SINGAPORE: To combat human trafficking in Singapore, a new law – the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act – came into effect in March 2015. To date, three convictions have resulted from the eight cases prosecuted under the Act. 

While this number seems low, cases of sexual exploitation or forced labour – involving workers who were tricked or coerced into coming to Singapore – may not be that uncommon.

Singapore Police Force (SPF) Deputy Superintendent Leow Teck Wee, the deputy head of the Specialised Crime Policy Branch, said in an interview that Singapore is an economic hub with a high flow of human traffic and the Government recognises that there could be “greater potential and opportunities” where victims may be exploited. 

However, the actual number of people trafficked into the country has not been determined due to the complexity of gathering evidence and acquiring testimony. 

One non-governmental organisation (NGO) did say it is handling more of such cases. Hagar, which helps women and children in Singapore and the region, said it saw 22 trafficking victims in Singapore in 2016 – a more than 50 per cent jump compared to the previous year. Many of the victims were women who came from countries in the Asian region.

“In recent years, we do see a lot more girls who are tricked here and being exploited in the labour market,” said Mr Michael Chiam, Hagar Singapore’s executive director.

The organisation works with two groups of victims: Those who were tricked into coming to Singapore to work as babysitters or performing artists but end up being forced to serve customers sexually; and those who obtain work visas but were then exploited by their employers. Mr Chiam said many of them were forced to work up to 16 hours a day. They were also not paid the salaries they were promised before arriving.

In 2010, the Singapore Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons was set up as part of efforts to tackle the issue. This was later followed by the enactment of the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act in March 2015, to give agencies like the SPF, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) power to investigate trafficking offences.

First-time offenders can face up to 10 years of jail, a fine of up to S$100,000 and/or six strokes of the cane. Repeat offenders may be sentenced to up to 15 years of jail, a fine of up to S$150,000 and mandatory caning of up to nine strokes.

All three convictions under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act have been sex trafficking cases, while the other five cases awaiting judgement involve two sex trafficking cases and three labour trafficking cases.

Muhammad Khairulanwar Rohmat was sentenced to 75 months’ jail for recruiting two underage girls for the purpose of exploitation. (Photo: Elizabeth Goh)

WHAT CONSTITUTES HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

Professor Kumaralingam Amirthalingam from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Law said Singapore has adopted the definition of trafficking from the United Nation’s (UN) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the UN TIP Protocol).

While the definition of trafficking is broad, there are three elements to which a trafficking offence can be made out, Prof Kumar said. “There has to be an act, which is your recruitment or harbouring. Then there have to be certain means, usually coercive, abusive means, where you’ve threatened somebody, or tricked or deceived someone into coming here to work. And then it has to be for the purpose of exploitation.”

Experts say the broad definition of trafficking, together with the nature of the crime, makes it hard for authorities to clamp down on perpetrators.

Prof Kumar explained it can be difficult to figure out when someone is being trafficked, as businesses which may harbour trafficked individuals can often be “disguised as a legitimate trade”, such as karaoke joints, bars or restaurant industry. Since the trafficking framework often involves transnational elements, authorities often face challenges in tracking down and gathering evidence from recruiters in source countries.

Victims, afraid and alone in a foreign environment, may also be reluctant to come forward because perpetrators may threaten to hurt them or their families back home. However, there could also be pragmatic considerations, like the loss of income. Prof Kumar pointed out that if victims get caught up in the trial process, even as witnesses, they will generally have to remain in Singapore and may not have the right to work.

CHALLENGES IN PROSECUTING SUCH CASES

While thousands of police officers in Singapore have been trained to look out for the telltale signs of trafficking, as well as to refer victims to relevant organisations for help, not all incidents are treated as trafficking cases. Some are dealt with under other laws which may carry lighter penalties.

DSP Leow said while traffickers can be charged under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act, there are other laws that can be used against them such as the Penal Code and Women’s Charter statutes, and legislation under the Employment Act.

Prof Kumar also pointed out the fact that the legislation is still “young” could be one of several reasons why there are “relatively few prosecutions” under the Act. 

