Story and pictures by Ravi Philemon
“My work papers say that I have been employed by Pentagon Express Marine Services Pte Ltd, to work in the shipyard as shipbuilder or as an offshore worker. I have never even seen a ship in Singapore! Instead, I was used as a daily-rated worker to clean offices and hotel rooms. I have also been deployed as a daily-rated store-hand,” says Mr. Somasuntharam Mudali (also known as Somasuntharam Muthiah and also as Sekar Ravi.)
Somasuntharam, who is 55 years old, and is from Pondicherry, India, first came to Singapore to work from the years 1996 through 2000. He paid one Mr. Bala of Pentagon Express Marine Services Pte Ltd the amount of Indian Rupees 140,000 (about 4200 Singapore Dollars), as agent fees to come to Singapore as a foreign worker. When he arrived in Singapore, instead of working on shipbuilding and offshore general work, he was used as a daily-rated worker and was paid $14 per day. “They paid me regularly then. After settling my debts, I was able to send money back home. Then towards the end of 2000, Mr. Bala asked me to go back to India, saying that my work permit could not be renewed; and that he would bring me back to Singapore to work again. Trusting him, I went back to India”, says Somasuntharam.
A new identity
Then in the year 2001, when Somasuntharam contacted Mr. Bala to come back to work in Singapore again, Mr. Bala demanded that Somasuntharam pay him a further agent fees of Indian Rupees 150,000 (about 4500 Singapore Dollars). Mr. Somasuntharam borrowed the required money from friends, relatives and money-lenders. Mr. Bala however, delayed getting him the work permit to come to Singapore for work; not just by days, weeks or months, but by years. Finally in the year 2004, with those that lent him the money demanding payment with exorbitant interests, Somasuntharam ran out of patience and demanded that Mr. Bala pay him back.
Then, Mr. Bala says to Somasuntharam that he is over 50 years old and that the Singapore government would not grant him a work permit because of this. Mr. Bala suggested that Somasuntharam obtain another passport in another name, which would declare that he was much younger than he actually was. As Somasuntharam was afraid that he would not get his money back if he did not do as instructed by Mr. Bala, he agreed to do so. Mr. Bala applied for a passport for him under the name of ‘Sekar Ravi’ (for which Somasuntharam had to pay another 4000 Indian Rupees) and even coached him how to respond to his new name and on his new signature.
Somasuntharam came back to Singapore a second time on 9 May 2004. “For the first five months, everything went well”, says Somasuntharam. “I was paid the same $14 per day. Then on the sixth month, the payment stopped. Mr. Bala verbally assaulted me with vulgar words, said that I was ungrateful and told me that the main contractors had not paid him and that he would pay me as soon as he had payment from them. When I did not receive my pay the following month as well and was made to go through the same grueling experience when I enquired about my unpaid salaries, I decided to approach the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Although I was initially afraid, I mustered enough courage and approached MOM with 3 other friends (2 other Indian nationals and 1 Bangladeshi) in early February 2005.”
Ordeal with MOM
The ordeal that Somasuntharam and his friends had to go through after they approached MOM is unbelievable. MOM revealed to them that Pentagon Express Marine Services had not paid the levies for any one of the complainants for the past few months. Investigations further revealed that the foreign workers were not used in the category of work that they were initially granted work permit for and also that Somasuntharam had worked in Singapore prior, and that he was here using a different name, in another passport. Somasuntharam’s work permit was revoked. He was issued a special pass and was asked to stay on in Singapore to assist MOM with the ongoing investigation with Pentagon Express Marine Services and Mr. Bala. Two of his friends (an Indian national by the name of Vijayakumar and the Bangladeshi) who brought the initial complaint to MOM were sent home as MOM deemed that they were not necessary for the ongoing investigations.
