“A few days ago, we received word that the police were letting Abu Sama’s bosses off with a warning. A warning. So apparently, it is OK for a person to rip a hole in another person’s eardrum”

Thanks Lynn Lee for writing for TOC readers.
Really appreciate it. Please JiaYou!!! I luv your articles.

IT IS SAD to learn about some Truths about life in singapore.

I have even more interesting stuff to share.

Stay tuned, I may just reveal some real life experiences with Readers and maybe they may be surprised what other Truths exist out there.

bangla FT deserves better. theyre the ones who build our hdb flats and repaint them too, and they get such bullshit treatment.

ironically, i see the other type of FT taking our jobs be praised by govt and even govt says we should embrace them.

Police in SG. Expected. I made several police reports in the past. They never get back to me, basically hope I will forget the report with time.

Once they even lost the evidence of my case….

I feel the police in SG is over-rated.

In SG, the rich gets the attention, the poor don’t.

I look at this bangala and I feel I am not much better than him.

Newspapers in SG will never publish true stories like these. Sad….

Uniquely Singapore, ruled by pencil pushers. Case closed. Another satisfied customer. Next!

So attempted kidnapping is a non-seizable offence???

Have to wonder how the police would have reacted if it was a Chinese who was grabbed and escaped or what about one of our MP’s. Sad truth, there is no-equality here in either legal application or even intent of the law.

What a crock of bull. Singapore’s moral bankruptcy is evident from many her institutions. We dont even seem to bother with the pretence of having any humanistic values anymore. On a side note, isnt it ironic how singapore insists on the death sentence, and has one of the highest levels of state sanctioned killings ( peacetime) but has decided to address potential kidnapping, and assault with a warning. Must be cos of the victim im sure. Poor guy. In another case a few years back a man punched his wife’s divorce lawyer, and when he appealed , he got his sentence increased ( for appealing ) to almost a decade. As bad as what he did was, a really dont see it as something that merits a decade in prison. really shows you how arbitrary the application of law in spore can be. And now we have that shin min editor who ran a red light, knocked down and killed a motorist, and was given 1 day in prison, even though there were witnesses who saw that editor using a handphone. ( no attempts were made to subpoena the phone records )

The ideology of pragmatism?

Why people so concerned about this indian fellow?

It is his choice to come to singapore but bad luck for him because

other indian workers in singapore didn’t meet the same fate like his.

Just his luck

maybe he is a blur king kind of worker and wants to run away

that’s why his boss gets angry

Foreign talent is talent as long as it is white and wears a shirt and pretends to sit in an office.

On the other hand it’s called illegal immigration if it’s dark skinned and does real work in places like construction sites and in our homes.

Hence, the policy goes, if its dark skinned we should abuse it but if it’s white, we need to worship it.

Shame on our country, government and the Ministry of Home Affairs/Manpower.

They have all make Singapore looks bad and a cheat.

Employers get all the protection as they provide jobs and help make our GDP looks good but we all know the truth here.

Good work by TOC and all for highlighting a serious problem in Swiss-standard SIngapore.

3) Stats on August 31st, 2009 1.55 am ,

the police here is like listen to you for competition writing contest so as the MP here.

TOC,

Why not bring up issue to the B’desh embassy & see what’s their view on
this episode. If their own embassy is keeping quiet, then it seems there’s
really no case for our authority to answer.

What about the company in question? Has reporter Lynn Lee asked them their views on the matter?
One’s heart goes out to Abu Sama, the underdog. Did any humanitarian organisation not do something to ease his plight, to put a few bucks in his pocket so that he did not go home empty-handed.
A more complete story is needed.

I am not a lawyer, but SPC Section 323 does not read like a non-seizable offense to me. Any one else parse it differently?

Hurt.
319. Whoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person is said to cause hurt. Explanation.––A person is said to cause hurt if he causes another person to be unconscious.

Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.
323. Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 334, voluntarily causes hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine which may extend to $5,000, or with both.

Voluntarily causing hurt on provocation.
334. Whoever voluntarily causes hurt on grave and sudden provocation, if he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause hurt to any person other than the person who gave the provocation, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both.

Hi #13

You can refer to the interpretation section (S 2) of the Criminal Procedure Code for some clarification. Seizable or non seizable refers to arrests without or with warrants. The police has a discretion to prosecute in order to help the poor guy. In this case, they chose to help the employer knowing that he will not be able to stay in Singapore to prosecute the case himself. Shame on the police. I thought their present policy is to help abused foreign workers esp when there is a civil claim for salary and damages for assault and battery.

“3) Stats on August 31st, 2009 1.55 am
Police in SG. Expected. I made several police reports in the past. They never get back to me, basically hope I will forget the report with time.”

