Free meals for Ah Nehs

THERE may be no such thing as a free lunch, but two non-profit groups here are adamant on handing out free breakfasts.

Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a research and advocacy group for migrant workers, has teamed up with One Singapore - a local campaign to end global poverty - to provide free morning nourishment to about 80 homeless and penniless Indian workers every weekday.

The meals are typically made up of an uttapam - an Indian pancake - and a cup of coffee or tea.

The project, started a week ago, aims to help more than an estimated 50 workers from India who have made the walkways along Cuff Road their home, some for as long as a year.

They have allegedly been deserted by their employers after being injured while working, or are waiting in Singapore until the cases pending against their former employers are heard.

They are issued Special passes (S-passes) in the meantime, which forbids them to take on permanent employment.

"I let them come in to use my toilet or fill up their water bottles. I feel so sorry for them but this is the only way I can help," said Mr S Shanmuganathan, 54, manager of Sutha's Restaraunt on Cuff Road, which provides the free breakfasts.

To qualify for the free food, served from 7am to 9am, Mondays to Fridays, workers have to show their S-pass or a letter from their doctor or lawyer and have their names recorded.

TWC2 and One Singapore have been footing the breakfast bill - of $2 a worker - with donations from the public.

Church volunteer groups and the nearby Perumal temple also provide the workers with free dinners on weekdays, but these are given out on an ad hoc basis.

"Food is a basic human need and we wanted to focus on breakfast particularly so the workers can have a positive start to each day," said TWC2 helpline manager Sha Najak.

She estimates, however, that the $2,200 balance they have left in their coffers for the project will only be enough for the next two months.

Plumber Mr Ayyavoo Thuniayar, 34, is one thankful recipient of the food service. The Tamil Nadu native has been going to the restaurant every morning for the past two weeks.

At night, he sleeps outside the Singapore Gujarat Society's premises on 36 Cuff Road. He has been stationed there for the past two months after being evicted from his workers quarters by his employer, a local construction firm, following a worksite accident in January that left him with a crushed leg.

A medical certificate exempts him from work until May 12 but the full insurance payout will be made out to him after he is fully recovered, he said.

He added: "My employers divert me to one another when I ask for the salary they owe me. Now I have no money for a room or food.

"If this is only happening to me, it's okay, but it is the same story with many and they are scared to speak out.

Prataman! He is NOT! Ah Neh Hero!

"Many also called SR and LKY traitors for working for the Japanese. Please note that they were working for the Japanese civilian adminstration."

LOL..stop making prataman sounds like the hero from the movie "Schindler's List"..

...more juicy bits...like nathan's role at SID and ISD...nathan's role at SPH...and finally nathan's role as harry's loyal doggie...

if nathan is truly a caring compassionate, humble man who has not forgotten his poor roots he sld donate at least 50% of his obscene salary to charitable causes...because he has been doing squat diddly for the past yrs as president apart fm carrying his master harry's balls...

But think Prataman is doing the smart things and safeguarding the people that's now SafeGuarding our National Reserves/Deficit.....don't know which.

For this, must raise pay. Good people are Hard to Find.

The prata mama pundek is only safe guarding his own geriatric flabby and withered black ass. He will never question the despot on the National Reserves etc. He is your typical run of the mill chicken shit PAP whore.

As a matter of fact, he did not Cho Bo Lan. He at least took a pair of sissors to cut ribbon. Now LHL is Cho Bo Lan, only spend time complaining about everyone else and think that he is damn tokong.

Prata must be the most expensive ribbon cutter in the world on a per ribbon basis.
As for LHL, he is like a whinning cunt...that's all the fag is good at. Can't tackle the problems on hand but chooses to side track and whine and bitch about it.

Complaint I received

SR Nathan graduated from the old University of Malaya in Singapore with a Diploma in Social Work. Whilst he could have had read Law or any other money making course, he chose to dedicate himself to the betterment of his fellow man by pursuing such a qualification.

His thesis on the "Exploitation of Asian workers in the Harbour Board" caught the eyes of those in power, and upon graduation, he was quickly enlisted to serve the Board to settle the problems he hada surfaced.

As a civil servant, he was place in the line of fire when he was offered as a hostage to terrorists in place of some poor Malay boatmen seized by the Jap and Arab terrorists. When asked how he managed to stay calm while held as hostage by the terrorists, SR Nathan replied : "I was a trained social worker".

Some of you disrepecfully call him Prataman. SR Nathan deserves more respect. He is Head of State not because of the money. If you must make noise, it's the politicians that deserve your venom. SR Nathan was never a politician. He is a brave son of Singapore.

Many also called SR and LKY traitors for working for the Japanese. Please note that they were working for the Japanese civilian adminstration, not the blood thirsty Jap Army. There were many decent Japs working in the civilian administration for the good of the people. (One Mr Shinozaki even saved the lives of countless Chinese by giving them safe-conduct passes indiscrimately. One of my uncles was a Chinese volunteer with the Local Defence Forces. He obtained a safe conduct pass from Shinozaki though he bore arms against the Japs.)
My point is SR Nathan did not do anything against the people.......so stop calling him names which does not reflect the Truth.

