Joshua Chiang
The first thing you would notice about Rahim (not his real name) is the slight bulge on the left side of his T-shirt.
As he lifts his shirt to reveal an ostomy bag attached to the side of his abdomen, Rahim tells us the pouch collects his stools. Surgical removal of parts of his colon meant he no longer could ease himself normally.
You see, Rahim has colon cancer.
It is ‘very troublesome’ whenever he has to change the bag when it got too full, he tells The Online Citizen. The only time he could clean himself up was at night when his wife was back from work, and in the privacy (and darkness) of their tent.
Rahim and his wife, who suffers from asthma, together with their their 18-year old son have been staying at the park for the past six months. Two other daughters (aged 13 and 15) are in a shelter run by Pertapis Welfare Service, a voluntary welfare organization. He has two other children from his first marriage but they are no longer in contact with him.
His wife has just started work as daytime security guard in a factory nearby. His son, who is from his second marriage, is awaiting his enlistment into National Service. He grinned when we joked that at least he would have beds to sleep on when he gets enlisted.
Unlike many of the cases we’ve met, Rahim and his family are not in the queue for HDB’s rental flats. They’ve used up all the ‘lifelines’ HDB has to offer.
In 2001, Rahim’s family moved into their first HDB rental flat in Clementi. A few years later, Rahim bought a four-room flat in Woodlands. As both his children from the first marriage were working, they could afford to finance the loan for the flat. According to Rahim, the two soon fell out with the rest of his family and left. Rahim, who had colon cancer by then, had to surrender the flat to the bank.
They then rented a one-room flat in Marsiling from the HDB. However, the flat was very far from the school which their younger children were attending. Their agent came up with a solution – sublet the Marsiling flat and use the rent collected to cover the rental for a flat nearer the school.
It wasn’t a perfect solution – they still had to fork out $100 every month to cover the rent for the flat near the school. Rahim says that he didn’t know it was an offence to sublet his rental flat.
In 2008, the HDB found out about the subletting, and evicted and barred them from renting any flats from the HDB for five years. Faced with no other options, the family ended up in the park.
Rahim’s search for help eventually took him to MCYS which arranged for his two daughters to be put in the Pertapis shelter. It was a painful decision, but he agreed because he didn’t want them sleeping in the park. (His son was too old to qualify for a place in the shelter.)
They also advised the rest of his family to move into Angsana Home where they would get free food and medication for his illness. However, he and his wife would have to sleep in separate dorms. They would also not be allowed to go out. Rahim rejected the offer as it would break up his family and prevent them from working.
“We can work,” he told us firmly. “We don’t need the free food. I just want a roof over our heads so my family can be together again.”
——
Happy Birthday, Mrs B
Lynn Lee
“I’m 47 today!” she exclaims, and her eyes tear up. “I prayed to god for a miracle, and you came along.”
We all make soothing noises. It’s nothing really, aunty. Just a few bags of biscuits. You know, to help you through the long evenings here in the park.
There’s very little light where the family is camping, so we can barely make out the expressions on their faces. Her 18-year god-daughter sits all poised and prim on the grass. She tells us she’s looking for a job, maybe as a waitress at Pizza Hut. Squished inside a smallish tent are her son and his friend. 18, and waiting to enlist in the army. They look like regular kids. One has studs in his ears. Spiky hair. He grins when you ask his name.
The family’s been living rough since 2008. A long, long time. Especially given the government’s claims that people are only ever temporarily homeless in Singapore.
“Void decks, mosques. I’ve slept everywhere,” she says.
“People stare.” Her husband chimes in. He’s a skinny man with tired eyes. A sick man, battling cancer for the last 17 years. He clearly doesn’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of. Even lifts up his t-shirt to show us his stoma bag.
“Three operations,” he tells you. “Colon cancer.”
They lost their HDB flat in 2005. His health was failing and his two children from an earlier marriage decided to stop contributing to the mortgage. The family managed to get a rental flat from the government but made the mistake of letting it out and moving to another apartment much closer to their children’s school.