==================

There was an incident I had and was asked to find out the NRIC of the alleged victim.
How is a civilian suppose to find out a total stranger’s NRIC? Go to him and ask him to show it to me?

many more incidents…

paiseh, ‘alleged victim’ should be ‘alleged culprit’.

Whether Bangaladeshis or locals.
We All are flesh and blood of our respective Mother and Father.
We are All Humans.
We have a heart and a soul.
We are there to Work for a living and not become a Slave earning peanuts.
Employers beware.
Beware of Karma.

Unfortunately, some Evil man never get Karma. This is the real test of Karma. When will Evil man get the Wrath of Karma?

Maybe next year? 1st quarter?

“11) Derrick on August 31st, 2009 10.28 am TOC,

Why not bring up issue to the B’desh embassy & see what’s their view on
this episode. If their own embassy is keeping quiet, then it seems there’s
really no case for our authority to answer.”

You know Derrick, I can never understand why people can never simply do something that Is the right thing or stand for a cause they believe in anymore. There must always be ‘grounds’, a ‘case’ has always got to be built up, the bloody Singaporean ‘by right attitude’ generally. Look, at the end of the day we don’t need another Nation’s embassy to light the way. A human being regardless of where he hails from has been horribly mistreated within our borders and our authorities, I believe, are fully able to do something about it but typically choose to be totally impotent. The fact that this man’s own country does not seem concerned with his plight does not release our country from basic human obligation! For all the humanitarian work we claim to do under the Stars and Cresent Moon this incident alone shows how socially backward we are as a nation.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. ”
Edmund Burke

@Richie (#8)

Even if he is running away, there is no cause to get violent. His eardrums got ruptured and they attempted to kidnap him. If this happened to you, how would you feel? Put yourself in his shoes before making such statements.

“First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”

True Patriot (#19) is correct; this happened within our borders, and it is up to this country to protect anyone and everyone while they are here. And we failed in doing that.

Sad incident made in singapore .

21) news reporter called DPJ as DJP? which is correct? on August 31st, 2009 2.20 pm ,

lots more akan datang!

First world country with a third world behaviour provided by the idiot boss. How ashamed the Police can be with the boss getting away with a inhumane crime.

Gabriel (#13),

Watch Migrant Dreams where the reporters spoke to his employer. Naturally, the employer denied the assault.

http://lianain.blogspot.com/2009/08/migrant-dreams-ismails-story.html

I’d have thought the police report, which said indeed an offence was committed, was enough.

change is constant, 1 day when the fortunes of S’pore hits dirt & these so-called 2rd world countries prosper. they will remember that S’pore once treated their countrymen like thrash.

already S’pore’s fortunes are sliding downhill…

Why keep reporting on foreign workers’ plight when many of our very own suffer much the same fate, including those in IMH?

Aiya, I have seen so many times in their own country workers are being slap on the face by their supervisor. Their standard lunch is a pack of white rice with just some curry water, nothing else. We must export Ms Lynn Lee to investigate and report to UN. Oh yes, before I forget the child labour problem too.

Good reporting. But I agree that more information is needed, one of which is the employer’s details. It would seem that public shaming is the only impetus to actually help make change in Singapore.

you know that something is definitely wrong with our country’s justice system when it favours a certain party over another, less distinguished one.

this is outrageous, if not preposterous.

Can someone remind me what action did the police take against that teenager, who didn’t hurt anyone, but threw a chair to vent his anger in front of an MP during a Meet-the-people session?

#28 Robox, #13 Gabriel,

Thanks for your comments.

This story wasn’t originally mean to be a report for TOC. It was posted on my blog, as a postscript to “Migrant Dreams”, a documentary about the plight of a group of Bangladeshi workers in Singapore. Abu Sama was one of the people in the film.

TOC featured “Migrant Dreams” when it was first released. That is why the editors decided to reproduce my postscript here. They thought readers would be interested in knowing the outcome of Abu Sama’s case.

For the full story, as well as an interview with Abu Sama’s supervisor, please watch the film:

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/08/migrant-dreams-singapore-has-been-a-nightmare/

Thanks Lynn for posting the plight of a poor Bangladesh worker in Singapore. If the bosses of Abu can be let off with a warning for slapping him, can Singaporeans slap the Police Commissioner and be let off with a warning as well? If so, I will be the 1st to slap the police commissioner for letting off the bosses of Abu with a warning. Was this raised to MHA to enquire why the bosses of Abu was not charged with assault?