“Vijayakumar committed suicide by drinking poison a few days after reaching his village in India”, say Somasuntharam. “All the creditors were demanding their loan back with interests and he could not repay them. He also became the center of ridicule in his village. He just snapped! Poor guy! Vijayakumar has unmarried sisters and an aged mother. How are they going to survive now? That will be a sadder story than Vijayakumar’s end.”
The investigations by MOM dragged on not for months, but years. “There were countless postponements to the case brought on by the lawyers of Pentagon Marine Express Service”, says Somasuntharam. In the meantime, Somasuntharam was not able to find another job. He resorted to sleeping in the streets for a long time in Serangoon Road and got by because of the free meals provided by the nearby Hindu temples. He said his former employers made use of this vulnerability and tried to seduce him with a bribe to go back to India, so that they could not be prosecuted due to lack of evidence. “Mr. Bala did not come to see me directly. He sent a representative whom I have never seen before. The representative offered me $15,000, if I would go back to India. I refused the offer. From then on, they began intimidating me through coercions, like lodging false police reports and even threats of ‘fixing me’”, says Somasuntharam.
His case was finally brought to the attention of Ms Debbie Fordyce a volunteer with Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). By this time he had had fungal infection on both feet and had also broken his hip in an accident. Ms Fordyce managed to help him get off the streets and to a doctor. She then brought him to a shelter run by Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME). Ms Fordyce and the other volunteers in TWC2 and HOME began advocating for Somasuntharam and finally after many interventions, the case came to a close in early 2009. Somasuntharam admitted and was found guilty of using a different passport with another name to illegally enter Singapore to work.
“Now, only one witness remains for our case against Pentagon Marine Express Services. Dharmindra, who was brought in to Singapore for working in shipbuilding and offshore general work, but was used as a daily-rated driver”, says Somasuntharam. “I don’t know what action the courts and MOM would take against Mr. Bala and Pentagon Marine Express Services. I hope he goes to prison for cheating people like me and for driving people like Vijayakumar to suicide.”
At this juncture, I asked him, “Somasuntharam, how much did you actually earn by your coming to work in Singapore on two different occasions?” He said, “About $5000 the first time I came and the second time I lost a lot of money.” I asked again, “Would not it have been better if you had used the monies you had given Mr. Bala to do some small business back home in India?” Somasuntharam replied, “I was stupid. If I had started a small business like a grocery store, I would have made much more with an investment of about 300,000 Indian Rupees (about 8500 Singapore Dollars). This is what I would tell anybody else who wants to come to work in Singapore by paying agents.”
The courts ordered that he was not owed any salaries as he was not working in the designated company indicated in his work permits and because he was sub out as a daily-rated worker.
Somasuntharam finally left Singapore to India on 14 January 2009.
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Read also:
Muddy Singapore swallows China workers by Alex Au.
179 foreign workers abandoned by employer by Boris Chan.
Rights groups call for tighter regulations by TWC2 & HOME.
Singapore is my second home by Ching Ann Jie
TOC Expose: Repatriation companies by Jolovan Wham.
A 19th century page from a 21st century draft by Ng Sook Zhen.
“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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So in the end, Mr Somasuntharam was nt paid any money? for all his expenses and the trouble?
He was paid S$84 for the 4 days which he attended court.
Just like to suggest that when highlighting worker issues,
maybe its appropriate to touch on general singapore HR practices, policies and standards. Afterall, some call it Human Capital development. I wonder how much has your HR developed you as an employee?
Bittersweet justice. Punishment for the offenders, but a meaningless victory for the victims. “Thanks for helping to bring these evildoers to justice … you may go back to India now”.
We need another brave TKL to bring such unscrupulous agents to justice. Win-win situation for both SGians and foreign workers.
Well, true, i agree. I also have not seen a ship. The ones responsible for building them have been sent home.
This is so sad…Is this how Singapore treats it’s foreign workers?
There seems to be absolutely no incentive for those with grievances against their employers to report them to the MOM…and that appears to give these unscrupulous employers the license to do as they please.
