of help.

The team manning the place will also train a group of sex and entertainment workers on sexual health by giving them pamphlets and videos on safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases - they can then share the information with their peers.

Home will also partner several voluntary welfare organisations to provide anonymous HIV testing and to carry out health-education outreach.

The president of Home, Ms Bridget Tan, said the number of entertainment nightspots has grown in the last few years, and with more tourists passing through, the spread of HIV is a problem.

The drop-in centre is the first such facility in the Orchard area, and is sited there because no welfare group for sex workers and those employed by pubs and bars operates there now. This is unlike in Geylang, where church groups are already reaching out to sex workers.

Ms Tan said: 'It's common sense that if you want to reach out to them, you have to be where the action is.'

She declined to reveal the exact location of the centre for privacy and safety reasons.

The centre, expected to cost $100,000 a year to run, is funded by private organisations which Home declined to name.

For its upcoming shelter, Home hopes to accommodate 200 to 300 residents.

No site has been identified yet, but Home plans to discuss the idea with the relevant authorities next month and to get funding and subsidised rental.

Already, Home's two existing shelters for migrant workers are temporary homes for about 1,000 such workers every year. Of the number, 600 are suspected victims of labour trafficking, and just over a dozen are suspected victims of sex trafficking, said Ms Tan.

Home identifies these cases using the International Labour Organisation's definition of human trafficking, which is considered to have occurred if a worker is coerced or exploited when recruited in his or her home country or upon arrival in a foreign country.

The Government has maintained that human trafficking is not severe here, even though certain forms of it do occur.

The police received 43 reports of sex trafficking last year; another 67 cases were found to show signs of labour trafficking, said the Manpower Ministry.

Ms Tan suggests that victims of trafficking be housed separately from other migrant workers, particularly if their trauma was sexual in nature.

'You need to handle the cases with greater sensitivity and privacy,' she said.

Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, the vice-president of Transient Workers Count Too, another migrant worker welfare group, agrees.

She said: 'Issues arise when you mix the residents. Victims of sex traffickers often feel stigmatised.

'They need a safe place where they feel protected so they will come forward to help in investigations and do not go back to the streets where they are vulnerable to being re-trafficked.'

***

About Home

• Non-governmental organisation Home, set up in 2004, runs two drop-in centres - one for foreign domestic workers and the other for construction workers.
• It also runs two shelters, both operating at full capacity with a total of 75 residents.
• The new centre is expected to cost $100,000 a year to run. It hopes to accommodate 200 to 300 residents.

Cause of maid's fatal fall still unclear

Straits Times, Published on May 19, 2012
By AMELIA TAN

HOW the latest Indonesian maid came to fall from a high-rise flat is still unclear, Indonesian Embassy Counsellor Sukmo Yuwono said yesterday.

Ms Karini, 34, was found by the police at the foot of a Serangoon North block early Thursday morning. The Indonesian, who went by only one name, was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and died there later.

Mr Sukmo said Ms Karini's agent told him that it was raining heavily on Thursday morning and she may have been closing the windows of her employer's fourth-storey flat when she slipped and fell. A wet rag was believed to have been found near the windows. The agent declined to comment when contacted by The Straits Times.

Mr Sukmo said he hoped the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) would 'do a thorough investigation and find out what happened'.

An MOM spokesman said the ministry and police were investigating how Ms Karini fell and what she might have been doing at the time. He said: 'We will need to interview the foreign domestic worker's employer, household members, the employment agent as well as eyewitnesses in the course of our investigations.'

The case has been classified as unnatural death. Ms Karini is the ninth Indonesian maid to die after falling from a high-rise unit this year.

Mr Sukmo said Ms Karini had been working for her employer for a week before the fall and it was her first time working in Singapore. Neighbours said Ms Karini took care of her employer's elderly mother, who is bedridden. Her employers and their family live in a maisonette. Mr Sukmo said the maid's body will be flown to her home in West Java today.

Employers who do not provide a safe work environment for their maids can be fined up to $5,000 or jailed six months, or both. They can also be permanently barred from hiring maids.

In the past five years, 14 employers have been punished on this count. The Government has said it is reviewing how adequate these penalties are.

Indonesian maids to arrive next month

But supply slows even as first batch under new Jakarta rules already being trained

Straits Times, Published on May 19, 2012

By AMELIA TAN 

 

THE first batch of Indonesian maids to work in Singapore under new rules set by the Indonesian government should arrive next month.

This puts to rest fears that the supply tap could be turned off because of a reluctance by Indonesian middlemen to recruit maids.

Some had stopped recruiting maids in protest against new rules implemented on May 1, while others had been unsure of how the changes would affect demand from employers here.

