Tag: Singaporeans

New Mom Returned From Maternity Leave Only To Be Forced To Resign, MOM Powerless

Dear Gilbert,

I have just return from my maternity leave and was told by my boss that I will be handling more decision making work. I enquired about my appraisal report and bonus and she mentioned that it was submitted.

However, on Monday when I went back to work I was informed by my HR manager that company is laying me off. I will be terminated by the Company. This totally came as a shock to me. I asked for the reason of this decision but she was unable to tell me. When I enquired about my bonus due to me she could not give me an answer too.

I have spoken to MOM regarding my case and there’s nothing much that MOM indeed can do. My horrid Company has turned the scenario around now and instead of terminating me, they force me to sign a Resignation letter stating I request to resign immediately and Company has agreed.

This also needs me to pay the Company 1 month’s notice! Company has issued me a bonus (which is actually a payment in lieu to me for terminating me immediately).

Upon reading MOM’s reply to me, I was feeling helpless hence in such situation without aid, I have to just agreed to their terms or risk not getting my notice payment in lieu. I have to stress that no additional compensation was offered to me apart from the notice period payment in lieu.

My manager stressed to me that I either accept the Termination letter or risk not receiving the 1 month’s notice payment in lieu. She also mentioned going to MOM is useless. As what they did is all in line with the MOM’ legislation, which they have seek their lawyer’s advice.

I agree to shaming this Company so that other local job seekers will not fall prey to this Company, terminating people at whim especially when they are near to getting their anniversary bonus. However, I am worried that this might involve me in a possible lawsuit.

Rgds,

Jasmine

Source: www.transitioning.org

January 27, 2017
Driving To Malaysia For Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year is almost here and best of all, it falls on a weekend.

If you are driving up to Malaysia during the festive season, it is time to consider stocking up on comfort food and drinks. Chances are, you will be stuck in a heavy traffic jam that could last more than four hours along the causeway. However, thanks to the biometric fingerprint-scanning system installed at all causeway checkpoints, traffic may just flow smoothly.

One reason for optimism is that the new fingerprint-scanning system will reduce manual labour greatly as there is no longer a need for immigration officers to go through each individual’s passport in great detail and conduct headcount checks.

Fast and easy clearance at immigration checkpoints is something Singaporeans look out for, especially during the festive holidays. With the new fingerprint-scanning system in place, “drivers can expect to clear customs within three to 10 minutes especially at the Tuas Two causeway,” says Transtar Travel staff Mollie Chittick.

Older people, however, “will need to press harder so they can have their thumbprints registered.” says Chittick.

“In the worst case, the customs officer will ask them to proceed to the manual counters to have their passports stamped.”

In June 2011, Malaysia spent close to USD $42 million on implementing the biometric fingerprint-scanning systems at its causeway checkpoints.

Secondly, an increasing number of people — Singaporeans and Malaysians — are making a conscious effort to plan their travels ahead of Chinese New Year. Many know that traffic conditions along the causeway has been bad for the last decade, so it makes sense to take leave from work or school two to three days prior to the festive season just to travel up to Malaysia.

Beat Chinese New Year traffic

The best time to travel to Malaysia is, of course, during the afternoon before Chinese New Year eve between 4 and 5:30 p.m.

However, Malaysian hairdresser Ireene See says that the best time to travel is the evening before the eve of the festive season. That is provided you are comfortable driving in the dark as the North-South highway has no lights at night.

In her eight years of working in Singapore, See says she has been arranging for her own transport back to her hometown in Batu Pahat for Chinese New Year. “I always book a Malaysian taxi with colleagues and friends three months’ before the holidays. It is expensive – – a single trip costs RM $300 but it’s worth it. The taxi will pick us up at the customs checkpoint.”

While it is good to know that people take their travels seriously, those who are unable to take leave from work or school are left with no other choice than to arrange for private transport on Chinese New Year eve.

Says See: “You can always arrange for a prebet sapu (illegal taxicab). It costs more than a Malaysian taxi.”

Over the last few years, budget airlines like Jetstar Asia, Tiger Airways, Air Asia and Scoot have become the preferred mode of transport for Singaporeans and Malaysians living in Singapore. Air travel also means less jams along the causeway.

On hindsight, with the recent closure of prominent travel agency Five Star tours, moderate traffic jams along the North-South highway are expected. Drivers, no should be prepared!