“Whenever there are new offences that come into play, there’s quite a lot of training that is required, in terms of officers who are involved in enforcement. The prosecution and the police, they’re used to a particular way of investigating offences, of charging these offences. So once you bring in a new framework, it takes time for these officers to get used to that.”

While those issues can be addressed through training and providing more information to officers, it will take time for the culture to change. Once that occurs, the NUS professor suggests that “we will start to see more of these offences being prosecuted”.

NGOs that Channel NewsAsia spoke with say that when enforcement raids are conducted in entertainment venues like karaoke lounges or bars, women who work in these establishments are often investigated for solicitation or immigration offences.

The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), a non-profit organisation that helps migrant workers, said some incidents involving foreign workers that they deem as cases of human trafficking are classified as salary disputes by authorities like the MOM. In some cases, workers claimed they were promised different, higher-paying jobs than those they found themselves in once having arrived.

PROMISES NOT KEPT

Uddin is one worker who was caught in such a situation.

Enticed by hopes of a better life, he left his native Bangladesh for Singapore in November 2014. He paid an agent the equivalent of S$12,000 to find him work as a construction site supervisor in Singapore. Through the agent, he was told that the job would pay him S$2,600 a month.

Uddin expected to pay off the money he borrowed for the agency fee “in around six months”.  When he arrived, however, the job was not what he expected. Instead of a construction site supervisor, he ended up working as a labourer tasked with checking and transporting fire extinguishers.

On his second day at work, he was told to sign a stack of blank papers. Uddin recalls his boss telling him: “Here, write down your name, then write down your passport number, then below write down your name again, and then sign.” His lack of understanding of how the employment system in Singapore worked, together with a language barrier, made him believe that this process was part of the “official system”.

It was only later that he would discover that what he had signed were his pay slips indicating that he had received his full salary. In reality, he only received a fraction of what he was due: A figure that varied between S$500 to S$600 per month, instead of the S$2,600 that he was told he would be paid.

Before Uddin arrived in Singapore, his agent had told him his employer would provide him with a home. However, when he arrived, Uddin claims that his employer had told him to sleep on the factory floor temporarily while he arranged accommodation for him. This never happened.

He recalls sleeping on a thin mattress on the factory floor and that often he could not sleep because his mattress was infested with bed bugs. He says that he worked for the company for four months and 18 days, working nearly every day with 13-hour shifts, often with up to five hours of unpaid overtime in addition.

Uddin continued working at the factory out of fear that he would not be able to repay his debts otherwise.

He finally sought help from HOME after seeing a notice in his native language while walking around Little India one day, which classified his situation as a “clear case of labour trafficking”.

Mr Jevon Ng, a social work executive at HOME, said: “To consider a case trafficked, you must have the act, the means, and the purpose. So, the act is a recruitment. Simply, Uddin was represented with a job that was paying S$2,600. He was offered this job in Bangladesh and he was told he would get this job. He paid S$12,000 to get this job, but when he came to Singapore, he found that this was not the case and he was deceived into accepting a different job that paid a very low salary.

“That brings up the issue of deception and also the issue of economic debt that he was owed. At the same time, his boss made threats to repatriate him, should he not comply with his employer’s demands – and that fulfils the criteria of having the means.”

Upon bringing the case to the MOM’s attention, the ministry, which co-chairs the Singapore Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons, together with the Home Affairs Ministry, said it would be “inappropriate” to classify Uddin’s situation as a case of human trafficking because he was “not confined or forced” to work for his employer.

Instead, the MOM treated the incident as a salary dispute and HOME said this happens as workers cannot produce evidence of exploitation. 

Mr Ng said: “In cases where there is deception, most of the time, there won’t be a paper trail. An employer that plans to scam an employee would not give the employee a receipt.” He recalled that when Uddin approached HOME, he did not have any evidence with him, so the organisation gave him advice on how to look for evidence.

Experts noted there could also be other considerations when deciding whether cases should fall under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act.

Prof Kumar said it is necessary to take a “targeted approach”, for if a “blunderbuss approach” is taken, Singapore might “end up with a situation where we are over-criminalising”. 

