Netizens sceptical about PM Lee’s promise to slow intake of foreigners
September 18th, 2009 | 
Author: From our Correspondent
Singapore netizens are reserved and sceptical about PM Lee’s promise to slow down the intake of foreigners during a speech made recently at NTU.
Over at the Straits Times discussion forum, some forumers questioned the sincerity of the Prime Minister while others called for concrete action instead of mere empty rhetoric.
Kokoobird was the first to retort:
“Are you doing it because the election is near about 1 year or less from now ? After that what happens ? - Back to the old policy ?”
Followed by Wannamen:
“Sounds like election is coming next year – a speech made to appease a growing number of unhappy Singaporeans? Maybe a tad too late.”
Refugees added:
“PM is listening, which only meant 1 thing… election is coming, better make your demands now with your MPs…”
Some wrote that they are supportive of bringing in talented foreigners, but not at the government’s faulty implementation of its open-door policy.
Misnomer wrote:
“By all means, bring in real talents – people with skills which Singaporeans lack. Let in those too, who would do jobs which locals will not. But not the in betweens, liberal granting of “S” passes. These people mostly have secondary school education, even if with a uni degree, are no better than our ITE/poly grads, but they are willing to slog for meagre wages which Singaporeans cannot survive on. Easy access to foreign workers will not goad local employers to improve their work process to be productive or to hire locals. Our chronic unemployment is on the rise, so will social problems.”
lowsukling concurred:
“There was always going to be a problem with the FT policy. The problem is there seems no way of weeding out the FNTs (Foreign No Talent), who seems mostly to have a golden rice bowl at the expense of his more hardworking local colleagues, largely due to the patronage of his boss who shares the same skin colour. This is especially prevalent in the financial sector. The government must have a mechanism of a) making sure that talented foreigners pass on skill sets, and b) that FNTs are not taking up positions at the expense of better qualified and capable locals. And dont be fooled into believing that there are no more expat packages. These FNT bums have the audacity of making Singapore sound like the hardship tour while commanding to locals’ wages.”
Karaokeking disagreed with the government’s definition of “talent”:
“It’s perfectly right to continue to attract real talents. What’s wrong is our govt’s definition of ‘talent’. The foreigners we commoners come into contact with every day are more trash than talent. And it’s this ‘mismatch’ that causes frustrations.”
While Singaporeans acknowledge the importance of recruiting talented foreigners to work in Singapore, they disagree with the government’s policy of opening the floodgates indiscriminately to semi-skilled foreigners to compete directly with locals for jobs.
A few forumers quoted examples of other countries to highlight the flaws of Singapore’s immigration policy.
Stevewu77 wrote of his personal experience in the U.S.
“Personally, I have nothing against any foreigners. I believe every Singaporean would like to be treated with civility when he/she works and lives in a foreign country. I have had a pleasant stay in the US for a decade. I would like to contrast the Singapore approach with an example from the US. The STAPLE Act calls - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize certain aliens who have earned a Ph.D. degree from a United States institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limitations on H-1B nonimmigrants”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1791
The point is that if a country really wants talent in a particular area, there is an appropriate way to do it.”
Harokitty recounted his experience in UAE:
“Me too, just returned to our motherland from the UAE. It is true, the total percentage of locals is less than 2% of the total population in Dubai. Nevertheless, the gahmen there has never loss focus of who is their main core, who will be there for their country. We, foreigners know that we are there to make some $$ and send those $$ home to our homecountry that is not our country and that is not where our loyal lies, the gahmen there has policies to ensure that we know our place. Locals there will always be special to their gahmen and we foreigners respect that and respect their gahmen for taking good care of their own people.
Coming back to Singapore, damn – now I feel like a fool for proudly hanging my country’s flag in my living room when I was in the UAE, what so big deal about being a Singaporean?!?! It is so cheaply and easily available to certain undesirable national!
I do not understand, do we not have any standards in accepting and when offering our citizenship or permanent residency? I agree on the welcoming on talents that Singapore is lacking, but what I see so far are far from it! Why are students from China so special? What nonsense is Peidu-mama? What kind of contribution can this group of people contribute to our country besides opening a door for them to easily enter and create social problems and ‘conning’ away some stone-in-the-head old men’s CPF and life savings?
There are many talented people in China, but how many of them are here? We are getting the spits that China itself does not particularly care about. Just take a walk down Chinatown or Bugis, just throw a pebble and you’ll hit an entire village of them.”
A young mother, mickey08 shared her difficulties of getting a proper job due to competition from foreigners and expressed her worries for future generations of Singaporeans:
“I used to be working, but phase out of work because of FTs. I have 2 diplomas.. one from Ngee Ann Poly and another from the US , but worked as teacher assistant in an international school. I worked half a day, ie. 8 to 12 to accomodate my children……but I was retrenched due to the FTs. Not that they are better, as I was more hardworking and more efficient… that was what the chinese teacher told me.. The FTs can do anything, they left their home country, and so can even work round the clock, but we are different. We have families and that spell responsibilities and time !
It is not that Singaporeans are fussy, but we have family commitments. How to find keep work and family in balance when what employers want is give-give-give since there are easily available, foreigners? Put the flexi-work scheme in law, and more housewives will be delighted to work half-day while the children are in school, than to depend on FTs ! You see, if the employers can employ FTs easily, why rely on Singaporeans ?
It is so hard-pressed to be parents in Singapore. Now, get the link.. that is why many young couples do not want children no matter what kind of carrots are dangled in front of them. If I can turn back the clock, yes.. I would say NO to children, after having to sacrifice my career, and sanity to race through the stressful education that we are having, and to think again, my children will face the same dilemma that I am facing…FTs will easily available to take their work.. that is a frightening tot. Maybe one of the solution is.. to get out for good.. because as I experience now, there is no advantage to being a Singaporean in our own home country ! What an irony ! The country should take care of his citizens first, but fails to do so because all the top brass PAPpy are lopsided – all supposedly made up of very smart and intelligent men/women who are too smart and extraordinary to understand the life and struggles of the average Singaporeans ! Isn’t it the people who made the nation, and not the other way around ?
To those who are doing well now. What can you ensure that your children will be able to earn a decent living here ? Frightening tots. See our govt does not listen to us. They inform us . You either take it or leave it… so we die la.. fighting with the FTs ! Anyway the PAPpy need not fight with FTs, their job is theirs to keep for life, with tons of money thrown in !”
Be reasonable replied:
“Hello mickey08,
I feel your heartbeat. I can’t agree more with you that our government is not being reasonable and fair to the locals.
First they want every able Singaporeans to work to power our economy. They tell the old, don’t retire but take half your previous pay. Then they tell the educated women to have more babies and still hold on to their jobs. And they design the maid’s policy in such an unfair way to penalize employers in every situation and rob the maid’s pay partially in the form of levy, saying it is not desirable to have too many of them here. So, who is going be to look after these babes? Infant care is ~$1,200 per month and is likely to be out of reach to many lower-middle family. Worst of all, if they have a few young mouths to feed at the same time.
Next, they open the floodgate to allow the influx of FW to compete for jobs at a lower cost and subject them to exploitation. As such, it makes the locals less competitive due to family commitment. When the locals are out of jobs, they claim that Singaporeans are choosy, must lower our expectations!”
nicholas_lah is worried for his children:
“I think quality of life is more important than always being number 1 in everything.
Look at the French or the Australians – theirs is a contented life w/o the needless pressures since young. I don’t want my kids to grow up going to schools with huge workloads and committing suicide because they got a B instead of an A…(that’s a true story)”
It appears that PM Lee’s clumsy attempts to assauge the rising disgruntlement and anger on the ground has not quite gone down well with the online community who continued to vent their frustrations and poured scorn at the govenrment.
