By Andrew Loh
This article is updated with the video of the minister’s remarks. (Please see below). Read also: Vivian Balakrishnan – Wannabe tough guy’s fall from grace on TOC Facebook.
At a forum organised by REACH, the government’s online feedback portal, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said:
“If you were a poor person, anywhere on this planet, Singapore is the one place where you will have a roof over your head, where you will have food on the table. Even if you can’t afford it, we will have meals delivered to you.”
Dr Balakrishnan did not clarify who he meant by “we” when he said “…we will have meals delivered to you.” One assumes that he is referring to the government, or more specifically, his own ministry.
If this were so, it would run contrary to what we have witnessed on the ground. In my interaction with various sections of poor people and homeless people in Singapore, I have yet to come across any government department or ministry which provides free meals to those who cannot afford them.
Instead, the free meals are provided by religious groups, non-governmental organizations and well-meaning Singaporeans. (Please see some of these in the list at the end of this article. Courtesy of: Hub Pages. )
Perhaps the question we should ask Dr Balakrishnan is: Which government agency or ministry provides free meals to the poor – and deliver to them as well? If this is indeed so, could the minister provide the details – which government programme does this, what kinds of meals are provided, what are the criterias to qualify?
With the increasing number of homeless and poorer Singaporeans in our midst, giving full publicity to such government programmes, if they exist, is of paramount importance. After all, it could be a matter of life and death.
Dr Balakrishan will forgive this writer if he (this writer) sounds guarded about the minister’s assurance, especially when this writer remembers the dismissive and condescending tone of the minister’s reply to MP, Dr Lily Neo, in 2007. Dr Neo had asked the government to increase the amount those on the Public Assistance scheme receive.
Dr Balakrishnan rejected Dr Neo’s appeal with these words (see here):
“How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”
If the government does indeed provide free meals for those in need, why is it that during the recession of 2008/2009, when long queues for free food could be seen at places like the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, the government did not make it known then that it also provides free meals?
Why is Dr Balakrishnan saying so only now – after the bad times are over?
While the minister may now declare that free meals will be provided and even delivered to the poor, one hopes that the minister will not just make empty promises – and spend more time on the ground getting to know the reality which an increasing number of Singaporeans are facing.
Otherwise, we can dismiss the minister’s words as just hot air from the Ivory Tower.
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Headline picture from the Straits Times
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Here are some of the places that provide free meals (from Hub Pages):
Singapore Buddhist Lodge. The Kim Yan Road temple serves free vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7am to 7pm. All are welcome regardless of their race or religion. In the queue one can find all sorts of people, from the homeless, unemployed, foreign students, foreign construction workers and of course some freeloaders who work nearby.
The Central Sikh Temple. The temple in Jalan Bukit Merah provides free vegetarian Indian lunches every day.
Nativity Church. This Catholic church at the end of Upper Serangoon Road provides free breakfast and lunch every day.
The Lutheran King of Glory Church in Norris Road, serves free meals every Sunday to ndian workers dring its Taml service.
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. This Buddhist temple at South Bridge Road provides free meal from 12.30pm to 6.30pm every day.
Tian Tao Temple at Sengkang invites foreign workes to its Sunday breakfast buffet.
Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society. They have meal centres in Toa Payoh (Blk 31 #01-663 Lor 5), Telok Blangah (Blk 3, #01-504, Telok Blangah Crescent) and MacPherson (Blk 90, #01-103, Pipit Road).
Sri Krisna Mandir. The Hindu religious group at No 9, Lor 29, Geylang. serves free vegetarian food from 11am to 10 pm daily. All are welcome.
Care Corner Seniors Activities Centre. The Centre at Toa Payoh, Lor 7 Blk 5 #01-131 serves free breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea for senior citizens. (http://www.carecorner.org.sg)
Free Hawker Meal Program. If you are a needy resident living in Tanglin-Cairnhill area, you can apply for help at the Tanjong Pagar GRC. The GRC, under the free Hawker meal Program provides $36 worth of meal vouchers every month to needy recipients for a year. You can exchange the $3 voucher for a free meal at selected food staff at some of the coffee shops in Bukit Merah View and Henderson Road.
Sutha Restaurant. This restaurant at Cuff Road provides free breakfast (from 7am to 9am) and dinner on weekdays only and lunch on Sundays. This is for stranded Indian workers in Singapore whose beds are the concrete walkways along Cuff Road. These distressed migrants are abandoned by their employees after their work injury or they are duped by the agents. To qualify for the free food, participants are asked to show a Special Pass (a govt-issued document, which means they do not have a work permit) or evidence that they are injured / have a case pending (a letter from a doctor/lawyer plus a work permit). It is funded by the Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) together with One Singapore.
Lamea Restaurant. The TWC2 provides free dinner for Bangladeshi at Lamea restaurant at Desker Road. (http://www.twc2.org.sg)
ACMI. A Catholic humanitarian group called the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People or ACMI, feeds migrant workers three times a week at its premise in No 2, Highland Road. The site is beside the Church of the Immaculate heart of Mary (http://www.catholic.org.sg/acmi/soupkitchen.htm).
