<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Foreign workers living nearby? It's no issue in some estates
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Arlina Arshad
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Foreign workers living in Boon Lay seem to have become an accepted part of the scene. -- ST PHOTOS: JOYCE FANG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->NEWS that a disused school in Serangoon Gardens was to be converted into a foreign-worker dormitory stirred a big outcry among residents there.
In reality, however, that line has been crossed and workers have been living in residential estates for some time.
Some stay legally in approved HDB flats, for example, in Boon Lay. Others do so illegally in shophouses, walk-up apartments and bungalows in several areas.
Contractors told The Straits Times they have no choice because of the space crunch in the industry: One dormitory operator estimates that there are enough beds for only a fifth of the 500,000 foreign workers here.
A Straits Times check last week found small clusters of such workers squatting illegally in Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming and Katong. To fly below the radar, they move every few months and are packed no more than 30 to a house.
=> Since the Familee are the ones importing them in, house them at Oxley Rd lah!
They are more visible in legal housing areas like Boon Lay estate, where six blocks of HDB flats house over 1,000 work permit holders, among them Thais, Indians, Bangladeshis and Myanmarese who have lived there for between a few months and a few years.
=> OMG!
They have little or no contact with Singaporeans in the estate, but seem to have become an accepted part of the scene.
On a recent visit to Boon Lay, The Straits Times saw residents and foreign workers patronising the same shops. A woman jogged in the neighbourhood, oblivious to the groups of foreign men. A police car patrolled the carpark.
=> Nice story!
=> And this is the jogger?
Junior college student Chong Ping, 18, who lives next to a block occupied by foreign workers, said: 'I have seen them litter and walk around semi-naked, but they don't fight or steal,' he said.
=> How does he know? 154th tok cok also dunno how to!
Even workers housed on the sly, in Sin Ming, for example, have given little cause for grief. Teacher C.Y. Yong, 55, was apprehensive when 20 shipyard workers moved into a terrace house three doors away from his three months ago.
'I did not know what to expect at first. But so far, they have made themselves unnoticeable. They leave early in the morning to work and come back at night and stay in. They don't loiter or make any noise, so I am okay with it,' he said.
Another resident, accountant Amy Lim, 33, did not even know about the workers in her estate when interviewed: 'As long as they don't create trouble, I am fine with them living here.'
More often than not, the workers' bosses have set them ground rules.
Indian shipyard worker Suppaiah Selvam, 35, who lives in Sin Ming, listed them: 'Cannot bring friends, cannot drink in the house, cannot turn up volume of TV at night. Boss says if we make trouble and neighbours complain, he will move us to containers.'
Over at Joo Chiat Place in Katong, over 50 workers have moved into walk-up apartments opposite Haig Girls' School.
A teacher who declined to be named said: 'We are concerned about safety and tell the girls to be wary of strangers - it could be anybody, not just foreign workers. So far, I am not aware of any bad incidents happening to our students.'
In Serangoon Gardens, however, the residents were vocal in their objections to problems such as littering, loitering, vice and traffic congestion. About 1,400 of 7,000 residents there signed a petition against having 1,000 workers housed in the old school building in their estate.
Some have said their concerns are valid, but others decried them as snobbery.
EM Services general manager Andy Low, whose company has assigned 200 Boon Lay flats to foreign workers, said misunderstandings can arise from cultural differences.
When residents complained a few years ago about China workers walking around in their underwear, the workers 'were gracious and changed their habits' when EM Services told them it was not something done here, he said.
=> Condescending till as if it's FTrash's right to walk around in their loin cloths!
Statistics released by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Today newspaper appear to indicate that the fear of crime is largely unfounded: 3,780, or just under 20 per cent, of 19,371 persons arrested last year were foreigners.
=> What about those that the poodles refused to accept reports and those that could not be arrested?
The arrest rate - the number arrested for every 100,000 people here - is, in fact, lower for foreigners than for Singapore residents. The arrest rate for Singapore residents is 435, for foreigners as a whole, 286; among work permit holders, including construction workers, the arrest rate is even lower - 227.
=> This either shows the poodles are useless against FTrash or only know how to bully Sporns.
Perhaps the real concern is the number to be housed in a given area. Dormitory operators said big numbers could pose logistical and transportation problems.
=> BEST PAID ministers: Huh? No bus can drive car, right? *hee*hee*
Mr Ken Lim, a director of dormitory builder Aik Chuan Construction, said if as many as 1,000 workers are moving into an area, 'residents will have to be prepared for this, as dorm operators cannot guarantee the good behaviour of workers'. <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><SCRIPT language=javascript> addRatingPortion() </SCRIPT>
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Arlina Arshad
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Foreign workers living in Boon Lay seem to have become an accepted part of the scene. -- ST PHOTOS: JOYCE FANG
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->NEWS that a disused school in Serangoon Gardens was to be converted into a foreign-worker dormitory stirred a big outcry among residents there.