Forumer Misnomer reminded netizens that PM Lee did not promise he will change the policy, just that he will “tweak” it by quoting his words:
“This is why Singapore continues to open its doors to foreigners – they enlarge the economic pie as they have skills that locals lack and take up jobs that locals shun. This policy will not change. Singapore will need new immigrants for the indefinite future.”
The government’s pro-foreigner policy will never change as long the PAP remains in power. Singaporeans who desire real change should know what to do at the next general elections.
Source:
http://comment.straitstimes.com/showthread.php?t=24634
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PAP is using the usual pre generall election gimmick to fool Sinkaporeans.
Remember the pre 2006 general elections speeches by PAP? Before election, they said Means Testing at hospitals may not be implemented after all….but very shortly after the election, they said Means Testing is sorely needed and would be implemented.
Before election, no GST increase, but just after election, GST went from 5% to 7%.
Before election, no increase in public buse and MRT train fares, but shortly after election, all fares spiked up.
Before election, no increase in HDB conservancy charges, but after election, charges went up.
Etc, etc.
Will Sinkaporeans by fooled again?
Nowadays everywhere also foreigners in singapore !!
I see them in shopping centres, housing, everywhere…!
So many of them !!
I only happy to see another singaporean in the street !
They snatch your jobs and flats and make singaporeans worthless like beggars in their own country !!
And how am I going to survive since i’m old and not well educated?
I have eat, pay for my flat, see doctor to take medicine, pay PUB bills.. Money never enough !!
HOW???
You tell me !!?
You trust those who demanded you solemnly swear to the preachings in our national pledge and told 44 years later, it was a BIG joke of NO SERIOUS INTENT for a knowing few?
You trust those who bring planeloads of FNT in quantum “exceeding 100,000 per annum” only a week ago in the silence quiet of the darkness untold and demanded you adjust or else leave ?
How would you feel in the unfortunate national emergency of war that you are ORDERED to fight on the front to buy us time whilst we find the first aircraft in military airfields or Changi Airport to leave with our bags stuffed with tens of millions to resettle in foreign countries?
You trust those who tell you that in the event of a freak election, we call in the military to suppress popular will?
You trust those who placed the right “politically correct” people in public institutions to block or frustrate legitimate popularly elected government other than the incumbent?
If we are not already mad, the least we could help ourselves by not being stupid in the next ballot boxes. Anyone disagree?
PM can talk cock and sing song and I won’t believe him a tad. Things cannot be done without the OK from the Old Man ABOVE HIM, so unless you hear it from the Old Man’s mouth, read it as a joke.
Gimmick asked: Will Sinkaporeans by fooled again?
Yes, time and time again with pre-election carrot. This time round, I heard its a few hundred bucks of GST Credits, ya?
@Old Guy on Fri, 18th Sep 2009 10:19 am
Singaporeans are definitely being discriminated in their own country. Foreigners are being treated much better & they enjoy more privileges.
well… this is the sign of ppl from the ground are disgruntle only by less mortal but the professionals.
way to go.
“The government’s pro-foreigner policy will never change as long the PAP remains in power. Singaporeans who desire real change should know what to do at the next general elections.”
Yes, but is there even any opposition, let alone a strong one? The past few elections have been complete walkovers for the PAP even before election day.
Perhaps we should identify capable people who might be willing to serve the nation and create change for the betterment of Singapore and Singaporeans, and encourage them to run for the next GE. Some people I can think of:
- Tan Kin Lian
- Siew Kum Hong
- NMP Viswa Sadasivan
The opposition should also take informal polls of each GRC/estate to determine the distribution of PAP vs. opposition support. This will help them allocate their candidates (or any other independent candidates) more effectively in the next GE.
This is like a sinking ship with holes that the Captain is Only fixing now with scotch tape to try to keep the water out…Even though the cracks has been there all along…
The Govt. PR machinery is working overtime lately to persuade the masses that foreigners are important aspects of our society – saying they will tweak the influx, Singaporean comes
first etc.
It’s easy to pay lip service and when repeated daily
it becomes real for those simple minded citizens !
In reality,they need to bring in an optimum numbers to up their coffers – as fees are paid left and right in our daily transactions.
The only Govt. in the world that levy heavy taxes in our everyday lives, but are stingy ( except for themselves ) when basic healthcare,transport,basic needs are involved ! Wake up people – WORDS ARE CHEAP !
The ship has holes long ago and the captains telling you 44 good years. In cantonese, the digit “44″ is “die die”, prophetic of omen. Is it not?
In 5-10 years time if nothing is done on the FT issues and at the pace of “open-gate” for foreigners, true bred Singaporeans will be marginalised by sheer amount of 1st & 2nd generations FTs whom are PRs by than.
True bred Singaporean will continue to serve NS, pay high cost, faced with downward pressure in wages and limited jobs. Worst is PAP will gain a upper hand in garning votes and ensure perpectual rule.
Many whom are 55s will have to continue to slot to death or ship to JB. Younger generations will have to compete and faced more dire competition in education and jobs.
The PAP will enjoy their GDP bonuses, high salaries, no accountability and continue to rule with the expense of true bred singaporeans.
Can you all singaporean shut your bloody mouth and complain ?
Without foreigner where you all will be ? in fact singapore is an immigrant country …your dad , grand dad , great grand dad. So now you complain when too much foreigner ! ….Sg gahmen give you all too much benefit that foreginer like us doesnt have….you just doesnt know how good your gahmen treat u all……
Foreigner, we gave the government a mandate to serve the needs of the people, not PARASITIC SCUM like you. You don’t like the natives here, GET LOST!!!!
To foreigner…
you can always leave singapore…
who the hell are you to comment on our elders…
they made sacrifices to help singapore to get where it is…
if you still want to comment that you are right to what the PAP is doing for you…
please serve National Service and 13 years ICT…
then i will listen to your negative selfish pro-PAP comment and respect you for it.
To Foreigner
If you don’t like it, you can gettttt out.
For us, we have no choice. If I have a choice, I will round up all you ingrats who leach on our tax monies and make it sound like we are bunch of whiny kids, put you guys in a boat and blow it out in a show of spectacular foreign fireworks.
But apparently since the gahmen “hates” you guys sooo much, with all the “give you all too much benefit that foreginer like us doesnt have”. Why are you still here in the first place?
1. MOM (manpower) should review all Work Permits and even PR status people to see their “value” to Singapore Society…assuming we have about 1mil of foreigners to a total population of 4.5mil now, if i put my fingers to the wind, i think we can remove 15% of them, w/o affecting the effciencies of our country.
2. I think that previously, just to meet numbers, MOM had more or less an “open door policies”, issuing WP and PR like toilet paper…this should not be the case…
I call on MOM to review and review and review each individual, we are a tiny red dot..this means
a. It should not be too difficult to do
b. Removing even 15% – will still meet PAP objectives of FT and FW
c. There will be significant impact – a lot of coffeeshop ladies and PRC ladies on “student visa” will be felt across the heartland.
I agree by and large with the PAP macro objectives of FT and FW, but I urge we use a large and strong microscope to scrutinize the implementations of new entry and also review all existing WP, Student Visas and even PR
Simple, MOM needs to ask these 2 questions to all non singaporeans….
“Let’s see, what did u say when u wanted to come to Singapore?”
“what are you actually doing now” (proof)
as warren buffett says “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks’
but sadly, “it seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult”
so what is the easy thing – vote for opposition
difficult thing – continue to believe that PAP will change for the better
Indeed they tell companies to re-employ older workers with reduced pay etc etc. Even with reduced pay (doing same job)companies are not re-employing older workers and these include TLCs and GLCs. All talks about re-employing older workers are just NATO ( no action talk only).
