Dear Mr Goh,

I chanced upon the Transitioning website this morning while searching for more information on unfair termination towards pregnant women.

I’m seeking for more information and outlets to address a very upsetting event earlier this year. I sincerely hope that you will be able to advise me or direct me to the relevant parties.

In summary, I was terminated in January 2013, a couple of days before the end of my three-month probation period on the account that I wasn’t performing to the expectation of the bosses.

During the probation period, there were no mentions on the lacking of my work performance (if any). I was almost four-months pregnant at the point of time, I informed the bosses of my pregnancy immediately when I discovered two months prior.

Just before this incident, I was diagnosed with a strain of highly infectious conjunctivitis, the family doctor and the senior consultant at the SNEC prescribed medical leave (adding up to almost two weeks) to rest and avoid spreading the virus. The moment I’m back to office, I received an email regarding the termination.

I felt that the termination was due to the medical leave coupled with the fact that they will have to provide me with maternity benefits after the probation period.

The agent then called me to seek mutual understanding to waive the one-month notice period, which I refused.

They then compensated me with one-month salary in lieu, and I accepted as I would like to reduce any unnecessary pressure on my pregnancy.

Because of the stress and pressure that I was subjected to, I suffered a miscarriage shortly after. Wishing to move on with life and to try to come to terms with the loss, I did not pursue  the matter further.

Last Monday, I received a call from the agency that they made a mistake and paid me an extra month of salary which they would want me to return it.

I looked into my statements and found out that there was an extra payment, at the same time, there are many mistakes in calculating my pay and CPF contribution.

Can you please advise how should I go about this? Part of me still resent the agency and company for indirectly causing my loss. I paid so much medical fees that even the extra amount wasn’t even enough to cover.

I don’t think I’m able to seek assistance at the MOM as my salary was $3500/month.

I’m very lost as to where I can find help on this matter, and I would appreciate any advice.

Many thanks.

Best regards,

Tiffany

Editor’s Note: We will be seeing Tiffany soon to discuss what options are available for her. If you also suffered from unfair dismissal during the course of your pregnancy – we want to hear from you. Email gilbert@transitioning.org and we will get in touch with you soon. Singaporeans need to know…so change will come.

I am jobless for almost a year and feel most unjustified about my circumstances.

I have about 22 years of IT experience. My last position was with a healthcare voluntary welfare organization.

I joined them because I wanted to learn the healthcare industry and the CEO ask me to help them out. 2 months into the job, I started to have mysterious stomach pains.

I took quite a few MCs and explained to the CEO my condition as she is a trained nurse.

I thought everything was fine after I explained my medical condition to her to explain my medical leaves. One day, she gave me a verbal warning in the presence of the HR Manager.

She said that I might not be able to do the job and picked on some non issues like my socialization skills with the big shots and some reports. I

I was so fed up with the warning that I resigned the next day. I worked there for 3 months.

Is there any recourse against them that I can take?

I am the sole breadwinner and I have 2 kids in Polytechnic that needs a lot of money.

The CEO is a nurse, I thought she would have more compassion being a healthcare professional.

Even the HR Manager was shocked at her actions.

The CEO also told everybody that I was there for short term only, one of the board members told me.

Can I complain to MOM about her actions?

Then 3 days into my joblessness, my mother ex-communicated me due to some unfairness within the family.

She decided to declare senile and let my brother handle everything.

I suspect that she did this because I’m jobless. In case I ask her for money.

This devastated me because I was very close to my mother.

All of a sudden, she’s gone and I had nobody to lean to.

I spent the next 6 months trying to forget about the double injustice happening to me. During this time I was plagued with medical problems like irritable bowel syndrome, liver pains, depression and sleep deprivation. Lately I also suffer from a involuntary jerk in my sleep.

In January, I started driving a taxi.

However my medical problems affected me.

While driving the taxi, I would have bouts of sadness about my mother treatment of me and I just want to give up.

There were days I couldn’t take the stress and felt wobbly and weak in the knees. I also started to have the stomach pains.

I gave up after a month.

I write to you because I have absolutely no friends or family left in this stinking cold country.

I dislike the government for taking away my job from me by allowing so many foreign competition

All my few friends who were retired or taxi drivers avoided me because they don’t want to hear my bad news.

My mother is the worse, she constantly haunts me with her ostracism.

I wish the worse for this country.

Maybe a tsunami or SARs, so that everybody is suffering like me.

I hope you can help me. But don’t worry if you can’t, I’m used to it.

You can publish my letter if you want. But please keep me anonymous. I’m 49 years old.

Sincerely,

Tommy

Editor’s Note: We are trying to arrange an appointment to speak with the writer to go through his career options.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan has also sent shockwaves through the country when he  admitted in Parliament that the town council structure has political intonation and Singaporeans now have to learn to read between the lines on how the AIM issue will pan out.

I am sure though that PAP will be able to withstand  the onslaught from the Workers’ Party camp in Parliament  as they have now – through Town Council chief Dr Teo Ho Pin – turned the table around suddenly  on WP by accusing them of favouritism when they appoint their own people to manage the estate in Aljunied GRC.

WP has  retaliated by asking the housing minister Khaw Boon Wan and Dr Teo to lodge their complaint to CPIB for a thorough investigation.

Netizens have also dug out alot of close connections for serving agents in PAP town councils and Jurong Town Council came out in the spotlight as the General Manager of Jurong Town Council Ho Thian Poh is also the Managing Director of UGL Premas Limited which owns Esmaco Township Management Services, the contractor employed by Jurong Town Council itself (Source: ULG Premas).

