The Clash of the Tri-Tans

Title-quote of @kellchan

 It’s the Battle of the Tans, or at least for now. The presidential elections had been the talk of town recently and so far Dr Tony Tan, Tan Kin Lian and Tan Cheng Bok had stepped up to express their interest in competing in this round of presidential elections, and it seems almost certain that it will be a three-cornered fight between the three of them.

  However, there have also been some things that had popped up recently to make us question if this presidential elections will be as simple as it seems. One thing to take note of course is its predecessor, the General Elections held last month, which saw some large changes to the political scene including a opposition team fighting for a GRC being elected into parliament. Thus, it is not surprising that what people say about this being a equally interesting election certainly coming true.

  One thing that had popped up is of course, party affiliation. All three candidates had served before in the People’s Action Party(PAP) before and although it had been claimed that party affiliation will not influence the vote of voters, it is not certain to say that some will consider in mind at the ballot box. After all, the PAP have a clean track record for running the country well and have a almost clean track record, with good reputation among other countries in the region and also, low corruption. It is almost naïve to assume that some Singaporeans will vote thinking about this for people when voting for a president will consider his or her background and that ultimately, will end up coming to the conclusion that these candidates have good prospects for having once served as “Men in White”.

 This brings us to the next point. Political figures including former Senior Minister S Jayakumar and Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean had expressed that the president’s job is significantly different from that of a Prime Minister and Member of Parliament. That had been quite a surprising claim to many that other ministers say so but they are not far from the truth. It is almost undeniable that the president in Singapore ultimately, is a figurehead. Although it is true that many have pointed out that he holds great power in guarding the countries’ reserves, that is only one small part of protecting the countries’ interests which ultimately ends up with the ruling party and PM. Thus, some may wonder if that is perhaps the reason why Mr. George Yeo, who had garnered much interest with his Facebook post on his thought on running for presidency have decided to step out from the presidential race. The President will still, as many have said, be a envoy of Singapore overseas, a person to inspect the soldiers during National Day and jokingly, a VIP at the Star Awards.

  Although it is wrong to say that the president does not play a role in Singapore’s political scene, he does not play a significantly large one still and with that in mind, as well as bearing in mind of the Tans’ political background, Singaporeans must once again choose wisely when the time to choose the country’s next president comes.

Nursing Home Abuse-A work of our own hands?

  Recently, there have been much anger and outrage over the issue of abuse in nursing homes after a secretly taken video was revealed showing a elderly woman being abused by caregivers at the Nightingale Nursing Home in Singapore by being left naked in everyone’s view, flung onto a bed, and being slapped, prompting many to question what happens behind the walls of nursing homes and criticism of things including the large majority of staff at nursing homes being foreigners and monitoring of what happens to the old folks there.

  All these had led to the Ministry Of Health saying on the 11^th of June that it will conduct a review of all nursing homes in Singapore. However, many suggestions and criticisms should be handled and considered carefully as such abuse or large presence of “uncivilized” foreigners may be another occurrence in future unless more Singaporeans start stepping up and show initiative to take care of the elderly.

  Most of the staff in a nursing home consists of foreign workers, which had driven the criticism of many who claim that these workers do not have proper training and when met with unforeseen situations, turn to force. However, most of the nurses have been said to be quite understanding, and Singaporeans are unwilling to take up these positions, as this job, like many others, require not only a lot of patience but has low pay, long hours and words of abuse and fits from many ill old folks. Thus, who are we to blame them? Who are we to criticize these foreign workers when we pointing the finger are unable to step up to take care of our elderly?

  Although it is true that the Ministry of Health have a huge responsibility for this incident, and it certainly seems fishy that the MOH only released such footage and promised checks on all the Nursing Homes in Singapore in June when they were already alerted in March. Also, they too play a part in ensuring that there are security measures like the installation of CCTVs in nursing homes to ensure that such a incident does not happen. However, even with surveillance, some places cannot be surveyed due to invasion of privacy, not to mention the mammoth task of making sure all 63 nursing homes in Singapore have 24-hour surveillance. Singaporeans too should play a part by visiting nursing homes to help monitor living conditions and also, Singaporeans whose parents are in nursing homes too should take the initiative to visit them and try to understand how they are living there.

  To conclude, MOH should, as some had suggested review the elder care sector and provide more incentives and promote caregivers’ jobs so as to attract more Singaporeans to be caregivers and the MOH should also pay more attention to the training and guidance, as well as surveillance of caregivers. In turn too, Singaporeans must start realizing the importance of caring for the elderly and play a part in ensuring that the elderly’s stay in nursing homes will be enjoyable.

The test of Life and Death

  My father employed a maid for my Grandma when she fell ill years ago and till now, she had already served us for ten years. When she was first helping us, she was bad at English and struggled to communicate. However, my Grandma and other family members could speak Malay quite well and was able to converse with her. Until now, she had learnt the ropes and now speak not only English, but Chinese as well, and is very faithful to our family.

  Many had long argued that many things cannot be determined by tests, and most of all, faithfulness, skill and sincerity. Is that not what many Singaporeans hiring maids worry about? That she will abuse your child or steal your things or slack? How good is a person if she is wonderful at subjects like English but is dishonest, or lazy, or does not even know a pint of housework? Do people hire helpers to provide help or have another English speaker at home?

  Also worth considering is the maids’ background. Many people struggle to grasp any language, be it English or any others all over the world, for the Americans, is it not hard for the average citizens to grasp a foreign language? If so for a developed country, what more for a developing country like Indonesia where many still live below the poverty line? In my knowledge, many Indonesian and Filipino maids who come to work in Singapore do so to earn more money for their families who find it hard to do so in their home countries, and thus, it is not a unfounded claim that many of them had never been exposed to the English language for most of their lives. It is unable for them to master even the basic English standards for the exam given the lack of time, resources and familiarity to the English language which many others take months, if not years to master.

  Even though many argue that maids should that the initiative to communicate with their employers and that they must be able to speak English in order to do so, most should consider two factors. Is there any way the maids are able to grasp the English Language so easily and why shouldn’t the employers also take some initiative? Maids do not have British Council teachers training them and it had been revealed that most of the time, they rely on themselves to learn the English language. Thus, without enough help or guidance, many maids suffer trying to understand the language. Also, just like how my Grandma did, employers should take the initiative and try to learn at least some basic native words of the maid’s origin for is not the relationship between a employer and employee a important one, and both should try to care and understand one another. Similarly, the relationship between the employer and the maid is as such, and thus, the employer must be willing to sacrifice time to communicate with the maid and if the maid have dedication to the employer, she too will be touched and work hard to do so in return.

  Thus, with this, I conclude that the Ministry of Manpower and any other concerned agencies and people should revise the examination or even do away if it if it was possible, for pen and paper will never be able to test the will of one’s heart, and more should be done to provide to the maids’ needs such as providing more English lessons and resources instead of just a sample of examination questions for them in order to ensure that such a tragedy will not happen again and to ultimately improve the relationship and understanding between maids and employers

Background to this post 

  The incident last Saturday in which a maid ended up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after a failed attempt to commit suicide after failing her Foreign Domestic Worker Entry test before dying on wednesday have led to much debate.

  The Foreign Domestic Worker Entry Test that had been put under much scrutiny in the past few days. The test was first introduced in 2005 by the Ministry of Manpower(MOM) to improve the literacy and numeracy level of  the maids, and maids of all nationalities must take it. It consists of 40 multiple choice questions on topics like home safety and basic childcare and takes half an hour to complete. Maids can take it three times in as many days and they can prepare for the test by going through 120 sample questions.