These companies would rather employ FTs/FWs and also offer them citizenship.
By and large, most Sporeans would not mind FTs of the highest quality, example top doctors, lawyers, researchers etc etc and FWs like those in construction and cleaning industries. What we don’t understand is that, many FTs/FWs are occupying mid level management/executive positions where they are many qualified Sporeans that can do the job. Indeed, in many instances, FTs/FWs are better treated. Sporeans, especially the older and not so educated ones are just chucked aside.
To Foreigner:
Dude, do not humour them. The last thing you want to get into is a fight with commenters on a site with a manifestly slanted viewpoint. Some of their points are valid, some of them are not. Just hope that in the elections, common sense prevails and whoever has the best policies, PAP or opposition, will win.
@blahblah
[[Yes, but is there even any opposition, let alone a strong one? The past few elections have been complete walkovers for the PAP even before election day.]]
Walkovers are due to PAP’s gerrymandering of the GRC systems and the limited resources of opposition. If we voters donate to opposition members, and vote for them, there will be no walkovers. Ask those at Aljunied, Eunos and Cheng San. Ask those at Hougang, Potong Pasir, why opposition contest there. It’s because they have support there. You want to vote? Then convince your contituency to wake up and vote for oppositions. Who in their right mind would contest in a ward that give them 20% support only.
[[Perhaps we should identify capable people who might be willing to serve the nation and create change for the betterment of Singapore and Singaporeans, and encourage them to run for the next GE. ]]
Please wake up. Willing people who want to serve are already up there. It’s just most people don’t bother to find them or ridicule them or pick-and-choose this-and-that. If we are so choosy, who would bother to stand up to fight for us?
From WP
Sylvia Lim Swee Lian
Mohammed Rahizan bin Yaacob
Low Thia Khiang
Eric Tan Heng Chong
Lee Li Lian
Yaw Shin Leong
Ng Swee Bee
Perry Tong Tzee Kwang
Koh Choong Yong
Png Eng Huat
Dr Poh Lee Guan
Jane Leong
Brandon Siow Wei Min
Glenda Han Su May
From SDP
Gandhi Ambalam
Francis Yong
Dr Chee Soon Juan
John Tan
Gerald Sng
Jeffrey George
Chee Siok Chin
Lilian Chia
Johnny Ho
Mohd Isa
Jufrie Mahmood
Sylvester Lim
From SPP/SDA:
Sin Kek Tong
Thompson Chua Chee Hean
Chiam See Tong
Lim Bak Chuan Desmond
Lee Hock Huat
Yong Seng Fatt
Yen Kim Khooi
Ting Sze Jiang
Abdul Malik
Jalil bin Wari
Loh Woon Lee Lina
Wilfred Leung
From NSP
Sebastian Teo
Christopher Neo Ting Wei
Ken Sun
Reno Fong Chin Leong
Ivan Yeo
Steve Chia
Raymond Chua
Elvin Ong Beng Soon
Yip Yew Weng
Cheo Chai Chen
Ong Hock Siong
William Tan
Yadzeth Bin Haris
From RP
Kenneth Jayaratnam (Economist and son of JBJ)
[[Some people I can think of:
- Tan Kin Lian
- Siew Kum Hong
- NMP Viswa Sadasivan]]
Why would you want these people? They are government-approved people and if they really want to serve the people, they would have joined the opposition party, or even PAP. I rate NMP as lower than PAP MP. Viswa, after getting repremanded by LKY, meekly stepped down. You want these kind of people as MP? Who has no courage? Who loses his balls the moment the big gun shoot at him?
[[The opposition should also take informal polls of each GRC/estate to determine the distribution of PAP vs. opposition support. This will help them allocate their candidates (or any other independent candidates) more effectively in the next GE.]]
How? The only info is pass election results. Not only that, government always change the rules. If not for their breaking of Eunos and Cheng San, we would have 8 opposition MPs already! Putting up deposit for each candidate is more than $10,000 per candidate. They have limited funds, not like the fat and rich PAP. How to put up candidates for all 84 seats when Singaporeans don’t bother to support them?
They can only select a district based on past support. Poor support, they won’t go back. Good support, they will return but PAP may break the GRC up again!
We don’t need to say so much. Show the opposition we support them by voting every single of their candidates in if possible. Even show a high support of 40% will signal to them that support is there, they just need to persevere. One that we will have many opposition MPs in parliament.
The time for action is now and it depends on all of us voters to get up out butts and do something. (Donate to opposition to fund more candidates, give them our encourage and support and suggestions, read their messages, newsletters etc…)
shut your bloody mouth and complain ? Yeah, of course, go back to the cave zoo where YOU come from! We can decide for ourselves who we welcome here and it does NOT include you!
Well one sure way is to change.
That first change is the change the rulers of the nation.
Can you all singaporean shut your bloody mouth and complain??
==============================================================
To Foreigner, how can one complaint when his bloody mouth is shut…
It should be “shut your bloody mouth$ and NOT complain??
All Singaporeans? or All Singaporean?
Oh my god, you can’t even construct a simple sentence in English….. How come you are here in SG???
A talent or simply cheap labour?
Our local talents are murdered by you Trash….
So i guess fresh grads like me with a masters degree from LSE (and having spent half of my life in the UK) are not welcome in your country because i compete with local NUS/NTU/SME master degree grads and take away their rice bowls?
PS: I’m asian but not singaporean.
I think elections are coming around the corner too… but we cannot allow them to get their way again. Even if we can’t knock them off the perch, we must knock their heads down from the clouds. Kick them back to reality.
Wow, foreign talented foreigner from LSE!!! Terrifying of talent from the efficient market hypothesis school of William Sharpe and bunch of goons long debunked by the equally irrelevant crowd of Eugene Fama etc etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_Market_Hypothesis
The Wall Street meltdown proved the complete idiocy of them all.
Go back to London and try to earn your stripe there and see if you even “exists” a poverty subsistence demand for your great discredited talent and skills set of origin from LSE.
I hope all the verbal tirades is on your government policy and not a personal attack on us. We came here to work and we also pay the taxes that you guys are paying. I understand all your sentiments, but then again I hope that you don’t hate us because we are foreigners/expats working in your country.
Hi btan,
If you had not reminded us, we would have forgotten about the WP candidates from the last GE? What happened to Glenda? At least we have been hearing from SDP and RP quite frequently. WP seems to be hibernating somewhere….
Hi Foreigner Too,
Well, we can’t speak for the rest, but The Temasek Review adopts a neutral stance towards this issue.
There is no doubt that Singapore needs foreigners. The fault does not lie in the foreigners, but in the government’s flawed policy.
Nobody will complain if the government does more to help locals to ensure that they do not lose out.
The problem arises when you open the floodgates without adequate measures put in place to help those left behind in the rat race.
Hi Admin,
Thanks for the reply. Honestly, I can understand the sentiments of the locals. If this is happening in my country, I may feel the same way. My fear lies on those who are a bit narrow-minded who would later air-out their anger towards us. The dichotomy between “them” and “us”, the “good” and the “bad” will always persists as indirectly/directly fueled by racial discourses that are coming from various sources of information and authority.
New York and London is a strong and powerful country with lots of immigrants. Just walk on the street and see how many true American or Londoner you can find. You can find most is immigrant. Look at Japan when they close the door for foreign talent…they are heading south with the aging population and lazy teenager. For a great country you need the “melting pot” to stay alive . Your PM and MM know about this but you all just dont see the big picture. We also pay tax , who say foreign worker doesnt pay tax? …we still contribute to the society of Singapore although our purpose here to make a living here.Who’s not? Cant deny that most of us fell in love , get married and start a family. Our son will serve NS and go thru 13 yrs of ICT. Is it fair to us to be judged as stealing singaporean rice bowl ? . Have to look at the long term of this FT thingy…don be short minded ! …Singapore is just 44 yrs old , still got a long way to go ! …
@Foreigner
Please get your head out of your ass. If citizens are unhappy because of unpopular government policy and if they are not allowed to even complain, guess where will they direct their anger? Yes, at foreigners like you. So please stay out of our local politics, as the government that you praised so much used to say.