More of such dirt is expected to be dug out soon and the AIM saga may  turn out to  be Singapore’s worst political nightmare for the country.

To her  credit, WP Ms Sylvia Lim has performed really well in Parliament this time round for her quick rebuttal and sharp probing questioning of the AIM fiasco.

Clearly,  Mr Khaw was not comfortable answering all the snappy questions from the WP chairman and reacted personally by attacking Ms Lim’s partiotism for the country.

Politics is dirty and Singaporeans saw the true spectacle brandished before us with the current AIM debacle – on a day by day basis in Parliament.

I agreed with Mr Han Fook Kwang’s last Sunday Times article that:-

“The PAP used to be unapologetic about its tough approach to the opposition, declaring that it wasn’t its job to make things easier for its political opponents. Singaporeans accept this, but they also expect the government to play fair and  be seen to be doing so.”

Singaporeans, by and large, knew that PAP will not let Aljunied residents go off so easily when they voted in the WP camp in GE 2011  but got more than it could chew for when WP chairman Ms Sylvia Lim announced that the opposition town council now has to rewire it’s town council info-tech system resulting in the  the Aljunied-Hougang town council getting it’s worse grade for chalking up arrears in service & conservancy charges (S & C) and received no grade for corporate govenance.

Many residents were not informed of their S & C bills for close to three consecutive months due to the withdrawal of support for the software system shortly after GE 2011.

As events unfolded and more dirt spewed out, we realised that there was a transfer of ownership of the town council system  to a company called AIM – Action Information Management - a $2-payout company owed by three PAP MPs.

This was done shortly before GE 2011 – in anticipation of any possible loss of seats to the opposition camp and also  shown how dirty politics is.

To the laymen, it is something difficult to comprehend as how can you win back lost voters if you continue to punish and make them suffer when they switch camp?

The opposition seat is as good as gone forever with such ungentlemanly politics…

Netizens and bloogers have a field day writing about the AIM scandal few months back culminating in a investigation review ordered by the Prime Minister.

Pictures of landed properties and big cars owned by the three MPs of the AIM company were splashed all over the internet infuriating many Singaporeans in the process.

Singaporeans could not relate how three PAP MPs could own a $2- payout company that bought over a town council software for $140,000 when the development cost totalled $23.8 million.

Though revelations later revealed that it was more for ownership than profit generating purpose, much credit was already lost in the process.

The Ministry of National Development was then tasked by the Prime Minister to carry out the review of the AIM scandal and again netizens cried foul that it was all an insider job but what could you expect?

Ministry of National Development (MND) reported that nothing was amiss in its’ review and the report was out on 2 May – a day after our labour day protest.

Many have equalled the case involving AIM and the town council to the NKF corruption scandal but no one now dares to use such word against the government for fear of being sued.

Prominent blogger Mr Alex Au was sued beginning of this year when he took up a hard stance against the AIM issue.

He has since apologised and removed the offensive article.

What really irked me is that innocent Singaporeans who pay town council S & C fees monthly are caught in the middle and suffered from the political blow-out.

Many Singaporeans preferred that politics stay out of the town council so that rubbish can still be cleared and gardens trimmed.

They want the HDB to handle back their town council so that politicians can continue their debate somewhere far from their flats.

Regarding the matter on S & C backlog bills, I have known of some residents who have to go to jail when their conservancy fees went into the red for many months and were subsequently slapped with a court order.

When I was financially in need many years ago, my town council forwarded me a legal notice when I didn’t pay my S & C fees for just three months – the legal notice carried a $50 fee charge which is almost half of what I owed to the town council!

I went to borrow some money and duly paid up for fear that I would be thrown in jail if I failed to do so after the legal demand for payment.

The total owed  is only $150 – including a $50 legal penalty fee.

Ironically, the last I heard is that the town  councl reserves carry a surplus of close to $2 billion and counting.

They are so  rich that some money was found invested in securities during the global financial crisis and now town councils are discouraged from investing in risky instruments.

I can’t really understand why our town councils need so much money and more importantly why we need to cough up $23.8 millions  to develop a software only to sell it to a $2 pay-up company owed by three PAP MPs for $140,000.

We later need to throw in more money to develop another software of  which the minister says could be bought off the shelf – someone says  it could even be bought at Sim Lim Square?

The AIM scandal not only embarrassed the incumbent by showcasing how low it could stoop to inconvenience the opposition and it’s voters who have voted them in but the gross wastage of tax payer money to develop software after software to advance it’s own cause.

One also wonders how PAP can win back the lost voters who have decidedly swing their votes by the hundreds of thousands to the opposition camp and subsequently were  punished when the government withdrawn  support for the town council software system.

Swing voters tend to switch camp only after prolonged  deliberation and many years of dissastisfaction and they hardly will swing back as voting is a very left-brain phenomenon.

No one swings their vote by doing so emotionally or at the spur of the moment when they vote at the polling station.

I remembered thinking for a whole week and going through all my options before I swung my vote two elections back  to the opposition.

I like the PAP back then but lamented at some of their policies which limited me alot.

More importantly, I was jobless for 18 months in 2001 and could not find help from any of the government agencies back then.

I decided to swing my votes and have never looked back.

I urge the government to reconsider it’s mission to punish opposition voters when they switch camp  as nowadays they are not scared of fear tactics anymore.

In fact, they will admire a government who respects the choice of it’s people and may even switch their votes back if the opposition does not do as well as anticipated.

Nevertheless, the AIM saga has unfortunately deterred many voters from swinging their votes back and I am afraid Aljunied, Punggol East and Hougang will remain  WP’s wards for a very long time with a possible few more additions  come GE 2016.

