Ugliness In A First World Country
By todayinsingapore
As the economic downturn deepens, more children are reportedly finding it tougher to support their aged parents. One nursing home in Singapore was saddled with $11,576 of unpaid bills, due to family members who could not pay for the care of their elderly folks. While there were cases of next of kin who refused to pay the bill upon their relative’s demise, the majority could not afford to pay becasue of job losses, pay cuts or unexpected illnesses. At Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens, the bad debts doubled to $60,000 last year. In the first 5 months of this year, already more than $40,000 is owed the home. The result: more seniors are suing their own children for maintenance through the 14-year-old Maintenance of Parents Act, up from 79 cases in 2006 to 127 cases in 2008.
Concerned members of parliament urged the Government to do more to help. But instead of rendering financial assistance, Minister of Community Development Vivian Balakrishnan promised that the Act “will be given more teeth“. Currently, a person who disobeys the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents order can be jailed for up to 6 months. Changi Prison is going to be one crowded place.
Philanthropist and founder of Sunlove Abode for the Intellectually Infirmed, Wee Lin, wondered aloud: “If we use the law to punish some, would we drive them to further desperation?” Wee is no stranger to the heartless ways of the bureaucrats: his Sunlove home is a defacto dumping ground for those turned away from the beds of the Institute of Mental Health (formerly Woodbridge Hospital). Family lawyer Anamah Tan chimed in, “If you jail the children, you may cut off the family’s livelihood.” From the senior citizens’ perspective, social worker Alvin Chua contributed, “Some are even fearful that their children (as a result of being slapped by maintenance proceedings) will not perform their final rites.” Quite obviously, there are many social repercussions which probably never crossed the EQ-challenged Minister’s mind.
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2 comments:
As a blogger, I always value people who add value to the information available to educate their readers.
under what circumstances do the children get jailed?
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