Health, wellness and financial schemes for cabbies

The National Taxi Association (NTA) thanks Mr Robert Lim for his many useful suggestions ("Offer free health screening, awards and perks to improve cabbies' welfare"; last Sunday). We will study them carefully as part of our feedback process.

We have about 180 full-time taxi drivers who volunteer their time as elected representatives to help members with workplace grievances and organise events.

Through regular engagements with taxi drivers on platforms like our coffee-shop talk sessions and focus group discussions, the NTA gathers feedback on the issues and worries they face.

As drivers ourselves, we empathise with the concerns affecting cabbies' daily living.

Some of the recent issues raised by the NTA include the call to review the taxi industry holistically, relaxation of Central Business District rules, the Electronic Road Pricing discount pass, fare and rental review, and further tweaking of taxi availability indicators.

One area of focus is the cabbies' health and wellness.

Being self-employed, we need to save up for our medical needs. Thus, it was a breakthrough when the NTA managed to get taxi operators on board the Drive And Save scheme in 2011, by co-contributing to cabbies' Medisave accounts.

The NTA also partners Parkway Shenton, Raffles Medical, NTUC Unity Healthcare and Q&M Dental to offer affordable medical treatment and services to our members and their families.

To keep our members fit and healthy, sporting and wellness programmes like bowling, badminton and brisk walking are organised regularly.

Through our collaboration with various local attractions, such as the Science Centre, Wild Wild Wet and Resorts World Sentosa, our members are offered discounted rates to enjoy the facilities with their families.

Also, to help relieve cabbies' worries relating to rising school expenses for their children, 3,100 eligible members and their children receive about $580,000 worth of financial assistance through U Care Back to School vouchers and U-Stretch vouchers annually.

There is still a lot more we can do, and we hope to continue doing so for our members. We look forward to working with all our partners and key stakeholders to bring about positive changes to the lives of our cabbies.

Gerald Chan
President
National Taxi Association
ST Forum, 23 Feb 2014

Pioneer Generation Package

What the pioneers will get

Package tackles outpatient care, Medisave and MediShield Life

By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

THERE are three key components to the Pioneer Generation Package announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

These are: outpatient care, Medisave and MediShield Life, all of which will target various aspects of health care, from prevention to catastrophic illnesses.

The measures address two big worries in health-care costs: out-of-pocket payments and the increase in premiums when MediShield Life kicks in next year.

The package, which will benefit about 450,000 Singaporean pioneers, will be for life. The benefits will also not be differentiated by income, said DPM Tharman, who is also the Finance Minister.

Outpatient care

This is for seniors who require outpatient treatment for common illnesses or chronic conditions such as diabetes.

Subsidies at specialist outpatient clinics and polyclinics

Higher subsidies will be given at specialist outpatient clinics (SOCs) for the lower- and middle-income groups, regardless of age.

The current SOC subsidy is 50 per cent. This will go up to 60 per cent for the middle-income group and 70 per cent for the lower-income.

On top of this, all in the pioneer generation will get another 50 per cent off their SOC bills.

This means all pioneers stand to get a 75 to 85 per cent subsidy for treatment at SOCs, regardless of their income. They will also get an additional 50 per cent off their subsidised bills at polyclinics.

The SOC and polyclinic subsidies for pioneers will kick in this September.

Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS)

CHAS provides subsidised care at private general practitioners and dental clinics for lower- and middle-income Singaporeans, who have to meet certain income or housing value criteria.

It also subsidises screenings for some conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and colorectal cancer.

3 attributes of progressive wage model

WE THANK Mr Cheng Shoong Tat for his letter ("Progressive wage model not for all"; Thursday). While we generally agree with his arguments, we need to correct the inaccurate perception that the Government has not made it clear that the progressive wage model is intended to address only certain sectors.

On the contrary, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan emphasised three unique attributes of the progressive wage model in Parliament on Monday. The following is extracted from the Hansard:

"First, it is a targeted approach. The progressive wage model enforced by the Government is not going to be necessary or even considered across the board in all the different sectors. We have chosen the progressive wage model for the cleaning industry because we believe there are certain peculiar characteristics of this industry. This has been one that, for too many years, has been characterised by cheap sourcing and where the majority of Singaporean and Singaporean PR workers have been older workers with low education, limited job choices, non-unionised and have low bargaining power. The case for a targeted government intervention is therefore stronger in such circumstances.