Written by: Gilbert Goh

Hi,

I am a Malaysian and Singapore PR, married to a Singaporean man and we have 2 Singaporean children.

I am a working mother and my husband (C) is unemployed since  early 2012 after being retrenched.

In late 2012, I found out that he had an affair and confronted him, he admitted to the affair and promised to break up with her.

To date he has yet to fulfill his promise.

Nevertheless I am putting up with him at the moment, trying to give us time to reconcile our relationship.

Also, he loves and cares for the children.

He took the role of a house husband after losing his job, taking care of the children and house.

However, couple of months ago we employed a domestic helper so that he can concentrate on job search.

We have a joint bank account where we each used to put in a percentage of our take home pay monthly.

Since C’s retrenchment, I have increase the monthly deposit to the account to meet our monthly expenses.

Here’s some details of the household financials:

1) C takes care of the household expenses and reimbursed himself from the joint account. He is essentially the finance manager of the family. I seldom scrutinize the account transaction.

2) Our HDB flat is jointly owned by us. He paid for the downpayment and renovation. He also bore the full instalment during the first few years of our marriage as I was not working full time and had no CPF contribution.

I would like to know what are my rights in case things get worse and we end up in divorce, especially on:

1) The custody of our children. What do I need to do now to be prepared for the worse?

[James - legal counsel] Usually, the court advocates custody of the children to be held jointly between parents. Since both appears to be parents who care for the children, the court may very likely order for custody to be held jointly. If the children are very young, of tender age, the court may prefer the care and control of the children to be with the mother. Care and control basically, means who the children live with upon divorce. If care and control is with one parent, the other parent will be given access to the children or rights to visit the children.

2) I was advised by friends that I need to stop depositing money in the joint account and take charge of the household expenses since I’m the one supporting the family (except for the car). Could you enlighten me on how should I manage the financial matters?

[James] It does not matter whether monies are deposited into the joint account or not as long as you are able to show how much was deposited and what the monies are used for.

Please let me know if you need more information.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

Best Regards,

Stacy

Her hair is always cropped short and in the right place. She seems serene and composed despite the immense struggles she faces.

She is single, active and more importantly  has just returned to Singapore after living and working abroad in Germany  for the last 30 years.

She didn’t really revealed much why she decided to return home after been abroad for so long except that she wants to be back  to her roots here.

Specifically, I saw Jean last year September when she complained of work discrimination in the office.

She told me that she was made to work even though she was on medical leave due to a foot injury sustained while at work.

She also complained of the lack of welfare and humanity for workers here.

I  told her that it is always difficult for overseas Singaporeans returning home after a long stay abroad  to adjust to our stressful cooked-up work environment here.

I remembered taking almost three months to adjust when I was away in Sydney for  a year wth my family. We were on 4-year work visa programme.

The humidity and overcrowdedness are two big areas for adjutsment for me and I believe many returning Singaporeans have that same issue too.

Earning a paltry $2000/month as an office manager despite  many years of working experience,  Jean was naturally more shocked at the inept work conditions here than the pathetic  pay.

She also told me that in Germany there is minimum wage and the unions exist to fight for the workers. The minimum wage in Germany is believed to be around $2000 a month.

“There is no humanity here” she repeatedly told me in our several meetings over the past six months.

“People here are being treated like animals.”

Coming from someone who works in welfare-stuffed Germany for 30 years, I could feel how frustrated Jean has been and listened silently at her rants.

Having worked in Sydney for a short stint, I shared Jean’s sentiments  that workers’ rights are better abroad   and the management is certainly more humane at how they treat their workers.

There is a apolitical Ombudsman  which is powerful and pro-worker though they do hear from the employer side as well.

Australia may however be guilty of having too much legislation which favours the workers there so much so that strikes are conducted regularly at the expense of the public’s benefit and company’s reputation.

For example, the Transport Union at the airport is so powerful that a three-day strike occurred two years ago has crippled the whole fleet of planes lining at the tarmac costing the airline millions of dollars in damages.

The government there also does not want to interfere in the union matters even though the whole airline is brought down by regular strike actions instigated by the powerful union last year.

I am sure that Singaporeans do not want to see such drastic strike happenings in our country as it does not benefit the economy and the country one bit.

Nevertheless, the ineffectiveness of our unions here has crippled the basic rights of our workers and employers have take advantage of the situation by terminating staff without any valid reason.

As for  Jean, I learnt from her that she   has to work at her home even though she was on MC and the word “appreciation” cropped up often whenever we talked about the work conditions here.

I told her that there is no such thing as work satisfaction here and many workers simply grind and work their way to earn an income resulting in  many becominng robots at the work place.

We also became apathetic in many things around us as there is nothing in the workplace which requires us to be passionate or earnest about. We simply work and do not bother aboout what generally  happens around us.

We heard that someone was sacked?

Oh she must be lazy and wait when will it be my turn? Lets work harder and better so that the next person won’t be me!

No increment for the whole company? What to do? Is there anything that you can do? If not happy just quit la and don’t poke your nose into the senior management affair else they will tear you to pieces…

Our work environment turns chronic and self-centred and Singaporeans now have the unenviable tag of being the most unhappy lot in the world!

More importantly, as our government encourages the aged workforce to enter the job market in view of a  tightening on foreign talents, work conditions and wages need to be improved before they can be slowly coaxed back to work.

As for Jean, she is in the midst of changing room rental and still looking for work..

How many inteviews did she attended  after her last job – I asked.

None apparently as she does not believe in applying for jobs as employers will never get back to her after seeing her age on the resume.

She goes around looking for work via  word of mouth which she feels will garner more chance of landing a job  than applying for jobs on her own using the traditional method.

