Category: Sosial

Indonesia Plans To Stop Sending New Live-In Maids Abroad

Indonesia says it will stop sending new live-in maids abroad from as early as next year. Its authorities want domestic workers to live separately from their employers in dormitories, work regular hours, and get public holidays and days off.

The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower’s director for the protection and placement of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, Mr Soes Hindharno, told The Straits Times that, in turn, employers will get “better-quality” workers. They will be certified in Indonesia and trained to excel in specific skills, such as cooking, childcare and eldercare.

“They are also free to do other chores, but don’t penalise them if they don’t do too well in areas outside their skill set. We want better protection for our workers. If they are always indoors, we don’t know if they have worked overtime. They should be compensated for that.”

The move will be made in phases and will first require meetings with the authorities in receiving countries, including Singapore.

Mr Soes said the initiative will affect only new workers. Maids already working in households abroad who are happy with their employers can extend their visas.

The move is part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s plan to professionalise informal employment. A road map to stop sending Indonesian maids abroad by next year was announced by the previous administration in 2012, amid worries about maids being mistreated.

Indonesia is the biggest source country for maids in Singapore, with around 125,000 working here.

Concerns have been raised in Indonesia about the working conditions faced by live-in maids working abroad, and progress on addressing them has not been made fast enough, according to Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) president K. Jayaprema.

The association has been working closely with the Indonesian authorities to address these concerns. Ms Jayaprema said: “We also want to ensure quality domestic workers can continue to come to Singapore.”

Agents said they support formalised training, but logistical issues like lodging, travel and housing will need to be settled if maids live out.

“It might be difficult to get all employers on board,” said Nation Employment managing director Gary Chin, adding that some might be concerned about unpredictable delays during maids’ commutes.

One employer, a banker who gave her name as Madam Molly, 53, said she would prefer to have a helper at night as she sometimes works late. “She doesn’t have to do anything after dinner, but it’s just good to have an adult at home with the kids,” said the single mother of two.

Mr Jolovan Wham of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics said caregivers could have formal shifts, adding: “If where you live and work is the same, working hours are not clearly defined, and being socially isolated, domestic workers can’t ask for help.”

A spokesman for Singapore’s Manpower Ministry said it had not received any information from Indonesia about the request for live-out maids, and the live-in requirement is not peculiar to Singapore, as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia have the same requirement.

“Singapore does not condone mistreatment of foreign domestic workers and has taken errant parties to task,” said the spokesman.

Indonesian maid Aisyah, 27, who goes by only one name and has been living in Singapore for six years, was happy to hear about the possibility of a live-out arrangement. “My situation is okay but I have some friends who say they need help but cannot get it because they are always at home,” she said.

“Living outside will give us more free time, more friends, but some might prefer to stay at home if employers treat them like family.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 18, 2016
Lee Hsien Loong: Give-And-Take Critical For Racial, Religious Harmony

The racial and religious harmony that Singapore enjoys is a result of give-and-take between the different communities in the country, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

“This is something which we have to always continue to work upon, because it is not something which will ever become a solved problem,” Mr Lee said in an interview with Russian news agency TASS at the Istana on Saturday (May 14).

“All the major religions of the world are in Singapore. There are three major races, but many other communities in Singapore. We speak very different languages. Tamil is Dravidian, Chinese is totally different from English and we have to get on together.”

This give-and-take between the different communities is a matter of constant effort, social policy and integration, PM Lee said.

In his comments responding to a question on how Singapore maintains a harmonious balance between different ethnic groups and religions, Mr Lee added that this policy of integration sees Singaporeans of different races and religions come together in schools, housing estates, workplaces and during National Service and learning to work and live together in a multi-racial context.

“If you are in Singapore as a Christian, you do not treat this as a Christian country. If you are in Singapore as a Buddhist, this is not a Buddhist country, even though the Buddhist may be one of the biggest religious groups in Singapore. If you are a Muslim in Singapore, you can practice your faith, you can fast, you have mosques, but you understand that this is a multi-racial society and you are working and living within a multi-racial context.

“It is this give and take, and trust that has been built up over a very long period of time, which we think makes for the nature of our society, which makes for what is gradually emerging as a Singapore identity.”

RUSSIA CONTRIBUTES TO REGION’S STABILITY: PM LEE

During the interview, which was held ahead of Mr Lee’s visit to Russia to attend the Russia-ASEAN summit, he also touched on the relationship between Russia and ASEAN, describing bilateral relations as “very good”.