He added that if the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act is used too liberally, it risks downgrading “the importance of trafficking”, where the public could confuse trafficking crimes with other offences that do not fit the criteria.

SHIFTING THE BALANCE OF POWER

On MOM’s end, it said that in 2016, it received about 9,000 salary-related claims involving about 4,500 employers. Ninety-five per cent of these were resolved, while the remaining 5 per cent were not. Out of these cases, one employer had appealed the order of the Labour Court by taking the case to the High Court, eight remain in business but have yet to comply with their orders, and 199 have either ceased operation or faced impending business closure due to financial difficulties.

From 2014 to 2016, 158 employers were convicted of salary-related offences, such as non-payment of wages. Such offences carry a fine of between S$3,000 and S$15,000 per charge, or imprisonment for a term not more than six months, or both.

For Uddin, his case was taken to the Labour Court and he managed to claw back some of his salary – about S$20,000 out of the S$29,000 that HOME claimed he was owed. But while his case is closed and he has found new work through the ministry’s Temporary Job Scheme, he is not allowed to leave the country due to other investigations against his former employer.

MOM said similar cases have come from sectors like construction, marine and manufacturing. Mr Raymond Tan, the director of Employment Standards Enforcement at MOM, said while they do see such cases, he urges workers to seek help from the ministry early to “improve their chances” of recovering their salary. 

However, for many victims of trafficking, HOME said they may be reluctant to come forward if they are afraid they will be sent home. Another concern they may have is prosecution for false declaration if their qualifications were falsified in order to get a work permit to work in Singapore.

To tackle this, the NGO said more can be done to “recognise and address” power imbalances in the workplace. Said Mr Ng: “Power imbalances occur because workers are not sure about making complaints. Workers do not feel empowered to make these complaints because employers can choose to cancel their work permits at any point once the work relationship sours and repatriate them.”

Experts and welfare groups suggest that changes to legislation could be one way to overcome the challenges of prosecuting human trafficking cases. This could include giving victims immunity from being charged with other offences they may have committed through the course of their work, to encourage them to come forward. 

SINGAPORE – Olympic champions Fiji, Australia and New Zealand cleared their pool matches with ease, racking up perfect scores of three wins out of three matches to advance to Sunday’s knockout stages of the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens.

Defending Series champion Fiji, who also won last weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens, finished top of Pool A after recording comfortable wins over Hong Kong (40-0), Russia (38-7) and Canada (35-7).

England suffered a 14-24 loss to France in their opening match but bounced back with a win over Japan (40-10) and a massive 17-12 triumph over South Africa (17-12) to top Pool B.

Meanwhile, Australia claimed top spot in Pool C albeit with failry narrow wins over Samoa (19-12), Kenya (29-7) and Argentina (19-7), while New Zealand suffered a scare in its first Pool D game, squeaking past Scotland 22-21 before recovering to record comfortable wins over Wales (36-14) and the United States (21-14).

The first day of action drew close to 30,000 fans.

Fans came dressed in all sorts of costumes and there were plenty of singing and dancing in the stands whenever the Dance Cam or the Muscle Cam was on the stadium jumbotron.

Fans also performed the Kallang Wave and passed huge giant inflatable rugby balls around the stadium.

Sunday’s quarter-final fixtures will see Fiji taking on the United States and Australia facing Series leader South Africa.

New Zealand are up against Canada, while England will meet defending champion Kenya.

Former Fiji coach Ben Ryan is tipping either Fiji or South Africa to win the Singapore crown although he also thinks that Fiji might still be recovering from its Hong Kong Sevens triumph.

He told TODAY: “Well, it’s Fiji for me but any moment, teams can fall over.

“They had such a massive victory in Hong Kong, which was such a  massive relief for them but sometimes that emotional energy drains you more than physically. 

“Tomorrow’s just a bit too tough for them and I think they know that. It’s almost a natural thing. 

“South Africa know that if they win, they can pretty much wrap up the overall world title. I think they are going to be very good. 

“So I think South Africa or Fiji will win this, with the United States as my dark horse.”

