To PM Lee Hsien Loong

2010-12-14T18:22:00.004+08:00

1. I, Jayne Goh published an article on the internet at the following web address : http://topmleehsienloong.blogspot.com/2008/macpherson-secondary-school-janet-wong.html ("the Article").

2. The Article is entitled "MacPherson Secondary School : Janet Wong".

3. In the Article, I made an allegation that Janet Wong was sacked and that she lost all her retirement benefits. I accept that I was wrong when I made this allegation and I very much regret making it.

4. I also made statements that could be construed that Janet Wong had personally received cash for placing students in the school. I regret making such statements that could have been construed in this way as it was not my intention to do so and I accept that they are untrue.

5. I regret the distress that the allegations in the Article have caused to Janet Wong. I undertake not to make any further allegations or statements to the same or similar effect.

6. I will publish this statement prominently on the landing page or homepage of the blog at the following web address : http://topmleehsienloong.blogspot.com.

PM Lee Hsien Loong, Please STOP Mainstream Public Schools From Selling our School Places!

2010-12-13T12:44:00.018+08:00

NO MORE COVER UPS!!

Stop the sale of

limited publicly funded places

in OUR Mainstream Public schools!

MOE's reply on making monetary donations to schools :

MOE would like to state unequivocally that the buying of school places is not allowed. All school principals are aware that under no circumstances are they to solicit or accept donations in exchange for school places.

Lim Huay Chih (Ms)
Director, School Planning and Placement
June 3, 2009

As at the first week of February 2011, some school principals are still selling school places to foreign students.

On 15th April 2011, information was provided personally to MOE's Superintendent (E4 cluster) Mrs Tan Wai Lan for the necessary action.

******************* ooo OOO ooo *****************

MOE's reply to my email of 1 Apr 2011 to Ms. Lim Huay Chih, Quality Service Manager, on international students admission to our mainstream public schools :

The Ministry takes a serious view of this matter. We urge you to provide us with precise, factual details so that the Ministry can make the necessary checks to ascertain whether such instances have occurred.

Mdm Lim Pek See

Assistant Manager, Pupil Placement, School Planning and Placement Division
5 April 2011

On 6th April 2011, Mdm Lim Pek See (Assistant Manager, Pupil Placement, School Planning and Placement Division) and Mdm Lydia Ng Hwee Hong (Senior Head, Pupil Placement 5, Pupil Placement, School Planning and Placement Division) were provided with precise, factual details of a Chinese boy paying S$10,000 in exchange for a school place in a popular primary school in the east.

******************** ooo OOOOO ooo *******************

On 9th April 2010, an agent who has been selling school places for the past 25 years to foreign students with the help of current and past school principals and school staff have been reported to CPIB and the relevant authorities. More cases will be reported.

EastCoastLife's Question :

When is the government taking action to stop the sale of
limited publicly funded school places?

It is shocking to discover that such illegal transactions have been taking place in Singapore for the past 25 years to cheat foreign students and their parents of their money.

If the public has information on government schools selling school places, please report to CPIB.

You could do the following :

a. Go personally to CPIB at 2, Lengkok Bahru, S(159047), to lodge a complaint to the Duty Officer; or

b. Write a letter to CPIB. You may remain anonymous if you wish; or

c. Make a phone call to the CPIB Duty Officer at 1800 - 376 0000 at any time of the day to make the complaint; or

d. E-mail to CPIB through the CPIB internet website.

Duty Officer	:	1800 - 376 0000 (please use this number to lodge a complaint or feel free to make use of their online Corruption Complaint Form)
Quality Service Manager	:	1800 - 270 0855 (please use this number for feedback on service-related matters)
General Enquires	:	6270 0141
Fax no	:	6270 0320
Email	:	cpib_website_email@cpib.gov.sg
Postal Address	:	2 Lengkok Bahru Singapore 159047

How to go to CPIB.

Or feel free to make use of their online Feedback Form .
Do not waste your time complaining to MOE.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG IN PARLIAMENT ON 22 APRIL 2008

2010-11-13T10:05:00.004+08:00

I want PM Lee Hsien Loong to keep his words and promises in this official statement. NO MORE COVER-UPS!

I have suffered long enough for complaining against errant civil servants and my son was abused in his schools for years.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG IN PARLIAMENT ON 22 APRIL 2008

1. Mr Speaker Sir, Mas Selamat’s escape has raised the question of the Government’s response when major lapses occur, not just the specific actions we take, but also the broader issue of Government responsibility and accountability. This is a question which many Singaporeans have raised, and which Ms Sylvia Lim has asked in a Parliamentary question. DPM Wong Kan Seng explained at length yesterday what the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has done in the case of Mas Selamat. Let me now present the Government’s overall approach, and then give my views on the Mas Selamat case.

2. The Government’s aim is to try our best to do things right the first time. This means planning well ahead for the future, anticipating problems, preparing for contingencies, and so avoiding major lapses as far as possible. We put the best people we can find in charge at every level in Government and the public service, and hold them responsible for delivering performance and results.

3. But despite our best efforts, we know that things do go wrong from time to time. Officers are human, and will make mistakes. Plans go wrong in implementation, the unexpected catches us by surprise, and organisations get set in their ways and fail to anticipate problems. To achieve one overriding goal, we accept trade-offs and compromises for other desired results and fall short. As our systems and challenges become more complex, inevitably from time to time there will be bad outcomes, and occasionally even serious lapses.

4. If and when something goes wrong, we have to deal with it decisively and effectively. Our first priority is to respond to the immediate crisis, and then to identify shortcomings and put them right. We must also take steps to ensure that the problem does not recur. This means not just quick fixes, but also where necessary fundamental changes to systems and organisations to address deeper problems revealed by the lapse.

5. But at the same time, we should not over-react to one bad incident. If we go overboard in trying to solve one problem, the chances are we will inadvertently commit other mistakes which we will regret later. For example, encumbering an organisation with unwieldy rules and processes may look good on paper, but in practice will simply generate a false sense of security, while hindering the organisation from functioning efficiently and achieve its goals.

6. Besides corrective measures, we will give as full a public accounting as possible, especially if it is a major lapse. Singaporeans need to know what went wrong, and what the Government will do to fix things.

7. Having done all that, we have to establish who specifically are responsible for the lapse, and what disciplinary actions should be taken. Several questions will have to be addressed:

a. Was it a correct decision which turned out badly, because of external factors that could not have been foreseen?

b. Was it an honest mistake, something that happened despite the best efforts of the officers involved?

c. Was there negligence or incompetence on the part of the officers?

d. Was there criminal misconduct? 1

e. Was the cause localised mistakes by a few persons, or was it deeper: wrong institutional mindsets, or systemic weaknesses in the organisation?

8. These issues have to be investigated by departmental inquiries, committees of inquiry, or commissions of inquiry, or (where there is possibly criminal misconduct) by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Based on the findings, we will then allocate responsibility impartially and objectively. We will not just blame the officers directly involved. Those with supervisory oversight, or who are responsible for flawed systems, will also be held to account.

9. The Minister is ultimately accountable for the policies and operations of his Ministry. But this does not mean that if a lapse occurs down the line, every level in the chain of command, up to and including the Minister should automatically be punished or removed. Based on the facts, we have to decide who fell short in performing his duties, and what is the appropriate disciplinary action for each officer involved. We also have to follow due process, giving officers the chance to defend themselves. Otherwise we will demoralise the organisation and discourage officers from taking initiatives or responsibility, for fear of being punished for making mistakes.

10. This same principle of responsibility and accountability also applies to Ministers. It is the Prime Minister’s duty to decide how each Minister has performed in his portfolio. Hence when a lapse happens, I will ask the same questions of the Minister – how is he involved in the matter? Has he been incompetent or negligent? Most serious of all, is there a question of integrity? If so, he has to go, even if the actual incident is minor. I will also ask: is the Minister able to put things right, or does the situation call for a new pair of hands, not encumbered by what went before, to take charge and make a fresh start? Of course the Prime Minister himself is accountable too, to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate.

11. However, we should not encourage a culture where officials and Ministers resign whenever something goes wrong on their watch, regardless of whether or not they are actually to blame. That would be the easy way out. It may temporarily appease an angry public, but it will not fundamentally solve the problem.

12. The basic issue is whether the person is culpable. If so, we must act against him, however senior his position. But if he is not at fault, then we must have the moral courage to state so, and support him. This way, everybody within the organisation can be confident that when something goes wrong, they will not be sacrificed for political expediency.

13. This is what the Government has done in the Mas Selamat incident. When Mas Selamat escaped, MHA’s immediate response was to try to track him down. The Ministry alerted the public within hours. DPM Wong updated Parliament the very next day, and apologised for the lapse. He also convened a Committee of Inquiry (COI) to find out the reasons Mas Selamat was able to escape. In parallel, CID launched an investigation.

14. Six weeks after the event, the COI has done a thorough investigation, and reported its findings and recommendations. CID has also completed its investigation and found no evidence of collusion. Nevertheless, arising from the COI findings, MHA has decided to replace the officers at the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC) responsible for Mas Selamat’s escape, and to take disciplinary action against them, including not just the junior officers but also the supervisory and management levels.

15. The Cabinet has been briefed on this. I have gone through the COI report myself, and discussed the matter carefully with DPM Wong and other Cabinet members. I am satisfied that the Ministry has taken the correct remedial and disciplinary action, and that the Minister and top management were not to blame for what has happened. DPM Wong Kan Seng as the Minister and the Director of ISD both continue to have my full confidence.

16. We must admit our mistakes openly and honestly, put them right, and act against those who have been culpable. But the last thing we need is a witch-hunt which would damage and demoralise our intelligence and security agencies.

17. Could Mas Selamat’s escape been prevented? Of course. It should never have happened. The COI has listed out the specific lapses: the toilet window unbarred, the guards allowing Mas Selamat out of their line of sight, the weaknesses in the fencing, and the unclear lines of command over security. But the basic problem was the mindset of those running the WRDC. Because ISD’s focus was on gathering intelligence and rehabilitating detainees, the WRDC regime and physical security were different from Changi prison. And because past detainees like the Communist sympathisers were not likely to try to escape, and there had never been an escape from ISD detention, even when Mas Selamat failed to emerge from the toilet, the guards thought that he might have collapsed inside the toilet, rather than that he might have run away! ISD knew that Mas Selamat was a high risk detainee, and the Superintendent of WRDC had warned his staff to watch him closely, but unfortunately the Superintendent and his staff still let their guard down, and allowed complacency to set in.

18. The MHA Minister and Director ISD will now have to rectify all the operational weaknesses identified by the COI, and correct the underlying mindsets which led to these specific lapses. But let us see things in perspective. ISD is our lead agency fighting against terrorism. It has done sterling work keeping Singapore safe. ISD has won international respect for its vigilance and competence in detecting and detaining the JI terrorists before they could set off truck bombs in Singapore and destroy lives and property. Many security agencies from the US and Europe have come to compare experiences with ISD and study our methods to combat Islamist extremism. These agencies have been especially impressed by our success in winning the support of our Muslim community for the war against terrorism, and by the religious rehabilitation efforts of our ulamas to try to guide the detainees back onto the right path. These achievements are the result of years of patient effort. They reflect the professional competence of the leadership of the ISD and the senior officers of MHA working under DPM Wong Kan Seng. This is why I have confidence in them.

19. ISD officers understand more than anyone else the seriousness of Mas Selamat’s escape, and its implications for Singapore’s security. They will recover from this setback, press on with their mission, and rebuild public confidence in them. I ask Singaporeans to continue giving them your full support, as you have done in the hunt for Mas Selamat.

20. Mr Speaker Sir, we demand high standards of integrity and performance from every public servant, MP and office-holder. We assess them rigorously and objectively, and apply disciplinary rules fairly and impartially to all. This is what Singaporeans expect from their Government. And this is what we have delivered and will continually strive to achieve.

21. This trust between the Government and the people is crucial. Hence we have always been honest and forthright with Singaporeans when something goes wrong. We will learn from the escape of Mas Selamat and recover from it. Let us pull together, grow from this experience, and emerge stronger from this.

Complaint Letter to Education Minister

2010-02-26T14:58:00.001+08:00

After our tea at the end of the Education forum held on 21st February 2009, I approached the Education Minister with a complaint letter which I had prepared 2 days before.

He read the letter, smiled at me and handed it to his bodyguard. Not a word was said.

I thought, "That's it. A stone dropping into an ocean. "

I had not harboured much hope as I have been through this so many times for the past decade. During this decade, I have seen the appointments of 3 different Education Ministers. They were Rear-Adm Teo Chee Hean, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Dr Ng Eng Hen.

I'm already satisfied that my complaint letter has been read by the Education Minister himself. All my previous complaint letters were ambushed by his staff.

At least Dr Ng has feedback on what is actually happening at the ground level. He is aware what type of mischief some of his staff are capable of despite having clear guidelines in the IM.

On 12th February 2010, a source informed me that one of the 4 items in my complaint letter to Education Minister Ng Eng Hen has been dealt with. I believe the other 3 will get their just desserts.

Education Forum : Educating the Next Generation

2009-03-10T02:09:00.002+08:00

Education Forum : Educating the Next Generation

I attended this closed door forum held on 21st February 2009. Minister Ng Eng Hen was in a good mood. There were lots of questions and he answered each and every one of them. After the forum, he stayed for tea and chatted with the participants.

I hear the personal views of the Education Minister himself. I was given insights of certain policies. I have a better understanding of our education system. The Education Minister gets feedback from the ground.

Singapore has no natural resources. How we educate our young today will be the future of Singapore. Brain power is the only asset of that. Do we have the brains?

Everyone wants a good education. Any government in the world is willing to spend on education. Every new political candidate wants to do something for education but never quite gets to doing it.

Despite what the government is willing to spend, sometimes it does not match what they wanted to achieve. Singapore spends about 3.5% GDP on education. S$8.9 billion was spent on Education. What have we achieved?

Some countries spend 5-6% of GDP. But spending more doesn’t mean it’s a better education system.

The Singapore education system is well regarded internationally. Those who studied our education system have complimented it. It is quite good compared to many countries. Our students who have gone overseas are doing very well. The Singapore system is rigorous and it prepares the students well so that they perform better when they go into the new system.

Our education system meets the needs of a competitive economy but there are social consequences. Certain core values are sacrificed, there is a lesser sense of home and Singaporean-ness.

Minister Ng Eng Hen on Streaming :

Streaming must lead to better outcomes and be matched with adequate resources to help stretch each child to his maximum. It must not erode self-confidence or the belief that they cannot go further. We must reduce stigmas and labels.

This is why MOE has refined this policy to subject-based banding, as an example in Primary school. We also created many opportunities for late bloomers to move across to more advanced levels.

Life teaches us that there are many variables beyond academic ability which determines who succeeds. Our education system should not say or teach otherwise.

Looks good on paper but this is not carried out by some educators in our schools. They want to look good in their assessment reports. They want promotions and better pay. Self-confidence is the last thing they want to give the students.

At the heart of the success of a good education system, there must be passionate, competent and caring teachers. Singapore invests heavily in teacher training. Teachers are given opportunities to upgrade themselves over time. MOE provides loans and grants to support them.

But have MOE attracted the type of teachers they require?

I still see incompetent and uncaring educators in our schools. MOE is still keeping them. Why? Because there are not enough candidates?

Teachers cannot take over the parenting role but it has to be partnership. If there is resources, it’s better to put them on teachers than parents. It might not be easy to educate parents but it's more effective to educate teachers.

We also need competent school leaders to develop each student under their care.
If MOE reduces testing, our standards will drop. Testing will not only show standards of students but which teachers or schools are not doing well. Perhaps we can reduce the dependence of testing which MOE is trying to test for Pr 1 and 2.

Beyond grades : values

For a small country, it is important for us to maintain our survival and continued prosperity, both as a nation and individually. Our education system needs to impart values and not just grades to students.

Children don’t learn from what you say, they learn from what they see.

We have a more questioning younger population. Our education system needs to evolve in response to the changing needs of our nation as well as the external environment.

How do we nurture each child to believe in himself and be self-sufficient, to care for his fellow men, and to be able to contribute to the larger society around him?

Dialogue session with NEA, URA and BCA

2009-02-24T12:02:00.000+08:00

Dialogue session

For several nights, I went round my neighbourhood collecting feedback of affected residents on the noise and air pollution caused by the ongoing construction project. To one another's surprise, we discovered that almost every one had made similar complaints to NEA and TPS Construction frequently.

On the morning of 20th February, several affected residents attended the dialogue session and voiced their concerns.

Representatives from the respective authorities were :

Mr Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

Mr Shee Siu Ming
Senior Executive Engineer
Construction and Enforcement Department
Building Engineer Division
Building and Construction Authority

Ms Charis Song
Senior Planning Executive
Urban Redevelopment Authority

Khairul and Mulyady (NEA)
Ryan Lim (URA)

from left - Charis Song (URA), Jothieswaran and Khairul (NEA)

Regarding the constant loud noise affecting residents at night and on weekends, NEA's Jothieswaran told MCL Land and TPS Construction Pte Ltd to ensure that noisy works like drilling, hacking, polishing should be avoided before 9 am on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday, and work should end by 5 pm. Noisy work should be avoided before 9am and to end on 6pm on weekdays. The condo development will be completed in April, latest June 2009.

Regarding complaints on mosquitoes and rat problem, residents noted that NEA has been quick and efficient in dealing with them. NEA staff were despatched as soon as they receive such feedback.

with BCA representative Mr Shee Siu Ming

It is a shock to the residents present that any structural defects such as cracks appearing on our houses, should be brought up during the piling stage. BCA can then determine if they are fresh cracks due to piling works.

Cracks or defects in houses could happen because of expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, or vibration or ground movements.

Ordinary citizens are not aware of such a regulation. No where in the website of BCA could I find such information.

Affected residents were asked to liaise with TPS Construction's Project Manager, Mr Lee Che Ping direct on their structural defects.

representatives from MCL Land and TPS Construction Pte Ltd

Residents were told there is a PR personnel called Mable, on site to answer and attend to the queries of its neighbouring community. We were not aware of that. Mable was not mentioned or recommended even though several residents have approached TPS Construction staff personally.

Many residents have spoken to foreman Neo who did not bother to inform his company about the residents' feedback for these past 2 and a half years.

We were also advised to look for relevant information on its erected board outside the construction site.

This dialogue session has not only made me understand the hard work behind the respective authorities, it has cleared some misconceptions I had.

I'm glad to know that NEA has a computerised feedback system where unanswered query from the public would be forwarded to senior management after a certain number of days. We are assured that all our feedback is being addressed.

All the representatives replied to questions from the residents objectively. Jothieswara is to be commended for his empathy and outreach to residents.

I hope there can be more of such useful dialogue sessions between residents and civil servants on problems in the community. We should get together to solve problems more efficiently and productively.

When residents' lives are determined by a machine and NEA

2009-02-16T18:28:00.001+08:00

There is a construction going on just behind my backyard. For the past three years, my neighbours and I have endured the noise, the dust, the inconvenience. We have not been able to open our windows facing the construction site during this time. We have to endure the noise and dust from the piling, drilling, polishing, filing and excavation daily.

