On 5 July, and on Mr Koh’s behalf, we asked you our readers for suggestions on how Mr Koh should use his S$500,000 funds to help needy Singaporeans. (See here: How should I help?) We have received quite a few replies and suggestions – both in the comments section here and through email. We thank everyone who made these suggestions and we welcome any further ideas you may have.
Here is Mr Koh’s (not his real name) response to your feedback.
Firstly, I would like to thank the 80 or so people who emailed or posted their suggestions, ideas and comments.
I was particularly moved by a few readers who offered to help in various capacities, although they indicated that they were just getting by in life with rather low incomes.
This is perhaps underscored by the statistics from the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NYPC) that 16 per cent of volunteers earn less than $1,000 a month.
Some of the suggestions centred along the idea of setting up a place(s) to rent to the homeless and needy Singaporeans at a very low or zero cost.
Logistically and because of the various licensing regulations, I have been advised that this may not be feasible.
As to paying hostel operators to house the homeless, I have been advised that they can only rent to foreigners, but not to Singaporeans.
My gut feel is that perhaps the best suggestions were along the lines that support could be given to small start-up social entrepreneurs, who hopefully will be able to start, grow their business, and give back to society.
My humble view is that whilst the primary objective of entrepreneurship is to make money, we need to nurture and encourage a new breed of social entrepreneurs, whose focus is to give back to help others in greater need.
Thank you for all your encouraging remarks.
As to employing needy elderly Singaporeans, I am already trying to do that in my businesses over the years.
Do keep your suggestions, ideas, recommendations, comments, and offers of help coming.
I think needy Singaporeans need all the help that they can get.
If you come across any needy Singaporeans who may have fallen through the cracks in our social security system, please let us know, so that we can try to help.
With warmest regards
“Mr Koh”
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you have a big heart mr koh unlike the pappies and our beloved father who earn billions but not helping singaporeans at all. they rather see us starve to death then to help. we don’t need this ind of goverment if we were to step out and help all the needy singaporeans and old folk. so what are the government good at? build the first world country? more jobs and more jobs? oh please….for god sake. we don’t need their advise on what is good for us…coz after all is all about their benefits and greed
Mr.Koh, I hope I will be able to jon you not in the too distance future by contributing some fund when I made it from business. You are very generous.
Hello Mr Koh,
What do you mean by logistically and due to licensing regulations, you have been advised that is it not feasible?
Kindly put and explain this in a plain terms.
If you really want to help , there is nothing impossible cannot be done. As chinese have a saying : When there is a will, there is a way!
Hello Mr Koh,
What do you mean by logistically and due to licensing regulations, you have been advised that is it not feasible?
Kindly put and explain this in a plain terms. Put it here for all the commentators and your readers to understand about this
If you really want to help , there is nothing impossible cannot be done. As chinese have a saying : When there is a will, there is a way!
If you really want to help , there is nothing impossible cannot be done. As chinese have a saying : When there is a will, there is a way!
is this all about again helping CHINESE populations only?
look at the population of singapore. china nationality/foreigners plus chinese singaporeans are a big jump up to almost undefeatable 99.9%. mrt ,bus,malls,everywhere pack with them around.
not wanting to make a racist issue here. but why can a foreigner seek our MP for assistance?? are walk out with a smile.
can we singaporeans go to obama and ask their ministers for financial and education, jobs and citizenship assistance?
we don’t want to say much but there is a limit somewhere and please be a human with a heart not with a colour
If you really want to help , there is nothing impossible cannot be done. As chinese have a saying : When there is a will, there is a way!
chinese again? my goodness singapore already flood off with chinese. soon we malay and indians are dead meat.
yelah semua nak tolong cina aje. tak habis habis cina cina china china. baik kita balik malaysia aje. babi ni semua macam tak ada akal langsung! makan babi otak pun dah macam babi
chinese again? my goodness singapore already flood off with chinese. soon we malay and indians are dead meat.
