One Protest at Raffles Place is more Effective than a Hundred Protests at Hong Lim Park

Kudos to Madam Lim Kim Keow, the retiree who did a solo protest outside the DBS office at Raffles Place. She did something that even Chee Soon Juan could never achieve.

She protested outside of Hong Lim Park without getting arrested by the police.

She also managed to get a manager to attend to her. You don't see any managers attending to the retirees at Hong Lim Park.

I hope her protest is not a one off anomaly but the beginning of a new tactic to shame DBS.

This is a new chapter in the political development of Singapore.

No longer are protests limited to the 'educated' clamouring for 'abstract' concepts like greater political freedom. It has now spread to the lower middle-class fighting for their very own survival.

Madam Lim is old and she needs her money for her cancer treatment. If she doesn't get it back, she would have no means to live. She is fighting for her very life.

24 December 2008 Newpaper

HER plight had already been reported in the press, but she decided to take it one step further.

Yesterday, the elderly woman with crutches took to the streets.

Wearing a home-made cardboard sign, she stood outside exit A of the bustling Raffles Place MRT station.

Written on the front of the cardboard were these words: 'DBS return my medical fee. Use my retire funds to buy high-risk products. Is this mis-selling?'

There was something similar in Chinese.

On the back, it said: 'Seek approval from Fidrec to allow Chinese-educated student in using Mandarin in their application and fight.'

Fidrec is the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre. Those with complaints against banks can approach it for adjudication.

Madam Lim Kim Keow, a retiree, staged the solo protest at noon yesterday.

People walked past, glancing at her sign. Some whipped out their handphones to take photographs.

Others listened as she told her story.

The New Paper had reported on 21 Oct that the 54-year-old had lost $30,000 after investing in DBS High Notes 5, a structured product linked to the collapsed Lehman Brothers Bank.

She had also spoken of a life-threatening 7.2cm tumour removed from her right calf in July - an operation that cost her nearly $20,000.

Her husband, who was an oil rig engineer, had left his job to look after her.

And this month, she said she discovered another lump under her left armpit, which doctors suspected to be malignant.

She said she needed crutches after she stopped radiotherapy treatment.

DBS had arranged three meetings with her to discuss compensation for her investment in High Notes 5. The last one was held on 17 Nov.

Last Wednesday, DBS issued her a letter saying it found no evidence to substantiate her complaint and was 'unable to accede' to her request for compensation.

Madam Lim said she feels cheated.

She said: 'A relationship manager at DBS assured me that the product was low-risk, and that I could use my retirement fund to invest in it.

'But now I've lost a huge sum of money and have so little left in my fund for medical fees. My husband is retired too, so we have no new income coming in. Yet, they still won't give me any compensation.'

She said she chose Raffles Place, as it was filled with financial institutions and people who would understand her plight.

She claimed she was not aware of the Speakers Corner at Hong Lim Park where public protests can be held, and felt she was not creating any trouble for others.

'I'm not dangerous anyway. I'm only one person, just standing around so people can read my sign,' she said.

Madam Lim was upset with Fidrec. She claimed it had told her that it was unable to assist Mandarin-speakers when she called to file a complaint.

Fidrec's spokesman, however, said this was not the case. (See report on facing page.)

After lingering outside the MRT station for an hour, Madam Lim slowly made her way to the nearest DBS branch.

She hobbled into the bank and waited in line for the service counter, still wearing her sign.

She was ushered by a DBS staff member to a seat, where she waited for an hour before the branch manager and communications staff arrived to speak to her.

After the brief meeting, Madam Lim told The New Paper: 'DBS said it would look at my case again and respond to me in February next year. It also told me not to protest any more.'

She said that she was satisfied for now and would await their reply.

A DBS spokesman confirmed that the bank would review Madam Lim's case and give her a response next year.