Some of you disrepecfully call him Prataman. SR Nathan deserves more respect. He is Head of State not because of the money. If you must make noise, it's the politicians that deserve your venom. SR Nathan was never a politician. He is a brave son of Singapore.

...The Prataman is a brave son of Spore. Please tell me how did you come to such a ludicrous conclusion? The prataman is nothing but a brainless old yes man whose only talent in life is to kiss the ass of his old despot boss.

Pathetic Singaporeans

Why he escapes we need not know
Give us the evidence his escape spook
We will consider the case closed
But they had only wayang shows
The dragon can even go merry go round
While the country is being laugh aloud
The world is watching as to how
These first class leaders play their drums
He calls himself leader, I call him clown
Just look at his face in news broadcast
Pathetic is this nation with him around
Soberer still when his father hounds
The risk of the nation they play null
They are busy robbing our funds
Busier still as UBS sounds alarm
His ding dong is bouncing upside down

COI LEEport?

This report provides a lot of information but tells us nothing. I have no doubt that the detention centre serves its purpose to extract vital info that has prevented potentially worse terror acts in S'pore and around the region, but what S'poreans want to know now is the latest progress of the hunt for S'pore's most wanted man.

& when the oridinary folk make mistake, you explain and punished for the mistake (at the mercy/mood of the judge) when big-shot makes mistake, someone will try to explain for him/her and the judge will probably help to reduce the charge with loads of excuses
when government make mistakes, it is top secret!!! Don't ask further.

Honour Prataman?

What social contribution or volunteering work has Prataman did since his HUGE pay increase?

President S R Nathan has been conferred the title of ‘Fellow’ by the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) for his significant contributions to the social work profession and to society at large.

This was the highlight at the annual Social Workers' Day dinner celebrations which was attended by more than 600 social workers.

Mr Nathan also launched a commemorative book entitled ‘A World to Change: Inspiring Lives in Social Work’. The book documents real-life stories of social workers in the past 50 years.

At the event, SASW also revealed that in a survey of 80 social workers, two-thirds received a higher pay, thanks to increased funding from the Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry in 2007.

The average pay increase was about S$230. The remaining 33 per cent said their agencies had either not implemented any pay increase or did so selectively.

The survey respondents added that a competitive salary is important in attracting and retaining talent.

Just for Laughes

A lady walks into a very upscale jewellery shop. She browses around, spots a beautiful diamond bracelet and walks over to inspect it. Bending over to get a closer look, she accidently passes gas.

Extremely embarrassed, she freezes for a few moments and then slowly straightens up and turns around to see whether anyone has noticed her little accident. Her worst fears are confirmed in the form of a salesman standing right behind her.

Cool as a cucumber, the salesman greets the lady with a very professional, "Good day, Madam. How may we help you today?"

Hoping against hope that he may just not have been there at the time of her little 'accident', she asks, "Sir, what is the price of thislovely bracelet?"

He answers, "Madam, if you farted just looking at it, you're going to shit when I tell you the price."

Voted the best Joke in the UK

(its short buthilarious)
One very loud, unattractive, hard-faced woman walks into Kmart with her two kids in tow, screaming obscenities at them all the way throughthe entrance.

The door greeter says, "Good morning and welcome to Kmart, nice Children you've got there. Are they twins?"

The fat ugly woman stops screaming long enough to snarl:"Of course they bloody aren't! The oldest is nine and the youngest isseven.

Why the hell would you think they're twins?..... Do you really think theylook alike, you c**khead?"

"Absolutely not," replies the greeter, " but I just can't believe anyonewould actually f**k you twice!"

Incredible India

The tourism authorities in India are tightening security to prevent groping hands of sexual perverts from spoiling the experience of holidaymakers lured to the country with a promise of 'Incredible India!'

Top tourism officials, including those in charge of Goa and Kerala states on India's western seaboard which are top draws with beach tourists, have been summoned to New Delhi for intensive consultations.

They will discuss steps to address a menace that threatens to take the sheen off a global advertising campaign which drew five million tourists to India last year and earned the country more than US$12 billion (S$17 billion).

Some 80,000 of those tourists had travelled from Singapore, according to government estimates.

News reports suggest that more than 10 foreign women were molested in various parts of India in the first two weeks of this year.

In the latest incident, a British woman was reportedly raped in Goa on Friday night, just days after a Russian woman was molested there. The beach shack owner who molested the Russian woman has been arrested while police have released an identity sketch of the rape suspect, news reports said.

Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has vowed to nail the culprit in 48 hours.

'We are adopting zero tolerance in such cases,' he told reporters on Sunday. 'We are dealing with each case seriously.'