We have lovely and comfortable homes but our kids cannot stay home during the day because they cannot concentrate on their studies with that noise. They have to stay in school or go to some quiet place to study and come home after 6pm. But when the construction site worked until 10pm nightly, the kids could only come home after the noise stops. They didn't score well in their exams. One was taking GCE 'O' levels and some were taking their PSLE.

The construction workers start work at 8am, there were times they started work at 7 plus in the morning. Residents are usually woken up by the noise.

My husband and I wake up at 5.30am to prepare breakfast and send the kids off to school and we go back to sleep again. We don't have to go to work until 10.30am, we are not able to sleep early nightly because of work and grassroot commitments. Lately, we were too tired to wake up early due to lack of sleep. Even if we want to take a nap in the afternoon, there is the continuous noise. Besides naps cannot replace a good night's sleep.

My ailing elderly in-laws, both in their 90s, have not been able to live with us because the noise will send them to their graves earlier. Both my husband and I have to attend to them whenever they call. Our family unit has been broken and separated by profit-making companies and indifferent NEA staff.

A 75 year-old retired neighbour who is the most affected by this construction has a noise monitoring machine set up in his garden. The microphone was wrapped in cellophane. To prevent damage from the weather, said the man from the construction company.

A few months later, the recording device was removed and not put back. NEA staff were called in to check and nothing was done. What is the real purpose of this machine when it doesn't function?

This man is 75 years old. He and his wife planned to have a quiet and peaceful retirement but instead were forced into bitter fights with the construction company and NEA staff. The windows of their house were boarded up and sound-proof. They often have to escape their home whenever the noise gets unbearable and loiter outside until after 8pm. 3 years to the elderly is precious time wasted.

Do the people at TPS Construction, developer MCL Land and NEA look upon us residents as human beings?

Neighbours and I have feedback several times to the person in charge, foreman Neo of the construction company TPS Construction Pte Ltd. He doesn't care because he knows there's no way our woes would be taken seriously. The more we complain, the more deliberate and vicious he gets back at us.

My first feedback to Neo started end December 2007. Before that I took in the demolishing and piling works without a grumble, even when I fractured my ankle and was holed up in my bedroom for 3 months. Until they started working earlier on Sundays and public holidays and late into the nights.

I was told by foreman Neo they can only start work at 10am on Sundays and PH but work starts at 8am, even until 15th Feb morning. We tolerated it for more than 2 years. Our health suffers. We are constantly living in noise and air pollution.

They start drilling and filing at 8am and usually by the afternoon, they do quieter work. I asked the supervisors of the company to do their drilling in the afternoon or after 9am but to no avail.

Neighbours and I have written to NEA. Rahmad Sidek replied that the noise of the construction site is acceptable, without coming down to find out. He even asked me to look up the NEA website for solutions! Gosh! Now Ministries set up website so ordinary Singaporeans are supposed to read and find their answers there.

My neighbours and I read and it is all to the advantages of the companies. What about the welfare and health of the residents? Construction companies have no restrictions on the working hours for the contractors at the construction sites, within acceptable level of noise.

NEA's reply to a reader on Today forum

4 We would like to explain to you that the NEA controls construction
noise using a set of maximum permissible noise limits stipulated under
the Environmental Protection and Management (Control of Noise at
Construction Sites) Regulations. The permissible noise limits are more
stringent for the night-time (10.00pm to 7.00am) than the daytime noise
limits. The noise limits are also more stringent for premises that are
more sensitive to noise disturbances, e.g. hospital, schools. Construc
tion companies are required to take noise abatement measures and manage
their works to comply with the noise limits.
- Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

NEA's reply to me. A cut and paste standard reply.

The contractor responsible for the project at the worksite concerned has set up a noise monitoring equipment at one of the nearest residential buildings to the site, to measure the noise levels generated from the construction works on a continuous basis.

Notwithstanding that the contractor has not violated the noise permissible limits, we have advised the contractor to exercise care and be more considerate towards the neighbouring residents when carrying out their construction activities so as to minimise the noise nuisance. The contarctor has informed us that he will avoid carrying out noisy work on Sundays and Public Holidays.
- Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

What is acceptable? Being subjected to continuous drilling, filing, polishing for 3 hours non-stop is acceptable? Living in our own houses and yet we have to endure construction noises within 10m for 10 hours for 3 years is acceptable? This is unhealthy! How do you measure noise and deem it as acceptable when NEA staff just answers emails without coming to the site.

Lately the company built a covered drain structure next to our dividing wall that left residents puzzled. It is the height of a man. It is narrow, long and dark. It posses a security problem to neighbouring residents too. How are they going to clean and maintain it when they are stagnant water and dead carcasses?

Around this construction site live real people who have families, jobs, responsibilities. Our lives and health suffer having to put up with these private companies' profit making enterprise. Every day, for more than 10 hours daily, for the past 3 years, we live in this noisy environment. Our health suffers, our kids' grades suffer. We have no quality living environment despite it being a private residential area.

What I really want is for them to start their noisy construction work at 9am. Work on Sundays and PH to start at 10am. Is it that hard? Give us a break. And NEA staff please make site trips to understand the problems and frustrations faced by affected residents.

I can open up my house to let them work during their working hours so they can get a taste of the affected residents' miseries these 3 years. They cannot know what we have to go through when they only have to sit in their comfortable air-con offices.

noisy work right below my window at 8.05am Saturday

On 15th Feb (Sunday), the construction site started work at 8.03am. On 14th Feb (Saturday), it was 8.05am. Monday (16th Feb) morning, it was at 7.54am.

The construction company is not going to listen nor care for the health of the residents. They are not going to be penalised. And they are getting malicious. This is harassment. They can do anything they want because NEA is not able to do anything.

I called Khairul on 11th Feb morning and asked for a meeting between the affected residents and construction company with NEA staff as mediator. He said he would get back to me but ignored me and until now, there was no response.

He has my number, NEA has my address yet nothing is being done. This is feedback from ordinary citizens. Such problems are not going to go away when NEA brushes aside the feedback because there are many more construction projects all over Singapore.

Broadbased participation and ownership is ever important in our journey to environmental sustainability. This calls for more communication – to both speak and listen, and actively seek the views of the community at large.

The NEA’s slogan says, “Our Environment – We Care”. Slogans may change. But I hope that the word “we” is always understood to mean not only the NEA, but all of us in Singapore. It is the actions of our people and many private companies, and of other government institutions that can make – or break – Singapore’s best environmental efforts. As NEA people, we will certainly do our part. We hope that you will be encouraged to do yours, and join us on Singapore’s continuing environmental journey.
- Assoc. Prof Simon SC Tay
Ex-Chairman, National Environment Agency

But the biggest challenge NEA faces is to how to reach people – to stir each and every person to embrace our environment and treat it the way it should be treated: as though our lives depended on it. This is not just some airy-fairy, vague concept of saving the earth – it’s about getting people to view things and act in ways that are considerate both to the environment and to society.
- Mr Lee Yuen Hee
Ex-Chief Executive Officer, National Environment Agency

The National Environment Agency
Rahmad SIDEK
Khairul SAMSUDIN
Ang Kok Kiat
Jothieswaran P, Chief Engineer, Pollution Control Department

Thank you all so much for being such helpful civil servants.

MCLland
TPS Construction Pte Ltd

Update :
At 7pm on Monday (16/2/09), Khairul called me. A meeting has been arranged this coming Friday morning between the project manager and affected residents. NEA will send a staff to observe. Finally we are seeing some positive response after 2 years of misery. Unity is strength.

MOE's Travel Subsidy goes to the well-to-do

2009-02-07T16:24:00.001+08:00

In year 2006, my son had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on a 18-day Chinese Immersion Trip to Fushun with his school mates. I went along to take care of him because of his medical condition.

When we were in Fushun, my son told me his best friend was left behind because he could not afford to come on this trip. The boy's father was a taxi-driver. Even though the subsidy from MOE was able to pay for most of his trip, his parents still could not afford the S$200 pocket money nor purchase a luggage bag and warm clothings.

Had my son told me earlier, I would have willingly sponsored the boy. Probably I could ask the PSG members to pool some money for him.

I believe there are many more such students are out there. How do we help them? Those who are living from hand to mouth will never get to enjoy this subsidy.

On the other hand, students from well-to-do families were able to go on these subsidized annual trips repeatedly. A friend's son and daughter, both studying in VJC, have gone on school organised trips to Switzerland, Japan, USA and Dubai. Their father is a billionaire and yet their overseas trips are subsidized by our government. Even foreign students studying in our government-funded schools get this subsidy.

Funding (VJC)
· All students who are Singapore citizens will be given a subsidy of $300 per student
per overseas trip per year. You do not need to apply for this subsidy.

· IP3 or IP4 students (any nationality) will be given an additional subsidy of $600 per
student. You do not need to apply for this subsidy.

· Use of Edusave Fund is allowed for Singapore citizens.

· Needy students (income per household member cannot exceed $750) who are
Singapore citizens can apply for Opportunity Fund.

· All students who are Singapore citizens can also apply for an Additional Subsidy
of $900 (estimate) per student.

Many of their classmates can only envy them. The trips are out of their reach even if they qualify for the travel subsidy.

Our Government has good intentions but usually the fund does not reach those who truly need it.

National Heritage Board's S$8 Million seed funding

2009-02-03T14:15:00.000+08:00

With the country going into the worst recession in its 43-year history, many government agencies are starting to cut costs and review their budgets.

Money matters become sensitive after the Tan Yong Soon case. The rich dare not flaunt their wealth and VVIPs I meet these days say they are playing badminton rather than golf. :)

Singapore, with a population of 4.8 million, has more than 50 museums and still adding. On 29th September 2008, National Heritage Board announced the launch of Hi2P, which stands for Heritage Industry Incentive Programme. This programme provides seed funding of S$8 million over the next five years to those who can come up with new and innovative heritage-inspired products and services.

Will they freeze this fund at such times?

I have been an ardent supporter of NHB. As a young student, I was not brought to any of our museums for a visit. I come from a poor family. I was not taught how to appreciate art. Survival was the only thing on my parents' mind then.

I started visiting museums last year when I was writing blog posts on cool places to visit in Singapore. After more than 40 years of being a Singapore citizen, I finally stepped into a museum.
To me, the museums used to be places for the well-educated and wealthy. I'm not surprised many heartlanders still feel this way. It costs money to visit a museum. If you have a family of 5 or 7, that would be a pricely sum for the less well-off.

Our museums are grand, magnificent structures. The artefacts inside are very valuable. We can only see, cannot touch or else we would not afford to pay for any damages.

Despite huge amounts of money poured into them, and lots of time and effort spent on the exhibits, our museums are frequented by few visitors. When I went to Memories at Old Ford Factory, there were only 4 visitors for the 4 hours I was there. I completed the tour within 40 minutes, but as I was writing articles on the museum, I spent time taking photos and reading all the write-ups of the exhibits.

I am done with visiting Memories at Old Ford Factory. No need to visit it any more.

I visited Asian Civilisation Museum, National Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Peranakan Museum, Hua Song Museum, Mint Museum of Toys, Singapore Philatelic Museum, and heritage institutions like Singapore Discovery Centre, Chinatown Heritage Centre, Civil Defence Heritage Gallery, Malay Heritage Centre etc.

I was planning a project by Association of Bloggers (Singapore) to bring the elderly to visit our museums. I once brought several elderly ladies to National Museum during its free entry for senior citizens on Monday. They come from the heartlands.

When an elderly lady saw the old F&N bottle, she cried. She remembered drinking this soft drink only during Chinese New Year when she was a young child, and she remembered her mother and the hard times in those years. The elderly ladies started opening up and telling me stories of their time. There was so much to learn from them, their experiences, their lives, their family members .... etc. They hold a part of our history.

All these ladies have never visited our museum during their lifetime in Singapore. This is their first and probably last visit. The oldest is 67. They harbour hopes of bringing their grandchildren to visit this museum with them and tell them about their past. I doubt they have the means.

I wonder why money from the Government usually never go down to benefit these people. Nobody notices or they don't care?

My project has been shot down. Even grassroot leaders I approached went 'huh?' at my idea. They have the funds but no one wants to volunteer to bring these people. So much for my caring for the less privileged. You can call it 'kay poh' (busybody).

Budget 2009 Public Forum at the Grassroots' Club.

2009-01-25T01:39:00.003+08:00

Chairpersons: Mr Gan Kim Yong, Acting Minister for Manpower
Dr Amy Khor, Chairman, REACH

The Singapore Government introduced a S$20.5 billion Resilience Package to try to save jobs, boost businesses. This Package has five components:

Jobs for Singaporeans
The Government will spend $5.1 billion to help Singaporeans stay employed so they can continue to support their families by introducing a, Enhancing SPUR, (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) providing a WIS Special Payment and expanding recruitment across the public sector.

Stimulating Bank Lending
The Government will extend $5.8 billion of government capital to stimulate bank lending through enhancing existing schemes and a new Special Risk-Sharing Initiative (SRI). The SRI comprises a new Bridging Loan Programme (BLP) and new risk-sharing schemes for trade financing.

Enhancing Business Cash-flow and Competitiveness
The Government will implement various tax concessions and measures costing $2.6 billion to ease business cash-flow and sharpen Singapore's competitiveness.

Supporting Families
The Government will spend $2.6 billion on direct assistance to Singaporean households, increased targeted help for vulnerable groups and additional support for Charitable Giving and the Community. These measures will be in addition to the help that the households will derive from the Jobs initiatives (mentioned above).

Building A Home for the Future
The Government will spend $4.4 billion to continue to develop Singapore as a global city and the best home for Singaporeans by bringing forward $1.3 billion worth of infrastructure projects, $1 billion worth of sustainable development programmes, public housing estate rejuvenation and the upgrading education and health infrastructure.

2009/2010 budget deficit to be 6 per cent of GDP, before accounting for transfers. This is the largest deficit to date.

Government rules out cuts in employers' contributions to Central Provident Fund.

Government to create 18,000 public sector jobs over the next two years.

participants at Budget 2009 Public Forum

When the government gave a property tax rebate in 2003 to landlords, our landlord did not pass on the savings by reducing our rent of a commercial property. Many of my business friends did not benefit from it too.

There is a 40% property tax rebate for owners of industrial and commercial properties this year. We don't know if we would get a rebate. There is no assurance that landlords would do so this time.

Date: 23 Jan 2009 (Friday)
Time: 7.30pm - 9.30pm
Location: Function Room 1 @ The Grassroots Club,
190, Ang Mo Kio Ave 8. Singapore 568946

Who is the Boss?

2009-01-22T10:34:00.001+08:00

I do not hate civil servants. I dislike the way they work. I dislike their mentality. Are they above us because they are working for the Government and their Boss is a Minister? They behave as if they have a mandate from the Emperor. Get your facts right.

This is what Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo put on his FaceBook account. His employer is the people of Singapore. That makes the ordinary Singaporean his Boss.

And if the ordinary Singaporean is your Boss's Boss, then you better treat us like one.

I was invited to the Police Day Parade and when the Commissioner of Police Khoo Boon Hui arrived, everyone was asked to stand. I was the only one remained seated. Why should I stand for a civil servant, I don't care if he's a top ranking one. His salary is paid for by the people's taxes. I am his Boss.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong told the grassroot organisers of Mountbatten constituency, do not ask the people to stand when he enters. No need.

Compared to their Bosses, Singapore leaders SM Goh and his colleagues are such humble people (well, not every one of them). They always approach the people with smiles and an outstretched right hand. How do I know?

Whenever I meet our leaders, I never offer my hand first. It is always them who take the first step, even PM Lee. I know my rights. And when there is eye contact from afar, they smile and nod. I'm not talking MPs, they are Ministers Ng Eng Hen, Teo Chee Hean and Vivian Balakrishnan. I almost fell when Minister Ng Eng Hen smiled at me because the people around him told me he's a tough guy.

EastCoastLife and son hugging SM Goh and with MP Lim Biow Chuan

Yet when I attend public seminars, the front seats are all taken by top civil servants. "These seats are reserved, go sit behind."

And they see the ordinary Singaporeans as transparent even when we walk past them, talking and laughing among themselves. Not so much as a smile, not a nod, just disdain. Yeah, we are the peasants to them.

Why are they getting the best seats? They should be the ones sitting behind. Is this call engagement by the Government? This is civil servant mentality at work.

And Lucian Teo bashed me, his boss' Boss. His balls are bigger than his boss' balls.

MOE's Head of Web Management bashes nobody bloggers over good friend

2009-01-20T12:55:00.001+08:00

Well-educated Lucian Teo, Head of Web Management in MOE, bashes nobody bloggers of Association of Bloggers (Singapore).

I am a civil servant, a fact made publicly known numerous times in all my online discussions.
- Lucian Teo

Jayne Goh, President of Association of Bloggers (Singapore) is not highly educated and belongs to the Aunty citizen.

The Association of Bloggers (Singapore) was started by a group of lesser known bloggers. We are organising our bloggers to raise their profile in the blogging business so that PR companies and media event organisers do not always invite only those selected known bloggers. We organise courses and workshops for our members, so they can improve on their blogging skills, blog better or do a better job when reviewing products.

Members will also attend talks on the legal aspects of blogging, to avoid defamation/slander/libel suits brought against them due to blogging.

The Government should be glad citizens are helping themselves and one another by setting up self-help groups. Instead we have this top civil servant bashing nobodys for setting up this association. Probably only educated people like him can qualify to do it, but why didn't he?

Lucian Teo was defending his good friend, Chua Uzyn. I met Lucian Teo at one of Uzyn's functions. Talking about hypocrisy, Lucian Teo did not know that Chua Uzyn took S$200 from my husband's company for a cake sponsorship on his 1st Ping Anniversary party. A promise to advertise my hubby's retail shop on Ping.sg was conveniently forgotten due to his being busy. It was done a day before the party.

Uzyn had his kaki Arzhou baked a cake and some lou hong cookies (remarked Daphne Maia) at home for S$200. A practice which NEA says is not acceptable. Which is illegal lah. No receipt was given to my husband who needs to file taxes.

It is a fact Chua Uzyn is a foreigner who had used Singapore taxpayers' money to fund his education here. He even gets a grant from the Government to set up his business. And yet he bans Singaporeans from his blog aggregator when they spoke up on transparency matters.

Lucian conveniently left out all these details or he didn't know?

Uncalled for comments by foreigner Daphne Maia

comment left by Lucian on my member's blog

Malicious comments are made by Lucian's friends on plurks and I have a right to stand up to their accusations.

By the way Lucian makes his judgement of me, my members and my Association based on so little facts, I feel sad that is how a top civil servant makes judgement. It further confirms my belief that is how the civil servants in MOE conduct investigations when I make complaints about their system and staff. Judgemental and slip-shod.

Righting a Wrong

2009-01-19T00:50:00.000+08:00

Prof Lee Wei Ling's article on 'Righting a wrong comes from the heart' (The Sunday Times 18th Jan 2009) seems to talk about me. haha....