“After that, they barred us for five years,” she says. Her eyes well up again. “Why so long? All we wanted was shelter.”
It’s Singapore. HDB has rules against subletting flats leased from the government. Did they not know that?
You almost ask the question, but then bite your tongue when you see the look on her face. She is weary. Exhausted. They wanted to be nearer to their children’s school. Surely any parent can understand that?
“I have two other kids,” she says suddenly. “They’re living in a home now. 13 and 14. I’ll see them this weekend.”
“So hard when they left,” her husband interjects.
You ask if they are working. She’s just found a full-time job as a security guard. It pays $1,300 a month. Her husband, on the other hand, can only work part-time. He says he used to be employed by Cisco but in 2004, they told him to leave because of his illness.
“They saw my stoma bag. They don’t like.”
They live from camping permit to camping permit. Once, they say, NParks officials came, took down their tents and confiscated their blankets. They were told they had to pay $300 if they wanted their stuff back.
“I said, OK, take. Give you lah!” For a moment, there is fire in her eyes. Then it is gone and she looks thoughtful.
“You know,” she tells us as we’re leaving, “thank you very much for coming. I don’t want to trouble you. You are here on my birthday. And you brought us this food. A present for me! I thank god for that already.”
—-
To Nparks,
I see you’d rather spent MILLIONS on refurbishing Bishan Park which is otherwise already well equipped and DOES NOT need further improvement, than to just allocate a small section of the park to house these destitute people. To rub salt onto wound, your officers are confiscating blankets. I hoped that your office get struck by lightning.
I am at a loss of words. So many similar cases like this have been reported in a few online protals and yet there is nothing done to lighten the sufferings of these ‘campers’.
It is not as if the relevant agencies do not know about these problems, they know. Our dear Mr Vivian had gone on his own clandestine ground trips to recce these places. It seems that there is no sense of urgency, not a single bit, on the part of MCYS, HDB and whoever responsible for looking after the welfare of the needy people.
The people in blue uniform is so drilled to follow on their line of duty to confiscate blankets from them, tear down their tents and asked for $300 fine. If this is true, where is their conscience? Are not the not like us when they are not in their uniform, just another Singaporean? Where is their righteousness? In instances like these, must they perform their duty so diligently so that they themselves can answer to their superior, disregarding the well being of their fellow citizens?
I will not be surprised if one day, one of these needy people having no other avenue and pushed to their limit, stormed into HDB or other govt agencies to protest with their lives. Lets pray it will not happen.
To the men in blue uniform, please have a heart, don’t take their blankets away. Think of your own family members being in the same plight.
It now seems that what some members of the opposition party proposal on some form of welfare is indeed much needed in our country.
I hope MBT can double up to help reduce their sufferings and focus on them first, and not trying so very hard to resolve the housing issues of the foreigners. I am sure his MBT’s parents are good people who had taught this son of his to serve the people rather than to sit on the problems. To borrow and revise what Mark Anthony said about during Julius Caesar’s funeral : For Brutus (MBT) is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men. …. I dreamed they are honourable men!
Joshua, please let us know more of such cases. If there are people keen to at least alleviate a little bit of the sufferings of these needy people, how can we help?
rahim..
may Allah blessed you
salem ale kam
زين بالنسبة لك و لعائلتك صليت “الله قد” المباركة وحماية كنت هناك شيء يمكن أن أفعله لك
Im an athiest. But this is the moment that I wished there were gods. Beings infinitely greater and more powerful than one can imagine.
I may not b able to hold back my punch if i were there. Making the life of another human being difficult is not what a person with proper upbringing should do. This is worst than animal.
When did our society become like that? Where have the government left their conscience and compassion?
Hi Zing,
When we learn there are campers in certain places, we would normally go down with groceries kindly donated by the public and hand out to them (if we learn that they are truly homeless). So you may want to consider donating some foodstuff (halal please!)… and anything that you think might help.