If employers are receiving monies from foreign workers under false pretences, shouldn’t there be a system in place to check against this. After all the money is requested on behalf of the government (to pay for levies) so shouldn’t the government take some responsibility for those using the levy as an excuse to rob these poor pple.
Perhaps all fees should be paid directly to the MOM. THat would then hopefully ensure that everything is above board.
But the overall way these pple are treated should be shameful to all of us. The government has for far too long been of the view that Human rights is not a priority….well this is a sad result of that policy….We institutionally seem to mete out this disgusting treatment of those who have been taken advantage of.
Somasuntharam is a classic case why the government of Singapore should tighten the foreign worker laws. It is for the benefit of the foreign workers themselves; as they would in all probability be better off if they used the monies they pay an agent to come to work in Singapore, to start a small business and be self-reliant. It will also benefit a segment of the population of Singapore, who are reliant on job vacancies like store-hand, cleaners and drivers.
The government keeps saying that Singaporeans do not want to work in jobs currently being done by foreign workers. I personally do not think that the resident population who is in the lower segment, actually mind working as drivers, store-assistants or hotel/office cleaners. The ‘spillover effect’ of the cheap foreign labour has kept the salaries paid for such kind of jobs done by the resident population at artificially low levels. How could a Singaporean compete with a foreign worker to earn less than $400 per month ($14 per day X 26 working days)? Stricter restrictions and enforcements on the hiring of foreign workers will bring much needed relief and benefit to the marginalised population in Singapore.
To #7 TOC???
I believe the intention of TOC is not to shift blame but to heighten awareness of such malpractices in the industry. Hopefully, with increased awareness, some improvements may come along.
No one owes their livelihood to anyone. Hence, it is only out of fairness and respect that human beings get treated like one for the work that we do and wages that we earn. I believe you will want your rights as an employee to be respected too.
To #7 TOC???
Why gov let this kind of things happen? It is give Singapore bad name, you know. Say Singapore all bad cheating employers n MOM useless. TOC highlight this and gov do something to fix those cheating agents help Singapore keep its good name. Now you know why important to report this. For the good of Singapore.
Laws are fixed, dictates what one should and should not. But life isn’t that simple.
nobody is shifting the blame to Spore. but we profit from their misery and we have the laws and enforcement to stop such exploitation on our soil but prefer to close both eyes and pretend all is well and nothing to do with us – it is the worker and the agent -full stop. levies we continue to collect. only tai chi until mass protests by unpaid workers increase in freq at MOM’s doorstep then they realise they can’t evade the problems.
therefore unscrupulous overseas agents take advantage of `lax’ rules and loopholes here to continue such practices.
to say the root of the problem is with these agents is but only half the truth.
the question must now be redirected to the writer – where is his heart and brain?
I am not the one to cast the first stone.
It is good to be aware of snake heads and ensure that our laws do not become pro-snake head.
Thanks for bringing this up, and I hope the appropriate stories will be highlighted in other countries, so that less people will get eaten up.
MOM issues the work permits for the workers and then says it has no idea that it has not collected the levies from the employers of these workers.
No wonder so many of these snakehead employers and agents are sprouting up in Singapore.
I am ashamed to be called a Singaporean after reading how systematic the abuse of these workers have become. Perpetrators now get away with it because the ones that are supposed to enfore the laws are not bothered to do their job properly.
I hope I get to leave this sick country soon one day.
SP need to link MOM, the SP Embassies, Taxation and Banks in a unique network.
When SP needs workers, then workers apply directly to MOM via the SP embassy abroad. As MOM has recorded the FW, the Tax should automatically grab the data and the banks cross with the Tax office.
Singapore has gone electronic for many years if not decades, SP has got the resources to improve the system. All goes in few key touches…
This will eliminate the so-not-honest employment agencies (corruption). This will help improve Human Rights, all we need is the government to start caring about people and its image as the global knowledge keeps expanding.
