Singaporeans outraged at PAP for providing free tertiary education to PRC scholars for them to work in China
February 27th, 2010 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
Two days ago, we published an article on PRC NTU scholars applying for positions back home in China instead of Singapore which has sparked an outcry in cyberspace. (read article here)
We were tipped off by a reader who worked as a HR manager in China who received 78 resumes from PRC NTU students on government scholarships for positions in Shanghai, some of whom are on the Dean’s List.
The stunning revelation sparked a series of discussion threads in Singapore’s blogosphere with many netizens lampooning the ruling party for its pro-foreigner policy.
Some questioned why locals have to serve National Service while foreigners are given free scholarships to study at Singapore universities sponsored entirely by taxpayers’ monies.
Shutterx from Hardwarezone forum wrote:
“for 4yr engrg prog, what each china student gains and does not hv to contribute back:
[figures are approx]
4yrs of full school fees = $33k * 4 = $132,000
on-campus housing = $10,320
4yrs of living allowance = $23,200
3 air tickets of $500 each = $1500
TOTAL = $167,000
meanwhile, every SG kkj must go thru NS/ICT/RT to ’serve the nation’ and pay ur CPF/income tax…ur life is cheaper 
may I suggest that our govt gives them FREE s’pore woman, FREE wedding dinner and a FREE flat, maybe more of them will stay here.”
gwzc wondered why local scholars are publicly shamed for bond-breaking while PRC scholars are allowed to get away “scot-free”:
“I still remember last time got some scholars break their bonds to join the private sector. tio flame and shame on national news like no tomorrow. now leh?? how many of these tiongs had come here on taxpayers’ monies/ tution grants/ scholarships to snatch places in our universities then run back to their countries when they finish their studies??”
Tsuteki summed it up nicely:
“1 thing can say Local is dirt and FT is treasure. full stop”
Over at Channel News Asia forum, netizens are equally incensed.
paladin126 wrote it’s true that the Singapore government has sponsored the tertiary education of PRC students:
“It is quite true that Sing Govt sponsor education of PRC students and gives them allowance of $500 per month. When I was in uni, my allowance from parents was less than that, and I just served NS. The next statistics we need is the percentage of PRC student who leave without fulfilling their bond because they have to work in Singapore for 3 years after their sponsored education.”
Molvis felt the government should have invested on its own citizens:
“Don’t be stupid….do you really think they will be grateful? Such money should be spent on Singaporean instead.”
Damnit added:
“Many using Singapore as a stepping stone including getting Singapore passport to apply for PR/Citizenship elsewhere. And the worse part is that the Singapore Government acknowledges this fact but hopes that many will fail and so “forced” to stay in Singapore. How did we as a nation end up being so pathetic? Don’t need Ah Tiongs to tell us we are stupid, our Gov. policy on this matter speaks for itself.”
Most of the comments are directed at the PAP rather than the PRC scholars. Some Singaporeans claimed that they would have done the same if they were in their shoes. After all, who doesn’t want a free lunch in this world?
Unfortunately, it appears that the PAP leaders are still blissfully ignorant of the reality on the ground.
PAP’s strongman Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with the National Geographic magazine lately that it is a “good thing” that Singapore has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (mainly from China) who are more “hard-driving” and “hard-striving” than locals.
Despite the desperate attempts of the PAP to attract mainland Chinese to study, work and live in Singapore, an increasing number are shunning the island state for other countries after witnessing for themselves how shabbily it treats its own citizens.
In a Gallop poll done in July last year, the top three emigration destinations for college Chinese students are United States, South Korea and France. Singapore was not even featured within the top five.
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Malaysian Chinese under the guise of ASEAN scholarships had priority over local Indians & Malays in our education for the past 25 years..
Now the circle had come back to bite the local Chinese as well; history repeats itself.
If locals chose to be silent than this is what would be:–
..”If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own…. For if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”
And the other by German anti-fascist Martin Niemoller:
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Vote them OUT!!
Well done Singapore Government.
In the west where there are more democracy, the government could be sued for doing such things but in Singapore who dare to sue PAP.
PAP government supports foreigner while Singaporeans are suffering. What are the citizens of Singapore all doing?
What frustrate me most, PAP will be returning to governing after the next general election because there is no opposition ready to takeover.
