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By AMELIA TENG TRAVELLERS on six flights from the Middle East had their temper- atures screened yesterday at Changi Airport, as Singapore stepped up precautions against the 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, walked past thermal scanners located at the aerobridge. The flights the passengers were on belonged to three carri- ers – Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. The first landed yesterday at nearly 2pm, and the last touched down after 10pm. The Straits Times under- stands that, as of press time, no one on the first five flights was pulled aside for further checks. Yesterday marked the start of Singapore’s temperature screen- ing for air travellers from Mers-affected Middle East coun- tries, including the worst-hit Saudi Arabia, which has reported five new deaths from Mers, bring- ing the death toll to 168 as of Sat- urday. Changi Airport receives some 50,000 travellers from the Middle East every month. The screening is a pre-emp- tive measure to help detect trav- ellers who might have caught Mers. No cases of the virus have been found here yet. Since the start of this year, there have been 48 suspected Mers cases here, but all tested negative. Mrs Jacqueline Lim, 29, who was on the first flight from Doha yesterday, said it is good that the authorities have stepped up pre-emptive efforts. “You never know how the dis- ease can spread, so it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said the ac- count manager. Doctors stationed at Changi Airport 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 Tock Seng Hospital or KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital for more tests. The Ministry of Health will al- so follow up with daily phone calls to the affected passengers to check on their condition. If it worsens, they will be asked to see a doctor. Considered a deadlier but less transmissible cousin of the Sars virus, Mers was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The virus, which has no cure so far, appears to cause a lung in- fection, with patients having dif- ficulty breathing, coughing and developing a high temperature. [email protected] By LI XUEYING HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT and HUANG LIJIE ARTS CORRESPONDENT HONG Kong police are investigat- ing how Singapore performance art- ist Lee Wen ended up injured in a university toilet here on Saturday evening. The bizarre episode, which has led to speculation that he was as- saulted for comments critical of China, has baffled many people, in- cluding the artist himself. Speaking to The Straits Times yesterday at the Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan before being dis- charged, Mr Lee – his face bruised and his T-shirt bloodied – has no recollection of what happened. At around 6.15pm, he went to a toilet at the City University of Hong Kong. After relieving him- self, he “suddenly blacked out”. When he came to shortly before 7pm, he found himself on the floor with bloodied bumps on his fore- head, a bruised left eye and cuts on his left cheek. “I was in pain; there was blood on the floor,” he recounted. The 57-year-old stressed that he did not see any would-be assailant or feel any blow. “I do not claim to have been assaulted, although I have (certain theories) going through my mind,” he said. He has no history of sudden fainting spells. Despite suffering from Parkinson’s disease the past five years, he has “never fainted be- fore except for when I drank in the past – six, seven years ago”. The police, responding to que- ries, say the case, originally classi- fied as “alleged assault”, has been reclassified as “request for police investigation” after they ques- tioned Mr Lee. A source says the po- lice will begin their probe today by checking cameras on the campus and interviewing witnesses. Mr Lee, a highly regarded artist who was awarded the Cultural Me- dallion in 2005, is known for cham- pioning the causes of those who have suffered under oppression and censorship, said curator Johleen Loh. Appearing in good spirits yester- day, Mr Lee said he had attended an arts forum at the university at the last minute. Towards the end, he stood up to share his views and also spoke of “a friend who created a performance art piece in the priva- cy of his home and thus has not bro- ken the law”. But, he added, “the police 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-plus participants to refer to Beijing art- ist Chen Guang, recently detained after performing a piece in memory of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen inci- dent. Chinese authorities have been rounding up mainland academ- ics and journalists ahead of its 25th anniversary. Within Hong Kong, Saturday’s incident came in the wake of a cleaver attack on a former newspa- per editor to warn him against, many believe, investigative reports that displeased Beijing. But artist Jeremy Sharma, 37, who was at the forum, said Mr Lee “was applauded, and no one seemed offended”. With question marks over the ep- isode, Mr Lee said simply when asked about possible perceptions that it could have been staged to raise awareness about his friend’s plight or as performance art: “There is no integrity in that.” The Singapore arts community yesterday 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 may hold, assaulting him in the toilet where he was found is like picking on the smallest boy in class when his pants are down. There is no hon- our or justice in that.” Mr Lee was absent yesterday from the Art Basel Show where he is exhibiting. At its conclusion, he had eight works sold. He returns to Singapore today with his gallerist Helina Chan. [email protected] [email