http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/news/general/3282-falling-prey-in-the-lion-city
Falling prey in the Lion City (Part I)
For Steven, a 40-something Sino-Kadazan man, leaving Sabah two years ago was a gamble. He had been jobless for a year with no steady income, so when an opportunity came by, seizing it seemed like a calculated risk.
"I was attracted by an advertisement in a local newspaper offering employment in Singapore," he said.
The advertisement offered a good salary. But the clincher, he said, was a promise by the employment agency to provide pocket money as soon as prospective employees signed on for the job.
After attending an interview at a makeshift office in Kota Kinabalu, Steven was introduced to another recruiting agent who stoked up his interest in easy jobs and quick money in the Lion City, even for people over 40 years.
"He showed me a list of job vacancies, salaries offered, overtime rates, working hours and all that. I was hooked.
"He also told me that all those who were accepted and placed would be provided with accommodation, health care, insurance and that some employers even provided food and transport."
Steven signed on immediately and fell into a a labyrinth of deceit. What followed was a bitter lesson in reality.
Living in fear and filth
Steven, along with three other locals, all in their 20s, from the east coast and interior of the state were first taken to a house here, before departing for Johor Baru and then Singapore.
The agency's man in Johor met them on arrival and took them across the causeway into Singapore around midnight and left them in a grim apartment infested with bedbugs.
"We slept in our clothes on the floor. There was no furniture or anything. The toilet was unlit and filthy and we drank water straight from the tap to quench our thirst," Steven said.
Steven recalled scores of bedbugs crawling on the floor and on the plywood wall of the living room.
The next day, the four were then handed over to a Singapore recruitment agency which treated them with contempt.
"The guy from Keningau was scolded by one of the Singapore agents for not standing still and we were later asked to squat down at a corner and wait for the agency’s proprietor.
"He came about an hour later and told us to come into his office. He then took out four bundles of cash and placed them on the table. I think they were S$1,000 notes but I am not sure.
"He then told us that once we signed the contract with him, and if later we choose to flee (without paying him back the S$2,800 contract fee we now owed him) he would use the cash on the table to hire thugs in our hometowns to hunt us down and impose a daily interest on the amount owed to him until it was fully paid.
"We just signed the contracts. We had no choice. We had no money.
"We even had to put our thumbprints on the contract and handed over our passports. I think some of my companions didn't fully understand what the contract stated as it was written in English.
"We were then taken to a clinic for a medical check-up and then brought back to the apartment and told not to go out as the police could arrest us if we were found without any documents.
"I began to feel that we were being treated like slaves and regretted coming to Singapore."
Later the same day, a Sarawakian from Kuching, in his 20s, joined the group.
Steven later realised it was an initiation into the world of drugs.
In a friendly conversation, the Sarawakian told them that it was easy and safe to get syabu (heroin) in Singapore and cost between S$30 and S$50.
"He tried to frighten us by saying he witnessed job-seekers like us being physically abused by employment agents and employers. Our agent, he said, had a very bad temper and could be violent if he received complaints from unsatisfied employers.
"I think he was trying to make a sale (of syabu) to us."
Intimidation and abuse
The next day a new group of six Sabahans arrived at the apartment.
Steven remembers one of the Sabahans looking frightened and continuously rubbing his shoulder. He was later told that the youth had been kicked by his employment agent for conversing with a girl from his kampung.
"People would come and tell me of all sorts of beatings. I knew this was just among the tactics to scare us from fleeing.
"I remember meeting a Dusun boy from Kota Marudu at the apartment. He arrived with two small bags. He was a shy and decent chap. He said his Singapore employer had just sacked him. For this he had been fined S$500 by his employment agency.
“He felt he couldn't complain because he was in a foreign land. He said he had completed Form 6 and had actually been accepted into a teachers' training programme.
“However, a bureaucratic bungle that led him from pillar to post trying to get all his documents certified delayed his registration at the campus and he lost his place.
"He said his parents were rubber tappers and he was too ashamed by his failure to go back and tell them what had happened. That was why he was now in Singapore looking for a job.
"He saw the same job recruitment agency’s advertisement which I did and without thinking twice, went for the interview, was accepted and left for Singapore the following day without informing his family."