The Singapore government is the most well paid yet are also the most dumb to give scholarships that benefit foreigners with no strings attached at the expense of needy local students. They are simply out of touch with the reality on the ground.
this isn’t the 1st time we kena cheat by PRC (eg suzhou ind park) and it won’t be the last…..Gahmen kena cheat and who pay the price???
pap and the millionaire ministers plus LKY should just migrate to china and die there
This is funny… our future alummi of NTU and NUS will consist of 70% foreigners, 30% Singaporeans.
The idea that competition fed growth is true…. but it become downright idiotic when you sacrifice your own ppl to invest in foreigners who you cannot even trust…
Might as well just give up citizenship and migrate… then come back to SG as a FT.
No need serve NS/ICT/RT, no need pay school fees, no need pay CPF, no need feel embarressed of my own gahmen
Well, I intend to migrate if the result of the next GE shows that no more opposition is voted in.
I am looking for at least 10~15 additional opposition. Better still, 20~30 opposition.
Well Done.I am so proud of you PAP! I am so thankful of all efforts you all had put in and all the policies you all had come out with. I suggest that you all should have another 100% pay raise this year. Please remember to set up more ERP ard the island, maybe one at Jurong island or everyone’s door step so that we can collect up monies for your pay. Loves you forever.PAP!
i saw on the CNA forum a link about these ah tiongs setting up a facebook group to discuss about bond breaking.
when i wanted to click on the thread, i was informed that the thread no longer exists.
does anyone here know what is the group’s name on facebook? and we can all go give these ah tiongs our 2 cents.
we have so many students who cannot even afford to go to school, and our govt throws money at these ah tiongs to beg them to study here.
can anyone tell me which other countries do the same?
How can I feel proud when reciting the national pledge the next time knowing that I am being treated like a 2nd class citizen and yet has to be grateful to the very persons who have created this hierarchy?
Will I be expected to protect the country who has just sidelined me while embracing some other foreigners who probably don’t appreciate any of these benefits they are enjoying at the expense of Singapore tax payers monies?
If the talented people who formulated this policy expect a long term benefit from these foreigners after they return to their homeland, ha ha ha ……..
I have only one thing to Say….I hope the MIW will continue to screw around with the true blue singaporeans, and hopefully, they will finally be push past the tipping point
Dear readers,
What’s so surprising? Many more PRC’s are willing to exchange their PRC passport to get the Singapore passport to go to top universities in the states for FREE, and then break the bond leaving their Singaporean bond guarantor in Singapore HIGH and DRY – Like me. And then using the Singapore passport, one can go to US to apply for H1B-Singapore visa, or go back to mainland China. Such a nice FREE route.
It’s all thanks to the PAP!
A*STAR Scholar Lan Jiao
@ENOUGHisENOUGH!! on Sat, 27th Feb 2010 11:34 am
“”"to set up more ERP ard the island, maybe one at Jurong island or everyone’s door step so that we can collect up monies for your pay.”"”
Best to place a ERP on the front of all parking areas and Car park in Singapore. you drive you pay ..
Aiyo, Sg only know how to complain, and in the end dare not do anything. If i count the number of people here, i guess only peanuts size, can’t do much.
So, everybody has to pass message to VOTE FOR CHANGE.
If not, you may have to serve 3yrs NS
may I suggest that our govt gives them FREE s’pore woman, FREE wedding dinner and a FREE flat, maybe more of them will stay here.”
ask hj & pm lee to supply their daughters
Singaporeans are being cheated for being its citizens…cheated to do N.S. and not get the scholarhsip.
I have a friend’s son who was very good at playing the piano. During the 2 1/2 years of full-time N.S. in the army, after the Basic Training he was posted to the military band to play the trumpet for the remaining of his N.S. Thus loosing touch of his piano.
On R.O.D. when he applied for admission to teh NUS for music, he was asked point-blank why his piano recital is so much worse than his peers from China. He was shocked by such a question and did not even know how to answer for fear that he might offend the state, offend PAP government, offend the army and worse offend the Chinese FT students.
Can he just tell the NUS interviewers that he had to march under the hot sun to entertain FTs in the National Day events whereas his peers from China kept practicing piano for the 2 1/2 years!
As a typical Singaporean, he just kept quite.
On that day he went back home and cried and felt f*&king cheated. He even contemplated suicide as he felt trapped in the system…more reseervist and in reservist he might demanage his hands or fingers while doing the basic training again. However he did not kill himslef that day as he hope he might still be admitted.
