Singapore get elderly citizens to work longer

The local newspapere reported this.
Singapore will need to develop new arrangements to help the elderly work as long as they can.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said one such feature in place is getting companies to rehire workers aged 62 years for another three years till 65. But that could mean taking up a different job at a lower pay.

Housekeeping is not the most sought-after job, but someone has to do it.

66-year-old Lee Lai Eng has been working as a housekeeper for over 20 years. The grandmother of four chose to continue working six days a week, eight hours each day, even after retirement.

Even though she gets the same pay as her younger colleagues, the former nurse feels empowered by her added responsibilities as a housekeeping trainer. She is also glad that being employed means her medical needs are taken care of by the company.

Madam Lee said: "My children have asked me to stop work, but it is hard." She said she prefers to be independent financially. "I prefer to be free."

"Pay is important, but I feel that I don't need so much money since I'm so old," said Madam Lee.

That is something Prime Minister Lee will be glad to hear.

Speaking at Singapore's first Retirement Conference on Thursday, he said social attitudes must change.

"The job of hotel attendant may be a humble one, but it is an honourable employment. We should not discourage anyone from taking on such jobs. To do so would limit his options to be active, engaged and to earn an income," Mr Lee said.

"They need to be ready to adjust to different responsibilities, and possibly lighter work and less pay and understandably, these adjustments are harder to accept," he added.

Besides attitudes, Mr Lee said wage structures - where workers get paid according to the number of years on the job - must also change with the times, so that companies will hire more older workers instead of younger and cheaper ones.

The labour movement is working with companies to make older workers' wage structure more competitive so that it is easier for them to stay employed.

NTUC deputy secretary-general, Heng Chee How, said: "For the older workers, you are looking at aspects of health, you're looking at aspects of skills, you're looking at aspects of job performance.

"And all these are specific areas that must be further enhanced because as the population ages, you'll have more and more older workers. They'll have to work longer and they'd want to work longer."

The unions are also working with companies to help older workers find and keep jobs during this downturn.

Union leaders say they are working with companies to encourage them to send not just the younger workers for retraining but the older ones as well, as part of the government's S$600m skills upgrading scheme.

Earlier allowance for Spur Retraining

JOBLESS Singaporeans who qualify for a new government-sponsored training programme will no longer have to wait until they complete their course to receive a training allowance.

The payout of $4 for each training hour will be given sooner and in regular instalments, so that they can have some cash in their pockets while training.

This change, disclosed by officials at a question-and-answer session with 260 human resource practitioners and union representatives yesterday, follows several other refinements to the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) since the scheme was introduced last month.

These include expanding funding from 150 to 800 courses, and accepting in-house training programmes for subsidy on a case-by-case basis.

Details of the latest change on the training allowance will be announced in a few weeks' time, said Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) deputy chief executive Goh Eng Ghee.

The issue was raised by participants during the 25-minute session at the Employment & Employability Institute (e2i) in Bukit Merah.

They were giving their feedback on the $600 million Spur scheme which pays part of workers' wages while they train, to minimise layoffs.

Most centred on details of the scheme, with many asking about the criteria for getting funding for courses, especially in-house programmes.

Others touched on issues like offering security officer courses in Chinese.

National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Ong Ye Kung said that as security companies want officers who speak English, the right thing to do is to help Mandarin-speaking people improve their English.

Elaborating on the training allowance, WDA's Mr Goh told The Straits Times that the earlier decision to pay it at the end of a course had been to ensure that people completed their training.

But the payout period was now being tweaked to help cash-strapped trainees who may be on courses that last a month.

Such a person would get about $600 in allowance in all, or about $30 a day. So far, about 2,000 jobseekers at e2i have received the allowance, said the institute's incoming chief executive officer, Mr Ang Hin Kee.

But Ms Selvigeetha S.Venkatesan, 43, who is due to join a three-month health-care course next month, said an earlier payout would help pay for meals and bus fares.

'I've been without a job for one year plus, so I haven't been able to save much money. I have to pay the loan for my flat and the medical expenses of my mother,' said the former environment officer, who lives in a three-room flat in Bukit Merah with her 69-year-old mother.

As for the criteria for Spur funding of in-house courses, companies must prove they are responsible employers, on top of having a list of pre-approved courses, said NTUC industrial relations director Cham Hui Fong.

They need to adopt the tripartite guidelines on managing excess manpower, such as having alternative work arrangements and using retrenchment as a last resort, she added.

Rounding up the session, Mr Ong told the participants to brace themselves for retrenchment to accelerate as the economy contracts.

He also expressed disappointment that some companies had refused to work with NTUC's e2i, saying they were not unionised.

He added that e2i was committed to 'serve everyone, unionised or non-unionised'.

