“I’d be very slow in stipulating (to operators)
how best to run the concession policy.”
Transport Minister Raymond Lim, in parliament
Our latest parliamentary budget debate did threw up a lot of quotable quotes and some of them are down right funny and one wonders how they can be our elected Members of Parliament (MP) in the first place. Singaporeans must be shocked to realise that they have elected some clowns performing their acts in Parliament.
More significantly, it confirms the long held fact that the average Singaporean workers may be treated as a born loser in his own country. When MPs spoke extensively on upholding the rights of foreign workers and afriad that employers will pack and left the country if we provide some basic rights to our local workers, we have every right to worry what our country’s future will be. It is also not surprising that recently there is a spike of Singaporeans wanting to emigrate to other countries. When you lose your rice bowl to welcomed younger and cheaper foreigners and could not buy a HDB resale flat because of the huge demand from foreigners settling in our country, this is what you get.
Perhaps, the sheer lack of opposition MPs have create a comfortable lull within the ruling party and except for a few MPs who spoke eloquently and from the heart, many simply flippantly touched on issues that affected the men in the street. One MP even checked on the health Minister’s youthful look during parliamentary budget debate! If only someone can give him a tight slap to wake him up from his slumber of jobless Singaporeans and homeless folks in our country. It shows how disconnected our government has being all along from the hard barren ground.
A group think mentality also seems to have gripped the host of MPs raising to speak in Parliament on productivity less week. No one I see has come up to offer an alternative plan for Singapore. I shuddered knowing that Singapore is like a sinking ship going nowhere riding on just the productivity slogan for the next few years.
The Singaporean voters also wondered if they have elected an MP who speaks for foreigners only. Scores of MPs rose to speak on the benefits of having more foreigners in our midst with only the opposition MPs speaking on behalf of the plight of local workers. Many MPs underscored the need to have more foreign workers in our country for the benefit of the economy. One MP Mr Ong Ah Heng, Nee Soon Central SMC even commented that due to the feedback he received from one family in his ward that our local elderly cleaners are slow, he had sacked and replaced them with foreign workers! It was both shocking and unbelievable. If local elected MPs can do that to our own people what about our local employers?
It shows downrightly how slanted and insensitive parliament has being all this while with regard to the general sentiments of our local workers. I could only sigh and shake my head every time I read of an MP speaking extensively on behalf of the foreign workers who are residing in Singapore. How certain policies have create discomfort for their lives and that they will not settle down here if we scare them away with too many anti-foreigner policies. What has happened to our politicans and country?
I have duplicated some of the quotes from our MPs and ministers from various sources. You draw your own conclusion on whether what I have said is right or wrong. Singapore for Singaporeans!
1. Speaking Up For Foreigner Workers
Bringing in foreigners create more jobs for Singaporeans
‘Bringing in foreign workers allowed businesses to seize opportunities, accept orders and grow, and to create more jobs for Singaporeans,’ said Mr Tharman, Finance Minsiter. (Budget 2010 debate – ST 4 Mar)
Appreciate foreigners’ contribution to Singapore’s economy
‘Transient foreign workers are here to work and will eventually go home. Most of them do not sink root. We should appreciate their contributions to Singapore as they have helped us to grow our economy. In turn, with economic growth, we have the resources to develop infrastructure and support programmes which have raised the quality of life for all Singaporeans. (DPM Mr Wong Kan Seng budget 2010 debate – ST 4 Mar)
Mr Wong also said that the Government ‘will not condone discrimination against Singaporeans’, but it ‘cannot ring-fence jobs and reserve them only for Singaporeans’. He reasoned that ‘if we want to compete globally, we have to create an environment which can attract the best people’.
‘If foreigners are not here to help us compete against other countries, they will be working in other countries to compete against us. The future will see global competition becoming more and not less intense,’ he warned.
Foreigners feeling insecure in Singapore
‘It has led to foreigners feeling insecure. They are wondering if this is the beginning of anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore. (Ms Indranee Rajah (Tanjong Pagar GRC Budget debate 2010 – ST 5 Mar)
Singaporeans are an ungrateful lot and must appreciate foreigners more
‘The Singaporean wife of a PR expressed to me that we are an ungrateful lot. We ignore the contributions the one million foreigners have made,’ he said.
‘I can imagine the angst and doubt these couples face…(The policy changes) will mean tougher choices for them,’ he added. (Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast GRC Budget debate 2010 – ST 5 Mar)
Government in no position to decide which industries need more foreign workers
However, Mr Gan said the Government was not in a position to decide which industries were more deserving of foreign workers.
‘How do we determine whether the pharmaceutical industry requires more or fewer foreign workers than, say, the food manufacturing industry?’ he asked.
It is best to leave that decision to market forces through a pricing mechanism, he said.
As for using a pricing mechanism alone, like the certificate of entitlement system for cars, Mr Gan said it was equally impractical.