If I know there is something wrong, I will try to set it right whether or not it is my business to do so. At my age, I have not lost the fire in my belly. But such a busybody trait has got me into a lot of trouble because I'm not Prof Lee Wei Ling, who is the daughter of MM Lee Kuan Yew and sister of PM Lee Hsien Loong.

I was threatened to shut up. My son's life will be in danger if I continue to set things right. My son has a hard time in schools.

I have many personal experiences with MOE, which is very guilty of not setting things right. They allow teachers and principals to abuse students. Their educators ch eat , lie but such cases were covered up. MOE condone wrong doings of their staff. One of their PR officers even threatened an editor against pursuing a case I was complaining.

I have an extremely hard time with the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) recently. I find the officers very KL, making things more difficult for me after I complained to Minister Wong Kan Seng. Many people said I deserve it. For setting things right?

Even in a government hospital, my son and I were not spared. I wrote to Minister of Health Khaw Boon Wan but sigh...... Luckily, I would be meeting Prof Lee Wei Ling. She has agreed to see my son.

It's our duty to right a wrong when we see one....... and you don't have to be MM Lee's daughter to do that.

MP attacked, assailant is a hero?

2009-01-13T23:02:00.001+08:00

Simple human decency, the violent attack on MP Seng Han Thong was uncalled for.

To many Singaporeans, the violence is to be expected. I expressed my concerns to MP Lim Biow Chuan two years ago. I told him to take precautions when he's out in the public. Despite the bodyguards and tight security, I myself was able to get close to several VVIPs at public events.

Several Singaporeans condemned the violent act and expressed their sympathies for the victim, others derive satisfaction from its having been carried out.

Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng arriving at the hospital- ST

Forumer Meteour started a thread in the popular Sammyboy Forum : “What a glorious start to 2009!!!! Since 1965 independence, there was no effective opposition to the scums in white. Public anger ranging from the CLOB fiasco….the ever increasing prices of the new HDB flats, S & C charges, the GSTs ….etc being shafted up our rear w/o reply has finally been answered.”

He even proposed that the assailant Ong Kah Chua be awarded the “Public Service Star and PBM” for his attack on the MP. Ong was also lauded Singapore’s lau hero by others.

One shocking survey showed that people are more sympathetic towards the attacker Ong Kah Chua who may be imprisoned for life than for the victim, MP Seng.

Was what happened to MP Seng a culmination of government policies gone wrong? When justice is not available, people resort to violence. This crude and desperate way was what the attacker knew to drive his message across. Arrogant and insensitive civil servants would not be spared too.

Ong being brought to the scene by the police - ZaoBao

Do you think he was able to write a letter? And to the right organisation to warrant official attention? Was he ever taken seriously by anyone given his lowly status? Now they are calling him crazy and putting him away....... that was what I was threatened with when I persisted in seeking answers from PM Lee Hsien Loong.

Look more closely at how it became like this. What are the underlying reasons for such an act?

Singaporeans like myself suffer in slience all the time. I went to see MP. Emails were sent to government officers, MPs, Ministers.... even PM. Either they thank you for your observations or no response at all!

Tell me where to seek help? The frustration and desperation are real. There are many stories which the public has no access to, all have disappeared into blackholes.

You can put the lid on the kettle, but sooner or later, the steam has to escape somewhere. And when it does, the outcome will be dire.

If the authority ignores or oppresses efforts to reform the system, they create a climate to breed violence or extreme groups.

This Government have been elected by the people of Singapore, in the belief that the PAP would be a consultative government and one which respects the rights of Singaporeans, not usurp our rights and ownership.

They have to stop bullying the ordinary citizens.

Simple human decency, I wish MP Seng Han Thong a speedy recovery.

Penalised for going Too Early for Appointments at ICA

2009-01-13T12:58:00.000+08:00

I was alerted to this letter published in Today papers on 6th January 2009.

sigh........

11 year-old poses security problem

2009-01-09T12:02:00.000+08:00

I have two Filipino brothers who came to study in Singapore. The older boy arrived a month earlier. I placed him in a language school to prepare him for the year end school entry test. He received his student pass without a hitch.

The younger brother was also admitted to the same language school but his application for student pass was rejected. The school has no answer as to why it was rejected so I have to go down to ICA personally to see an officer.

I took a queue number and waited. A counter officer called my number and seeing the letter of rejection, just said there was nothing he could do as the decision is final. I asked for the reason for this rejection. He said he cannot tell. So I asked for an interview to see another officer.

I was back to the queue again and was seen by an elderly officer. She too said the decision was final. And she refused to tell me the reason for the rejection.

I took out the Manager's number and called. He attended to me at another counter. I showed him the letter of rejection. He too tried to dismiss me. When I pressed him for a reason, he said it was 'security reason'.

I saw red.

"Look at the boy's birth certificate! He's only 11 years old! What security problem can he pose? Besides, his older brother who is 12, is already given a student pass? Same family! Why isn't the older brother a security problem? Why the double standard?"

The Manager looked through the documents again and sheepishly apologised. I obtained the boy's student pass within 5 minutes.

These ICA staff are unbelievable!! And this is Singapore!? "...first class public service which is the envy of many other countries."

Do you envy ordinary Singaporeans? *slaps forehead*

The Singapore Civil Service

2009-01-04T13:35:00.002+08:00

I found this on a Singapore government website, many civil servants probably don't even know this.

Code of Conduct

Our Mission

We work with the elected Government to shape Singapore 's future, forge a common vision among Singaporeans and transform the vision into a reality.
We safeguard the independence, sovereignty, security and prosperity of Singapore.
We uphold justice and equality, guided by the principles of incorruptibility, meritocracy and impartiality.

Our Goals

We build a dynamic, successful and vibrant nation of excellence, with a safe, secure and stable environment.
We create the best conditions for Singapore to succeed and for Singaporeans to attain high standards of living.
We foster a cohesive and harmonious society, based on respect, care and concern for fellow citizens.

Our Beliefs

Respect for individual staff members is the first prerequisite for outstanding service and whole-hearted commitment.
Change is essential for continuously maintaining and improving Singapore 's international competitiveness in the global economy.
Excellence drives us to be the best that we can be in all that we do.
Learning from others, feedback and mistakes is the best way to benefit from experience.
Leadership, which is bold, discerning and open to new ideas and insights, is crucial for steady progress and superior achievement.

Our Customers

We provide quality service with commitment to serve with CARE – Courtesy, Accessibility, Responsiveness and Effectiveness.
We treat our customers fairly and honestly, with high standard of professionalism, integrity and service.
We do our best to help our customers and meet their needs.

Our Staff

We value our staff. We maximise their potential through continuous training and development.
We encourage them to continuously improve their knowledge, skills and capabilities.
We offer our staff challenging and worthwhile responsibilities.
We expect them to show commitment, resourcefulness and enterprise.
We provide them with the tools, resources and environment to do a good job.
We require our staff to work well with others. We can develop sound plans and implement them effectively only when people at different levels with diverse abilities, work closely together.

We work together for a first-class Public Service – capable, innovative and
forward-looking – one of the best in the world, worthy of Singapore

Officers in the Civil Service are required to comply with the Code of Conduct and like all other Singapore citizens, are also subject to the laws of the land.

Public officers who misconduct themselves are dealt with by the PSC under the Public Service (Disciplinary Proceedings) Regulations. These Regulations set out the procedures for dealing with the various types of offences.

********** ooOoo *********

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also Minister in charge of the civil service,said in Parliament, "We have a first class public service which is the envy of many other countries. We should not be afraid to criticise it and ..... make suggestions to improve it......"

But MP for Pasir Ris-Punggul GRC Penny Low said our civil servants lacked IEQ (innovation and emotional quotient), only knowing how to 'Just follow Law' at work. ....anything that is within the norm and in the box is processed with little difficulty or delay. However, if a proposal or query is out of the box, it gets lost in the wilderness or unnecessarily delay. So there has been limited room for creativity and mistakes.

"People on the other hand, are creative and think out of the box from time to time. So when met with the clinically-correct bureaucracy that fails to treat them like creative and emotional human beings, they can be frustrated."

MP Penny Low feels the civil service still holds a 'rather rigid and top-down approach when we should be more service-oriented.'

Former senior civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow (The Straits Times,2003) said, "Some civil servants behave like they have a mandate from the emperor. We think we are little Lee Kuan Yews."

The Singapore civil service is bureaucratic, rigid, kiasu, kiasi, especially when it becomes obvious that it is not changing with the times.

Our elected Members of Parliament act as a bridge between the community and the Government by ensuring that the concerns of their constituents are heard in the Parliament. Surprising find, not every MP speak up in Parliament during their term.

(The Straits Times)

Low IQ, Low EQ?

2009-01-02T11:48:00.000+08:00

I used to go to Immigration (ICA) quite often. To wait a whole day just to submit or collect a pass is very common. At any one time, you can see crowds. Until today, it has never changed much even though ICA is boasting about its online services now.

This incident happens a few years ago. But even now, the attitude of ICA staff has not changed much.

On 21st January 2003, I went to ICA again to submit a ward's Banker's Guarantee and show the officer the original documents of the applicant. I showed the receptionist the letter from ICA and the applicant's documents and was given a queue number at counters 4 to 11. I waited one hour for my number to be called, only to be informed that I was in the wrong queue. I had to take another queue number for counters 18 to 23.

When my number was called at counter 19, (I was served by Irene) I was told I need a letter from the school (which is SIM) confirming the student is studying there and the course commencement date.

I informed her that the original letter from the school had been submitted and it was in the file she was holding. She refused to accept it as "it is a letter of acceptance from the school, not a confirmation letter." She asked for the receipt for the payment of the course, but I did not bring it. I was told to go back to SIM to get the letter and come back the next day.

I called SIM's Programme Officer Rohana Neti and she confirmed that the letter which was submitted to ICA was valid as the description of the course and duration was written. Besides the same letter format was submitted for the Indonesian students of SIM before and they were accepted without questions. But Rohana agreed to write another letter to make sure the student could commence his course as soon as possible. I was to collect the letter from SIM in Clementi Road (west of Singapore) the next morning. I lived in East Coast Road (east of Singapore).

The next morning after collecting the confirmation letter from SIM, I went to ICA, show the receptionist the letter from ICA and the applicant's documents again so as to get a queue number. I was surprised that I was given a queue number for counters 4 to 11 again. I pointed out the error to the girl and she changed it for me.

When my number was called, I gave the documents (minus the confirmation letter to test if the letter was really required) to a Malay counter staff. She told me to go back at 2.15 pm to collect the Student Pass.

At 2.15 pm, my number was called by a young Chinese lady at counter 18. I paid for the SP and there was no mention of any confirmation letter. It was not required!

I was confused and puzzled. I was made to run around like a mad dog to get the 'right' document.

Are the counter staff's standard of English language so poor?
How qualified are these staff?
Who decides the rules in ICA?
Can counter staff make their own rules? (They seem to do it all the time.)

There are several counter staff who have served in ICA for many years. Some act as if they are the decision makers in ICA. What qualifications do they have?

I heard from many of the runners who are regulars at ICA, "In the past (I think even up till now) the duration of the waiting period of your various passes depend on the moods of the staff that day or the applicant's face." There seems to be some truth in it.

Time and again, I was forced to waste precious time and money because of these people's inefficiency and poor knowledge of Immigration rules and procedures. It does not please me to know that I pay taxes for these civil servants' salaries.

ICA pushes its online services at the expense of security

2008-12-22T14:24:00.001+08:00

This letter (names of boy and school edited) was sent to Minister of Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng on 4th December 2008.

An ICA officer sneered,"You think the Minister so free, read your email?"

Ministers and MPs have to read feedback from Singapore citizens. No matter how badly written the letters are. The ordinary people are not trained to write to Government Departments. If I can write well, the Ministers and many civil servants would be out of their jobs. :P

The civil servants know their bosses don't have time to read feedback from ordinary citizens. Letters sent to the leaders will be hijacked. The leaders will never know what actually happened at the ground level.

My letter was redirected to ICA on 11th December 2008. I'm still waiting for a reply. Let's see how long they need to 'look into the matter'.

************* ooOoo ************

Around 4pm on 5th November 2008, I went to 4th Floor of ICA, Student Pass Unit to get a queue number to apply for a student pass for my Filipino ward. The letter (attached) given by the private school showed the boy was going to take a 2-month Bread and Cake-making course.

The counter staff said ICA does not give 2-month student pass, minimum 6 months. I was referred to an officer. She is in her 40s, has long hair tied up in a pony tail. I can recognise her if I see her again.

She read the letter and said that it cannot be used to apply for student pass. I asked her for advice. She said this course is illegal, the boy cannot take the course without a student pass. I went back to the school. The Principal assured me that her courses are recognised and that she has had students who managed to extend their visit pass with her school's letter. I let the boy attend her course.

On 4th December 2008, I went to ICA around 9am to extend the boy's visit pass. I waited more than an hour to see officer Norizan Sa'ad at counter 45. The boy plans to apply for courses in another private school. I didn't have proof to show that my ward was going to sit for an entrance test, I told her I'll get a letter from the present school where he is learning now. I had left the above letter at home.

So I went to the school to get another letter to prove that he is taking a course there. I asked them to put the word 'training' since ICA staff said their courses are illegal.

I returned at 10.47 am and was given another queue number 7682. I went back to Norizan. When she saw the letter with the word 'training' on it, she told me she cannot extend my ward's visit pass based on that. They have never approved any extension on visit pass for training courses. At my request, she went to ask her senior officer.

The application was rejected. Training is not accepted for visit pass extension. My request to see the senior officer was also turned down. But I could see an officer in the Interview Room.

Norizan told me : visit pass can be extended online, 'there is no need for sponsor, no need to come down to ICA and no physical endorsement in passport needed'.

I was left waiting, not knowing when is my turn. The boy and I didn't have our breakfast, we were hungry but could not go off to have food in case our number was called. I approached Norizan again and asked if I need to exchange for another queue number as many of those entering the Interview Room have queue number starting 9. I didn't have to. And she has no idea how long I have to wait but there were a few people before me. We just sat down to wait.

From 11 am I waited until almost 1pm before I got to see Jane Yew. After listening to my appeal, she rejected it because 'the senior officer has already rejected it'.

Then why let me wait so long to get this same reply?

Jane accused me that I got the school to issue me the letter that day so as to extend the boy's visit pass. We have a letter from the school prior to his starting the first lesson, but one ICA staff said it was illegal. Fees were paid to attend the 2-month course in a Singapore registered, tax-paying company.

She chided me for not extending his visit pass online. ICA is encouraging applicants to do that. ICA approves short term courses. 3 days before the 30 day visa expires, I just need to log online and extend. No questions asked. I wasn't aware of this new online application.

I argued that it is strange that online application can be approved without seeing the applicant or documentary proof but coming down to ICA with documentary proof is rejected.

Jane Yew insisted that the boy has to leave Singapore. By hook or by crook, he must leave the country by 12 midnight on 5th December 2008. As long as he leaves the country, she doesn't care where he goes. Even if he goes on a day trip to Johor or Batam.

I knew it was fruitless to argue with such rigid civil servant, so I went to book his air ticket. It is very difficult to get a seat on a flight at this time of the year. Since leaving ICA at 1 plus, I have been trying to call all the airlines. At 1816h, I just got a seat on SQ for 5th December, after many calls and paying a premium for it.

Thanks very much to ICA's rigid, cold, unfeeling, ill-informed staff.

Please clarify : Can we extend visit pass when taking short term courses like baking and cooking in a registered Singaporean school or company?

In view of the terrorists attack in Mumbai, is it safe to have foreigners extend their visit pass online without having the need to have a sponsor; no need to go down to ICA and no physical endorsement in passport needed? Notice the increasing number of hookers, fake students, fake study mamas around us.

ICA counter staff is pushing their online services too hard, at the expense of security.

My ward is only 18 years old, he has yet to complete his secondary education and he is looking to continue his education here. If it is due to safety reason the extension is rejected, he was not banned from Singapore. He came back after a few days.

ICA staff at the frontline are ill-informed and have varying mentality. Different officers have different ways of understanding or interpreting letters / documents. I have examples to show.

It is necessary to be strict with immigration procedures due to terror threats but to be unreasonable, not understanding and not be in the shoes of applicants, that is very frustrating and unfair for ordinary folks.

************************ ooOoo *************************

Updated 13/1/2009

Foreign visitors who are on Social Visit passes may now take up a short course (30 days or less) during their stay here in Singapore. With effect from 1 June 2004, there is no longer a need to separately apply for a Student's Pass!

http://www.ica.gov.sg/news_details.aspx?nid=7288&secid=192

What happens to civil servants who lie or cover up?

2008-11-29T15:08:00.001+08:00

It is a no-brainer question. Even an Aunty like me also know, they should be punished.

But sadly, that didn't happen. It would be considered abnormal for it to happen in Singapore? I pray for Justice in my prayers everyday.

Civil servants in Singapore do not apologise when they make mistakes. They will make more mistakes to cover their mistake.

The New Paper, 18th Nov 2008

A middle-aged, lowly Chinese-educated woman was jailed two weeks for giving false information to a civil servant from the Ministry of Health. Seriously, it didn't have to turn out this way. The poor woman was not told her rights nor warned of the severe consequence.

When the verdict was out, the top civil servant resigned out of remorse. She did not expect such a harsh sentence. She made a mistake in her job and it caused a family great pain and irreparable damage. Full story will be published here.

A lawyer and an air-stewardess were jailed for false declarations to principals. They tried to register their kids in top schools using fake addresses.

The above are all Singapore citizens.

A policeman lied to me in Parliament House. MOE covered-up when I wrote to PM Lee. Gambling Suppression Branch also can bully ordinary citizen like me.

Yet.... Foreigners who made false declarations to principals and MOE were let off and even continued to enjoy our subsidised education. The principals even did their best to help them out. Black changed to white, white changed to black. WOW!

arghhhh...... I just discovered an ICA officer is being tried for corruption. I thought he was a good civil servant when he personally met and resolved the problems based on my feedback of its system. I still remember what he told me, "Please don't write in. Email or call me and I'll see to your concerns."

I looked stupid now leh. I was feeding him info.

Trust no one in the Ministries. I can only trust a few Ministers and MPs. Sad.

**************** oooOooo ***************

My Runaway Foreign Scholars post caused an uproar during my absence. Funny leh, Singapore citizens found out about this news from this blog. Looks like the the traditional media are not getting their usual tips from sources.

I understand the constraints of the reporters in Singapore, but by not reporting the truth and true stories of Singaporeans, more Singaporeans will suffer. What was written in my blog was offered to reporters, but they chose not to print them. My blog was started because I could not get my stories heard by the leaders and traditional media.

These days, the traditional media who did not believe me are emailing me and even lifting my stories for their headlines or special reports.

The traditional media (and some traffic hungry, attention-starved bloggers) just 'snatched' my story wor. Not even a mention of my blog.

It took me more than 4 hours to make this post. I'm not highly-educated. I cannot express myself well. I have to check the dictionary and google for the meaning of certain words. Why copy from such a lousy writer?