Brain surgeon' groom actually works in a restaurant

YOU could call it a 'shotgun' marriage. The groom, shooting for a bride, took a short-cut past the matchmaker and married the woman.

In doing so, he avoided paying the matchmaker's usual fee of $7,800 for a successful match-up.

Mr Loi Eng Thang, 58, the boss of South Phoenix Marriage Centre, thought he had landed a big fish when Mr Yip King Yin, 47, walked in seeking a Vietnamese bride.

Mr Yip claimed he was a brain surgeon earning $4 million a year.

He also told the matchmaker that he was a widower whose Japanese wife had died of breast cancer.

Little did Mr Loi know that the man, clad in a long-sleeved shirt and tie, was really a supervisor in a restaurant, earning only $1,700 a month.

Mr Yip claimed to live in a bungalow on Holland Road.

According to Mr Loi, he said he worked as a brain surgeon at National University Hospital and lectured at the National University of Singapore.

Mr Yip, while admitting that he lied, explained to The New Paper that he did it to impress his bride-to-be.

As for marrying the 25-year-old Vietnamese woman without the matchmaker's consent, he said it was because he was upset with Mr Loi for making it difficult for his wife-to-be to extend her visa.

But Mr Loi, too, is unhappy.

He told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'I believed him because he was introduced to me by someone who had previously introduced other clients to me.

Fooled

'Many of my customers hold good jobs. One is a lecturer in a polytechnic. This is why I never doubted that he was a brain surgeon.

'He talked so professionally and talked about politics.

'I am so angry with myself because, after 30 years as an accountant, and almost four years in the matchmaking business, I have never been deceived so badly.'

Mr Loi introduced Mr Yip to Ms Dong Kim Thi after their first meeting.

Mr Loi said: 'He liked her and wanted to marry her. He even said that he would pay me $2,000 more for taking such good care of her.'

Mr Loi usually charges $7,800 for each Vietnamese bride he helps to matchmake. He has gone to the Small Claims Tribunal to claim the amount that Mr Yip owes him for his services.

On 14 Nov, Mr Loi brought Ms Dong to the National University Hospital canteen to look for Mr Yip so that they could get his particulars to submit an application for his marriage.

They met him at 8.30pm that day, when Mr Yip turned up half an hour late, explaining that he was very busy at work.

They had also gone to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to extend Ms Dong's social visit pass for one more month on 19 Nov, the day Mr Yip was supposed to pay Mr Loi for his services.

But Mr Yip claimed that his father had been hospitalised that day for liver cancer and he did not have the money for Mr Loi.

Mr Loi suggested they go to Mr Yip's house so that the latter could write him a cheque, but Mr Yip refused.

When Mr Yip promised to pay him in full in three days, Mr Loi walked away with Ms Dong's passport and other documents, making it impossible for Mr Yip to apply for another extension for her social visit pass.

On 24 Nov, Ms Dong went back to Vietnam. She returned to Singapore again on 4 Dec, after Mr Yip helped her to buy a plane ticket back.

It was only on 14 Dec that Mr Loi found out from the woman who introduced Mr Yip to his matchmaking agency that Mr Yip and Ms Dong had tied the knot.

Dismayed, he looked for the couple at their flat in Bedok on 23 Dec.

He said: 'Ms Dong told me that her husband was not a doctor, but a waiter. She looked so happy but I felt betrayed because she must have found out a long time ago that he is not really a doctor.'

His confession

Ms Dong Kim Thi told Mr Yip she was in love with him, not his money, car or house.

When The New Paper visited Ms Dong at her flat yesterday, the slim and beautiful pre-university graduate said her husband confessed he was not a doctor only when she returned to Singapore to marry him.

She had asked him whether he was really a doctor when she was back in Vietnam, but Mr Yip continued lying to her because he was afraid that she would no longer want to marry him if she discovered the truth.

Speaking in fluent Mandarin, Ms Dong, who worked in a Taiwanese factory in Vietnam said: 'I was suspicious because he didn't have a car. It was on 4 Dec when I came back to Singapore when he told me the truth at the airport.

'As he was telling me everything, he looked very worried. I was a little angry at first, but I forgave him quickly because I love him.

'He's not handsome, he's not a doctor, he's not rich and he is 22 years older than me. But he is a man of good character. He lied to me, but he is still a good man because he had the courage to confess to me before we got married.'

Ms Dong had also told Mr Yip over the phone earlier that she did not care whether he was a doctor or not, because she was in love with him, not his money, car or house.

Saddened

She said she was saddened that Mr Loi claimed that her husband was a con-man.

She said: 'My husband would have paid him once he stopped being angry over the incident at the ICA where Mr Loi walked away with my documents and did not want to help us apply for another extension on my social visit pass.'