Is there any employer out there who is willing to give our 64-year-old Singaporean a chance of getting a job or else she may really need to return to Germany to find work there.

She is meticulous, pleasant and wiling to work hard…I can forward her resume to any employer willing to give her a chance.

Written by: Gilbert Goh

Gilbert

I recently tendered my resignation on 20 March 2013 from my position in my company.

Under my employment contract which I have attached, my notice period was 2 months which would have made my last day of service to be on 17 May 2013.

While serving my notice period on 2 May 2013, I was told by my Operations Director to meet with the HR Director.

The HR director told me that our CEO was not satisfied with my performance and wanted to terminate my employment while I was serving my notice period.

Apparently, the plant was in a poor condition and I was not walking the line. I was advised by both the Operations and HR Director to leave immediately either on 6 or 7 May as the CEO could potentially terminate me on the spot and ask me to leave immediately.

I told them that I would consider their proposal.

On 3 May 2013, I approached the HR Director in his office and informed him that under the employment contract, if the company wanted me to leave earlier during my notice period of 2 months, they would have to pay my salary till 17 May even if they wanted me to leave before 17 May.

The HR Director again mentioned that the CEO was on the warpath and advised me to leave earlier. He informed me that he could only pay me up to my last day which will be earlier than 17 May.

He told me that it was my choice to fight on and stay until 17 May but he could not promise that I would not be terminated by the CEO.

Note that all the discussion about my potential termination was performed without a verbal warning, a proper inquiry by a neutral party or a 60 day counseling program. Also, for the past 2 years, my scoring in my appraisal has been above average.

I eventually with a heavy heart agreed to leave the company on 7 May instead of 17 May.

This was because I did not  want to risk having a employment record reflecting that I was terminated at my company.

As I am earning more than $4500 per month, I am not covered under the Employment Act. I am seeking your advice whether I can recover my pay from 8 to 17 May.

Best regards

Philip,

Dear Philip,

Thanks for yor mail and sorry to hear of your predicament.

Frankly speaking, I have heard of this loophole quite often and regretfully there is nothing much you can do here.

We lack an independent Ombudsman who can act independently for us here.

The Employment Act only covers workers who earned below $4500/month and the resolution also only covers salary dispute.

You can go to TAFEP or MOM and they will advise you to find your own alternative legal recourse which is ridiculous.

One way if you like is to threaten your office that you are going to speak with a MOM officer if they don’t pay you the correct salary.

This can be done through a verbal communication or email. I have found that it works at times with people who have seen me.

Many companies here do not want to antagonise with the labour authorities especially if its a MNC.

If you don’t mind, we can have a chat in my office this week to go though this together.

I can refer you to a lawyer if you want later on.

On another note, can I post this mail on my site leaving out your name to protect your identity?

Singaporeans needs to know.

We are here for you.

Regards,

Gilbert Goh

Hi Gilbert,

I was retrenched in January this year and have not been able to find a full time job since.

Being 52 years of age and the last 12 years holding a Director position in the private sector, I know that it is impossible or close to impossible to get a job with the same salary and position.

Accepting reality, I applied for various jobs, some outside of my experience and skillset, some with a salary that is > 50% lower than my last drawn salary, from sales to engineering work. I did not receive any response from the prospective employers.

Fortunately, 3 years ago I invested in a small F&B business with an ex-colleague and this business is now my only source of income. In parallel, I continue to search for that much needed full time job.

My 2nd problem (besides the 1st of still not being able to find a full time job) is that the monthly income from my F&B business is less than the maintenance payments which I have to pay to my ex-wife.

My divorce was Decree Nisi in 2008 and I am under a Court Order to pay $5000 as maintenance to my ex-wife and 3 children.

My total monthly take home income shrunk from $16,000 to $4,500 after I was retrenched. I plan to file a variation request to the Family Court to seek a reduction in the maintenance amount to be compatible/proportional to my reduced income and what I can now afford.

I seek your view and advice as to :-

- If I am now earning less than my ex-wife, can I apply for the maintenance to be reduced or is it a waste of time

[James - legal counsel] If your salary has reduced, it would be prudent for you to apply for variation. If the maintenance is in respect of your children, given your smaller salary, you may not be able to afford the maintenance that you are presently paying. Maintenance of the children is the responsibility of both you and your ex-wife and not your sole responsibility. If you are earning lesser than your ex, effectively, your ex needs to contribute more to the maintenance of the children.

You have presently re-married and you need also to maintain your present wife. With this added responsibility, you will not be able to afford to continue with the present maintenance order.

- If I run down my savings and eventually cannot keep up with the payments, what will happen – go to jail?

[James] You need to make an application for variation as soon as possible before your savings run dry.

- What are factors the court will look at when I file the variation order, eg., do they look only at income or would they also look into assets … savings, stocks, property … as I own a property jointly with my wife ( I am re-married) which is still under mortgage, will the court force me to sell it?

[James] Usually, the court will look at your your salary. In respect of your other assets, at the divorce application that has already been dealt with when matrimonial assets are divided.

The court will also look at your new changed position, i.e, you have remarried, whether you have children from your new marriage, your debts, your wife’s salary and her debts your other liabiliites. There must be a change in circumstances from the time the court made the order for maintenance. If the order for maintenance was made by consent, you need to seek your ex consent to vary the order. If not you need to make an application to set aside the present order on maintenace and get a fresh order for maintenance.

- do I need to engage a lawyer (I want to avoid doing so as lawyers fees are rather hefty – I had checked with several firms and they charge from $3500 upwards)

[James] Better to engage a lawyer. If not, you may find difficulty in making your application in court. You can approach the Family Court Registry or the HELP Centre in Subordinate Courts to help you with the application, if you do not wish to engage a lawyer.

