Daily Lesson from Life 01 April 2009

Did not post last night as I had a severe headache and took an early rest! So, here is the catch up for 01 April 2009 - April Fools Day!


"Wed, Apr 01, 2009AsiaOne - Man on edge at MOM building

A man, believed to be a Chinese national, was sitting too close to the edge for comfort at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) building.

A STOMPer, Annsun, says she witnessed a man seemingly attempting to jump down from the MOM building. Officers were seen talking to the man.


She says: "Around about 3pm today (Apr 1), someone told us that there is somebody trying to jump down from MOM building."

Photos on STOMP show officers apparently talking patiently to a man with one leg over the edge of the building. There were onlookers at a construction site next to the building.

Police are investigating the incident."

This is nothing uncommon in some parts of China. When troubled or repressed workers tried to seek justice for unfair treatments by their employers. The only difference is that the scale is much bigger and the impact in society less noticeable since it actually paled in comparison to the millions who are in need of help!

Lessons for me are:

1. Some Singapore employers are really no better than any other unethical and ill-principled merchants and employers anywhere else! While Singapore brand is a strong one on a nation to nation basis, there are exceptions. The same applied to when we deal with other nationalities. It is always better to be careful than to be sorry;

2. this also highlight how difficult it is to 'do the right things' even with a fairly strict law-and-order society like Singapore. Singaporeans are virtually brought up in the regime of 'you cannot break the laws or else you will pay the price at court or at the hands of justice!' Obviously some did get away from the long arms of the laws. That is why some decided to test the laws enforcement agencies!;

3. as long as workers are given the channels to air their grievances, those black sheep will be dealt with by the laws. For those righteous employers, they should continue to do the right things for their workers - local or otherwise once they are legally employed in Singapore. The law enforcement agencies should publicise as much as possible any wrong-doers to shame them as well as to forewarn those who want to try their luck.

I hope that worker got the help that he needed and that nothing tragic happened!