The chinese are the majority here so it is common to hear a saying or 2 from the chinese. However I believe majority or not everyone is entitled to express their own view and sayings. So if you are a malay/indian why dont you give a saying or 2 ?
remember the chinese sayin..mr koh can teach you the art of fishin..heck he can even buy you a rod/net..butt please do not expect mr koh every moanin to go market buy fresh fish for you..its ain’t possible
~PERIOD~
singapura BANGSA MELAYU 25 July 2010
yelah semua nak tolong cina aje. tak habis habis cina cina china china. baik kita balik malaysia aje. babi ni semua macam tak ada akal langsung! makan babi otak pun dah macam babi
……………….
lu mau balek kampong de johore lu pasar..lu tidak mau makan babi..wak suka..hari hari wak bili babi besar bikin charsiew nasi.. lu hungry lu pasar..apa babi lu di sini chakup?
skerang lu mau makan apa? pernakan halah rendevous style nasi padang perhaps?
Ingat Singaporean….suma ada problem.
Bukan melayu, india, cina.
We all have our own problems, the best is to think Singaporean and gradually solve our problems one by one, step by step. Most of our problems are financial.
But smart and hard honest work will always pay. That’s life.
Now, I want to go and have a maggie with egg.
Dear Mr. Koh,
Singaporeans will be grateful to you for your kind assistance.
Would it be possible to lend some hand to the present non profit organization that needs money too.
Talking to them may give you some answers as these org are in it for so long, nothing venture, nothing lose.
Thank you.
p/s: pls don’t forget the minority too, they have suffered, too long.
The help of civil power is limited, and there have a lot of regulations blocking.
The most effective way is to change the government, so that the new government can help those can’t get the help from the current government.
I am sorry – there is nothing in the above article saying the help is mainly for the chinese. Only the comment from James – quoting a chinese idiom to ask for Mr Koh’s explanation on the legislation issues around setting up a zero or low cost homes for those in need
Kepada rakan-rakan melayu saya : kita bangsa berhemah. Dengan sopan saya meminta – tolong jaga tata tertib. Jangan menepuk dulang, terpercik muka sendiri
So, how to help this kind of case?
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/25/young-singaporean-girl-seeking-advise-assistance/
Help this 12 years old Singaporean and the old grandparents by given small start-up social entrepreneurs then grow their business, and hoping they give back to society?
Employ the needy old grandparents ?
Help them to get a shelter?
Help police to catch the loanshark?
Force the relative to help?
Force the parents give the money back to the grandparents?
Ask HDB let them to rent rental flats?
Help the children goto sue their parents, help the grandparents goto sue their son for giving money every month?
?
?
?
hmysingapore 26 July 2010
i’m not into racist but to comment on this is pretty true what malay and indian are thinking now. if you were to give them green light, from the survey i would say 80% would either voice up hard or end in riot if they will have to. this are some comment from cross middle age malay and indian singaporeans.
but due to their path is being block they just keep swallowing in the pain and anger. i personal have talk to most indian and malay mainly singaporeans of coz. i find that it is sad thing each time they mention they hate chinese but just don’t want to show. i ask them why? the answer
” all chinese, everything chinese, then china also come in alot, more and more chinese and now foreigners and more and not a balance in culture and race in singapore for singaporeans to say that singapore in multi nation. they would rather call it one nation (chinese) one singapore.
sad that this had been deepen into the mind of the middle and old age singaporeans against chinese mainly china nationality.
i personally think that something have to be done before it reach the stage that all the hidden feelings and anger and hate will result in something we doesn’t want to. i do not blame anyone but we are a human not singapore but as a human we need to think for everyone not white on white and black on black.
the government must view this before it s too late rather then singaporeans are suffering and they are flooding foreigners here not thinking the consequences of singaporeans.
@ ohmysingapore
Kepada rakan-rakan melayu saya : kita bangsa berhemah. Dengan sopan saya meminta – tolong jaga tata tertib. Jangan menepuk dulang, terpercik muka sendiri
maaf kata kita melayu dan indian di singapura dah kehilangan tanah di zaman lepas. sekarang pula di longgok kan dengan foreigners. kita berjuang,berkerja titih peluh datuk nenek kita dah habis di guna kan, dan berkali kali di undi PAP. ini kah balasan and cara diaorang menghargai kita?
lihat la singapura, lihat la dengan mata sendiri dimana kedudukan kita. jangan di kata melayu dan india tapi cina singapura asli orang sini pun sengsara.
