Andrew Loh
Bangladeshi worker asked by Manpower Ministry to remain in S’pore to help with investigations ends up waiting for four years.
The number of foreign workers who faced salary disputes with their employers rose to more than 3,000 in 2008. This is doubled that of 2007. In 2009, the number of such disputes has continued. The press has reported instances of workers, sometimes in their hundreds, protesting outside the Manpower Ministry building, such as this one reported April 2009.
In such cases and where necessary, the Ministry of Manpower would issue a Special Pass to the workers, until the disputes are resolved.
In Parliament earlier this year, Manpower Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong dolled out statistics to prove that his ministry was on top of things. “On average, 85 per cent of cases in the last six months were successfully conciliated within three weeks,” he was reported to have said by the Today newspaper. Mr Gan also assured the House that the “foreign workers involved are allowed to stay in Singapore under a special pass for a short period to enforce their claims.”
For one Bangladeshi worker, however, that “short period” turned out to be four years.
Mr Asad Madber Yeaz Uddin Madber, 38, first came to Singapore in December 2001. His employer, Skilled Engineering, had outsourced him to various other companies. In such cases, which are illegal, the receiving company would pay his salary to his employer, instead of paying it to Mr Asad. All was well until 2005. Mr Asad tells The Online Citizen that he wanted to return to Bangladesh then but his employer refused to let him go. His employer, according to Mr Asad, then started to deduct his salary “for food, shelter and other stuff” and finally stopped paying him altogether. Mr Asad was owed one and a half month’s worth of salary. He then took his salary claims to the Manpower Ministry, and also complained that his employer had illegally outsourced him to other employers.
This is where things become unclear.
Mr Asad says that the MOM arranged three mediation sessions in 2005 between him and his employer but his employer failed to turn up for all three meetings. Later, he was asked to remain in Singapore to help in investigations. Since his work permit had expired, he was given a Special Pass. The waiting game then began – and lasted the next four years.
There were no further mediation sessions by the MOM in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. All this while, Mr Asad did not know what was going on, neither was he updated by the MOM on any progress of his salary claims.
In the Special Pass issued to him, the MOM reminded him: “Please note that you are not permitted to work unless you are holding a valid work pass.” Mr Asad did not have a work pass. The MOM, while retaining him and advising him he is not allowed to seek work, did not provide him with lodging or food or money in the four years from 2005 to 2009.
MOM did, however, put him on the Temporary Job Scheme (TJS). The TJS is a scheme for workers awaiting settlement of disputes. It allows them to work for other employers on short term contracts in the meantime. Mr Asad says that the problem he faced was that the employers did not want to employ him because of his heavy-set physique.
And so, in desperation, Mr Asad had to work odd jobs, risking arrest and deportation, or even jail and caning. All the while wondering what MOM wanted to retain him in Singapore for. He was asked to remain in Singapore for so long that even his passport had expired. When he applied to have it renewed, he was asked to pay $235 – money which he did not have. Now he had a new problem. Fortunately for him, with the help of an aid worker, his passport was renewed without Mr Asad having to pay the full $235. He however was still charged $35 for it.
Each week for the last four years, Mr Asad has had to visit the Manpower Ministry to have his Special Pass renewed. He showed The Online Citizen a copy of the Pass with the “chops”. (See picture, below). Each time, his Special Pass was extended for seven days.
On 15 September, again he went to the MOM. And again, MOM extended his Special Pass by another week.
Mr Asad, who is married with two children, misses his family and wants to go back to Bangladesh to see them. Here in Singapore, he is living on the edge, with little money and risking arrest and jail time by working illegally to support himself.
The Online Citizen enquired with the MOM to seek clarity on Mr Asad’s case. But after a week, and two emails, the MOM has yet to reply to our queries.
His employer, Skilled Engineering, no longer exists.
In the meantime, Mr Asad is a man in limbo – not knowing what he is here for and not getting any answers from the Ministry of Manpower.
