PUTRAJAYA: The prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia affirmed their commitment to a cooperative and forward-looking bilateral relationship during the ninth Leaders’ Retreat between both countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday (Apr 9).

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside his Malaysian counterpart, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Lee noted that as close neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia must expect issues to arise from time to time.

“But provided we address them in a constructive spirit, we can manage the problems and work towards win-win outcomes,” he said. 

READ: Singapore raises concerns over Johor river, seeks sustainable water supply for both countries

He also said that the relationship between both countries is rooted in long history, as well as strong family and business ties. “This remains unchanged with the new Malaysian government,” he added.

During the retreat, the two leaders also addressed current bilateral issues, including maritime boundaries and airspace.

PROGRESS MADE ON MARITIME ISSUES

On maritime boundaries, Mr Lee said both countries have made progress to de-escalate the situation at sea, and avoid further incidents.

He outlined how the two foreign ministers have agreed to implement several measures, including suspending the extensions of the Johor Bahru Port Limits off Tanjung Piai and the Singapore Port Limits off Tuas, and ceasing to anchor government vessels in the area.

READ: MFA confirms ‘no Malaysian government vessels’ anchored in area previously covered by overlapping port limits

“With the implementation of the measures, we will commence negotiations on boundary delimitation in a month,” he said.

Malaysia had on Oct 25 gazetted an extension of its Johor Bahru port limits in a manner which Singapore said encroaches into its territorial waters off Tuas.

READ: Singapore, Malaysia maritime dispute: A timeline

On Dec 6, Singapore extended its port limits off Tuas, and said it will not hesitate to take “firm actions” against the intrusion of Malaysian government vessels in its waters.

Singapore had also protested “provocative acts” by Malaysia in recent months, including a visit by Johor Chief Minister Osman Sapian to a Malaysian vessel parked in Singapore waters.

SINGAPORE “READY TO DISCUSS” AIR-TRAFFIC ARRANGEMENTS

On airspace issues, Mr Lee noted that Malaysia has suspended its permanent Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang indefinitely, while Singapore has withdrawn the Instrument Landing System procedures at Seletar Airport.

On this development, Mr Lee said this has cleared the way for Malaysia’s Firefly airline to start services to Seletar Airport.

READ: Singapore, Malaysia to develop GPS-based instrument approach procedures for Seletar Airport to replace ILS

Mr Lee also noted that Malaysia has stated its intention to review the existing arrangements for air traffic services provision over southern Peninsular Malaysia.

Commenting on this, Mr Lee said: “Singapore is ready to discuss this matter with Malaysia. Key considerations are the safety and efficiency of air traffic operations, and the needs and interests of both countries.”

He added that this was “a complex matter” that will involve consulting many stakeholders, including airlines and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Civil aviation is growing rapidly for both countries. Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Changi are major regional airports, each serving more than 60 million passengers, he noted.

READ: Singapore, Malaysia airspace dispute: What we know and timeline

Singapore provides air traffic services over parts of southern peninsular Malaysia that is within the Kuala Lumpur Flight Information Region. This was an arrangement approved by ICAO in 1973.

In December, Malaysia said it wants to reclaim its “delegated airspace” in southern Johor, citing concerns over sovereignty and national interest.

The two prime ministers also discussed ongoing connectivity projects, including the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR).

For the RTS Link, Mr Lee noted that Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke has told Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan that while Malaysia still supports such a link, it wishes to request to suspend the project for six months to re-assess options.

He said that Singapore understands Malaysia’s position and both Attorneys-General have been tasked to work out a supplemental agreement quickly to give effect to the suspension, similar to the process for the HSR suspension in 2018.

Meanwhile for the HSR, Mr Lee said both countries still have about one year for the Suspension Agreement to run.

He said: “Singapore continues to see this as a good project that strengthens links between our economies and our peoples. But we understand why Malaysia needs time to review the cost and alternative options.”

Mr Lee added that Singapore looks forward to receiving Malaysia’s proposals early and working with them to find a way forward that works for both countries.

PM MAHATHIR TO ATTEND NDP

Mr Lee also thanked Dr Mahathir for “his warm hospitality” and extended an invitation for him and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah to visit Singapore on Aug 9 for the National Day Parade. The Malaysian leader has accepted the invitation.

