Story by Ng Sook Zhen
Their living quarters is a shop house unit in Lavender, their beds are wooden boards, the only toilet is shared by 40 people and a typical workday is 13 hours.
It could have been a page taken out of a 19th century book about Singapore’s immigrant workers.
There is a difference though – these migrant workers do not get fair wages, some do not even get their wages.
The page flips and you realize the story is set in 21st century Singapore.
Welcome to the world of Mr Zhong, Mr Kuang and Mr Gan from Jiangsu Province in mainland China. The trio – who helped build Sentosa Cove – want to return to China in time for Chinese New Year, but have only received a portion of their deserved wages from employer Jiangsu Rundong Construction Engineering Company.
“With no money, we cannot go home,” said Mr Kuang.
First, although 13 hour days are clocked in, overtime pay is irregular and arbitrary. Take for instance a typical month with six 13-hour days a week and a Sunday with eight hours. They are only credited with what Mr Gan claims as “totally arbitrary figures based on the company’s liking”. This is in spite of the fact that they diligently filled up time cards showing their working hours.
Time over their basic 8 hours (for which they receive $32, though they were promised $50 a day by their agent in China) is written in the contract as 1.5 times their $4 per hour price tag. As precise as their contract sounds, the clause is not adhered to practically. Their salaries were also withheld for three months when they first started work, meaning they only got their first salary payment in March 2008 though they started working in Singapore in November 2007. This pattern continued until September 2008, even after many workers had complained about this system of being paid three months late and wanted to resign.
When Gan, Kuang and Zhong’s work permits expired after a year in November 2008, they told their company they wish to return to China and wanted what was owed to them. Instead, their company renewed their work permits without their knowledge or permission. Gan, Kuang and Zhong only found out when they went to MOM to file a complaint and an MOM officer told them that their work permits had been renewed for yet another year – this time with a company called BHCC, though it was owned by the same ‘boss’. Despite their protests that they do not want to continue working for their company, whatever name it was given, they were told that only their employer had the right to cancel and renew work permits.
Currently their overtime wages for September and October have yet to be paid, while the total wages for November are still owed.
But this is not the only problem they face.
The company had deducted $2,800 from the workers over a seven month period – an amount that was meant to be returned to the workers upon completion of their term. However, the company is now refusing to do so, blaming the men’s agent in China for not paying the company what they are due. Gan, Kuang and Zhong are adamant that this has nothing to do with them – they have already paid their agent in China and any unpaid fees should be recovered from their agent, and not their salaries. The trio want the $2,800 back.
In addition, by quitting a job they find “hard and unfair”, the workers prima facie breached their employment contract, and the company said that it would deduct a further $2,000 from their owed salary and a further $500 for their return airfare. This violates Singapore’s Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EMFA), which states that employers are to pay the full repatriation costs of workers. The trio said they signed a “one year plus one year contract” which allows them to extend their employment after one year only if they wished to. Their obligation was to serve a minimum of a year. Having fulfilled a year of the contract, they should no longer be liable for breach.
They have approached the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) several times, but no resolution was reached. There was also no timeline set for the resolution of the matter.
Yet, there is little the trio can do, considering they do not have the financial resources to find legal help and can only rely on limited pro bono aid. They also do not have the money to wait for the unpaid wages much longer. In desperation, the trio has been camping out at the Jiangsu Rundong office in the day, every day since they stopped work in November, in the hopes that they can recover what they are owed and return home. Often, they are ignored. However, on one particular occasion, a company representative was so annoyed to see them there, he kicked Mr. Kuang for ‘obstructing’ his office walkway and then called the police to ask the workers to remove themselves from the area.
Currently, the trio still stay at the company dormitories – an overcrowded shophouse – along with nearly four dozen other people.
“With Chinese New Year looming, we can only wait so long. And they know that, that’s why they are not doing anything. See how long we can wait. Because they know we have no money,” said Mr Gan, recounting what their employer had said to them.
Elsewhere in the Chinese construction worker migrant community, the picture is just as bleak.
Another worker from Xuyi Building Engineering Co has similar complaints on the unfair treatment by his employer.
He did not want to be named because clause 2.11 of his employment contract, as translated from Chinese, states:
“Whilst in Singapore, the worker cannot make any public commentary that hurts the interests of the employer. He must not create trouble and tarnish the reputation of the employer by complaining to various departments and ministries of the Singapore government, failing which, the employer reserves the right to demand the worker to pay for any fees incurred by the employer, such as transportation fees (SGD$100 per trip) or for the attendance of meetings (SGD$300 per meeting) to address these complaints.”