I’ve set up a temporary email account for anyone would wishes to help – nohappycampers@gmail.com
you can also join this group http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=243022663629&ref=ts to find out more.
MBT hates these kind of people like plague.
Let us show him how much we don’t like his policies.
Those days…people used to just build a house, an attap house and slowly refurbish it with zinc roofs.
Now we cannot do that because we have HDB and we are a developed country, you just don’t go around putting up here or there. We don’t have the land space as well.
But what a pity, these people. What are they supposed to do…i just do not get it.
Instead, of forfieting the flat, HDB should have fined them and checked on them frequently.
That should be enough, instead of sending them packing on the streets. It is time for everyone to wake up and vote opposition, at least send a strong protest vote to MBT
Poor thing, i wonder the anger the kids have in them for society at large. The envy of other kids having so much more. It is a sad state. I hope things work out for these people.
Singapore is a diabetic nation. The haves, spoilt and rotten by the “MIW sweets” of their ways are too indifferent and cowardly to bother about anything outside their comfort zones. This is a diseased nation tendered by greedy doctors waiting to cut up another piece of flesh to earn surgical allowances.
It will take a miracle through the Acts of God to humble this modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s why He strikes the Merlion first with lighting. He’s still deciding who’ s next, and next and next….:P LOL.
I genuinely and sincerely pray that the homeless or soon to be homeless will meet with God’s grace (whatever religion u choose) and resolve their plight. For HDB and the government to force the desperate out into the streets or less, is a very serious CURSE.
Very BAD KARMA ! Cannot hide. Sooner or later. Only a matter of time.
Everywhere lah. Worse in 3rd World like Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. Even 1st World like the US and Japan. We all know lah.
http://images.google.com.sg/images?hl=en&rlz=1W1ACAW_en&q=homeless+in+japan&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3GltS4-iIJHm7AO747j4BQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBoQsAQwAw
http://images.google.com.sg/images?hl=en&rlz=1W1ACAW_en&um=1&sa=1&q=homeless+us&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&start=0
http://images.google.com.sg/images?hl=en&rlz=1W1ACAW_en&um=1&sa=1&q=homeless+in+indonesia&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Very sad that this is the Singapore under PAP. They earn their millions and here we have the poor homeless. The daily ‘good news’ from the Straits Times is beginning to irritate me a lot.
it is not happening and affecting you now, it does not mean that it will not happen to you in the future.
vote wisely to prevent such things from happening to you in the future.
vote out those self-serving pigs
Folks, lets stand up and united together. This is our final chance to shape our country and claim our rights as true blue singaporeans. VOTE THE CURRENT RULING PARTY OUT!!! OUT TO THE EXIT DOOR!!! SHOW IT TO THEM WHAT IS CALLED HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHAT IS CALLED THE POWER OF CITIZENS VOICE COMING TOGETHER AS ONE, IRREGARDLESS OF RACE, RELIGION, WE STAND AS ONE UNITED PEOPLE , VOTE THE PAPAYA OUT THIS COMING ELECTION!!! THIS IS OUR LAST AND FINAL CHANCE!!!
VOTE FOR CHANGE! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!! GIVE OPPOSITION PARTY A CHANCE TO PERFORM , GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO GOVERN US !!!
YES, ALL TRUE BLUE SINGAPOREANS, IT IS HIGH TIME TO VOTE FOR CHANGE!!
I strongly feel we should vote for change if we want to build a caring and compassionate society.
HDB, why have you no mercy at all! Why can’t you just give him a warining? or a small fine? besides he is not profiting and has very good reasons for renting out his flat. By depriving them a roof over their heads where do you expect them to stay.? Sigh!
One more thing. Where is the swiss standard of living? Is this the swiss standard? I tot no one will be left behind? Singaporeans come first? Where? first to be jobless..first to be homeless..Yeah! first to serve NS..etc.etc.. Sigh!