Some of the comments above hit it on the bull eye. It is up to Sinkaporean to speak up for common justice and fairness. Mistreating a fellow human being just because he or she is poor, reflect badly on society as a whole. In the West, the Media may pick up the story and if the public support it, they may pressure the authority to step in to investigate and punish any wrong doer. Sadly, we do not have a press that speak for the disadvantaged but are happy to be part of establishment and be a propagada department of the Pay & Pay Ruling regime. Truly a society of ” No money – No talk”. If you are poor, hard luck. Take any shit that was thrown at you and keep quite. The fact that this story appear here show that there are Singaporean that do care and wished for a better and just society.

The people should try to report to the authorities, but only if necessary , and experience for themselves what the system is all about.

Try it! you’ll begin to see.

for me, i have seen enough.

Not all FWorkers are angels, i have friends whom are FW’s and myself i employ some, the majority can be law abiding and all, but the bad apples can be a pain in the a%$# . Mom investigates cases extensively there might have been another side to the story. I stay in little India and have met FW,s whom have blamed their bosses for injuries not sustained during work, They will be in crutches in the afternoons but at night and the early morning you can see them walking with ease. i have also seen people claiming the Work compensation and comming back a few months later on visit passes. F talent just accept it you’ll never know he might have been a robber, murderer or rapist in his country…………….

Singapore, in her chase for glory and wealth, has forgotten her roots. What is her roots?

To me, Singapore roots is justice, equality and racial harmony.

Justice and equality to her citizen, the local Singaporean, PR and foreign worker.

From the various blogs i read, it seen that justice has already skewed to the rich and famous. The poor has been neglected, perhaps we(the poor) don’t really are human to the PAP. WE ARE JUST NUMBER.

The PR and FT are also number to them.

In economic, there is a term called Perfect Competition.

PAP, through their aggressive immigration policy, has created a perfect compeition in Singapore labour. Almost the most competitive will survive. The weak will be weed out.

Who benefit? Of course, the PAP.

WE MUST VOTE THIS PAP OUT !!!!! ELSE IN THE LONG RUN, THE SINGAPOREAN, THE PR WILL LOSE OUT, COS IN LONG RUN, WE WILL BE REPLACED BY THE YOUNGER GENERATION.

We, the people of the RePAPublic Of $ingapore, will kow-tow to the ANG MOH FTs as FamiLEE wants and make them feel so tokong while let the gahmen treat bangala labours like 17th Century African slaves….

While many people here are lamenting how Singapore are treating the Bangla workers, let’s try to look at the other side of the story as well. Having been to Bangladesh and seen for myself the state of affairs in the impoverished nation, I sometimes wonder if we in Singapore are the ones who are really at fault. Yes the Singaporean employers are to blame, but more often than not, it is the unscrupulous recruiting agencies in Dhaka and other areas of Bangladesh who should really be blamed. And many of the Banglas I spoke to agree that Singapore has by far the best labour laws compared to the other countries where many Bangla workers go in search of work. It is cold comfort I know, but that is the sad reality and I know that many Banglas would rather give hope a shot and risk it all to come here to work instead of staying back in their country where their futures will surely remain bleak at best. Hope is a powerful motivational factor.

Thanks for your reply, Lynn. I understand better now. Please keep up your excellent work because we really need the constant reminders that there are indeed Singaporeans with hearts.

A special thank you to Ms Teo Soh Lung for the clarification of legal terminology. I hope you will continue to help us in this – or any other other – capacity.

Finally, yes. Shouldn’t it be possible for any ordinary citizen to make a police (or some other) report on Abu Sama’s behalf, if for no other reason than to serve as a deterrence?

How can our govt be so heartless?! Where there is no justice, people should take the law into their own hands.

what if this foreign worker holds an s pass permit…

or better yet… those expats?

then… how will they be treated?

just because they choose to make a living here doing menial work doesn’t mean they do not deserve a little bit of their dignity/respect or basic humanity…

(granted there are sob stories and such )

38) boon
I am afraid you have missed the point. When something like that happens all the facts and figures about oh how bad their home country is compared to singapore or its their own countrymen who betrayed them or how they knew jolly well the risks, all that no longer matters. Fact is, the ball was in our court. Try as you may there is no way to justify the lack of probing or investigation into a case where a man is held against his wishes or physically harmed. It is as good as telling the family of a murder victim that hey we don’t really care, after all, it was your fault for not shutting the window. As for labour conditions, why must we peg or even compare our standards with another country? Even if they choose to mistreat their own nationals do we as an employing nation not have any self respect? If employers choose to accept their labour they should also accept the responsibility of providing fair and proper treatment. If we really feel that hey, something is wrong with this whole foreign worker business and the source of the problems is the supplying country then fine, perhaps we should do without then, since no one is willing to do anything when it matters. There is no two way about it, the ball was in our court and Singapore turned the other way in favour of the big boys. A nation like that is doomed to fail. Shame on us!

