Poor? Government “will deliver meals to you”

last SG · 2010-03-28T18:57:40+00:00

Don’t know what kind of meals the gahmen will deliver? Hawker food, restaurant food or the Japanese sushi meal the crown prince and his royal family had whic...

we sacrifice SG

By Andrew Loh

At a forum organised by REACH, the government’s online feedback portal, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said:

“If you were a poor person, anywhere on this planet, Singapore is the one place where you will have a roof over your head, where you will have food on the table. Even if you can’t afford it, we will have meals delivered to you.”

Dr Balakrishnan did not clarify who he meant by “we” when he said “…we will have meals delivered to you.” One assumes that he is referring to the government, or more specifically, his own ministry.

If this were so, it would run contrary to what we have witnessed on the ground. In my interaction with various sections of poor people and homeless people in Singapore, I have yet to come across any government department or ministry which provides free meals to those who cannot afford them.

Instead, the free meals are provided by religious groups, non-governmental organizations and well-meaning Singaporeans. (Please see some of these in the list at the end of this article. Courtesy of: Hub Pages. )

Perhaps the question we should ask Dr Balakrishnan is: Which government agency or ministry provides free meals to the poor – and deliver to them as well? If this is indeed so, could the minister provide the details – which government programme does this, what kinds of meals are provided, what are the criterias to qualify?

With the increasing number of homeless and poorer Singaporeans in our midst, giving full publicity to such government programmes, if they exist, is of paramount importance. After all, it could be a matter of life and death.

Dr Balakrishan will forgive this writer if he (this writer) sounds guarded about the minister’s assurance, especially when this writer remembers the dismissive and condescending tone of the minister’s reply to MP, Dr Lily Neo, in 2007. Dr Neo had asked the government to increase the amount those on the Public Assistance scheme receive.

Dr Balakrishnan rejected Dr Neo’s appeal with these words (see here):

“How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”

If the government does indeed provide free meals for those in need, why is it that during the recession of 2008/2009, when long queues for free food could be seen at places like the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, the government did not make it known then that it also provides free meals?

Why is Dr Balakrishnan saying so only now – after the bad times are over?

While the minister may now declare that free meals will be provided and even delivered to the poor, one hopes that the minister will not just make empty promises – and spend more time on the ground getting to know the reality which an increasing number of Singaporeans are facing.

Otherwise, we can dismiss the minister’s words as just hot air from the Ivory Tower.

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Headline picture from the Straits Times

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Here are some of the places that provide free meals (from Hub Pages):

Singapore Buddhist Lodge. The Kim Yan Road temple serves free vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7am to 7pm. All are welcome regardless of their race or religion. In the queue one can find all sorts of people, from the homeless, unemployed, foreign students, foreign construction workers and of course some freeloaders who work nearby.

The Central Sikh Temple. The temple in Jalan Bukit Merah provides free vegetarian Indian lunches every day.

Nativity Church. This Catholic church at the end of Upper Serangoon Road provides free breakfast and lunch every day.

The Lutheran King of Glory Church in Norris Road, serves free meals every Sunday to ndian workers dring its Taml service.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. This Buddhist temple at South Bridge Road provides free meal from 12.30pm to 6.30pm every day.

Tian Tao Temple at Sengkang invites foreign workes to its Sunday breakfast buffet.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society. They have meal centres in Toa Payoh (Blk 31 #01-663 Lor 5), Telok Blangah (Blk 3, #01-504, Telok Blangah Crescent) and MacPherson (Blk 90, #01-103, Pipit Road).

Sri Krisna Mandir. The Hindu religious group at No 9, Lor 29, Geylang. serves free vegetarian food from 11am to 10 pm daily. All are welcome.

Care Corner Seniors Activities Centre. The Centre at Toa Payoh, Lor 7 Blk 5 #01-131 serves free breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea for senior citizens. (http://www.carecorner.org.sg)

Free Hawker Meal Program. If you are a needy resident living in Tanglin-Cairnhill area, you can apply for help at the Tanjong Pagar GRC. The GRC, under the free Hawker meal Program provides $36 worth of meal vouchers every month to needy recipients for a year. You can exchange the $3 voucher for a free meal at selected food staff at some of the coffee shops in Bukit Merah View and Henderson Road.

Sutha Restaurant. This restaurant at Cuff Road provides free breakfast (from 7am to 9am) and dinner on weekdays only and lunch on Sundays. This is for stranded Indian workers in Singapore whose beds are the concrete walkways along Cuff Road. These distressed migrants are abandoned by their employees after their work injury or they are duped by the agents. To qualify for the free food, participants are asked to show a Special Pass (a govt-issued document, which means they do not have a work permit) or evidence that they are injured / have a case pending (a letter from a doctor/lawyer plus a work permit). It is funded by the Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) together with One Singapore.

Lamea Restaurant. The TWC2 provides free dinner for Bangladeshi at Lamea restaurant at Desker Road. (http://www.twc2.org.sg)

ACMI. A Catholic humanitarian group called the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People or ACMI, feeds migrant workers three times a week at its premise in No 2, Highland Road. The site is beside the Church of the Immaculate heart of Mary (http://www.catholic.org.sg/acmi/soupkitchen.htm).

The Migrant Workers Centre in Rangoon road provides free lunches once a month in parntership wth neigbouring restaurants. The center is a joint effort betweeen the NUTC and the Singapore national Employers Federation.

YWCA. Their meals-on-wheels for Elderly distributes free lunches to needy, frail and homebound senior citizens in Banda Street, Bukit Merah View, Cantonment Road, Holland Road, Lengkok Bahru, and Mei Ling Street.

