Activist Gilbert Goh recently posted about a single mother who was struggling to pay off her Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC). He claimed that the Town Council had her arrested after she failed to pay up:
“She stayed in the police lock-up for close to ten hours before being released”
Goh shared about the woman’s plight by saying that she was only a promoter who was not earning enough despite long working hours. According to him, she was reluctant to rent out her 5-room flat for more income because she was uncomfortable living with strangers.
Goh’s post attracted a lot of attention, with some kind Singaporeans offering to give the poor woman money.
Yesterday, the Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council clarified that his post was not all true. Apparently, the TC had already reached out to the resident many times. It sent her repeated notifications and conducted house visits to ask her to cooperate with them for an instalment plan. However, she was not responsive, prompting them to call her for a mandatory court hearing, which she also did not comply with. It was only when she did not turn up that the court had to instruct a warrant of arrest. This was in 2016.
Since then, the TC has been proactively contacting and helping her.
“Upon further engaging the resident, partial payment of the S&CC arrears was made, and the resident signed an instalment plan on 19 December 2017. The Town Council immediately withdrew the court proceedings and updated the Warrant Enforcement Unit on the same day.
At no time did the Town Council lodge a police report to arrest the resident for S&CC arrears.”
In fact, the woman just made her latest instalment in Nov 2019.
So, hats off to Gilbert Goh for sensationalising a single mother’s life and make her look worse than she really is. Whether he was trying to gain points for himself or simply wanted to help, he should have at least gotten the facts right.
Singaporeans who are similarly having problems paying their bills may work out a solution with their TC. No, you will not be jailed when you ask for help.
//www.facebook.com/goh.gilbert/posts/10159432338433975?__tn__=KH-R
//www.facebook.com/marsilingyewteetc/posts/2501394876739308
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