Andrew Loh
The response from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and the National Parks Board (Nparks) to a letter by Mr Joshua Chiang on the issue of the homeless is, to say the least, appalling. (See here.)
While it is not surprising that these government departments would defend the government’s stand on the issue, the manner in which Mr Chiang’s points were summarily dismissed or ignored shows the insignificance the officers who signed off on the response give to the issues raised in Mr Chiang’s letter.
But what really takes the cake is the reply that:
“Pursuant to the Destitute Persons Act, anyone found in a public place with no means of subsistence or accommodation will be admitted to a welfare home for evaluation and rehabilitation.”
First of all, why do the officers, in quoting the Act, immediately assume that there is somehow something “defective” about homeless people, so much so that they have to undergo “evaluation” and “rehabilitation”? The reply does not indicate or explain what these “evaluation” and “rehabilitation” mean.
More importantly, such a reply smacks of an appalling lack of understanding of what being homeless is and who these homeless people are. The reply seems to indicate that anyone found to be destitute will automatically undergo such a process of “evaluation” or “rehabilitation”.
The starting point, clearly, for these government officers is that once you’re destitute, you need to be “rehabilitated”.
In short, is the government saying that homeless people are somehow “defective”?
In our interaction with the homeless, they indeed are quite normal people. They have families. They laugh and cry as ordinary people do. They worry and yes, they do have jobs as well. And they aspire to better lives for themselves and their families – just as everyone does.
While they also may have been less than prudent in their plans for their lives or livelihood, this however does not mean they are any less ordinary, or that they are indeed abnormal and in need of “rehabilitation”.
Finally, the government’s reply, unwittingly or not, will contribute to the stereotype of the homeless as “lesser Singaporeans”.
Perhaps what is needed is for government officials to be more careful in their choice of words in describing certain segments of Singaporeans – especially the less fortunate.
And also for these officers to understand that while they may be acting according to the law, the law is not carved in stone or should be applied without compassion and common sense.
It would have been good if the reply had addressed the particular examples raised by Mr Chiang – instead of saying that all is fine and dandy and that the government departments are on top of things.
Clearly, the rising number of homeless people taking shelter in our public areas (which do not just mean our public parks) shows that MCYS, the HDB and NParks are not addressing the issue effectively, despite its claim to the contrary.
Again, in our interaction with the homeless, the behavior of some of these officials, especially those from NParks and the HDB, leaves much to be desired.
The reply may paint these government departments as being caring and wanting to help the homeless, from our observation however, this is far from true in many cases.
For if the claim was true, there wouldn’t be so many homeless people camping out in parks and beaches for months before MCYS, the HDB and Nparks decided to “help”.
Did these departments suddenly become “caring” overnight?
Such a typical reply that it makes me sick to the stomach. Did the authorities think that they have a choice. They are not only ‘squatting’ in parks but anywhere they can lay their heads to sleep. ( see link ).
If the relevant bodies think they are helping to solve the problem the reality is far from the truth.
http://www.sha.tc/singapore/singapore-swiss-standard-of-living
Those people have been too comfortable sitting in their air-conditioned office to be able to understand and comprehend what has been going on at ground level.
They think that ALL these homeless families chose to live as they are by choice. And I don’t think they (the relevant authorities) are going to help these people solve their housing issue anytime soon.
True. The response from the relevant authorities to Joshua’s letter is real sick ! And that was also the reason why it was not put up on the ST Discussion Board !
I fear that the parks is just tip of the ice berg.
For all we know, there may be more homeless ppl camping in the wilds of our central reservoir area.
Haha reminds me of how the Nazis executed the Final Solution.
this is 100% RED COMMIE !
now I can feel why we are getting closer to China and all the “speak mandarin” promotions.
So we don’t creatively questian, policies and actions by the commie rulers.
Excellent brain cleaners!
yes, i was very shocked and angry when I came across the R-word – rehabilitation.
that speaks volumes about the mentality of PAP rulers! if you’re not economically productive ENOUGH to survive on this island, you need REHABILITATION!
of course, the most correct and enlightened souls on this island are the PAP rulers – they pay themselves millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.
“that speaks volumes about the mentality of PAP rulers! if you’re not economically productive ENOUGH to survive on this island, you need REHABILITATION!”
So what’s new to PAP ? In the same WAY, “if you’re not economically employable ENOUGH to survive on this island, you need TRAINING !”
Evaluation means a hair sample for “former” drug addict to see whether he has really stopped abusing drugs, just claiming that he no longer does is not sufficient. There are no former druggies they just have a remission as worldwide statistic shows. Wasting taxpayer monies on druggies would be certainly bad thing. And yes druggie made his choice and if he can’t kick his habit for good (few of them do) he is defective.
Blinded by their duty, they come to evacuate and execute their orders.
Sounds like what Jahwol had said. The final execution.
Seems like productivity needs to be drummed up in govt dept’s 1st.
The need for common sense.
I have experienced many a times, officers from govt depts not knowing what their jobs are, how to go about doing it and still stand thinking they are right. What a shame.
Perhaps, fear of losing thier pay checks is too worrying for them.
These attitudes must be stopped and investigated further, to have a better Singapore for everyone. ( Most govt depts are great in doing routine jobs however, they lose out completely when it comes to dealing with new situations and circumstances.)
These reply does not surprise me, why because it must have been a cut and paste answer to difficult questions, proberbly written by a predecessor. 10 years ago, people might have not given much thought, but today we find it absurd, but to the officer, it worked before.
I think this is the problem Singapore is facing today from top down.
[i]
The starting point, clearly, for these government officers is that once you’re destitute, you need to be “rehabilitated”.
