kay poh chee

Last year when I left my ex-employer, the company owed me 3 months salary. Now, 6 months on, I have yet to see any of that monies. I have approached my MP to see help. Few of you may know, the Singapore Manpower Act does not provide recourse for those who earns more than $2500 per month. For these people, they would have to get their own lawyer to sue their company for the salaries owed. Basically the government (Manpower Ministry) will not help to pursue the unpaid dues from the employer on behalf of the employee. This is empowerment for the employers to NOT have to worry about NOT paying their workers!

This year, April, come the tax filing season. IRAS is telling me that I need to pay taxes for those unpaid salaries as well. The friendly helpdesk at IRAS says that I can seek Manpower Ministry help to get back those unpaid salaries. It comes back to a full circle indeed.

On one hand, the Manpower Ministry does not help to recover the unpaid salaries, on the other, the government wants you to pay TAX on what I don’t get. What a ridiculous scenario.

Fortunately, the CPF board did manage to recover the outstanding CPF contributions from the company. However, as many of us know, CPF monies aren’t our money. The government keeps it from us till we are too old to use it.

Update: I have emailed IRAS to ask for re-assessment of my income taxable and IRAS has agreed. For those in the same dire straits as me, you should seek the errant company to state the amount of unpaid salary and send it to IRAS. Tell IRAS that you do not expect the company to pay you and that you do not have the necessary means to sue to get back those monies.

Bangla sweepers are now replaced by Singaporeans according to Aljunied Town Council

I got this newsletter from Aljunied Town Council. Service and Conservancy fees are going up from next month. Timing couldn’t have been much worse. I thought with the impending election, fee hikes should be on hold. I guess the PAP is going bolder and they are so confidence they would get a ‘convincing’ mandate again this time round.

After reading the newsletter and trying to understand the rationale put forth, I have more questions in my mind.

1) Electricity tariff going up is cited as one of the reasons for the service fee hike. However, I am still puzzled at why electricity prices are pegged to oil price when Singapore uses natural gas for electricity generation.

2) Singaporeans replace bangla as sweepers, hence the need to pay higher wages. I haven’t seen this happening. Have you?

3) How much money is lost by the town council to minibonds?

4) How much of the fee hike is due to paying bonus and pay rise to civil servants?

5) How much is the fee hike for non Singaporeans?

6) The town council has a huge sinking fund. Can’t they defer the fee hike till later?

7) Who approves the fee hike?

8) Are there any Government or grassroots leaders sitting on the board in those companies contracted for maintenance work?

The town council needs to justify the fee hike and the reasons cited in the newsletter are not convincing.

I would like to share a personal working experience with a relatively young startup by the name of Healthe Solutions (www.healthe.com). It’s name could have changed to something else now, possibly Healthe Tech. I suspect the name change is to create a new company and in the process write off the debts of the previous one.

This is not unlike how pirate shops in Sim Lim operated many years ago. For those uninitiated, pirate shops in Sim Lim sold pirated games or software and if they are raided, the company owners would close down that shop (business) and almost conveniently open another one on the same level or on another level of Sim Lim Square. The laws may have been refined to disallow directors of the defunct shop to operate a similar business, but I am not sure. Sorry to digress too much.

Back to my original topic. In Singapore, the employment law doesn’t protect workers who earn more than $2500 a month. Furthermore, unions are virtually non-existent, henceforth, fellow workers, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN !  I had a very bad firsthand experience of suffering from such non protection. The company owed the staff a minimum of 3 months of salary (some of the employees are owed more!). Ministry of Manpower (MoM) does offer to provide mediation services and not much else. Those unfamiliar with the term mediation, let me explain. During mediation, MoM would request that the employer and employee come together and negotiate a amicable solution out of the issue at hand. For mine, it’s the outstanding salary not paid. Bear in mind, whatever that comes of out the mediation is non legal binding. Essentially, the employer can simply walk away from the table and MoM would not penalise them.

MoM advise me to get back my outstanding salaries through a civil suit. This would incur legal fees on my own expense. After discussing with my own lawyer, I decided against filing a civil suit at this time. The reasoning being that Healthe Solutions can wind down the business entity and I would still end up without my outstanding salaries and in the meantime, incur legal fees!

On hindsight, I should have quit when salaries are paid late. Fellows out there who experience such a issue, I hope this article would give you some oversight and not end up in the same predicaments as me.

Quote: Make sure that our young people are hungry. If our young people are not hungry enough, bring in hungrier ones from overseas. Make them feel hungry, increase the hungriness index.
- Philip Yeo (Straits Times)

I wonder if Philip Yeo is the man who sparked off the award of scholarships to kids from less developed economies like China/India. No so long ago, there were a couple of Singaporean scholars who broke their bonds and end up not coming back to Singapore to serve their bonds.

However, it seems that awarding scholarships to ‘hungry’ people (so defined by Philip Yeo) didn’t do any good either. These so-called ‘hungry’ people have ended up becoming ‘hungry’ ghosts when they fled this country after completing their studies. See below article from Asiaone. The locals are deprived of the scholarship and worse, a local is deprived of a chance to study because preference is given to foreigners.