Just to confirm that I’m the poster for #26.

Apparently many sinkies seem to forget about the saying: “CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME”.

What the lead article has decried/deployed is also felt to similar degree by sinkies, a couple of them are languishing in IMH.

At a lecture given by the AG in September last year, lawyers brought up the the case where the wife of Venture Corp’s Chairman & CEO where the AGC did not even charge the woman in Court for slapping an air stewardess who was only doing her job, and yet the person who spoke harshly to a taxi driver in a road rage case was charged, convicted and I believed jailed.

Where was the justice when a teenage boy was killed by a badly rusted lamp post while playing basketball at the Tampines Town Council basketball court when the Coroner ruled that it was misadventure when it was a case of criminal negligence? Ditto the little Malay girl, Siti, who fell through a gap in the railing formed as a result of a badly rusted bar which had broken off, from the 4th storey of her parent’s rented flat at Telok Blangah.

While the idealism as expressed by #42 is admirable, one cannot talk about values/ideals in a vacuum.

#42 obviously did not get the context and perspective of what #38 had posted.

People can rate others base on their half baked views and opinions formed from blinkered and limited capacity to see or to accept the facts & reality and therein lies the problem which we, as sinkies, continue to face.

Oh, do flame me and rate this most negatively………..it isn’t going to make things better in so far as justice or the lack of it is concerned.

42) True Patriot Down South

Yes the ball is in our court, and yes if we are a truely developed society then let us think fo ways to solve the problem. So what do you suggest? From what I can see, the only way to really prevent such unsrupulour employers here is for MOM to really crack down on them. The way? More manpower and resources to do that of course! And where do we get the money needed? From the people of course! Are you willing to do that? Singaporeans are a practical bunch. One of the main reasons why the special permit workers and FT have better labour protection is precisely because they bring in the money. If we are truly idealistic, then we need some form of sacrifice. Sadly, I don’t think we are at the point yet.

So I don’t think I have completely missed the point. My point was just that we have to look at things at a more global perspective. Even in the US, just look at the appalling conditions that the migrant workers from Mexico and other latin american nations work in. Unless you are willing to pay exorbitant taxes such as in the cases of France, UK or the Scandanavian countries, then I don’t see any other way to really help these foreign workers. There are at least 80K Bangla workers in Singapore, how will we be able to help everyone?

And in the defense of Singapore, we do have some NGOs helping migrant workers such as TWC2. Just because they are less often in the limelight dosen’t mean that there aren’t anyone who is actually doing something. It is just that the odds seemed to be too great at the moment.

so everything is ok just because you see it a more global perspective? so since the migrant workers suffered their fate and nothing much is being done for them, it is for here in singapore that these poor workers are being exploited by our own countrymen? god damn then i am ashamed to a singaporean.

why are there 80k bangla workers here in the 1st place if not for these unscrupulous singaporeans who call themselves human beings had lured them here in the 1st place? oh those dhaka agents lured the singaporean agents by dangling golden carrots? please..

this is very sad, no wonder the rich are getting richer and poor getting poorer.

and it is also not these banglas are being exploited, the maids, even the prc streetwalkers have been victims of similar scams. they are promised big dreams of greener pastures but have they hopes dashed and savings ripped under their noses by these scammers. surely something can be done? but what are MOM doing?

i see fellow singaporeans disgusted at these banglas and SOME prc streetwalkers flooding our streets, but are they really aware why the situation got into this in the 1st place?

but yeah, sure, things aren’t relatively better off in countries like america either, right?

Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt
323. Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 334, voluntarily causes hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine which may extend to $5,000, or with both.

If this were a non-seizable offence, why does the penal code provide for punishment to be meted out? Or is this part of the penal code redundant since no offender would ever be prosecuted for this offence if the police doesn’t seize them.

The only caveat in Section 323 is this.

Voluntarily causing hurt on provocation
334. Whoever voluntarily causes hurt on grave and sudden provocation, if he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause hurt to any person other than the person who gave the provocation, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both.

If this is the defense of the employer, I would contend that there was “grave and sudden” provocation. I would also contend that even though the employer may not have known that slapping Abu Sama would have caused him to have a perforated eardrum, the force require to make such an injury possible must have been quite great, in which case the employer should have known that some kind of harm would have been done to Abu Sama (that was probably his intention too)

[...] had had his skull cracked open. In another, a worker lost his hearing in one ear. (Read it here and here.) No one was prosecuted in both [...]