Singapore appreciates Russia’s participation in regional affairs and its contribution to ensuring stability and peace in South-east Asia, PM Lee added.

“Russia is an important power and economy in the world. The economic ties between ASEAN countries and Russia have been growing, but (do) not really commensurate with the importance of Russia in the world.”

This is gradually changing, Mr Lee noted. For example, Singapore is planning to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union.

“In this way, by strengthening the ties between Russia and individual ASEAN countries, we can strengthen the ties between Russia and Southeast Asia, and ASEAN region as a whole,” he said.

50 YEARS OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Russia and Singapore will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations this year – a “major milestone”, Mr Lee said.

“Fifty years ago, Singapore was newly independent, and the world was completely different, and Russia was still the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Today, Singapore has celebrated its 50th anniversary of statehood and the world has completely changed,” he said.

Plans to build a Russian Cultural Centre in Singapore are at an advanced stage, Mr Lee said, adding that a site at a “good location” has been found.

In terms of economic ties, major Russian companies like Lukoil and Gazprom are in Singapore while Singapore companies like Olam are in Russia and Changi Airports International is co-managing several airports in Russia, he noted.

The two countries also cooperate in the educational, scientific and cultural fields. Singapore’s universities have cooperation partnerships with Russian institutions, and Singapore is also a popular destination for Russian tourists, he said.

Still, more can be done in terms of trade between the two countries, Mr Lee said. “Our trade is not in proportion to the potential. It has risen rapidly in the last 10 years – has about quadrupled – but still Russia is just our 21st largest trading partner. It should not be like that.

“With my trip to Moscow, I hope to meet some Russian business people and executives and get them interested in Singapore a bit. We hope something will grow from there.”

May 18, 2016
More Marriages Breaking Down Because Of Same-Sex Infidelity

In this day and age, the third party that causes a marriage break-up may not be the usual “other woman” or “other man”.

Family lawyers say they have been seeing more marriages unravel on account of an affair with someone of the same sex.

It is not common, but the 20 lawyers and private investigators that The Sunday Times interviewed say it is a noticeable development.

Many of the lawyers handle one or two such cases a year now. But there were hardly any such cases 10 to 15 years ago. At most, it was just one case every few years.

Lawyers and counsellors say many of the men and women involved may be gay, lesbian or bisexual, but repressed their feelings to conform to social norms or to please their parents by getting married and having children. But with society more open today, more of them are acting on their feelings.

Lawyer Tan Siew Kim said: “I think being attracted to someone of the same sex is not so taboo any more. So all these people… feel it is now more acceptable to pursue their happiness, if they meet someone of the same sex.”

Private investigators say the proliferation of social media and dating websites has made it easier to seek and establish such relationships, especially for gay men.

Lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said one of her clients was suspicious when her husband, a hair stylist in his 30s, became more conscious of his appearance and was frequently out till late. The private investigator the client hired found that her husband often patronised gay clubs. When confronted, he confessed to being gay and told her he wanted to divorce her.

Ms James-Civetta said of the couple, who have two children: “He told her he felt pressure from his parents to marry. She felt deceived, like he did not really love her at all.”

According to counsellors, when women get involved with a same-sex companion, it is usually the result of having developed a strong bond with someone who offers them the emotional intimacy they find lacking in their husbands.

Lawyers say some women even decide to end the marriage and leave the children to be with their new partners.

Lawyer Rina Kalpanath Singh, who has handled such cases, said: “They tend to shy away from fighting for custody. They may feel ashamed as same-sex relationships are not so accepted by society yet and they don’t want to put their children through living with two parents of the same sex.”

Understandably, the discovery that their husband or wife is gay or lesbian is traumatic. And many of these spouses demand a divorce, lawyers say. Ms Singh said: “The betrayal cuts even deeper when they find out the third party is someone of the same sex as their spouse.”

Lawyers say adultery is not cited as grounds for divorce in cases of infidelity involving same-sex partners. This is because adultery is legally defined as a sexual relationship between a man and a woman who are not married to each other, but to other people. So these individuals file for divorce citing “unreasonable behaviour”.

Lawyer Helen Chia said: “I’m certain this has been going on for some time. It is just that no one talks about it. The world we live in is more accepting, so people now dare to come out and talk about it.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 17, 2016

Singapore Doesn’t Lack Space For Population Of 10 Million

“Land scarcity is a very real problem for Singapore, which explains the ever-increasing land costs and property prices which are driven by pent-up demand.”
— SGPropertyReviews.com,
Jan 11, 2014

Singaporeans have been brought up to accept statements like this as a gospel truth. Many do not even question the meaning of scarcity and without looking at the growth of the nation, do not realise that Singapore’s land size has increased by 100 square kilometers in the last 35 years. Add to that the advances in space planning, improved transport systems, enhanced construction capabilities leading to a much higher population density and “Voila!”, we have 5.54 million people today.

