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DISPUTE OVER EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF CPF
Accountant: I may never work again
Docs: He's fit for work
By Shree Ann Mathavan
October 10, 2006
HE CLAIMED he lost his job as an accountant in May because he is
hearing-impaired.
Mr Lim studying the CPF website. He has been to 30 interviews but
hasn't found a job. -- KELVIN CHNG
Mr M Lim, 46, said he has acute hearing loss in his left ear and is
partially deaf in his right.
Now, the father of two teenage boys is trying to secure early
withdrawal of his Central Provident Fund savings for his daily
expenses.
In assessing his application, the CPF Board considered a medical
report from Alexandra Hospital and another from Raffles
Hospital.
A CPF Board spokesman said: 'Both doctors certified Mr Lim as not
permanently unfit for any employment. (See report on next
page.)
But Mr Lim has another story to tell.
He claimed he has gone for close to 30 interviews in the last five
months. But has been unable to land a job.
Mr Lim's problems started about a year ago when he began to lose
his hearing.
He would hear loud 'woo' sounds in his left ear which would bug him
'for 24 hours non-stop'.
The situation gradually worsened.
In March, he was diagnosed at Alexandra Hospital with asymmetric
hearing loss - which results in different hearing levels between
the left and right ears.
Usually this form of hearing loss can be cured if treatment is
administered within the first three to four days. Otherwise,
recovery may be difficult.
According to a hospital spokesman, Mr Lim suffered a 62.5 per cent
hearing loss.
NEW CLAIMS
While speaking to The New Paper, Mr Lim made two other
claims.
He said that he suffered a heart attack in mid-September and that
he lost his hearing completely at the end of August.
He also claimed to be suffering from a bloated stomach earlier this
month.
However, the Alexandra Hospital spokeman said they could not verify
these claims as he has not been to the hospital in recent
months.
Mr Lim's wife, 48, is also an accountant, while his sons, aged 15
and 17, are in secondary school.
Mr Lim claimed his hearing disability cost him his job as an
accountant this year after working for two months at a
company.
The company declined to comment on why Mr Lim left.
Mr Lim's last-drawn monthly pay was $3,200. Before this, he earned
$4,250 monthly as a finance and administrative manager at a
construction company, which has since folded.
He feels his handicap has been a major obstacle in looking for a
new job.
'I answered advertisements for accountants or accounts executives.
But somehow when I go for the interview, they seem to be able to
tell I have a hearing defect.
'I think it's because I say 'excuse me' too many times and I always
ask them to repeat what they just said.'
Mr Lim said he can hear when the speaker is standing close to him -
but not if that person is 2m or more away.
But during his interview, The New Paper observed that he could
carry out a conversation in person even though he did not use a
hearing aid.
Why? Because we were seated less than 1m apart, he claimed.
Currently, his wife, who earns about $3,000 a month, is the sole
breadwinner.
She declined to speak to us.
They live in a four-room flat in Potong Pasir.
Mr Lim's claimed his savings are now under $10,000.
He estimated that their average monthly household expenditure is
around $3,000.
This includes about $600 for both his sons' tuition fees and about
another $600 for his maid.
Too extravagant?
Mr Lim said he is keeping his maid only till her contract ends this
month.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
He tries to save, he said, by taking public transport instead of
his eight-year-old car.
Why not sell the car then?
Because it will not fetch much, he said.
Instead, he has been trying for the past year to take out his CPF
savings from both the ordinary and special accounts - 'easily about
$300,000'.
But he can't because he is not yet 55, the minimum age for the
withdrawal of CPF.
He is currently using $400 a month from his ordinary account to pay
his mortgage, with another 15 years of repayments to go.
That adds up to about $72,000.
PERMANENTLY INCAPACITATED
A CPF Board spokesman said CPF members can apply for early
withdrawal only if they are certified by a doctor to be
'permanently incapacitated from ever continuing in any employment,
terminally ill or found to be of unsound mind'.
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What CPF Board says
October 10, 2006
A CPF Board spokesman said Mr M Lim's case was reviewed
twice.
Besides looking at the medical report from Alexandra Hospital, they
sent him to Raffles Hospital for a separate review by a specialist,
paid for by the CPF.
The spokesman said: 'Both doctors certified Mr Lim as not
permanently unfit for any employment. As such, we have informed Mr
Lim that he is not eligible to withdraw his CPF monies
early.'
She said if Mr Lim's condition deteriorates, he should provide the
board with an updated medical report and his application would be
reviewed again.
She added: 'As Mr Lim has indicated that he has difficulty getting
a job, we have notified the Singapore Workforce Development Agency
to assist him with his job search.' (See report below).
According to the CPF Board's 2005 annual report, the number of
early withdrawals due to physical incapacity totalled 646 last
year.