The second day of the Singapore Rugby 7s will include the Schools Under-14 final between arch-rivals Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and St. Andrew’s Secondary.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.singapore7s.sg

SINGAPORE/JOHOR BARU — As the Malaysian ringgit continues to notch new lows against the Singapore dollar, TODAY looks at how the fortunes of two families have changed.

The Balachandran family
LIVING THE SINGAPORE DREAM

Mr Vasanthan Balachandran and his family used to have to think hard about stretching their 400 ringgit budget when shopping at the SongMart supermarket in the outskirts of Johor Baru.

Not anymore. These days, they just buy whatever they feel like, largely thanks to the Malaysian currency’s unprecedented slump against the Singapore dollar.

“We can just take a basket and drop everything we want. Life is sweet. Life is bling bling,” said the Malaysian, who earns about S$2,000  as a pre-boarding screening officer at Changi Airport.

The Singapore dollar continued its climb against the ringgit last week, hitting a new all-time high of 3.1786 on Thursday (April 13). The outlook for the ringgit – which has been on a downward spiral since mid-2014 due to the global oil price slump, a corruption scandal at state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad and rising US interest rates – remains wobbly, especially with the continued outflow of capital from Malaysia since Mr Donald Trump’s election victory last November.

On the ground, the impact of these currency movements can be dramatic. For instance, Mr Vasanthan’s salary, once overtime pay and incentives are included, can now match that of a professor in Johor Baru.

It is a welcome change for the 31-year-old, who began working at the age of 18 transporting gas cylinders from house to house.

Financial pressures on Mr Vasanthan grew in 2008 after his father died of diabetes, and left him as the head of the household. Earning RM1,400 at most as a warehouse assistant, he struggled for a few years to keep his younger brother in school and the household afloat. 

Three years ago, Mr Vasanthan began applying for accounting jobs in Singapore after hearing multiple accounts about the greener pastures across the Causeway. The diploma holder was repeatedly rejected by employers in Singapore.

While walking past the Certis Cisco building at Paya Lebar one day, however, he decided to walk in and ask if they were hiring. He was offered an airport security job with a basic pay of S$750 (worth RM1,900 then) on the spot.

He has been with the company since. His spending power began to grow significantly, thanks to a heady combination of a rise in his Singdollar-based salary and the ringgit’s slump against the Singapore currency. 

In 2015, for instance, he and his 25-year-old brother, who also works in Singapore, felt financially secure enough to fork out S$1,250 a month to rent a three-room Housing and Development Board flat just so they could get more sleep and avoid the Causeway commute.

This is on top of the S$650 that they give their 62-year-old mother, who lives with them in Marsiling.

At the same time, they kept their flat in Pulai Jaya, a 30-minute drive from the Causeway, which they visit once every two weeks and pay RM400 a month for cable television subscription, phone and utilities.

Mr Vasanthan is even on track to upgrade his RM8,600 Yamaha FZ 150cc to his dream bike, a RM26,000 Kawasaki Ninja 250R, by the end of the year. All he needs is to make a down payment of RM5,000, followed by monthly RM400 installments.

With the weakening ringgit, his family can stretch their dollar even further when they spend across the Causeway.

Mr Vasanthan rides his motorbike to Johor Baru once every four days to get fuel. For RM20, he can get a full tank, which would cost about three times as much in Singapore.

His mother, Madam Vanaja Ramanathan, would save another S$10 by picking up groceries such as condensed milk, Lipton tea, bottles of kaya, soya, chili and tomato sauce, which cost no more than RM60.

Word about Mr Vasanthan’s new found spending power has gotten around. For one, he no longer gets a discount from his long-time mechanic.

The mechanic would in fact ask him: “You now work in Singapore right? Can tip?”

His Malaysian neighbours and acquaintances also eagerly ask him about job opportunities in Singapore. “Those working in JB, they treat like a normal person, those working in Singapore, they look to you like some big shot,” Mr Vasanthan said with a wry smile.

But he says he is fine with that, as long as he does not have to scrimp anymore. 