Can you see or read this on my left sidebar?

Writing, photography and images copyright Eastcoastlife © 2008 All rights reserved. You may not copy or otherwise reproduce any of this content without prior written permission.

Obviously not. Can my lawyers enlighten me?

My friends teased me, "Be Ah Q lah! Now you know you are not 阿猫阿狗!"

Welcome to the new media!

Dialogue with Minister Mah Bow Tan : Sustainable Development

2008-11-06T23:13:00.000+08:00

Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan
(7 pm, URA Auditorium)
Enhancing our Physical Environment

This second forum on 6 November 2008, chaired by Minister Mah, had the following panelists:

Mr Tai Lee Siang, President, Singapore Institute of Architects and Director, DP Architects
A/Prof Lee Siew Eang, Director, Centre for Total Building Performance, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore
Dr Shawn Lum, President, Nature Society

This forum discussed how we can bring about a more resource efficient built environment and a higher quality living environment. Specific issues for discussion include improving energy efficiency in our built environment, the use of renewable energy, and how we can further enhance greenery and biodiversity within our living environment.

The whole function room was occupied by the public and professional groups who responded enthusiastically to the call for views and ideas. Some were too passionate when giving their views. One man was asked to leave the room.

Minister Mah has a sharp mind and spoke convincingly. Though several of those who asked questions were rude, long-winded and gave weird suggestions, the Minister took it in his stride. I'm beginning to like his style. :)

Present were several foreigners who are residents in Singapore and they spoke out on the environment they are living in. One lady felt disgusted that this forum was all about Singapore and not about the countries around us. Hey! I agree with Minister Mah, we have to start from our own backyard!

It was not an entirely solemn forum... there were moments when the audience were tickled by suggestions.

Working overtime should not be encouraged. It is not energy efficient as air-con and lights are left on for just a few employees. All employees should knock off at 6pm. :)

A teacher did research on the web and reveals that 80% of agricultural products grown in the world are fed to farm animals. So we should all be vegetarians. :)

Singaporeans should take a more active role at Feedback sessions too. Singapore is our country and we should not leave it to the Government to find solutions to our problems.

Primary Education Review with MP Michael Palmer

2008-11-05T23:48:00.001+08:00

MP Michael Palmer (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) n Mr Goh Sin Teck

REACH Focus Group Discussion on Primary Education Review with MP Michael Palmer
(5 Nov, 7.30-9.30 pm, SMU)
Enhancing Academic Programmes and CCAs

To find out more about Singaporeans' views on our primary education. There were about 30 respondents. Half of them are parents with kids in Primary schools.

The review that MOE is conducting includes the following areas :

* The roll-out of Single-Session Primary Schools (SSPS);

* The move towards an all graduate teacher recruitment by 2015;

* Rebalancing the learning of content knowledge and the development of skills and values so that our young are well prepared for the future.

Guidelines :

What would you like to see more/less of in a typical primary school classroom? What would you like to see more/less of outside the classroom?
•
What could be done that would enable primary school pupils to develop a stronger eagerness and curiosity to learn, confidence in themselves, a good grasp of communication skills, and the facility to work and cooperate with others?
•
Should CCA participation be scaled up for primary school pupils? Should CCAs be offered within curriculum time, and for which levels of primary school?
•
What are your thoughts on using drama or outdoor education as enablers to achieve a more holistic education? Are there any other areas worth exploring?

Creating More Time and Space for Holistic Education through Single-Session Primary Schools
•
What are your views on single-session and if it can help achieve a more holistic education?
•
With single-session, how can schools make better use of the time and flexibility to organise the school day?
•
What are some of the challenges in implementing single-session? How do you think we can overcome them?
•
Do you think schools will benefit from an all-graduate teaching force? Why?
•
What do you think are important qualities and competencies of primary school teachers that need to be further developed?
•
Should schools have an after-school care centre that organises activities for students and supervises their homework?

OMG! Some people came prepared with long speeches. *faint* MP was too nice to stop them. Not a lot could be covered in such a short time.

Building a Sustainable Community

2008-11-01T12:08:00.000+08:00

Dr Yaacob replying to a query

The IMCSD Secretariat is organising dialogue sessions to facilitate more in-depth discussions on the Sustainable Singapore blueprint.

The first session on "Building a Sustainable Community" was chaired by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. This forum discussed issues related to sustainable community such as resource efficiency, littering, recycling, importance of public education and partnerships.

It was attended by more than 140 people and they were treated to a buffet prior to the forum discussion. Top civil servants were present too but as usual did little to engage the participants or bother to know them. :) Their MP and Minister bosses are better hosts, usually they would be the first to greet and acknowledge the ordinary citizens.

25 people spoke, some irrelevant. A China national studying in NUS (probably a scholar) spoke, but the Minister had difficulty understanding what he was saying. When the Minister asked him to 'wrap up' his lengthy speech, the guy could not understand those words. :) How's that for a scholar? The Minister saw and heard hor.

There were several outspoken Singaporeans who gave very amusing views. I'm beginning to enjoy dialogue sessions. :)

Feedback

The second session on "Enhancing our Physical Environment" will be chaired by Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development. This forum will focus on issues related to the physical environment such as improving the energy efficiency of our built environment and public housing, as well as the quality of our green and blue spaces.

Building a Sustainable Community (28th October 2008)
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim,
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources

URA Auditorium, The URA Centre,
45 Maxwell Road, 5th storey Podium, Singapore 069118

PM Lee's assurance

2008-10-28T12:43:00.001+08:00

XI'AN (China) - SINGAPOREANS aggrieved by their investment in Lehman Minibonds and DBS High Notes 5 will have their complaints handled 'fairly and properly', Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong assured on Sunday in his first remarks on the issue. He said it was understandable that some investors had reacted emotionally as they lost their money in a sudden and unexpected manner, while others felt that the risks had not been adequately explained to them.

But ultimately, the banks do realise that it is in their interest to resolve the matter quickly and not let it drag on, he told reporters in the western Chinese city of Xi'an where he wrapped up his five-day visit to China.

'The banks have what they call reputational risk,' said PM Lee. 'In other words, if you do the right thing, your customers will remember you for a long time.
'If you do the wrong thing, customers and potential customers will remember you for a long time. The banks and financial institutions know this and have every interest in sorting this out expeditiously and fairly.'

In Singapore, about 10,000 retail investors have invested over $500 million into structured products linked to now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers. DBS Bank, Hong Leong Finance and Maybank said last week that they would look into complaints and fast-track vulnerable cases, prompting some investors to worry that they would be left out.

The Prime Minister repeatedly stressed the notion of fairness during his lengthy remarks on the issue yesterday, and added that instances of mis-selling would be investigated.

Mis-selling, at its simplest, means giving the wrong advice to potential investors. Beyond that, it can also mean a failure to help clients diversify their assets, non-disclosure of risks or not completing a proper fact-find to ensure the product being sold suits the customer.

Said PM Lee: 'Where there has been mis-selling, it has to be put right.

'Where there has been less than professional behaviour by the relationship managers, or where things don't measure up to the standards that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expects when you promote the financial products, then the banks have to do the right thing.'

The MAS said on Friday that it would look into complaints of mis-selling, and added that an imminent review of the structured products industry would address such issues as better descriptions and labelling of products, as well as more professionally trained relationship managers.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_295167.html

Finally, the Singapore Government is addressing the problem. PM Lee spoke and has given his assurance that instances of mis-selling will be investigated. Hooray!!

Persons appointed to oversee the complaint handling of the financial institutions are:

Gerard Ee – DBS Bank
Law Song Keng – ABN Amro, Hong Leong Finance, Maybank
Hwang Soo Jin – CIMB GK Securities, DMG & Partners Securities, Kim Eng Securities, OCBC Securities, Phillips Securities, UOB Kay Hian, AMEX Bank.

Standard Chartered - Hwang Soo Jin or write to MAS.

If you wish to contact these three people, you can write to their name,

c/o Monetary Authority of Singapore
10 Shenton Way MAS Building
Singapore 079117
Tel : (65)-6225-5577
Fax : (65)-6229-9229
Website : http://www.mas.gov.sg

Who are responsible for the MiniBond issue?

2008-10-26T10:07:00.003+08:00

Who are responsible!?

Since attending the Saturday event (25th October) at the Speaker's Corner, it has been an eye-opening journey for this ordinary citizen. Something has to be done.

I did not invest in any bonds nor derivatives and thus was not affected by this mini-bond saga. I went down to help Rachel, a fellow blogger. I was shocked to see an elder cousin with her husband in the crowd. Upon questioning, she revealed that she and her 70+ year-old Mother (my father's sister) are victims of the banks' high-handed and misleading sales tactics.

I spent hours going over 10 contracts that they bought. These illiterate and goondu housewives were duped into buying high risk bonds when all they wanted to do was to put their life-savings in fixed deposit.

25th October 2008

Many depositors probably have this experience. EVERY TIME I go to deposit my cheque or cash, the bank teller would ask me if I want to earn higher interest for my cash sitting in the account. Some would just pull out a pamphlet and start telling you about their new financial product. I was burnt once so every time I would look them in the eyes and said firmly, "Give me back my passbook."

I thought of the poor aunties and uncles who were misled, forced, duped into buying the high risk products. It didn't concern me then, so I kept quiet. I read complaints about this high-handed selling in newspaper forums. I expect the Government to take action against such unscrupulous practices. They didn't.

Mr Tan Kin Lian addressing investors of Mini Bonds (MayBank group)

I got in touch with several MPs. They believe Tan Kin Lian has an agenda. So what if he has. He came out to organise the affected investors and helped them to file complains. He found ways for them to seek redress.

I don't see any Government officials or leaders stepping out to calm the nerves of the affected investors. Only after Mr Tan has made public the sad plight of retirees who lost their life-savings to the 'crooks' did MAS speak out.

Did MPs rally their grassroots and ask them to help the poor elderly who were affected? They could have organise a session to engage these people. They can score points. It's not wayang. If their residents are affected, they should show some concern. They should direct them to the correct people to seek help. But they didn't. And they said Tan Kin Lian has an agenda. Tan Kin Lian is an opportunist. People has eyes to see.

The Government and leaders were slow to react. It's always the case. They need to see blood before they do something. Mr Tan saw that there was no time to waste.

Mr Tan and Mr Goh Meng Seng did not instigate the crowds to protest. They didn't approve of the investors going to seek legal course because it is too expensive. The stakes are too high. These poor people have more to lose. They are clearly the biggest losers.

Mr Goh Meng Seng speaking in Mandarin to investors

It's People's Power now. The ordinary citizens can only help themselves during such times. Several Singaporeans have stepped out to help the affected illiterates, uneducated, elderly investors. We need more people to help them write complain letters. Let's help one another. We are brothers and sisters.

I was told, the Government will never cave in to public pressure.

The citizens are not staging protests. We are presenting our cases to the Government and hope they will do something.

Note : I don't know Tan Kin Lian and Goh Meng Seng personally.

Minister Mah Bow Tan's ancestors are criminals?

2008-10-20T15:37:00.002+08:00

To speak up against unfair practices and injustice, EastCoastLife gets her fair share of attacks... online and off.... from those whom she's up against. Trolls, flaming and cyber attacks are common. I even receive death threat. I accept this fate and will work harder to expose these scums. Nothing can stop me. You hear?

Recently, some of them have followed me to blogs I surfed and left unsavoury comments. Below is one slanderous remark where innocent Hainanese including prominent Singapore leaders are included. How audacious!

Comment by troll, found at ieat to me :

I quote, in case readers can't see clearly :

Hainanese is famous for aggressive conversation and any can turn into a fight kind. What to do.... hainanese are basically political criminals dumped into the leetle island and they do nothing but fight all day long.

海南人是出了名的好与人争吵的，他们随时都能打起来。有什么办法呢.... 海南人基本上就是被弃在小岛的政治犯 , 每天无所事事的, 就好打架.
翻译自以上留言

Prominent Hainanese in Singapore are :

Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan,
Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports),
Ngiam Tong Dow, former Permanent Secretary (Administrative Vice-Minister) of the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office of the Government..... etc.

The ancestors of these accomplished people and all the Hainanese were political criminals?

These trolls have often left flaming remarks at ieat's blog. I told ieat and cactuskit I would refrain from commenting but we decided to track them down. I was told to aggravate my troll but ieat couldn't take the heat later and removed the offending comments, yet leaving the troll's taunts and rebukes in his post.

This is what I constantly face. The Lone fighter of baddies because every one wants to be the nice guy.

My comments on ieat's blog after 15th October was made at ieat's request, yet when I'm called 'belligerent' by his readers when I commented, he chose to delete the comments and keep silent.

Who is this uzyn mentioned in the above comment?

Chua Uzyn, Malaysian who utilised Singapore government education subsidies for years to study in Singapore. Obtain seed funding from the Government for his IT projects, and banned Singaporeans, including EastCoastLife who spoke out against his arrogance, from it.

Singaporean men who have served their NS have to protect 'FTs' like him who don't need to serve NS when war starts!

Uzyn took S$200 cash from my husband to pay his kaki (illegal baker of anniversary cake at his aggregator's first anniversary). Amazingly, no receipt was given when his company is registered. Foreigners are Kings in Singapore? No wonder he can be so garang!

In democratic Singapore, Singaporeans get banned for speaking up against a foreigner's unfair practices! He's so much more powerful than our Government!

Members of Ping.sg, mostly foreigners

I welcome foreigners to work, study and live in Singapore, but if they get special privileges through illegal means or commit offences, they will have to face our Law as we Singapore citizens do. I have a few cases where foreigners commit serious offences in Singapore but were let off.

Get me this guy... I want to hand him on a platter to the ministers and the Hainanese.

Dig him out, his company, his family, his address.... I'll publish his details in every available means, for every one to see. Let's make an example of him for his irresponsible comments.

S$10,000 reward!

'belligerent' is too mild a word to describe EastCoastLife.......

Employers of domestic workers need to unite

2008-09-25T20:33:00.000+08:00

Maternity Perks for Maids!? You must be kidding!

"The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (Home) and Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) have urged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to ensure that domestic workers get “full and equal protection” under the Employment Act.

These would include a minimum salary, hours of work, rest days, paid annual leave and sick leave as well as maternity protection and benefits. There are 180,000 domestic workers here, most of whom are women.

Asked if domestic helpers should be allowed to give birth here, Home’s executive director Jolovan Wham told Today: “We don’t have a view on that yet. But we are suggesting that they be given the 12-week maternity leave currently available to either deliver their babies here or back in their home country.”

Work permit and security bond conditions prohibit female work permit holders, including maids, from getting pregnant.

Another reason to bring domestic workers under the Employment Act: An employer would not be able to terminate her without the required notice period or payment in lieu of notice, or sack her immediately without the due process of an inquiry, said Home and TWC2.

The two groups also argued that the current standard contract agreed by the accreditation bodies, CaseTrust and the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore), does not provide for paid sick leave, annual leave and public holidays. Nor does it specify expected work hours and payment for overtime work. These should be brought in line with current labour legislation, they argued.

The submission is part of a broader feedback to the MOM, which is reviewing the Employment Act. The MOM has expressed the need to “take a balanced approach between employment protection for workers and maintaining Singapore’s labour market flexibility and competitiveness” in updating the Act, which covers about 1.4 million workers. It was last reviewed in 1995.

The NGOs, in supporting the MOM initiative, said the proposed amendments to the Act should also reflect the interests of migrant workers, who form a significant proportion of low wage workers in Singapore. There are about 600,000 work permit holders here (excluding domestic workers)."

*************************ooOoo***********************

A foreign worker after reading my blog posts on my maids who cheated, stole, lied, have sex with construction workers, said I just want to treat them like slaves by not allowing them to have boyfriends.

Self righteous and selfish folks not at the centre of the issue but just comment because it is easy to position and write from a high moral stand point and criticize us.

Maids are human beings too. I treated my maids well and I'm pissed off by what they did to repay me.

Their main responsibility is to look after my kids; make sure they have clean uniform and clothes to wear, prepare their meals. My kids clean their own rooms, wash their own toilets and school shoes.

My maids don't have to wash the windows nor my car. They can choose to clean my house only when it's dirty, no need to sweep and mop everyday.

Every maid finished cooking dinner at 6.30 pm and every evening, they sit down to watch the 7pm Chinese TV drama with my kids until 10pm. No work done during these hours.

One maid have so much time, she read (my kids and I taught our maids to read and write English)every novel in my library. She added prawns, squids and chicken to her noodles and fried rice while my kids' noodles and fried rice have only chicken and egg. She cooked herself fried Cod fish or Salmon for her lunch whenever my kids couldn't come home for lunch due to CCA. She loved watching TV and singing karaoke. She got to enjoy my home theatre and 52" TV.

Another maid stole my food and cooked it for her fellow maids during their weekly parties. She stole my son's MRT card, my watch, money and food. She wore my clothes, put on my make-up and took pictures of herself in my bedroom with her handphone. She had numerous boyfriends. When my hubby and I were overseas, my kids said her boyfriends or herself would call one another and yakked until midnight. She even secretly went out to meet her friends when I was abroad. She would chat for hours on the phone with other maids in the morning, not doing cleaning for several days.

Third Sri Lanka maid often made my 5 yr-old son walked a kilometre in the hot noon sun to make phone calls to her boyfriends. She picked him up after his kindergarten class and walked that distance so neighbours wouldn't see her and tell me. My young son was bribed with ice-creams. She has her Sundays off and would scoot off very early before 7 am before I woke up and return at 7pm. She gave my phone number to Bangladeshi workers and I found myself becoming her receptionist when I was on sick leave for 3 days.

4th maid stole S$3000 from my elderly mother-in-law who had wrapped it in newspapers and hid it behind her mirror for years. The maid did the cleaning weekly and one day stole it. She remitted it home, we found the receipt. We didn't send her to the police after she begged us not to.

The 5th maid was a Christian, after a year of working with us, she requested to attend church on Sunday afternoons. We found a church where Indonesian service was conducted and sent her weekly until she said she could go on her own. She was supposed to come home after church before 6pm so we could have dinner with my in-laws but then each Sunday, her coming home got later and later. She was the one I caught with the foreigner worker. She didn't attend church, she went to have fun at motels with her lover.

When I go out for outings to places of interest or dinner with my kids, I brought them along. They get to eat what we ate. Japanese sashimi, sharks fin soup, burgers, steaks...

I changed 7 maids... the longest worked 4 years, shortest 9 months.

Is it so much to ask that they be responsible and look after my kids while I work my ass off to pay bills and her salary!? I don't get to enjoy my house and luxury items. The maids did.

The foreigner worker wrote :
"...In addition, maids interviewed by Human Rights Watch have experienced forced confinement and restricted communication..."

"..Singaporeans may be enjoying sufficient wealth to employ maids, yet, they do not understand that maids have basic needs too. Singaporean society, as a whole, has yet to achieve the necessary maturity, freedom and platform to fully conceptualize the notion of human rights..."

"..Singapore may have a less tarnished human rights record when compared to some of its South East Asian counterparts such as Cambodia, Thailand and East Timor. But it is important to note some behavior of employers in Singapore brink on slavery, which is a crime against humanity.."