Source: www.theindependent.sg

January 27, 2017
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital: Sister Is Not Family, Get Out Of A&E Room

Dear A.S.S. Editors

Here’s the story about my terrible experience at KTPH. My Brother was rushed to the A&E at KTPH due to high fever, severe vomiting and chest pains. We arrived at the Hospital at 4am. While waiting, my Father asked the nurse “around what time can my Son see the doctor?” And the nurse simply glared at him and walked away.

My Brother was still vomiting non stop and had hyperpehia due to severe pains. Did X-ray and blood test. Doctors couldn’t diagnose the problem and suspect that it is food poisoning and said that maybe can be discharged at 4pm.

At 9am, my Brother was finally warded to the EDTU and put on IV drip. My brother’s right hands were ice cold so we asked the nurse, and the nurse said “you touch my hand, my hand also very cold.” laughed and left. So we had no idea what was going on and we waited patiently for the results.

Finally at around 5pm, results came out. Doctor say it might be food poisoning but it cannot be confirmed. What? Then, proceeded to say that his white blood count is too high and have to do blood test again. Cannot be discharged and have to stay until tomorrow morning for further observation.

At around 8pm the doctor said that the test results are out, the blood count has been reduced slightly but not enough to be discharged. And the x-ray shows that my Brother’s left shoulder is dislocated and have to do second x-ray. What?

Brother was then wheeled to do the second x-ray and then the x-ray was cancelled because another doctor said it wasn’t necessary because it is just “flexible joints” and my Brother can be discharged. And that we had to wait 1 hour to get the MC and the discharge summary.

While waiting, A&E patient relation associate Mohd Yusof came in and suddenly asked my Mother if she’s the parent. Then he asked me “who are you?” I said I’m the Sister. He said “Sister is not family, you get out” So I said “huh? Sister is family. We are waiting for him to be discharged, he will be discharged soon.” And he said “no, Sister is not family, you get out. doctor can just talk to the Mother”

So I had to wait outside because apparently “Sister is not family” at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Absolutely ridiculous. Terrible terrible experience at KTPH and will never go back again.

Upset Family Member
A.S.S. Contributor

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

January 27, 2017
For Singapore’s Future Survival, Multi-Party System Must Replace One-Party Rule

Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung’s suggestion that the PAP’s continued one-party rule is the best course for Singapore’s future is at complete odds with reality.

It is precisely the lack of a democratic, checks-and-balance system that has gotten the country into the current sorry state of affairs in the first place. More worryingly, it clouds the out-look for our nation’s future.

For example, it is the PAP’s self-interested and unchecked policy of importing excessive numbers of foreign workers that has caused Singaporeans much pain and hardship.

Jobs of locals have been displaced and wages depressed because of the mass and sudden influx of foreigners. The cost of living for citizens have also increased as a result while productivity growth has remained at near zero percent.

There is no mistaking that the policy has lowered the quality of life for our people, harmed the overall economy and made it difficult for our nation to progress.

But bringing in foreigners has allowed the ministers to engineer high-GDP growth through the collection of foreign workers’ levies, housing expenses, GST, etc. As ministers peg their pay to GDP growth, they have rewarded themselves handsomely with annual salaries to the tune of millions of dollars.

All this could take place because there was no opposition in Parliament to keep the PAP in check. The party did as it pleased leading to the dangerous situation in which Singapore finds itself today.

Another horrendous situation that Singaporeans are stuck with is the retention of our CPF money. It is the unchecked one-party rule that has allowed the PAP to blatantly rescind its promise to return us our CPF savings in full. This has resulted in retirees left out in the cold with little or no income.

Without political opposition, the PAP is also able to immerse itself in the commercial sector leading Singapore to become one of the most, according to the Crony-Capitalism Index, cronyistic economies in the world.

The government’s domination of the domestic commercial sector through unproductive GLCs has stifled the growth of the private entrepreneurial sector and the development of an innovative culture – areas that Singapore depends on for its future economic survival.

It has also led to the crushing of workers’ rights, allowing GLCs like the Surbana Jurong to terminate its workers without accountability.

It is frightening that at this juncture of Singapore’s development and with a rapidly changing world we face, PAP ministers like Ong Ye Kung still cling on to the out-dated and reality-free view that a one-party rule is the way forward.

Singaporeans must awaken to the fact that without a vibrant and democratic society where open exchange of ideas and freedom of expression are valued, the future of Singapore is bleak. For the sake of our nation, the PAP’s one-party rule must end.

