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Tag: foreign workers

  • Angry Foreigner: Foreign Workers Can Screw Singapore If They Continue To Be Treated Like Dirt

    Angry Foreigner: Foreign Workers Can Screw Singapore If They Continue To Be Treated Like Dirt

    My dear Singaporean friends, please excuse this rant but I am royally pissed this evening.

    It is not usual for me to use expletives on Facebook but today I really do feel the urge with two particular reasons.

    dave-appleton-1

    Firstly, I was clearing out some of my stuff from the old house in SG and the boys were watching some Mediacorp drivel that they produce pretending it to be “Entertainment” I believe it was not a quiz show per se with real contestants, rather a pseudo quiz staffed with people who imagine themselves to be celebrities.

    About the final question was “What makes you happy to be Singaporean?” One of them replied “That we are not Malaysian”. The expletive that I am avoiding in this case would refer to the aforementioned person as an arrogant player of the pink trombone. Seriously? Singapore that great country whose citizens venture into neighbouring countries and have sex with their cars in order to get more cheap fuel into them? Where Mediacorp “entertainment” is anything but?

    The second was the way the Singaporean side of the causeway is being run. After 9.30 p.m. there are two feeds onto the causeway for cars, over the viaduct from the BKE or up the ramp from Woodlands road / Woodland Central. Each of these is funnelled into a specific lane and they are usually manned pretty much equally.
    Tonight, I joined the queue over the viaduct at about 3.00 a.m. It was SLOW. The sign said HEAVY TRAFFIC INTO JB. I reached passport control at 4.45 a.m. The reason? The channel that the viaduct feeds into had TWO booths open while the other channel had about eight open. There wasn’t really much traffic – it was simply poor load balancing. All kudos to the officer in charge of handling the manning of the booths, he was obviously busy handling him own interests instead. SO I finally get home to loved ones around 5.15. Thanks a lot. (See the cheeky reference I slipped in there?)

    Both annoy me – but the thing that annoys me far more is that there was an almost stationary jam in the bike lane.

    I find it odd that Middle Eastern countries are criticised for their treatment of foreign workers but everybody keeps mum on Singapore’s attitude.

    Without the tens of thousands of Malaysians who come in by bike and bus every day the Singapore economy would be screwed. How do they reward these brave people who ride through hot sun and torrential rain to power the Singapore economy? My putting in place such a inefficient system that the jam for bikes can be up to two hours EVERY DAY. Rain or shine. And today it was still jammed at 4.45 p.m. when I left.It is getting worse.

    Shame on you for this Singapore. I really feel that you can do better. You don’t pay enough for Singaporeans to be able to survive doing these jobs, but you treat the heroes who have a similar enterprising spirit to those who built your country, the construction workers, the domestic helpers, the shipyard hands – you treat them all like dirt, while you sit in a nice air-conditioned office feeling smug.

     

    Source: Dave Appleton

  • Give Free Food To Foreign Workers Because #itfeelsgoodtodogood

    Give Free Food To Foreign Workers Because #itfeelsgoodtodogood

    Was at Starbucks this afternoon to get coffee for tennis-weary parents when I saw the counter staff clearing away all the food as they were closing.

    I asked if they would let me take it away for migrant workers and they sweetly agreed. So they handed me 2 bags of pastries, muffins and sandwiches (all very kindly warmed up) and I was lucky enough to find workers right down the road.

    The workers were delighted of course, and as I turned back after handing them the food I saw them all happily snacking, sitting on the pavement.

    Am going to try and do this every Saturday at 4pm (closing time for this Starbucks) if I can. And any of you who are at a food-bearing venue near closing time, do try it because ‪#‎itfeelsgoodtodogood‬.

     

    Source: Itsrainingraincoats

  • Singaporeans Honked, Foreign Workers Helped Push Aside Broken Down Car

    Singaporeans Honked, Foreign Workers Helped Push Aside Broken Down Car

    From out of nowhere and without hesitation, a bunch of workers sprinted over to help Jon push aside a car that had broken down in front of us.

    A good 10 cars piled up behind us and not a single person came to help, but instead honked at us.

    So quit this xenophobia rubbish about transient workers because they deserve so much more credit.

    Thanks, you guys.

    ‪#‎whatabeautifulmorning‬ ‪#‎shutyoface‬

     

    Source: Laura Dominique Yeap

  • Yaacob Ibrahim: Informal Religious Groups Formed By Foreign Workers Should Work With Mosques, MUIS

    Yaacob Ibrahim: Informal Religious Groups Formed By Foreign Workers Should Work With Mosques, MUIS

    Informal religious groups formed by foreign workers here should step forward to engage with mosques and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) so that they could better tap the resources available, said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs, yesterday.

    In light of the arrests of 27 radicalised Bangladeshi workers in Singapore, the spotlight has turned on radicalised teachings that could easily be spread through informal religious study groups conducted by the foreign workers themselves, as mosques here lack the resources and manpower to reach out to them.

    TODAY had earlier reported that mosques in the Little India and Bugis areas that are frequently visited by the foreign workers do not have religious classes that specifically catered to them.