He did not get admitted to NUS let alone got any scholarship. His parents were very encouraging. They had to spend money for him to do a correspondence course in the London Music School.
Later he learnt that many of the music undergraduates are from China and some from other SE Asian countries.
I will be going back to Singapore this year. He will be graduating from his Master’s degree from London. He wants me to give him more information on how to immigrate to Canada as he does not want his next generation to suffer the same fate.
His parents are very supportive of him and his younger sister to emigrate out of Singapore as his mother has spend lots of money on her cancer treatment. His parents would not like to see their children suffer under the cost of healthcare in Singapore.
Damn F(*K LKY for all his policies.
Shanghai World Expo this year and many companies unlike you have ever see before in Singapore are recuiting. Many companys like from the Automotive , Banking and IT industries are heavy recuiting peoples on the current up turns.
Our Govt MOE are providng and helping the recuitment drives with their PRC Sponsored scholars to the hiring companies instead of local Citizen grads.
LKY’s point in awarding scholarship to PRC is for “Guanxi” at Singaporeans’s expenses.His harping of his friendship and “Guanxi” with the elites in China is well known throughout the west but “What about us Singaporeans????” he revel in the limelight and our poor and less privilege is penalized to satisfy his ego.
Why is not the supposedly responsible loca media not exposing these scams?
This would never happen in another country excepting in a repressive country like ours stuck with a one=party dictatorship that is woefully alienated itself from the nation. to serve its own interests and that of its cronies is the only credibility they seem to have.
It is time Singaporeans woke up to the reality as it is and vote this crooked politicians out.
This idiotic govt ought to be shot for using tax payer money to do such dumb thing! instead of helping Singaporean! Damn it, these “BASTARDS” does not know that charity begins at home meh!
@Cheated, It must be a devastating blow for someone so young. I hope he will do well overseas and most importantly, learn to speak up for his own rights and never get walked all over like a carpet again. And yes healthcare cost is killing ordinary Singaporeans. A serious illness can wipe out a family’s savings. Many Singaporeans still don’t realise the precarious situation they are in.
LKY thinks he can buy anything, including the allegiance of the Chinese. It is not going to happen. Even within China, Shanghainese and Beijingers feel allegiance only to their own cities. What would they really think about a country smaller than even a city in China? If they wanted real freedom, they would have gone to their west. If they want career prospects, what bigger market than China? Better to develop and more importantly RETAIN our own talents..
The crux of the matter is the PAP’s belief that money is better spent at those “hard-driving” foreigners than those dumb Singaporeans that serve NS.
NS for Singaporeans,
Scholarship for foreigners,
Never mind if they break bond,
For one who stayed is worth more than ten in army camps.
When I was an undergrad at NUS in the early 2000’s, most of the scholarships tenable at NUS and NTU were not open to Singaporeans.
In fact, about half of foreign undergraduates in NUS and NTU are on government scholarships. International students make up about 20 percent of the undergraduate population. According to MOE, 14 percent of undergraduates are scholarship holders and 2/3 of them are international students. In other words, for every local undergraduate holding a scholarship, you have two foreign undergraduate on scholarship.
See: http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/parliamentary-replies/2006/pq20060213.htm#Scholarship
Rainnix on Sat, 27th Feb 2010 4:24 pm
“NS for Singaporeans,
Scholarship for foreigners,”
Uniquely Singapore!
‘We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMxTcRs3KDU
The PAP govt has ruined Singapore. MM reminds me of Nehru, the Roman emperor who played the fiddle while watching Rome burnt.
I hope we will see the end of this Pathetic Action Party come the next election.
@Cheated,
Maybe you could convince your friend to come back to vote first before leaving.
I will vote first & if the result is still the same, I will migrate too!
If Singaporeans still have not come to their senses of voting PAP out, they ought to kill themselves and offer their blood to atone for the sin they have committed.
*2 of my uncles and one of my aunties were killed by the Japanese when they invaded Singapore; similar to many other people who were either tortured or killed in Singapore at that time.
My grandparents and father suffered hunger and humiliations during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
My father told me to do my National Service well
Without being a regular; I contributed until the rank of Major [NS] and was CO of one Guards Battalion and Brigade Dy S3.
*But now traitors had let in excessive numbers of cheap foreigners; invaded n mess up our lives in Singapore. This is same like the Japanese enemies who invaded n exploited Singapore 2 generations ago.