“I am feeling more settled, confident and relieved… Whatever we want to buy, we can now buy. We are steady,” he added.

The Anuar family
SNOWED IN BY THE RINGGIT’S SLUMP

JOHOR BARU — Five years ago, the Anuars sold their three-room flat in Marsiling and relocated to Pulai Jaya in the outskirts of Johor Baru. They were next-door neighbours with the Balachandrans at one point.

But unlike Mr Vasanthan Balachandran who saw his spending power soar as the ringgit declined against the Singdollar, the Anuars were caught on the wrong side of the unprecedented currency movements.

Earning in ringgit while having to spend in Singapore, the family of five – four Singaporeans and a Malaysian – soon discovered how tough life could get as their spending power fell dramatically.

Mr Samsul Anuar, a bailiff at the Johor High Court, and Madam Zainon Saini, a Singaporean, married in 1995. They had to live apart for many years because the Malaysian civil servant could not get a social visit pass to stay in Singapore for more than 30 days at a stretch, despite five applications and appeals to their constituency’s Member of Parliament.

The couple coped as best as they could, but financial pressures on the family came to a head in 2012: It had simply become too expensive for them to live in Singapore on Mr Anuar’s RM3,000 salary.

It was also getting too costly for him to fork out S$20 (RM36 in 1995, RM50 by 2012) every week for the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) to enter Singapore to see his family.

Adding to the family’s financial stress, Madam Zainon had to quit her S$1,200 a month (about RM2,900 then) security officer job in 2011 to tend to their sick daughter.

Madam Zainon said she felt the pinch even back then, when the exchange rate was about one Singdollar to RM2.40. “I shivered whenever it was time for me to open my letterbox. The bills could go up to S$170 a month (RM408 by 2011 rates),” she told TODAY.

Living in Johor Baru, they had to tighten their belts even though living expenses were more manageable.

Given just RM1,000 to manage the family’s expenditures, Madam Zainon shied away from buying even cheap shoes, handbags or clothing.

Their weekly visits to McDonald’s and KFC had to be reduced to two or three times a month, said the housewife. Shopping became a “just to see only” exercise for the children to eye what they like, so they can save up for it.

What became most unbearable, however, were the trips to visit friends and relatives in Singapore. With her husband’s salary shrinking in value from S$1,200 to S$950 due to the currency fluctuations, Madam Zainon and her children could no longer afford to spend a day in their home country without missing a meal.

“RM50 (S$15.80) is gone after you top up your EZ-link card and eat a meal. So sometimes, in Singapore, I say that I’ve already eaten when I haven’t. I eat when I return to Johor at night,” the 54-year-old said.

She supplements the family’s income by selling home-baked pineapple tarts and marble cakes. A bottle of 80 tarts retail for RM30 in Johor Baru. But in Singapore, she can sell them for S$30.

Raw ingredients also cost less in Malaysia. For example, a 500g block of butter cost RM10.77 (S$3.41) in Johor Baru’s Giant supermarket, compared to S$4.60 (RM14.50) in Singapore’s Giant.

She is eyeing another silver lining next year, when she turns 55. That is when she will start receiving payouts from her Central Provident Fund savings amassed from working in Singapore for more than two decades.

The payouts will go a long way for her family as they are denominated in Singdollars.

She and her husband, however, are pinning the family’s long term hopes on the prospects of their 21-year-old son securing a well-paying job in Singapore.

“My children still see a better future in Singapore,” said Madam Zainon.

RELATED STORY: Compare — what you can buy with RM50 and S$50 at a supermarket

SINGAPORE — In Fiji, he’s regarded as a saint. The rest of the world know ginger-haired Englishman Ben Ryan as the man who led Fiji to that historic Rio Olympics rugby sevens gold medal. It was the first time rugby sevens was contested at the Olympics, and also Fiji’s first-ever Olympic medal of any colour. So what has the 46-year-old been doing after quitting as Fiji coach after Rio? TODAY catches up with him at the HSBC Singapore Sevens…

How has life been after leading Fiji to that historic Olympics gold medal? What have you been doing?

