The Singapore Times Exclusive: HOT AND SWEATY INDIANS AND BURMESE: BOBBY FONG JR.’S BULGING MANILA ENVELOPE
Bobby Jr. isn’t such a bad guy at least compared to his mother Madame Fong. I keep saying to myself a mantra “play along until the time is right”.
On our way to lunch I notice road construction everywhere with unskilled workers being Indians and Bangladeshis all very hot and sweaty looking. Come to think of it I recalled at Merlion Park earlier the same ethnicity of workers at a construction site there.
Bobby Jr. pulled off at a roadside construction project where I thought he would expel the vast amounts of Durian juice he was ingesting but instead met two men in suits and ties one of whom handed him a bulging manila envelope.
When Bobby Jr. returned to the car he explained to me thinking, of course, as a dumb dog I didn’t understand that much. “Singapore has the highest standard of living in Southeast Asia and is perceived as the land of milk and honey. So like Somalians flocking to Canada and the United States they believe money will flow their way. Some arrive legally but many sneak into Singapore and work “under the table”. What we do is work with syndicates in poorer Asian countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, Bhutan, Laos etc. who charge their locals for “placement” in Singapore and charge “us” a fee for smuggling them into Singapore. There are also pools of unemployed unskilled foreign labourers whose work permits have expired and “we” scout them out. The unskilled labourers and their employers pay us “a facilitation fee” to bribe immigration and police officials if need be to ensure they remain unmolested by the law. A very profitable business as you may discern from the USD in this manila envelope! Yep, we lose a dozen or so to heat stroke every year but plenty more waiting for the land of milk and honey”
I thought where do I fit into this?
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