Maybe he doesn't hear too good. Maybe he has a wad of ear wax the size of the blockage in the drainage canal that Yaacob Ibrahim claimed was the cause of the Orchard Road flood. With Singaporeans already seething with anger about the 1-in-3 proportion of foreigners taking up train space, housing, school/university places and good paying jobs in the market, surely 4-in-10 is not a ratio to be proud of.
PM Lee Hsien Loong was rattling off statistics about the new wafer fab facility, without a clue to the salt he was rubbing into the wound of the festering xenophobic. Of the 1,200 workers at IM Flash Singapore, 6-in-10 are Singaporeans and PRs, and 4-in-10 are foreigners. Discounting the number of jobs that went to PRs (number not disclosed), local born and bread make up only 5-in-10 or half the employment force - or worse. Which means that when you walk into the Woodlands plant, the likelihood of running into a Singaporean face is 1-in-2, or less. That's what he means by calibrating the influx of foreigners? Increase the number of foreigners coming into the country instead of reducing it?
Top of everybody's bitch is not about foreigners, it's about rising prices that seem to refuse to be curbed by the MAS strategy of "deliberate appreciation" of the SingDollar. While acknowledging that cost of living (issues) has been there a long time, his own recollection is that it was not at the top of every body's mind in 2006. Hah! That explains why train fares, electrical tariffs, GST, property tax ecetera were hiked after the 2006 election. Makes you wonder who supplies him the rose-tinted-glasses he is gazing out of.
Despite of being in the cabinet for umpteen years, all the man can offer is that "We're doing what we can." Looks like the PAP newbies riding coattails into parliament are not the only ones undergoing on-the-job-training - at taxpayers' expense.
Suddenly, the words of Workers' Party's Low Thia Khiang sound so very ominous:
"But if the PAP makes a wrong judgement, you get the wrong person to be Prime Minister, we are all in trouble."
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sadly i have to say this, we were already in trouble from the time LKY arranged for Goh CT to warm the seat for LHL to become PM...does not matter if he is spineless and clueless.
ReplyDeletewhat is even more ominous, is to hear LHL proclaiming that the next PM will come from the new bunch of PAP candidates, courtesy of LKY's system.
pls watch the video of MG(ret)Chan CS speaking to the PAP audience...for more good yrs.
follow @sgelectorate & #sgelections twitter
ReplyDeleteA couple comments -
ReplyDeleteStronger Singapore dollar will do nothing to tame inflation caused by high rents, fees, and levies. High rents, fees, and levies are causing food prices to rise in hawker centers.
Why can't LHL figure that out?
Why is Singapore even competing for the plant when it needs to import so many cheap labors? I am guessing that it has more to do with maintaining the GDP growth than creating good jobs for locals.
Me thinks the biggest discontent is not with the production workers/shipyard/construction workers flooding our shores. Rather it is the PMETs, the service sector and even yr coffeeshop foreign staff that we want to see lesser of. It is no use throwing useless satistics when we can witness it in our daily lives. Talk about being out of touch with the average 'S'porean.
ReplyDeleteQuote Amused
ReplyDeleteWhy is Singapore even competing for the plant when it needs to import so many cheap labors?
I think you have asked a very pertinent question. Perhaps PM Lee should be made to answer this question. We need clear answers, we need accountability, we need justification..
Let's send a strong signal to PAP that they have lost the people's mandate and the moral authority to lead the people forward.
1-in-2 are Singaporeans may not be bad at all considering my own work experience over the last 15 years across several MNCs. The typical percentage of Singaporeans is about 10-15%. Examples ask EDB to disclose the number of Singaporeans employed in Research and Development departments of MNCs like Agilent (US), HP (US), STMicroelectronics (France-Italy), Infineon Technologies (German), and NEC, Fujitsu (Japan) etc. In one of the National Day Parade, Agilent actually volunteered to send a contingent, but were short of Singaporean staffs. Management actually wanted Singaporeans because they are more familiar with the commands due to NS, but in the end have to make do with Malaysians, Chinese and Indians.