The swiss-standard that GCT promised never materialise, and probably never will. What we have in fact is sub-standard policies that favour the foreigners, sub-standard housing that would rather house the foreigners than your own homeless, and finally, sub-standard decision makers that continue to shamelessly help themselves to the millions while many singaporeans are struggling to make ends meet.
We need to help them. How I wish CNN or international news agencies can interview and broadcast these news, and make our SG respond. Yea, I know it’s hard to make them open their mouths and give answers/solutions BUT at least let the whole world know this govt is not doing the job when we paid them millions. I am growing disgusted day by day. I hope for the day where we can rally on the streets, have real news on printed circulations, politicians who dun act blur and give ridiculous replies.
For the past 2 years, so many negative things happened in this city (yea, we are not a country, i still rem that)… and it makes me wonder why. Our govt is not stupid. Why is that they just cannot touch their conscience? I am sure some of those politicians read TOC, TemasekReview etc… but why stay so indifferent? Or maybe you all just feel that as long as Old Man still alive, you all should just act a certain way and pretend everything is ok? I do not believe your conscience dun prick you. Isn’t it sad to be living a rich life but unhappy? Look at these homeless people. They are penniless but I think being able to be with their family is the only thing that matters now. Why do you ignore them and force them further? Are you waiting for them to commit suicide just like the old lady who jumped down?
Don’t be fool by CNN or international news agencies, they are all same agenda and rhetoric driven for their own benefits, egos and hypocracies(ok there may be a minute difference).TOC is already telling the local storiess to us and that is good enough and it is us that will have to carry our own people. Don’t count and rely on f* retard to tell our stories.
Btw the whole world knows, and they could’t careless as there is no subtentian benefit from little red dot and they are already gainnig certain benefit from current political system so why rock the boat.
Hi Joshua and Zing
The campers don’t just need charity or food rations. They need a lot of help in terms of financial counselling, job skills upgrading (cos most of them seem to be working at lowly paid jobs/not working at all), then they need continuous hand holding to make sure they don’t give up after a couple of months when nothing seems to be happening.They need people to help them look after their kids, or to put them in childcare so that all the adults in the family can work. They also need mediators to go with them to their families to ask for help for shelter and support. Yes, HDB is evil and mean etc etc for taking away their flats, but do they want to continue living on the beach when they could be asking their families for support?
No, I am NOT working in HDB nor pro MBT. I am just very practical. Personal experience snippet. When my father died suddenly 30 years ago, my mother worked at 4 jobs, sometimes 5, to keep the roof over our heads. We were all very young and not working then. She and her friend went to the bank to negotiate for an extension cos the loan repayments had lapsed, but due to other financial problems, we lost my childhood home. But because my mum was doing her 4 jobs, we managed to get a (much) smaller place and she struggled like mad over the next few years to bring us up. She did it. And she is proud that she got all of us through university.
The lesson I’ve learned from my mother is that in this world, and not just Singapore, no one, not even the government, owes me anything, and if I want anything, I need to work for it.
1) @Anyone Feb 7, 2010 6:34, my guess is that you are ethnic Chinese so your mother may have an easier time in job hunting. The majority of homeless staying at the parks are Malays. As it is and has always been very tough for minority races to get a job. With low sklilled jobs being taken over by PRCs from China on work permits given liberally, its almost impossible for these Malays to find a job. Your mother issue was 30 years AGO! China was still under Mao and very closed door and it was not free market trade yet in China, correct? So your mother’s time is VERY DIFFERENT from now and cannot be used as a yardstick for the current homeless situation as that was before PAP open the floodgates to PRCs.
If PAP had NOT opened the floodgates to PRCs, then yes maybe these homeless folks may have found a job quicker.
2) zing Feb 6, 2010 18:31 “I will not be surprised if one day, one of these needy people having no other avenue and pushed to their limit, stormed into HDB or other govt agencies to protest with their lives. ”
With so many PRCs in our midst, it has already happened has it not? PRCs protesting outside MOM regularly. If PRC families get evicted from HDB, I am very certain they will storm & protest out side HDB. In a matter of time, they will but only for PRCs.