In reality, however, that line has been crossed and workers have been living in residential estates for some time.
Some stay legally in approved HDB flats, for example, in Boon Lay. Others do so illegally in shophouses, walk-up apartments and bungalows in several areas.
Contractors told The Straits Times they have no choice because of the space crunch in the industry: One dormitory operator estimates that there are enough beds for only a fifth of the 500,000 foreign workers here.
A Straits Times check last week found small clusters of such workers squatting illegally in Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming and Katong. To fly below the radar, they move every few months and are packed no more than 30 to a house.
=> Since the Familee are the ones importing them in, house them at Oxley Rd lah!
They are more visible in legal housing areas like Boon Lay estate, where six blocks of HDB flats house over 1,000 work permit holders, among them Thais, Indians, Bangladeshis and Myanmarese who have lived there for between a few months and a few years.
=> OMG!
They have little or no contact with Singaporeans in the estate, but seem to have become an accepted part of the scene.
On a recent visit to Boon Lay, The Straits Times saw residents and foreign workers patronising the same shops. A woman jogged in the neighbourhood, oblivious to the groups of foreign men. A police car patrolled the carpark.
=> Nice story!
=> And this is the jogger?
Junior college student Chong Ping, 18, who lives next to a block occupied by foreign workers, said: 'I have seen them litter and walk around semi-naked, but they don't fight or steal,' he said.
=> How does he know? 154th tok cok also dunno how to!
Even workers housed on the sly, in Sin Ming, for example, have given little cause for grief. Teacher C.Y. Yong, 55, was apprehensive when 20 shipyard workers moved into a terrace house three doors away from his three months ago.
'I did not know what to expect at first. But so far, they have made themselves unnoticeable. They leave early in the morning to work and come back at night and stay in. They don't loiter or make any noise, so I am okay with it,' he said.
Another resident, accountant Amy Lim, 33, did not even know about the workers in her estate when interviewed: 'As long as they don't create trouble, I am fine with them living here.'
More often than not, the workers' bosses have set them ground rules.
Indian shipyard worker Suppaiah Selvam, 35, who lives in Sin Ming, listed them: 'Cannot bring friends, cannot drink in the house, cannot turn up volume of TV at night. Boss says if we make trouble and neighbours complain, he will move us to containers.'
Over at Joo Chiat Place in Katong, over 50 workers have moved into walk-up apartments opposite Haig Girls' School.
A teacher who declined to be named said: 'We are concerned about safety and tell the girls to be wary of strangers - it could be anybody, not just foreign workers. So far, I am not aware of any bad incidents happening to our students.'
In Serangoon Gardens, however, the residents were vocal in their objections to problems such as littering, loitering, vice and traffic congestion. About 1,400 of 7,000 residents there signed a petition against having 1,000 workers housed in the old school building in their estate.
Some have said their concerns are valid, but others decried them as snobbery.
EM Services general manager Andy Low, whose company has assigned 200 Boon Lay flats to foreign workers, said misunderstandings can arise from cultural differences.
When residents complained a few years ago about China workers walking around in their underwear, the workers 'were gracious and changed their habits' when EM Services told them it was not something done here, he said.
=> Condescending till as if it's FTrash's right to walk around in their loin cloths!
Statistics released by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Today newspaper appear to indicate that the fear of crime is largely unfounded: 3,780, or just under 20 per cent, of 19,371 persons arrested last year were foreigners.
=> What about those that the poodles refused to accept reports and those that could not be arrested?
The arrest rate - the number arrested for every 100,000 people here - is, in fact, lower for foreigners than for Singapore residents. The arrest rate for Singapore residents is 435, for foreigners as a whole, 286; among work permit holders, including construction workers, the arrest rate is even lower - 227.
=> This either shows the poodles are useless against FTrash or only know how to bully Sporns.
Perhaps the real concern is the number to be housed in a given area. Dormitory operators said big numbers could pose logistical and transportation problems.
=> BEST PAID ministers: Huh? No bus can drive car, right? *hee*hee*
Mr Ken Lim, a director of dormitory builder Aik Chuan Construction, said if as many as 1,000 workers are moving into an area, 'residents will have to be prepared for this, as dorm operators cannot guarantee the good behaviour of workers'. <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><SCRIPT language=javascript> addRatingPortion() </SCRIPT>