In the same vein, did Mr Yeo also influenced the government into the mass import of labor into this tiny island to increase the hungriness index. This topdown gigantic social experiment doesn’t seem to have any positive effect other than depressing the salaries of the workers and coupled with the lousy economy, increase jobless rates!

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source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20081119-101732.html

‘You can leave S’pore secretly after graduating’

DON’T want to serve your six-year bond after graduating? Then don’t.
That was the advice in a post written by a netizen on China’s popular Baidu.com forum.
The original forum thread was posted by a netizen who claimed to be a student who had just been offered an undergraduate scholarship in Singapore.
He had posted the thread hoping to get some advice on how to manage his monthly allowance, which was part of his scholarship award.
Instead, he got advice on how to buck the system.
A netizen wrote in response: ‘After you graduate, you’re supposed to work in Singapore for six years, meaning you can’t work in another country.
‘But actually you can leave on the sly. That’s what a friend of mine did. He didn’t like Singapore, so he left after graduating.
‘And it’s not like anybody will come catch you either.’
On a different thread, also on Baidu.com, another netizen related an incident where a friend had done the same thing.
‘He quietly came back to China, because he knew he wouldn’t be caught. But I reckon he’s probably been blacklisted, so he probably won’t be able to go to Singapore ever again,’ the netizen wrote.
But another netizen cautioned: ‘If you decide to leave and inform the authorities, they will make you pay them back. My classmate did.’

[correction made to title. spelling error. “quality” should read “qualify”. Thank you commenter]

research source: http://www.guidemesingapore.com/work-permit/c728-singapore-work-permit-schemes.htm

You be the judge of the various work permit schemes in Singapore. I am utterly disgusted how easy so called ‘Foreign Talents’ are let into this country. A ‘talent’ can be gotten for as cheap as $1800 !

And if the FT is employed for $2500 a month, he/she can be granted a EP. This class of employment pass allows the individual to apply for PR status in Singapore easily.

In my opinion, the current work permit schemes help to play a part in depressing the salaries of Singaporeans (by flooding the job market with cheap ‘talents’ from overseas).

The world ‘talent’ is very subjective. The work permit schemes should be refined such that if a local person can be found to fill a job, then there would be no need for a foreigner to be admitted. Furthermore, there should be a minimum wage level set for each job so as to ensure that companies do not set a wage that is too low to drive away locals. The common excuse used by local companies being that locals are picky and do not accept the low wages offered.

However, I do agree a dedicate balance needs to be in place. We do not want to tweak the system too much so that the companies have to offer a exorbitant salaries to hire locals. This would have a adverse effect on the profitabilty for the company and they would be forced to re-locate to other countries.

In the current scheme of things, the balance is obviously tipped towards having too many foreign imports and hence wage levels are depressed.

The following is the overview of the various Singapore Work Permit Schemes

The following are the main types of Singapore work permit schemes for foreigners in the professional employment visa category:
•    Employment Pass (EP)
•    Entrepreneur Pass (EntrePass)
•    S Pass
•    Personalized Employment Pass (PEP)

None of the above Singapore work permits except the S Pass come under a quota system. This means that the work permit will be approved mainly based on the merits of the applicant and not external factors. More details about the above work passes are provided below:

[Employment Pass]

The Employment Pass (EP) is the main type of work permit meant for company owners or skilled employees that will be working in Singapore. Your fixed monthly salary must be more than S$2,500 and you should be a degree holder from a reputable university. There is no official quota system limiting the number of Employment Passes that can be issued.

Validity: Employment Pass is initially issued for 1-2 years (at the discretion of authorities) and  renewable as long as the applicant continues to be employed by the company.
Eligibility: Company owners and professional staff with good education.
Quota System: No. Each EP application is considered based in its own merit
Permanent Residence Eligibility: Employment Pass holders are eligible to apply for PR status in due course.

my comment: There is no quota for this class of working permit. Basically, the government has opened the floodgates to let in graduates to compete with the locals. To qualify for this class of working permit, the bar is set low (monthly salary of $2500), to help companies depress employees’ salaries.

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[Entrepreneur Pass]

Entrepreneur Pass (EntrePass) type of work permit is a variation of Employment Pass and is meant for entrepreneurs wishing to start a business in Singapore who might not qualify under Employment Pass category due to the lack of education qualifications.
Validity: Entrepreneur Pass is initially issued for 1-2 years (at the discretion of authorities) and  renewable after that as long as the business remains viable.
Eligibility: Company owners that lack good education.
Quota System: No. Each EntrePass application is considered based in its own merit.
Permanent Residence Eligibility: Entrepreneur Pass holders are eligible to apply for PR status in due course.

my comments: I have read in the newspaper that Singapore wants to transform itself into a knowledge-based economy. A person lacking education qualifications to qualify for the other work permits can be deemed as a talented individual welcomed in Singapore. I find this very incomprehensible.