"The second attribute: The progressive wage model is determined through tripartite negotiations. It is not set by political decree. The unions and the employers must discuss and they must agree on the appropriate benchmarks used in the progressive wage model wage-skill ladder. The licensing regime merely sets up the framework for these agreed benchmarks to be operationalised in a fair and transparent fashion in a level playing field. This tripartite approach is important - in fact, I think it is crucial - and it is a unique success ingredient for the Singapore model. It reduces the risk that workers, especially our older and more vulnerable workers, will lose their jobs as wages rise to unsustainable levels.

"The third attribute is that the progressive wage model is part of a wider and more comprehensive government effort to raise wages of lower-income citizens and their families. Eligible low-income cleaners will continue to receive wage supplements in the form of the Workfare Income Supplement, which can constitute up to 30 per cent of their wages, as well as enjoy generous training subsidies through the Workfare Training Support scheme."

Goh Chour Thong
Press Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
ST Forum, 22 Feb 2014

Govt refutes AP's foreign worker report

News agency's article misrepresents foreign labour situation here, it says

By Amelia Tan, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

THE Government has taken issue with an Associated Press (AP) news article alleging ill-treatment of foreign workers in Singapore, saying that it misrepresents the foreign labour situation here.

Manpower Ministry (MOM) corporate communications director Chong Wan Yieng, in a statement yesterday, said: "The article offers no evidence to support its view that the majority of foreign workers here are mistreated."

She said the United States news agency should correct its report headlined "Migrants say firms force workers out of Singapore" and highlight the clarification with other media organisations that have bought the story to run in their publications.

AP did not comment when contacted by The Straits Times for its response.

The AP report on Feb 16 had quoted a Bangladeshi welder, Mr Bapari Jakir, saying that his employers, who were not named, wanted to send him home in August 2012 before his contract was up. He said repatriation firm UTR Services was hired to get him to leave Singapore.

Mr Bapari also said in the article that three staff members from the firm, who looked like "big gangsters", wanted him to sign documents stating that his employers did not owe him any wages. When he refused, he was punched and "a knife was put to his neck".

AP reported that Mr Bapari was allowed to leave UTR's office only after he alerted a friend, who contacted migrant worker rights activist Jolovan Wham for help.

The worker is now staying with a friend while his case is being investigated, the AP report said. The report added that UTR denied Mr Bapari's allegations.

Ms Chong said that the ministry had told AP that Mr Bapari's case had been referred to the police for investigation and action will be taken against his company if his allegations are substantiated.

She added that there are few cases of workers who say they have been wrongfully confined.

Last year, MOM was informed of four such cases but they could not be proven after investigations.

25 foreigners who used fake certs jailed

By Amelia Tan, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

TWENTY-FIVE foreigners have been jailed between four and 12 weeks for submitting bogus university certificates when applying for jobs here.

The Manpower Ministry (MOM) said in a statement yesterday that the male and female workers have also been barred from working in Singapore.

They were charged on Thursday and all pleaded guilty.

Post by Singapore Ministry of Manpower.

Sixteen are from Myanmar, seven are Indian nationals and two are Filipino. They had worked in Singapore for less than a year and were employed in junior level roles in businesses such as restaurants and shops.

They applied for work passes between November 2012 and last June using fake academic certificates produced in their home countries.

Subsequently, 20 were issued the S Pass and five were given the Employment Pass.

However, MOM checks with certificate-issuing institutions and foreign government departments in November and December last year revealed that the certificates were fake. Their employers will not be punished as investigations showed they were unaware of the wrongdoing.

Sex crimes are against people, not 'purity'

By Jolene Tan, Published The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

UNTIL recently, Morocco allowed rapists of minors to escape charges by marrying their victims.

Many of us recoil from such laws, because we recognise rape as a crime against a person, whose bodily autonomy has been attacked. We see instinctively that pushing a minor into an ongoing intimate relationship with their assailant causes trauma rather than recovery.

The Moroccan law, which has fortunately been repealed, was rooted in a different view of rape. For some, rape is a crime against the "purity" of the victim, a kind of sexual virtue.