One issue raised in Mr Asad’s example is perhaps the MOM should realize that detaining workers such as Mr Asad here, without any help given to them, forces them to resort to illegal means to support themselves. Isn’t the MOM then complicit if these workers should resort to crime? If MOM should find it necessary to detain workers in order for them to help in investigations, it is only right that the MOM also provides them with lodging and support. For, as Mr Asad’s case has shown, such investigations can take years!
Another question in Mr Asad’s case is: Why does it take four years to resolve a salary dispute?
It is likely that the MOM has totally forgotten about Mr Asad, and Mr Asad has had to pay the price for the MOM’s incompetence.
With the number of salary dispute cases rising each year, as reported by the press, it is incumbent upon the MOM that it gets its act together – so that such disputes are promptly settled and workers like Mr Asad are not made to wait needlessly for years.
Come Tuesday, 22 September, Mr Asad will again have to visit the MOM to have his Special Pass renewed.
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Mr Asad’s Special Pass with MOM’s “chops” of approval:
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If there was ever a blacklist at the International Labour Organization, S’pore would be near the top of the list!!!
Hi TOC,
What advice has their embassy given -
http://bangladesh.org.sg
Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore
91, Bencoolen Street # 06-01, Sunshine Plaza
Singapore 189652
E-mail: bdoot@singnet.com.sg
Telephone: (65) 6255 0075 Fax: (65) 6255 1824
Well, perhaps, they are just waiting for the sustainability of these people to end, and then they can just forget about it and won’t have to handle it…lol
MOM is so efficient in letting people into this country now we all get bad names from their efficiency without checks.
hahaha!!! what a joke!
this is a funny one….our first world ministries and their much vaulted professionalism cracks me up each time
we’re paying these folks big money just to do useless things like affix chops on people’s passports brainlessly
worse, they’re contributing to the social ills but putting folks through tough times and illegals means of living
brilliant!
Yea Singapore record on labour is very very poor. Imagine a Stanford Resercher is driven to drive taxi for a living. I am sure many more as Singapore human resource development is the poorest even in the civil service! Singapore government do not have a heart for poor workers only the rich and loaded. That is called money politics.
MOM let in thousands and thousands of foreigners without a wink of the eye-lid
and now has to let this poor Bangladesh worker wait for 4years in the salary dispute.
What a joke! this is the double standard of MOM. Poor chap how to survive his four years.
Gan Kim Yong (is it him manning the MOM).Just sit down and enjoy your fat pay.
What are the top civil staff in MOM doing. How can this happen?
Why is MOM keeping mum?
Four years and no settlement of a simple salary dispute!
A whole new government can be voted in during such a long time.
Time to make changes to such inefficiency.
Poor guy, how did he and his family survive all this while?
sweep the problem under d carpet n hope d poor bloke give up and go home or the company close down.
then no case.
The very statute board that regulate and protect the interests of employee is harming them instead. Ironic isn’t it?
What a disgrace!! – the MOM not acting on illegal outsourcing. Just shows how selective the Goverment and its bureaucracies are with the rule of law. It is only illegal if the Government or its sycophants say it is – and THAT depends entirely on who you are.
4 years of a man’s life reduced to 204 stamps.
Thank you Andrew for writing this piece. It saddens me to think of how the MOM bureaucracy has exercised its power in a manner so callous and unaccountable. I recall Hannah Arendt’s essay ‘Reflections of Violence’, where she states:
“…today we ought to add the latest and perhaps most formidable form of such dominion, bureaucracy, or the rule by an intricate system of bureaux in which no men, neither one nor the best, neither the few nor the many, can be held responsible, and which could be properly called the rule by Nobody. Indeed, if we identify tyranny as the government that is not held to give account of itself, rule by Nobody is clearly the most tyrannical of all, since there is no one left who could even be asked to answer for what is being done.”
And another quote by William Gladstone needs to be invoked here; “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
My prayers for Mr Asad–especially during this festive season for Muslims. MOM needs to reply–soon.
204 stamps and counting….this “document” going to make Mr Asad rich in the future….collectable piece of history for post-MIW Singapore
Sigh.
Its a classic case of where MOM dont know what they are doing.
‘Hentam gasak and hope for the best’ philosophy are what they are adopting to run MOM.