@TalentedForeigner
Are you willing to take up citizenship here, take roots and fight and die for our country? If yes, then we welcome you here.
Or do you just want to milk whatever money you can from this place and then scoot back to wherever you come from? If yes, no, we don’t welcome you.
More importantly, are you really a talent? Master Degree? We have PhD holders galore here. Are you a CEO? Investor? Holder of many patents? Olympic gold medalist?
@Foreigner Too
You are right most citizens are not really angry with foreigners. Only mostly at the terrible government policies and those loud-mouth, know-it-all foreigners who think they are better than local citizens.
Hi TR,
Tsk tsk…for a online newspaper who claim to want to be the Singapore’s Malaysiakini, you sure don’t follow up news a lot.
Regarding WP, please refer to their latest posting just today.
http://www.wp.sg/wordpress/2009/09/speech-on-casino-control-amendment-bill/
Regarding Glenda, here are her info, courtesy of WP website.
============================================================
Glenda Han Su May
韩苏美
glenda@wp.sg
Age 33
Hide Profile
- Vice Chairman, Central Area Committee, WP
Background:
Glenda Han is an entrepreneur. She graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1999 where she majored in Economics and Japanese Studies.
Immediately after graduation, Glenda founded Ig’s Heaven, a shop retailing in giftware and homeware, which quickly expanded into a chain by 2001. In 2002, she decided to sell Ig’s Heaven off and took off to travel around before settling down in Paris, France, for the next two years. Her observations of the political scene in Paris first sparked off her interest in the governance of a country.
Glenda returned to Singapore in 2004 and in the same year, set up a cocktail bar, Les Chameaux, at Robertson Quay. It was subsequently sold off in 2007 after she decided to leave for Hong Kong in 2006 to take up a job as a money broker. She is still based in Hong Kong but has since left the corporate world and established her own line of body care products, Baan, which are currently distributed both in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Glenda joined Workers’ Party in 2004 and was elected as Deputy Secretary of the Party’s Youth Wing which was set up in 2005. The following year, she contested her maiden General Elections in Ang Mo Kio GRC in which the team won 33.9% of the votes against the Prime Minister’s PAP team.
Philosophy:
During her stint in Paris, Glenda noticed that the people were very much heard and participative in national matters whereas the contrary can be seen happening in Singapore. “Times are changing; we cannot grow the same way we have grown for the past 40 years, waiting to be told by a few men what is good and what is not.”
She believes in travelling as much as possible so as to widen one’s horizons while building up one’s character at the same time. To date, she has been to 24 countries.
=============================================================
Unlike PAP MPs, all opposition candidates who are non-MPs or NCMPs have to work for a living. PAP MPs can work for a living and still get “peanut” allowance of $12K+ per month. I doubt many here can even smell $12K+ per month as salary.
Hi btan,
It’s our fault for now keeping up to date with WP news.
What a waste for Glenda to be with WP. She will be better off with RP or SDP.
Is the problem of Japan due to immigration policy? Japan have many talents that created innovative consumer products and have the most number of Nobel Prize Winner (15 in totals) in Asia!!! Don’t be a parrot to MM!!!
I remember a few years ago in Parliament someone in the Education Department said that there were very few non-Singaporeans in the University.
Later it was revealed that 24% ( nearly 1/4 ) of the cohort were Non-Singaporeans. Ask urself. Our boys do NS. We did NS. We sunk our roots here and the places go to non-Singaporeans. Where is the logic and the justice?
These guys pay no income tax and yet get all the priveleges.
Even more amazing. They bring in China born talents ( serving drinks and sweeping floors is their talent ).
More horrors…look around… they get away with littering…they commit murders….they disregard the law.
One example: Todays ST has an article about a Bangla who killed another Bangla. Home Page C2. The ending sentence takes the cake… ” DPP Crystal Ong, however, asked for a detterent sentence, citing Shalan’s record of violent offences from 1999 till 2004.
The man is a recalcitrant and yet, amazingly, his pass continued to be renewed time and gain. In many countires, people who come to a country and give trouble would be deported immediately.
Finally Lee Hsien Loong can tweak his policy. I intend to tweak my vote.
To foreigner:
Yes our forefathers were migrants too, they migrated to Singapore from whereever, 100 years ago.
That was when Singapore had a population of what, a few thousand?
Singapore now has 5 million people, we don’t wish to see the island filled up. There’s limited jobs in Singapore, and that is why most of us do not want anymore foreigners in.
I’m sorry, I just dislike foreigners now because they’re in by millions as it seems. Please go somewhere else man, try Australia or NZ where there’s more legroom.
“New York and London is a strong and powerful country with lots of immigrants.”
If New York and London are a country with lots of immigrants, I beg that their government will already be voted out by the the citizens. The fact that they are city means that they are less susceptible to overload of foreigners because foreigners and citizens have choice to stay in other city of the country.
However Singapore is a country of tiny red dot not a city. This gov is planning loans of foreigners not to contribute to the country with talent but to contribute to the tax and GDP, and that is just their plain and lame reason.
because their ridiculious pay and bonous pay outs are tied to the GDP. Which fracking self serving idiots think this up? Think the citizens of singapore and other people/politicians overseas around the world stupid is it!!???
And this is how one earns an honest living in singapore…
at the expense of one’s own citizens.
Super silly.
I cannot understand the connection between serving full time NS n foreign professional. I as a PR has seen many locals after serving NS able to get decent jobs, this is not as if local after serving NS cannot get decent jobs and being admitted to the local university.
Hi TR,
Why pick-and-choose? WP, RP or SDP, as long as it is the P that can take on PAP, is a good P.
WP has two seats in parliament, does SDP or RP has any?
All said and done, if you can make a lot of noise in the internet but cannot secure seats and votes, what is the use? It will be just noise only.
Besides, why must life be monotonous like PAP? I say, vote them all in. We have the far right to the far left. Then our political scene would be more colourful, and thus maybe people would be less apathetic.
Truth be told, it’s probably our LACK of fist-cuffing in parliament a la Taiwan that people don’t bother about politics. Not that I advocate it. But something to think about.
@will4
“I cannot understand the connection between serving full time NS n foreign professional. I as a PR has seen many locals after serving NS able to get decent jobs, this is not as if local after serving NS cannot get decent jobs and being admitted to the local university.”
Just like men will never understand women going through period pains, foreigners will never understand Singapore men going through the pains of NS.
If you are a boss, choosing between a foreigner and a local who needs to serve NS, all things equal, which would you hire? A foreigner of course, since he cost less (in terms of CPF) and also don’t have to be absent for up to 1 month or even more every year from work (on top of the other types of leave)
…..In China there has been a 27% irreversible loss of land for agriculture, and continues to lose arable land at the rate of 2,500 square kilometres per year.[9] In Madagascar, at least 30% of the land previously regarded as arable is irreversibly barren…..
As of 2008[update], Spain has approximately 4.6 km2 of arable land or permanent crops per 1,000 residents, and its average fertility rate is well below replacement level (1.3 children/woman). Its population has grown less than 50% in the last 40 years.[5] The corresponding ratio for Nigeria is only 2.1 km2 of arable land or crops per 1,000 residents; Nigerian total fertility rate is 5.0 children/woman, and its population has more than tripled during the same 40 years. ….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe
JUST THINK OF THE MATHUSIAN CATASTROPHE AWAITING US IF WE ALLOW FOR AN EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN OUR POPULATION in a world of food shortage and our economy crashed due to major economic downturn.
