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Singapore Withdraws Red Carpet for Foreigners With Eye on Vote

By Shamim Adam


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Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- After luring investor Jim Rogers, actor Jet Li, Filipino maids and Bangladeshi construction workers with one of Asia’s most open immigration policies, Singapore is becoming a little less welcoming to foreigners.
Singapore almost doubled the rate it grants citizenship and permanent residence in the past five years to counter a falling birth rate, and let firms bring in thousands to work at hotels, shipyards and restaurants. The move saw foreigners make up one in every three people. The government plans to slow the inflow to avoid being “overwhelmed,” and unveiled higher levies for overseas laborers, cooks and janitors in its Feb. 22 budget.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at [email protected]

Last Updated: February 23, 2010 11:01 EST

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601104&sid=aRiHhofFjKHs#
 

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Coroner's inquiry set for fatal hit-and-run accident

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="99%" align=center><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Coroner's inquiry set for fatal hit-and-run accident [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD width="83%">[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Posted on : 2010-02-24 | Author : dpa
News Category : Asia
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[/FONT]<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Singapore - A Singapore state coroner has called some 50 witnesses in an inquiry into two fatal hit-and-run accidents involving a Romanian envoy, a media report said Wednesday. In January, a state counsel had identified Silviu Ionescu, 49, then the highest-ranking Romanian diplomat posted in the city-state, as the driver of the embassy car which killed a Malaysian man and injured two other people on December 15.
Ionescu denied the allegations, claiming the car had been stolen. He left Singapore for Romania after the accidents.
The coroner said the inquest was scheduled for next week, the online edition of Straits Times newspaper reported.
Singapore has demanded Ionescu attend the inquiry, and asked the Romanian authorities for help.
But Romania's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it could not "compel him (Ionescu) to observe a certain line of conduct," because he had been suspended from his diplomatic duties during criminal investigations undertaken by the Romanian authorities.
The ministry said it would allow the embassy driver, Marius Trusca, who has diplomatic immunity, to testify at the inquest.
Due to the high number of witnesses, the inquiry was expected to run 16 days, the newspaper said.
Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo on Monday told parliament that Ionescu could not be forced to attend the inquiry.
"The inquiry will take place with or without Ionescu," he said.
Yeo warned against overreacting in the case, saying that "there is due process in Singapore, there is due process in Romania."
"Let us take this one step at a time and not speculate, because acting in haste or always over-speculating may be injurious to our own case itself," the minister said.
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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/printstory.php?news=311032
 

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Singapore minister: we won’t tolerate diplomatic immunity abuse

Singapore minister: we won’t tolerate diplomatic immunity abuse

22.02.10 | by: Olivia Urban | in: homenews

Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo says there are due processes of law in Singapore and Romania to deal with the hit-and-run accident linked to Romanian diplomat Silviu Ionescu.

He told Parliament on Monday that Singaporeans should not speculate on the accident on December 15 last year. The accident claimed the life of 30-year-old Tong Kok Wai.

“Some have criticised the Singapore government for not acting immediately to detain him Ionescu. I fully understand the outrage many Singaporeans feel over the hit-and-run accident and the tragic death of Mr. Tong,” said the minister. “However, we should never do anything that is not in keeping with due legal process, nor descend into trial by media. Otherwise, we will weaken our own case.” Yeo said when Dr. Ionescu left Singapore in December, the Police had not yet completed investigations. “In any case, we could not have prevented Dr. Ionescu from leaving Singapore, because as a diplomat accredited to Singapore, he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and could not be detained,” he said.

Yeo also pointed out the fact that Singapore will not tolerate any abuse of diplomatic immunity and believes the Romanian authorities share this view.

“MFA has zero tolerance for any abuse of diplomatic immunity by our own diplomats, even in such matters as parking fines,” he said. “The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman was also quoted in the media as saying the Romanian MFA firmly demands and expects its diplomats to respect absolutely and with no equivocation the national laws of the country to which they are credited,” he added.

“This means that the Romanian government takes the position that diplomatic immunity is not a license to flout the law.”

As for what happens after the coroner’s inquiry from March 3-10, Yeo said: “We will take one step at a time.”

