Oh's Farms, by Jane Lee

This is one of the saddest day in my life, I was fighting back my tears when I was leaving the farm. Our farmer supplier & importer is ceasing their operation at end of this month, it has nothing to do with Covid. SLA is taking back their land to build houses. I have been working with Mr. Oh for the past 6 years, though we been poached by many suppliers over the years but I never once consider working with others because Mr. Oh is a very down to earth businessman with high integrity. Over the years, he has been keeping our veggies price low, top notch service. At times, we were short of veggies in the very last minute, he will deliver them personally so to meet our demand.

Today, when I saw Mr. Oh, he lost a substantial amount of weight. He told me during this CB, he and his team ( mostly are family members & a few foreign workers) work insanely hard to meet the demand of the locals cos many been panic buying. He was up as early as 3am to start work and end work till late night. He wasn’t complaining, in fact he feels it’s a privilege to be able to serve the nation during tough times like this. Besides for working hard, he is actually very troubled by the reinstatement cost* which will cost him near half a mil quoted by a few contractors. Farming is a tough business especially in Singapore, land & manpower is so expensive. He told me he doesn’t have the money to carry out the reinstatement, he did saved up a sum of money to make good so to meet the government requirements but certainly not half a mil kind of amount. He simply can’t afford it. He had many sleepless nights. I feel so so much for him, I told him I will help to write in to SLA for more feasible solutions.

I actually jokingly told him, just shut the door and leave la, is a Pte Ltd, what can the gahmen do. Guess what was his reply? In his own words : ”不可以啦，待会我公公来找我，我可以死，这个一传三代的名字可不能坏”...

Mr. Oh, You Are The Man, you have my full RESPECT

I reproduced the post above from my Facebook Feed. It is written by a lady called, Jane Lee.

As a gardener, I do have fleeting acquaintance with these farmers. This is not the first time I hear of how uncaring people from SLA are. The farming and horticulture industry does not have high margins. The businesses are nothing like Facebook or Twitter, where money is earned with a few clicks of buttons. Inasmuch as the government wishes to encourage high tech agriculture, it should also be mindful that the existing businesses need help to make that transition.

I have a very soft spot for Oh's Farms.

I go in there very often to buy pesticide free vegetables and button mushrooms. I had instant chemistry with the ladies at the vegetable packing centre, when they passed me a receipt on recycled paper, mumbling that they are a stingy family. I stared at her, with round eyes, and said, "Stingy is good. Stingy people live honest lives, and thrive. In a country where farms are discouraged, only the best farmers are still in business. I love stingy folks!"

It pains my heart to see that despite their frugal ways and sincere contributions, they are now caught in a bind. They simply do not have the SGD$500,000 needed to reinstate the land. Does the government think that these farmers are the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world? Or does the government think that these farmers are investment bankers and top lawyers?

In the past decade, Singapore has become a tough place for small businesses. There are rules and regulations aplenty. Rentals are high. Rental agreements are so one-sided that they are close to exploitative. The contracts weigh heavily in favour of the landlord. Individual tenants have no power to negotiate.

This is a country where the strong can exploit the weak in the guise of looking after their own interests. Even folks from SLA are said to shrug and say, "You just have to find the money to move your operations out and return the land."

This is not governing, you know. This is standing by to watch legal injustice hurt citizens.

If balance is not brought back, we will really begin to look like a feudal system where serfs work their butts off to pay rent to Lords of the Manor (i.e., the REITS or the government).