a2 topofthenews a3 fingerprinting of s’pore artist...

By AMELIA TENG

TRAVELLERS on six flights fromthe Middle East had their temper-atures screened yesterday atChangi Airport, as Singaporestepped up precautions againstthe Middle East respiratory syn-drome (Mers).

The Straits Times under-stands that more than 1,200 pas-sengers, who arrived from Du-bai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, walkedpast thermal scanners located atthe aerobridge.

The flights the passengerswere on belonged to three carri-ers – Emirates, Etihad Airwaysand Qatar Airways. The firstlanded yesterday at nearly 2pm,and the last touched down after10pm.

The Straits Times under-stands that, as of press time, noone on the first five flights waspulled aside for further checks.

Yesterday marked the start ofSingapore’s temperature screen-ing for air travellers fromMers-affected Middle East coun-tries, including the worst-hitSaudi Arabia, which has reportedfive new deaths from Mers, bring-ing the death toll to 168 as of Sat-

urday. Changi Airport receivessome 50,000 travellers from theMiddle East every month.

The screening is a pre-emp-tive measure to help detect trav-ellers who might have caughtMers.

No cases of the virus havebeen found here yet. Since thestart of this year, there havebeen 48 suspected Mers caseshere, but all tested negative.

Mrs Jacqueline Lim, 29, whowas on the first flight from Dohayesterday, said it is good that theauthorities have stepped uppre-emptive efforts.

“You never know how the dis-ease can spread, so it’s better tobe safe than sorry,” said the ac-count manager.

Doctors stationed at ChangiAirport will recheck the tempera-

tures of travellers from Mers-af-fected countries if they feel fever-ish. If Mers is suspected, the trav-ellers will be taken to Tan TockSeng Hospital or KK Women’sand Children’s Hospital for moretests.

The Ministry of Health will al-so follow up with daily phonecalls to the affected passengersto check on their condition. If itworsens, they will be asked tosee a doctor.

Considered a deadlier but lesstransmissible cousin of the Sarsvirus, Mers was first detected inSaudi Arabia in 2012.

The virus, which has no cureso far, appears to cause a lung in-fection, with patients having dif-ficulty breathing, coughing anddeveloping a high temperature.

ateng@sph.com.sg

By LI XUEYINGHONG KONG CORRESPONDENT

and HUANG LIJIEARTS CORRESPONDENT

HONG Kong police are investigat-ing how Singapore performance art-ist Lee Wen ended up injured in auniversity toilet here on Saturdayevening.

The bizarre episode, which hasled to speculation that he was as-saulted for comments critical ofChina, has baffled many people, in-cluding the artist himself.

Speaking to The Straits Timesyesterday at the Eastern Hospitalin Chai Wan before being dis-charged, Mr Lee – his face bruisedand his T-shirt bloodied – has norecollection of what happened.

At around 6.15pm, he went to atoilet at the City University of

Hong Kong. After relieving him-self, he “suddenly blacked out”.

When he came to shortly before7pm, he found himself on the floorwith bloodied bumps on his fore-head, a bruised left eye and cuts onhis left cheek.

“I was in pain; there was bloodon the floor,” he recounted.

The 57-year-old stressed that hedid not see any would-be assailantor feel any blow. “I do not claim tohave been assaulted, although Ihave (certain theories) goingthrough my mind,” he said.

He has no history of suddenfainting spells. Despite sufferingfrom Parkinson’s disease the pastfive years, he has “never fainted be-fore except for when I drank in thepast – six, seven years ago”.

The police, responding to que-ries, say the case, originally classi-fied as “alleged assault”, has beenreclassified as “request for policeinvestigation” after they ques-tioned Mr Lee. A source says the po-lice will begin their probe today bychecking cameras on the campusand interviewing witnesses.

Mr Lee, a highly regarded artistwho was awarded the Cultural Me-dallion in 2005, is known for cham-pioning the causes of those whohave suffered under oppression andcensorship, said curator JohleenLoh.

Appearing in good spirits yester-day, Mr Lee said he had attendedan arts forum at the university atthe last minute. Towards the end,he stood up to share his views andalso spoke of “a friend who createda performance art piece in the priva-cy of his home and thus has not bro-

ken the law”. But, he added, “thepolice have now broken the law,punishing people in a way that is il-legal”.

While he did not name the per-son, it was taken by the 20-plusparticipants to refer to Beijing art-ist Chen Guang, recently detainedafter performing a piece in memoryof the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen inci-dent. Chinese authorities havebeen rounding up mainland academ-ics and journalists ahead of its 25thanniversary.

Within Hong Kong, Saturday’sincident came in the wake of acleaver attack on a former newspa-per editor to warn him against,many believe, investigative reportsthat displeased Beijing.

But artist Jeremy Sharma, 37,who was at the forum, said Mr Lee“was applauded, and no oneseemed offended”.

With question marks over the ep-isode, Mr Lee said simply whenasked about possible perceptionsthat it could have been staged toraise awareness about his friend’splight or as performance art:“There is no integrity in that.”

The Singapore arts communityyesterday condemned what hap-pened. Said writer-photographer Ja-son Wee, 35: “Lee Wen is short,thin, wears glasses and has Parkin-son’s. Whatever opinions he mayhold, assaulting him in the toiletwhere he was found is like pickingon the smallest boy in class whenhis pants are down. There is no hon-our or justice in that.”

Mr Lee was absent yesterdayfrom the Art Basel Show where heis exhibiting. At its conclusion, hehad eight works sold. He returns toSingapore today with his galleristHelina Chan.

xueying@sph.com.sglijie@sph.com.sg

Police probe case; some speculate hewas targeted for anti-China remarks

A FOREIGN workers advocacygroup backed by the labour move-ment wants to make it compulso-ry for firms to pay foreign work-ers through Giro.