Many of us lost our biz, are jobless, missed local university places, missed scholarships, missed preferred primary school places, lost COEs, couldn’t afford public HDB flats, disrupted by foreigner queues jumping for buses, for trains, for tickets, etc. We are forced to be more boorish.
Many of us got squeezed out of PMET jobs and now have to work as taxi drivers, insurance n financial derivatives agents, property agents, etc.
*Now my 80+ yrs old father have to stand while foreigners occupy Priority/Reserved seats in MRT trains and queue behind foreigners at hospitals n polyclinics.
Foreigner enemies are all here amongst us and probably the only task left for our uniformed armed forces is to help our ruling party clear oppositions n protestors from our streets.
Now, unlike my father, I tell my sons that National Service is meaningless.
I also told my sons not to hurry in marriage and least of all having children who may become financial slaves to the banks thru buying expensive houses, cars, and also tax slaves etc.
IQ is genetic; ordinary locals got squeezed down the artificial Population ‘Bell Curve’ by foreigners in Singapore.
I am a victim of our gahmen pro-foreigner policy. I was so close to getting a job after many rounds of successful interviews not too long after my retrenchment some years back and then came this PRC hiring manager who just came on board the company then. He rejected my application and heard later that the opening went to a fellow PRC. What followed was a year w/o job before I finally found one but outside S’pore, painfully detached from my young family of 2 kids! It’s an irony to see PRCs easily getting jobs in S’pore when I as a NS serving citizen was forced to seek a living in their country.
If SINGAPOREANS are still daft enuf to keep voting for PAP, the country deserves to perish.
When the end of Singapore comes, you can be sure to find the MIW enjoying life in exotic resorts…
PAP TRAITORS!!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING??
ARE YOU NERDS!
YOU SHOULD BE CHARGED FOR CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST LOCAL
SINGAPOREANS.
@stupid-son-of-Singapore on Sat, 27th Feb 2010 10:23 pm
Looks like the Japs had done much harm to your family. Sorry to hear that.
Hope your father and yourself had never voted for a party led by an ex-Jap-interpreter!!! If you had, you had used a perfect moniker and only had yourself to blame.
@ Michael
I think you should start to plan for your migration. I bet you nothing will change. PAP will be returned with about 60% of the valid votes and will probably just lose one more SMC to the current two!
For the record, I had voted in 5 elections and I voted for the opposition every time. That is why I know the disappointment of hoping to get the PAP out. All you ex-PAP coverts will start to learn how powerful the PAP can be!
LKY expects 99.6 %votes at every Election just like Saddam Hussien but you let him down by giving his Son only 66%.So,he’s teaching you fellows a lesson by “bringing in” citizens who can be grateful to his regime.
To get back at you, he’s doing everything to hurt you and your family as a punishment.
And if you still don’t wake up in time,just too bad,it will be too late before you realise it!!
Scholarship,bursaries,citizenship,housing,Jobs and other privileges will be accorded to Foreigners first just because
they will not dare to challenge the benefactor PAP who plays their God whereas you fellows complain and grumble (yet dare not vote them out).
That’s why LKY despises you and treat you rightly as 2nd class
citizens forever!!
Hey Guys! Even a Major cannot defend his own father in the face of this foreign occupation. PRC students not only occupy space in local scenes, they also have money to go fishing in Malaysia, call chicken in geylang etc etc.
Singapore is just a ball less nation made up by ball less people. You guys want to laugh at the opposition parties, you take the consequences.
Not only the PRC are screwing you all. The Indian nationals are having greater fun screwing all of you. Some are screwing your wifes too.
if there is no more opposition ready and SG wants more oppostion, the MIW should not sue all these opposition as we need 2 have some competiition. MIW is all scared that they lose thats why. we need someone with a good amount of budget and money to survive all the suings…..then we can donate 2 that person who wan ts change. and also we need 2 have a limit on how many years a person can stay as his p[osition in Parliament…see other countries…singapore is so different
I have worked with 2 China Nationals while in NTU. I have talked to them about how this Singapore government scholarship works. They are nice chaps from so lets shall not flame them.
Before they got their scholarship from MOE singapore, most, if not all of them can’t even speak english. Even if they were geniuses, USA Europe would just reject them outright because they don’t have TOEFL ( Test Of English as Foreign Language ).