Since this virtue is tied to reserving sexual relations exclusively to married couples, the wrong in rape may also be seen as potentially repaired by marriage.

The idea of the victim as a person with a right to make choices, particularly when it concerns her own body, features only secondarily in this way of thinking, if at all.

Troublingly, in recent cases involving sex crimes, some against minors, statements by the authorities in Singapore have also demonstrated purity-based attitudes.

For instance, in January this year, a case involving the rape of an eight-year-old saw a prosecutor emphasising the "loss" of the victim's "chastity". This points to concern with the prior absence of sexual experience rather than the plain fact of a violent assault.

Likewise, a few weeks ago, in pressing for punishment of a man who non-consensually distributed sex videos of his former girlfriend, another prosecutor placed stock on the idea that, "a woman's reputation, once tarnished, is gone forever and can never be repaired".

And only a few days ago, a judge sentencing a teacher who sexually abused her pupil described her as having "defiled and corrupted" the boy.

Such statements suggest - possibly unintentionally - that the main damage inflicted by sex crimes is a sort of stain on the victims' sexual virtue, rather than the physical and emotional harm done to them and the degrading denial of control over their own bodies.

This attitude places a moral quality allegedly connected to sexual inexperience at the centre of the violation. The uncomfortable implication is that the state and society can or should take sexual assaults seriously only when the victims are deemed "pure enough" by some ill-defined moralistic yardstick.

Time to reconsider suicide law

Criminalisation of suicide may not aid those at risk in getting necessary help

By Chong Siow Ann, Published The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

AS A psychiatrist, I have, every now and then, a patient who admits to making a recent suicide attempt. Such information invariably causes me a surge of anxiety. With the spectre of an actual suicide looming, I respond by carrying out as detailed an assessment as possible. Then, I do what I can to prevent it from happening.

In my case, however, this almost never includes cautioning my patients that they have committed a crime. It doesn’t seem appropriate or even right. And just occasionally, I wonder – at the back of mind (poorly schooled in legal matters) – if I would be considered an accessory to a crime for not reporting it to the authorities.

Criminalisation of suicide

ENSCONCED within Singapore’s Penal Code is Section 309, which makes an act of attempted suicide punishable with a year’s jail sentence, a fine, or both.

This provision, which is a legacy of British colonial laws, has its roots in Christian theology. In the 4th century, St Augustine denounced suicide as a mortal sin. He did this apparently to staunch the wave of Christians who were killing themselves because of religious persecution.

He justified his position by basing it on an interpretation of the 6th biblical commandment – Thou shalt not kill. Killing oneself, St Augustine argued, was also killing the “image of God” since the Bible said that men were created in God’s image. This led to draconian laws against suicidal acts, reaching their peak in the Middle Ages when the corpse of one who committed suicide would be mutilated, and his property confiscated by the state.

With time, however, there was a gradual shift in public perceptions. Religion lost its predominant and central role in Western societies which became more secularised. A more philosophical and intellectual view of suicide softened the hardline religious stance, and suicide was seen less as a sin and more a social or medical problem.

Many countries also began to decriminalise suicide. But there are still a number of countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, where attempted suicide is still a crime.

MSF Volunteer Awards 2014 - Volunteer lauded for 42 years of service

Dedication recognised with award from ministry

By David Ee, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

WHEN the boy was 15, his future already looked bleak. He was on probation for shoplifting, his father had a drinking problem and his four unemployed older siblings were not the best role models.

That was in 1974. Today, he lives happily married in Bishan and still keeps in touch with the volunteer who changed his life - Mr Surjan Singh.

When Mr Singh, a volunteer with the then Community Probation Service, first met the boy, he found the youngster his first job as a ship electrician.

"You must get them involved in some useful activity and not let them wander about aimlessly," Mr Singh said of the way he helped boys stay on the right side of the law.

The retired teacher may now be 82, but that has not stopped him from clocking his 42nd year as a volunteer.

His dedication as one of the longest-serving Volunteer Probation Officers was recognised with a long-service award last night at the inaugural Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) Volunteer Awards at the Marina Mandarin Hotel.