But clipping his freedom of speech is only the tip of the iceberg.
He only just received his pay for last October and November this week – a mere $800 for two months of toil. The amount is only a fraction of his contracted remuneration (a guideline from the contract suggests he can expect $1,375 a month), and the missing salary remains unexplained by the firm.
His pay for December 2008 is still in arrears.
This same worker also paid $400 previously, for a scaffolding certification course that the company organized, but has yet to put any of the skills learnt to use.
“They said we can earn more money if we took the course. They said they would give us chances to use our skills, but when we requested for our skills to be used, they said there were no jobs available,” said the worker.
Further, according to his employment contract, the worker is forced to work overtime – or face a $50 fine.
“Not a single day is the clothes that we wear dry, it’s continuous working all the time. When a couple of co-workers fainted, they were only told to have some rest before they had to work again,” he mused. They work seven days a week, building the high-profile Marina Bay Sands resort.
Perhaps it is time to remove this 19th Century page from our history books – which hopefully is still in its first draft.
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Note: Pictures are of the dorm of the Xuyi workers accomodation, not the Jiangsu workers.
Read also:
“I hope Singapore government punish them” by Andrew Loh.
The Story of Delowar by Deborah Choo.
Mega Development projects and labour supply chains – who is responsible? by Stephanie Chok.
Sent home with $600 by Deborah Choo.
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I am speechless after reading this article. What sort of contractual terms are these:
“Whilst in Singapore, the worker cannot make any public commentary that hurts the interests of the employer. He must not create trouble and tarnish the reputation of the employer by complaining to various departments and ministries of the Singapore government, failing which, the employer reserves the right to demand the worker to pay for any fees incurred by the employer, such as transportation fees (SGD$100 per trip) or for the attendance of meetings (SGD$300 per meeting) to address these complains.”
*speechless*
This is another instance where I blame the government. The government has a similar attitude towards Singaporeans. Think CPF, Medisave etc. Is it any wonder that companies have a similar attitude towards employees. That is, “what I say goes.” This is not a new problem. It’s been around even when times were good. Employers basically have free reign to screw foreign workers.
Maids were treated like that for a long time. Many still are. Government is reluctant make it law that maids be given a day off once a week.
The highly paid civil servants and Ministers are dragging their feet. Great at making empty speeches but absolutely dismal when called to account for their actions, or inaction in this case.
How can anyone within the government read something like this and not be moved? Totally devoid of compassion.
Where is the graciousness we keep reading about? Is it reserved for times when French cuisine is served?
Andrew #1 – me too.
Isn’t there a clause in our Statutes that covers contractual law? I am of the understanding that contracts aren’t meant to be all-flexible and if they violate any law or the constitution, they are invalid. The two things that jump out at me are 1) the “right” of the employer to charge those fees on a worker. and 2) the randomly assigned costs. A part of me screams “that can’t be right!?”
I am appalled that the employers are happily sleeping in their bungalow or condo in king size beds in aircon in a large spacious and nicely decorated and clean clean bed room and they can still sleep so well despite the 4th world living condition they gave to the foreign workers.
as they prepare to celebrate cny with roast ducks and pigs,
i hope they just visit these quarters and then eat their pigs and ducks.
All you writers at TOC – God will bless you greatly for bringing this injustice to the light of day.
You may be the mother Teresa of the poor and weak in Sinapore.
Let us watch how Mother Halimah, our union MPs spin on…..
God bless you all at TOC!. And may the China workers not suffer more under MOM for talking about their plight.
We have seen how the myanmar people suffer for speaking out – sent back to the junta and staring at more injustice – courtesy of MOM!
I was just wondering why MOM is so reluctant to get involve and I think part of the reason is probably because, imho, the contract of agreement were made out in mainland Chinese soil and not here in Singapore.
No ones knows the details and the nature of the contract and the agreements made between the parties.
It is easy for these companies to work around the employment laws in Singapore because, when it comes to disagreements, MOM tends to side with the employers. This is where the workers become further disadvantaged.
Does not MOM find it necessary to draw up an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand document to educate these workers on their rights and the conditions they could expect from being an employee under Singapore law, and the avenues for recourse should these rights be violated or abused?
This is better than sitting on it and waiting for complains to file in day by day. Is there no one in MOM with such kind of initiative? Dumb ass, all of them!
