This image went viral about a week back:

Foreign workers, primarily foreign domestic workers, were seen queuing up outside Lucky Plaza to remit money back to their home countries.

No one has broken any laws since remitting money is considered essential.

But it’s not recommended, and the authorities have stepped in with a solution.

MOM: Domestic Workers Should Stay Home During Rest Days

For a start, MOM released yet another reminder, reminding foreign domestic workers that just like Ah Hock and Ah Lian, they should stay home even during their rest days during Phase One, and can only leave the house to run essential errands like buying food.

They’ve spotted three areas with many domestic workers: City Plaza, Lucky Plaza and Peninsular Plaza.

But suffice to say, a “reminder” isn’t a solution, so a new rule is now implemented.

Queue No More

From yesterday (13 June) onwards, foreign domestic workers cannot anyhowly just head down to those hotspots mentioned above to remit money.

Instead, they’d have to make an appointment on the phone or online.

This will only apply on weekends and public holidays.

The goal is to ensure that there is no crowding in these areas.

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MOM said, “Customers, including FDWs, who wish to remit money should obtain an appointment before leaving the residence to travel to these hotspots.”

Lest you’ve skimmed through the earlier part of this article, here are the hotspots:

• City Plaza
• Lucky Plaza
• Peninsular Plaza

This will be done in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) since they regulate the remittance agencies.

Web-Based Software to be Rolled Out

But not all remittance agencies have a system to allow people to book an appointment online, you say.

Fret not; the Remittance Association Singapore is now working on a web-based software for them to take appointments online.

So this is a long-term solution, and not just one to curb the crowd during Phase One.

A Sudden Spike Due to Phase One?

According to some agencies in the areas, last weekend was packed with many foreign workers as they saw a spike in transactions. And of course, images like those weren’t seen during the Circuit Breaker period.

That means the influx last week could be due to “backlogs” of customers who didn’t head over during the Circuit Breaker period.

But like a wise man once said, “Circuit Breaker and Phase One, what’s the difference?”

So technically speaking, the workers could’ve done the remittance even during the Circuit Breaker period because there’s no change in this arrangement.

Reader Bao: But this happened on 31 May 2020:

Oh. ORD mood, perhaps?

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