BTW, there is a PRC mother protesting outside MOE for several days becos her daughter was not able to get to the school of her choice. It was reported in TR, not sure whether she is still there.
You cannot trust the mainstream media like ST or Mediacorpse to report these type of issues to you. Becos they won’t as they want you to believe that we are forever 1st world, an optical illusion only as we Spore citizens know.
He dint said what’s in the brackett [.......]
BUT THEN, THAT’S WAT IS HAPPENING, even though ……….
No One Will Be Left Behind [ JUST LEFT ASIDE TO DIE ]
http://news.asiaone.com/News/NDP+Rally+2007/NDP+Rally+2007.html
Singaporeans Comes First For Govt [ FIRST TO BE LEFT BEHIND ]
http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100101-189132.html
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/hdbs-inflexible-policies-creating-more-homeless-sporeans/comment-page-1/#comment-128258
HDB CEO HAS ZERO COMPASSION
———————————————–
Can see from HDB CEO’s REFUSAL to answer calls to help [nearly 3 months]
a handicap man stuck at home due to a cock-up LUP that still requires residents to climb stairs to get to the lift.
[posted on TOC forum, REACH forum, TODAYonline forum, ST forum, TR forum, HWZ-CAL forum n afew others]
http://app.reach.gov.sg/reach/YourSay/YourDiscussionCorner/tabid/117/ptid/414/page/2147483647/threadid/2848/forumtype/posts/Default.aspx
[page 10 onwards]
Locals suffering and they put in money for party to welcome ‘well to do’ foreigners.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/06/last-night-of-river-hongbao-2010-to-be-organized-as-national-integration-night-for-new-immigrants/
i wonder is there a way that we can get the influential western countries to intervene and engage in our sg governance and their damn bloody hell policies which does not benefit to the people at all. is there a way to let the world know the true real situation of our country, the ugly and evil side of our govt who put our hardearned monies into their pockets!
it’s millions dollars, folks, it’s million dollars!!! this should not be! is there a way to make this govt to be accountable and answerable for the million dollars that belongs to taxpayers and return it back to taxpayers pocket instead?
Is there a way that the help can come from western side to engage and pressure our govt to stop represse their people and should be doing the right thing for their own?
Is there a way that our govt will be finally overthrown out from the parliament and that they will be thrown into jail for all the terrible things that they have done to the citizens in sg?
Is there a way ? is there a way??/
Just few like punching those millions making bastards, have their soul been eaten by dogs. Look at the happy famiLEE having a niece time with their foreign chef serving delicacies and even special coverage by the mediacorpse.
Anyone
Feb 7, 2010 6:34
Do you think is easy for anyone to find a job with an ostomy bag attached to the side of his abdomen? Who will employ him? Leaving so many kids in childcare centre is not free. Yes, no one owe us anything, not even your own families. But the government that the people elected has the responsibilities to ensure of our basic needs (housings, foods, clothings). The ministers are paid millions and they have the obligation to provide all these solutions. If not, what are they for?
To : Sigh!
SORRY HOR, HOW WE BE PAID MILLIONS IF NEED HELP POOR SG PPL
To : Sigh!
WHERE TO FIND SO MANY MILLIONS TO PAY US and help the poor at the same time.
USE YOUR BRAIN HOR.
yaya , Feb 7, 2010 11:58 – Is there a way ? is there a way??/
Yes, there is a way, just simply vote the self-serving PIGS out.
When he promised Swiss standard of living…he was promising it to his elites…not the lesser mortals.
His promised has already materialized…How else can a civil “servant” afford to go on a S$46,000 ,5 weeks french cooking course given that the city-state was in recession at that time.
…and how about a recent one spending $300 000 on daughter’s wedding with a high profile celebrity wedding planner…
Yes ,the swiss standard has indeed arrived…
@rubbish in rubbish out ,
U HIT IT RIGHT ON THE NAIL.