In short, is the government saying that homeless people are somehow “defective”?[/i]
for a start..the above useless eatricewasteseeds government servants think they hav ironricebowls..till the day when they get retrenched machiam machiam hdb/psa/st ^remanagement^ …onced they find themselves jobless..they cannot serviced their 4/5/6/7 rooms mortgages and become homeless themselves..let see how effectives they are and how would they rehabilated themselves? many of this socalled arrogant ex-civil servants endup in multilevemarketins schemes which theorticalLEE is illegal and uneithical…and the best part is………..
they assumed onced on thier owned socalled venture..their ole contacts/kakis/suppliers would support them……dreamed on..looked @ our ex-ministers/mps…who now know them beside even sittin with them in a cheapskate kopitiam?
talk is cheap and BIG…as lon as you are under leekuanyew’s payrolls…..
Happy Tiger Year to one and all!!
May the year of the tiger protect and help the homeless, needy and elderly,
from the GREEDY , UNCARING, HYPOCRITE, ET CETRA, ET CETRA , PAP!!
Cheers!
PAP SURE TO LOSE IN THIS ELECTION!
As someone who has lived homeless for over 13 years, I can tell you that the government isn’t far wrong in their assessment of homeless people. Homelessness is something that just happens. There are certain issues that factor into a person becoming homeless. Also, once a person becomes homeless, it is impossible for him/her to get out of homelessness without some aid coming from someone who is not homeless. The government can provide such aid. But the government won’t know what kind of aid to provide the individual until after they have been evaluated. That is because each person’s issues are unique. I’m thinking the only real problem was in their choice of words by calling it rehabilitation. Perhaps “aid” would have been a better word.
When a person sustains a physical injury, perhaps they broke their leg, then they need the help of health professionals to reset the leg, put it in a cast, give them time to heal, and then some rehabilitation to build the leg’s strength back to functioning level. Homeless people are injured people, and should be treated just like any other injured person. They need help from professionals, they need time to heal, and they need to strengthen their abilities to handle life as a non-homeless person.
*correction. 2nd sentence should read: Homelessness is “not” something that just happens to people.
//Kevin Barbieux
excuses again.
To Kevin Barbieux on Feb 15, 2010 1:50
I believe you are not aware where these people in the above report was sent to.
They were sent to the Angsana Home where freedom of movement is curtailed. There are other NGOs available to help such people, and the authorities could just send the homeless’ details to the NGOs.
Why, you may ask, to the Angsana Home? It is because the authorities would like to cover up the fact that Singapore do have an underclass. So instead of allowing the NGOs time to evaluate and resettle the homeless, they are repatriated to a place where their freedom are limited and easily monitored. Not to mention, they will be hidden from the public eye.
Angsana Home is not a place for a Homeless family with young children in tow. It is a purposely-built home for the elderly destitute and ex-drug addicts.
If they are being jailed for being homeless, that is wrong, but nothing in what I read lead me to believe that to be the case.
If these people are jailed only for being homeless, then I agree that that is wrong. But, are they in Jail? Are they receiving real rehabilitation? Homeless people do need to be rehabilitated. But not to be hidden away. The difference between what the government says it’s doing, and what is actually happening should be exposed to the light of day.
Andrew Michael Teo:
FYI, it was put up on ST Discussion Board for awhile. I know, i posted my comments. Then, it was removed. I know, my comments did not went through even though I did not logout.
Kevin: “Are they receiving real rehabilitation? Homeless people do need to be rehabilitated.”
What from?
To Kevin Barbieux Feb 16, 2010 0:56
Quoting from our own ‘Great’ Leader himself:
“The human being is an unequal creature. That is a fact. And we start off with the proposition. All the great religions, all the great movements, all the great political ideology, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, from a speech during the 1960s, Success Stories
“We must encourage those who earn less than $200 per month and cannot afford to nurture and educate many children never to have more than two… We will regret the time lost if we do not now take the first tentative steps towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a large number of the physically, intellectually and culturally anaemic.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1967
“If you don’t include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society…So what happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation. That’s a problem.”
-Lee Kuan Yew in 1983 National Day Rally
“The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to do with culture. The whites score on average 100. Asians score more … the Bell curve authors put it at least 10 points higher. These are realities that, if you do not accept, will lead to frustration because you will be spending money on wrong assumptions and the results cannot follow.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997
“I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that’s the most unlikely thing ever to have been, because millions of years have passed over evolution, people have scattered across the face of this earth, been isolated from each other, developed independently, had different intermixtures between races, peoples, climates, soils… I didn’t start off with that knowledge. But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I’ve come to.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997
So, I hope you now understand our socio-political issues. When we have someone in power who believes all men are not equal, and who believes in the Chinese Master race….there will be no place in society for the people like the homeless.
Genomics is not the question here. the problem here is about the homeless. the homeless are not subject to any form of accountability or any form of rules and regulations, and so are rowdy and lawless teenagers who frequent HDB void decks and desolate areas. What is needed here is an active reach out by authorities to people who need help, as well as an acceptance of help by the people who need them.
There is a social stigma of being identified as ‘homeless’ and many people avoid going to their MPs or even their relatives for help even though they are in desperate straits. This has to change. If they are earning less than $1,000 per month they should be eligible for social assistance and government handouts. There are also cheaper apartments available for rent on special rates.
It all depends on whether they have the courage to lose their ‘face’ to get it.
To Incredulous ,
We have a dynsfunctional “man” in control of all organs of the government to make all his dynsfunctional ideas into dynsfuntional policies into reality to the singaporean people.
God choose to give men free-will but we have a tin pot wannabe “god” playing god with real lives!
How more stupid and dynsfunctional can it be!
the govt criteria to render social assistance is too mean. no first world country uses that kind of standards.