"..Similar cases have surfaced in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well. However, in a country in which an individual’s rights and freedom of speech and assembly are respected, the maids have a louder voice than their counterparts in Singapore. Maids in Hong Kong have recently taken to the streets to march in protest against unfair changes in labor policies, a luxury which even Singapore citizens themselves are unable to enjoy..."

There are employers who abuse their maids, there are employers who are abused by their maids. There are two sides to a coin.

Educated people like you and those who think they are so righteous and holy fighting for the foreign workers, you don't use your brains do you? You only see one side of the story.

To protest is a luxury Singaporeans are unable to enjoy!? Thank God! Singaporeans don't need this luxury. Singaporeans are wise enough to know that protests will do more harm than good to our country's economy and stability. We are reasonable people.

People like you are dangerous and do nothing good to society. And it's no wonder, you are a foreign worker in Singapore .....

**********oo OOO oo*********

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Details ..... later.

Slipshod police investigation

2008-09-18T11:42:00.000+08:00

Prior to the complaint, I went to look for the foreman Nelson who was in charge of the workers and the construction company Link 2000 Construction Pte Ltd to find out about the foreign worker but they were not co-operative.

I wanted to know where was the worker then. Was he an illegal immigrant? My maid had been seeing him for more than a year. Why did he run? And he left the maid to face the consequences. What a 'great' man!

I gave the contact number of the foreman and construction company to the police. See, a simple task which officer Bala could do but he didn't. He was patronizing me when he told me he would look into the matter.

Policeman Bala finally got back to me after more than 2 weeks. He came with a colleague one night and tried to repair damages.

He called the foreman after receiving my fax. The foreman told him the worker had been transferred to another construction site. I asked officer Bala if he had checked that out. He didn't. He just took Nelson's word for it. He didn't even have the worker's name.

I was worried the foreign worker would come back to create trouble. Officer Bala said I could always call the police. Yeah, great! We would have been dead if he came with an axe.

This is the consequence the residents would have if they complain about foreign workers. The workers know who complain against them, the residents would only have themselves to blame if they get hurt. Those who are fearful would keep quiet while those who speak up would be labelled as 'racist', 'snobs', 'intolerant'.

I tolerated the foreign workers living around me for years. They bring their bad habits with them everywhere they go. They have the numbers. There are good ones and bad. As long as they don't bother my maid, I'm fine.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan is worried about this national debate on social tolerance and class, "Some of the debate has been framed as between one group against another. It will polarise the ground if we carry on and cause harm to social cohesion."

All this time, citizens have been tolerating and putting up with the inconvenience of having foreign workers live among us. It is futile to complain. Now that more citizens are speaking up, the Government realises that striking a balance between both Singaporeans and foreigners is not as rosy as they wanted it to be.

Power to the Singapore people! Speak up for your rights.

4 police cars and 8 policemen couldn't catch a foreign worker

2008-09-15T15:01:00.004+08:00

The gate of the construction site was locked. I yelled for the workers to come out. I bashed the gate with my baseball bat. The commotion was so loud, many of the neighbours came out. Hubby had called the police and he brought the maid to the scene. She was nonchalant, even sneered when I was bashing the gate. I looked like a crazy woman.

4 police cars arrived, bringing 8 policemen from Marine Parade Neighbourhood Police Post. The officer in charge Bala questioned the maid.

Several branded clothes were missing from my house then and I didn't know what else was missing at that moment. Hubby saw the man carrying a plastic bag. Did the maid pass him something from my house? I never get to know. The maid refused to tell.

The police tried to get the workers to open the gate. When they refused, one of the officers climbed into the premise. They did a search of the construction site and rounded up the men. My maid's boyfriend had escaped. How? Don't know. Probably climbed over the fence and flee through another neighbour's compound.

Police officer Bala just asked the maid some question and suggested that I send her packing. That was it!? The police didn't see the need to bring her back to the station for interogation.

He shrugged his shoulders and said that was nothing the police could do. He had seen lots of such cases. He had even caught foreign workers trespassing houses when they went to spend the night with their maid girlfriends. These maids were sent home immediately by their employers.

I was concerned the escaped worker would return to harm my family since he knew where I stayed. Bala agreed to see the foreman of the construction site the next day. He would try to get the particulars of the worker. That was a load of crap.

I waited two weeks for him to get back to me. When he didn't, I faxed a complaint to the Marine Parade Police Post.

Trust the maid!? haha....

2008-09-13T15:00:00.001+08:00

In the day, the neighbourhood looks quiet because the mams and the sirs are at work and the children are in school. The maids reserved mornings for their get together parties. I once came home to get a document and saw maids gathering in a condo unit nearby. They were having a potluck party. And according to my maid, there were such parties once a week and usually when it's some one's birthday.

An elderly neighbour warned me one day to lock my metal grill gate because one day, she and her maid were cooking in the kitchen when she heard noises in front of her house. She went out to take a look.

Just in time to see a Bangladeshi worker pushing her bicycle through the front gate. She shouted at him and he fled, leaving the bike. Such boldness! They were probably keeping a lookout on houses that have only elderly folks, young kids and maids.

My new maid was good when she first arrived. For 2 years, I have no major problems with her. And I renewed her contract. I trusted her too much which was a mistake.

One night, my husband noticed that she had been going to bed late for a few months. It's lights off in my house at 10pm. The maid had to wake up at 6am daily, so she would finish her work at 8pm and she could then go to bed.

She was going to bed around midnight, after taking out the trash. It went on for months, I didn't get suspicious, hubby did. One night he secretly followed her. The trash bin was 2 m from the house and she wasn't in sight. Hubby strolled along the road and found her holding hands with a Bangladeshi worker at a nearby bus-stop.

When she spotted my husband, she quickly let go her hand and ran home. Hubby followed the Bangladeshi worker who was holding a plastic bag. He was a worker residing in the construction site behind my backyard. Hubby rushed home to inform me.

Angered at the audacity of these people, I took my baseball bat and went charging to the construction site....

Serangoon Garden residents, you have my sympathy

2008-09-11T12:52:00.000+08:00

When the maid and foreign workers give you problems, 4 police cars and 8 policemen cannot help you.
That's what happened to me.

*************************** ooOoo **************************

I have only sympathy for the residents of Serangoon Garden estate, most people are quick to condemn them. It's uncalled for to label them as "bigots", "xenophobic", "prejudiced" and "snobbish".

The government's plan to house around 1,500 foreign workers in the abandoned Serangoon Gardens Technical School has led to the residents protesting.

For 6 years I endured having construction sites behind my backyard, opposite and at the side of my two residences, both in East Coast. I'm so unlucky. I moved to my present house after enduring 3 years of noise and troubles from the construction site in my backyard, only to discover that I have to endure another 3 years of Hell when the old condominium behind my house was en bloc! *bang head on wall*

Let me share what happened when we have foreigner construction workers living within our neighbourhood. In case the Government decided not to cave in to the residents' demand, they can prepare for these problems. In my case, there were only scores. I cannot imagine 1,500 of them!!

At my first house, my open wet kitchen faced the construction site. The workers ~~purposely~~ built a bathroom right next to it. For the first few weeks, I have to endure the sights of bare-chested men dressed in shorts or wrapped in sarongs, bathing whenever my maid or I were cooking meals. When I couldn't take it anymore, I charged right up to the contractor to complain. They then covered up the fence dividing us.

Then the foreigner workers befriended the maids in the neighbourhood. The workers whistled and threw nails onto our balconies to attract our maids' attention. There is a small mini supermarket which residents and maids frequent. Every day, groups of foreigners workers would patronise it and make friends with maids. Come evening, there would be small groups of them drinking alcohol, some getting drunk and into fights.

I told my maid and kids to avoid the mini-mart. I didn't allow my maid to go out without anyone accompanying her.

Things had been fine until these workers came to stay. Then my kids started complaining that our home-cooked meals were not as tasty and portions were small. I used to buy in bulk at the wholesale centre, supermarket and the wet market .

For grocery and food every month, I bought 2 dozen bottles of peanut butter, a carton (2 dozen cans) of Spam, 1.5kg tin of Milo, a dozen tins of condensed milk...etc. In my freezer, there would be packets of frozen chicken nuggets, prawns, meats, fish, sausages....etc. Why were the kids complaining?

One of the kids decided to find out. He came back extra early one day and saw the maid preparing lunch, deep-frying chicken nuggets in the kitchen. He went upstairs to change and when he came down to have his lunch, there weren't any chicken nuggets on the table. He vividly remembered seeing the maid frying them.

He asked her and she denied, and waved a knife at him telling him to keep his mouth shut. Later she borrowed some money from him and went to the mini-mart to buy a packet of frozen chicken nuggets to replace the ones she took.

When I was alerted, I went through the grocery and frozen food in the house. Lots were missing. I just bought 2 dozen bottles of peanut butter a week ago, half were gone. When grilled, the maid confessed to cooking and distributing my food to feed the neighbourhood foreign workers!! Later, I found other maids were feeding them or holding parties with food stolen from their employers' homes.

My next door neighbours had similar problems. There were 6 terrace houses in my row, every employer was affected! One of my neighbours had to send his two maids home immediately. They were constantly borrowing his 8-year-old daughter's mobile phone, hiding in the toilets to call the foreign workers. I sent my maid home too.

Too much was at stack. Besides the S$5,000 bond I could lose if she gets pregnant, there are the security issues. I'm not home most of the time, it's just the kids and the maid. And her bedroom was on the ground floor facing the contruction site.....

I want a say, even if I'm not highly educated!!

2008-09-09T18:15:00.000+08:00

Sorry for no updates. I have to rewrite what I had written because the leaders think my letters are too sarcastic and disrespectful, so they are just going to ignore me.

I'm not a highly-educated person, I don't write well. I'm not trained to write like a journalist. I cannot write as fluently as PR officers. I applied what I learnt in school to write my letters. It seems the school have taught me the wrong things.

I thought the Government would understand that its citizens are all different. Some are highly-educated, some are just peasants. I was wrong. It seems like only the educated can give feedback? People like me should keep our mouths shut?

That's why I constantly got brushed off, ignored, bullied.

The Government should look into all feedback. They shouldn't be judgemental.

I was told, they would only look at letters which are cordial and follow a certain (fixed) style. Civil servants are sent for courses to learn how to handle the citizens' complaints, how to give ambiguous answers, what type of letters don't deserve a reply. I see.

They are told not to waste time on people who can't write a rational letter. If I'm good at letter writing, I would be sitting in their positions, won't I?

Anyway, what the heck! They can read or ignore my feedback, I'll still write and post my bad experiences here. And I'm translating them into Mandarin too.

Terror on the Web - My Son's Story

2008-08-25T23:48:00.001+08:00

When The Straits Times contacted me to write a story on bullying in school, I accepted the interview. I persuaded my son Jaymes to speak up. He has to face his fears and stand up to his bullies.

I reproduce part of the article below. I don't know if the cyber bullying of my son happened because of my whistle-blowing, but I'll not be threatened into silence. I have my fair share of cyberbullying too but that will be another story.

Aug 15, 2008
With growth of online connectivity, bullies unleash their malice on the Internet
By Sujith Kumar

JAMES Tan was 15 by the time he stood up to his school bullies. After being harassed for years at his Bedok South Secondary School, he took them on in a fist fight.

After the challenge, they backed off - or so he thought.

Months later, they launched a different campaign, this time online. On Friendster, a social networking site, his profile was hijacked. Cyber bullies rewrote his personal information, changing his address to Geylang and calling his relatives pimps and prostitutes.

The bullies posted pictures of naked men and women on his webpage before sending lewd messages to his female classmates. The coup de grace: They changed the password to his account and e-mail so that he could not log on to remove the information.

'I wanted to get those pictures off, but I couldn't log on, couldn't get in, couldn't get the account deleted,' said James, who left his secondary school last year to study culinary arts.

'There was nothing I could do.'

His case is not unique. A Straits Times survey of 100 teens aged 13 to 17 showed that all had some encounter with online bullying one way or another.

James, for one, said he no longer feared his old school bullies catching up with him. When asked what he would do if they did, he said: 'I don't know, but I have knives now.'

No place is safe
THE explosion of social networking sites, gaming communities and Internet forums has created ample opportunities for cyber-bullies.Because these hot spots are accessible from home, victims may feel that there is no safe place for them, said Ms Geraldine Tan, a psychologist at Centre for Effective Living, a private clinic. 'Cyber-bullying can also be more dangerous than physical bullying as the victim may not know his abuser and the bully is unable to see the extent of the damage.'

At sites like MySpace and Facebook, teens say incidents begin with comparisons about who has the most number of friends. Gamers pick on weaker players, while in chatrooms, insults are hurled. Blog tagboards attract sarcastic remarks, while online forums breed personal attacks that include defaced pictures of victims. Reports and studies conducted by experts all over the world say bullying also differs between the sexes.

Girls go for relational bullying, which includes backstabbing, gossip and social exclusion.

Boys prefer direct aggression, such as killing their target's game character and hurling vulgarities. One player, John, said: 'I was playing an online game and a friend swore at me over the Internet voice chat. I took revenge by killing the guy multiple times in the game.'

When online aggression becomes offline reality, Ms Tan said, some victims feel lost and 'haunted'. Being victimised in a place where parents cannot help 'can force a teen to develop extreme coping strategies such as withdrawal, self-mockery and rage', said Dr Ilya Farber, an assistant professor of social science and philosophy at the Singapore Management University.

Other experts say victims should save the evidence and report online attacks to parents, teachers or counsellors.

In the worst cases, the law too can protect victims. Mr Adrian Tan, a litigator with Drew and Napier who specialises in IT disputes, said cyber-bullying might be an offence under the Miscellaneous Offences Act, which carries a fine of up to $5,000.

Anonymous abusers, if caught, face tougher consequences. 'They will be given an additional punishment of two years' jail, according to Section 507 of the Penal Code, which discusses criminal intimidation by anonymous communication,' he said.

Additional reporting by Yen Feng, and InCrowd reporters Daniel Peters, Sarah Sim & Siti Aishah

What type of educators do we have in Singapore?

2008-08-04T01:33:00.000+08:00

Donations you want to take, credit you want to claim. When something happens, you push the blame to others.

What great educators! What good models you are for our future generations!

Is it necessary for foreign students to pass their entrance tests? No.
Give donations can get admission to our public schools.

Principal or vice-principal or someone in charge of admission will alter your marks so you score at least 50%.

English language scored 17% or 23%, foreign students can still go to Express class!

Foreign students can get admitted to a secondary school even before PSLE secondary school posting is out. To avoid suspicion, foreign students attend schools a few days later than local students.

While law-abiding guardians make their foreign students go for tuition and register at many schools for entrance tests. Some guardians have special privileges. Their foreign students only go to one particular primary or one particular secondary school for entrance tests. The exam papers were even given for them to practise at home.

Are these legal? What a silly question!

Their Excuse : MOE has no clear guidelines.

Even a person with little education can tell you what can be done, what cannot be done. Why are we wasting money on such highly educated civil servants!?

Some foreign students have to return home after failing many entrance tests. Too bad..... they can only blame their guardians who don't know how to 'go about it'. 不会做人啊！

Wear a cross around your neck, you call yourself a Christian! Never tell lies!?

I lost hope in our police and MOE, let's watch CPIB.

A simple 'Sorry' was all that's needed

2008-07-11T13:54:00.001+08:00

Many people thought I was after the blood of the prinicpals and vice principal. Yeah it looks like it, with such persistence and determination, I could have done very drastic things. They did drive me to depression and finally a mental breakdown. But no.

First of all, what I really don't understand was, when I seek a simple clarification of MOE policy why did it have to turn so ugly? When I gave details, I trusted the civil servant who's not paid peanuts. She couldn't handle a simple investigation. For her convenience (or her context of efficiency), she forwarded the whole letter with the particulars of the informer to the school that was complained. MOE HQ has a set of the student's particulars, why couldn't she just checked it?

Would the foreign parents be so mad and subsequently threatened and harassed me if the officers of MOE and the principal of Bedok North Secondary School had handled the case more professionally? The principal could have scrutinized the formal documents of the student and warned the parents of the consequences of providing false information.

In fact they were told and warned before the Letter of Acceptance was issued to the student. When they were found out, they could have sent a simple letter to the parents that they themselves had provided the wrong information and thus the school was unable to accept their daughter into Secondary 1.

But their main concern at that moment, was that my feedback might cause them their jobs or promotion. They panicked and were clearly embarrassed, not knowing how to face the parents when they had the ugly task of throwing their daughter out of school. Instead of explaining the policy of MOE, they chose to push the blame to me. They kept insisting that if no one had complained, Kimberly could still continue to study in the secondary school, causing the parents to vent their anger on me. Which in turn caused me to fight back. Was helping Cindy a smart move? MOE and the primary school principal bent over too far to help them. The parents committed the offence of false declaration twice.

Educators are supposed to nurture our young, look at this lot. With this kind of educators, our education system is doomed, not academically weak but the qualities needed in our students to be top administators and leaders are not strong. Who are they to punish their students if they themselves are not good models? They lied, they shirk responsibilities, they cheat to cover their own backsides. Is that what MOE look for in leaders? It seems the wrong people are chosen for promotion in the civil service these recent years.

Had they done the correct procedure and also apologised to me for their mistakes, I would have accepted. Had I not snapped out of my depression, lives could have been lost. Not everyone can be brushed off easily, don't try your usual tactics on everyone.

For ex-Senior Minister of State (Education) Chan Soo Sen, welll... you got your wish. You are only an MP.

I'm waiting for PM Lee Hsien Loong's investigation, as to how MOE can conduct shabby investigations and having the guts to lie to him.

No questions asked for wealthy emigrants

2008-06-30T14:50:00.000+08:00

A word of advice to Lee Khoon Choy, MPs and Ministers who wish to help the foreign emigrants .... check their backgrounds. Doesn't mean they have obtained their PR or citizenship, they have been thoroughly checked and are clean.

Andrew Goh, the Assistant Head of Talent Group (EDB) took bribes totalling $380,000 from seven Chinese nationals between February 1999 and June 2001. In return, he helped the 7 Chinese nationals by processing their application for permanent residency in Singapore. Andrew was sentenced to 26 months' imprisonment and the money he took from the seven Chinese nationals was forfeited.

Yang An was one of the 7 Chinese nationals. They were next-door neighbours prior to Andrew's arrest. He even gave money to Andrew Goh after he was released from prison. For the past 5 years, Yang An hasn't dared to return to China because he is asked to assist in some corruption cases.

An intricate and well-organised outfit where the foreigners get a one-stop service. They get a company registered, buy house, buy cars, buy investment funds, get introduced to ex-principals or principals who would get their children into our government schools. I was told the tuition teachers recommended are tutors to Ministers' or MPs' children.

Wealthy emigrants are supposed to be good for the economy of Singapore, so ordinary citizens should give up our places in top schools and universities to them.