Their Meals-on-wheels for Children program provides free dinner for children from Low-income families who are schooling in Zhangde Primary School, New Town Primary School, Queenstown Primary School, Gan Eng Seng Primary School and Beyong Social Services. For more information on the meals-on-wheels program, please contact Ms Celest Ling at 6223 1227.

The Willing Hearts, a secular group, distributes free food in 10 areas, among them Ang o Kio, Bukit merah and Hougang. Call 9690-2086 for more information.

4sg SG

What he said, did not reflect the state's, the party's or the govt's line.

His soft, humane approach sticks out like a sour thumb and is so incongruent with the hard, survival-of-the-fittest approach of the PAP.

Frankly, Dr Balakrishnan is better off being a medical doctor than a politician.

TERMINATOR3000 SG

those are religious and private companies!

the singapore gov has a responsibility to feed good decent food to its poor,old and unfortunate citizens.the religious grups and private companies should not be 100% fixed in that area!

there should be a singapore gov company like those you see in usa!!so far the government of singapore pushes its responsibilities to religious organisations and private individuals to take care of spores sick,weak and unfortunate peeple!

i dont see gov having any department taking care of its poor people!!!rather u see some spore prime minister telling you........"there are no free meals" to "the spurs are not deep in your hides!" threat.

balakrishnan viviwho?hes just some decoy duck with a big mouth!

TERMINATOR3000 SG

actually we dun really need free food but rather jobs that pay us enough food and fully paid housing like in all first world countries.

Fallen-Angel SG

What does that mean? An open invitation for foreign trashes who can't survive elsewhere to come & add in to the probs here? GEEZ! >:(

I-like-flings(m) SG

i am poor.. i am asking for just 3 bowl of plain rice with luncheon can already.. so when u sending it over ar?

Fallen-Angel SG

i am poor.. i am asking for just 3 bowl of plain rice with luncheon can already.. so when u sending it over ar?

Can. U migrate out, then come back as a foreigner. Higher chance ok.

Dondontan SG

Can. U migrate out, then come back as a foreigner. Higher chance ok.

pearlie27 SG

This is a shameless minister through and through!

Dondontan SG

vivian sounds female, Vivian Bala is softee.

TERMINATOR3000 SG

suspects angel7030 xcould be viviaian balakrisnan

Dondontan SG

suspects angel7030 xcould be viviaian balakrisnan

Is this the joke of Speakers' Corner or century?

Vivian can't possibly be a PIMP la, term. He comes from a decent family background.

FireIce SG

yandao~~~~~~~~~~~~

TERMINATOR3000 SG

i wonder what happened to leftovers when people goto those chinese creamatoriums.waitress look damn pale and weird.....food looks all vegatarian......scary....

4sg SG

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: “I am confident we have done our duty”

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said during a dialogue organized by REACH last night that a “poor person in Singapore fares much better than the poor in Asia or the West” without substantiating his claims.

Outlining his “accomplishments” to help the poor and needy in Singapore, he noted that he has raised the monthly allowance for those on public assistance (PA) steadily and “improved” the delivery of assistance since he took over the ministry in 2005.

“I’m confident we’ve done our duty,” he proclaimed.

Only Singaporeans who are certified permanently unfit to work and completely destitute with no living relatives can qualify for PA aid which offers a miserly $360 monthly per recipient, hardly enough to survive in Singapore.

When asked by MP Lily Neo in 2007 to increase the monthly PA allowance so that its recipients can have three basic meals a day, Minister for Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan retorted:

“How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”

He added that “one limiting factor must be the sum that we give through public assistance cannot be so generous as to erode the work ethic.”

[Source: Channel News Asia, 9 March 2007]

The Straits Times reported of late that there were only 11 successful PA applicants between July 2008 and Deccember 2009. MCYS said that the low numbers showed that Singaporeans want to be as “self-reliant” as much as possible.

However Dr Vivian has no qualms splurging $10 million dollars of taxpayers’ monies on a Community Integration Fund to make the foreigners feel welcomed and accepted in Singapore.

Though Singapore is the second richest country in Asia after Japan, Singaporeans enjoy few social welfare benefits from its miserly PAP government which exhorts them to work for as long as they can well into their golden years till they drop dead while being “faster, cheaper and better” at the same time.

On the other hand, its cash-flushed sovereign wealth funds are rich enough to fritter billions of dollars of national reserves to bail out ailing U.S. and European banks.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan costs Singapore taxpayers about $1.9 million dollars a year or $5,278 dollars a day.

TERMINATOR3000 SG

don,

hard to say.........he doesnt look decent.more like a suicide bomber,

Dondontan SG

i wonder what happened to leftovers when people goto those chinese creamatoriums.waitress look damn pale and weird.....food looks all vegatarian......scary....

Hey, we do not have waiters and waitresses in crematorium.

Dondontan SG

don,

hard to say.........he doesnt look decent.more like a suicide bomber,

I have met him face to face a number of times. He looks soft and weak, too unbelievable to be a politician. He is better in the role as a doctor. He was a CEO of a public organisation before joining politics. I suppose he has connection with the MIW.

mancha SG

Its true.

But nobody knows how to get it.

Go to CC, TC, CCCC, RC, HC, nobody knows.

Sekali you tio bey pio someone tells you where, you go there, you need to fill up forms giving you father's income, your mother's income, all your brothers' and sisters' income and full particulars.

I tell you, you cannot get past your brothers and sisters.

So fail.

TERMINATOR3000 SG

don,

he hab lost his way.......just like angel7030.