protected] Police probe case; some speculate he was targeted for anti-China remarks A FOREIGN workers advocacy group 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 jump in foreign workers seeking help with pay disputes last year. The Migrant Workers Centre (MWC) said that besides issuing pay slips to foreign work permit holders – which will be made compulsory by 2016 – employers should also pay salaries directly into the bank accounts of work- ers. “This will ensure that salaries are paid on time and cut down disputes,” said MWC chairman Yeo Guat Kwang at an event for foreign workers yesterday. Some 2,000 foreign workers sought help from MWC for sala- ry disputes last year, up from fewer than 1,200 in 2012. Pay disputes made up more than 60 per cent of the cases the group handled in both years. But Mr Yeo, who is National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general, was quick to point out that the rise in cases does not necessarily mean that more firms are defaulting on salary payments. “It could be that workers are more aware of their rights and came to the MWC for help,” said the Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC. There are more than 770,000 work permit holders in Singa- pore, excluding domestic maids. The MWC is not the first to call for foreign workers to be paid 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 in September 2012. The law currently requires employers to maintain monthly salary 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 an estimate of how many firms or foreign workers are paid through Giro, said Mr Yeo. Mr Kurt Wee, president of the Association of Small and Me- dium Enterprises, said that firms and workers should have some flexibility over how sala- ries are paid. “Some workers prefer cash which 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 a May Day event for foreign work- ers with free movie screenings at cinemas, dormitories and the foreign workers recreation cen- tre in Soon Lee Road. It booked six halls at the Ca- thay Cineplex in Dhoby Ghaut to show The Amazing Spi- der-Man 2 and Godzilla. Ship painter Mani Iyyapnan, 31, who earns about $600 a month, came here from India nine years ago. He had not seen a movie at a cinema for about four years. “It is expensive,” he said. Yesterday, he watched the Spider-Man film with two friends. “Should do more movie (screenings) on Sunday,” he said. TOH YONG CHUAN By TOH YONG CHUAN SINGAPORE may soon join a small number of countries world- wide that ask visitors to have their fingerprints taken when they arrive. The immigration authorities are considering setting up self-ser- vice kiosks to capture the finger- prints of foreigners arriving at Changi Airport’s new Terminal 4 when it opens in 2017. The move will speed up immi- gration clearance and strengthen border security, according to the Immigration and Checkpoints Au- thority’s (ICA) new operational plan, which The Straits Times ob- tained last week. When contacted, the ICA con- firmed the move, saying it “con- stantly reviews and refines” its processes to use technology to make immigration clearance fast- er and more efficient. At least three countries scan the fingerprints of visitors: the United States started doing so in 2004 after the Sept 11 terror at- tacks of 2001. Japan introduced fingerprint scans in 2007 and South Korea in 2012. The ICA plan did not say how much the kiosks will cost or whe- ther they would be implemented at other airport terminals or land checkpoints. 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, foreigners arriving at the new airport termi- nal will need to scan their complet- ed immigration cards and finger- prints at self-service kiosks as soon as they arrive. They then present their pass- ports to immigration officers for checks. Besides fingerprinting, foreign- ers could also have their photos taken or irises scanned at the ki- osks. Security expert Rohan Gu- naratna supports the move to use fingerprints and other biometrics to cut down the use of stolen and forged passports or those that have been tampered with. “In order for biometric technol- ogy to be effective, each traveller must be scanned every time he en- ters or exits the country,” said the professor of security studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of Inter- national Studies at Nanyang Tech- nological University. Others, however, warned that it is important to ensure the new system works well and leads to shorter, and not longer, waits for visitors to Singapore. The founder of local customer service consultancy Wow! Acade- my, Mr Bentley Williams, said the system has to be fast and effi- cient, and staff should be de- ployed to help foreigners who have problems at the self-service kiosks. Member of Parliament Edwin Tong, 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 in the system, there could be a signif- icant hold-up and this would af- fect Changi’s reputation as an ul- tra-efficient airport.” [email protected] S’pore artist wakes up injured after ‘blacking out’ in HK Screening for Mers at Changi Airport begins Passengers arriving from Doha walking past a thermal scanner at an aerobridge in Changi Airport yesterday. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM Group to bosses: Pay foreign workers through Giro Mr Lee Wen in hospital in Hong Kong. He was discharged yesterday. PHOTO: COURTESY OF HELINA CHAN Move will speed up immigration clearance, boost border security: ICA Fingerprinting of foreign visitors may start in 2017 A2 T O P O F T H E N E W S MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014 MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014 T O P O F T H E N E W S A3
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