Was SM
LKY being fair in TARGETTING an individual in the person of Capt.
Goh ?
Afterall, Capt Goh is a Malaysian,
and his talent was sought after, and was used to the fullest in the
profit making of SIA.
Has he no RIGHT - as a Permanent Resident Individual - in
representing his own WORKER's Rights and Interests as an employee
for SIA ?
Soon all the Permanent Residents will have second thoughts as to
the PERMANENCE of their RESIDENTSHIP in Singapore, whenever the
crunch comes up when they have to measure or negotiate the Value of
their Contributions vis-a-vis the Benefits that they are getting
out of their present economic arrangement with
Singapore.
Capt Goh was
'The instigator'
Captain Ryan Goh was singled out by Senior Minister Lee as
the 'instigator' of last November's move to oust the Alpa-S
leadership. Did other pilots know that the Malaysian citizen had
also made plans to move to Perth? Capt Goh later defended his
actions.
The statement Mr Lee released to the media:
Capt Ryan Goh Yew Hock was a member of the previous Executive
Council of the Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) under
the leadership of Capt Dilip Padbidri.
Between June and November last year, Capt Goh secretly agitated
against his own Executive Council and president Dilip Padbidri,
with a view to ousting him from office.
Capt Goh crafted a petition but did not sign it himself.
He worked behind the scenes through several proxies to gather
signatures for his petition while he hid his hand.
He was aware that what he was doing was unethical since he was then
a member of the Alpa-S Executive Council that had negotiated and
agreed to the Singapore Airlines (SIA) management's package of wage
cuts and economy measures.
Before he initiated these developments, Capt Ryan Goh had applied
and secured permanent residence from Australia in November
2002.
He re-located his wife and children to settle down in Australia
last year.
He sold his Housing Board four-room flat in Toa Payoh Block 179 for
$320,000 in October last year and at the same time, bought a house
in Ballajura, Perth.
When arranging to ship his Mercedes-Benz to Perth, he told an
official in IE Singapore in December 2002 that he would move
because 'the grass had stopped growing' in Singapore.
Capt Goh and his family have enjoyed the benefits of Singapore
permanent residency since 1981.
He used his Singapore permanent residency status to obtain the
benefits of job, HDB housing and union Exco membership.
In Alpa-S, he assumed the post of Industrial Secretary from 1998 to
2000, vice-president (Industrial) from 2000 to 2001, and Exco
member from June last year.
That did not restrain him from surreptitiously initiating actions
that would undermine industrial peace in SIA and also put
Singapore's economic interests at risk.
Capt Goh must know that his actions could weaken the position of
SIA and Singapore.
When he initiated these actions, he had already become an
Australian PR in 2002 and bought a home in Perth last year.
He had moved his two sons from schools in Singapore to schools in
Perth.
He kept secret these preparations for himself and his family, while
holding himself out as a brave Alpa-S unionist who is protecting
the interests of his fellow pilots.
Capt Goh did not dispute the
statement, saying it was factual, but he denied being the
instigator:
'I don't think I've been as bad as I've been made out to
be...It says here that I had a hand in the ousting of the council.
That is true.
But I'm not the instigator.In my opinion at the time, the council
was losing, the leaders were losing the support of the body.
And as a company we would be in serious trouble if the leadership
of the association could not be trusted by the body.In future, the
management will come to the union and say: 'You need to do this for
us.'
How is the leadership going to sell it to the general membership
when members do not trust the leadership?
Now that is the perception. I'm not here to cast a slur on
individuals but that is the only way we do it.
And in order not to make it personal... the whole idea was to make
it faceless.
And I'm sure the individuals concerned were well aware the petition
was being called for them to step down.
As for the other part about the selling of the properties and
moving to Australia, well, I had purchased a place in Toa Payoh so
that my daughter could get into CHIJ as it was within the 1km
radius.
Now that reason no longer remains, so I sold it.
But I still have another house in Katong.
So that does not prove that I was moving away to
Australia.
(Capt Goh had said earlier that he had sent his son to Perth
because his son could not cope with Chinese lessons at school
here).
And as for selling the car, it's just simple arithmetic,
because the certificate of entitlement (COE) for my car was quite
high and I could get a good price for the car.
And after I scrapped it, I shipped it to Australia and it would
still carry about $8,000.
If I were to purchase the same car in Australia, it would cost me
about $30,000.
So it's just pure arithmetic.
Singapore is welcoming foreign
talent and I may be a foreigner but I call this place
home.'
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,237196,00.html?