So what did our dear Gahmen do? Give them english lessons of course! 2 years bridging course before they start school at NTU. Furthermore, that 2 years bridging course not only includes english language, it also has other subjects such as science and math. This is to allow them to be on par with our A level or poly grads entering NTU.
What does that mean? It simply shows that these students are NOT up to par with our local applicants! Where is the meritocracy as so the PAP claims to have? How can a bunch of foreign students who can barely speak english and NOT even up to standard in terms of other subjects have such a de facto admission to our local universities on taxpayers’ expense? So what if they are geniuses? They are not qualified at the point of time, so they do NOT deserve to be admitted to our local universities at the expense of qualified local applicants.
Thats the application phase. What happens next? They graduate, probably first class honours etc.. What can they potentially do? They can just break their bond and go anywhere on this planet. I have asked my chinese national roommate this question. His answer was no less shocking. He told me many of his peers have told him that if he breaks the bond and leaves the country, the Singapore Government cannot do anything about it except to bar them from entering Singapore. But lets not flame him too, he said he will not break the bond. He is a nice guy so his word can be trusted, but maybe not the others. So these bond breakers have a free world-recognised degree at our expense. since our local universities teach in english, they are considered as english speakers. So the road to USA Europe is open. Yes at the expense of Singaporeas. Local students give up their places to them, Local singaporeans pay for them. They come, they eat, they go. Great deal! Best of all, Singaporean bond breakers must pay back $$ to the sponsoring authority, plus interest. Our Chinese national bond breakers, don’t need to pay a single cent, don’t need to work for Singapore. It is both an economic loss and accounting loss, worst of both worlds.
So now here we have our dear government making such a poor investment on a group of people with an obviously high risk of default. It doesn’t take an idiot to see that.
Honestly, the PRC students are expected to graduate and serve a 5 year bond. The government intends to place red carpets and put them in GLC and fast trek them for PRs and citizenship. This strategy works in the past. A lot I know serve for 5 years but later on, will move overseas for greener pasture.
But with the rise of China, a lot of new opportunities opening up in China, these students have no qualms NOT TO SERVE THE BOND but head straight back. They believe they would not never step into Singapore if they get a job back home.
The fact now is a company in Singapore can don’t hire a single Singaporean citizen and still comply with existing MOM regulations without breaking the law. We must ask any MP to ask Gan Kim Yong this question in Parliament.
Majority of employee class Singaporeans are still unaware that they will be jobless soon. In George Yeo’s reply to kojakbt_89 about RWS hiring Singaporeans, he said that:
“MOM’s policy is to set dependency ratios and leave it to companies to operate freely within them. I don’t think MOM will release data for specific companies. CPF info is confidential. Why not get an MP to ask the question in Parl, PAP or Opp or NMP? But under MOM, no MFA please.”
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=3in1kopitiam&msg=29090.1
So what does dependency ratios mean? The answer can be found from MOM website:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/work_pass/work_permit/application/requirements/computation_of_company.html
e.g. For a Services Sector company (dependency ratio 50%) with a total of 10 employees, they can hire 5 PRs and 5 foreigners. You see, a company can don’t hire a single Singaporean citizen and still comply with MOM regulations without breaking the law. This is because PR and Singapore citizens are considered as “local”. We also know how easy it is for foreigners to obtain Singapore PR nowadays.
http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/work_pass/work_permit/application/requirements/Services_Sector.html
http://thinking-free-and-fair.blogspot.com/2010/02/article-that-enraged-several.html
The article that enraged several Singaporeans did not enrage me. Since my university days, I have already known that the government has been providing free tertiary education plus monthly allowance to PRC/Indian/Asean scholars. This has been going on for more than a decade. NTU/NUS graduates, especially the engineering graduates, will know better.
Attracting foreign talent is a wise policy. Being able to attract the best minds in the world is what made America great. But, if this is done in a manner that discriminates the locals, it will backfire on the country and its political leaders as well.
I got worried about Singapore’s future when a new colleague who just graduated from NUS this year told me that almost all of his coursemates have migration on their minds. My kids are still young, so my stakes are high.
One of the issues that made graduates like him so demoralized as a Singaporean is the way free education + allowance was given out to foreign scholars in the local universities. It is easy to understand why the Singaporean students felt discriminated in their own land. They saw this before their very eyes during their school days. The rantings on internet forums have expressed them all and I do not wish to repeat it here. I would prefer to provide some ideas for improvement rather than complaints against the government.