dulang yang penuh dengan nasi sekarang dulang itu la kita harus tepuk berkali kali meminta sedekah dan pertolangan.
saya minta maaf kalau ada perkataan yang tidak tertip. tapi ini la rakan rakan saya dan orang yang saya kenali memberitahu dari pandang mereka.
terima kasih
HOW TO HELP?
how to help? government keep on bringing in foreigners and foreigners and 100,000,china chinese,bangla,miyamar and more more to create job for us singaporeans? my foot!
we have to stuck with minimum wages like foreigners too and maximum living cost and bills. not even to have extra to save but end up having so much outstanding bills that they charge us sky high. many have to struggles while our government and ministers having millions and billions in their salaries!
Hello folks,
My apologies to make some of the readers here think that im all for chinese. The quote i put it as there is a chinese saying….which is a true fact, but however it does not limit to indians and malays in singapore. Afterall, we all born here, we are all true blue native singaporeans, holding the same pink ic.
Hope this clears the air and may my fellow indians and malays bro and sis will be soothen by then now…No hard feelings, ok?
Thanks.
Dave Raff July 27 at 10:58am
Dear mr kenneth jeyaratnam
i would like to speak up and if i’m wrong please do correct me on this.
i’m curious that is Singapore is being run like a private family business so call the founder of Singapore monopoly? who is the player? who is the owner? who is the banker?
Decision making,changes,implementing and suggestion was not even favor to us Singaporeans.
every right we speak up for was monitor closely. it is just a talk of sharing our opinion and be it right or wrong no one is perfect by sharing just that without any vulgar and other contents why do we deserve defamation suit,jail term and so on if the issue is right? the hangman for example. is it fearing of being expose? if someone i believed not being honest to himself is living with fear in himself
talking about:
cdc,
family care center
comcare center
mcys
and so on.
is this another monopoly board being created to supply millions in YOG? or to cater to needy,jobless and giving them opportunity to upgrade Singaporeans?
foreigners:
more and more jobs being created. for who? when our wages are freeze for years and living standard being raise. possibility would be most Singaporeans would live in debts and more debt in bills,loan,housing, rental and so on resulting some into suicide.
more Singaporeans being pressure,stress,depress in education when jobs given to foreigners this would result them in losing the hope for some and suicide nearly possible for the young.
when we encourage our child to study hard and strive to archive then let them archive and make it possible for them and make it visible for them too, instead of telling one thing but doing another thing.
i believed everyone want to be success in business in cheaper,better,faster and have more profits of coz.. out of their product but i hope education and jobs of Singaporeans won’t be in this so call business too.
i thanks you for taking the time to read my mail and i appreciate it.
would like to hear from you if possible.
@ james 26 July 2010
my apology on behave of above post from whoever it is.
to be honest, singapore is our land. malay,chinese and indian. we are wellto do family and individual. we do not have to beg for cdc to help or any other assistance.
but we have been rip off our land being promise after promise and even to donate and give all our hard earn to the government mainly for their own interest and investment and lost billions and may be trillions in 50years.
singapore have been run by chinese and more and more chinese and foreigners. knw=owing this malay and indian follow by chinese pure true blue singaporeans had been living with no hope and choices to make but rather live day by day and beg for assistance and jobs hunting. whereby foreigners freely comes and instantly become singaporeans and being cater more then us.
look at the big picture. what do we have now? low pay high living cost. each time we voice up the government throw peanuts in our bank account to make us quite for every elections and soon they take back even more then they give after the winning.
we can’t say much but rather singaporeans got to do their part and by asking for assistance won’t solve long term issue. we must hold back our land and the rights we have. the money that we suppose to have.
Dear Mr Koh,
I admire your generosity; here are some of my thoughts for your reference. 500K on a personal basis is a big deal of money, however from the perspective of helping the masses it is not a very significant amount , without rejuvenation it is simply not sustainable and I believe you are aware of that. Your thought of helping young entrepreneurs is to allow your contribution to grow in hope that more people will help others when they received help and thus growing the 500K seed money that you put in. With that said, helping someone with no cognizant potential of contributing to society in near /far future may just deplete your effort to none in no time and if not at worst case creates more problem for some. Therefore choosing the right beneficiary is crucial to protect your good will.