No money help the native Singaporean poor BUT throw million for party for foreigners
Same as below.
No One Will Be Left Behind [ JUST LEFT ASIDE TO DIE ]
http://news.asiaone.com/News/NDP+Rally+2007/NDP+Rally+2007.html
Singaporeans Comes First For Govt [ FIRST TO BE LEFT BEHIND ]
http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100101-189132.html
God only helps those who help themselves first.
If we don’t have the means then we ought not to start a big family and then expect the government (taxpayers) to feed you.
If we only care to open our eyes, this disesae is very common in Indonesia and Malaysia where the government is looked upon as the panacea for all self-created misfortunes.
Foreigners I must say find handouts an affront and some who find it hard to cope have have to sell the flesh to feed themselves.
Our government or any government can only do so much. Beyond that the whole ship can sink trying to plug the copy cat punctures that spring all over.
That’s is why the percentange and number of homeless elsewhere compared to Singapore is humongous.
http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html
The TOP 30 highest paid politicians in the world are all from Singapore
1. Elected President SR Nathan – S$3.9 million.
2. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – S$3.8 million.
3. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew – S$3.5 million.
4. Senior Minister Goh Chok Thong – S$3.5 million.
5. Senior Minister Prof Jayakumar – S$3.2 million.
6. DPM & Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng – S$2.9 million.
7. DPM & Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean – $2.9 million
8. Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo – S$2.8 million.
9. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan – S$2.7 million.
10. PMO Miniser Lim Boon Heng – S$2.7 million.
11. Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang – S$2.7 million.
12. PMO Minister Lim Swee Say – S$2.6 million.
13. Environment Minister & Muslim Affairs Minister Dr Yaccob Ibrahim – S$2.6 million.
14. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan – S$2.6 million.
15. Finance Minister S Tharman – S$2.6 million.
16. Education Minister & 2nd Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen – S$2.6 million.
17. Community Development Youth and Sports Minister – Dr Vivian Balakrishnan – S$2.5 million.
18. Transport Minister & 2nd Minister for Foreign Affairs Raymond Lim Siang Kiat – S$2.5 million.
19. Law Minister & 2nd Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam – S$2.4 million.
20. Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong – S$2.2 million.
21. PMO Minister Lim Hwee Hwa – S$2.2 million.
22. Acting ICA Minister – Lui Tuck Yew – S$2.0 million.
23 to 30 = Senior Ministers of State and Ministers of State – each getting between S$1.8 million to S$1.5 million.
Note: 1. The above pay does not include MP allowances, pensions and other sources of income such as Directorship, Chairmnship, Advisory, Consultancy, etc to Gov-linked and gov-related organisations or foreign MNCs such as Citigroup (for Lee Kuan Yew), etc.
Wakemeupearly – my mother had diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems, and later, cancer too. But that didn’t stop her from working at her 4 jobs. And please, let’s not bring race into this discussion where we are trying to think of solutions to help the homeless and other disadvantaged people of Singapore.
Roof
Bringing God into this is just not helpful, unless it is the same God that exhorts man to go forth and multiply.
For some, the ability to cope with misfortune is limited. For none is misfortune planned. In Singapore, where social welfare is limited and somewhat stigmatising, I don’t think people go about making babies with the expectation of government assistance with child support.
No matter how a family falls into a poverty trap, it is the government’s duty, by definition, to take care of it to a reasonable extent, such that a reasonably dignified existence can be had. It is the government’s job to prevent such cases from developing in the first place, through education, active social outreach, through making sure citizens get the first priority in jobs created, houses built, public funds disbursed.
It is not up to the government to judge the worth of these people, or the manner in which they did or did not bring their plight upon themselves. That would be like a doctor refusing treatment because he thinks you gave yourself the disease due to bad lifestyle choices. The doctor’s job is to heal, and the government’s duty is to manage the country so that people can have lots of children if they so wished. It is not the citizens’ duty to order their lives to extreme extents so that the government has an easy time in office.