Traffic travels along the Tampines Expressway past public buildings in Punggol (right), while a man enters his home in Sengkang, where the number of flats under HDB management are projected to increase to 92,000 from the current 59,497

The brief statistics are, in the 35-year period between 1980 and 2015, our population grew 129% from 2.41 million to 5.54 million, made possible by a 16% increase in land size from 617.9 sqkm to 719.1 sqkm and a 97% increase in population density from 3,907 people per sqkm to 7,697 people per sqkm.

Table 1: Singapore’s land size grew by 100 sqkm while her population grew by 3.1 million over the 35-year period from 1980 to 2015.

Year	Population	Land size	Population density (per sq km)
1980*	2,413,945	617.9	3,907
1985	2,735,957	620.5	4,409
1990*	3,047,132	633.0	4,814
1995	3,524,506	647.5	5,443
2000*	4,027,887	682.7	5,900
2005	4,265,762	696.9	6,121
2010*	5,076,732	710.4	7,146
2015	5,535,002	719.1	7,697

Notes:

* Census of population

Prior to 2003, data are based on Singapore’s land area as at end-December. From 2003 onwards, data are based on Singapore’s land area as at end-June.

Data on population from 2003 onwards exclude residents who have been away from Singapore for a continuous period of 12 months or longer as at the reference period.

Source: SingStat, Century 21 (IPA)

Even though land reclamation allowed us to increase our land mass, there are many amongst us who do not feel that there is ever enough, and continue to insist that 719.1 sqkm of land is considered scarce.

Scarcity or otherwise, let us at least recognize that we have carried a misconception for several generations: the phrase “land is scarce” does not equate to “space is scarce”. We have been stacking more and more people on top of one another and packing people closer together to create higher and higher population density.

Technology has improved. Our capabilities have improved. Lifestyles have changed. Today we are better able to accommodate higher population densities because of better construction standards, better space planning, better transport systems and we have flexible working hours with many knowledge workers working longer hours in cafes and from homes.

For those who have not been putting the various pieces of the Master Plan together, we present a summary of various pieces of “work in progress” in the real estate front that will allow Singapore to accommodate a 10 million population from around the year 2050. We also make the bold assumption that the Transport and Health authorities are expanding their capacity to match the population increase.

One more somewhat audacious assumption on the back of our low birthrates: Singapore’s environments and economy will remain sufficiently attractive such that there is a constant stream of population inflow to sustain a population growth to 10 million people.

Based on scattered bits of public information announced over the past few years and gluing them together with our assumptions, the sections below will reveal to us how the residential landscape can evolve to house our growing population.

Existing HDB towns – 535,144 more units in the pipeline

Table 2 provides us with a glimpse of the long term dwelling plans undertaken by the Housing & Development Board (HDB). For 23 of the HDB towns, their total land area and the total number of flats currently being managed by HDB. The projected maximum number of dwelling units, which includes HDB flats and future government land sales for private residences, are also listed. Do note that the projected ultimate number does not include residences that will be built on private land, or enbloc redevelopments of apartments on state land.

Table 2: HDB towns and their projected target of dwelling units.

HDB towns	Land size (Ha)	Flats under HDB management	Projected ultimate number of units
Ang Mo Kio	638	49,169	58,000
Bedok	937	60,115	79,000
Bishan	690	19,664	34,000
Bukit Batok	785	32,275	53,000
Bukit Merah	858	51,885	68,000
Bukit Panjang	489	34,463	44,000
Choa Chu Kang	583	42,393	62,000
Clementi	412	25,480	39,000
Geylang	678	29,256	49,000
Hougang	1,309	51,646	72,000
Jurong East	384	23,379	30,000
Jurong West	987	71,755	94,000
Kallang/Whampoa	799	35,740	57,000
Pasir Ris	601	29,207	44,000
Punggol	957	35,515	96,000
Queenstown	694	30,546	60,000
Sembawang	708	20,311	65,000
Sengkang	1,055	59,497	92,000
Serangoon	737	21,293	30,000
Tampines	1,200	66,599	110,000
Toa Payoh	556	36,439	61,000
Woodlands	1,198	62,675	98,000
Yishun	778	56,698	84,000
Other Estates	–	22,856	25,000
Total		968,856	1,504,000
		To be built	535,144

Note:

“Toa Payoh” town includes Bidadari

“Other Estates” include Bukit Timah, Central Area and Marine Parade

Land size includes private developments on private and state land.

