Singaporeans ‘enslaved’ by YOG organising committee

August 18th, 2010 | Author: Contributions
Now I know really why the YOG is a utter failure, been hearing on Talkback on 938 live on how people are upset over the budget of 300 over million from the initial 100 million.

Many are also upset over the delay of the sports facility delayed which are supposed for the YOG due to whatever reason. I am a volunteer/temporary staff working for YOG.

This is not my choice but many students like myself are being forced to work for the games saying failing which, you will not get your testimonial and/or may affect your grades. Is this ethical?

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I was tasked to work night shift (I will not say who I am working for) because I am a guy and they say its better for guys to take the night job as it is unsafe for girls. We were supposed to work for 19 days straight with 2 days off only. With all the tight security, how can it be unsafe for the girls?

Many of the workers I spoke too said they were forced to come to work for the games and they do not have a pay increase although they got transport allowance. What they told me is that they say we should be proud of serving the country rather than asking for more money and its an experience of a life time that money cannot buy.

Budget wise, when I sit on the shuttle bus, I spoke to a few athletes and talked to them heartily. What I found out from some is that all foreigners invited to attend the games would be provided with a SIM card with unlimited local calls. The higher ranks one even gets a cell phone. So, is this where are they spending the money instead of promoting it? The marketing of YOG needs improvement where you can hardly hear any promotion being done. So, where did the money of 300 odd million went to?

The way they are treating the staff is horrendous. We are not allowed to take breaks for more than half hour. If we wanted to drink, we can only do so in the workforce canteen and if we happened to be in the canteen and wanted a drink, they told us cannot even though there are no atheletes and will reprimand us continuously. We are not allowed to sit anywhere near the canteen otherwise it is a violation of rules. The officials however are allowed to sit down even if there are athletes. This is double standard. The YOG committee keeps walking around to scold all kinds of workers and many which I spoke off is very fed-up and they are not sure they will stay on with the current situation or rather they do not know how long they can tolerate this. To me, even if I am not well,

I will not force myself or tell myself to hold on for the games, after all, are we recognised or appreciated?

So ironically, they treat the foreigners so well but the locals badly. Many places are short-handed and those there are force to work harder to make up for the short-fall otherwise they may get a pay cut. So must rules to follow, many are unhappy. Another factor is I know from the place I work is many who are working for YOG are Malaysians or Chinese and not many Singaporeans except we the students and a few top guns. To me, the games is really a failure at one angle.

Please keep my letter confidential if not my personal particulars to be personal as I am afraid to be black-marked (you know what I mean）. I am really afraid to write this letter as if they know I wrote it, they will blacklist me.)

After all, this is just my personal feelings and what I gathered after chatting with many of the various individuals working there. I am writing this just to inform you about happenings from the YOG to vent my frustrations and let people know about it. The more I am scared to write, they more they people would bully the workers. I will be really happy to tell you more by phone if necessary.

John Lim

Editor’s note: The handphone number of the volunteer removed at the writer’s request.