Mr Lee said that Singapore is commemorating its Bicentennial this year and there will be a special parade at the Padang.

“In 1969, when we celebrated 150 years of modern Singapore’s founding, Malaysian PM Tun Razak and Tun Rahah came for our National Day celebrations,” Mr Lee said.

SINGAPORE: A Bangladeshi firefighter who was injured trying to rescue people trapped in a burning office tower in Dhaka last month died while undergoing treatment at the Singapore General Hospital, the Dhaka Tribune reported on Monday (Apr 8).

Sohel Rana sustained “serious injuries” in the Mar 28 fatal blaze at the 22-storey FR Tower in Bangladesh’s congested capital.

The fire claimed 26 lives and left many injured. Some of those stuck inside the burning building made it to safety by sliding down cables on the side of the building, but others took their chances and jumped in a bid to escape the smoke and heat.

Six people leaped to their deaths.

According to The Daily Star, Rana was one of the first responders to the scene. Rana had rescued those who were trapped while his colleagues tried to put out the fire.

Rana, who was in a “critical condition”, had initially received treatment at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka. 

He was later taken by an air ambulance to Singapore to receive “better treatment”, as directed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Rana died on Monday morning, Bangladesh fire service and civil defence headquarters duty officer Lima Khanam told the Dhaka Tribune.

Arrangements are underway to bring his body back to Bangladesh, fire service director (operation and maintenance) Major AKM Shakil Nawaz added.

On Monday, the US Embassy in Dhaka said in a tweet they were “saddened” to learn of the firefighter’s death. 

“We offer our condolences to Sohel’s family, friends, and colleagues.”

SINGAPORE: Do you know someone who felt unfairly treated and was let go of, yet couldn’t do anything about it because the situation did not fit wrongful dismissal guidelines?

Have you yourself felt unreasonably treated at work?

Chances are, most of us have had such experiences, or know of someone who has.

CAN WRONGFUL DISMISSAL BE FIXED WITH GUIDELINES?

Last Monday (Apr 1), the tripartite comprising the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) released a new set of guidelines on what constitutes wrongful dismissal under the Employment Act.

These new guidelines provide useful scenarios of what wrongful dismissal looks like – whether reasons relating to discrimination, the avoidance of the payments of benefits, and the punishing of an employee for exercising an employment right, such as the right to a break every six hours, among others.

Indeed, the promulgation of these guidelines signal a recognition of the importance of free and fair employment, and how critical ascertaining the real reason for an employee’s dismissal is to workers.

For instance, the guidelines make it clear it is wrong to dismiss an employee with notice if the employer projected a discriminatory attitude towards the employee (e.g., he or she made discriminatory remarks about the employee’s race).

READ: When demeaning job interviews and bad bosses are still the norm, a commentary

READ: Are you a bullying manager? It’s easy to tell, a commentary

Another example of wrongful dismissal provided in the guidelines is the dismissal of an employee of three years who informed the company of her pregnancy, without the payment of maternity benefits or legitimate grounds for dismissal.

While the new tripartite guidelines and examples are a noble effort to provide clearer guidance and transparency on wrongful dismissal, the fact is that wrongful dismissal can take more subtle but insidious forms.

WRONGFUL DISMISSAL AND POOR MANAGEMENT

Dismissal often hinges upon what managers claim are legitimate grounds for dismissal. Yet, an employer might hold biases against an employee for his or her gender, race or religion, but terminate the employee’s contract based on “poor performance”.

For example, a fast-food worker in New York City was recently fired because she “was not smiling enough”. 

While cheerfully greeting a customer might be a service standard fast food outlets can reasonably demand from employees, investigations later revealed that the manager already had plans to bring in employees from his previous workplace and just needed an excuse to lay off existing staff.

A track record of the employee’s past poor performance ought to be established – including documented performance reviews between the employee and his or her supervisor, as well as formal communication records that show fair warning was provided to the employee.

READ: The untold trade-off as a freelancer, when work is not work but ‘opportunity’, a commentary

When cases of wrongful dismissal are brought up, cross-checks with the employee’s co-workers and subordinates can provide a fuller picture of the circumstances leading up to the dismissal from many third parties’ perspectives.

