In April, I informed the Ministry for Manpower (MOM) about several dormitories at Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace which housed some foreign workers, in rather deplorable conditions. On 14 May, the MOM published a blog post about this, and made some accusations about me.
The following is my email to the Acting Minister for Manpower, Tan Chuan Jin, sent to him on 15 May 2013, in response to that MOM blog article.
It is copied to Ms Farah Abdul Rahim (Press Secretary, MOM) and Ms Chin Yen Eu (Customer Service Officer).
Dear Minister,
I would like to commend MOM and its officers for investigating the conditions in which some of the foreign workers at Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace lived in, and for instructing their employers “to move their workers to proper housing within the next two to four weeks.”
I am, however, puzzled by the article by “Yusri” on the MOM blog, titled: “Behind-the-Scenes of Operation ‘K‘”. In particular, this part where he wrote:
“Recently, a blogger who had highlighted some possible dormitory violations publicly questioned why we needed such specific information. When asked to give more information, the blogger asked us to refer to his earlier blog post. However, the blog post only had the name of the street, where other dormitories and residential premises could be found. Without specific addresses, it would be time consuming and unproductive for MOM officers to expend resources to check every residence or unit along the same street. The blogger knew the details but chose not to share it. And when he eventually did, he chose to publicly mock the process. It was unfortunate, but we appreciate the fact that the information was finally shared with us.Full story