This will create uncertainty for employers in terms of price and availability of workers and make it difficult for companies to operate here, he said (Manpower Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong – ST 5 Mar budget debate)
Local workers in low productivity jobs an economic problem
If we have workers who continue to be trapped in the low-productivity job, in the low-wage jobs, in the low-skilled jobs, whether the worker is a local worker or a foreign worker, he is still an economic problem because Singapore’s economy in certain sectors will not be sustainable. (NTUC Chief Lim Swee Say, Online Citizen 31 Aug 09)
Must Try To Make Foreigners Feel Welcomed In Singapore
Marine Parade GRC MP Seah Kian Peng said more needs to be done to help new immigrants ‘work with the old team and feel a part of us’. “First, we need to make sure that they are called new Singaporeans rather than new migrants. They are not even new migrants – they are an old hand at migrating, and want a new life. They want to settle down and to make Singapore a new home,” said Mr Seah in his speech during the debate on the 2010 Budget Statement on Wednesday. (Online Citizen, 8 Mar 2010)
Sacked Older Local Workers And Replaced Them With Younger Foreign Workers
“I know of one family who complain the cleaners in their precinct are lazy and too old. They don’t want local workers who are old, they want young foreign workers. To satisfy the demand, I changed the local workers to foreign workers. Foreign workers are not a burden to us. Their presence here is not negative. Without foreign workers, things will be worse,” he said (Nee Soon Central MP Mr Ong Ah Heng, Online Citizen, 8 Mar 2010)
Nothing To Contribut In Debate So Checking How The Health Minister Looks So Young?!
PAP MP Dr Lam Pin Min who had brought up nothing concrete during the last few days of parliamentary “debates” finally made his debut yesterday.
He asked Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan his “secret” to looking young who replied giving a bashful grin (somemore):
Health Minister’s Reply To MP Lam Pin Min Why He Looks So Youthful
“There’s no elixir or no secret recipe. Technology does help. I colour my hair but, of course, no botox. But I think the mind is important and attitude to life, so on. And if you go back to when I quoted Lao-tzu, you know, what is life all about, it is never about ourselves, it is about others and if you lead a life in that direction, whatever the physical form, I don’t think it matters.” (Health Minister, Temasek Review 10 Mar)
New Measures To Limit Sales Of Flats To PRs – Must Also Provide Incentive To PRs To Be Citizen
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who unveiled the measures yesterday, told Parliament that the changes were to ‘provide an incentive for PRs to take up citizenship… and also reinforce the principle that Singaporeans are our priority’ (Budget debate 2010 ST 6 Mar)
‘There is a limit to compassion. Decisive action is needed to prevent households from spiralling further into debt, but HDB will always ensure that they have viable housing options,’ said Mr Mah on rental flats for the poor (Budget debate 2010 ST 6 Mar)
NS for New Citizens: No Strong Reason
‘I am not in any doubt that these are laudable social goals but it is an inadequate reason for us to impose NS to go beyond the remit of a critical national security and survival need.’ (Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, budget debate 2010 ST 6 Mar)
2. MPs Speaking Up For Singaporean Workers
OPPOSITION MP Chiam See Tong on Thursday called on the Government to take a ‘radical step by cutting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by 2 percentage points from the current 7 per cent to rein in inflation, which he said ‘has gone up too high’ (Budget debate 2010 – ST 4 Mar)
‘Singapore’s birth rate continues to decline despite the Government’s special tax incentives, such as the baby bonus schemes,’ Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir) said yesterday. ‘As usual, the PAP practice is simply throwing money at the problem and encouraging more foreigners to fill the gap. Little attention is paid to the accompanying social consequences.’
‘As long as things continue to worsen for families in the form of high cost of living or taxes, there will be an imbalance,’ Mr Chiam said. ‘A more integrated and holistic approach is required.’ (Chiam See Tong Budget debate 2010 – ST 5 Mar)
Low lamented that Singaporean workers are constantly told by the Government to “up-skill, re-skill, multi-skill, be cheaper, better, and faster”. He accused the Government of “squeezing every drop of effort and energy from our workers to achieve its desired GDP numbers”. He felt that the ‘growth at all costs’ strategy initiated since the late nineties resulted in the present state of our economy where low wage earners are growing dependent on state-funded handouts to subsist. He charged that for Budget 2010, the Government is using their same conventional wisdom to address the fundamental problems caused its policies of the last decade (Opposition MP Mr Low Thia Khiang, Online Citizen 3 Mar)
Madam Halimah opined that “despite the planned increase in the foreign worker levy, companies could still employ foreign workers cheaply by paying them lower salaries or making them work very long hours or during their rest days or public holidays without paying overtime.” (Deputy General-Secretary of NTUC Ms Halimah Yacob, Temasek Review 12 Mar)
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