Oh no, ‘rights’ seems to be an offensive word in the PAP govt’s vocabulary.
“Despite their protests that they do not want to continue working for their company, whatever name it was given, they were told that only their employer had the right to cancel and renew work permits.”
If this is true, then what difference are these workers from slaves? To me, MOM is being in cahoots with all these employers to exploit all these foreign workers by denying their right to cancel the work permits.
MOM has already violated the rights of these workers by allowing the practice of employers holding on to the passports of these workers. Now these workers can’t even cancel their own work permits. Do they expect these unhappy workers to be like Mas Selamat and disappear from our island mysteriously also?
Our elites say we are a City of Dreams but I think for these workers it is more like nightmares.
Shame on you elites! And shame on you MOM!
All Singaporeans, Please wake up!
The rot has to stop.
Understand that any Court of Law will look at Reasonable-ness of any Clause.
Has this been tested to stand in court? hmmm……. does that mean MOM condones such clauses? or BO CHAP?
Surely this is a model of using the cheapest labour you can find and giving no rights whatesoever of recourse?
Hmm… we the citizens of Singapore ? Where do we stand as a parallel…
Uniquely Singapore, the spirit of the law can be ignored, the words of the law can be changed.
should there be more transparency?
while toc focusing on FW,
i feel that we must never neglect the lowest income earning citizens as well.
unlike the FW, our lowest income citizens have to live here where cost is much much higher than over there where they may have large ‘bungalows’ and land to grow vegetables and fish and poultry and pigs to be self-sustaining.
the citizens here have to pay and pay 1st world cost of living :
transport fares,
electricity bills,
expensive taxi,
expensive cinemas,
expensive food : now $5 to $10 per plate is the going rate at hawker centers .
expensive cars
expensive petrol
expensive flat
expensive medicals
expensive expensives.
Well well, a multi-million dollar home build at the expense of this poor workers.
You know, Singapore seems like a company and if i have to rate them for using human resource management to produce a competitive advantage, i will give it a straight F
To build a dream with death.
1) Andrew Loh on January 14th, 2009 10.13 am
I am speechless after reading this article. What sort of contractual terms are these
It is a gag order so no one dare to talk. If you talk, you are going to pay for it. It is like “if you defame, you will pay for it” type.
hehehe, the gag order is not dissimilar to what the govt expects from its civil “servants” either.
now we see the root cause of why mom refused to help much.
”
I am speechless after reading this article. What sort of contractual terms are these:
“Whilst in Singapore, the worker cannot make any public commentary that hurts the interests of the employer. He must not create trouble and tarnish the reputation of the employer by complaining to various departments and ministries of the Singapore government, failing which, the employer reserves the right to demand the worker to pay for any fees incurred by the employer, such as transportation fees (SGD$100 per trip) or for the attendance of meetings (SGD$300 per meeting) to address these complains.”
*speechless*
”
why are you speechless? people in the SAF, especially NSFs face the same, if not worse, treatment too.
I would be truly ashamed if I ever set foot on Marina Bay Sands resort! Just like a few others, I will not visit IR!
The TOC writers have done a good job in their coverage. However, I think such treatment of foreign workers does not occur only in Singapore. Much has to do with globalisation and free labour mobility.
Hopefully the MOM can improve regulations regarding foreign workers’ living conditions and their contracts with employers. They may not be foreign talent, but they should be accorded the same respect we give foreigners, because they are people all the same.
I believe those who have read this acticle and given their comments appreciate TOC for highlighting the unfair treatments to the foreign workers. I really hope we can assit some of these workers in some small ways. Perhaps some of us who are keen to help can meet and propose something. Its great TOC put the story in words; but let us also do something for these unforunate ones during this season….
I am simply flabbergasted!!! Trying hard to sideline myself for weeks to give myself a break from all these depressing news but just could not do it any longer after reading this one. What on earth have my beloved country become? There are a few issues that this and other similar articles had addressed and I can’t help but wonder why the authority seemed unperturbed. May be too busy preparing for the next GE??? Can see the grass root is buzzing with activities.
Judging from the unhygienic look of the dormitory, it makes you wonder why the Ministry of Environment “Inspectors” say nothing about the inhumane living condition. Or have they ever inspected these premises before they give their stamp of approval? Hello MOE & MOM these are supposed to be living quarters for HUMAN BEINGS. Ask yourself this question, will you live in one like this? I just simply cannot relate how any humane person (particularly the companies or agents “local and country of origin” who are supposed to look after these foreign workers) can sleep soundly. These foreign workers are not free riders; they did pay you to look for work. Where is your conscience?
