SINGAPORE: Official records once showed Ruzaidie Dar Surnik’s home to be where five migrant workers resided, only it wasn’t true.
He discovered this falsehood by chance, through a fellow member of a parents’ support group who had had the same misfortune.
Ruzaidie reported his case to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and said it took about three weeks for things to be rectified.
When he posted about his experience on Facebook in April 2019, he received feedback from others who said, “Me too.”
That year, the MOM’s Foreign Worker Tenant Enquiry Service (FWTES) began allowing home owners to check the details of migrant workers registered as residing in their public flat or private residence.
It seems that the problem has not let up.
Since 2020, the MOM has stepped up inspections and discovered around 1,000 cases each year involving the false declaration of residential addresses as housing addresses for migrant workers, the ministry told the programme Talking Point.
It has also taken enforcement action against more than 2,000 errant employers since 2020.
Offenders may face fines of up to S$20,000 and/or up to 24 months in jail for each false declaration, in addition to being barred from hiring migrant workers.
WATCH: How your home address could be leaked — who knows where you live? (22:28)