In my opinion, what we need to understand and place at the back of our mind is that, there is no way to help everyone at one go and if the plan is to build the momentum to allow further outreach in future, conscious decision need to be make to ensure proper utilization of opportunity within the constraint resource at hand, furthermore not all needy needs help and/or should be helped, what I am also trying to say is the benchmark to classify the needy various from many different views and agenda. Therefore again my opinion is, there is no need to outsource your funds to someone else to provide help because their target and agenda might defer from yours, help those whom you yourself feel that deserve help .
I do help folks in need within my limited capacity and mainly to those that I felt truly repent, I know it’s difficult to find the right beneficiary, it’s just giving the benefit of doubt most of the time.
What would I do with 500K? On simple terms I would propose to segment them into a few buckets:
1) 100K for immediate relief, criteria is simple all that need basic needs. (This is immediate depleting of funds, but can resolve short term immediate needs, but non sustainable )
2) 300K for providing the fishing rod, set up food stalls (sell fruits, massage, tuition..etc) to be operated by those that need a job, part of $$ collection from the stalls need to contribute back to fund. (some of the funds are converted to asset therefore safer, it provide job and self earning opportunity for beneficiary, there is opportunity that income re contribute back to fund for sustainability and further future contribution)
3) 100K for Reserve funds, for exceptional and emergency cases..
Regards
All Singaporeans “must stay together” strong & united as one heart ,mind & soul through these tough, difficult times ,regardless races or religions.
(“They ” wants us to break apart.)
We the citizens of Singapore once manage to stay these strong relation bonding among us ,we can be stronger to fight for our rights,future generations & for our country.
We need to prepare ourselves to be “strong together” if each of us want to make changes.
When the right time comes , nothing can divide us .
If we continue to argue among us races ,it will weakens the citizens , not “them”.
All of us built this beloved nation not
“them”.All of us knows by staying Peaceful,Strong, Togetherness & United to overcome all the challenges that “they” bring to us.
There are still “HOPE” for us if we continue stay side by side together as one & when the right time comes.
“That which never kills you , will makes you stronger”.
2) 300K for providing the fishing rod, set up food stalls (sell fruits, massage, tuition..etc) to be operated by those that need a job, part of $$ collection from the stalls need to contribute back to fund. (some of the funds are converted to asset therefore safer, it provide job and self earning opportunity for beneficiary, there is opportunity that income re contribute back to fund for sustainability and further future contribution)
this is a wrong move i would say. you figure out what is the loop hole in this 300k being spend so call your fishing rod will turn to drowning you down the deep sea.
@Joseph Chan,
I totally agree with you of whatever you have shared. Kind of sad for singaporeans, right?e
Yes, we must reclaim back our country and our land back. Because singapore belongs to its own rightful citizens, and not PAP.
By the way, i still say the 500,000 funds should built a shelter for singaporeans. Cos a rooftop is the most priority , rather than distribute it in such a manner by giving it to the non-start up entrepreuner.
Needy people cannot wait for so long…..
So Mr Koh, if you really meant it from your heart really wants to help, there should be no way to stop you from doing it. Due to licensing regulations blar blar blar are just all nonsense excuses….
You have disappoint me, Mr Koh. Another men in white.
Hi Antony Robin
“this is a wrong move i would say. you figure out what is the loop hole in this 300k being spend so call your fishing rod will turn to drowning you down the deep sea.
”
If would be really helpful if you can provide more constructive feedback rather than just the above meaningless remarks.
I still stressed on building a shelter for the needy singaporeans who need a rooftop now. That is the top priority!
500,000 funds is still able to do it for the start. Rather than give it to other start-up entreprenuership.
Hope Mr Koh starts to organise with other businessmen to do something in this area….
mr koh another white PAP. similar strategies and monopoly games
It is very important that we help the masses – namely the masses wearing white. Without the masses who wear white, our society might as well be flushed down the toilet.
As such, I urge my fellow Singaporeans to forgo that 10cents a year raise you were hopping to receive from that 12-hour a day job you work in to contribute to the most important charity – helping the masses in white – you have to ensure that they can continue to earn their $1000,000 a year salaries or else they may have to rob you of 5 cents via bribes at the check point.
So, yes, please donate generously to the masses in white.