Well, obviously, the sevens team consumed all my time in Fiji for three and a half years. I sacrificed everything, really, to help with the campaign to get the boys the gold medal.

And since then, it has led me on a journey all over the world for these nine months, working for various organisations.

I’ve done stuff with some rugby unions, worked in the NBA, I’m going to work in a professional football club, and I’m working with one of the biggest sportswear companies in the world. I can’t say which one. (TODAY understands that it is Nike).

HSBC has been taking me all over the world as their Ambassador. Not just working in rugby stadiums but also talking about kindness, wellness, mindfulness with their staff in their offices around the world.

It just shows that really the Fiji sevens story wasn’t really about rugby.

It was about people, and players, managing people and relations, and putting together a programme that was successful, and which had kindness and mindfulness at the centre of it all.

How did kindness and mindfulness apply towards your work with the Fiji team? I know you went four months without pay at the start, and that you fought for your players to be paid their salaries…

When I joined the Fiji Rugby Union, they were bankrupt, and all their players were overseas. We had no training base, I wasn’t getting paid, we had no coaching staff.

In many ways, that sounds bad, but actually, it meant I had a completely blank canvas. And so I had an amazing time putting together the programme and everything around it.

The goal was to make the team the best in the world. But the framework was very simple. We only included people we felt were going to give us value, resources that we were really going to run into the ground.

In modern society and modern sport, usually more and more things are being added to your programme – more technology, staff, money, resources.

We actually went the other way. Even when we were nearer the Olympics, I used crowdfunding to build us a gym, and sports equipment and buy stuff for the boys.

We kept our programme very simple because we felt it was easier to get everyone to understand what is required about success, and the easier it was to see if there are any hiccups or potential bumps on the road.

And the key takeaway I’ve got from my subsequent jobs, from going around the world and into organisations that are much bigger than the Fiji Rugby Union, that have hundreds of staff, and far much more money, that the key is creating that culture where it still feels like a very small team environment, and keeping things very simple.

Are you working exclusively with HSBC?

I’ve done a variation. Together with ex-England sevens captain Rob Vickerman, we ‘ve done stuff with HSBC staff.

I’ve also done stuff on my own. I’m mentoring a couple of CEOs and human resource directors from other companies.

What I’ve found is that at the top of these companies, they have very stressed, very pressured decision makers, and often, they have no one to talk to.

So I’ve been doing some stuff with them, giving them some tools to hopefully help them make some clear decisions, and to realise possible blind spots – things that they’re doing which are working against the organisation, and no one’s been telling them about it.

I’m also learning as much this year as I was when I was coaching Fiji.

Every where I go, I not only hope to leave them something they can use, but also end up learning from them as well.

Sounds as if you have taken on the role of being a comforter of the afflicted.

(Laughs) I think I was one of the afflicted as well. Fiji helped me when I was disillusioned with professional rugby.

When I left England, I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing, and so Fiji breathed fresh life into me, and gave me this challenge, and I got to work every day with some of the finest athletes in the world.

You’re right — my spirit probably pushes me to challenges in which I am working with underdogs, and trying to help.

How does one go five months without pay?

You use your savings, and unfortunately, that was what I had to do.

But if I had to do it again, I would. Because one of the positive things that happened after someone at the Fiji Rugby Union leaked that I wasn’t getting paid, was that people realised I wasn’t there for the money, and that I had the best interests of the team at heart.

And that helped accelerate the bond between the public and me. I was very lucky to have the full support of this rugby-crazy country for three and a half years.

Tell me more about the Olympics experience. What was running through your mind when you woke up the day after winning the Olympics gold?

Well, the night before, after winning the gold medal, I went through about 250 journalists. That finished at 1am.

I went to sleep, I didn’t have a beer, and I probably had the best sleep of my life. I was boom, gone, and I woke up the next day feeling very content that we had achieved what we had set out to do.

Then I got to be an Olympic tourist. I’m a big athletics fan, I got to see every event, travelled all around the Olympic Village, and got wined and dined by all the big corporations and sponsors. It was a fun time

The next two to three weeks though, there was quite some hesitation among us saying that we won the gold medal because we weren’t quite sure that really happened (laughs). Of course, that’s no longer the case

Why did you leave your job after that?