Source: http://yoursdp.org

January 27, 2017
Damanhuri Abas: Minister’s Flawed Arguments Must Not Be Allowed To Perpetuate

The flawed argument from a Minister must not go unchallenged. It is a betrayal of our collective intelligence for simplistic logic to be given public space with no rebuttal. At the very least, a fact-check is warranted. After all, he is in charge of Higher education, a place where you can get a D grade for unsubstantiated conclusion based on shallow arguments.

The flawed logic begins with the notion that a dominant one party government for our collective greater good stems from the unique conditions of our country’s formative history and society, held as irrefutable evidence to justify it. What a sweeping lazy conclusion. It assumes a convenient self-benefiting starting point for our history and casts aside the rich part of history detailing the struggle of our people to rid us of the colonial master who was instrumental for imposing authoritarian rule upon us.

Our forefathers fought the colonial masters to dismantle the dangerous dominance of power in one hand. History is littered with the inevitable abuse of power that dominant single party or authoritarian rule brings to the people. History also shows the inevitable demise of such arrogant dominant power with no exception. And today we instead hear such dismissive rhetoric advocating for perpetual existence of one with justification that are as porous as sand in the desert landscape.

Power, more so absolute power, is potentially destructive whatever that power is. With skills of fine human mastery, power is harnessed for our collective human benefits. Man has shown his ability to tame the power of nature transforming it into beneficial service for humanity. A testimony of the achievements of man, a collective maestro stroke born out of the best of minds engaging and challenging one another through wit and ideas to seek the best solutions for humanity.

Likewise, the power bestowed on man is ripe for abuse less that power is tampered with checks and balances to ensure power is beholden to people and not the other way around. Democracy is not ideal but it offered a way to check power by the people. It assumes the conditions are set to facilitate the rigor of the democratic process but it too is vulnerable to manipulations by powers that came to be from it.

Instead of trying to justify the idea of one dominant rule by the Minister, he should be foremost in advocating the spirit of intellectual discourse and debates with persuasive factual researched ideas and wit, the very rudiments essential towards excellence in higher education. Has he somewhat forgotten his Ministerial portfolio.

Herein lies the fallacy of this idea that in truth has been consistent of the PAP. It has been progressively practicing and institutionalising the instruments of control and dominance in society since our independence in 1965 against the fundamental articles of our constitution that were ironically written precisely to ensure this, that they have been doing, do not happen.

Having been successful in ensuring compliance of its citizen through undermining the growth and development of our democratic society, they now are bold enough to go the next step by openly advocating the half-truth of their arguments that they will ensure little or any space for rebuttal in public, guaranteed by their current dominance of power on almost all public institutions from media, schools and education, public finances, controlling authorities, grassroots bodies, community organizations, etc.

While other countries mature and grow wider spaces in society for advocacy and strengthening of public institutions and the civil society to function as neutral honest arbiter, we in Singapore instead continue to be doing the reverse. Why is open public debate on issues of public concern not a good thing? Imagine what quality of leaders we will have over time if each prospecting candidate is subjected to rigorous processes of debates exposing their quality of arguments or otherwise. But instead we the people are constantly deprived of real access to who our leader is in person and in terms of genuine believes and advocacy of ideas. Are they simply chosen to parrot the government line and are justified based on carefully crafted public information exercise by the compliant media ranked below Afghanistan, which has been a shameless instrument of power.

Progress of Singapore as a society is determined by the choreographed image of artificial smiling postcard faces in the midst of facades of glittering lights and made-made structures and artifacts, all of which are designed to hide away the things that we are not to speak about nor bother asking. The modus operandi are to leave those things to the ‘wise elite’ that in truth are dependent on the façade to look good, as on their own, they are not prepared to withstand the rigor of public discourse and debate. The maxim accorded is to let matters be settled behind closed doors. Echoes of the colonial past made current by a ruling elite that seems ever more afraid of the natural process of losing power one day.

The colonials in the past treated the locals with disdain and adopted a superior afront and framed what they want the locals to know and see in the lenses of half-truths, misleading information, manufactured fear and gross suppression of freedom on the grounds of the greater good, to ensure dominance of power. Are we seeing the re-emergence of a new form of colonial mindset with a currency that disguised the desperate attempt to ensure continued dominance of power in the hands of the new naturalized aristocrats that they justified themselves to be.

This Minister must be checked for the sake of our future. His piece will probably be exposed for its sloppy plagiarism from dusty textbooks of authoritarian gone by on Turnitin.

Source: Damanhuri Abas

January 27, 2017