Attracting foreign students is a good policy. The problem lies with its execution. Some suggestions that I make;
Avoid attracting students from countries with brighter prospects than Singapore
We already know what happened. 1 job application in Shanghai attracted more than 70 applicants from PRC scholars sponsored by Singaporean tax payers. I don’t blame the PRC scholars. It is what the average person will do. We all work for money, don’t we?
It is the same reason why SMEs do not provide training to their employees. Why train them if they will hop to the MNCs eventually? You spend money to train them only if you are confident of retaining them.
Look to economically-backward countries with a ready pool of talent.
The Malaysian Chinese was such a talent pool. If Malaysia back then had boomed like China now, Singapore would have lost these talents. In Singapore, many of the senior management in public-listed companies and even the civil service hail from Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh!
By attracting talent from countries which are not likely to provide richer opportunities than Singapore, our money gone into nurturing them is not likely to go into waste as they are not likely to go home. The loss is not limited to waste of money. We are actually training potential highly intelligent competitors who can destroy us. After the dot-com bust, Taiwanese engineers from Silicon Valley return to Taiwan for greener pastures. Those in the industry will know that the US-trained Taiwanese set up world-beating companies that destroyed prominent US-based Silicon valley companies.
Foreign talent can be a double-edged sword. If the host country is not able to provide ample opportunities to grow these talent, they will go to greener pastures and use their talents against the host country. There is nothing immoral about this. We should not fault them for doing what we would have done ourselves if we were in their shoes.
Enforce penalties for breaking the contract
Working as a design engineer in the electronics industry, I have heard of PRC engineers who return to China without serving their obligation of working in Singapore for 3 years after getting free scholarship in local universities. Authorities should enforce whatever penalties in the contract to punish these contract breakers.
Letting these dishonorable scholars go scot-free is not fair to the past Singaporean bond-breakers who got named and shamed. Unlike the foreign scholars, the bond-breakers did not break the contract. They honourably compensated the authorities for breaking the bond. Their punishment was getting shamed in public. Nothing happened to the foreign scholars who went home. To correct these double-standards, the authorities should get someone of the likes of Philip Yeo with fire in their belly to enforce the penalties for breaching the contract.
At the very least, we can shame these people by placing their names on the internet. This will also benefit global employers when they do checks before hiring these dishonorable people. This will also punish them by impacting their job prospects.
It is fine if people go for greener pastures but it is not ok when they break contract terms. It is bad business practice to allow people who screw you go scot-free because it encourages more people to screw you more. I hate the idea of foreigners laughing at how stupid we are for being such a big sucker.
Foreign scholars must be real talents, not parasites
The recent case of the Indonesian scholar Widjaja who committed suicide after a bloody fight with his lecturer is a good example. He was known to be an avid computer game player which was suspected to be the cause of his C grades. Taxpayers do not pay scholars to come here to play computer games. Students like Widjaja are not exceptional cases. I have met a couple of them during my university days, though they are still a small minority.
The presence of foreign parasites(even 1 or 2) who get free money from taxpayers is a great demoralizer to Singaporean students. Singaporean students who pay for their own education must be convinced that the foreign scholars are real talents. If they see foreign students with poorer results get free education and allowance while they themselves don’t, the locals will think of migration. There must be terrible punishment for foreign scholars who do not perform as expected. Maybe we can get them to make financial compensation for poor academic performance.
Don’t make scholarships completely free. Free stuff nurtures parasites. I know this because I have personally encountered lazy foreign scholars during my university days, fortunately their numbers were small. We spend money to nurture talent, not parasites. Put some co-payment component into the scholarship.
Get foreign scholars to spend time tutoring the weak locals
Make it compulsory for foreign scholars to tutor the weak locals to earn their monthly allowance. If the foreign scholars fall behind in their own grades, they lose their monhtly allowance as they are no longer eligible to teach the weak. They have become the weak!
Another advantage is that this will encourage social integration with the locals. The closer social links these foreigners forge with our country will encourage them to stay put here.
Spend more money nurturing local talents
When local talents go for greener pastures by job-hopping from company to company, only the company suffers. The country still gains as these people stay within the country. When foreign talent move out of the country and compete against us, the host country loses big-time.