The Migrant Workers Centre in Rangoon road provides free lunches once a month in parntership wth neigbouring restaurants. The center is a joint effort betweeen the NUTC and the Singapore national Employers Federation.
YWCA. Their meals-on-wheels for Elderly distributes free lunches to needy, frail and homebound senior citizens in Banda Street, Bukit Merah View, Cantonment Road, Holland Road, Lengkok Bahru, and Mei Ling Street.
Their Meals-on-wheels for Children program provides free dinner for children from Low-income families who are schooling in Zhangde Primary School, New Town Primary School, Queenstown Primary School, Gan Eng Seng Primary School and Beyong Social Services. For more information on the meals-on-wheels program, please contact Ms Celest Ling at 6223 1227.
The Willing Hearts, a secular group, distributes free food in 10 areas, among them Ang o Kio, Bukit merah and Hougang. Call 9690-2086 for more information.
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Dr Balakrishnan’s remarks:
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Time and time again, when our leaders speak, they reveal to us - either (i) they are totally out of touch with the lives and the struggles of the common folk in Singapore or (ii) they are so elitists that they don’t really care about the lives and the struggles of the common folk.
People can see through hypocrisy very easily.
nowadays whenever i do my adhocs on sites… i still get free meals on the table with clients familly…even they are cuttin down dishes on their daily meals..meself already downgrade me dinner to a simple homecook budgeted teochew 2 dishes porridge…
I have never known the Govt would deliver food to your
door-steps but I have seen citizens bargaining to cut down
medical prescriptions at govt hospitals because they have
no means to pay.
More likely their motto has been “you die your business”
If he could not provide cases where Govt did so, then he should
have jolly well shut up iso of subjecting himself to the ridicules
of netters here.
Craps! There is no such thing as free food. Nothing is free in this world. Singapore is no exception.
The way Bala puts it makes Singapore sound so wholesome, like Utopia…. Why can’t these guys give better, realistic analogies or statements?
You want the truth? To survive in Singapore and lead a basic lifestyle, you must constantly “UPGRADE” (don’t they love to use this word?!!) yourself, work HARD for money that will eventually be used to pay your $600,000 HDB flat, child’s education, transportation/utility bills, miscellaneous expenses, food, etc. And do work HARD till you’re past your retirement age if possible else you can’t survive the high costs of living here. And don’t fall ill.
I hope Bala will not read this blog as most of it are craps. Third world mentality. Shameless!
Bala did not hear His Master’s Voice shouting:
THERE’S NO FREE LUNCH!
//thinktok
bala did read and got rid of some homeless in the process.
way to go toc!
look at nkf, all those donations were largely in bank accounts and not distributed widely. you expect government charities to really look after the poor? they rather build posh buildings, make TV shows and ask for donations and pay their executives 100s of thousand.
did not LHL said GST is to help the poor? ha ha ha
No money, meals delivered to you? A dream or what?
Singapore is all talk only lah.. they are not genuine about helping poor. Only lip service.
He seems to be selling an idea to the world of poor people to come to Singapore and deliver meals to them?
As a social service practitioner, I feel rather disturbed after reading the posts. In my understanding working with lower-income families, I can empathise with their circumstances that many of them are in. The struggles that these families face on day to day basis are tremendous and often unseen by many people in the upper class.
Many of these families have difficulty with bread and butter issues. Most disturbing to me is that children’s basic needs are often not met due to the families’ circumstances.
Spoken to some, the feedbacks I got are that seeking help from community and govt are often their last resort as they will try to manage the difficulties first. However so, seeking help from their local Mps and CDCs are not always helpful as helps come rather measured and burdensome and are not always practical. Many of them told me that they have given up hope and not considering seeking help from govt.
In my views, govt need to focus more attention to alleviate the challenges that these families face. Hopefully our minister can do something to help the less privileged citizens as the nation progresses.
Your sincerely.
Dan
Dan@18.4.10
Truly sad is it not???the poor,sickly,elderly less privilege has to lose their last ounce of dignity to turn to the govt. for help and face more ridicule,uncalled for scrutiny to receive a paltry sum which is hardly sufficient to survive.
Do not hope Dan, pray that these miserable lot will find more peace in another world and the sufferings they have to undergo will not be forgotten by those that benefit through their sacrifices most of all the ELITES.
Admittedly,there are some which are self inflicted but most owe it to circumstances beyond them,after all are they not our very OWN fellow Singaporean???
Why talk about Burma and others when we cannot even care for our very OWN.
HYPOCRITES!!!
Vivian bala…a damn hypocrite liar.
Thanks for your posting on this site. From my own personal experience, many times softening way up a photograph could provide the photo shooter with a chunk of an inspired flare. Oftentimes however, that soft cloud isn’t just what exactly you had at heart and can sometimes spoil an otherwise good photograph, especially if you intend on enlarging the item.
Do Chan Chun Sing agree with him? Do Tin Pei Ling agree with him?