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[S Pass]
The S Pass is for mid-skilled employees who earn a fixed monthly salary of at least $1,800. S Pass applicants are assessed based on employer’s quota eligibility and applicant’s qualifications. Instead of a degree, a technical diploma is acceptable for this kind of work pass.
Validity: S Pass is initially issued for 1-2 years (at the discretion of authorities) and  renewable after that as long as the applicant continues to be employed by the employer.
Eligibility: Mid-level staff.
Quota System: Yes. In general, the number of S Pass holders a company may hire is capped at 25% of the company’s total workforce.
Permanent Residence Eligibility: S pass holders are eligible to apply for PR status, however they may to wait for 4-5 years.

my comments: for this job class, I am pretty sure many locals have the necessary qualifications to fulfill.

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[Personalised Employment Pass (PEP)]

The Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) is a special type of Employment Pass that is not tied to a specific employer. The biggest benefit of having a PEP work permit is that you can switch jobs without re-applying for a new employment pass provided that you are not unemployed for more than six months. Candidates must meet specific requirements before a PEP is approved.
Validity: PEP is issued for 5 years and  non-renewable.  
Eligibility: Well paid professionals who want to work in Singapore for an employer. PEP holders cannot start their own business in Singapore.
Quota System: No. Each PEP application is considered based in its own merit.
Permanent Residence Eligibility: PEP holders are eligible to apply for PR status in due course.

my comments: I wonder how much does the individual have to be paid in order to be considered as ‘well-paid’. If a person can be considered a talent if he/she earns $1800 - $2500, well paid might be simply means more than $2500!

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[Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate (EPEC)]
The Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate (EPEC) is not exactly a work permit but a special type of social visit pass that allows the applicant to come and stay in Singapore for 6-12 months and look for a job. Once you have secured a job, you will still need to file an employment pass application.
Validity: EPEC is issued for 6-12 months and  non-renewable.
Eligibility: Professionals with tertiary education working overseas.
Quota System: No. Each EPEC application is considered based in its own merit.
Permanent Residence Eligibility: EPEC holders are not eligible to apply for PR status. Once EPEC holders have obtained an Employment Pass, they are eligible for PR under the Employment Pass category.

my comments: This class of working permit is similar to the one I described in my previous blog.

There are a few other training types working permit. View them at
http://www.guidemesingapore.com/work-permit/c728-singapore-work-permit-schemes.htm

source: http://www.smcmc.com/faqs/faqs3.htm

Landed Permanent Residence (LPR) Scheme

If you have acceptable professional or tertiary qualifications and are interested in relocating to Singapore but are not yet working in Singapore, you can apply for LPR under this scheme. Successful applicants have ONE (1) year to find a job or relocate their families to Singapore, upon which permanent residence will be granted.

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Basically, this little known LPR scheme is not made known to locals (Singaporeans) for fear of reprisals. As the writeup suggests, foreigners can come to Singapore to look for jobs and compete with locals for jobs though they are not granted any PR beforehand. This is in my opinion too liberal. It’s telling the world that anyone can come to Singapore and compete for jobs here. It’s a free pass. As the chinese saying, 先上车后捕补票。[correction made. Thank you commenter]

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb toward the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result, all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another one of the original monkeys and replace it with a new one. The new comer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Likewise, replace a third original with a new one, then a fourth then a fifth.

Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they are not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know:

“THAT’S THE WAY IT’S ALWAYS BEEN DONE AROUND HERE”

And that, my friends, is how any society (be it a nation, or just a company) comes to being…

source: http://www.vacilando.org/index.php?x=3072

Today I have the most unfortunate experience of dealing with a cheapsake recruitment agency. The recruitment agency insists that I sign a agreement to pay their S$50 if the company that it is setting me up with offers me the job. Also, there is a clause saying that in the event I were to resign from the job within 90 days, I would have to pay the agency a penalty. It’s the equivalent of 80% of one month of my salary.

I have never heard of such a thing before in my life. This definitely sounds unfair. The agency insists that it’s to defray the costs of finding a replacement if the candidate were to resign within 1 month.

This clause is on the last page and fortunately for me, I saw the clause before filling up the form and I insists that the clause be removed. I am prepared to walk away from it all.

In the end, a compromise was made, and the S$50 is waiver-ed and the 90 days is reduced to 30.

Recruit Express insists that this practice is widespread. However, they can only name “GMP” as the only other recruitment agency which has similar clause in their agreeement.

Recruit Express and GMP already have a bad reputation among my peers. Now I understand why.

This is the last time I am dealing with these companies.

Sweta Agarwal’s Facebook and her husband’s webpage exposed by netizens : The Temasek Review

What is Singapore becoming? Permanent Residents demanding that they be treated as EQUALS as locals (citizens). I guess these foreigners treat the generally good natured locals as walkovers. Well, I guess the FT policies by the PAP government has a part to play in this sad state of affairs.

I applause the response (comments) that netizens write.  I wonder why is it that locals are always trampled over by these so called foreign talents. If they are so talented, why ain’t they in some first world country like the USA / EU and earning top dollars. Why is it that coming to Singapore is such a big ego booster for these FT that suddenly the locals have become inferiors to these foreigners by default?

See the comments to the original letter Sweta Agarwal wrote to the press http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_418788.html Click on “View all comments”