WHEN Mr Benjamin Wong tried to renew his taxi licence in August this year, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) wouldn't do it.
The reason: The 67-year-old had recently been in jail for a serious offence.
Since then, Mr Wong has been appealing through various welfare agencies and his Member of Parliament, and even to the Transport Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, but the authorities are standing firm.
He has not been able to find work for the past three months, although he has gone for five job interviews, he said.
He has also attended courses to improve his chances of getting a job.
Now, he's desperate.
The shelter where he is staying may soon evict him.
He said it was because he had not paid them for the past three months, but the shelter said it was because he had threatened its caretaker.
Said Mr Wong: 'My savings are running dry. Soon, I may end up on the streets.'
Threatened with weapon
Mr Wong's troubles began in July last year, when he was jailed four months for criminal intimidation, after threatening his girlfriend's son with a cleaver.
His wife left him in 1989 and she lives with their son and daughter, now in their 30s. He is no longer in touch with them.
For the next 18 years, Mr Wong lived with another woman, but he couldn't get along with her son, now 28.
The tumultuous relationship came to a head last year when the son tried to chase him out of their home.
The two men argued, then brawled, and the police were called in.
Mr Wong was arrested and charged.
While in jail, he received a letter from his girlfriend, a copy of which was shown to The New Paper, telling him that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with him.
When he was released from prison, he returned to their four-room flat in Simei and found that mother and son had moved, leaving no contact details.
That day in October last year, he said he slept on a pavement in Marine Parade with only $28 in his pocket.
He claimed: 'All my belongings and money had been left in the house, and everything had been taken away.'
He said he went to friends the next day looking for shelter and money, but was turned away.
Desperate, he went to the welfare group for ex-convicts, the Singapore After-Care Association, which referred him to a halfway house in Geylang for recovering drug addicts.
He was later referred to the New Hope Shelter for Men, where he is still staying.
The shelter, set up in 2004 in a double-storey bungalow in Sembawang, is the only one here that provides homeless men with a temporary home.
Mr Wong has, since 1998, been an undischarged bankrupt after he lost money investing heavily in shares and ran into debt.
Since then, he has worked in various sales jobs. He worked as a taxi driver for about five years until he was convicted.
He drove a cab again after he got out of jail, earning between $1,000 and $2,000 every month and managing to save some of it.
But the LTA sent a letter to his old address in Simei in May this year, telling him he 'no longer met the requirements to hold a vocational licence'.
He claims he didn't receive the letter.
It wasn't until early August, when he tried to have his licence renewed, that he was told the bad news.
On 6 Aug, a case manager from the New Hope Shelter wrote an appeal letter to the LTA.
Mr Wong also appealed through Mr K Shanmugam, MP for Sembawang GRC.
But on 26 Aug, he received a reply from LTA stating that his licence would still be revoked.
The letter stated that 'one of the requirements for the issuance of a vocational licence is that the applicant must not have adverse records'.
It continued: 'Those already issued with a vocational licence are also required to maintain good records. This is as we need to assure commuters of some measure of security each time they board a public service vehicle.'
Mr Wong sent an e-mail to the Yellow Ribbon Project secretariat on 29 Aug and got a reply that they would look into his request.
The Yellow Ribbon Project is an initiative to integrate former offenders back into society.
He wrote to Transport Minister Raymond Lim on 1 Sep.
He also sent an appeal through a pastor at Elim Church Assembly of God, and even wrote to the Prime Minister's Office on 21 Oct.
The last reply from LTA came on 29 Oct, which said that while it empathised with his situation, it could not reinstate his taxi licence.
LTA's 2010 offer
The LTA said it would consider a fresh application from Mr Wong after August 2010, provided he maintained a clean record till then.
Said Mr Wong: 'If I wait till then, I'll be 69. That leaves me only three more years until I'm 72 and can no longer drive a taxi.'
He said he has tried to get jobs in house-moving, delivery and sales since August, but has been unsuccessful.
Said Mr Wong, who has primary school education: 'At my age, it's hard. I'm not strong enough to do hard manual labour, and not qualified to be employed in management positions. I'm stuck in a rut.'
He also has high blood pressure and diabetes and said he was suspected to have prostate cancer last May.
He is due to go for further tests at Changi General Hospital to confirm the diagnosis, but has not gone for check-ups since.
Said Mr Wong: 'I don't see the point of going for check-ups and treatment. My life is already in such a mess.'
Earlier this month, hoping to boost his chances of getting a job, he attended three courses at the NTUC learning hub, where he learnt simple office skills.
He claims he is down to his last $500.
He still owes the taxi company, Premier Taxis, about $2,000 in damages to the vehicle when he got into a minor accident earlier this year.
He also owes the New Hope shelter three months of fees - close to $700.
Said Mr Wong: 'I'm at my wits' end. Where am I to go now? I have no family to turn to, and friends can only help me temporarily. What do I do now?'
http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/Drivers/Story/A1Story20081127-103914.html