Crutch-mentality arguments are just another of the slippery-slope excuses so popular these days – pick a hyperbole and just go with it. It is exasperating to hear such arguments because their proponents seem to persistently ignore the range of possible solutions that lies between full government subsidy for housing, and living in a tent in a park with a colon bag.
Hi All,
The government has been picturing Singapore as a Rich & Successful Country with no one living in poverty. The claim by PM Lee that “the ENTIRE population is now housed” during a speech he gave at the HDb 50th Anniversary made me puke !!!!
In fact, articles such as these should also be circulated to foreign press to reveal the truth, evidently, in Singapore behind PAP government’s and its claims.
hobbit mah,
the place im staying is a walkover. i have no chance to even vote at all! so is there still a way?
sigh….
@Anyone : your mother went through HELL to bring you and your siblings up.
do you think it is RIGHT that any mother should have to suffer like this with no help at all from the government who is supposed to look after its citizens?
she had to slog through 4 jobs despite her poor health? i’m sure you know first-hand how hard that is.
wouldn’t you want her to have had an easier time if there was some welfare from the government who might have soften her hardships a little?
emkop – nope. I don’t think any government should look after its citizens beyond reason. Why? Because I believe in personal freedom and freedom of choice, and that means living a life without government interference in my private life. Hence, since I don’t want the government interfering in my life, I don’t have any expectations of the government helping me out when I need it.
And I don’t belief in a welfare state. EVERY country that has a welfare system has high taxes. Except for Brunei, where I hear the citizens don’t have to pay taxes.
“Anyone
Feb 7, 2010 17:09
Wakemeupearly – my mother had diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems, and later, cancer too. But that didn’t stop her from working at her 4 jobs”
Good for you to have a mother who could be employed to slog away most of her life to support her children.
However, not everybody has the fortune to find jobs in present-day Singapore. Yeah, a Singapore that has changed significantly with the massive influx of foreign workers.
If your mother was in the same boat NOW, you will be one of those kids camping out there. Because hor, nowadays, full-time cleaners make only $650 a month.
Either that, or your mother had got to be more educated / fitter than this family.
Have a heart to feel compassion for the unfortunate. The kind of heart that PAP has discarded some twenty years ago.
@Anyone : “…beyond reason” ???
is giving a little help to someone who has “diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems” AND working 4 jobs beyond reason??
i’d hate to think under what circumstances a person would have to be in, in order to recieve a little help that you might deem reasonable.
@emkop – I think you’re not reading what “anyone” is saying. He’s saying that it is not the govt’s job to rescue citizens in trouble. obviously, you disagree. but hey, his family survived and thrived despite adversity, so maybe what he’s trying to say is really, anyone can survive hardship, whether or not the govt helps out.
on a related topic. now that the casinos are about to happen. what happens if someone gambles his/her flat away, and his family winds up in the park? should we help them into another flat, with the risk that the gambling family member will do it again? maybe we should be petitioning the govt to put such people into jail.
[i]anyone
I don’t have any expectations of the government helping me out when I need it.
And I don’t belief in a welfare state. EVERY country that has a welfare system has high taxes. Except for Brunei, where I hear the citizens don’t have to pay taxes.[/i]
off course you can sink song what..you are NOT the poor [b]bloke{/b] who sufferred from colon cancer right?
i have a kampong boy who [b]WAS[/b] my protege die of colon cancer just last year back..he only 44
and father of a tennaged growin up boy…have you ever seen your kaki who disappear out of nowhere only come back to say hello(goodbye) after a 9 months disappearance act? i @ first though he got AIDs..
and have you ever seen the same kaki who sufferred for months and final 1 week before he passed on?
if cancerLEe the prime minister can get a cure for his bloomin brain tumour..how come my kaki cannot?
even though he have a [b]HEALTHY[/b] medicsaves in which he cannot touched just because he only have a colon cancer.. by the way the [b]government clinic who diagnosed him told him nothin to worry about..just a stomach flu nia…
so liked i said…when a government makes mistakes…its okay by them..let moved on…l.
i prayed to GOD that when your time come…you better prayed for a quick death…
To Anyone @ Feb 7, 2010 6:34
Dear ‘Anyone’,
Your points are taken, and yes, you are being very pragmatic and down to earth in saying what you said. I can accept that, in you being realistic.
