69 year old man unable to find job, given only S$150 a month by government for living expenses
December 26th, 2008 | 
Author: Produced by The Enquirer TV, The Singapore Enquirer
(Also watch the video interview with Mr Chua’s wife in the thread below)
Prologue:
69 year old Mr Chua used to work as a construction laborer in the past. He is still healthy and able to work, but nobody wants to employ him, citing age as a concern.
As he does not qualify for the Public Assistance scheme, he is only given a monthly allowance of $150 which he supplements by borrowing from his friends.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbDJh6E1678&hl=en&fs=1]
Excerpts of interview translated from Hokkien:
SG Enquirer: Do you go to look for work ?
Mr Chua: Yes, I cycled everywhere from Geylang to Whampoa, but they say I am too old and refuse to employ me…..I told my friends like this die already I have no job to do, no job no money. If this house has to be paid by me, then I really die.
SG Enquirer: How much did the government give you a month ?
Mr Chua (crying): S$150 only. They open a bank account for me and deposit the money into it every month.
SG Enquirer: Is it enough ?
Mr Chua: Not enough. The water bills is already a couple of dollars…..in 2, 3 or at most 4 days, the money is gone.
SG Enquirer: Are food prices high now ?
Mr Chua: Yes, very expensive ! When I go out to look for job, I dare not drink coffee at coffeeshop. I ordered hot water instead, no money what to eat ? Can only drink water.
SG Enquirer: Did you ask your MP to help you look for job.
Mr Chua: Yes, they gave me a job as a sweeper at ….don’t know where, offered me S$300 monthly, but the transport fares cost a hundred plus dollars already.
SG Enquirer: Did you ever go hungry ?
Mr Chua: When we are hungry, just take some roti (bread).
SG Enquirer: Do you still have CPF ?
Mr Chua: No.
SG Enquirer: Are you upset with your predicament ?
Mr Chua: Yes, but what to do ? When we run out of money, I have to go around to borrow from my friends and when the S$150 is deposited on every 3rd of the month, I will use it to repay them.
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10 Responses to “69 year old man unable to find job, given only S$150 a month by government for living expenses”
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More of such…genuine…stories will embarrass our leaders i am sure.
Hmm..but then, maybe not. lol.
It’s heartbreaking to see things like this happening here…The truth is there is more than one Mr Chua around in the same plight…Have Singapore forgotten it’s own sons and daughters?
Schools are showing Korean homeless sleeping in its textbook…and local media are showing school volunteers going oversea to build houses for “poor” countries…it is sad that they don’t realised that people like Mr Chua is living amongst us…Yes he does get $$$ but $150?
it would be more than enough to survive on $150 in mumbai or vietnam but in singapore? You got to be kidding.
Good work.
Shd interview more under-privileged to allow the people to know what are real things happening.
es, they gave me a job as a sweeper at ….don’t know where, offered me S$300 monthly, but the transport fares cost a hundred plus dollars already.
at least u still got 200 dollars?
This is the plight of those who do not think much of CPF when they are young.
Sadly, there are many young people today who would prefer jobs that do not pay CPF, simply because there will be more money to spend, they are still young, even if hospitalised they can stay in a C class ward, get help from Medifund or have the bill totally written off, etc.
CPF may not be the ideal form of savings for old age, but for want of a better system, it is still very important. Unfortunately many young people do not practise delayed gratification. Fortunately, most did.
Still, Many people are unhappy with the `forced’ CPF contribution. I’ve heard complaints from house agents, taxi drivers and even hawkers…………….who feel they can take care of their own old age without government interference. Perhaps they are right…………but then perhaps not, as this article has shown.
CPF..? U got to be joking..it’s a big ponzi scam by the PAP govt. The younger workers’s contributions are used to pay off the older contributors juz like what tat Maddoff was doing.
In its ideal form, there are many things that are by itself a good thing, or started off as a good thing. But once abused, anything good will become bad.
Same with CPF, a system that ideally takes care of old age could turn into an ugly ponzi when abused.
Even capitalism in its ideal form is probably a good system. But put it in the hands of greedy animals and what we have now are animals who are not satisfied with $300,000 per month, while some poor souls have to struggle with $150 per month.
5) Instead of blaming Singaporeans for not having CPF, why don’t you dig deeper into the CPF system to find out the root causes?
CPF *WAS* a good system to accumulate retirement funds until the government abused it by
- allowing the use of CPF to buy flats, then increasing the prices of flats to meet the citizen’s new found “affordability”. As a result, Singaporeans used all their CPF on housing.
- allowing employer CPF cuts as and when the government deemed fit.
- raising the withdrawal age and minimum sums whenever it wants.
- placing all sorts of restrictions on the use of Medisave.
- not sharing with us the gains of the investments they made using our CPF.
- not being transparent with where our CPF money is and how much there is. Even the President is unable to find out.
- mass importing cheap foreign labour who do not have CPF. In order to compete, Singaporeans are also forced to lower their wages by not accepting CPF.
- penalizing the self-employed by making it a crime to “owe yourself money” although the reasons for not voluntarily contributing to their CPF is because of the above.
4) Will YOU work a back breaking job as a sweeper to get $200 a month? If you won’t why do you expect a 69 year old to? The $200 won’t even be enough to pay for his medical expenses from sore joints and expenses for his increased food intake.
How can i donate some groceries to MR Chua?