Actually, I had told the Fiji Rugby Union six months earlier that I wanted to leave. I also wanted them to tell everyone the news before the Olympics so that during Rio, whatever happened, people won’t read into it and say “Oh, he won and then he left” or “Oh he got sacked after they lost”.

Coaches in professional sport don’t always get to decide when they are going to leave, and this was an opportunity where I did.

The Union did offer me a very large sum of money to stay, the government opened its cheque book, but I had made my decision. I knew it was time to leave.

Why was it time to leave?

It was a project which met my goals, such as winning world titles, winning the Olympics gold medal.

I‘m also the sort of person who throws his heart into a project for three or four years, and then either I move on within that organisation after that, or do something else.

And I’ve learnt from experience that after four years, I tend to start to lose enthusiasm, and I also think I start to lose a bit of value.

So with the Fiji team, I changed something, I put a culture in place that hopefully has some permanency about it, and then I moved on.

Which brings me to the next question: You’ve achieved historic Olympic success with Fiji. Do you think this will become an albatross around your neck?

You know, there is a very good chance it might be.

I hope I have some exciting stuff ahead of me, whether in sevens or another sport. I would hate to think I have another 20 years as a professional coach, and that this will be my only highlight and it will just go downhill from here.

I’m going to wait for the next challenge that really excites me. I’m enjoying what I am doing at this moment, I love the variation… but I know I have to soon squeeze down the number of things I’m doing and focus on the one job I am going to do really well.

The Olympics is very addictive and there is a real pull towards me going to the 2020 Olympics in some form. I want to be heading up a programme, or performance director of a country in the Olympics.

Your situation is like Clive Woodward winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup with England or Luis Felipe Scolari winning the 2002 World Cup with Brazil. Where does one go from here?

That’s why I’ve been spending my time doing these things and thinking. The book’s getting written, and we hope there’s a movie as well. We’ve had lots of meetings with the film industry.

But you’re right, it’s a tough act to follow, I’ve never really enjoyed being in the spotlight, in my next challenge, I might like to be in the shadows more… Probably this time next year, I’ll be having negotiations with what’s next.

We’ve had one or two organisations saying they’ve got a position available in a year’s time, and they’ve kept a couple of places on hold. I’ll see what happens in the next six seven months before making any big decisions.

What if you are tasked again to lead another country to Olympics gold?

I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to go to Tokyo, but it has to be the right team, the right fit for me, though.

And I don’t want to go to a team that is already winning things, I want to go somewhere I can add value to.

It doesn’t really matter whether it is a lowly-paid job . It’s got to be a challenge that really excites me, and make me want to throw everything into this.

You’ve been keeping a keen interest in the Fiji sevens team, and you’ve seen them struggling this year…

They were not looked well by the Fiji Rugby Union after the Olympics. They weren’t paid for a few months. That’s not the way to treat gold-medal winners.

They are being paid now but their pay is still the lowest on the circuit. The bottom player gets about S$5,000 to S$6,000. That’s terrible. And the top player, an Olympic gold medal winner, he’s on S$16,000.

They were playing Hong Kong, one of the minnows, yet every Hong Kong player is paid five to seven times more than each Fijian player on the field. There is something very wrong about that. I used to get into trouble with the Fiji Rugby Union for saying that they need to pay their players more money, get more sponsors.

With the Olympics win, they are now a very marketable team and you’ve got to look after them and pay them, yet they still didn’t do any of those things. They’ve started paying them now but it’s still not enough.

Are you ever planning to live in Fiji?

We’ve got land that they (the government) gave me (about 3 acres), beachfront, and we are going to build a little resort.

I won’t live there permanently but if I can get my perfect life together, then I’ll be hanging out in Fiji one or two months a year, surfing, playing golf and eating Fijian curries (laughs)

Your pick to win the Singapore Sevens?

Well, it’s Fiji but any moment, teams can fall over. They had such a massive victory in Hong Kong, which was such a massive relief for them but sometimes that emotional energy drains you more than physically.