MOM odd to re-look at the contractual agreement tailored for these poor souls and does something to stop this EVIL PRACTICE. I believe a good majority of these poor souls who either speaks little of the English language or none at all. How are they to understand the twisted contractual terms? You have got to wonder were they properly brief before even taken the plunged let alone some had to raise funds through auctioning off their property or even risk having to borrow their way to end up in such one sided unfair “uncertain” employment arrangement. MOM, by punishing errant employers in the aftermath does not solve the root of the cause. By doing nothing to STOP this atrocious business practice, you are doing Singapore good old name a dishonor. We do not deserve this!!! Think what the International Society will think of this country. I am sure you have all the authority to stop this. Show us concerned Singaporeans your worth and what you are really made of. Don’t sweep these apparent problems under the rug. The New Media world has their radar and scanners trained. It is not too late to do preventive measure.
It will be good if some good Samaritans will be kind enough to translate this contract (may be just this section pasted by Andrew #1) into say, Chinese, Tamil or whatever foreign language and have it distributed so that these already stranded foreign workers can help to sound it out to their comrades who are still eager to leave their homes thinking that they are heading to hinter land. I think someone got to explain to them what they have got themselves into.
Someone (#18) mentioned that this is not only happening in Singapore. True and I agree. This episode will be played out over the world wherever there is capitalism and progress. However, I think the point is that we know it is happening in our homeland; right in our backyard, “A FIRST WORLD DEVELOPED NATION???”, a nation just voted the second freest economy in the world [AT WHOSE EXPENSE IS ANOTHER MATTER], I doubted any conscience Singaporeans who come to know about this will brush it off albeit these foreign workers are not native of the country. They are as a matter of fact Human Beings and should deserve to be treated as HUMAN. Even animals should not be treated this way. I believe people in other parts of the world who are as concerned are doing the same thing or even more than what we are doing now. This has got to stop. How I wished that other International Papers or International Humane Organization will come to know of this article. May be we should send the link to them.
Looks like the Chinese companies exploiting their own compatriots.
One additional course of action that MOM can take is to set up an on-site inspection unit (if there is already one in existence, enlarge it substantially), Dispatch teams from this unit to select construction worksites without giving advance notice to the employers. The teams should pick 3-4 workers at random and bring them back to office to interview them for information on all aspects of their employment like:
(A) how did he come to know of this job back home in his country and what were the promised terms and conditions in respect to the nature of job, wages to be paid, working hours, if overtime involved what was the rate of pay per hour, accommodation arrangements and whether this is to be provided free by the employer or to be paid for by the worker etc
(B) did he have to pay a placement fee to get this job, how much was the sum and what was the arrangement to pay them (e.g. 80% at home country and 20% from wages here?) Was there a written contract and was a copy given to him as well as to his employing company here.
© who conducted the interview back home, was a S’pore party involved in the interview or at signing of the contract, if any, or was a S’pore party involved at any stage of his recruitment for this job at his home country and if so what was his/her role.
If the investigation reveals that the company concerned is suspected to have used shady and unethical means to hire the worker to his detriment, take punitive/administrative action against the company.
Serve a notice to the employer that upon return of the worker back to duty, he shall not be transferred out to another company or repatriated home without getting prior approval from MOM. This is to protect the worker from being sacked in situations where the employer suspects the worked has spilled the beans.
Addendum : Pl see my earlier posting here below on a related subject on this site
From what I can gather, the main contractor and the sub-contractors are in cahoots with the labour supply agencies to squeeze maximum sum of money as agency or job placement fees from the workers. Millions of dollars change hands between these parties even before the workers set foot in S’pore. The money is collected upfront from the workers in their home country and in some cases substantial part there and the remaining from their wages here. The overseas agents are conduits through whom the money is channeled to the local parties mentioned above. I do not know the amount collected as job placement fees for China, Thailand or Burmese workers. But for those from Bangladesh and India the fee is said to range from $5,000 to 8,000 (for construction workers) Taking the mean figure of $6,500, the upfront collection for 1,000 workers will be $6.5 million. If a main contractor is a given a quota of 3,000 workers to employ for a 2 year period, he can collect a cool $19.5 million! The revenues from this source alone is so big that the local contractors set up proxy employment agencies under the names of family members, relatives or reliable contacts to corner this revenue direct.