Ms K. Jayaprema, president of the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore), said about 3,000 Indonesian maids come here for work each month and is confident the same number will arrive by the end of next month. Her checks with a handful of Indonesian training centres show that at least 500 maids have been recruited for the Singapore market and are undergoing training.

She said the maids are likely to arrive at the end of next month as the new rules decree that first-time maids have to complete 40 days of training before leaving the country. Maid agents in Singapore also confirmed that recruitment of Indonesian maids has picked up in recent weeks.

The Straits Times reported last month that rule changes implemented by the Indonesian government on May 1 could make hiring an Indonesian maid costlier, but less risky overall.

Under the new rules, employers no longer need to make a hefty upfront payment of about $3,000 in placement fees, which is recovered by deducting it gradually from the Indonesian maid's salary in the first year of her contract.

Instead, these fees, which pay for costs like training, will be financed by bank loans given to the maids back home.

But the one-time agency fee of $400 to $600, which covers the cost of advice given to employers, will go up, with agencies estimating it to be from $1,200 to $1,600.

The hike is linked to a lowering of the placement fee to about $1,600 for maids with no experience, and about $800 for those with experience.

In response, some Indonesian recruiters threatened to stop sourcing for maids.

Placement fees include commissions earned by agencies and recruitment middlemen. The new system strips out these fees and allows agencies to charge them to employers instead. Also, only recruiters authorised by the Indonesian government will be allowed to source for maids, at a fixed fee.

But it seems that some recruiters have backed down after the Indonesian government made it clear that it would go ahead with the rule changes.

However, some agents said recruitment is still lower than before and disagreed with Ms Jayaprema that the numbers will go back to normal by next month.

Mr Indra, who owns Javamaids, said: 'I think it will take until the end of the year for the market to settle down. Right now, there are still many Indonesian middlemen who are demanding that we give them under-the-table money for the maids.'

Nation Employment managing director Gary Chin said: 'My recruitment agents normally can recruit 500 or 600 a month but so far, they have recruited only about 30. I'm hoping that recruitment can speed up soon.'

Three maid agencies - Best Home Employment, JPB Maid Specialist and Javamaids - had earlier said they are teaming up to secure partnerships with Indonesian recruiters and will share any excess maids with other agencies.

They said they have not recruited enough maids for themselves yet but are ready to pass on extra maids in the next few months.

In the meantime, maid agents said they are supplying employers with Indonesian maids recruited under the old system. But they said they will run out of these maids by the end of the month.

Some agents added they will try to step up sourcing of maids from other countries. But they doubt this can cover any shortfall of Indonesian maids who make up half the 206,000 maids here.

 

A street away, yet worlds apart - Geylang lorongs 24, 24A

Separated by an alley, Geylang lorongs 24 and 24A are like chalk and cheese

Straits Times, Published on May 18, 2012

By Goh Shi Ting 

 

Streetview is a new weekly series that focuses on the goings-on in your neighbourhood. Is there anything new or interesting happening around you that others may want to know about? Let us know at stnewsdesk@sph.com.sg
 

GEYLANG LORONG 24: Prostitutes and foreign workers looking for paid sex are often seen in the street (above). -- ST PHOTOS: DESMOND WEE

 

 

Geylang Lorong 24 and Lorong 24A are like twins with different lives - one is an erudite culture vulture, and the other a street-smart gangster.

Where Lorong 24A scores in history, the arts and culture with its numerous Chinese clan associations, art spaces and a Spanish dance studio, Lorong 24 is a school dropout.

Prostitutes and pimps line this street of around 20 brothels that are open nearly 24/7. A regular visitor in that street says police raids happen as often as five times a week.

The Straits Times visited Geylang on a weekday afternoon recently, and came across a raid taking place in Lorong 24. Women scattered in different directions. Some went over to the adjacent Lorong 24A.

Minus this occasional spillover of sex workers, Lorong 24A is usually quiet.

In the conserved shophouses built in the 1920s, various cultural activities define the street, giving it a unique identity. The shophouses were conserved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 1991.

At the first unit in Lorong 24A, a couple has been introducing the Spanish flamenco to a few hundred students in their dance studio, Los Tarantos.

'I wanted a place where I could have a home and a studio at the same time,' said Dr Daphne Huang, 39, who has been living there with her husband Antonio Vargas and two children since 2009.

There is an elongated space on the ground floor large enough for a dance studio, and on the second floor are three bedrooms. The location - a stone's throw away from Aljunied MRT station - allows her students, who are mainly young working adults, to reach the studio easily, Dr Huang said.

It was 'love at first sight' when the couple first saw the shophouse. They were also surprised by how charming the street was, she added.

The two rows of restored conservation shophouses in Lorong 24A are home to about 10 Chinese clan and village associations. Members meet once a week to catch up over drinks or for a session of mahjong.