Wealthy mainland Chinese and some of our Asean neighbours are no strangers to paying for what they want. They can get their degrees, identities and passports faked too. ICA wants proof. If the government agencies don't have enough resources to check every foreign emigrant who comes to Singapore, why do they expect me to prove it. They look me so up.

So what if I give the government proof, they might decide not to prosecute due to embarrassment. Waste my time.

I wonder why CPIB didn't probe further in this Andrew Goh case. Foreigners who give bribes not subjected to prosecution? EDB didn't review these 7 Chinese nationals' applications?

Food for thought to the common man.

Lame Excuse from Head of Gambling Suppression Branch

2008-06-21T16:24:00.001+08:00

Is there anyone who cared? Illegal betting syndicates are infiltrating into our government schools. The students involved are as young as 15 years old. Some are runners who are raking in 'big money' for their age. There isn't any need for them to study anymore.

As the parent of a young boy who is studying in a neighbourhood secondary school, it is worrying for me. The students involved were gambling with real money. Each bet was from S$50 to S$300. A student can buy up to 10 bets a single weekend. This is no joke.

I was worried for the other younger children in my house. What if those boys lost heavily and got into debts or turned to loansharks? Wouldn't my family and wards be in trouble?

Some of the students were taking their 'O' levels exams that year. It seemed unimportant to them then. They don't need that certificate to be a successful bookie. I fear more students would take this route if action is not taken first. Why wasn't an investigation carried out to flush out the bookie?

The foreign students were sent back to their country. I knew then nothing was going to be done. I sent a letter to GSB, cc to PM Lee Hsien Loong.

On 30th November, Head of GSB, Chia Tang Heng called and apologized. He also said that by sending my letter to PM's office, it made them looked bad. Well, they deserve it for slacking in their jobs. He tried to cover his backside by telling me how tough their jobs were. I told him my husband was an ex-police officer. And we had discussed my case with several police officers who said that GSB’s handling of my case was not according to police procedure.

Chia Tang Heng rose through rank and file. He didn't know what his men were doing during office hours? And he didn't know what was going on? I guess they only want to go after 'big fish' so that they would be mentioned on local news. Small cases don't get them noticed and promoted. Haven't they heard of, 'A stitch in time saves nine?'

I gave GSB a copy of taped phone conversations of my ward placing bets with the bookie. I gave GSB a list of the bookies and the students who bet, their handphones and telephone numbers. I guess GSB threw them away.

One of the bookies on his Friendster openly declared that 'I f*** the police! hahaha' after the investigation.

Finally, Chia Tang Heng said the youths were just trying to make some pocket money, so GSB just gave them a warning. Pocket money amounting to thousands of dollars a week, lose or win? For secondary school children, that sort of amount for pocket money sounds incredible. But Chia Tang Heng was determined this is his conclusion.

Case closed for GSB. Not for eastcoastlife. 　

NAT by Gambling Suppression Branch

2008-06-20T16:03:00.003+08:00

A government study on gambling released in May 2008 found more Singaporeans are picking it up in their teenage years.

1st June 2008, Vivian Balakrishnan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Community Sports Festival: 'When people start earlier, their sense of judgement and restraint may not be well developed. And once young gamblers get hooked on their habit, they face the danger of it becoming a lifetime of addiction.'

Tell it to the Head of Gambling Suppression Branch, Chia Tang Heng!!

********************ooOoo********************

An email was cc to PM Lee Hsien Loong.

RE : NAT (No Action Taken) by Gambling Suppression Branch

27th September 2004, I called GSB to make a report about some students of MacPherson Secondary school who were collecting and making illegal football bets on the European Premier League. The duty officer that day was Joseph. I gave him my contact number and e-mail. NAT.

29th September 2004, I faxed a complaint to the Head of GSB. NAT.

From 4th October to 14th October 2004, I tried to contact Joseph regarding the complaint. I called 1800 435 0000, the Operator put me through. I called almost daily, in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, for almost 10 days. Nobody picked up the phone. I faxed Joseph on 14th October 2004. NAT.

I then spoke to a couple of police officers who advised me to make a police report at a police station. I made a police report at Marine Parade NPC on 18th October 2004 with my husband. After taking down statements from my hubby and I, the police office asked if anyone besides us knew about the case. I turned round, there were 5 people sitting right behind us waiting for their turns to make police reports.

"er.... yah. Now got 5 more people know."

My report number was G/20041018/0194D. I was given the name of AIO Vince Yeo and telephone number 6244 0000 to contact. NAT.

A few days later, Koh Kian Tat from GSB finally called me to take my statement. I went down to the Police Headquarters in Cantonment. He asked me to wait in the corridor while he went to get the key for an empty investigation room.

I heard loud and clear, he said to his colleagues in the room, "The char bo (derogatory remark for a woman) is here." I knew then I wouldn't be taken seriously. I was viewed as a nuisance. I handed him a tape that had more than a month of the recordings of the boys' betting conversations. NAT.

On 12th November 2004, I faxed Koh to inform him, my foreign students involved in this case were returning to their country on 23rd November 2004. NAT.

19th November 2004, I left a message for Koh to call me back. He called to say he had handed the case to his supervisor Lim Meng Ann. The file was sitting on Lim's table then. The foreign students could go back to their country first.

I asked Koh if he wanted the students' addresses and contact numbers in their countries, he said no need. He must be very happy that they were leaving. It seemed very obvious that GSB never intend to investigate this case.

No toilet paper in school toilets is an offence

2008-06-16T16:26:00.000+08:00

24 Jul, 2006 09:24 AM

To NEA
Contact/NEA/SINGOV@SINGOV cc contact@moe.edu.sg
Subject RE : Bedok South Secondary School

To : Whom it may concern

I am bringing your attention to the lack of toilet paper in the Boys'
toilets of the above school.

The reason given by the principal is that some male students would mess up
the toilets by playing with the toilet paper. I think this is a common problem
in most public toilets & you can't make such excuses for not providing it. The
school is penalising the majority of the boys for the few mischievous boys.

On 19th July, my son rushed home from school to use the toilet. He had a
bad tummy ache. And this is the 5th time in 2 years that he had to do that. I
have tolerated this for more than 2 years & I think it is time to do something.

The school has done nothing to solve this problem. Instead of teaching the
students on the acts of vandalism, it is sad that the school has decided to
take the easy way out of not providing toilet paper.

I sent an email to the principal. My son was chided & asked to come up with
a soultion.

The principal claims that there is provision of toilet paper when it is
required. When I checked with some of my son's classmates, it was not made
known to the boys. They are expected to bring their own toilet rolls & they
can also buy tissue paper from the school bookshop.

A check with your website yields this info.

ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH ACT
(CHAPTER 95, SECTION 113)
ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH (PUBLIC CLEANSING) REGULATIONS

Public toilet
16A. Every owner or occupier of a building shall ensure that the toilets
therein to which the public has access are at all times provided with
adequate toilet paper, soap or liquid detergent, litter bins, and clean
towels or hand dryers.

Penalty

30. Any person who contravenes any provision of these Regulations shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction -

(a) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and to a further
fine not exceeding $100 for every day or part thereof during which the offence
continues after conviction;

(b) for a second offence, to a fine not exceeding $2,000 and to a further
fine not exceeding $200 for every day or part thereof during which the offence
continues after conviction;

and

(c) for a third or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding $5,000 and
to a further fine not exceeding $500 for every day or part thereof during which
the offence continues after conviction.

MOE being the owner of the school, shouldn't they be penalised?

This is a complaint & don't expect any solution from me. NEA will work with
MOE & the school to solve this problem for the boys of Bedok South Secondary
School.

I await your reply.

Yours sincerely,
Jayne Goh

********************** ooOoo **********************

RE : Bedok South Secondary School
(Ref: 2006/07/140191)

Dear Jayne Goh,

Thank you for your feedback. We have forwarded your email to the relevant
department for their response to you.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Fong Wai Kean
Customer Services Branch, MOE
for PERMANENT SECRETARY (EDUCATION)

******************* ooOoo ********************

Ref: CN672515304

Dear Ms Jayne,

Thank you for your feedback dated 24 Jul, 2006 09:24 AM.

Our officer from the South East Regional Office will look into
the matter and reply to you accordingly.

Please call me or email Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg if I can be
of further service.

Thank you for your time and concern.

Sincerely,

Abdul Muhaimin
Customer Service Officer
Tel: 1800-CALL NEA [1800-2255 632]
National Environment Agency Call Centre

Educator with a Civil Servant Mentality

2008-06-15T15:54:00.001+08:00

Immediately after the email to me, Jaymes was chided that morning for 'being immature of you to go home to use the toilet'.

'You post me a big problem, why can't you buy a packet of tissue from the bookshop?'

'You give me a solution for this big problem,' she told Jaymes. Jaymes said to put toilet paper in the Boys' toilet.

'Once a roll of toilet paper goes in, it's going to be a big mess.'

She bought him two packets of tissue paper at the bookshop.

__________________________________________________________

Right. (smacks my forehead) I forget that if the peasants were to criticise the civil servants, we must provide solution.

Anyone ever tried wiping your ass with filmsy tissue paper? Oh, I forgot to mention the school toilets have energy saving lights. If you stay too long in the toilets, the light automatically switches off. Leaving you in darkness, to try to clean your ass.

I asked Jaymes why didn't he tell the principal he had no more money left for tissue paper? He said he wasn't supposed to answer because if he did, he would be accused of talking back.

Jaymes is not aware of the 'provision of toilet paper so long as there are request' in the school. A few quick phone calls to several of his classmates also confirm, none of them is aware of this. hmmmm....

To call Jaymes immature for rushing home to shit. Jaymes is expected to shit in the bushes & wiped his ass with leaves?

I told Jaymes, the next time you discover you have no toilet paper, tear your textbooks up and use them to wipe your ass. You have my permission. And I also put a torchlight in his school bag.

Isn't the school supposed to teach the kids about vandalism? Two blardy years and they haven't found a solution! I have kept silent for more than 2 years & tolerated the shit in this school. This is a small matter? The boys have no time to shit so early in the morning. And they wouldn't want to do it in school because there is the inconvenience of toilet paper not being easily available. Storing the waste in their body, isn't it harmful to health?

If the boys have to do their 'big business', too bad. Save it for home or the shopping malls.

I suggest the staff of the school have their toilet paper removed from their staff toilets for the next two years and then they can really be in the shoes of the boys.

What type of educators do we have in our school? Sadists? Bullies? Do they not see how ridiculous or unfair certain rules and punishments are? To turn a blind eye or keep silent when the minors are subjected to such abuse, it's scary to know that our children are abused at schools, a place where we send our children to be educated, to learn good values and be in a safe environment.

And The Parents Support Group.... they literally take it as to support the school in all decisions. The fawning and the curry-favouring, it does have its benefits when it comes to their own children.

NEA does spot checks on the public toilets. Next is what I found in their legislation & regulations.

NO toilet paper in Bedok South Secondary School boys' toilets

2008-06-14T18:39:00.000+08:00

Dear Mdm Koh,

This is the 5th time in 2 years! Jaymes rushed home all the way from school
yesterday. Why?

He had a bad tummy ache,  and there is NO toilet paper in the boys'
toilets. He had brought his own toilet paper but he gave to his friends who
were in need and when he had an emergency yesterday, he ran out of it.

According to Jaymes, the school stopped supplying toilet paper because some
mischievous boys played with it, causing some problems?

I think this is not right. Isn't the school supposed to provide toilet
paper? And to think the school penalised all the boys for that small group
of pranksters? Isn't the school supposed to teach its students what is
acceptable and what is not?

This is not a small matter. Jaymes almost shit in his pants in the few
occasions. His classmates can vouch for that. Darren shit in his pants
once and Jaymes had to call his Dad down to bring him for a change.

How can you stop a bad tummy upset? Especially when you had the runs.

Please discuss with your staff how to solve this problem.


Thanks.

Regards,
Jayne Goh
19/7/2006

******************** ooOoo **********************

Hi Mrs Tan,

There is really no need for Jaymes to rush home to use the toilets. There
are provision for toilet paper so long as there are request. General Office
do issue toilet paper. Book shop sells tissues. Staff and students also
have with them extra packets of tissue and would be most willing to give
them to Jaymes under such emergencies.

Koh Teck Siew (Mdm)
25/7/2006

Can Explain Full Details on the phone but cannot in writing

2008-06-13T18:45:00.000+08:00

Dear Mr Chan and all,

Attached is a photo of my attire that day. I have worn this same pair of
pants to Parliament House twice before this incident and wasn't stopped
even though the Chinese senior Parliament officer (I don't have his name...
yet) was present.

Just because my casual long pants has two white stripes on the sides, it is
called track pants. Whereas the Japanese visitor in his golf sports attire
(his pants has two red stripes down the sides) was called smart casual
wear. I should put on expensive branded sports wear the next time, it's
unthinkable a Singapore citizen is discriminated in her own country.

If I'm not allowed to choose my seat, why wasn't I told? The Malay police
officer lied to me.  He said there were no seats even when I asked, 'Are
you sure? What about the other side?' I saw that the box keeping the ICs of
the visitors was quite empty. And sure enough, when I changed into the new
pair of pants I bought and went in, more than half the gallery seats were
empty. Why pick on me?

A police officer lied to me. Don't skip this issue, address this. What
disciplinary action will you take against this police officer. On such a
small matter, he can lie, I cannot imagine what he is capable of.

Thank you for taking such a long time to reply my feedback.

Jayne Goh

*****************ooOoo*****************

Dear Ms Jayne,
 I give you my assurance that we are not trying to skip or hide this
issue. Would it be possible for me to contact you so that I can you to
explain to you  the full details.

**************** ooOoo *****************

Dear Mr Chan,
It is more appropriate for you to reply in writing. I was intimidated by
another civil servant from another ministry when he called 'to explain'.
In order to avoid misunderstanding, please reply by email.

Thanks.

Regards,
Jayne Goh

*******************ooOoo********************

Dear Ms Goh,
 We have noted your feedback and the appropriate remedial action will
be taken.

Warmest regards.

***************** ooOoo *******************

What!?

Chan Kim Hock can explain 'the full details' if I gave him my contact
number, but he won't in writing.

My questions weren't answered.  Chan Kim Hock didn't do his job.
It's civil servants like him who make the ordinary citizens pissed
off with our Government.

No mention of policeman who lied

2008-06-12T17:21:00.004+08:00

Message Classification: Restricted

Dear Ms Goh,

I refer to your email dated Tuesday 22 April 2008 regarding your
visit to Parliament House on Monday, 21 April 2008.

2 Please let me explain some of the issues that you raised.

3 We do have strict attire protocol for visitors attending Parliament
sitting to ensure that the stature and dignity of Parliament are upheld.
Sports attire is generally discouraged though casual smart attire is
acceptable. Our officers would exercise his/her discretion in this
matter.

4 Similarly, we do have a seating protocol for visitors in the
Strangers’ Gallery where visitors are not allowed to choose their seats for
security reasons.

5 We apologise for the conveniences this has caused you.

6 We have reviewed our procedures to improve our service standards. We
thank you for your valuable feedback, which will really help us to improve
our service to the public, and hope you will continue to visit Parliament
House.

Chan Kim Hock
Director of Security
Parliament House
Tel : 63326689
Monday, May 05, 2008 11:56:05 AM

cc Kasim RAI; Ong Boon Chye; Jumiyah MOHAMED

***************** ooOoo *******************

Note :
1. Sports attire is generally discouraged but not banned. I was denied
entry for that but the Japanese man who was in sports attire was given access.
Double standard was applied.

There are CCTVs in Parliament House. It can view all the visitors that day
and see for themselves the Japanese man who was in sports attire.

2. officers would exercise his/her discretion in this
matter - here I take it to mean they do things according to if they
like your face or not, or whether my sports attire is branded. They are the
authority, whatever they say is the law. Ordinary citizens have to take it,
like it or not.

A Singapore citizen is denied entry for wearing what the officer called
'sports attire' whereas a Japanese visitor who was in golf attire
was welcomed.

The most important part of my email : Policeman who
lied was not mentioned at all.

Email sent - 22nd April 2008
23rd April 2008 - email from Parliament Secretariat that they are looking
into the matter.
5th May 2008 - Director of Security Chan Kim Hock replied.
Time taken - 2 weeks

When a policeman lies.......

2008-06-10T11:10:00.000+08:00

I almost could not sit in the Parliament session on 21st May afternoon to listen to DPM and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng's presentation of the Committee of Inquiry Findings on Mas Selamat's Escape. Because I requested to "sit in the public gallery facing PM Lee Hsien Loong".

A young Chinese policeman shook his hands at his Malay colleague when he heard my request. The Malay policeman then told me, "The public gallery is full."

I was stunned because I noticed that the the box holding Identity Cards was half empty. I asked him, "Are you sure? The whole gallery? What about the other side?"

He replied,"All full."

When I started to protest, a senior Malay Parliament staff stepped forward and said,"May I look at your attire, Mdm? ...... Sorry, you cannot go in because you are not properly dressed. You are wearing track pants."

I argued that I had entered Parliament twice in this same pair of track pants but he brushed that aside as "probably they overlooked". He curtly said, "You can go check it up". Then they ignored me. They just brushed me aside and served the next visitor.

Undaunted, I went to Peninsula Plaza to buy a pair of long pants, changed into them and went back to Parliament again. I was given a pass. When I entered the public gallery, I discovered that it was quite empty.

A Japanese visitor (seat K22) who was sitting on my left, wore a golf T-shirt and a pair of golf pants with red lines running down the sides. Isn't that sports attire?

I'm annoyed that the Malay policeman lied to me. If I wasn't allowed to pick and choose my seat, he could have told me so. If it is due to security reasons, he could have been frank with me. I made time to attend that particular Parliament session but was denied entry for no apparent reason. This again is civil servant mentality at work.

It suxs when a civil servant with a little authority behaved badly.

10) What is the acceptable dress code? Visitors are requested to dress modestly and not to come in shorts, jeans, round-neck T-shirts or slippers. (It didn't mention no sports attire.)

I sent an email to Parliament Secretariat on 22/4/08, the Chief Security Officer gave a ridiculous reply.

Another email was sent to Singapore Police Force.

PAI Ezra Ng replied that it didn't endorse AMCIS

2008-06-03T11:02:00.002+08:00

tai-chi letter via fax

3rd November 2004

Dear Ms Goh
Re : Letter of Complaint against AMCIS

1. We refer to your faxed letter dated 1st Nov 2004.

2. In view of what you say, it is important that AMCIS be given the opportunity to respond so that this matter can be brought to light for consideration. Let us wait for AMCIS's response.

4. You may wish to know that all the service providers who exhibited on 1st November at the test venue were referred to us by Singapore Tourism Board. It was based on STB's recommendation that those organizations were offered the opportunity to exhibit their services to the students and parents present at the event. The Principals Academy does not 'endorse' any organisation. We co-operate with others on a project-by-project basis. Even if an entity (such as AMCIS) claims to be a beneficiary of special endorsement from The Principals Academy, such a claim does not make it so in reality.