He was one of 131 volunteers to be feted. Seven received the Outstanding Volunteer Award. They included Dr Aline Wong, co-founder of Singapore Women's Initiative for Ageing Successfully; Mr Richard Magnus, chairman of the Public Guardian Board; and Mr Koh Choon Hui, chairman of the Singapore Children's Society.

Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, who is also Second Minister for Defence, said at the awards that Singapore's "national soul would be empty" if not for the example set by volunteers.

He added that while Singapore is recognised for its economic achievements, "many people sometimes forget that we have done just as much on the social side".

Budget 2014 - Opportunities for the Future, Assurance for our Seniors

Budget 2014

$8 billion fund to pay tribute to pioneers
Budget gives major boost to older Singaporeans, 1% rise in CPF rate for all
By Lee Su Shyan, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

IT WAS a Budget that delivered on the promise of thanking and honouring the pioneers of Singapore, whose grit and determination helped build today's flourishing nation.

Details of the much-awaited Pioneer Generation Package were unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

The unprecedented $8 billion pioneer fund is the cornerstone of the Budget and consists of health-care benefits for some 450,000 pioneers for the rest of their lives.

These pioneers - at least 16 years of age in 1965, the year Singapore became independent, and who were citizens before 1987 - will enjoy benefits involving outpatient care, Medisave top-ups and MediShield Life subsidies as signalled by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a speech earlier this month.

Aside from the landmark pioneer package, the Budget had a range of measures to help older workers and elderly Singaporeans as well as address the healthcare-cost concerns of tomorrow's seniors. There were also moves to help today's youngsters, with assistance for pre-school and tertiary education for lower and middle-income families.

The Budget continued the themes outlined in 2010 by Mr Tharman when Singapore started on an ambitious restructuring journey to transform the economy and raise average wages.

Yesterday, he talked about focusing on quality growth and building a fair and equitable society as well as continuing on Singapore's productivity journey. He even made a rallying call for social norms to be changed, "in order to raise productivity and pay".

But the Budget speech's centrepiece was Singapore's pioneers, with Mr Tharman declaring the purpose of the package for them is "to honour the contributions of this whole generation".

At a projected cost of $9 billion in nominal terms, this will be the largest single measure seen in a single year, but the Government has taken the prudent step of setting up an $8 billion fund. The fund, with accumulated interest over time, is expected to be enough to pay for the package.

Not only does that mean the pioneer generation can be assured the Government will honour its commitment to them, but "the Budget in subsequent years can focus on the needs and challenges of the future, for all Singaporeans", Mr Tharman said. The cost of the package, together with the other measures announced yesterday, can be fully covered in this year's Budget without drawing on past reserves. A deficit of only about $1.2 billion will be incurred, which is close to a balanced Budget, Mr Tharman added.

This was also a Budget where older Singaporeans - but not from the pioneer generation - were not forgotten. Singaporeans aged 55 and above this year will enjoy a Medisave top-up of between $100 and $200 annually over the next five years. Older workers also benefit from an increased Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rate from next January.

Singapore's 4.1% growth in 2013 beats estimates

Year-end surge in manufacturing output propels growth in Q4

By Fiona Chan, The Straits Times, 21 Feb 2014

A SURGE in financial services, coupled with a year-end jump in manufacturing output, powered Singapore's economy to higher-than-expected growth last year.

The economy grew 4.1 per cent for the whole of last year and is projected to expand another 2 per cent to 4 per cent this year, as a global recovery spurs overseas demand.

Local shares rose to a one-month high after the news but slipped again in later trade, with the Straits Times Index closing 0.07 per cent lower.

Last year's economic growth beat initial estimates of 3.7 per cent, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said yesterday.

It also sharply hiked its economic growth figures for previous years, to 1.9 per cent from 1.3 per cent for 2012, and to 6 per cent from 5.2 per cent for 2011. It is understood that such revisions are routinely performed as data collection can take up to three years.

For last year, a last-minute burst of factory activity, especially in electronics, propelled economic growth to 5.5 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous year. This eclipsed flash estimates of 4.4per cent growth.

Economists had expected upgrades to fourth-quarter and full- year growth, but were surprised by the extent. "The broad-based strength indicated in (the numbers) was a positive surprise," said Barclays economist Leong Wai Ho.