Early warning to arrest the situation ought to be something companies consider. Having in place formal, informal, and anonymous feedback or reporting mechanisms can also help to ensure that employees who feel mistreated have an outlet for help and sharing their negative experiences.

For example, appointing a company ombudsman, who can act as an independent and neutral overseer, can help identify and informally resolve individual, group, and organisation-level concerns. Importantly, the ombudsman is not supposed to take action without the permission of the people or groups with whom they consult.

But all these measures alone cannot fix the root cause of many dismissal grievances, even if termination was made on sound grounds – which is that supervisors might not be equipped to deal with an under-performing employee, a situation that requires leadership, conflict resolution skills and empathy to give honest, critical and timely feedback.

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS AND INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION

So far we have assumed that employers are rational but can guidelines tackle unconscious bias and indirect discrimination?

Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than explicit forms of prejudice, but difficult to identify and tackle. 

In many cases, people do not even realise that they were making unfair assumptions or stereotypes. While the guidelines tackle unfair dismissal, they do not address missed job opportunities which arise because of such biases.

Unconscious bias is the reason why managers tend to promote people who are similar to them, according to research conducted by a group of social psychologists at the University of New South Wales.

Unconscious bias has led to better-looking people standing a higher chance of being hired than other individuals of the same ability, another study carried out by psychology professor Comila Shahani-Denning in Hofstra University also revealed.

It is practically impossible to eradicate unconscious bias, which may take the form of indirect discrimination and manifest as unfair treatment.

Indirect discrimination is more subtle and insidious, and often does not have clear tell-tale signs.

An example of indirect discrimination would be a manager who expects a female employee to constantly put in overtime hours, but then proceeds to dismiss her after she returns from maternity leave and can no longer continue working overtime

The higher baseline the manager had set before the employee went for maternity leave created unfair expectations yet this scenario does not qualify as wrongful dismissal.

Should the employee be dismissed based on poor performance or organisational restructuring, additional investigation would be required to uncover the real reason why the employee was not able to meet his or her office role demands. Sometimes reorganisation is employed to force employees out of their roles.

READ: The myth of the superhero career woman is holding us back, a commentary

HARASSMENT, BULLYING AND WHISTLEBLOWING

What about mean bosses? If the spirit of the guidelines was to enact stronger protections for workers, why did the tripartite guidelines not include harassment, bullying and whistleblowing?

Many advanced countries around the world protect workers from vindictive, predatory managerial practices in the workplace. 

Under Australia’s 2009 Fair Work Act, repeated threats of dismissal are a form of workplace harassment and bullying. Sometimes, bullying may also involve the termination of employment without a reason, and construes wrongful dismissal.

There is a worry that including these into formal guidelines might lead to a floodgate of workers externalising their differences with their employees instead of privately resolving these themselves, a scenario research finds unfounded.

The 2016 – 2017 Australian Fair Work Commission’s annual report revealed that of the 14,587 claims made for wrongful dismissal against Australian businesses in that year, 93 per cent of these cases were resolved before ever getting in front of a Commissioner, either because they had been “resolved informally” based on agreement by the parties involved, or because the applicant had dropped the claim.

The reality is that there is an asymmetry of power between a worker and his or her employer, and anything short of swift, decisive protection skews this balance against the worker further.

For instance, when it comes to workplace sexual harassment, victims were more likely to drop the claim against wrongful dismissal because the process to examine and remove the perpetrator was often slow, studies have shown. Many feel mentally and physically depleted to the point of exhaustion, and delay or choose not to report the perpetrator.

Similarly, whistleblowers in various organisations across the world continue to face unfair dismissal due to the lack of uniform protection laws, hence most whistleblowers still prefer to report corporate irregularities anonymously due to fears of reprisal.

READ: A culture of overtime is costing us dearly, a commentary

The tripartite guidelines should therefore include provisions to ensure that victims of workplace harassment and bullying, and whistleblowers, are better protected, as these groups of employees are most likely to slip through the cracks. 

Specific, separate clauses on harassment, bullying and whistleblowing might be in order, as they are each a potential cause of wrongful dismissal difficult to detect.

Separately, the onus should be on employers to take proactive steps to prevent workplace harassment and bullying before they happen. Some of these guidelines could be spelled out in organisational policies, or else mandated into law into the Employment Act.