Goa gained a reputation in the 1960s and 1970s as the favoured watering hole for hippies and marijuana users. Today, thousands of upmarket tourists throng the place.

The Goa incidents came even as a 12-year-old Indian-Canadian girl and her older sister were groped by a security guard at a resort hotel in Kumarakom, a popular tourist destination in the southern state of Kerala.

The guard, 27-year-old Shyju Varghese, was arrested hours after the girls' father lodged a complaint on Sunday. However, the traumatised family chose to end their holiday early and returned to Canada.

Mr V. Venu, Kerala's top official for tourism, told The Straits Times in a telephone interview: 'We cannot condone a single incident, even if it is a lewd remark.

'The hotel that employed the security guard had been careless in outsourcing security. We cannot stop the odd pervert but this one seemed like it could have been avoided.'

Kerala, India's most literate state, is among the country's fastest-growing tourism spots. Last year, it drew 500,000, or 10 per cent, of India's foreign tourists.

The state, particularly its most popular Kovalam beach, had a rash of molest cases in the mid-1990s but a high level of vigilance by the authorities had almost rubbed out the menace.

Of late, however, some cases have surfaced.

On New Year's Eve in the port city of Kochi, formerly Cochin, a beach party was marred by the groping of a young Swedish tourist.

'We are enjoying Kerala and having a good time,' the father of the child told a television reporter who was filming in the area. 'But even as we speak my 15-year-old daughter has just had her behind grabbed by a man.'

Even Mumbai, which shares a reputation with Bangalore as being safe for women, has had some adverse attention lately.

On New Year's Day, readers of the Hindustan Times in New Delhi and Mumbai awoke to screaming headlines that read: 'Shame Old Story'.

The daily catalogued the travails of two young couples who wandered out from the discotheque of the JW Marriott hotel in Mumbai.

A mob on the beach outside laid hands on the women, even as their menfolk tried to protect them. Mumbai police have since picked up several men, using the newspaper photographs as evidence.

ZERO TOLERANCE

'We cannot condone a single incident, even if it is a lewd remark. The hotel that employed the security guard had been careless in outsourcing security. We cannot stop the odd pervert but this one seemed like it could have been avoided.'

MR V. VENU, Kerala's top official for tourism, after a security guard in Kerala molested two Indian-Canadian girls.

India Presents the “One-Lakh Car”

Four years in the making, Tata Motor produced a so-called “one-lakh car”, (one lakh being the Indian term for 100,000) aimed squarely at members of India’s 300-million-strong middle class. Dubbing it the “People’s Car,” Tata hopes to entice consumers with a four to five seater, four-door, rear-engine car with about 30 hp (horsepower).

“It's about necessity. People require four wheels. They cannot go on a bike or scooter anymore. It's entry level cars. Larger cars are for people with extra money. The first car is always a small car,” says Himanshu Tandon, a general manager for sales at one Delhi Hyundai dealership.

The potential for growth and profit in the small-car sector is high. It is estimated that India has a vehicle density of only seven cars per thousand people, compared to the US which already has 477 per thousand. In 2006 alone, an astonishing one million cars were sold in India, with the annual growth rate of sales pegged at 16 percent.

With these figures, it’s no wonder car-makers are all jumping eagerly onto the proverbial bandwagon. Nissan-Renault recently revealed that it too would also strategize how to produce its version of the $3000 car, while India’s Hero Group, a well-known motorcycle manufacturer, is reportedly collaborating with a Canadian company on a mini-car. Maruti-Suzuki is busy with what they call a “competitively-priced” 660cc vehicle; South India’s Bajaj Auto will introduce their entry-level model during next year’s national Auto Expo. Even Xenetis, India’s low-cost computer maker, intends to develop a low-cost car. Tata Motors is going even further by exploring different possibilities with General Electric (GE) in whether the cars could be made from GE’s engineered plastics.

Despite all these shiny, bright ideas, the environmental cost of such a car is not lost on some who argue that instead of pursuing a wasteful, Western model of transportation, public transportation instead should be emphasized, especially at time when India and China are both facing intense pressure to reduce their carbon emissions.

“What we are really worried about is the congestion and the pollution,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. “In Delhi, public transports manage more than 60 per cent of the transport demand and, if you add the numbers using the new Metro, that is going to increase the [percentage using public transport]. Our immediate policy should be to retain and protect this so that people who are already using it... do not make the move to cars. It is aspirational - people who want to buy cars. But the question should be how easy should we be making it for them?... Once they have started using cars it, will be hard to get them back.”

Indian president Manmohan Singh commented however that India’s current growth may go hand-in-hand with environmental self-empowerment. “Due care must be taken not to allow growth and development prospects in the developing world to be undermined or constrained ... More and not less development is the best way for developing countries to address themselves to the issue of preserving the environment and protecting the climate,” he said

India's answer of a China's QQ car! Free Air refresher included...