All sectors of the economy grew last year, with the financial industry doing particularly well. Finance and insurance services expanded 10.6 per cent, the most since 2010, said Ms Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore at a briefing yesterday. She said the sector was buoyed by firms seeking fresh funding for business expansion plans and by sentiment-sensitive activities, which include stockbroking.

This year, the finance and insurance sector is tipped to continue to register positive growth, albeit at a slight moderation from last year's pace, she added.

The boost from financial services, together with wholesale and retail trade, helped grow the overall services sector - making up two-thirds of Singapore's economy - by 5.3 per cent last year, up from 2 per cent in 2012.

Manufacturing, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, also picked up steam, growing 1.7 per cent last year - higher than its 0.3 per cent growth in 2012.

Construction was the only key sector that bucked the trend. It grew 5.9 per cent last year, down from 8.6 per cent the previous year, amid less building activity in both the public and private sectors.

This year, modest growth is expected for Singapore amid an improving global outlook, said MTI Permanent Secretary Ow Foong Pheng. She said sectors that depend on the global economy, such as manufacturing and wholesale trade, are likely to continue to recover, though risks remain from the ongoing withdrawal of monetary stimulus in the United States and the threat of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in China.

Little India Riot COI: Day 3

Riot police not often deployed in Little India due to falling crime

By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2014

TROOPS from the Special Operations Command (SOC) - more commonly known as the "riot police" - have not been frequently deployed in Little India due to the area's falling crime rate.

There is also a need to prioritise the deployment of this limited resource, which also performs security and anti-terrorism patrols elsewhere, said Deputy Commissioner of Police T. Raja Kumar yesterday.

Mr Raja Kumar is the first police witness to testify at the public hearing convened to look into the Dec 8 riot in Little India.

He was responding to a question by the Committee of Inquiry as to why SOC troops were being deployed in places like Boat Quay and City Hall, instead of an area like Little India where foreign workers have had a reputation of getting drunk.

The Maria Hertogh riots in 1950 led to the formation of police riot squads, the predecessor of the SOC, to deal with public order disturbances, said Mr Raja Kumar.

But the threat assessment in Little India "suggested that such a forward deployment (of the SOC) was not necessary".

The number of auxiliary police officers deployed in the area have almost doubled as well, from the "high 40s" in 2009 to 81 today.

More manpower had been channelled to Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre, which serves the Indian ethnic enclave.

There is also a dedicated intelligence team that focuses on Little India, he said, adding that the foreign workers there have "by and large" been compliant.

In the midst of ramped-up enforcement, the crime situation in Little India has improved "quite significantly" in recent years, said Mr Raja Kumar.

Little India Riot COI: Day 2

The bus driver: I thought worker was already dead

He says he did not move bus after accident as he was 'not supposed to'

By Lim Yan Liang, The Straits Times, 21 Feb 2014

THE driver of a private bus that ran over an Indian foreign worker was grilled yesterday on why he did not try to render assistance to the victim in the immediate moments following the accident, which sparked a riot in Little India on Dec 8.

The Committee of Inquiry into the incident also asked Mr Lee Kim Huat why he had not turned on the monitors for his four bus camera feeds, which would have shown 33-year-old Sakthivel Kumaravelu running alongside the bus while it was moving.

To the first question, Mr Lee, 55, said via a Hokkien interpreter that he was overcome with fear when he saw the man under the wheel of his bus, especially when a crowd formed around the scene.

He told the inquiry it felt like the bus had gone over a hump when the accident happened, and he immediately stopped. It was only when he got down to take a look that he realised a fatality was involved.

When asked by former Supreme Court judge G. Pannir Selvam why he did not move the bus at that point, the driver said he was "not supposed to move anything" after a collision.

Pressed on whether moving the bus might have saved the construction worker's life, Mr Lee said his first thought was that Mr Sakthivel was already dead, given the size of the bus. "To my mind, since a big vehicle went over him, he must have been dead," he said.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the bus showed Mr Lee was the third person to get down after the accident, with most of the passengers following suit. Many people, including Mr Lee, are then seen squatting down to look at Mr Sakthivel's body pinned beneath the undercarriage.

"At that point in time (following the accident), I was very scared and it did not occur to me (to move the vehicle)," he said.