During the Great Leap Forward in China, over 20 million Chinese died of starvation.
Those who had received millions or receiving millions in annual paychecks will still enjoy hedonism and a life of debauchery. The rest at the bottom will ALL WAIT TO DIE.
THINK BEFORE YOU VOTE. FOREIGNERS WILL RETURN TO THEIR HOME COUNTRY WHILE THIS BARREN PLACE WILL HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF FUNERALS OF NO TEARS LEFT.
i just skim thro’ WP hammer 09/01 issue, it is informative, with a detailed write up on electricity cost. there’s also a highlight on a WP female member whose father and grandfather are PAP grassroot member.
there’s also an explanation of why low was silent when asked by LHL whether WKS should go.
i agree with btan that our knowledge of opposition parties is too superficial and we need to buck up.
NS activities conducted only once a year such as ICT n IPPT. Anyway, NS policy has nothingt to do with the foreign professional and if the govt decided to restrict the intake of foreign professional,NS still go on as it is a detterent against enemies. Please remember that it is due to NS policy that many companies decided to set up their regional HQ in this country.
article from the hammer 08/01 issue
李显龙总理最近在行动党的党员大会上提到工人党。他说：“我们（行动党）在阿裕尼集选区的团队现在正努力的工作。而工人党的。。。有一个去了瑞典，两个。。。？一个离开了工人党。。。树倒猴狲散，如果选他们（工人党）我看会有麻烦。”
在此想请问总理：行动党候选人在阿裕尼集选区中选成为议员，他们不努力工作为选民服务，难道领了薪水到处游玩或睡觉不成？而工人党落选的候选人，就不必吃饭养家吗？
戈麦斯到瑞典工作是大选之前的事。据我所知，他准备中选就放弃那份工作，留下来为选民服务。另一个是吴明盛，他因为网上的风波，为了不要使党也被卷入风波，选择负起个人责任而退党。何况，工人党的党章并没有明文规定或和党员签署《党员终生不能退党》的合约，总理的资料显然不齐全。此外，另一名工人党阿裕尼集选区的候选人陈伟华，被中东的一个大财团高薪聘请出任要职。在总理眼中，他们似乎不但没为国家经济作出贡献，甚至还成了逃兵。工人党的候选人真的做错了什么吗？为什么总理说选他们会有麻烦呢？
其实，过去芽龙西的选民不也曾经选了一个被李资政称赞其能干的程度在新加坡找不到第二位的郑章远当国家发展部长吗？后来却因贪污而畏罪自杀。那难道不算麻烦吗？
还记得几年前，行动党政府为了解决因为经济低迷的就业问题，曾经大力鼓吹人民应该施展第二支经济翅膀，到外国去工作。那这些到海外打拼的国人不都成了总理口中的“逃兵”了吗？“逃兵”的说法简直是自打嘴巴。
事实是党主席林瑞莲，副主席拉喜詹和党的基层每个星期都马不停蹄地在阿裕尼集选区沿家挨户的走访居民，以了解他们的需要，听取他们的心声，总理又为何只字不提呢
Who is your MP?
By Lilian Lee
lilianhammer0801It was a Wednesday evening at the void deck of Block 310, Hougang Ave 5 – where Hougang MP, Mr Low Thia Khiang, has been holding his Meet-the-People sessions since 1991.
There were proper lighting, 2 wooden tables (one for registration and the other for Mr Low to use), about 10 plastic chairs for residents to sit on, and of course the occasional refreshing night breeze. Who said that Meet-the-People sessions have to be held in classy, air-conditioned places with higher maintenance cost?
The residents registered themselves, wrote down their particulars and sat waiting for their turn to meet their MP. Some had come from areas such as Jurong, Bedok, Tampines and of course, Hougang.
After the session ended at around 10pm, Mr Low offered to give me a lift home, as my house was located en route. “Mr Low! Mr Low!” I heard someone shouting, as we were making our way to the car park.
It was a young chap, probably in his early twenties; he was waving frantically as he ran towards us. His face was filled with beads of perspiration and anxiety. Without further ado, we turned back to find out what was happening. And yes, this was a young chap calling out to his MP as though he was calling out to a friend. Amazing! I thought to myself.
“Mr Low,我的朋友不要回家，他已经好几天没回家了。你可以去劝劝他吗？”,the young chap was panting as he spoke.
Without any hesitation, Mr Low asked,”你的朋友在哪里？”With that, the young chap, whose name is Daniel, pointed to another young chap who was seated alone, staring blankly into the air.
Mr Low then advanced slowly and sat down beside the troubled-looking young chap. I stayed behind with Daniel as I didn’t want the guy to feel intimidated by too many people around.
“My friend does not want to go home; he said that his father ill-treats him,” explained Daniel. “His mother and sister are here to fetch him home. See, they are over there,” he continued.
I looked over my shoulder and saw them; desperation was written on the elder woman’s face. Knowing that her son normally hangs around in Hougang to play soccer with his buddies, she had come from Tampines to fetch him home.
I looked around me, and saw 5 of his friends there, aged about 13 to 25. They started throwing lots of questions and comments at Daniel:
Who is that man? MP? You mean that’s your MP?
I don’t even know who the MP of my constituency is!!
I thought he is your uncle, neighbour, or some relative!
Daniel started to explain that Hougang has been under the Workers’ Party since 1991, that Mr Low held his weekly Meet-the-People sessions there, how everyone in the estate knew him so well, how often he did his house visits, what he has done for the residents of Hougang, where one could look for him if they needed help, where the Town Council was, the operating hours of the Town Council, etc.
I could hardly believe that all those words were coming from the mouth of a very young chap who was barely 21, someone who was not even eligible to vote! He was speaking with pride and confidence. He knew so much about his own MP compared to his 5 friends from other constituencies.
Daniels’ friends looked astounded, and one kept mumbling that he had never seen his MP, that he didn’t even know whether it’s a he or she.
I had no idea how the Mr Low’s chat with the young guy was progressing then, but I could tell that the young guy was beginning to open up to Mr Low.
Meanwhile, Daniel and his friends told me that they had difficulty in communicating with their troubled friend, who kept very much to himself. An hour later, Mr Low walked over to us and immediately I introduced Mr Low to the young chap’s mother. He then took her to a corner and spoke to her.
Next, Mr Low went back to the young chap again, this time with his mum. The few of us who were seated a distance away thought that all was well and he was going home. However, the guy was still very resistant to the idea of going home. Mr Low then spent another 30 minutes coaxing him.
Altogether Mr Low had spent nearly two hours with him and had done his best, but was still unable to change the
boy’s mind. Eventually, Mr Low managed to persuade the boy’s mum to go home first, let him cool down, and hopefully find a better time to talk to him.
With that, Mr Low said to me we had to be going. I looked at my watch and it was about 20 minutes to 12am!
“Encourage your friend to look for a job,” Mr Low said to Daniel before leaving for the car park. We bade farewell to the group of friends, and left.
I felt quite sure that Mr Low had made the troubled young boy feel much better after the chat, even if he did not succeed in persuading him to go home.
But what stuck in my mind, and actually touched me, was how well and confidently Daniel had spoken of his constituency, Hougang Constituency, the place where he grew up, the MP whom he had known since young and regarded as a friend; someone he trusted and relied upon to make his estate a better place to live in, a place that is full of life, at least to him and his friends.
So do you know who your MP is?
For almost everyone who lives in Hougang Constituency, the answer is an affirmative “Yes”.
@cy
“i agree with btan that our knowledge of opposition parties is too superficial and we need to buck up.”