This came after it saw a jumpin foreign workers seeking helpwith pay disputes last year.

The Migrant Workers Centre(MWC) said that besides issuingpay slips to foreign work permitholders – which will be madecompulsory by 2016 – employersshould also pay salaries directly

into the bank accounts of work-ers.

“This will ensure that salariesare paid on time and cut downdisputes,” said MWC chairmanYeo Guat Kwang at an event forforeign workers yesterday.

Some 2,000 foreign workerssought help from MWC for sala-ry disputes last year, up fromfewer than 1,200 in 2012.

Pay disputes made up morethan 60 per cent of the cases thegroup handled in both years.

But Mr Yeo, who is NationalTrades Union Congress (NTUC)assistant secretary-general, wasquick to point out that the rise incases does not necessarily meanthat more firms are defaulting onsalary payments.

“It could be that workers aremore aware of their rights andcame to the MWC for help,” saidthe Member of Parliament forAng Mo Kio GRC.

There are more than 770,000work permit holders in Singa-

pore, excluding domestic maids.The MWC is not the first to

call for foreign workers to bepaid electronically.

The NTUC lobbied for it un-successfully when the Employ-ment of Foreign Manpower Act,which regulates the hiring of for-eign workers, was amended inSeptember 2012.

The law currently requiresemployers to maintain monthlysalary records of foreign work-ers. They also have to pay wages

through bank transfers – if for-eign workers request them.

The MWC does not have anestimate of how many firms orforeign workers are paidthrough Giro, said Mr Yeo.

Mr Kurt Wee, president ofthe Association of Small and Me-dium Enterprises, said thatfirms and workers should havesome flexibility over how sala-ries are paid.

“Some workers prefer cashwhich they can immediately re-

mit home,” he said.“Also the banks may not be

able to cope with a surge in for-eign workers who need bank ser-vices,” Mr Wee added.

Yesterday, the MWC held aMay Day event for foreign work-ers with free movie screeningsat cinemas, dormitories and theforeign workers recreation cen-tre in Soon Lee Road.

It booked six halls at the Ca-thay Cineplex in Dhoby Ghautto show The Amazing Spi-

der-Man 2 and Godzilla.Ship painter Mani Iyyapnan,

31, who earns about $600 amonth, came here from Indianine years ago.

He had not seen a movie at acinema for about four years. “Itis expensive,” he said.

Yesterday, he watched theSpider-Man film with twofriends. “Should do more movie(screenings) on Sunday,” hesaid.TOH YONG CHUAN

By TOH YONG CHUAN

SINGAPORE may soon join asmall number of countries world-wide that ask visitors to havetheir fingerprints taken when theyarrive.

The immigration authoritiesare considering setting up self-ser-vice kiosks to capture the finger-prints of foreigners arriving atChangi Airport’s new Terminal 4when it opens in 2017.

The move will speed up immi-gration clearance and strengthenborder security, according to theImmigration and Checkpoints Au-thority’s (ICA) new operationalplan, which The Straits Times ob-tained last week.

When contacted, the ICA con-firmed the move, saying it “con-stantly reviews and refines” itsprocesses to use technology tomake immigration clearance fast-er and more efficient.

At least three countries scanthe fingerprints of visitors: theUnited States started doing so in2004 after the Sept 11 terror at-tacks of 2001.

Japan introduced fingerprintscans in 2007 and South Korea in2012.

The ICA plan did not say howmuch the kiosks will cost or whe-ther they would be implementedat other airport terminals or landcheckpoints.

To prepare for the move, it ap-proached contractors last week to

retrofit an existing airport immi-gration counter for a trial.

Under the ICA plan, foreignersarriving at the new airport termi-nal will need to scan their complet-ed immigration cards and finger-prints at self-service kiosks assoon as they arrive.

They then present their pass-ports to immigration officers forchecks.

Besides fingerprinting, foreign-ers could also have their photostaken or irises scanned at the ki-osks.

Security expert Rohan Gu-naratna supports the move to usefingerprints and other biometricsto cut down the use of stolen andforged passports or those thathave been tampered with.

“In order for biometric technol-ogy to be effective, each travellermust be scanned every time he en-

ters or exits the country,” said theprofessor of security studies atthe S. Rajaratnam School of Inter-national Studies at Nanyang Tech-nological University.

Others, however, warned thatit is important to ensure the newsystem works well and leads toshorter, and not longer, waits forvisitors to Singapore.

The founder of local customerservice consultancy Wow! Acade-my, Mr Bentley Williams, said thesystem has to be fast and effi-cient, and staff should be de-ployed to help foreigners whohave problems at the self-servicekiosks.

Member of Parliament EdwinTong, deputy chairman of the Gov-ernment Parliamentary Commit-tee for Law and Home Affairs,said what was crucial was the “ef-ficiency of the bio-scanners”.

He said: “If there is a glitch inthe system, there could be a signif-icant hold-up and this would af-fect Changi’s reputation as an ul-tra-efficient airport.”

tohyc@sph.com.sg

S’pore artist wakesup injured after‘blacking out’ in HK

Screeningfor Mersat ChangiAirportbegins

Passengers arriving from Doha walking past a thermal scanner at anaerobridge in Changi Airport yesterday. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Group to bosses:Pay foreignworkersthrough Giro

Mr Lee Wen in hospital in Hong Kong.He was discharged yesterday.PHOTO: COURTESY OF HELINA CHAN

Move will speed up immigrationclearance, boost border security: ICA

Fingerprinting offoreign visitorsmay start in 2017

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