I read your subsequent posts with interest and it dawns upon me that you are somehow filled with anger and hatred, and though this feeling of yours are not targetted at anybody in particular, your words actually reflect the value in one holding up to one’s own fate.
By my own reckoning, your mother must have had to go through great hardships and experience a very arduous task in bringing up you and your siblings. She has my utmost respect. Can we imagine ourselves doing what she had done, all on her own. Of course, I do believe that in bringing you all up, she could have met some people with good hearts along the way. I also firmly believe that her strong desire to uphold her dignity in the midst of all her sufferings must have given her strength and courage, for without that, her pain would have been even more painful. Please pardon me for commenting so much about her, i said so mainly due to my respect for the greatness of your mother, the same respect I hold for all the great mothers to bring up their children, in particular those who are faced with their children having heatlh challenges.
I will not attempt to rebut your views for that is yours to keep. I can accept that. I do agree with you that providing food food for the is not the solutions. Frankly, we are not saints to be able to solve the problems faced by so many of them. It will be beyond us, and even for organised efforts put up by people like Joshua and his noble colleagues.
What I do hope is to let you at least discern the fact that these people need help, in one form or another. Not so much for solving their problems, for we all should be honest with ourselves that we really can’t. Many of us are more fortunate. By fortunate, I do not mean being rich and wealthy, powerful and influencial. What I am referring to is we have at least a shelter above us, be it a rented place. a 3-room HDB or something bigger.
Many of us are not very well off, yours truly included. However, we are able to fork out a small amount to share with these people. So the question here is, how much can we provide, it will never be enough. Granted. Our little effort, however humble, will provide some breathing space for them. We will never know when is the breaking point of these homeless (I hate to refer them as that). If they are able to fill their stomache enough as to let them take the next step in resolving their current plight, then let us just give them these space, in the form of some food, well within what most of us can provide.
Believe me, they do have their dignity, similar to what your mother had back then. And believe me too, they do not feel good accepting alms like this for nothing. I say, when we give, let us not analyse how in the first place they had come to this stage. Let us not justify if they deserve to be helped. Let us just give for just wanting to give and be that anonymous somebody that give them a small boost along their way to improve their situation, similar to those good samaritans that had given that same small boost to your mother when she was in that obstacled-filled journey.
And if there are any men or women in blue uniform reading this post, please, for sake of piety, exercise your conscience and human-discretion, don’t confiscate the very blanket that provide the same warmth your own children have in their own beds, for your children are fortunate enough not to be made to sleep in the open.
Lastly, to dear ‘Anyone’, the more you give the more you get. Please understand, I am not rebutting you but just sharing with you my humble opinion. It is good to be pragmatic and realistic, it will be even better if you add compassion to that.
@Anyone, Feb 7, 2010 17:09″Wakemeupearly – my mother had diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems, and later, cancer too. But that didn’t stop her from working at her 4 jobs. And please, let’s not bring race into this discussion where we are trying to think of solutions to help the homeless and other disadvantaged people of Singapore.”
Yes, why not bring race into the equation. Ever worked or employed Malays before to know how they feel when they are constantly battling with job stigmatisation & discrimination? Lost your argument? Think your mother can compete with the hordes of PRCs in our midst now if we teleport her to the TODAY era instead of 30 years AGO!
Guess you are lost to PAP propaganda. Met plenty of folks like you before.
ANOTHER RUBBISH REPLY FROM HDB.
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC100207-0000106/Online-Only—Waiting-time-for-rental-flat-is-now-reduced