WHAT’S NEEDED TO AVOID WRONGFUL DISMISSAL?

Tackling wrongful dismissal is as much a company’s responsibility as the tripartite partners, for it has huge repercussions on corporate reputation.

Companies should have in place an up-to-date workplace policy in line with the tripartite guidelines, and communicate with their employees the latest developments in this space. For example, employers can organise workshops to discuss the different scenarios of wrongful dismissal illustrated in the new tripartite guidelines.

While the guidelines may be a work-in-progress and can be refined via ongoing discussions with industry experts, researchers, as well as other stakeholders, forward-looking organisations will invest time and effort to communicate to employees these latest developments in wrongful dismissal legislation for two reasons.

First, it is an opportunity to outline expectations regarding work performance standards and professional behaviour, since employment may be terminated on the grounds of misconduct and poor performance.

Second, it signals to employees that their work rights are being cared for, which in turn  fosters trust and respect.

Instead of a formal annual performance review, companies should also encourage a two-way conversation between supervisors and their subordinates. Building a constructive climate in the workplace can have knock-on benefits.

Research has shown that increased self-awareness is associated with better performance outcomes, so leaders should make use of 360 degree feedback processes to understand how their team members see them.

Finally, employers and supervisors should reflect and act on their employees’ feedback, otherwise the cycle of wrongful dismissal will be self-fulfilling.

Carys Chan is Lecturer and Assistant Professor in Management at RMIT University. Dawn Chow is Lecturer in Business at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

SINGAPORE: Woodlands Regional Library had to be closed temporarily after water leaked from a burst pipe, the National Library Board (NLB) said on Monday afternoon (Apr 8).

The library will reopen to visitors on Tuesday, it added on its social media platforms, and directed visitors to nearby libraries in Sembawang and Yishun.

“Dear visitors, Woodlands Regional Library will be temporarily closed today due to water leakage from a burst pipe. The library will reopen tomorrow, Apr 9, 2019,” it said. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

CNA has reached out to NLB for more details.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian budget carrier Firefly will resume flights to Singapore on Apr 21, operating out of Seletar Airport, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke on Monday (Apr 8).

Meanwhile, Malindo Air, another Malaysian carrier, is also keen to fly to Seletar Airport and has approached airport authorities in Singapore for approval, he added.

The announcements come as Singapore and Malaysia on Monday agreed to work together to develop GPS-based instrument approach procedures for Seletar Airport, replacing the recently withdrawn Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Singapore counterpart, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, the Malaysian minister expressed hope that there will be more air connectivity between both countries in future.

“I think this is so good for our cooperation and the way forward,” he said.

On his part, Mr Khaw said: “Both minister Loke and myself are looking forward to Firefly’s commencement of services at Seletar Airport.”

READ: Singapore, Malaysia to develop GPS-based instrument approach procedures for Seletar Airport to replace ILS

READ: Singapore, Malaysia airspace dispute: What we know and timeline

Firefly suspended its flights to Singapore in December last year, after it was unable to obtain approval from Malaysia’s aviation regulator to move its operations from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport.

Changi Airport Group had earlier announced the move of turbo-prop operations to Seletar in a bid to optimise the use of resources at Changi. 

Before the suspension, Firefly offered 20 daily flights between Singapore and Subang, Ipoh and Kuantan.

READ: Firefly to lose up to RM20m a month over Seletar suspension

Singapore provides air traffic services over parts of southern peninsular Malaysia that is within the Kuala Lumpur Flight Information Region. This was an arrangement approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1973. 

In December, Malaysia said it wanted to reclaim its “delegated airspace” in southern Johor, citing concerns over sovereignty and national interest.

It also raised concerns about the ILS procedures for Seletar Airport, saying that the flight path would impact developments and shipping operations at Johor’s Pasir Gudang.

Singapore, in response, said that the ILS had simply put on paper the existing flight paths, making safety rules clearer and more transparent.

Over the weekend, Singapore withdrew the ILS procedures for Seletar Airport while Malaysia indefinitely suspended its permanent restricted area over Pasir Gudang.

A high-level committee has also been set up to review the existing airspace arrangement approved by ICAO, both transport ministers announced on Monday.