Projected ultimate figures include private developments under Government Land Sales Programme.

Source: HDB “Key Statistics – HDB Annual Report 2014/15”, Century 21 (IPA)

From the differences in the totals, we see that sufficient land has been set aside to build another 535,144 dwelling units in the next decade and beyond. However, these units reside purely within HDB towns and various large private residential estates such as Bukit Timah, Newton-Novena, Tanglin and the Downtown Core have not been included.

New residential precincts – an additional 534,000 units?

In the past 10 years, announcements have been made regarding new residential precincts such as Woodlands North Coast, Jurong Lake District, Tampines North and Bidadari. The additional housing capacity planned in these new precincts have been included in the projected ultimate numbers listed under the HDB towns of Woodlands, Jurong East, Tampines and Toa Payoh in Table 2.

In addition, there are four more new residential precincts that are being planned.

The operations in Paya Lebar Air Base will cease from 2030 onwards and we may expect the first HDB flats to begin construction perhaps two years later. The advantage this brings to the immediate neighbourhoods such as Hougang and Aljunied is that height restrictions may be lifted and plot ratios increased significantly.

Fancy being a resident of Pulau Brani? The Greater Southern Waterfront will begin its transformation from 2027, when the City Terminals start to relocate to Tuas, followed by the Pasir Panjang Terminal around year 2030.

Tengah could be named as a new HDB town when details of its plans are revealed. This precinct has been set aside in the master plans for some time now and with the recently announced plans to develop the new Jurong Innovation District, plans for the Tengah new town could be accelerated.

The overall plans for Marina South Residential District was crystallised starting from a design competition held in 2007. Plot ratios assigned to the residential blocks at “Gardenfront Residences” are relatively high at between 4.9 and 5.6, allowing the lucky residents to have a clear view over the Sky Trees in Gardens By The Bay.

Increasing plot ratio, improving space planning

Intensifying land use and increasing population density are made possible through several elements. Plot ratios across the country can be increased due to better planning and integration with public transportation and changing lifestyles. Example can be seen from the rebuilding of old estates such as Commonwealth, Tanglin and Dawson where old 10-storey blocks with open-air carparks were demolished and replaced with new 40-storey blocks that are built closer and integrated with amenities such as carparks, clinics, supermarkets and community facilities to boot.

In private housing, apartment sizes are shrinking, especially when the increase in single person households support the proliferation of shoebox units. The smaller average size of apartments has led to an increase of about 20% more residential units than what is planned for each government land parcel sold.

Looking forward

The current total stock of residential units exceeds 1.3 million and together with alternative accommodation types such as dormitories and serviced apartments, Singapore can comfortably house 5.54 million people. Based on the tabulations in the sections above, I believe that Singapore has sufficient capacity to add 1.1 million more housing units without further reclamation of land. We can then comfortably welcome another 4.5 million people.

Someone recently said that “with inflation, the rising cost of living and land scarcity, property prices will continually rise in Singapore over time, which makes property a great investment.” I think he will be correct, provided we can continue to keep the population growing.

Ku Swee Yong is a licensed real estate agent and the CEO of Century 21 Singapore. He recently published his fourth book “Weathering a Property Downturn”.

This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 727 (May 9, 2016) of The Edge Singapore.

Related Articles From TheEdgeProperty.com.sg

Source: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com

May 17, 2016

Benny Se Teo: Give Ex-Convicts And Addicts A Chance

All 10 EighteenChefs outlet in Singapore are Halal certified by MUIS .

Umi Hannah (a single mum with 4kids) started as a service crew and she work her way up and now she is my manager at EighteenChefs … we don’t just provide job opportunities … we carve out career paths for all our employees .

There are many similar stories like Umi , we have a large section of ex drug addicts , ex convicts one example is Salim Salimuddin my manager overall in charge of Simei outlet … seeing his positive attitude we STRAIGHT AWAY NEVER THINK TWICE give him an asst manager post when he was released from prison and he slowly and steadily rise up to a Restaurant Manager post .

We don’t just sell Halal food … we take care of fellow Singaporean and give them a “leg up” so that they can move on in life … because I was once a drug addict too

Source: Benny Se Teo

May 17, 2016