Falling prey in the Lion City (Part I)
For Steven, a 40-something Sino-Kadazan man, leaving Sabah two years ago was a gamble. He had been jobless for a year with no steady income, so when an opportunity came by, seizing it seemed like a calculated risk.
"I was attracted by an advertisement in a local newspaper offering employment in Singapore," he said.
The advertisement offered a good salary. But the clincher, he said, was a promise by the employment agency to provide pocket money as soon as prospective employees signed on for the job.
After attending an interview at a makeshift office in Kota Kinabalu, Steven was introduced to another recruiting agent who stoked up his interest in easy jobs and quick money in the Lion City, even for people over 40 years.
"He showed me a list of job vacancies, salaries offered, overtime rates, working hours and all that. I was hooked.
"He also told me that all those who were accepted and placed would be provided with accommodation, health care, insurance and that some employers even provided food and transport."
Steven signed on immediately and fell into a a labyrinth of deceit. What followed was a bitter lesson in reality.
Living in fear and filth
Steven, along with three other locals, all in their 20s, from the east coast and interior of the state were first taken to a house here, before departing for Johor Baru and then Singapore.
The agency's man in Johor met them on arrival and took them across the causeway into Singapore around midnight and left them in a grim apartment infested with bedbugs.
"We slept in our clothes on the floor. There was no furniture or anything. The toilet was unlit and filthy and we drank water straight from the tap to quench our thirst," Steven said.
Steven recalled scores of bedbugs crawling on the floor and on the plywood wall of the living room.
The next day, the four were then handed over to a Singapore recruitment agency which treated them with contempt.
"The guy from Keningau was scolded by one of the Singapore agents for not standing still and we were later asked to squat down at a corner and wait for the agency’s proprietor.
"He came about an hour later and told us to come into his office. He then took out four bundles of cash and placed them on the table. I think they were S$1,000 notes but I am not sure.
"He then told us that once we signed the contract with him, and if later we choose to flee (without paying him back the S$2,800 contract fee we now owed him) he would use the cash on the table to hire thugs in our hometowns to hunt us down and impose a daily interest on the amount owed to him until it was fully paid.
"We just signed the contracts. We had no choice. We had no money.
"We even had to put our thumbprints on the contract and handed over our passports. I think some of my companions didn't fully understand what the contract stated as it was written in English.
"We were then taken to a clinic for a medical check-up and then brought back to the apartment and told not to go out as the police could arrest us if we were found without any documents.
"I began to feel that we were being treated like slaves and regretted coming to Singapore."
Later the same day, a Sarawakian from Kuching, in his 20s, joined the group.
Steven later realised it was an initiation into the world of drugs.
In a friendly conversation, the Sarawakian told them that it was easy and safe to get syabu (heroin) in Singapore and cost between S$30 and S$50.
"He tried to frighten us by saying he witnessed job-seekers like us being physically abused by employment agents and employers. Our agent, he said, had a very bad temper and could be violent if he received complaints from unsatisfied employers.
"I think he was trying to make a sale (of syabu) to us."
Intimidation and abuse
The next day a new group of six Sabahans arrived at the apartment.
Steven remembers one of the Sabahans looking frightened and continuously rubbing his shoulder. He was later told that the youth had been kicked by his employment agent for conversing with a girl from his kampung.
"People would come and tell me of all sorts of beatings. I knew this was just among the tactics to scare us from fleeing.
"I remember meeting a Dusun boy from Kota Marudu at the apartment. He arrived with two small bags. He was a shy and decent chap. He said his Singapore employer had just sacked him. For this he had been fined S$500 by his employment agency.
“He felt he couldn't complain because he was in a foreign land. He said he had completed Form 6 and had actually been accepted into a teachers' training programme.
“However, a bureaucratic bungle that led him from pillar to post trying to get all his documents certified delayed his registration at the campus and he lost his place.
"He said his parents were rubber tappers and he was too ashamed by his failure to go back and tell them what had happened. That was why he was now in Singapore looking for a job.
"He saw the same job recruitment agency’s advertisement which I did and without thinking twice, went for the interview, was accepted and left for Singapore the following day without informing his family."