ReplyDeleteMy PM is alas, way out of touch ! His numbers /statistics are crouched in unclear terms that we Singapore want answered. How many are citizens. Better still tell us how many are 'new citizens' -those less than 5 years. Acting blur like his MND minister, will not save more votes going to the Opposition.
ReplyDeleteThose of us fortunate enough to read this & many more blogs MUST make it a point to enlighten others who have no access to the internet / news other than the MSM.
@Anon 5:16,
ReplyDeleteIt is one thing to import real talents (e.g. R&D) that generates high paying jobs, another to import cheap labors that suppresses local wages.
PAP has run out of ideas to create good paying jobs locally. Many grads are having to find jobs overseas nowadays. So why are we paying the Ministers millions?
Btw, Obama just released his tax return and he did not make more than a typical Minister. We should require all Ministers to make their tax returns available publicly so we can see just how obscene their income has grown relative to the average workers.
Good points. Rationality is not exclusive to PAP. It will do the opposition well to present level headed and rational arguments, which most Singaporeans (except die-hard PAP supporters) would appreciate.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend working in the MBS Gambling Den as a groupier and was told that its management and supervisory level are full of foreigners especially Pinoys. It seems that many of the staff are pretty unhappy over employment issues like bonus, medical leave, shift & overtime hours and morale among the staff is especially low and many of them have either resigned or are contemplating to resign soon as there seems to be total distrust between the higher management towards local staff.
ReplyDeleteApparently the FT are the real ones benefitting more from such jobs. Now are these the type of employers/jobs that our PAP Govt is so proud to attract and create for Singaporeans ?
According to Lim Boon Heng who got himself retired, 35,000 jobs are created due to the IRs. So, how many of these jobs are given to Singaporeans? And how many Singaporean families are destroyed in the process?
ReplyDeleteThey are still not telling us the figures. Perhaps the Hard Truths would lead to the demise of PAP.
quote from somebody
ReplyDeleteMany Singaporean probably wonders how all these so called "foreign talents" can manage to get a job and settle into Singapore in such a short time and large number. The answer is CONTACT SINGAPORE.
According to its website, Contact Singapore is an alliance of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Ministry of Manpower. It aims to attract global talent to work, invest and live in Singapore. With offices in Asia, Europe and North America, Contact Singapore is the one-stop centre for those who wish to pursue a rewarding career in Singapore, as well as individuals and entrepreneurs who are keen to invest in or initiate new business activities here. Contact Singapore actively links Singapore-based employers with global talent and provides updates on career opportunities and industry developments in Singapore. We work with public and private sector partners to facilitate the interests of potential individual investors in Singapore.
A large recruitment drive in Shanghai by Contact Singapore was held on Sunday, 17th April 2011. The recruitment fair was held in the grand ballroom of Langham Hotel which is an upmarket five-star hotel located at Xintiandi, an affluent shopping, eating and entertainment district of Shanghai. Most applicants were pre-registered. There were nine Singapore-based MNCs and Singapore local companies participating in the fair. Some of the participating companies included Panasonic Asia Pacific, MediaTek, UniConnect, DBS Bank, OCBC, UOB, Far East Organization and others. Most of the companies were observed to have tables with staff manning and answering questions. Companies also took turns to give “recruitment talks” inside the auditorium. There were free flow of refreshments served by waiters and waitresses. I doubt our government will provide this type of five-star service to help our graduating students and out-of-job PMETs to get jobs.
At a TV forum on 12 Apr, They said that the Government is controlling the inflow of foreigners and watching them “carefully” on their impact to Singapore. Five days later, they decided to have the largest recruitment drive for foreigners in Shanghai. The next Contact Singapore Welcome Session is in Chennai (below)
29 April 2011 - Chennai (Chennai)
17 April 2011 - Shanghai (China)
09 April 2011 - Manila (Philippines)
If you need to find out more, just do a search on "Contact Singapore shanghai"..4 users liked this comment
"Contact Singapore" Was NEVER Mentioned on state tv?
@#$% PAP man, seriously!