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A woeful omission by the ST

I caught on a link that my friend posted on Facebook, a report by the BBC about the woeful working conditions in Singapore concerning the upcoming IR at Marina Bay.

According to the report, workers at the Marina IR were being subjected to oppressive conditions, forced to meet crushing deadlines while their monthly/OT pay was being withheld. Workers that proved resistant were immediately evicted, and these are now pursuing legal action against their employers.

Now this is serious news, a case where labour laws and possibly even human rights were violated. So, I checked Thursday’s papers and the ST online to see whether any similar reports were done, and this is what I found:

SINGAPORE ROCKS SINGAPORE ROCKS SINGAPORE ROCKS LET’S GET OUT OF THIS CRISIS COME TOGETHER WOOHOO!

Even before its completion, the IR has already wrecked lives

Nothing. That’s right — there was not a single word on the strike, nor on the conditions of these foreign workers. In fact, on Thursday’s papers (ref. Home Section), it did two reports concerning the construction sector; one about improved safety standards in the marine sector, and the other on a failed lawsuit by a foreign worker, who was demanding greater compensation from an injury sustained during work.

This seems to me like adding insult to injury. What’s the point of reporting on improved safety standards for workers when on one hand a group of workers have their rights so patently violated? And again, what’s the point of reporting on a worker’s failed attempt to get compensation when there a bunch of workers who aren’t even getting basic pay?

Now I’ve always been FOR the ST. I’ve disliked blanket accusations against them that they are simply a means of pro-gahmen propaganda, their reports not worth reading. And despite this, I still maintain that relative to some newspapers I’ve read elsewhere, ST still holds a pretty high standard.

But, having said this, the claim that the ST is “balanced” — not just a government mouthpiece — seems to hold much less water now. Its a real shame and tragedy when we have to realise on a foreign news agency like the BBC to do the reporting for us. And this case isn’t even about testing political OB markers (i.e. WSJ), but about basic socioeconomic conditions not being met.

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