The story does not end here. The company recruiting 3,000 workers does not keep to its end of bargain. It gets even greedier. The promise was to employ the worker for 2 years. Midway through this period, be it 8 months, 1 year or whatever, the company will send back home few hundred of these workers, citing reasons like business slump, no projects etc. It pays them a paltry sum as inducement and they have their bouncers to ensure the workers comply. As soon as say 500 workers had returned home, the company will bring in another 500 as replacement collecting a further $3.25 million. So the cycle of recruitment spins like the Russian roulette giving the contractor constant additional capital. This then is the nub of the problem
It is not that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM is not aware of all these going-ons. The issue is how to tackle this problem to ensure the workers are not ripped off and short changed by their employing companies.
Two suggestions:
1. If Company A supplies its foreign workers (FWs) to subcontracting companies B C and D, make A liable to pay promptly the salaries of its workers outsourced to B C and D. It is for A to get the reimbursement from the other 3 companies
2 Where a company wishes to mass retrench FWs, require it notify or get clearance from MOM before they are sent back home. MOM can request the company to forward an undertaking informing that all outstanding wages for the workers have been settled and, if need be, conduct an exit interview of a select few of these workers to ensure compliance on the part of the company. Where a company sheds FWs without proper justification, its quota should be reduced by the number of the workers it has sent back. This will go some way to compel companies to recruit workers to actual needs and not excess to needs that make these workers as cash cows for the company to milk money.
Yes, the powerful always exploit the weak, only if the surrounding circumstances allow it. That is why this is deplorable to people like us who thought we are living in first world surroundings.
Arthur,
Do drop me an email and see if we can come up with something…
I can be reached at theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
Thanks.
Andrew Loh
The minister of manpower is responsible for giving Singapore such a bad name. How can he fail in his duty to look after foreign workers who slave here? He collects levies from these workers and he should now use these levies to help these workers and order his subordinates to conduct thorough and fair investigations into all allegations. He should order his subordinates to get to the root of the problem and not take the easy way out by computing palatable amounts which are always grossly unfair to the workers.
Pressure should be exerted on the minister. If he cannot carry out his duty, he should resign.
To those who have commented that we should be focusing on the plight of locals.
To ensure protection of these foreign workers ultimately BENEFITS the local worker. Many employers hire FWs because they are cheap and have no avenues for grievances/ do not want to voice out. That happens even up to manager level. Remove this chance for abuse, and there no little reason why anyone will choose a foreign staff over a local one.
And with these checks in place, FWs will not be swarming here in great numbers too.
My understanding of the law tells me a contractual clause that contradicts Singapore’s law or constitution renders the contract partially or entirely invalid. Restricting the workers’ right to complain to MOM is illegal even if the contract is signed in China.
Regardless of whether it is for the benefit of the local or foreign workers, no one should work under such demeaning lopsided contractual arrangement. Work is a two way streets. Company or Employer may be at the driver seat to hire and fire but if the employees do unite themselves to look out for the interest of each other, the company still needs good, loyal committed employee to drive the business. This is also regardless of what trade we are in. Be it construction, manufacturing or professional fields. Coupled with sound labor laws that are well balanced (in equal protection for employees and employers), I think if enforcement is done right, the employment scene will rid of exploitation and errant employers or abusive employees.
We are living in the 21st century in a civilized “FIRST WORLD DEVELOPED COUNTRY”. It is time for MOM, MOE and the Labor Union to reconsider the introduction of minimum wage as well as to close off the loop holes for errant employers’ exploitation regardless of the nationality of its business owner. Yes, there are complex issues and considerations regarding the implementation of the minimum wage rule such as competitive advantage and so on. However, I hope the Ministry will seriously consider the implications and adverse repercussion of the recent events regarding the treatment of workers that has no absolute societal link to Singapore (technically speaking ~ no intent of insult). I believe Singapore (Nation) interest should come first and the government should not risk being made an international mockery in the name of these irresponsible errant employers who are and have no shame in exploiting for the sake of greed at Singapore’s Brand Name expense.
It is a shame if the Ministry will let matters rest with no strong deterring affirmative actions to eradicate such inhumane practice to tarnish the brand name Singapore had built through the hard work and discipline of its generation of people who had contributed their lives for the past 4 decades.
I think they are being treated worse than slaves.
Slaves at least don’t have to worry about giving their masters money and living expenses.
These workers had to pay their employers money for course fees, various fines.
This has been ongoing for ten years at least and the employers are getting bolder and bolder seemingly with government support.