Last month, the 300-member Overseas Hong Ann Villagers' Association held its annual founder's day celebrations.

Food and flower offerings filled the hall while members got ready for the night's events at a restaurant.

Previously, such dinner events were held in Lorong 24A, with makeshift tents and tables, said vice-chairman Koh Que Chew. They were moved to a restaurant because 'with the clean, air-conditioned environment, we hope to attract more young people to join us', the 66-year-old retiree said.

Living life as normal
The clans may face concerns of renewal, but new life has been injected into a row of eight shophouses there bought over by a group of five friends in the mid-1990s.

Recently, young architects and art students joined hands for a project called The Lorong 24A Shophouse Series. The series saw the eight shophouses spruced up into architectural masterpieces before reopening as temporary art spaces.

Three renovated units were opened for free public exhibition last month, and two more are scheduled to open by the end of next month.

'Before there can be conservation, there must be appreciation and awareness,' said Miss Karen Tan, 31, founder of Pocket Projects, a development consultancy firm tasked with heading the project.

'Through the project, we hope to create interest in this important part of our cultural heritage in Geylang,' she said.

The art-meets-home space will be rented out after the exhibition.

Unit 9 recently found new occupants. German ship broker Christoph Franz and his two friends have rented the 3,600 sq ft shophouse for two years, at a monthly rent of $6,800.

'The location is great because I get to see the interesting local life and I've always wanted to live in a shophouse,' said Mr Franz, 28, as he showed off his new home: The space has a fish pond in the middle of the living room.

'I'm going to buy some koi, stingrays or maybe even those tiny fish that go into a fish spa,' he joked.

He and the other expatriates share the neighbourhood with older residents.

Medical hall Han Yin Tong's 80-year-old owner, who wanted to be known only as Madam Lau, said Lorong 24A has been the only 'clean' lane in Geylang during the 40 years she has been living there.

She still remembers the days when children played on the streets as adults shared food outside their houses.

Madam Leow Ah Kioh, 64, who has been living in a two-storey shophouse with her husband for 30 years, said there was an influx of foreign prostitutes into Geylang about eight years ago.

In 2009, she resorted to using a water hose to chase the women out of her street. There have been verbal wars too. 'It was as exciting as watching a movie,' said the feisty Madam Leow, who runs a scrap dealing business on her premises.

Her next-door neighbour, Ms Ng Pei Fung, 34, is also uncomfortable about what happens in neighbouring Lorong 24. The mother of a two month- old baby said there have been incidents of rowdy foreign workers and illegal parking at the weekends.

The human resource executive, who moved into the area with her husband less than two years ago, said she hopes to move out of Geylang one day.

Others working and living there, however, said they were not too bothered.

Chinese national Li Jing, 34, executive secretary of Singapore Toys and Confectionery Dealers' Association, said: 'As long as I keep to myself, I won't be misunderstood (as being a sex worker).'

Every day, the Singapore permanent resident packs lunch to eat in the office and heads straight home after 5pm. In doing so, she avoids the leering looks of men scouring the area for paid sex, she said.

A male worker from a company in Lorong 24A that provides music at funerals said: 'As long as you don't walk through the wrong door, I don't see what is the problem.'

Property price gulf
It may come as no surprise that the property prices between the two lanes are a world of difference.

A conserved, freehold 3,600 sq ft 21/2-storey shophouse in Lorong 24A can fetch about $3.6 million.

A 3,000 sq ft terrace house in Lorong 24 costs half of that - around $1.8 million.

Property developers have long been trying to get hold of these terrace houses. Sources said half of the 30 terrace houses in Lorong 24 have been acquired so far. About 10 of them will be vacated by the end of the month.

An owner of a house there with red lanterns hanging at the front porch, who declined to be named, said he would be giving up his home soon.

Asked if he was happy to come into potentially more than a million dollars, he said: 'Try finding me another place in Singapore just like this.'

At least a few people in Lorong 24A are feeling a little envious about the deal.

These residents, who live in a shorter stretch of 11 unrestored terrace houses, say they are being short-changed.

Resident Elvin Zhao said property agents have talked about an en bloc deal, but the offers so far have been less than satisfactory.

His ground-floor unit was valued at $1.09 million.

'Our lane is not part of the red-light district, so I don't understand why we are not getting a better price,' said the self-employed man.

Mr Wilson Tay, 33, Ms Ng's husband, said he was waiting for a better deal before his family will agree to sell their first and second-floor units.

'I've heard rumours that the red-light district is slowly moving out of Geylang,' he said. 'I think it's because of our central location.

'When the time comes, I'm sure we can get a premium price for our properties.'

When - or if - that day really comes, will Geylang and its streets still have the same allure as they do now?