Mr Yip said: 'I am not out to cheat him. I refused to pay him because he did not do his job well and help us extend her social visit pass.

'Do you know that because of him, my wife had to be sent back to Vietnam? And that I had to pay for her air ticket back and change the date to register our marriage, and find another solemniser?

'If he had done his job beautifully, I would have paid him.'

Mr Yip also said that he did not lie about being a brain surgeon or a widow so that he could con Mr Loi, but because he wanted to impress his wife.

He said: 'Those were just white lies that have not done any one any harm. I sincerely love my wife, and I just wanted to impress her.'

Death in a foreign Land Santika Nightclub

THE two missing Singaporeans who were in the Santika Pub when a fire broke out inside soon after a New Year's Eve countdown have been identified, bringing the death toll of Singaporeans to three.

The two men - student Lu Weiye, 26, and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore officer Leslie Yeo, 40 - were identified through DNA samples on Sunday afternoon.

They were among the last few bodies left in the Bangkok mortuary which were still unidentified as of this morning.

Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Sunday it has been in contact with the next-of-kin and will arrange for them to travel to Bangkok.

The MFA and its Embassy in Bangkok will assist with the repatriation of the bodies of Mr Lu and Mr Yeo, the ministry said in a statement.

The pub fire has killed at least 62 people, mainly Thais.

Three Singaporeans were also injured in the early-morning blaze with two of them still warded in hospital.

One of the club owners has given himself up to police and promised to set up a compensation fund of 2 million baht ($84,300), local television reported.

Police intend to charge the nightclub owners with not ensuring safety and allowing under-age people into the club, the television said.

The Santika nightclub in a trendy Bangkok neighbourhood was popular with both foreigners and high-society Thais.

Among the dead already identified was another Singaporean man, identified as Teo Sze Siong. At least 20 foreigners from Japan, Australia, France and the United States had to be treated in hospital, according to emergency services.

The cause of the fire was still not clear, Deputy National Police Chief Chongrak Chutanont said on Friday. Witnesses said it was caused by fireworks and media reported it was due to an electrical fault.

To prevent occurences ,study the exits,multiple before you even take a step on the dance floor,to prevent it from being a last dance. Their fire exits are either non or ignored,just like in China and other third world. Kind of a dance Macabre.Thus for all Singaporean venturing into foreign dancefloor,check ,check, check, or its your last dance.!

Hawker centre toilets win rare 4-star rating

THREE public toilets have picked up public health awards given out by the South West Community Development Council.

The three showcases for cleanliness and efficient maintenance are the restrooms in the Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre, VivoCity shopping mall and Best Coffee Shop in Jurong West Street 91.

They are the best toilets in the hawker centre, shopping mall and coffee shop categories respectively, and were picked from a field of nine.

So before you start your eating spree, preview the toilet and decide. You might not want to come back again. The start of the toilets reveals the state of the nation and the running of the country.

Tragic end to promising dance career

ON THE dance floor, Mr Hong Jun Jie and Ms Emi Mitzushima moved as one - both were on the national dancesport team and were partners representing Singapore in competitions.

But the dance is over.

Late last month, their pairing, which also extended off the dance floor, abruptly came to an end in a traffic accident which killed him and injured her.

Elite lawyers seen only 12 days in court last year

Each Senior Counsel spent, on average, just one day in the Court of Appeal last year and another 11 days arguing a trial in court.

This, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said, differs greatly from other countries where Senior Counsel dominate appeal hearings.

In his speech at the opening of the legal year yesterday, CJ Chan also said he is deciding whether to put on the Supreme Court website and the Singapore Academy of Law website information about the amount of time each Senior Counsel spent in court.

Seen last earn more, the new legal moto ?

The 2009 conondrum, to be seen or to be heard.

Austistic Teenager on explosives charge

A TEENAGER who allegedly set off an explosive device in an SBS bus last October was charged in court with that offence, and a raft of others, yesterday.

Christopher Ko Zi Jie, 17, who was described in court as being autistic, allegedly set off a firecracker pen on board a Service 154 bus which was travelling along Jalan Toa Payoh around 6pm on Oct 30.

Ko, a student at the MacPherson Institute of Technical Education, suffered minor hand injuries as a result.

2 killed in N-S Highway crash

A FAMILY of six, residents in Sengkang, lost two of its members in a fatal accident on Malaysia's North-South Expressway on Thursday night.

The accident, which took place in Tangkak, near the Johor-Malacca border, left the mother of the family, Madam Chuah Bee Yang, 44, and her son, Ng Gau Heng, 14, dead.

The pair were with the rest of their family in a grey MPV driven by Madam Chuah's husband Ng Teong Boon, 45, when their car crashed into the back of a truck along the 143km mark of the expressway.