Enough is enough.
I wonder those who do not read TOC,
will they ever know their plight?
will they ever see these pictures of inhumane living conditions?
will they know how foreign workers are living in singapore?
will they know how much they pay and pay their agents to come here
and get paid a few hundred and shipped back?
my opinion:
all of us readers are people concerned about social issues.
there are many who form majority who are apathetic. agree so far?
these by definition tells us they rarely if ever read social issue blogs like TOC.
so, would they know?
oh, i forgot, they have MSM right?
sigh.
Those hard labour FTs are like slaves. Their living conditions are extremely poor and their pay are meager if not down right free labour. They work their socks off building the infrastructure for this country but this is how our locals treat them.
Sigh. Unchecked capitalism exploitation at it best
With Chinese New Year coming, it would be good if our MP’s sat down with them in THEIR “so called home” for dinner.
Speechless ……………Jaws wide open……..Don’t know what is happening to my country
If they visit them to distribute ang pow this cny, i hope toc film them drinking tea in fw’s quarters.
I like to ask the un-Apathetic people of TOC ,
would you know of the fw’s situation and problems if not for this Article?
oh, maybe we have MSM?
Shock and speechless. I suggest posting a link at VR-Zone forums under “World News & Singapore Affairs”.
At least get more exposure for the news and TOC.
Foreign talents living in such conditions? That’s no way to treat talented people you know.
If the People of this country do not regain their consciences, it will soon be Sinnerpore instead of Singapore to the rest of the World.
patriot
I wonder if govt will say – look at the simple conditions these foreign workers live in. That is what we need. Unfortunately Singaporeans are too demanding. No long hours. More pay. Take less pay and live like them is what Singaporeans should do!
#31) balajian: “I wonder those who do not read TOC….”
Hi Balajian,
I’d like to share with you my motto in effecting change. It is; “Small Steps”.
When we look at the common enemy we are up against, no not PAP, but APATHY, we can see that it is indeed an uphill task. More like a mountain, in fact; and it can be quite demoralising at times, wondering whether what we are doing will really make a difference.
This is why I suggest, small steps. Do not under-estimate the small actions we do, no matter how insignificant they may seem.
Take TOC for example. If the idea to create a platform for Singaporeans to come together to share their ideas and comments did not take off, and had remain but just an idea, a dream; it would have died with inaction.
But because there were people who believed it can work and set out to make it work; and now; two years later, we are here having an open, sincere and straight-to-the-heart discourse on the social-political climate of our beloved country, Singapore.
In the same vein, we must not be discouraged. It is our turn now to take these small steps, reach out to everyone of your friends, relatives, workmates and whichever community you may be actively involved in; to spread the word and make known the TOC brand name, letting them know that there are alternative views from those of the MSM.
We must therefore stop questioning whether others will come to realise the true situation in Singapore without alternative news like TOC. We just need to question ourselves whether we are doing enough to get people onboard, to listen to these alternative views that are so conveniently made available at the click of a button.
Let’s all do what we can, in the small ways we can, and look no further than just Small Steps.
Cheers ;)
If this can be verified, Ms Sylvia Lim, Chairperson of Workers Party, who is also a lawyer should take up this case.
The benefits for Workers Party are many:
1. Showing that Workers Party is a caring party
2. Show’s that the PAP government is uncaring and letting employers’ exploit defenceless workers. High-lighting the fact that the present government is pro-business and the masses are an end to their means.
3. Higher Profile for Workers Party.
We jailed innocent activists who merely wore T-shirts with a certain kind of animals, and yet we tolerate this social unjustice happening right under our noses.
Is there anything we can do with the system to ensure people, foreign workers and citizens alike are treated fairly!
#41) ashamed,
Have you heard the phrase: ‘World without boundaries?’
This is what we must strive to do and to do this we need to see each person as a human being, as human as you and I. We need to look beyond the colour of our skin, the language we speak, the size of our wallets and pockets, the things we ourselves believe in, and to do all these with the sincerity of the warmness of our blood.
We must never forget that when we get a cut, we all have the same coloured blood that oozes out from the cut. That when we cry, we all shed the same watery tears that come out from our eyes. That when we are loved, we all experience joy; and; when we are shown hatred, we feel sadness.
No matter who we are, no matter where we come from, we are one people of the human kind and one race, the human race.
Those who do not possess these do not belong to the human race.
This is how we can stop the human rights abuse and uphold human rights.