Tomorrow’s just a bit too tough for them and I think they know that. It’s almost a natural thing.

South Africa know that if they win, they can pretty much wrap up the overall world title. I think they are going to be very good.

So I think South Africa or Fiji will win this, with the United States as my dark horse

Actually, it’s unfair to call them dark horses. The public doesn’t think of them in terms of rugby but certainly they are very good now. They haven’t improved in 15s since 1991, but in 7s they have been dramatically improving.

SINGAPORE: Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre is popular for its spread of local food, but it was only three years ago when the centre moved to its current location, as part of a makeover under the second phase of the Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) programme.

The East Coast estate was selected for rejuvenation along with Hougang and Jurong Lake under the programme’s second phase in 2011. 

Located beside the Bedok train station, the centre is often crowded, even on weekdays. The 70-stall food centre now boasts more seats for diners, cashless payment options and even free Wi-Fi. 

Over the last six years, the estate has undergone a progressive transformation to become a “gateway to the East Coast”. A key plank of the estate’s renewal is the rejuvenation of Bedok Town Centre, with completed projects such as Bedok Mall – which is connected to an integrated transport hub – and a town plaza with a heritage corner, where residents can learn about Bedok’s history. 

G. K. Murthy stall assistant K Santhi, who has been working at her father’s drink stall since she was a 15-year-old student, recalled the hawker centre’s previous home at Block 207. “Last time, (the centre was) very small and narrow, no space to sit,” she said. “Now (it’s) open space.” 

A long-time resident, who has been living in Bedok for almost 40 years, agreed: “Now (it) is very clean, and so many people like to eat here. I always come here to makan, even breakfast or lunch.” 

Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre. (Photo: Wendy Wong)

Named by residents, the Bedok Town Square is the first of the Housing Development Board’s (HDB) new-generation town plazas to be built. 

Around 1,000 residents were roped in to share suggestions for its use in a visioning exercise organised by the local town plaza activation team, with suggestions such as outdoor movie screenings, mass exercise activities and performances. The town plaza has held 32 community events since its launch last May. 

“Some activities they organise here are easier for us as more customers can buy drinks,” said stall assistant K Muthu. “(It’s) more comfortable here, (with) very fresh air.” 

BETTER ACCESSIBILITY FOR ELDERLY RESIDENTS 

Bedok’s pedestrian mall has also been enhanced with better connectivity and accessibility to amenities – something which its elderly residents appreciate. 

“Now, you have the ramps connecting to all these amenities. They are all elderly-friendly, handicap-friendly, where those on wheelchairs and motorised ramps can go practically every spot in the central part here,” said 70-year-old retiree John Cheong. 

“Forty years ago, if you want to go to these facilities you have to take a bus downtown, even for shopping maybe we have to go down to Orchard and all that, but now shopping is just right at our doorstep,” Mr Cheong said. 

“We come down already we got a shopping mall. And then all the eateries are all nearby, walking distance – within five, 10 minutes can have all these facilities,” he added. 

Upcoming projects in the pipeline include the Bedok Integrated Complex, which will house facilities such as Bedok Sports Centre, Bedok Public Library and Bedok Polyclinic, among others. The complex will be completed in the third quarter of this year. 

The upcoming Bedok Integrated Complex, which will be completed by the third quarter of 2017. (Photo: Wendy Wong)

Residents can also look forward to better connectivity within the estate, with the completion of an internal cycling network within the Bedok and East Coast area connecting train stations, schools and neighbourhood centres, as well as an Outdoor Play Corridor, which will provide cycling and pedestrian paths linking Bedok Reservoir and East Coast Park. 

The upgrading of eight neighbourhood centres beyond the town centre are also in the works, with two completed so far and the rest slated for completion by 2019. 

To preserve the estate’s history, a heritage trail highlighting the stories of East Coast was designed. And in January, a mobile app featuring self-guided interactive trails for Bedok town was launched for residents to learn more about the history and landmarks of the estate. 

More than 250,000 residents have benefited from the renewal efforts over the past six years.