I am very very pressurized by this event in my life, I want to continue supporting my kids as much as I can until they reach 21 (my eldest is 19, second is 18 and youngest is 13 this year) and I am feeling desperate with each passing day due to the uncertainty of my future.

I thank you for your time to look into my matter and look forward to receive your reply.

Kindly assist to keep details of this email confidential by masking my name and the figures, if you intend to publish it on your website.

Thank you
Arthur

Hi Gilbert,

Thank you for your support. I would like to share my story of struggle in our nation full of constitutional discrimination.

I have no family. My parents died when I was very young and I have been struggling living from place to place.

It is a vicious circle when you are poor, homeless and struggling to dig yourself out of it. When you are a homeless teenager, your priority would be to make enough money to pay rent, not study. I did just that and left school after attaining my O levels.

When you have no family nucleus, you do not qualify for government subsidized flat. Neither do you qualify to buy unless you have hard cash.

I lived with a plastic bag of clothes when I was 17. Today, I am in a better position. When you are alone, below 21 and poor, you do not even qualify to get a bank loan to study. The bank would want a guarantor or a mortgage.

When I finally managed to get a bank loan for my poly enrollment when I passed 21, I did not do very well in my studies.

I had to work 8 hours a day and go to school for another 8 hours a day and slept very little. For 3 years, I did that. I suffered so much for it.

Today, I have my diploma but it is becoming redundant as recruiters expect you to be able to merge roles such as IT and copy-writing.

They don’t tell you that when you are in poly. I am competing with young graduates and foreigners. I still do not qualify for a flat because I cannot afford to buy from the open market.

Thus I am living in a cockroach infested hdb unit where I rented a room. It is the only place I can afford because if I move, I have to pay the agent again.

I have invested all my savings, however little, into the degree I am currently pursuing. I had applied for NUS with my SAT.

But I couldn’t get in even though I have many years of working experience. I was told my SAT scores were average.

Of course, the foreigner’s kids with money to study scored a good 700 per subject and I could only manage 600.

That leaves me with no other choice but to get private education. I was told if I wanted to get a job in stat board, I wouldn’t qualify.

My degree is only for 3 years, not the four years kind with first class honours etc. Again, where is my fair competition? I am 38.

By the time I graduate, I will be 40. I am aware of the age discrimination out there. I have been looking for work.

Where is my fair competition?

Today, a PR with a family nucleus has more rights than me even though all my previous three generations of ancestors are all born in Singapore.

I don’t even qualify for housing.

I am being discriminated for being orphaned and single. I failed to get good grades because I needed to work like a dog to pay rent and school fees.

Today, I am struggling to pay my school fees and rent because I don’t get paid a lot of money and I am out of job.

Again, Gilbert. Great job. I will be there on  1st May.

With best regards,

Nelly

Editor’s note: We are seeing the writer to find out how best we can help her.

It was a ground-up movement at its best and everything you saw on that day involved contribution by the people – ranging from the Androids phone application  to the designing for the car decals.

Those who were helping out on that day were volunteers and they must have numbered close to 30. Many simply just volunteered without us even asking them to…

The 100o bottles of mineral  water,  stage balloon design and the petition clothed signing were all ideas contributed by the people and they  were the efforts of many who have emailed us saying that they wanted to contribute to the event.

Singaporeans by and large are voluntary by nature and when there is a real cause they will all try to chip in and made it a success.

I have listed five lessons I have learnt from the sequel protest:-

1. Be prepared for storm

When we announced the  sequel protest 7 weeks before the event, there was this premonition that the journey ahead would be very rough ahead and of course I got hit badly especially ten days before the event.

I   was also pretty down when Nizam emailed me saying that he was pulling out from the event – three days before the event.

He was also one of the keynote speaker – together with Jee Say and Vincent.

I count myself pretty tough but I must admit  that Nizam’s pull-out shook me quite badly – I took a long time-out to sort out my emotions and spoke to a few friends who supported me alot during the tough planning period.

Without their support, I would  have cracked and threw in the towel there  and then.

This came on top of Vincent’s pull-out  about eight days before the event citing personal reason.

Toby -  one of the speakers who is physically challenged also pulled out 6 days before the event. citing family pressure after Nizam’s story  broke out on allegation of state interference on the freedom to speak.

By then, we have  tackled the thorny  NParks’ police permit saga,  an enquiry by the Commissioner of Charities  into the NGO’s  public donation drive, numerous facebook posting on allegations of sex scandal among others.

The sequel was at least ten times harder to organise than the first one on Feb 16 and I wasn’t sure that I was fully prepared for the storm.

Moreover, expectations were higher as everyone wants to have a crowd size larger than the first one!

Thanks to the massive suppport by my friends and Singaporeans who kept on encouraging me, we could press on and delivered another successful protest at speakers’ corner.

Of course, all this  has made us tougher to crack and we hope that the team as evolved into a  militant-like unit ready for hard battle!

2. Ground up movement

We have decided from the onset of the sequel that the event would have to be organised from the ground up.

We only planned out the programme as event organiser and considered all ideas coming in from the public.

We have also decided that we would also lessen out the politicians from speaking – down from the five who spoke on the first protest to two in the sequel.

Many people have written in to us after the first protest saying that the event represented more like a political rally and we agreed.

Nevertheless, politcians all  made goood speakers and we would then have to make do with ordinary Sngaporeans  who spoke simply but from the heart.