Thank you. I realised I was very ignorant about opposition but all it takes for me is to actively go look for it. They all published some kind of newsletter as well. We should subscribe to them.
It’s our responsibilities to find out these info and not just sit in our butts and say opposition is not good enough lah, opposition disappear lah etc…
I wish TR can do an article on which opposition will like to contest in which GRC. This will give people an idea who their opposition candidate will be. (with the caveat that they may not contest there due to past poor results e.g. Jurong GRC OR a super heavyweight being there e.g. Tanjong Pagar GRC)
By the way, is TR going to report on this news? Since MSM is unlikely to cover it.
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/2687-from-strength-to-democratic-strength
It’s definitely election talk and very likely to be in Nov 2009.
Don’t be fooled! Vote wisely to keep up the pressure and ensure that promises are kept.
Dear CY,
let me share my story from Pasir Ris Pungol GRC.
There are so many MPs we feel that we are relating to a committee than any helpful individual. I think my is a Malay MP of the team whom I see only every other 2 elections, about once in 8 years.
We’re all waiting for the Sports Hall they promise for the last 2 elections, 8 years ago. How to trust their promises you tell me?
Dear administrator: 3 things have been on my mind and I hope someone or perhaps you can provide the facts!
1) is it true that the employers cpf contribution for PRs is lesser than that for Singapore citizens?
2) Should PRs be allow to buy HDB flats in mature estates since HDB flats in mature estate is very limited?
3) How much medical costs have increased in the last 3 years alone?
I would like to bring to the attention of TR and the readers here, as early as 2006, Steve Chia of NSP has already brought up the issues of foreigners in his parliamentary speeches, long before it is a hot topic now.
http://www.nsp.sg/parliamentary_questions.php
As you can see, our opposition figures already have the far sight, except that they regrettably did not enjoy popular support by the mostly blind and apathetic voters.
NSP also have some recent articles here. (So TR, don’t say they disappear or never update)
http://www.nsp.sg/articles.php
Hi btan,
We don’t mind giving more coverage to the opposition party, but we really cannot spare resources to find out what they are doing all the time especially if their websites are not updated very often. At least for SDP, we can pop by once in a while.
What we suggest is for each party to send a youth member to write for us about their personal experience with their respective parties like this touching article by Lilian Lee. We are more than happy to grant them the space here. The reason why we don’t reproduce news from other parties is because we do not want to make it appear that we have become their mouthpieces.
This site will continue to grow. Our readership has nearly doubled since changing the site’s name which shows it was the right move to do so. Compared to a year ago, it’s almost 10 times. In a way, it is a reflection that Singaporeans are becoming more politically aware and interested though the process is still very slow.
The government and msm can discredit us for all they like. The question is – if we lack their professionalism and resources, why are we still growing? It doesn’t make sense at all. What we foresee is that as news sites like ours grow in readership, its influence will gradually increase.
The opposition parties need to reach out to the new media and collaborate with them instead of simply relying on their websites to get their message across. Getting your own members to write about your party is different from a reporter from a news site writing up on it. With the exception of SDP, the other parties are not establishing a presence in cyberspace and even for SDP, half their readership are from China.
In Malaysia, the opposition parties enjoy a very good and positive working relationship with the news sites like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider. Their members keep their reporters updated all the time on what is going on and so it matters little if the msm report on their forums,assemblies or protests.
The 1Black Malaysia gathering at Petaling Jaya to protest against the unconstitutional takeover of Perak is one good example. The event was reported right on the spot with photos published by the new media while the msm is still sleeping! Right now, what we see is different parties working separately from one another. SDP, WP, SDA just keep to their own business while the two major news sites work separately from each other. There is no synergy at all.
During the Malaysia 08 elections, what the opposition did is to combine their resources into one single media center tapped on to three major news sites so that the news were able to reach out to a wide audience in the shortest time possible bypassing the msm. Their high degree of coordination is truly amazing. The speeches at DAP rallies were uploaded simultaneously on a few sites almost immediately after the speaker had finished while the BN speeches were only screened on TV channels a few hours later.
New Media is not just about putting up a beautiful website, playing with fancy widgets or splurging money to recruit professional journalists to write articles. In order to generate a real impact, content and speed are of utmost importance. The msm will never be able to compete with us in this aspect. We have fine-tuned our system to the extent that we can cover an event live on the spot and upload 100 photos to be screened in a moving gallery at the same time provided our server doesn’t crash. The question is: are the opposition parties willing to cooperate with us? Furthermore, they must start organizing activities to generate news for themselves like forums, seminars and rallies at Hong Lim Park. Who will be interested to read about grassroots work at Hougang all the time?
So if the opposition parties don’t come forward to reach out to us, there’s very little we can do. Right now, our resources are stretched to their limits.We can only focus on growing our site and nothing else. However, once we register the company, we will send professional journalists out to interview the opposition leaders, but whether they will agree to be interviewed by us is another question altogether.
once bitten, twice shy.
we will not fall for the same trick again and again.
please try something innovative.
Hi mainstream citizen,
1. PRs contribute less to CPF, but not too sure if their employers contribute less.
2. This question should be directed to HDB.
3. All we know is that healthcare costs are rising. The MSM should have the resources and access to government information to do a proper-write up on this matter, not us.
Hi TR,
Sorry I cannot reply to everything. However, I would like to remind you that it is your job as a news site (and a potential news hub) to dig all the news there is out there. You must ask yourself what is your ultimate objective (other than being an independent newspaper). Otherwise, people will just see you as yet another “grumbling site”. You have so far :
1.) Exposed the weakness in the PAP-established system
2.) Educate the readers on issues
3.) Pose the idea of a two- or multi-party system
What next? Do you just want to “complain” all day without concrete action to achieve the ultimate end?
We will never have a two or multi system in parliament if no one knows, supports or votes for the opposition.
And I would like to address one misconception. It seems even you are prey to the MSM that opposition party lacks synergy and are disunited.
Here is a video of RP’s inauguration dinner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urzcZnbd2N8&feature=player_embedded
As you can see, all the major parties big shots attended the dinner (of course except PAP). And they seemed rather chummy with one another.
If you truly believe in a two- or multi-party system, it is also your duty to promote that.
As for being opposition mouthpiece, as long as your site provide facts, no one will ever suspect you of this. Every news site has an agenda, whether they are pro-this or pro-that. No one is truly neutral.
Look at it this way, if one day PAP becomes the opposition and let say WP is the ruling government, you can always do to WP what you are doing to PAP now.
Again remember you are journalist first, and journalist needs to go search for the news and not for news to wait for you. Practically speaking, that means you should make the first move to introduce yourself to them and see if any would like to grant interview to you. If you really want to be fair, you can always grant the same thing to PAP, although why they would want to engage you when they have their official mouthpieces is beyond me.
Hi netizens, you might enjoy the delicious irony of this piece:
http://bnp.org.uk/2009/09/singapore-government-protects-its-workers-unlike-britain/
And for more fun, these are the BNP’s immigration policies:
http://bnp.org.uk/policies/immigration/
Hi TR,
I also found this to dispel any notion that opposition is disunited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8dvf8sYGhY&feature=related
(you can fast forward to 4:35 for the main event)
I don’t know how the demise of JBJ has affected things but I think there may be hope.
And back to our topic, I also discovered this video that has brought awareness to our foreigner situations, again long before foreigner massive influx is an issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2VRyX1_wig&feature=related
(fast forward to 2:09 if you are impatient)
So do you know who your MP is?
No I don’t. And I make no apology because they are from PAP. I did not vote for them. I didn’t even get a change to cast my vote.
I do know the MPs of Hougang and Potong Pasir.
