Monday, June 16, 2014

Can They Do This?



The lady who recorded the video reflects:
"I was already in tears when they wanted to take her off the mic to shut her up. I salute her bravery so I decided to hold on to my camera & cried silently praying that she be allowed to finish her speech to the MP."

I dare think most of us are beyond the tearing stage, and fast approaching the precipice of raw anger. How can anyone remain stone cold when the 76 year old spinster, definitely of the Pioneer Generation category, tells of this awful tale at 1:34:
"I was given this letter, telling me that they “hacked” into my personal POSB book, scoured my amounts and took away the money from my bank to give to the property tax. Do you think it is ethical?
Do you think its ethical? Do you think it is right?"

We hope she was wrong, and that Damn Bloody Slow (DBS) bank has a good explanation. Someone else once narrated how money was transferred from his ordinary account to top up his Medisave account, after having incurred some medical expenses, without his authorisation. Maybe this is the stuff of urban legends, but if the people in charge fail to step up to clear the air soon, Singaporeans will no longer trust the government.

31 comments:

  1. A very sad, shameful incident. More so when you know of that "sexy" Cheongsum clad Grassroot woman who tried to intervene while this 76 year old ex-teacher retiree was relating her story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is time to pull out all the grasses, root and all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope Ravi will look into this and see if this 76 yr old retiree has a case against DBS and the PAP government. Those who are supporting Roy Ngerng will surely do the same for this ex teacher and it's about time the law fraternity repair their cowardly image and offer free expertise to this retiree and Roy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no case. It's the law, rule, majesty edict, whatever.

      Delete
    2. Did DBS inform the retiree or make the extra effort to contact her before transferring the money out of her account on behalf of iras ? Did the corporate lawyers or customer relations personnel from DBS advise her before collaborating with iras ? It will be interesting to hear the views of other banks operating in Singapore.

      Delete
  4. I believe the law allows for iras to take money from your savings accounts should you default on your income and property taxes. Many years already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In such circumstances, perhaps poor folks will now endeavor to keep cash only. I wonder if the Bitcoin system can neutralise the iras ?

      Delete
  5. If you do not pay your taxes on time, you may face the following enforcement actions:
    Demand Note with imposition of penalty;
    Other Enforcement Actions such as appointing your
    bank to pay over monies due to you.

    Other Enforcement Actions
    We may, without prior notice, take action to recover the overdue tax, for example:
    Appoint your bank, employer, tenant or lawyer as agent to pay the money to us;
    Issue a travel restriction order to stop you from leaving Singapore; and/or
    Take legal action.

    http://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/page04.aspx?id=330

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Law says they can do it. But like the lady said: "Do you think its ethical? Do you think it is right?"

      Coming to ethics, the Bible says: "Hear now this, O foolish people and without heart, who have eyes and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear."

      Delete
    2. Last time if you don't pay your TV licence in time, they even summon you to appear before the courts. The same now with your parking summons or anything you owe them money.

      Delete
  6. Watch out. The G will do the same if next time someone fails to pay his mandatory Medishield Life premium no matter how high the premium will have risen.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The authorities like IRAS can issue an garnishee order to the bank to pay the debt from the debtor's account,

    ReplyDelete
  8. 5:30 ouch my eyes! What is seen cannot be unseen!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Actually she raised a very good point. She is a spinster, no one to take care of her and no one to inherit her CPF. So why must government hold on to her RA only to give her a monthly payout which is perhaps a very small percentage of what she has in her RA. What happens to the money in her RA after she die? Where would it go?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dialogue event or shutting people up self justification session? The higher these richly rewarded types climb the more they expose their bottoms. Action for the people is but a slogan. Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  11. load-shark gives then takes back more.
    the iras shark dun give yet demands and can take it away form u.
    know the species. high-yield species can swim out of reach so these sharks sharks target the helpless shoal of small fishes.

    being a tax haven, who pays the bills of this hotel? we do.
    like the 2 avenues from all sheep pens, one to the shearing shed and the other, slaughter house. ( think sugarcane)

    where hence, will u keep money, while u have it?
    why get it, to have taken away?

    "Silence is argument carried out by other means." - Che Guevara

    ReplyDelete
  12. I saw that on 5:33, the grassroot leader seated in white Cheongsam attire Jean Ang Yee Mei Lin saying "Ok, thank you." in a dismissive manner and mocks the old lady with a crazy hand sign.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Give her a piece of your mind at
      9643 9665
      jean.ang@income.com.sg

      Delete
    2. Labelling or dismissing citizens with legitimate concerns seems to be their modus operandi.

      Delete
  13. PAP is getting from bad to worse. Which government on this planet, with a million dollars regular paychecks and probably owned many properties are treating the poor citizens with such high-handed and shameful action. I mean, why are so many clowns still want to vote for this party is still beyond my understanding.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Its open secret that every single company in red dot is not paying its full taxes. If the IRAS wants, it can shoot a dart at any one, audit, and recover hundreds of millions of hidden taxes. We are talking tens of thousands, starting all the SMEs whose towkays hire more and more foreigners and drive a new 6-series and keep a few mistresses . They also hide profits by hiring foreign workers using "phantom local workers". So why bully an old lady with no heirs to inherit her remaining CPF? Simple, the small sheeple is easier to bully, will not have the resource to sue the G. It is also the Kafkaesque bureaucracy at work - its a faceless machine, out to take the easiest route to satisfy its hunger for money which it uses to pay itself to grow bigger and more cancerous. It will do whatever is most convenient, not what is ethically correct - the bureaucratic machinery has no face, no heart, and frankly, not much brain to start with). And the worse is the politicians who control the bureaucracy is quite happy sleeping with the devil bureaucracy - its win-win for the two of them. Don't hope for any change, the systems can only be destroyed, cannot be changed or modified. Its a cancer, cancers only grow more humongous.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Singapore Uncle6/16/2014 7:18 PM

    Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don't hang ourselves, we live in Disneyland.

      Delete
  16. CPF has become a hot potato for the PAP.
    If the do not manage well and provide reforms to the populace, it will be their waterloo in 2 years
    Over the years of top-down governing, sycophantic media,restriction on the freedom of speech and gathering, they have no idea the lava is penting up for an explosion into a volcano.
    Roy Ngerng has become the spark for things to come

    ReplyDelete
  17. See lah!
    Money is with CPF.
    PAP government still don't look after you.
    So what for you vote for PAP I don't know.

    I would never pay $1 million dollars to a person to tell me that everything is not his job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yet it's their job to take away your money and only give you how much money they think you need based on how long they think you will live!!

      Delete
  18. Many times hear same same happening on media corpse radio call in show. Callers unceremoniously abruptly get cut off in mid sentence by DJ for saying something unfavourable abt PAP Govt.
    Even these radio DJs mus play insipid syncophants to the mafia coverment

    ReplyDelete
  19. best of all...these djs survive or make more using public funds paid by tax payers via the PAP govt to them....so who say dj has zero self respect for themselves and for others...they are already living proof of willing compliant worms for the PAP gov't....tio boh...zzzz

    ReplyDelete
  20. weird... but i have no sympathy for her. She voted for the PAP. She deserves what she gets. You can't knowingly vote for them (she's a teacher therefore educated) and then be not happy about what they do to you. If you fear the opposition so much, then u just have to accept all the shit PAP does to you and all as long as they are the government.

    Expecting them to change? You gotta tell me what you are smoking.

    ReplyDelete