In the past, this strategy might work cause information can be regulated. But now with internet fast becoming the main source of information for many, i wonder how long will this trend continues?
Sigh.
Its a classic case of where MOM dont know what they are doing.
‘Hentam gasak and hope for the best’ philosophy are what they are adopting to run MOM.
In the past, this strategy might work cause information can be regulated. But now with internet fast becoming the main source of information for many, i wonder how long will this trend continues?
Gan Kim Yong seriously needs a wake-up call.
If things are messy, acknowledge it and take steps to improve the situation with courage. That’s the reason you’re put in-charge in the first place!
You need to stop sweeping dirt under the carpet.
MOM – better let it be known as Ministrty of Mum or Ministry of Myth .
Scholar bureaucracy. According to the LEEEDYNASTY the scholars are so smart that they can run the country in such a way that they leave the first world countries behind.
They used to say nhat but now this is quite muted.
By retaining Mr Asad for four years the scholar-Mandarin bureaucrats really show their shortcomings and stupidity.
They ought to feel ashamed of themselves.
Now that Mr Asad had suffered so much and he deserved compensation.
I suggest that we pass the hat round to engage a dedicated lawyer to sue MOM and the LDYNASTY and then send news reports all round the world to show that there are stupid scholar bureaucrats in so-called City in the Garden country.
The MOM case handler is clearly underpaid……pls increase the salary to a million sing dollars ASAP….
Gan Kim Yong has a face that looks like Seng Han Thong, so bloody annoying & philosophical – all wayang and no action only or a silent gesture from them that “You Die, Your Business” as long as their million iron rice bowl is protected, the lesser mortals are just dirt & dust to be ignored.
How efficient is our gahment? Is this an isolated case?We have the highest paid ministers in the world and our ministry is so poorly run. Are we getting value for money? Sadly high salary does not equal high productivity. Normally such thing is associated with our neigbours but we are competing with them to be the least effecience e.g the race to the bottom. If it is not for TOC to bring such event online we the citizen will be none the wiser. I had stopped saying “I am a Sinkapoerean” when asked where are you from? S.E.Asia or simply Chinese. Our country is being run into the ground, we do not feel we belong there anymore. It’s been taken over by FT/FW.
Definitely not the first or last of such cases. An ex-colleague of mine (a foreign worker) also encountered the same thing, but thankfully for her it did not last for four years. But over the months, she was not allowed to leave Singapore and not allowed to work.
Perhaps our government thinks these foreign workers are deities, no need to eat and no need to pay for a shelter….
It’s puzzling that investigations are so opaque, so much so that I get a nasty feeling that within the ministry itself, the investigation file gets shoved into a drawer and ignored, and officials keep passing him from people to people, hoping that when he bites, it won’t be themselves that gets bitten.
And this:
One issue raised in Mr Asad’s example is perhaps the MOM should realize that detaining workers such as Mr Asad here, without any help given to them, forces them to resort to illegal means to support themselves. Isn’t the MOM then complicit if these workers should resort to crime?
reminds me so vividly of the movie The Terminal, where the officials are simply waiting for Tom Hanks’s character to commit an offense so they could deport him.
lky regime is only interested in the gdp. why should the regime be interested in resolving Mr Asad’s problems. besides many true blue singaporeans, i.e. with voting rights, would not be worrying for him. singaporeans are only concerned with the bread/butter issue that affects them directly (hence, the election bonus for all eligible citizens).
This is downright injustice.What does, “…to build a nation based on justice and equality. Irregardless of race, language and religion…” really means. No wonder students are not bothered to recite the National Anthem, It is losing value.
SOON they’ll offer Mr Asad “permanent” resident status….
aiyoyo
so blur one…
seems like become PR pretty easy hor !?
aiyoyo
MOM is very looser. The want only money. I have also case in mom last 1 year but naver any thing responce from mom. Now i am also confuse what can i do? Now i dont have job also. I am s pass holder. I know good computer and good knowladge in electrical also. I have diploma and digree also. But no any soluation for my case. If any budy have any soluation pls reply me on my mail.
Rahulpatelsg@yahoo.com