Eventually, we only have Jee Say as the lone politician who spoke on labour day.  the other politican – Vincent pulled out from the event eight days before the event.

We also believed that a platform of civil societies, politicians and ordinary Singaporeans will form a very balanced powerful channel  for the movement and will try our best to follow this strategy for future protests.

Its a tough strategy though as civil societies do not really trust politicians as they are always accused of being self-seeking.

Though there is some truth here, we still need politicians to speak out for the people abeit in a less political undertone which of course is tough for them.

However, we are proud that this seqquel event involved alot of ordinary people – we have six ordinary Singaporeans speaking up on issues that concerned them and three NGOs have also  joined us  – Function 8, Workfair and Bukit Brown.

Mr M Ravi also spoke at the event  in the capacity as a human rights laywer.

Many people have commented that it was a people’s event but clearly the public speaking skills of novice speakers needed  brushing up – which we agreed.

We will in future conduct more intensive public speaking lessons for those who are speaking to the masses for the first time.

We did conduct one such lesson for the novice sequel protest speakers but clearly it was not enough.

3. Social media vz state media

From the onset, we knew that we could not depend on the state-controlled media to help us publicise our event and there was thus  an official  agreement to allow the popular socio-political blog Temasek Review Emeritius (TRE) and Publichouse to publicise our event.

I am proud to say that the sequel event was conducted with  help mostly from the social media and it shows how powerful they are in generating publicity for mass events.

Facebook was also widely used again for the sequel and though 1300 people registered their interest to attend the event on the facebook event page – more than 4000 people came out to protest on that day.

We believed that many people spread the event through email and word of mouth – which is especially important with the senior citizens.

To be fair, Wanbao and Zaobao did helped to publicise  two weeks before the event and these may have help  us brought alot of senior citizens to the protest as most of them read the Chinese papers daily.

We thought that  soliciting publicity  assistance from TRE and Publichouse was  the right move especially when we were paralysed by the NParks’ police permit ruling 12 days before the event and subsequent  request by the Commissioner of Charities  to look into our accounts.

The COC enquiry also got stickier when there was a leak of an email by certain individuals  to the TNP press.

TRE did the defending for us and wrote a nice article rebutting TNP for  sloppy reporting.

Publichouse’s Andrew Loh also came into the picture  by writing an article criticising the requirement by NParks wanting us  to apply for a police permit so that foreigners can participate in the protest.

He also did a nice promotion video for the event.

Note that all this happened just less than ten days before the event –  further stressing the organisers who have to look into other logistical matters as well.

We were glad that the team was united and cohesive and we all managed to pull through together – stronger and tougher after the experience.

Anything lesser would mean that the event may have to be cancelled.

However, we believe that the NParks’ police permit saga and Nizam’s troubling last-minute pull-out may have rob the event  of about a thousand people or more.

Leslie Chew’s arrest two weeks before the event also didn’t help much.

A climate of fear has began to creep back into the public arena as the authorities started to clamp down on social media and civil societies.

4. Seniors vz youth

As I walked through the park on the protest day itself, I detected that there are many participants who are aged mostly above 40 years old – where are all the young people below age 30?

This is worrying as the country’s future lies in the hands of the young people. If they could not care less about the future of the country, then it is something that is very troubling.

Maybe those who are affected by the population white paper are mostly older Singaporeans -they may be jobless or have to face up to under employment if they are working.

The first protest saw at least 30% participants age 30 years old and below but the sequel could only boast of a 15% participate rate among those who are younger.

Some have told me that the speaker line-up represented a very senior one and younger people may be turned away though there is a young single mum aged 27 years old and a taxi driver aged 35.

During the first protest, we have several speakers ranging from age 30-35 years old and this could be one key factor why there are more younger people turning up.

I tend to agree with them on their reasoning and we will try our best to bring in speakers from all walks  of different age range for the next protest.

5. A new Singapore?

The two ground-up protests seemed  to be to aking off quite well and we dare say that for our future protest event, there should be a minimum crowd size of around 4000 – 5000 people as this seems to be the stable number that we are looking at.

Of course, no organisers will want to maintain that number for future event and they will want to boast that figure up if possible.

Some even want us to double the number of protestors to 10, 000 for the sequel protest but unfortunately the numbers remained at around 5000 due to various  reasons.

However, we felt that we need a stable reliable number of participants who will attend our protest come rain or shine and slowly  hope to beef that up with better-organised protest events in future.

Anything that increases too quickly and steeply will be hard to maintain and manage.

The successful sequel protest also made us heaved a huge sigh of relief as now we knew that Singaporeans are supportive of such a massive movement for change.

It would be disastrous if there is less than 1000 Singaporeans turning up for the sequel protest – rendering ineffective all the good works of the first protest.

All in all, we want to thank Singaporeans who have contributed to two massively successful ground-up events either through their voluntary efforts or their participation and are proud to say  that we have a new Singapore now!

Cheers Singapore…

Written by: Gilbert Goh

Dear Gilbert

Thank you for organising this Great Family Day with my fellow citizens. Everything was taken care-off and the program line-up was perfect.

I am writing so that we can further strengthen this memorable event- something to even surpass GE Rally speech or even National Day.

1. Free Bottles of Water
Kind contribution that can be further enhanced. The ladies should divide themselves up and also, talk to each individual while doing so. This is the American style of Emotional Connect.

2. Speakers
Very brave people to stand up there. But each of them should be given a fixed time to talk ie 15 minutes. This means writing a script and then pilot run it at home. After 2 practices and improving it, the correct phrase and words will be more crispy. Public Speaking is also preparation effort.

3. Memoirs
Good idea to sell t-shirts and give out car-decals. It makes people go home with homework, too. This, I give full marks.