@Michelle,
Yes, the irony. This speak of the power of mainstream media. One that is ranked what? 100+ out of 160 in the media ranking, yet can mislead even foreigners to think our government is really going to control the population. Well maybe they do intend to do so…at least until after the election and then they point their fingers at us and said “Ha ha, got you again, you stupid voters.”
@Mainstreet Citizen
[[Dear administrator: 3 things have been on my mind and I hope someone or perhaps you can provide the facts!
1) is it true that the employers cpf contribution for PRs is lesser than that for Singapore citizens?]]
Based on my memory, the CPF contribution for PR in the initial first few years is less than S’poreans. After 3 or 4 years, the contribution rate is equalised. E.g. first year of PR, contribution from employer and employer is 5% (this is just an example figure), in the second year, contribution is 10% from both (again another example figure) etc… sorry I don’t have the actual figures as I do not have access to the info right now.
[[2) Should PRs be allow to buy HDB flats in mature estates since HDB flats in mature estate is very limited?]]
Personally, I think PR should not even be able to buy any HDB flats at all. Otherwise who would want to be citizens if they have the same privileges?
[[3) How much medical costs have increased in the last 3 years alone?]]
You can easily check with some of the opposition websites. Some of them touch on medical costs.
A friend of mine’s father had a serious illness and had to undergo surgery, and the total cost was S$40,000. Good thing he bought insurance. In the end, he still died though.
Well, she can be my MP any day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTnSQ7TNrtU&feature=related
Heck, she can be the PM any day!
Hi TR,
Since you have very limited resource, let me tell you SDP just posted their Hari Raya Puasa message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opvXu0NWhPI&feature=player_embedded#t=21
This is speech by Jufrie Mahmood of SDP in Malay with subtitle.
I just come across one chinaman work permit, He holding an S pass, The title of his job stated in the Permit is sale manager but he is working as construction worker. Something wrong somewhere?
It is a myth to think that our ministers are smart.
Look at LSS and LHL when they talked.
Nothing sensible come out.
The definition of talent should be defined clearer.
There should be a board that certifies who is or is not a talent.
This board should then be responsible if these talents do not prove to be talents.
Once you register the company, please also remember to send professional journalists out to interview the ruling party’s MPs and NMPs.
Many pertinent questions were raised by some of them in our parliament, but some questions were not quite answered fully or satisfactorily by the respective ministers. It will be good to know their afterthoughts and their views on the subjects that they raised. Readers can then learn more about the issues and understand the genuineness of their questioning and how well did they accept the responses given by the ministers.
Other than exposing those who are just doing wayang, credits should be given to those who really speak up for the people, regardless of which party they come from. This is probably just one way to assess the performance of the parliamentarians and help improve the quality of the debates in our parliament. Let’s make the people’s representatives work hard for their pays provided by the taxpayers.
Michelle, which planet do you live in? I’ve worked in construction and manufacturing before, and the safety standards in Singapore are absolutely appalling. MoM claims that they have a safety hotline to report violations, but do you know what happens when you call it? Your particulars are taken down, and your report, including whatever documentary evidence you have, will be sent to the company that committed the said violation to investigate the matter themselves because “it’s an internal matter of the company”. And of course, the company will refer the matter to the manager who committed the violation because “it’s his department” ie the criminal is assigned to investigate his own crime. And the identity of the whistleblower is not protected, meaning that the culprit who committed the violation knows who reported him and can retaliate against him for it. And how do I know this? It’s because I called MoM as I wanted to report safety and environmental violations at a government-run Sungei Serangoon bridge project.
Is THIS what you call protecting workers????!!!! To quote Mr. S. Iswaran, “GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!!!”
You know that Chinese heirloom and the “loong” in Hokkien or Teochew means WHEEL right! … Wheels SPIN right! …
So ISN:T IT VERY OBVIOUS THIS IS JUST ANOTHER SPIN!!! … Or do you need to …??? about this to???
Imported Foreigner In INCREASING numbers … WE were just told “GGood FOR you”!!! Wanted even TO “FIX” The Oppostion THAT more and more of US want …
NOW … I ASK OF YOU Singaporeans … WHat IS THE VERY GUT OF THIS “Leader” who happens to have a ‘right’ apapa … ISN”T he and his apapa also Singaporeeans like US??? … AND WE GAVE THEM OpportunitIIES … BUT WHAT THE “Old-Fart” (quote from elsewhere in TR.WP) now Treat US like FOR HOW LONG … And now How LOONG???
Please remove your THINKING CAPS if YOU … STILL CAN”T FIGURE THIS ONE OUT!!! Good luck to you, your children, grandchildren and so on … ’cause LKY’s mind and spirit ‘inside’ of PAP will take care of Singapore for the next 50 … EVEN 100 YEARS HAW!!! … Didn’t Loong … etc in PAP say THIS!!! … need to ???
“So i guess fresh grads like me with a masters degree from LSE (and having spent half of my life in the UK) are not welcome in your country because i compete with local NUS/NTU/SME master degree grads and take away their rice bowls?”
Talentedforeigner, big fat hairy deal. No, you are not welcome here. The very fact that you don’t even know that the pronoun “I” is always capitalized makes your claim dubious. Moreover, so what if you’re a fresh graduate? If anything, that means you are even LESS welcome here, since you have no valuable EXPERIENCE to contribute. Just look at many of the young new scholars: on paper, they have impressive credentials. In reality, they show an embarassing inability to apply whatever they studied to practical use because of their total lack of experience. And the worst part of it is that despite this, many of them are so arrogant that they think that just because they are elite scholars they are always right and need not have to listen to the experienced workers who actually carry out the work. Just like unproven dung heaps like YOU.
Just for your information, many of us here think that the likes of you best belong in the furnace of a crematorium. Or maybe in a graveyard under a tombstone. Or in other words, DROP DEAD!!!!
What what what? Oh did you mean the British National Party article? I don’t actually support them or what they wrote.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party
haha, darth Vader, thankfully we have a ang mor powderful singaporeans true talent like you to fight back against the ‘talentedforeigner’.
if singaporeans still don’t wake up at next election, then its really proven that we are beyond saving.
get screwed deep deep by pap and still vote for them.
Can’t anyone see that THIS IS JUST AN ELECTION PLOY???!!!
And let us make it clear that … at large and as thinking Singaporeans (not “bo-liao” or no-substance kopitiam types) …
1. We welcome REAL FTs …
2. But ONLY to fit into works we REALLY Can’t OR Won’t do for GOOD and/or SANE reasons or others … JUST like how the Swiss did and ARE still doing it.
3. And thus … NOT to ComPromise jobs for OUR OWN PEOPLE …
4. And that’s FAIR!
5. But NOT JUST For Government AND It Agencies AND Entities to SAVE Labour Costs AT Singaporeans Expense! … To the DETRIMENT OF OUR AFFORDIBILTY To Survive in OUR FUTURE That INCLUDES OUR OLD AGE YEARS!!!
6. BeCause … High COSTS WITHOUT CORRESPONDING HIGH WAGES TO PAY for NECESSITY Goods and Services … IS
7 A thoroughly incorrect and wrong concept of government … to in the same mouthful talk about KBE or KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY in Economic Speak to LOPSIDE “Supply and Demand” TO Singaporean’s UTTER DISADVANTAGE …
8. EXCEPT The Top Brass in our “EQUALITY” Nation AS ExPRESSED yet again by 3rd PM LHL …
9. And so DOES the government’s Economic Policy comwe in question now??? … AS In …
10 ARE “they” REALISTIC and ARE “they” too USING THIS argument to FATTEN SELF and SUPPORTS … AT THE ExPENSE OF SINGAPOREANS???
Thinking caps contributions please!
Another one of our “foreign talents” getting away under-punished by the law.
So good to be a “foreign talent”.