    “We know that some of the foreign groups in Singapore do have their own members of their community who are actually guiding them,” said Dr Yaacob, who is also the Minister for Communications and Information.

    “The most important thing is that whoever is playing that role, please engage MUIS, because we want to make sure that whatever they are teaching is aligned with our teachings, with the way we practise Islam here in Singapore,” he said on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony for students from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University at the Muis Academy.

    Dr Yaacob said there is a need for some graduates to stand up and publicly rebut the radical ideologies which some members of the community may have. “(What) is needed (is) for someone to come out specifically to break down someone’s radical arguments and why they are wrong and (in) which areas they are wrong and then hope that they can also find the errors of the radical ideologies, not (only) from a religious perspective, but (also) from a humanistic sociological analysis,” he said.

    Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament yesterday, Associate Professor Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC) asked if the Government is able to do more in terms of educational publicity in reaching out to religious groups which may not be formally organised.

    “Some of them may inadvertently not realise that they’re being taught some of (these) variants of the (religion),” she added.

    In response, Dr Yaacob said the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) — which was set up to enhance the standing of religious teachers here and serves as a reliable source of reference for the Singapore Muslim Community — is in place for religious teachers.

    He urged members of the community to refer to the list on the MUIS website to find the appropriate religious teachers for their classes.

    “So, we are not against informal groups … but the most important thing is they select the teachers from the ARS and if they can do that, I think it would be good.”

    Meanwhile, Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) asked if there is a protocol or standard operating procedure for the approval of visit passes for overseas religious leaders.

    He cited a recent incident where a visit by a “particular preacher”, which he did not name, was denied by the authorities here.

    Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said the protocol is “very straightforward and transparent”. For example, if the preacher’s teachings are “contrary to our values”, he will be denied entry to Singapore, Mr Shanmugam added.

    Dr Yaacob, speaking to the media at the Muis Academy, said he believes more could be done to integrate the foreign workers into the fabric of society here. “We must continue to engage the foreign community here to make sure the resources within the Malay-Muslim community are also available to them,” he said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Facebook Users Pay For Foreign Workers’ Free Meals With Compliments

    Facebook Users Pay For Foreign Workers’ Free Meals With Compliments

    It was midday and the sun blazed relentlessly as the cricket match wore on. Standing along the field at Race Course Road with his fellow countrymen from India today (Dec 20), Mr Ilaya Raja watched the game before him, riveted by the action.

    Then unexpectedly, a woman approached the 25-year-old and handed him a packet of food.

    “Here’s something to thank you,” she said. Behind her, a second woman was huddled over two large plastic bags filled with more lunch boxes. Lifting a stack of them, she offered them to other foreign workers there, stopping for a chat every now and then.

    Ms Wong Shuk Leng, 27, and Ms Ong Meng Koon, 25, are employees of Select Group, the parent company of Select Catering and Stamford Catering. As part of an SG50 campaign to mark Singapore’s independence jubilee, the food company’s employees volunteered to distribute 300 lunch boxes to foreign workers in Little India today.

    The first leg of the campaign took place on Nov 3, with 500 packets of chicken rice distributed at the Kranji Lodge 1 workers’ dormitory, which agreed to the offer of free meals.

    On Dec 1, the catering companies put up a video of the first giveaway on their respective Facebook pages, urging online users to leave appreciative comments for the foreign worker community by Dec 11. They pledged to match the number of goodwill messages with an equivalent number of meals.

    Ms Wong said the foreign workers quickly came to mind when they were deciding on the campaign’s beneficiaries. “We often forget those who help us to build our nation, build our homes and sweep our floors… we wanted to raise awareness about them.”

    Around 2,000 comments have poured in online. One Facebook user named Hazel Tan wrote: “Thank you for leaving your homes to build ours. You and your colleagues work long hours under rain or shine without complaints so that we can have shelter. Thank you for all your hard work. We appreciate and remember you!”

    Another user Margaret Foong commented: “Thank you so much for your hard work under the hot sun every day… to build up our country with all the facilities and taking care of the old folks by giving up your seats when we are in the bus or taking MRT.”

    True to their word, 12 volunteers from the catering companies fanned out in pairs across various locations in Little India yesterday — two days after International Migrants Day — for the lunchtime giveaway, covering Buffalo Road, Kerbau Road and Bebilios Lane.

    Mr IIaya was pleasantly surprised to receive his meal. “I haven’t eaten. I’m waiting for my friends,” the Tamil Nadu native said. “You give me food, I’m happy.”

    Chennai native K Senthamil Kannan, 34, and his friends immediately started digging in after receiving the lunchboxes. “It’s so nice that you cooked for us,” he said.

    “Enjoy! Have a good, fun day,” Ms Ong said as she moved on to the next group of men. “It’s quite meaningful,” she said later. “Normally, I see (the foreign workers) on trains. I get to know them better today. I was a little nervous at first, but after a while, it got better.”

    Another 1,200 meals are expected to be distributed at Kranji Lodge 1 by the end of the year, bringing the total number to 2,000 meals.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com