4. Summary
After each speaker finishes, try to do a one sentence summary. It helps audience to remember better. Also assist people to understand the message, some of which were rather windy.

In all, thank you for your effort.

Regards

Sally

**********

Dear Gilbert,

Thank you once again for organising another protest at the Speaker’s Corner yesterday, and I am proud to be one of the 5,000 who have attended the event. What you have done is really inspiring in a country that has little regard for older Singaporean workers above the age of 35.

You have not only given us a voice when we had none before, but from the diversity of your volunteers and audiences, you have also pulled people from otherwise different backgrounds together.

The years to come will only get more difficult ahead for most Singaporeans, and that forces out to discredit you will grow stronger, but I do hope that such would only make you more determined to show that we will not be discarded so easily.

Regards.

Kai Khiun

*************

Hi Gilbert

Some feedback on yesterday’s event for you.

To start off, the positive feedbacks. What Singapore lacks currently is that Societal Voice, one where ordinary citizens are able to feedback to the government about the many hardships and queries they have. And what you have provided them, is this very channel. Slowly, but surely, the people’s voices are being heard by the government. Sooner or later, they will have to resolve this. Thank you for providing this channel, and perhaps more is to come, although I do know, organising such an event will take up a lot of preparation and will definitely cost a bundle.

Perhaps, to make the events more engaging, you could consider having each speaker have a Q&A session where they can answer the audience’s query on the spot. I’ve noticed a few speakers that were perhaps a little over-prepared, and did not pay too much attention to engaging the audience. I feel that engaging the audience plays a very big role in a public speaking. This is where I would like to thank you for inviting Mr Yap, 66 year old retiree to speak. He, in my opinion, did an infinitely better job than what a few of our ministers have done in the past few months.

Yours Sincerely,

Joseph

*************

Dear Gilbert,

Thank You for organising this sequel May Day Hong Lim Park protest against the 6.9million population increase and the ever increasing liberal immigration policies. And thanks for voicing out our concern for own PMETs ricebowls which our government has little to no regards for.

Just now, I was watching this video “Beyond the border, behind the men: Bangladeshi migrant workers.” It pains me to see how these migrant workers had to leave behind their wives, babies and families to work in a foreign land called singapore.

For a better life for their families, they are willing to sacrifice their time and bonding with their loved ones to work in a foreign country.

To me, it is a noble and courageous act. But all these could happen to our own singaporeans in future if we do not act and stay oblivious to the situation that is happening now.

If we can’t find a job that gives us decent wages, how are we to support our family? How are we to provide a roof over our head? Must we end up leaving our homeland in search for a better job elsewhere to provide a good life for our family? We may end up with no choice one day and have to do that.

And this pains me even more to see when foreigners are haivng jobs here by the many, and we have to venture overseas in search of survival. Our country gives these FTs the opportunity to earn better wages and career prospects here. These FTs move to here with a choice, and we singaporeans have to move out with no choice. Whence the logic?

So for the betterment of singaporeans and our future, I shall continue to support this protest for as long as it lasts.

Regards,
Bryan Wong

This post first appeared here on 15 April 2010.

7 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Job

Written by: Gilbert Goh

I have heard from many friends that they fear for their job. Every month, someone will be laid off and they sweat while sleeping at night wondering whether they will be the next to go. Some dread going to work and find that they are unable to log into their PC – the sure sign that HR will call you next into their dreaded office announcing the nail-on-the-coffin news.

I have pen down 7 ways to recession-proof your job. Hopefully this will help you to stay on your job as long as possible.

1. Have a positive attitude at work

People always  like workers with a positive attitude at work. Bosses always try to retain those who light up the work place with their optimism and light-hearted spirit. Having to choose between laying off someone who is  always smiling  and those that work  passively, it is clear who will get retained.

So always smile and ackonwledge others at work. Even when the company is doing badly, your affectionate attitude will help to light up the office environment and even help you stay on the job.

2. Volunteer for tough assignment

A friend told me how he manages to held on to his job by accepting a posting overseas. They have given him an either-or option and he has  taken the plunge to a third world country with both eyes closed. Things turn out to be not so bad and he told me  that life is slower there. More importantly, he is still working on when his colleagues are being retrenched.

So, volunteer for  hard-core work projects that others shy away from.  Sound out to your bosses that you do not mind being pass on projects that others avoid.  Most bosses will prefer to hold on to executives who are not fussy about their work scope. They are seen as an asset that no one wants to let off.

3. Be indispensable

A friend who works in the bank told me how she became indispensable by trying to learn more about the others’ job scope and became a multi-tasking  worker in the process. Whenever someone is sick or on leave, she will cover their duties and became a regular covering officer on top of her own duties.

Bosses  like a worker who is an all-rounder and dependable.

Do your job so well that no one can replace you also helps here. Some workers I know are experts in their own field. This is especially so for sales or marketing job. If you are the top salesman in your field, I am sure that you will be the last to be laid off.

4. Network with your bosses

Short of saying that you are boot licking, it is important that you network more with bosses in your own company. Often, before deciding who to lay off executives, managers will come together  and discuss on each individual worker. Those who care to network with the bosses at work often get a reprieve provided if their work performace is undented. Managers, being human, will prefer to keep someone that they know than those that keep a low profile.

So,  go and network more with your bosses. Invite them out for lunch and chat with them about anything under the sun.  You may never know that lunch appointment with your boss will ave your job in the near future.

5.  Go for bond-tied  training

The last time I went for a diploma course provided for by my company, I was told to sign a bond for two years. Though initially reluctant, I was glad later that it provided me almost with two more  years of work. To get out of the bond, one has to pay back the full course fee which can be a few thousand dollars.