Get all the rewards like Singaporeans (or even more) without all the liabilities and risks.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_431535.html?vgnmr=1
Another “foreign talent” saying Singaporeans are STUPID.
WAKE UP SINGAPOREANS!!!!!
http://cynicalangmo.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/stupid-singaporeans/
Extracted from the Caucasian’s blog:
“But Singaporeans really are frustratingly stupid.
“Fortunately their birthrate is only about 1.25, so they will all die off soon enough.
“Hopefully the Chinese, Malays and Indians that replace them will be smarter.
“I don’t like criticising the intellectually handicapped, but in Singapore there would be few left others to criticise.
“Singaporeans don’t seem to be able to think for themselves.
“An absolute herd mentality.”
FolenTalen, can’t blame him, what he is saying is the TRUTH.
I stand corrected but Sinkapore must be the ONLY COUNTRY in the world that CHANGES to suit the New Citizens instead of the New Citizens changing to suit the country.
And while New Citizens is worth MILLIONS just to make them feel at home, Shitizens are worth a peanut 600 bucks.
Bravo Sinkaporeans, you voted for monkeys and is now being served peanuts!
Singapore will become the Principality of Monaco of the East by 2020.
Mark my words.
The real issues of this debate is how the immigration policy is implemented. Everyone knows sinkeepore needs foreigners, but only foreigns with the skills we don’t have, and under strict regulation. What we see today is foreigners taking away jobs of locals who studied 20 years for, and low-wage, uncouth laborers crowding out many housing estates.
I only wish more sinkees know how to direct their anger towards the real culprits – the PAP and greedy employers.
Singaporeans should rise up to the challenges. Do the right thing in the next elections. The oppositions may not sound up to the challenges. But is there really so? Considering propaganda against there. Nobody should be judged unless they are give the chance to prove themselves. However, many are afraid of the power which the current government holds. Lets push for more competitive governance..
It is stunning read and shivering spine to note in ST today that China granted 217,000 work permits for foreigners last year ( in the page on “more Foreigners working in China”), China is a huge nation, an economy populated by 1.3 billions and hundreds of millions of workers and they decided for their own calculations could engage ONLY 217,000 foreign workers at the limit.
LHL said that in recent years, we took OVER 100,000 foreigners a year.
The PROPORTION LOGIC of comparison hit my mind. We took 1/2 or more than what China does in a year and we are only an economy of less than 3.4 million Singaporean and a labour force a much smaller fraction of that.
If population increase is such a wonder cure to our economic malaise in all circumstance and in all future unknown of consequences, why is Taiwan and South Korea across ALL SPECTRUM OF LABOUR FORCE and certainly NOT taking in immigrants of say 100,000 like us??
At a time when this economy is hanging in the balance of unknown survivability, is the big influx a positive influence that sustain our miserable state now or is it a baggage of pains and sorrowful distress which we cannot dispose of EVEN IF THE ECONOMY SANK AGAIN IN SIX MONTHS TO WORSE SCENARIO THAN MARCH 2009??
Is it economic is the calculation or some under undisclosed agenda at work of this avalanche of migration stealthily brought in to immense disruptive consequences?
If the incumbent don’t think or prefer to be in total denial, we singaporeans must think for ourselves in the next ballot opportunity. A mistake is no turning back for all.
LHL cannot make it, yet to see him doing something positive for Singapore!!!!! Increasing human captial to boost GDP is just a number game, I have yet to see any improvement in our quality of life !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michelle, I didn’t bother reading the BNP article because I have much better things to do than to waste my time on the rantings of a bunch of Neo-Nazi lunatics. What I took issue with was your claim that the Singapore gevernment protects its workers. That is a blatant sham, both in the sense of the government looking after workers’ jobs as well as it protecting their safety.
MM Lee ALREADY said that good jobs must be reserved for foreigners otherwise they won’t want to come. Given the mindlessness of the elite scholars that make up the Civil Service, what do you think HR recruitment policy in this country is going to be like, now that the old man has made his stand clear?
Like I said, GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT before you comment. Or to put it another way, it is better to remain silent and be thought stupid than to speak out and be proven thus.
To Darth Vader,
Hmmm.. If sharing a link because of its unintentional hilarity can be misconstrued as support for the ideas in it, then I must be a whole hearted supporter of this site.
But I agree with you, I should totally watch what I do not say. Especially, the claims I do not make. And I agree with you that it’s so annoying when people get their facts wrong before commenting.
Michelle, your support of Foreigner already shows that you are one of the pro-government types who shoot their mouth off without thinking. You are entitled to your opinions and to voice them out, but you are not entitled to distort others’ viewpoints to suit yourself.
“To Foreigner:
Dude, do not humour them. The last thing you want to get into is a fight with commenters on a site with a manifestly slanted viewpoint. Some of their points are valid, some of them are not. Just hope that in the elections, common sense prevails and whoever has the best policies, PAP or opposition, will win.”
These are your own exact words. What manifestly slanted viewpoint are you referring to here? The site itself is neutral; all it did is to report what others are saying. We readers are angry that the government favors foreigners. Why are they entitled to healthcare subsidies when MM Lee said they don’t receive any, for example? And who pays for these subsidies? We taxpayers. And why should we serve NS to protect the rich while they give away our jobs to arrogant shit like Talentedforeigner?
Foreigner is just that, a foreigner. While he’s entitled to his own viewpoints, criticizing opinions that differ from his just because he’s selfish and benefits from the government’s shortsighted stupidity is tantamount to interferring in the country’s internal affairs, something he has NO right to do.
A final word of advice girl. One day you’ll find yourself being retrenched and replaced by a foreigner, and that WDA will tell you to go wash toilets for their dormitories when you register for a job. And when that happens, serves you right. Of course, you may be a foreigner yourself, in which case you’re meddling in our internal affairs.
Labour productivity falling and this has conincided with the surge in the population of FT/FW in the 2006-2009 period. Data is from SINGSTAT.
Several possibilites:
1. The FT/FW are not needed in the first place, ie no additional work for them to perform… they are merely replacing another person.
2. The FT/FW are not productive/efficient for that new/old job.
3. The FT/FW are engaged in activites that are not economically captured as increase in output.
My guess is all the above (1)-(3) have some contributions.
So next time you see any poster coming online & claim to be a “employer” who hires FT/FW because he claims they are more hardworking, add-value and they are much needed.
I would like to knock some common sense and integrity into these “employers” that the economic statistics, which represent the aggregate picture of the economy, tells any objective person these employers employing FT/FWs can’t be all telling the truth at the same time. LOL. In other words, most employers are lying if they claim FT/FWs are more hardworking & productive.
Aggregate statistics clearly trump personal annectodal examples.
I am very sorry to these employers, that stats just do not verify their claims, and they are just using FT/FWs to cut costs.
Before anyone comes to post more, please take a step back and consider Singapore’s model of growth based on injection of cheap labour from its own population relative to the developed world starting the late 60s to the early 80s till the 1985 recession.
After the 1980s recession, the Government decided to take greater control of all major industries and GDP growth continued in the 90s to the 2005 largely based on supplying the western’s world (US, Euro) appetite for more debt (borrowing of future demand).
Now that we can’t depend on the US taking on more debt since 2005 (housing market collapse) and inflow of cheap labor force (model of growth in the 1960-70s), the government decided to MASSIVELY IMPORT them rapidly since obviously changes to birthrate policies cannot take effect immediately.
This is obviously meant to PROP UP GDP growth since 2006. What are
chances that Singaporeans suddenly become less productive or less able to addvalue in the same timeframe that the US housing market collapse in 2005-2006?
Do not at anytime depend on posters coming online to say either “FT/FW are more able to add-value” or “Locals are more able to add-value”.
Use the stats and some economics basics to arrive at the truth.