Employer is a snakehead. MOM is also a snakehead since it receives workers’ levies. Minister of Manpower is finally responsible for this snake system.
Teo Soh Lung, I think its unkind to make such a sweeping statement such as “Employer is a snakehead. MOM is also a snakehead since it receives workers’ levies. Minister of Manpower is finally responsible for this snake system.
”
It is not necessary that this problem becomes the government’s when it occurs. More research is needed to discover the process of bringing these workers in. As of now, I can only say that these headcounts were prepared a while ago before the financial crisis set in. Contingency plans have to be taken when firms do not have the budget anymore to support the headcounts, neither are the jobs, previously planned for, available now.
I think it is worse back in some emerging markets, the use of child labor is an example.
Alex (#17),
Worse examples in emerging markets does not make exploitation of foreign workers in Singapore any right at all.
This is in effect modern day slavery and inhuman exploitation. The real sad revelation is not about workers abuse as this goes on all over the world. It is incomprehensible how it is allowed to perpetuate apparently for years in a country like Singapore where the government avows the rule of law and is commonly proficient in its due governance of law and order. I won’t be surprised that somewhere in the chain of command in the government agencies concerned, gross impropriety can be found that enables this racket to continue to happen. We have also recently seen that in the immigration dept.
Time the MOM and Home Affairs ministries conduct investigations, tighten the rules and bring the guilty to justice.
No wonder too why Singapore is overcrowded when there are excessive imported workers who do not have gainful employment but crowding up our limited living space and environment.
wow, i did not know got agent fee business wan.
with S-pass, EP, etc, I am not shocked that agents business exist. just shocked that the handling of FW is kinda unethical. no job for them how can like that wan? then if all agents do the same how? over night so many fw in singapore without job how? oh, repatriation business kick in? wow, the whole chain of business.
Before I left Singapore for good, my fellow collegues who were from India back stabbed me where I worked.
Companies supposedly helping me a Singaporean, were using my resumes to back up their appplications to recruit professionals from India. i.e Singaporean also applied for this job as well as the right person could not be found.
The same companies were getting annoyed by my constant nagging.
My wife and young children went through a hell of a time.
Any person who went through such an ordeal as I did will have little o rno sympathy for the above person.
In a way I could say Justice was done.
All I can say is that that is life in a first world country called Singapore.
To #17, looks like you are living in denial as well. All this exploitations happens for years, and not just during this financial crisis. For goodness sake, please dont try to find excuses to justify the unethical practices.
#17 If the minister is not the ultimate person responsible for spoiling the name of Singapore, who is?
18) smallvice585 on January 17th, 2009 12.46 pm: “Worse examples in emerging markets does not make exploitation of foreign workers in Singapore any right at all.”
Then you must also agree that flaws in the PAP do not make discredit them for good they have done.
USA also exploit Mexican to labour cost down what, so the most democratic country in the world is double-standard?
to double standard @ #27:
It is untrue to say that USA exploits Mexicans to keep labour costs down. All the states in USA, have minimum wage laws. Some states have recognised that even minimum wage may be exploitative and have enacted living wage laws.
to double standard @ #27:
A better example is the trade partnership between USA and PRC and the economic sanction against Cuba. People always ask why? PRC has better human rights records than Cuba?
Double standard is common.
@Alky
I hope we can get ourselves out in the near future too, though it won’t be easy.
Ravi is only one instance, but there may be hundreds of others foreigners who have been exploited, funding the rich gangster bosses touting gold watches and chains., smoking cigars.. its just a matter of time before this situation gets out of hand, similar to the Worthless Bonds fiasco.
Oh wait, how can we forget that National Slavery pays its soldiers peanuts, similar to Ravi? $500 / 30 = $16.6
Okay not too bad, 60cents more per day. Something hints me that NS pay is tagged to foreign-worker pay.
Besides that point, it is even more worrying to us that even FTs have no jobs…
Who is incharge of the MOM?? Is it That Wang Kan seng ??