Nordin bin Montong erratic behavior due to stress?

Nordin bin Montong from Kampung Sambir, Kuching, Sarawak who succumbed to his injuries due to mauling by three white tigers at the Singapore Zoo was alleged to have an erratic behavior before the incident.

Could it be his erratic behavior (sign of suicide) is caused by his poor living conditions in Singapore or was he short-changed by his employer? There are reported cases of contract workers from Sarawak who were cheated by recruitment companies who bring them to Singapore with a promise of high pay but end up not getting their pay, improper living condition and so on ?

Your Ad Here

From Bernama

VICTIM OF TIGER ATTACK SAVING MONEY FOR WEDDING

KUCHING, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Contract worker Nordin Montong, who was killed after being mauled by three white tigers at the Singapore zoo on Thursday, had telephoned his family in Sarawak a day earlier to ask about his parents' condition.
ADVERTISEMENT

His eldest sister, Nora, 34, said her brother last contacted the family on Wednesday, during which he also mentioned about wanting to return home in February next year after saving enough money to marry his girl friend.

She said Nordin, 32, the second of six siblings, went to Singapore to work as a contract worker in June after reading a job advertisement in the newspapers.

"There was nothing unusual with him when he called, except to ask about our parent's condition," she said when met at her house at Kampung Tabuan here today.

Nordin's body arrived at the MasKargo terminal of the Kuching International Airport at about 3pm.

His father, Monton Sahom, 54, and mother, Baduyah Ahad, 50, as well as close relatives were at the airport to receive the body, which would be buried at the Muslim cemetery at Kampung Sambir here later today.

Nordin was attacked by the tigers after he allegedly jumped into the moat at the white tiger exhibit at the zoo at about 12.15pm.

--------------------------------
From TheStar

Zoo cleaner behaved erratically

SINGAPORE: Nordin Montong, a 32-year-old cleaner from Sarawak, had behaved erratically shortly before the tiger attack on Thursday afternoon which killed him.

He was seen shouting and flinging items about. He later vaulted a low wall and landed in a moat in the enclosure, four metres below.

Carrying a yellow pail and a broom, he then crossed the 1.75 metres-deep moat, walked up a rocky ledge near where three white tigers were and began provoking them by swinging the broom.

One of the tigers then swiped at Nordin, to the horror of the gawking and frightened crowd at the enclosure. Some even assumed it was part of the zoo show, until the huge cat started sinking its teeth into the back of the cleaner’s neck and tossed him around repeatedly like a ragdoll.

They mauled him with their huge paws for about two minutes, as the crowd screamed and cringed in horror.

Blood could be seen oozing from Nordin’s back. The cleaner struggled and thrashed his legs about and became still about five minutes later.

More than a dozen zookeepers went to Nordin’s rescue. They managed to distract the big cats and shooed them back into their den.

The Singapore Zoo had stepped up patrols on its grounds.

It had also asked its zookeepers, staff and visitors to be alert about erratic and abnormal behaviour in the animals, and to report this immediately.

The three white tigers also appeared to be “stressed out” by the incident, said Mr Biswajit Guha, assistant director of the Zoo.

“Their ears are perked up and their breathing are quicker than normal. We are trying to keep their routine as normal as possible to help calm them.

“The tigers are being kept inside their den, behind the enclosure and away from public view,” he told The Straits Times. As a precautionary measure, the zoo has temporarily closed the White Tiger exhibit.

Meanwhile, the contractor who employed the cleaner said yesterday it would pay for the cleaner’s embalming and transportation to send his body back to his family in Kuching. Undertaker Roland Tay told The Straits Times, he would donate the payment from the contractor to Nordin’s family.

He said the body would be flown to Sarawak today.

Zookeepers interviewed by The Straits Times yesterday said Nordin looked troubled on Thursday morning and was not his “normal friendly” self.

A fellow cleaner, Clement Ijau, 27, also from Sarawak, who lived in the same workers’ quarters as Nordin in Serangoon, said he looked upset early on Thursday and ignored the other workers in the quarters. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

---------------------------------

From Bernama

AGENCIES RECRUITING SARAWAK WORKERS TO BE PUT INDER THE MICROSCOPE

MIRI, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Employment agencies recruiting workers from Sarawak to work in Singapore will be monitored more closely following a spate of complaints that they are shortchanging recruits.

Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Noraini Ahmad said from September to December last year the ministry received 170 complaints while from January to September this year the number of complaints stood at 374.

Speaking to reporters after opening the Sarawak-level Job Fair 2008 here today, she said these were genuine complaints.

The complaints mostly involved salaries paid were not as promised, terms of employment differing from what was stipulated in their contracts and poor living conditions, she said, adding that the close monitoring would also be extended the ministry's Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX) at www.jobsmalaysia.gov.my. to prevent abuse.

-- BERNAMA