It is surprising that I even have to put in this suggestion as common sense dictates that we should spend more money on ourselves than on others. The fact is that there is a growing perception among Singaporeans that the government is allocating too much resources on foreigners at the expense of its own people. I think government will take steps to correct this perception as the election nears.
In reply of Think-Free-and-fair,
Thanks my fellow. Kudos to your views and suggestions. I am currently in my final year of study in uni. Engineering too. Haa. You really need to be one of us to understand how sad it would be to see local unis flooded with foreigners. I have been getting along well with my foreign counterparts and do appreciate their presence. However, it seems that this kind of presence has become overwhelming these days.
Sometimes, it really trigger my thought that are we Singaporean students really that daft or simply lazy? I guess many of us can perform equally well if given the equal opportunities to excel. I sincerely hope that one day, the government would focus more on grooming the local undergrads. Spend more money and sponsor more exchanges with overseas uni. Let the locals be true role models and ambassadors of Singapore’s education to the world. Getting too many foreigners and giving them free education doesn’t reflect good on the country. It not always improve the overall academic standards, but sometimes could tarnish the good reputation of students from local unis.
stupid-son-of-Singapore on Sat, 27th Feb 2010 10:23 pm “IQ is genetic; ordinary locals got squeezed down the artificial Population ‘Bell Curve’ by foreigners in Singapore.”
My dear fellow Singaporeans, you are not stupid or are you a Quitter. Be patient, you are not one but many. Our ‘pledge’ will guide and help us survive.
Any Government that misuse our thrust or distort the ‘pledge’ will find themselves replaced. No Government is indispensable.
Yes, Governments come and go.
We Singaporeans will continue to grow.
‘We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.’
Majulah Singapura – Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspiration bring
Singapore success
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
Charity begins at home? Not if you are an elite here. Only those empowered with absolute power can be able to rewrite and argue against any conventions in order to suit their convenience, theory and folly. A good example is in using the 1% real estate commission to justify their hefty pay while ignoring the global benchmarks altogther. Surely we need oppositions to counter the dominance of the one party rule to get back to basics as soon as possible.
Please. Get your peers/family to become more aware of this damn situation that we are in now.
We have to vote them out. period.
All these nonsense and BS should not be tolerated anymore. Unless of course you want your children and grandchildren to suffer. Whatever situation we are in now would only get worse if the MIW are still around. Why can’t majority of Singaporeans see this?
Really sick and tired.
PAP has already given their answer since decades ago…
NS for Singaporeans
Job Opportunities for FT
Why are Singaporeans still asleep???
Hi localbornlocalbredchap,
Thank you for your reply. Actually, I have been steaming about this issue since I graduated. I am surprised that this practice has been going on for more than a decade. A decade should be more than enough time to correct bad execution of a good policy. I had to let off some steam by posting some comments on my blog.
Many people has talked about this issue from the perspective of the so-called foreign ‘talents’, so I shall tackle this issue through the perspective of Singaporeans. Alot of people has asked “Why are Singaporeans asleep?” They aren’t. They’ve just grown comfortable and complacent within the system and do not wish to risk abandoning the familiarity and merely hope to maintain status quo.
Problem is the status quo will be compromised. This policy to attract foreign ‘talents’ would only intensify, and these naive Singaporeans believe the situation will improve for the better, and stubbornly hold onto their livelihoods in this nation entrenched in a vicious cycle which will lead to its downfall.
I’m a Singaporean but why have I mentioned Singaporeans as ‘they’ instead of ‘we’? Because in my heart, I’ve no longer considered myself Singaporean. The one-party hegemony was commendable in the 70s to 80s because we needed a strong party to establish the backbone of a new nation. The one-party hegemony disgusts me now because it is a facade to abuse power and authority, crafting policies without considering the welfare of the citizens who slog so hard to make this nation a reality in the first place.
Those who wish to stay naive and allow your future generations to suffer, feel free to do so. For myself, I still have a year of university education to go, and I already have migration plans in mind. 2 in fact, and what’s left is to do well in my studies to make myself more appealing and eligible for the schemes. I’ve wasted 2 years of my life doing NS, whereas my female peers are already independently earning their own keep, and those darn foreign ‘talents’ who steal our ricebowls are walking around the city as if they’re kings.
I’m not gonna waste another minute contending with the government’s policies. We’re pretty much powerless against an established one-party hegemony which has sunk its roots deep in our soil for decades. I advise you to do the same.