5. We may be the organizer of the event. However we cannot be responsible for every aspect of AMCIS's conduct. The Principals Academy does not deploy staff to baby-sit service providers who exhibit at our events. However, our staff members do make themselves available to students, parents and service-providers alike who wish to speak to us on any matter; as you were able to do so on that day yourself. Nonetheless, we will look into this matter.

6. Since you have chosen to copy your letter to the offices of The Prime Minister, The Minister for Community Development, Youth & Sports and STB, we will also do so. However we will not copy to them any other correspondence because we do not believe they need be involved.

Ezra Ng
Executive Director
The Principals Academy Inc Pte Ltd

*********************** ooOoo ************************

5th Nov 2004

Dear Mr Ng
Re : Complaint against AMCIS

How convenient it is for you to shirk responsibility when something happens! I was able to speak to Benjamin only after the Secondary 2's and 3's last paper. That was past 6pm.

There was a male staff from PAI, who was surrounded by a group of women from China , they were standing right in front of the exam hall. They had been talking for an hour. I believe he saw and heard what happened. He introduced himself as 黄先生 to the women. I can pick him out when I see him again. (A female staff had to wait for him to finish speaking before she could interrupt him to ask a question. He is Management level. :))

The staff from PAI didn't make themselves available to us. Majority of them were in the exam hall. When my husband called Claire to request for help, she couldn't find Benjamin. She didn't know what to do. She refused to give my husband the handphone of Benjamin nor any other officers. When Benjamin finally went out to the exhibition booth, AMCIS had packed up and gone, before 5 pm. The other service providers were still around and only AMCIS was gone. I was told (by Benjamin) you, Mr Ezra Ng were present that day.

I had to copy my letter to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan as his name was mentioned to intimidate me in this case. I have to copy my letter to PM as I want him to know how the ordinary citizens of Singapore can suffer if authority is given to the wrong person.

Jayne Goh

cc PM Lee Hsien Loong
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports - Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

****************************ooOoo******************************

Ezra Ng never did get back to me regarding AMCIS's reply. I faxed him again on 9th December 2004 and called his office several times. The last couple of times, I called him several times a day. Benjamin picked up all my calls and gave excuses that Ezra Ng was busy, in a meeting, not at his desk etc. He avoided me.

Finally one day, through Benjamin, he told me if I want to know AMCIS's reply, I must give him my address. He cannot reply by fax if he wanted to give me a formal reply so it must have my home address. BS! PM Lee replied to my letters without asking for my home address.

I didn't give Ezra my home address but I have his home address, through a private investigator. Don't intimidate me, I cannot be frightened easily. Tit for tat if you want to play games. Civil servants can easily get ordinary citizens' particulars, vice versa...... there are ways to get their personal particulars as well. I'm resourceful.

During that PAI certification test day, many exhibitors at the event were touting to the foreign students. Guardians who let their wards go alone to the test were at risk of losing their students.

Even though I was present with my ward, AMCIS boldly tried to snatch my student from under my nose. When the Chinese woman found out that my ward was a Filipino, she got Minda Lee who is a Filipino married to a Singaporean, to speak to him in Tagalog.

If AMCIS is a professional, 'official' (STB and PAI clarified it isn't) organization, it would not have to resort to such underhand methods, stealing foreign students from small, 'illegal', 'unofficial' operators. Its President behaved like a thug.

There were probably many complaints from guardians on the 'service providers'. I don't see exhibition stands at PAI's latest certification tests.

Complaint made on 1st Nov 2004
Ezra Ng responded on 3rd November 2004, but didn't bother to reply after my retort - more than 42 days

Singapore Tourism Board clarifies : AMCIS isn't 'official'

2008-06-01T08:26:00.000+08:00

To :
Chairman Mr Wee Ee-chao
Singapore Tourism Board

Dear Mr Wee,
RE : AMCIS

I would like to bring your attention to the behaviour of the people of the above organization which STB supports.

Attached is a complaint that I made against them. You can judge for yourself.

I am appalled at the behaviour of some of the people in AMCIS. Because STB endorses them, they take it to mean they are 'official' and those who do not need the help of STB to find them foreign students as 'unofficial'.

I have been an 'unofficial' ambassador for Singapore for years, contributing to the economy of Singapore in my own small ways. I recruit foreign students to study in Singapore. Long before competitors organize summer courses in Singapore, I started doing that and when I approached the then STPB for help in 1990s, I was put to an 'ang moh'. He just told me to go to Inlingua as it can 'do everything' for me.

I don't need STB's assistance. There are many guardians who do not need STB's help. We are law-abiding citizens amd we would not do illegal things to jeopardize our business. It is our bread and butter, our families depend on it for a living. You should be glad we are independent but instead we are branded 'unofficial'.

I want STB to make clear its stand. AMCIS claims it is the officially appointed organization of STB to handle foreign students placement in Singapore, those who do not get endorsement from STB are 'unofficial' and illegal. I should be frightened? Such remarks were purposely made loud and clear to me in front of scores of foreign parents and students on 1st November 2004 at around 3.50 pm. And I was told, should I complain, he 'knows many ministers'. I am making my complaints because I want to know who are the ministers he claim to know.

I await STB's reply.

Jayne Goh
2nd November 2004

cc PM Lee Hsien Loong
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports - Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

****************************ooOoo****************************

STB's reply :

Dear Ms Goh
Re : Complaint on AMCIS

1. Thank you for your feedback of 2nd Nov 2004.

2. The incident that took place at the Principals Academy Certification testing on 1st Nov 2004 was regretful. STB has spoken to Mr Ezra Ng, Executive Director of Principals Academy Inc (PAI) and Mr Francis Zhan President, AMCIS to have abetter understanding on this matter. We understand that PAI had replied you on this matter. AMCIS had also provided a detailed explanation of this incident to PAI.

3. We wish to clarify that AMCIS is not the 'officially appointed organization' of STB as stated in your letter. From our investigations, AMCIS explained that they had used the term 'official' in the context of being invited to participate as one of the vendors by PAI. (What a lie! My foreign students and fellow guardians are witnesses to the claims by Francis Zhan.)

4. The arrangement between STB and AMCIS is not mutually exclusive and we are open to working with other organizations that can help us further our objective of promoting Singapore as a visitor-friendly destination. STB had supported the AMCIS Homestay programme , and its related components such as EduStay, as they were identified as promising initiatives in the area of accommodation and education services.

5. The EduStay component of the AMCIS Homestay programme was initiated by Education and Services Division of STB to serve the needs of international students who require board and lodging with guardianship. AMCIS, as an organisation, was approached to develop such a programme as they already possessed the infrastructure and services in the existing Homestay programme.

6 We hope that the above addresses your concerns.

Yours faithfully,
f Sim Beng Khoon
Director, Travel and Hospitality Business

Complaint made on 2nd November 2004
STB replied on 30th November 2004 - 28 days

This is an example of LC people (PAI, AMCIS) who behave as if they have mandate from the Emperor.

Email to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan - Minister's Endorsement

2008-05-30T09:44:00.003+08:00

Email to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

Subject: Re : Minister's endorsement                                           
       
Dear Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

I wish to bring your attention to a pamphlet
distributed by AMCIS. There is a huge picture
of you officiating at the opening of AMCIS
Homestay Services on 27th August 2004. These
pamphlets were distributed to many foreigners.
It conveys the message that a Singaporean
Minister endorses the services this organisation
provides.

On 1st November 2004, I was loudly told off by
the person-in-charge of this organisation that
my small company is 'unofficial' because I do
not have the support of STB nor a Minister to
officiate my company's opening.

Attached is the complaint I made against
this organisation.

I personally believe, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan,
that when you endorse a product, company or an
individual, if anything goes wrong, it reflects
badly on you. People might mistake it as your
recommendation.


Your good name has been used to scare me.
Should I feel intimidated?


Regards
Jayne Goh
2nd November 2004

************************ooOoo***********************

Thank you for your email.
I have asked STB to look into this matter and
revert to you.

Regards,
Vivian Balakrishnan
8/11/2004

Complaint made on 2nd Nov 2004
Dr Vivian Balakrsihnan replied on 8th November 2004 - 6 days

Email to PM Lee Hsien Loong - Minister's Endorsement

2008-05-29T09:40:00.002+08:00

Email to PM Lee Hsien Loong

Subject: Re : Ministers' endorsement                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Dear Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

I personally feel you should advise your colleagues on the
endorsements of products, company or an individual.

Some people who had a Minister officiate at their company's
opening use it to their utmost advantage, enlarging photos
on their promotional pamphlets. Using that to bully 'little
people' like me. I was humiliated & threatened in front
of many foreigners because he "knows many ministers".

You may find this a small matter but people may wonder how
things can go wrong with a Minister's endorsement. As in
the case of AMCIS, some people took advantage of their
"connection" to bully 'little people' like me. As the
name of a Minister, the statutory board STB & the
organiser of the Certification Test PAI were used to
scare me, I personally believe you should hear about
this.

There are many more such cases on the ground. Some
were my personal encounters. I'll be sending you more
information.

I thank you for your time.

Wishing you good health,
Jayne Goh
3//11/2004

Dear Ms Goh

PM has received your email and we will feedback your
experience to STB.

Regards
Ong Ye Kung
Principal Private Secretary to PM

Complaint made on 3nd Nov 2004
PMO replied on 4th November 2004 - 1 day

Bullies in AMCIS and PAI

2008-05-27T17:14:00.003+08:00

The foreign student market in Singapore is a multi-billion dollar business. Industry players, including civil servants, would kill one another for a slice of the pie.

'The Principals’ Academy was founded as a joint-venture education service initiative between Academy of Principals and The Economic Development Board. '

PAI was incorporated in November 2003. It conducts Centralised Certification Tests for foreign students. With the help of Singapore Tourism Board, it has launched training programmes for educational leaders from the region.

********************ooOoo***********************

A picture of Vivian Balakrishnan officiating at the launch of AMCIS service was used in AMCIS's promotional pamphlet. Was permission given by the Minister to use his photo in an advertising material? Did the Minister know he was used to sell its services?

To :
Mr Ezra Ng
Executive Director
Principals’ Academy Inc.

RE : Complaint against AMCIS

On 1st November 2004 at around 3.30 pm, I was standing at the barricade in front of the examination hall waiting for my ward who was having her Secondary 2 Maths paper, when I noticed a Chinese staff from AMCIS approached another of my wards and son who were sitting on the floor behind me, with their backs leaning against a glass panel. The woman asked them where they were from. My ward replied he was from the Philippines.

The woman then asked her ~~colleague~~ other member, a Filipino woman (Minda Lee) married to a Singaporean to speak Tagalog to my ward. I stood at the barricade for 5 mins before making my way to my ward's side. I glared at the Filipino woman but she ignored me and continued with her sales pitch.

After another 5 mins, unable to contain my annoyance, I remarked :"It's very unethical and unprofessional of you to pull other people's students." She denied and argued that she has the right as the Singapore Expo is a public place and she's only doing her job.

Then she taunted me if I knew what they were speaking about as she was speaking their own language. I told her, her company had an exhibition stand, should I require her services, I would walk over to her stand. She replied she could do her job any where she liked as I don't own the place and it's none of my business. I retorted that I'm the guardian and sponsor of the boy. (She was touting.)

Then the President of AMCIS Francis Zhang, came towards me after his son tipped him off about the commotion, and joined in the quarrel. He claimed that he had the endorsement of PAI and the approval from Singapore Tourism Board (STB). His company is 'official' and mine is 'unofficial'. He claimed that I'm making noise because I'm afraid that I will lose my students as I'm 'unofficial'. (I'm registered with the Registry of Companies, I doubt his members have licenses. ) He said 'Vivian Balakrishnan officiated at his company's opening'. He was shouting and ranting. A crowd gathered around us and he purposely raised his voice and kept happing that I'm 'unofficial'.

Francis Zhang then turned towards my ward and asked, "Is she your mother? Your aunt? Your guardian! This type of guardian ah! You should change your guardian."

I told him I'll complain to PAI and he asked me to go ahead, he said he "know many ministers". He said I'm a bully, I asked him in return who's the bully because at that time, it was two of them against me. He then replied he had a gang and then he turned towards his stand and asked his remaining members to come over. I recognised the vice-president.

At this time, my ward came out from the examination hall for her break and I left the intimidating scene for the canteen.

When I was waiting for my wards, I noticed the members from AMCIS approaching foreign parents and particularly foreign students who came on their own.They were walking up and down the corridor, distributing their pamphlets and touting for business. In the hawker centres in Singapore, there are 'No touting' signs, anyone who does that will be fined. Yet here at the Certification Test of PAI, AMCIS claimed they had the endorsement of PAI and STB.

What are the objectives of PAI in conducting this test? To raise funds? During these tests, it sold exhibition stands to vendors who project the image that they are the only endorsed entity and no officers from PAI are present to ensure these vendors don't step out of line.

I send my wards to take the tests. They are the children of our business associate. Yet I was humiliated and insulted by the vendor you endorsed.

Jayne Goh
1st November 2004

c.c PM Lee Hsien Loong
Minister for Community Development, Youth & Sports - Dr Vivian Balakrishnan
Singapore Tourism Board, Chairman - Mr Wee Ee-chao

.......... Page 1

MOE owes S$288 to foreign student

2008-05-24T18:06:00.003+08:00

Hou Xiaoran left Singapore on 17th February 2002. Prior to her departure, a letter to terminate her studies in Chai Chee Secondary School was given to her form teacher. Hou Xiaoran's student pass and disembarkation card were returned to Immigration.

On 1st April 2003, I receive a letter from the Finance Division of MOE. Enclosed was a cheque of S$288 for refund of school and miscellaneous fees for Hou Xiaoran. I couldn't believe it.

I called Mrs Ng Kok Leong to inform her that Hou Xiaoran left Singapore a year ago. I asked her how then would the money be returned to Hou Xiaoran. Mrs Ng told me to return the cheque. The money would not be returned as Hou Xiaoran didn't have an account in Singapore any more. I offered to send the money to Hou Xiaoran but was rejected. I was told the Government would keep the money.

The Singapore Government is well-known for its efficiency and productivity, not for the Ministry of Education. The Finance Division took one year to refund excess fees paid by a foreign student who has already left Singapore. Incredible. I thought MOE is fully computerised.

Foreign student left Singapore on 17th Feb 2002
MOE tried to refund excess school fee only on 1st April 2003 - took 13 months 12 days to send notice and yet money was never refunded

Singapore Educators pissed off Foreigner

2008-05-23T18:37:00.000+08:00

26th December 2001

Mr Mohd Said B Jaafar
Chai Chee Secondary School
5 Sennett Road
Singapore 466781

Dear Sir
RE : Hou Xiaoran (Sec 2/3)

Thank you for your reply dated 28th November 2001. The letter has been forwarded to Mr Hou in China.

I understand that Hou Xiaoran has not been assigned a counsellor as proposed by you at our meeting last November. At the meeting, you said you will get the school counsellor to befriend Hou Xiaoran and assist her in adapting to the school system. Present at the meeting was also Mr Ong, the then acting vice-principal.

I am again very disappointed in you, as the principal, to talk but no action taken. Hou Xiaoran's case has not been resolved after 2 years. She was able to perform better this year because my husband and I spent time to counsel her and got other teens her age to befriend her and help her. Her parents phoned her daily, sometimes up to 3 times a day to talk to her. What have you done as a principal? My husband went to see you personally and subsequently wrote to you, which you claimed at the meeting that you were not aware. We took time off to meet up with you to discuss ways to help her. You met us because MOE told you to, but you were not sincere when you offer your apology. I am disgusted that as an educator you took offence at our complaint and are not co-operative. In fact, it was after much attempt and no help from you that we turn to the Education Minister. I will consider further action after I have seen the psychiatrist's report on Hou Xiaoran after her return.

Thank you
Mrs Jayne Tan

************************ooOoo************************

On January 2002, Mr Hou decided to send his daughter to New Zealand to continue her studies after seeing his daughter's unhappy state and not receiving any help from the school and MOE. He was very disappointed with the education system in Singapore. He was not willing to confront the Principal nor feedback to MOE. He has the money so he chose to leave Singapore and condemn it forever.

Principal Jaafar barred accepting my new foreign students in his school. Any of my foreign students who sat for entrance tests in his school was never accepted from then on. That is to be expected. :)

Abuse of authority? As the Principal, he's the King and the Law.

He was Principal of Broadrick Secondary School from years 2003 to 2007.

......../ Page 7

Talk cock no action

2008-05-22T13:26:00.002+08:00

19th November 2001

To : The Principal
Chai Chee Secondary School

Dear Sir,
RE : Hou Xiaoran (Sec 2 N)

With reference to our meeting last year in November, you informed me that you are getting a counsellor to befriend Hou Xiaoran. This is to help her with her depression and strained relationship with her father - as a result of the constant harassment from the school's teacher, Miss Loh who insisted that her father come over - and also help her to adapt to the school system.

Hou Xiaoran has returned to China for her school holidays and her father has requested for a report from the counsellor and you, the principal on his daughter's progress on the counselling programme. this report will be forwarded to the psychiatrist who will review her case.

Thank you,
Mrs Jayne Tan

cc - Executive Officer, Schools East, School Div. Miss Wong Sher Ling

***************ooOoo**************

28th November 2001

Dear Mdm,
RE : Hou Xian Ran (Sec 2/3)

This is to inform you that, from our observations, Hou Xiaoran is coping well with her studies in our School. She has performed well and is placed 3rd in her class and 10th in the Level. She has done well in Chinese Language, Mathematics, and Technical Studies obtaining Grade I in all 3 subjects. However, she may need to improve her English linguistic skills so as to improve her performance in subjects like English Language, English Literature, History and Geography.

Based on feedback from Xiaoran's teachers, she is quiet, hardworking and attentive in class. teachers find her pleasant, well behaved and she has not shown any behavioural problems or any sign of being troubled throughout the year. She is also observed to mix well with her classmates.

Therefore, based on the above, we believe that she is adapting well to the school system here.

Thank you
Mr Mohd Said B Jaafar
Principal

******************* ooOoo ********************

To appease us at the meeting, Principal Jaafar suggested assigning a counsellor to befriend Hou Xiaoran. It was just talk only, he had no intention of seeing it being done. Typical of many principals and civil servants I encountered.

....../ Page 6

Letter that Rear-Adm Teo Chee Hean never read

2008-05-19T18:41:00.002+08:00

A Cry for Help

eastcoastlife with Rear-Adm Teo Chee Hean (was Minister of Education)
...... no eyes see .....

Letter that Rear-adm Teo Chee Hean never read

Should students be terrorised in school?

Go and don't come back

Tell your father to come

MOE passed buck to Principal

When this story first appeared in my blog, Singaporeans were concerned because they trust that MOE and the schools would look into abuses and complaints. Surprise!

I didn't finish my story. Months after the posting of this story, there are concerned readers wanting to know what happened in the end.

I'll continue the story.........

How the Singapore Civil Service handles your complaints

2008-05-16T11:54:00.001+08:00

I found this out the hard way. As an ordinary citizen against the powerful Civil Service, you tend to lose (no brainer, right?). They are 'one big family' in their Ministries or departments. Smart to cover one another's backsides.

