Rubénerd Blog :)

When I was in primary school in Singapore I entered into a Skippy Peanut Butter writing contest and won 800 bucks. Especially for a 12 year old kid this amount was gigantic, so the first thing I did (without my parents telling me to I might add!) was open a bank account to put it in. At the time most Singaporean banks required a minimum deposit of $1000 so I went with a POSB student account.

Now I’m 23 and I still have that account, but am thinking of moving to something else. DBS has long since owned POSB (but curiously kept the brand alive) which was convenient given my dad had a few DBS accounts, but every time I go back to Singapore I’m reminded of why I dislike them.

1. They closed their Liat Towers branch (the building next to Wheelock Place) meaning if I need to fulfil banking needs or however you’re supposed to phrase that my closest branch is Plaza Singapura which is several MRT stops away and is always packed.

2. They might be too popular, whenever there’s a series of ATMs there’s almost never anyone queuing for the UOB or OCBC ATMs but the DBS and POSB ones often have as many as 10-15 people, especially in student hotspots along Orchard like Far East Plaza and Plaza Singapura.

3. On a related note to 2, why is DBS/POSB not part of the Atm5 network which lets you use your card in a different bank’s ATM?

4. Finally, DBS on occasion supports creepy ultra conservative organisations like Focus On The Family which spread misinformation, fear and prejudice against women and the LGBT community, as I wrote about last year and followed up on here.

So now I’m left wondering which Singapore bank I’ll create an account with. I’ve heard ANZ is buying out RBS in Singapore, perhaps I’ll be able to keep my local ANZ account and use that in Singapore too. Nah probably not, there are probably charges for accessing funds in foreign currencies all the time.

Why must dealing with banks be so messy and confusing? Why can’t they pink, fuzzy and squishy?

UPDATE: I may have spoken prematurely: they may still be supporting FOTF after all. Bummer. Will be keeping an eye on this.

After no doubt responding to a deluge of complaints from a lion’s share of the Singaporean blogging community, DBS Bank seems to have backtracked on their pledge to automatically donate funds to the ultra-conservative Focus on the Family organisation whenever customers use their DBS credit cards at selected shopping centres this holiday season. If you browse to the exact page I referenced in my first post on the subject, you’ll notice that any references to FOTF have been removed from their Christmas 2008 promotion.

I suspect DBS wanted to show some goodwill, but didn’t realise what dark motives the organisation they decided to support really has. At least that’s what I would like to think.

Regardless though, this is fantastic news and I suspect a real boon for the majority of DBS Bank’s customers. I graciously applaud DBS’s decision and have decided to keep my POSB and DBS accounts. I will advise my family and friends in Singapore that it is safe to use their DBS cards after all.

Xie xie! :)

Despite approaching the 1000 post mark here and having blogged for several years, I still feel tickled pink whenever I read a positive review of something I’ve written here, or talked about on the Rubenerd Show. It’s a natural high :-).

Less than 24 hours after posting my grave concerns over the DBS Bank in Singapore supporting Focus on the Family automatically whenever one of their card holders spend a designated amount of money during the current festive season, I had my post linked to and commented on with some very warm and generous adjectives by Ovidia at the Writing-Yoga-Living blog in Singapore:

I found such a beautiful (rational, intelligent, calm) response to the DBS/FOTF mess up here that I almost feel bad for freaking out at DBS the way I did.

Her latest post about the DBS Focus on the Family is definitely worth looking into not only for the words above (ha!) but also because she takes a far more rational and probably more realistic view than I did in mine. As I wrote in my reply which I’ve posted below, I generally prefer to assume good intentions when such companies do things like this. As I said on my Google Reader profile page, I’m still young and naive enough to think there is a little good in everyone… well, almost everyone.

My overly verbose rambling reply I could probably have condensed down into a few short lines if I had the ability not to ramble for long periods of time without achieving anything of real value such as the case in this sentence you’re reading right now:

I’ve got to be honest with you, this is only one of a handful of times any of my blog posts have been referred to as, beautiful, rational, intelligent and/or calm without the words “definitely not” before them! :)

To be serious though, I really am worried about this turn of events at DBS. When my family first moved to Singapore from Australia when I was still in primary school I got my first POSB account, and since then I’ve remained a loyal customer, even though I now live half the year in Adelaide. As you rightly say, if I had known that this was the attitude DBS wished to advertise with regards to social issues I would have jumped ship a while ago too.

As a spiritual atheist coming from a family of agnostics, I just don’t feel comfortable having any of our money sent to such an organisation because as I said, they do not represent our moral values in the slightest.

I try my best whenever writing complaint letters to always assume good intentions on the recipients part, perhaps even if deep down I fear they don’t have good intentions. I’m not sure whether or not this results in any more helpful responses than if I had the guts to send a more passionate message such as you did, but I guess I tend to be a soft touch when dealing with people in the real world!

Here’s hoping DBS will give us a happy Yule for us non-Christians, and a happy Christmas for more moderate Christians who are upset that FOTF’s more radical views do not represent their own, by stopping their support for the FOTF organisation. I’m not holding my breath though unfortunately.

Cheers,
Ruben

Below is my letter to DBS Bank in Singapore regarding their latest Christmas holiday promotion which I’ll be sending when I arrive back in Singapore in early December.

Ruben Schade
16 Balmoral Park
Singapore 228519

DBS Bank
6 Shenton Way, DBS Building Tower One
Singapore 068809

To whom it may concern,

Focus on the Family DBS credit card donations

I am writing to you to voice my grave concern over your company’s pledge to donate a "sum" of money to Focus on the Family for every 300 Singapore Dollars spent with DBS cards at selected shopping centres. While your company’s stated aim of donating funds to "a charity dedicated to helping children and families thrive." is enviable and motivated by a desire to help others less fortunate, I fear it may be misguided.

Focus on the Family is a conservative Christian organisation that spreads disinformation about safe sex practices which has cost countless lives, that persecutes homosexuals and perpetrates homophobia, and that refuses the right for women to make their own choices concerning their own reproductive systems.

While Focus on the Family’s Singapore chapter does indeed help children, they do not represent the moral views held by all of your customers. I believe there are far more culturally sensitive organisations that do not just subscribe to — and represent the views of — one religion you could be presenting your donations to, particularly given the multicultural and inclusive nature of Singaporean society.

After many years as an extremely satisfied POSB and DBS customer, I will be advising my family and friends here in Singapore to use alternative forms of payment this holiday season if they choose to shop at the shopping centres designated by your promotion.

Peace, health and happiness,
Ruben Schade