Chinese citizen Nie Ge, a Falun Gong practitioner who works at the Peninsula Hotel in Singapore, was notified by the Singapore Department of Human Resources that her work permit and five-year Certificate of Social Activities (residency permit) had been revoked and that she was required to leave the country within 7 days. This happened on the afternoon of June 2nd, 2006. Hearing the sudden notice, she contacted the front desk of the Department of Human Resources and asked for a reason, but they refused to give any explanation. The manager of the hotel's human resources office said that the Department of Human Resources recently received a list of names from China and they are acting according to the list.
The human resources manager of the hotel asked Nie Ge to surrender her passport and other documents, including contact information for her daughter. Ms. Nie does not speak English and could not read the letter from the Department of Human Resources. She is also not familiar with this area of law. Since she needed help from her friends and a lawyer, she asked to postpone the surrender of the documents. The human resources office of the hotel rejected her request and called the 999 emergency number.
Around 7 o'clock, police officers arrived at the hotel and forced Ms. Nie to the police station. After eight hours of detention, they released her the next morning with a verdict of not guilty. According to Ms. Nie, during her detention, police station personnel verified that she did not have any criminal record. They did not make any arrangements for an investigation or interrogation.
During an interview with Nie Ge, she said: "It happened so suddenly. Personnel from the human resources office of the hotel first told me that I could go if I gave them my uniform. But after I did that they called the police and took my cell phone. I asked the police officer for the reason of my detention, she said that I am an illegal immigrant. She told me that my certificate had been revoked on May 31st and now I am an illegal immigrant."
Ms. Nie Ge said: "As of this moment, I do not know how long they will allow me to stay in Singapore. I received the notice on June 2nd, so the seven-day period should begin then. But police officers said that my certificate was revoked on May 31st. The letter from the Department of Human Resources was transferred through the human resources office of the hotel. When they notified me on June 2nd, they did not tell me when the starting date of the seven-day period was. There must be a date on the letter, but I have not received the letter. They only showed the letter to me and a friend of mine on that day. So strictly speaking, I haven't received a formal deportation notification."
Ms. Nie Ge, 55, came to Singapore in 2002. She lives with her only daughter and has a five-year Certificate of Social Activities (residency permit). During this period she had been employed with several companies. Her current employment is as a cleaning lady at the Peninsula Hotel. Ms. Nie applied for this job in March. After more than a month of strict examination, she was finally issued a two-year work permit by the Department of Human Resources in May. The hotel employed her and she started working on May 24th.
The human resources office of the Peninsula Hotel clearly expressed to Ms. Nie that the reason for the dismissal has nothing to do with her job performance. She asked the hotel manager to give her a letter of explanation about the dismissal, but she has not received an answer.
As far as we know, since the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20th, 1999, many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have been treated unfairly by the Singapore immigration office because they practise Falun Gong. Recently these cases have been increasing.
On the same day Ms. Nie Ge was told she was being deported, another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Cheng Lu Jin, got a stamp from the immigration office on her certificate of permanent residence which says "could be repatriated at anytime."
According to Ms. Cheng, when her and Huang Caihua's appeal case went to court, the judge told her that she is a permanent resident. If he caught her again, he would send her back to China. Soon afterwards the immigration office contacted her and wanted to put a stamp saying "could be repatriated at anytime" on her passport. Ms. Cheng immediately wrote to the related departments, reasoning with them and asked them to withdraw their decision. They did not mention it again until recently.
Practitioners who regularly clarify the truth at local tourist attractions, downtown, and near the Chinese consulate, police have been behaving differently lately. They have shown up frequently, taken photos, made videos, and forcefully took away some exhibition boards that had been in the same place for a long time. When asked, all the police officers said that it was not their decision. It came from higher officials and there is nothing they can do about it.
According to the media in Singapore, the National University of Singapore is planning to issue an honorary doctorate to Li Lanqing during the graduation ceremony on July 6th. Li was originally the head of the CCP's 610 Office. He is one of the primary figures who orchestrated the persecution of Falun Gong and is being sued in many countries around the world. The honourary doctorate was suggested by Lee Kuan Yew who visited China three weeks ago. Lee was warmly greeted by Jiang's people, Zeng Qinghong and Li Lanqing. Li Lanqing was making publicity for Lee Kuan Yew's new book.
According to Singaporean practitioners, whenever higher officials of Singapore and China get together, they suddenly target and pressure practitioners. A typical case occurred in April 2004. Because two officials had very close relations, Ms. Cheng Lu Jin and Huang Caihua were unreasonably sued by the Singapore police.
Finally, Ms. Nie Ge said she just asked lawyer DuoDeWeiEr to take her case. The lawyer wrote to the executive secretary of the Singapore Department of Human Resources, Mr. Leo Yip Seng Cheong today.
He asked for an explanation, and for a one-month extension so that he could take care of the case. Ms. Nie believes the extension will be permitted.
The following are related government personnel:
(Singapore government official website: http://www.sgdi.gov.sg )
NG Eng Hen (Huang Yonghong)
Director of Singapore Department of Human Resources
Tel:+65-63171613
Email:[email protected]
GAN Kim Yong
Deputy Director of Singapore Department of Human Resources
Tel:+65-63171601
Email: [email protected]
Leo YIP Seng Cheong
Executive secretary of Singapore Department of Human Resources
Tel:+65-63171688
Email: [email protected]
Eric TAN Chong Sian
Director of Singapore Immigration Bureau
Tel:+65-63916001
Email: [email protected]
WONG Kan Seng (Huang Gencheng)
Singapore Vice President and Minister of Internal Affairs
Tel:+65-64786000
Email:[email protected]
LEE Kuan Yew (Li Guangyao)
Singapore Senior Politician
Tel:+65-67375133
Email:[email protected]
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