If any citizen wants to ~~give feedback~~ complain to the government, be prepared to have your email or letter forwarded to the people you complain about. They are supposed to handle their own shit and then write reports to HQ.

So, there's no such thing as 'to handle your complaint discretely'. The people you complain about know and of course your identity is no secret.

Your complaint gets read by those you complain about, so when they write report to explain to HQ, you don't know what stories they cook up. You will never get to read their reports. They get away..... you look stupid.

No cause for concern, you must be kidding? Hello, read my stories.

Nowadays, the Civil Servants are getting more cunning. They don't reply to your email or letter. They call you personally.

Smart. Because whatever they say will not be in black and white. They can twist and turn the story, even say sorry so they can quickly close the case. What they write in their report, we don't know and then suddenly you get a reply from the relevant Ministry,

'Thank you for your interest in this matter.'

'We have noted your feedback and the appropriate remedial action will be taken.'

Case closed.

My questions are still not answered. Problems are still not solved.

Recently I got an intimidating call from a school principal, who is also a Lt-colonel, and whom I complained about. I shot another complaint back to MOE and am still waiting for a reply. I'm not allowing their staff to call me, in fact, I'm not allowing any civil servant to call me. I'll post the stories on this in my later posts.

Many staff of Public Affairs Departments in Ministries probably know that I'm a big mouth now. Recently there is this 'Restricted' on their replies. :)

I will not be intimidated. No Singaporean should be if they have a valid complaint. What silly chain of command? At a certain level, the complaints are hijacked so that the TOP is not disturbed.

Why should ordinary Singaporeans have to go through great lengths just to have their voices heard? We get pushed around and ignored. The leaders are listening and relying on reports submitted by the civil servants, and not the people.

I'm determined to have my cases heard..... all the way to the TOP!

Wish me luck.

The Taiwanese Mochi Merry-go-round - Organisers found

2008-05-13T16:22:00.003+08:00

Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 11:14 PM

To: Yeo Guat Kwang
Cc: Lily Neo
Subject: Fw: Re :Chinatown Chinese New Year Bazaar 2006

Dear Guat Kwang,

Please see attached complaint of overcharging from a shopper at the Chinatown Bazaar. She has identified herself and the stall that allegedly cheated her. The complaint and the photograph of the stall are attached to this email.

I will be replying to her that I have sent her complaint on to CASE for attention. I would appreciate if someone from CASE could contact her and assist her accordingly.

By this email, I am also keeping Lily in the loop on this complaint.

Many thanks.
Heng Chee How

******************************ooOoo**********************************

MP Yeo Guat Kwang asked his staff, MaryAnn from CASE (Consumer Association of Singapore) to personally attend to my complaint. MaryAnn was very helpful. She informed the Weights and Measurement Office on my behalf. She found the organisers of the event. I was told one of them would contact me but it didn't happen.

I called the Weights and Measurement Office (under civil service too) personally. A Joseph said they were short-handed and they didn't have the manpower to investigate then, as it was the busy pre-Chinese New Year shopping season.

Nothing could be done? No.

The people who could do things and set things right didn't want to do anything. Credit they want to take but when problems arise, they either give excuses or vanish.

Where was MP Lily Neo all this time? She was sent a carbon copy each of my email and her colleague Heng Chee How's email.

The PA staff at Kreta Ayer Community Centre said he didn't know who were the organisers. muahahahahaha........

MP Lily Neo and her grassroot leaders appeared in a TV ad they bought that year. Some of the organisers appeared on TV programmes and accepted newspaper interviews to promote the event. When I called the newspapers' and TV station hotlines to get the contacts of the organisers, they didn't want to help.

Found!!

The Organizers

"Over the years, with the support from our partners and grassroots organizations, celebrating Chinese New Year in Chinatown has now become an iconic and significant event. Chinatown is a place for that is rich in history, culture and heritage and indeed has a special place for festivals. This year, our Chinese New Year reaches out to the community by engaging the youths and families in our celebration as well as the other racial groups and less privileged. With the festivities, we hope to also inject life and more business for the business community in Chinatown." Dr. Lily Neo, Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar and Adviser to the Kreta Ayer – Kim Seng grassroots organizations.

The Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2006 is organized by the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee with support from Singapore Tourism Board, Central Singapore Community Development Council, Trust Central Committee and Chinatown Business Association.

Chinatown CNY Celebration '06 was officially opened by MM Lee Kuan Yew.

**********************ooOoo***********************

Until this day, in some of our local forums, netizens are still posting topics on being cheated by Taiwanese mochi sellers in Chinatown CNY Bazaar. It's been going on for years. Just avoid the bazaar.

Such a small matter also cannot settle, I don't expect MP Lily Neo to be a Minister.

Thanks to MP Heng Chee How and MP Yeo Guat Kwang for their assistance.

Complaint made to Mayor Heng Chee How on 23th January 2006, 10.08 pm
Mayor Heng Chee How replied on same night 23th January 2006, 11.18 pm - 1 hour 10 mins
Mayor alerted MP Yeo Guat Kwang and MP Lily Neo
Greatest help in this case - Kudos to MaryAnn of CASE

MP Lily Neo who is adviser to Kreta Ayer and her grassroot community didn't even bother to response.

无头公案

台湾麻糬‘团团转’的故事

2008-05-12T17:23:00.006+08:00

一件看似很简单的事，却让我尝尽了苦头。为了找出 2006 年牛车水农历新年年货市场的主办者，我费了九牛二虎之力还是一无所获，便传了一封邮件给当时的王志豪市长。

01/23/2006 10:08 PM

亲爱的王志豪市长，

我给您写这封信是因为您是CDC的市长。我想找出牛车水农历新年年货市场的主办者。您当时参加了它的亮灯仪式，最重要的是，您认识主办者。

我往年在上述年货市场购卖年货时，三番四次被流动小贩欺诈并被索高价。我回到家称了所买的肉干，发现1kg庄的肉干只有700g。当我打开买来的曲奇饼，是发霉的.....等。因为李光耀资政今年是年货市场亮灯仪式的嘉宾，我的儿子要求我带他去逛逛。我想今年它一定有进步的啦!

在17/1/2006，我从某个摊位买了一些台湾麻糬。 100g = S$1.80。一位老夫人当时买的一袋台湾麻糬值S$21！这使我很吃惊，我随口向儿子表示这些台湾麻糬好贵。小贩称了我的台湾麻糬之后，表现出吃惊的样子，然后收了我S$10。我没看见他的秤，它是在他的摊位里面。我注意到大多数摊位不是把称面向他们自己就是把它放在一个远离顾客视线的角落。

当我回到家时，我发现它的称量仅有425g，我付了S$7.65 - - 我被索价几乎高达31%! 我觉得先前那位老妇人好可怜。

我通过媒体设法找出主办者提出投诉，但新闻台和报馆拒绝给我主办者的资料，虽然他们的记者广泛地报导了上述年货市场的活动。我也上网查询，但没有结果。

我拨给 Kreta Ayer 联络所。一位年长妇女及一个男的先后接听了我的电话。他们告诉我， `打给消费者协会咯。我们不能帮忙。我们不知道谁是主办者。’ 好啊! 活动每年在他们的地方举办了多年，他们不知情？这些人民协会的职员在撒谎。李光耀资政今年是年货市场亮灯仪式的嘉宾，他们不认识主办者？这种活动通常都有联络所基层组织的成员参与的。

在我的坚持下，那个男的才给了我一个电邮地址， irene_a_l_tan@pa.gov.sg。我把投诉和摊位的照片电邮过去。至到现在，没有人给我答复。

小贩可能已经发现每年的牛车水农历新年的年货市场很容易欺骗顾客，因为消费者需要极大的努力和恒心来投诉他们的不法勾当。向谁投诉？上那儿投诉？谁有这种闲功夫理你啊！

市长先生，每天有许多外国游客去牛车水。许多年长者去牛车水。这些都是容易下手的目标。今年多了李资政的大驾光临，促进了牛车水农历新年年货市场的繁荣，小贩们肯定会磨好刀子准备‘大干一番’。

我不知道您是否会对这些人采取行动，我希望通过揭发这些不诚实的小贩，让其他人不必一再受欺诈。被骗了我觉得很蠢，但是保持安静就更蠢。

致敬，

Jayne Goh

c.c. 梁莉莉lily Neo- Jalan Besar 集选区议员

********************* ooOoo *************************

勤劳的市长在同一夜晚回复了我的邮件。

星期一， 2006 1月23日，下午11:18

亲爱的吴女士，

谢谢你的来信。

关于这个涉嫌索价过高的案件，我已把它交给消费者协会处理。他们会与您联络。我也转寄了你的电子邮件给梁莉莉医生，她是Kreta Ayer区的议员。

我祝愿您和家人过一个愉快，健康和充实的新年。

致敬意。

王志豪

******************************** ooOoo ***************************

面对公众的投诉，这些议员们会如何应付呢？

...........继续.....

The Taiwanese Mochi Merry-go-round

2008-05-12T17:22:00.001+08:00

Chinatown Chinese New Year Bazaar

The stall who overcharged their customers

Letter sent to Mayor Heng Chee How when I have exhausted all ways to find the organisers of the bazaar.

01/23/2006 10:08 PM

Dear Mayor Heng Chee How,

I am writing this letter to you because you are the Mayor of Central CDC, it is difficult to locate the organizers of the above event, you were present at its light-up, most importantly, you know the organisers.

I don’t like to go to Chinatown’s annual bazaar to shop as I have been cheated & overcharged a few times. Buy Bak Kwa, 1kg become 700g when I weighed it at home. Cookies were mouldy when opened…..etc. This year, my son requested to go because MM Lee did the light-up for it. It must be good lah!

On 17/1/2006, I bought some Taiwanese Mochi from a stall. 100g for S$1.80. An elderly lady before me was taken aback when the hawker charged her S$21 for her bag of sweets. I was surprised & remarked to my son that it was costly. The hawker heard & pretended to be in shock when he weighed my bag of sweets. He charged me S$10 for it. I didn’t see his weighing scales as it was inside his stall. I noticed most of the stalls either placed the scales facing them or in an obscure corner.

When I got home, I weighed it & found that it weighed only 425g – which should cost S$7.65 – I was overcharged by nearly 31%! I pity the poor old lady.

I tried to locate the organizers to lodge a complaint by calling news hotlines, they refused to give me the contact numbers although their reporters had reported the event extensively. I checked the internet, no result.

I called Kreta Ayer CC. A woman & later a man took my call. They told me, ‘Call CASE lor. We cannot help. We don’t know who is the organizer.’ Hello! The annual event is held right in their constituency for years. MM Lee coming this year, they don’t know the organisers? Usually a grassroot or CCC member would sit in the organizing committee.

The man gave me an email address at my insistence, irene_a_l_tan@pa.gov.sg I sent my complaint & photo of the stall to it. Until now, nothing is heard from anyone.

Every year the hawkers find it so easy to cheat, because it takes humongous effort to make a complaint against them. Where to complain? Who to complain? Who cares even if you complain?

Sir, many tourists go to Chinatown. Many elderly folks go to Chinatown. These are the easy targets. What more this year, MM Lee was brought in to promote the event. The hawkers would sharpen their knives for a good killing.

I don’t know if you are going to take action or not, I am taking action to uncover the dishonest hawkers, to be cheated repeatedly is stupid, but to keep quiet is more stupid.

Best regards,

Jayne Goh

c.c. Dr Lily Neo – MP Jalan Besar GRC

*********************ooOoo*************************

The hardworking Mayor replied that same night.

Monday, January 23, 2006 11:18:53 PM

Dear Ms. Goh,

Thank you for writing to me.

I have sent your feedback on to CASE for their attention, and has requested CASE to get in touch with you with regard to this case of alleged over-charging. I have also copied the referral email to Dr. Lily Neo, the MP overseeing the Kreta Ayer area for her information.

May I wish you and family a Happy, Healthy and Fulfilling New Year.

With best regards.

Heng Chee How

********************************ooOoo***************************

How do these MPs fare when dealing with complaints from the public?

Hear the complaints.

........... to be continued.....

To PM Lee Hsien Loong

2008-05-08T17:08:00.000+08:00

eastcoastlife with PM Lee Hsien Loong at a Istana Chinese New Year Party.
He autographed the photo a few months later at a Mountbatten Walkabout.

Dear PM Lee Hsien Loong,

In the past, Singapore civil service was messy and rude. Although it is orderly and polite now, it just isn't able to shake out of its bureaucratic, rigid, kiasi and kiasu frames and become thinking and self-responsible.

Instead of doing what is best for Singapore, the aim to please their employers and further their own career takes precedent. And ordinary Singaporeans as a whole loses out.

As a Singaporean who loves her country, I always strive to do my best for Singapore. I follow the laws and observe a strict code of discipline that my late grandma and father taught us. In school, I was made to study Civics and Moral Education which I blindly obeyed and later taught to my students and children.

Now I realise, most of the educators and civil servants in Singapore don't carry out what they preach. It's unbelievable how they are so devious.

For years I have ~~feedback~~ complained to the various ministries on the problems I faced when dealing with their civil servants. Most of the time, my complaints were not taken seriously. Either questions were not answered or promises not kept.

Ordinary Singaporeans like me don't have an alternative avenue to pursue our concerns and problems. I was pushed from department to department, ministry to ministry. There is long waiting time for replies and the replies were either standard official ones which don't address my concerns or they totally avoided the issues.

I'm sick of our civil servants' inept and incompetence. The last straw was when I received a threatening note in my mail box ordering me to stop my whistle-blowing or else my only son will be harmed.

Unfortunately, I'm not one who will back off even when I come face to face with Death. I have no faith in our police. On my own, I started my investigations.

I went through a lot in order to have my complaints heard. I approached the media ...., The Straits Times (Jane Ng - not published), Zaobao(ignored), Xinmin (ignored), New Paper (story published but retold in their own words), TV programme Frontline (ignored). A PR officer from MOE even threw her weight around when the editor of New Paper approached her for clarifications.

Undaunted, I discovered blogging and started writing and publishing my own book, listing all the people involved and the events.

On 1st February 2008, my son's Friendster and Hotmail accounts were hacked. Contents were replaced with pornographic photos and vulgar language. A police report was made and until this day, the case is still pending investigation...

My husband has been a loyal PAP supporter and grassroot leader for more than 30 years. I have many opportunities to approach you, but I want my stories to have a huge impact on the civil service.

To my family and friends who are concerned for my safety, thank you. I have decided to give up my life, they can sue me, arrest me, make me a bankrupt...... the stories need to be told. The Time has come..... 8 years of Hell for me, it's pay back time.

Hear now, the journey of one woman's determination to save her son and expose the ugly faces of the civil servants in Singapore........

*************************ooOoo************************

Former senior civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow (The Straits Times,2003) :
"Some civil servants behave like they have a mandate from the emperor.
We think we are little Lee Kuan Yews."

**************************ooOoo************************

'We must admit our mistakes openly and honestly, put them right, and act against those who have been culpable.

If and when something goes wrong, we have to deal with it decisively and effectively. Our first priority is to respond to the immediate crisis, and then to identify shortcomings and put them right. We must also take steps to ensure that the problem does not recur. This means not just quick fixes, but also where necessary fundamental changes to systems and organisations to address deeper problems revealed by the lapse.

We demand high standards of integrity and performance from every public servant, MP and office-holder. We assess them rigorously and objectively, and apply disciplinary rules fairly and impartially to all. This is what Singaporeans expect from their Government. And this is what we have delivered and will continually strive to achieve.'

- PM Lee Hsien Loong

致李显龙总理

2008-05-08T17:01:00.000+08:00

我与李显龙总理, 摄于总统府的新年茶会

亲爱的李显龙总理,

从前, 新加坡的政府部门是杂乱和无理的。现在虽然变得井然和有礼貌, 但它却摆脱不掉它的官僚作风, 不通融, 怕死和怕输的框架，让自已变得有判断力和负责任。

有些公务员非但不尽心尽力为新加坡服务, 反而把目标锁定在讨好雇主和进一步巩固他们自己的事业作为先例。这是新加坡普通老百姓的悲哀。

作为一位爱国的新加坡公民, 我总努力做好我的本分。我遵循法律和紧记我已故祖母和父亲的教诲，做个对国家对社会有贡献的好公民。从小在学校上公民和道德教育课, 我天真的把所学的道德教育灌输在我的学生和孩子身上。

现在我很后悔，我发觉原来教育家和公务员在新加坡是言行不一致的！我们成了听话的绵羊，任由宰杀。真的难以相信他们是这么不正直的。

这几年来我面对各种各样态度恶劣的公务员，我不断投诉。等待回复的时间缓慢。他们不是把我像足球一般在各政府机构或各部门踢来踢去，就是对我的投诉不加理会。好多次，他们对我的提问不是答非所问，就是不给于正面答复或不尊守诺言。

在新加坡，象我一个普通老百姓，如果遇上公务员傲慢，故意刁难，隐瞒事实，我就没有一条可供提出上诉的渠道，只能忍气吞声，自认倒霉吗？

我对我们公务员的自私，无能感到无比的厌恶，愤怒。几年前，我在邮箱里收到了一封威胁信，命令我停止我的投诉行为，否则我就见不到我的独生子。那是在我电邮你之后，无奈你选择相信你的部下。

很可惜, 我不是一个贪生怕死的人，面对死亡，我不会畏缩。凭我过去的经验，我对我国的警察没有信心。我独自展开了我的调查。

为了公开事实，我经历很多挫折。我尝试联络媒体... , 海峡时报(Jane Ng - 没出版), 早报(不理睬), 新民(不理睬), 新报(故事出版了但他们改了立场 ), 电视节目‘前线追踪‘ (不理睬) 等等。当新报编辑向教育部的公关人员询问详情时，她还气势凌人的把他打发走。

面对重重困难，我毫不畏惧，也没放弃, 我发现了写部落格的好处，也开始写和出版我的自传, 并列出所有介入有争议事件的公务员。

在2008 年2月1 日, 我的儿子的Friendster 和Hotmail 帐户被有心人潜入了。他用色情相片和粗俗语言把孩子帐户的内容换了，还发了恶心的电邮给孩子的女生朋友。我们虽报了警，但直到这天, 案件还在调查当中...

我的丈夫是一位忠诚的PAP 支持者，也当了超过30 年的基层领袖。我有许多机会接近您, 但我忍着，我要在适当的时机给于那些让我无辜遭受不公平，不合理对待的公务员门，重大的打击。

对于关心我的性命安全的家人和朋友们, 我忠心感谢。我决定放弃我的生命, 他们可以起诉我, 拘捕我, 让我破产...... 我的遭遇还是要说出来。时侯到了... 8 年的地狱似生活, 是讨债的时侯了。

看着吧！为了自己的儿子和无数新加坡普通老百姓，我决心把新加坡公务员丑恶的面孔一一暴露出来........

************************* ooOoo ************************

前资深公务员Ngiam Tong Dow (海峡时报2003):
"一些公务员罢出一幅有皇帝圣旨的模样。
我们认为我们是小李光耀。"

************************** ooOoo ************************