"You did Spit onto a Public Place (Drain)" -- this was the awkward and legalistic way Imran’s Notice to Attend Court described his offence. How was he to know that spitting in a drain by the side of the road was wrong? “No person shall spit any substance or expel mucus from the nose upon
This paper by Meera Rajah, a young volunteer helping out with case documentation and follow-up, provides a good summary of the issues that migrant workers commonly face. It is however, not just a descriptive summary, but delves into the reasons why things are as they are, putting the finger on the inequality of bargaining power.
With additional reporting by Chris Lee Eventually, the case ended in a rather unsatisfactory way. We can hardly fault Jalil Shaikh Bala Miah Shaikh, 27, for being frustrated with the outcome. His case shows how Singapore's work injury compensation system is stacked against migrant workers. Whenever an employer flatly denies to the authorities that an
The number of injury cases seen at the Cuff Road Project more than doubled between 2011 and 2013, latest figures show. In 2011, our volunteers saw 807 injured workers; it shot up to 1,523 cases in 2012, and rose some more in 2013, to 1,791. However, the total numbers seen at our meal programme increased
At the Migrant Awareness Week organised by students in the law school of National University of Singapore, 3 - 7 March 2014, a whole host of activities were on the calendar. For the forum of 3 March, TWC2 vice-president Alex Au (pictured above with HOME's Celine Dermine on his left) gave a presentation. Below is
By Keith W Hossain Jabed's story is one of long frustration. His accident happened more than one year ago, but his medical treatment has been suspended because his employer wouldn't pay, and now he is likely to be sent home without being properly cured. "I cannot turn head very much," he says, explaining his restricted
By Benjamin Wong The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website states that for a worker to claim under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), "the employee only needs to prove that he was injured in a work accident ..." (emphasis added by TWC2). In reality, many workers have difficulty even meeting this supposedly simple condition, because
Continued from Dulal faced problems on all fronts, none of his own making Laymen think that polygraph tests can reliably establish the veracity of a person’s statement and detect his lies. Perhaps those old movies of the polygraph pen gyrating wildly on the chart and the suspect shouting out his confession, convinced that it’s futile to
On the morning of 29 September 2012 as he was about to start work, Dulal Abdul Hai found a crowd gathering to watch a fight between an Indian lorry driver and a Bangladeshi welder. Without pausing to consider the reason for the fight, he made the risky decision to intervene and pull the two men
By Joyce Wong Pitchai Murugesan rolls up his right sleeve and shows us a long surgical scar running from his upper arm down to below the elbow. I estimate it to about 20-30cm long. He has suffered nerve damage: his little finger stays bent and he has difficulties exerting strength in his grip. Occasionally, he
