The abuse video obtained by The New Paper has opened up a new set of issues at the zoo that should be closely looked at.
Although we received the video weeks ago, the real difficulty came in getting workers to talk to us about the video incident and allegations of abuse.
It was clear that they were afraid, even to take five minutes away from work, to speak to our reporters.
One worker told us he was warned after he was spotted speaking to our reporter.
After work each day, they are taken back to their living quarters.
So if they have a complaint, how do they tell someone independent about it?
Some obviously tried to raise the alarm about the abuse, based on the circulation of the video and the fact that some employees of Wildlife Reserves Singapore knew what was going on.
Audited and fined
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) conducted an audit of the company last December and subsequently fined it for failing to provide statutory benefits to its employees.
It discovered that workers were given only two rest days a month, instead of one rest day per week as required under the law.
Worse, some were found to have been working beyond 72 hours of overtime a month.
But what happened after the company and director paid the $9,600 meted out in fines is not clear.
Did the company stop its bad practices?
Are workers getting the rest the law says they should?
Are they being paid what they were promised?
Our calls to cleaning contractor Sun City for responses to these questions have gone unanswered.
By staying mum, and with the workers afraid to say anything, will it take another MOM audit to get to the bottom of the matter.
Let's hope, for the sake of the workers, that the video incident is an isolated case of abuse.
And what about the zoo?
It now knows that some of its staff are aware of abuses.
Should it continue to look the other way, claiming that contract workers are the responsibility of the company that hires them?
Surely not.
This article was first published in The New Paper on 2 Dec 2008.