However, I am sure that such bonded training courses havel  cease now as many companies are cutting down on training cost.  If your company still provides such bonded courses, it may be good to go for it. You can go for free sponsored upgrading plus you have work stability at least during the duration of the bond. It’s a double bonus here.

6.  Network with your suppliers and even competitors

Learn to network with your suppliers and others who visited your company.

A friend of mine was laid off last year in Sydney but was fortunate to be rehired 3 weeks after by a competitor company. As he knew  the manager in charge, the employment was smooth and without any other competition.  Not only that, he even has a pay rise with the new job! How fortunate can you get?

So expand your network and email them when you have their namecards. Keep them informed of your progress and when you are retrenched, they could be the people that will provide you the leads to your next job.

7.  Prepare yourself for the next job

I have friends who are already planning for their next job when they are still currently working. For example, a friend of mine is helping out at his friend’s western food stall as a helper frying chips and grilling chicken chop in the evening to prepare for the day when he is being  laid off as a banking executive.

He told me that he has plan to set up his own western food stall and the experience at his friend’s  stall  helps him alot to  reduce the setting up time if he is really being  laid off.

I hope that I have provided you some beneficial tips to stay at your job in this turbulent time.  However, some may inadvertently still be laid off despite working hard in their job. Companies simply fold up when they do not have enough business to substain their operation. Hopefully, those hours spend at networking with friends and business associates will pay off. The saying goes that you will reap what you have sown  is often provened true.

NB: Livestreaming for the labour day protest will start at 3pm. The URL is:-

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jhefjwhbehfj

With five days to go before our inaugural labour day protest at 4pm, I hope that Singaporeans will turn out in full force at Hong Lim Park to protest against the 6.9 million population white paper and labour related issues.

I have listed  five reasons why Singaporeans must show up at our labour day protest:-

1. People’s power

Most governments are afraid of people’s power as it is massive, loud  and united – nothing beats showing up by the thousands for a peaceful lawful protest  demonstrating against any unpopular policy.

Singaporeans have all along being ruled over by fear and intimidation and thanks to our government’s  population white paper, it has unite Singaporeans into a cohesive tight unit ready for pacified defiance.

Just look at the many u-turns recently by the government and you know what I mean – tightening of S-Passes, raising EP minimum salary from $3000, free train rides early in the morning subject to conditions,  increase in BTO flats, singles can buy BTO flats among others.

So if you are thinking of staying at home on labour day – don’t as  the future of the country lies in your hands now.

Yes – I mean you the reader who is reading this post right now…you are responsible for your own future, your cuntry and your children’s future.

Everyone of you out there counts – if there are thousands of you coming together it will surely matter - unity is strength and don’t think that you are nothing.

You are definitely something when we all band together as one united defiant voice…and I think the government is getting worried now.

2. Future of the country

The 4000 die-hard Singaporeans who came in the rain and mud on Feb 16 protest have shown us that there are many people  who still care for the future of our country.

Many who came are elderly people who probably hardly understand a word of English but stood in the rain for three hours as they did so for the future of their children and grandchildren.

By 2030, the population ratio of the country will comprise of 55% foreigners and 45% locals – regardless of the citizenship ratio of the population.

Is this what Singaporeans want? Clearly, 4000 Singaporeans plus many others have shown enough concern to make an effort to step out of their comfort zone and “Say NO to 6.9 million population.”

We will do nothing less on labour day so that the pressure will mount for our government to change tact or face the wrath of the people at Hong Lim Park.

3. Future of the movement

The movement has taken shape after Feb 16 and in fact the sequel protest on labour day is even more important than the first one.

If the labour day event attracts significantly lesser people, the movement may seem to have die off allowing the authorities to laugh at the apathy of the people.

All along, Singaporeans have chosen to stay at home or rant away behind the protection of their monitor when they are unhappy with the government - mostly due to  fear and apathy.

We are pretty isolated by ourselves and could not care a hook if our neighbours perish or someone faints next to us – just don’t trouble me to take care of other people.

We became fragmented as a society and slowly disintregrated into nothingness as we all struggle to make a living here – life is already so hard please don’t trouble me with other people’s problem!

This me-first attitude also makes it very difficult for organisers to cajole the population to join in any protest event as  its something that is strange and may  spell trouble as so far no one has the ability to unite many people into a cohesive force that can move forward in a clear mission.

Singaporeans must build on the success of the first protest and not allow it to be just a one-off event.

4. Do not wait till GE 2016

Many people who  are fed-up with the system told me that they will wait till GE 2016 to do something - I find that is exactly what the government wants us to do.

They want us to wait for the next five years before we vote at the polls but is this enough?

Opposition parties have a part to play in helping us shape the politiical landscape of our  country but as citizens we can be active and creative in voicing out our dissent peacefully.

Meanwhile, do we have to suffer the silence of our frustration andd let policies after polices run us down?

Its also psychologically healthy to come out together as one people and protest audibly as this is  better than sufferng in silece – alone and defeated.

You need not suffer in silence now as this new platform has been created for you to protest peacefully and in dignity.

5. Ground up labour movement

This is also the first timee that any labour day event is organised from the ground up.

All along, NTUC and the government will organise such events from the top down and people from all walks of life are being invited to the conference-styled labour event.

Its so different from what many other labour day events  occurring all over the world and I am sure that we will break some ground here by being the first team to have organised such an event for the masses.

If you have missed the epic Feb 16 protest, please ensure that you do not miss this one – come rain or shine!

It promises to be another epic historical event…

Written By: Gilbert Goh