Ten days ago, Romanian prosecutors started indictment procedures on diplomat Silviu Ionescu, who was recalled from his charge d’affaires post in Singapore, after allegedly causing a traffic accident that killed a person and severely injured two.

The incident occurring on December 15 at 3, 10 AM took place in Bukit Panjang. As a result, a 30 year old man, Tong Kok Wai, was severely hit in the head and died on Christmas day, while the two other victims suffered severe wounds.

The Foreign Affair Ministry on January 5 asked the Prosecutor’s Office to start in investigation in the case. The same day, the diplomat was recalled from duty.

The initial procedure in a case involving a diplomat takes place within the country where he or she is sent on an official mission. On January 11, Singapore Police closed the inquiry on the matter. An important role in this story has the Singapore media, launching the first rumours about the diplomat’s involvement in the incident. A witness quoted by one of Singapore’s dailies, Temasek Review, was recalling a man in an Embassy plated car, having a fight with a young Chinese woman, at the moment of the incident. The description the eye witness gave was clearly depicting Ionescu.

The witness also said the car did not leave the crossroads when the lights changed which caused other drivers to start honking.

The diplomat’s initial statement included the information that the car had been stolen somewhere before the date of the incident. The car was found later, abandoned in an industrial district.

On January 3 Ionescu was telling his side of the story in an interview with ‘Adevarul’ daily, saying he had driven home someone at 1.55 AM on that night and he had returned to the Embassy around 2 AM. The diplomat also said he discovered the car was stolen after one hour and he took a cab to the police station, but, as the first cab driver was trying to charge him more for the ride, he went off after 15 minutes and took another cab back home. Three days after the incident, Silviu Ionescu was back to Romania, allegedly for medical tests, the diplomat suffering from diabetes.

http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?issue=4625&page=detalii&categorie=homenews&id=20100222-12558
 

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Quitters & Winners

The Straits Times FORUM:
July 31, 2009
A CANADIAN WRITES
Be grateful, S'pore




I AM writing to share many things Singaporeans take for granted.

Thanks to years of budget surpluses, when the global financial collapse hit, Singapore was able to use more money as a percentage of gross domestic product than any other country, rich or poor. Now, with its economy rebounding at a 20 per cent rate this last quarter, Singapore has recovered from the collapse faster than any other country. This is something only Singapore, with its deep pockets and years of good economic management, could pull off.

My home city, Toronto in Canada, has its rubbish collected only once a week, yet it is considered one of North America's cleaner cities. It is in the 36th day of a rubbish collectors' strike, with rubbish and foul odours on its streets and an increasingly serious problem with rats and insects. Some people even store rubbish in their refrigerators.

In Singapore, our rubbish is collected every day, no questions asked. For a $40 conservancy fee, we get a clean-up that would cost hundreds of dollars a month in the United States or Canada.

Most buildings in the US and Canada have no sheltered walkways to protect residents from rain or snow, unlike most HDB blocks. This is so even though there are Americans and Canadians who freeze to death outside in the cold every year.

Most North American cities I have lived in are cutting bus and train services just to balance their budgets. Singapore plans to add a new MRT line this year and more lines and stations over the next three years.

If a poor person lives in a building without a lift in the US or Canada, that is his tough luck. In Singapore, the Government is upgrading our four-storey HDB blocks with a new staircase and a wheelchair-friendly lift that stops at every floor.

If a poor person cannot afford to pay his mortgage in the US or Canada, he can be turfed out and left homeless. If an HDB dweller cannot pay his mortgage after he loses his job, he can seek a moratorium on payments from his community development council. This mercy, to the best of my knowledge, has no equal anywhere else in the world.

After living and working in six countries, I have known for a long time that no country takes care of its people the way Singapore does.

Eric J. Brooks



Be thankful to Canada, Mr Brooks
Thursday, 6 August 2009
The following is a letter by Mr Cheong Wing Lee, a Canadian, in response to Mr Eric Brooks's letter
in the Straits Times titled, "Be grateful, Singapore".

Dear Editor,
As a fellow Canadian I am embarrassed by Mr Eric Brooks' remarks to Singaporeans. Mr. Brooks is a visitor with a superficial knowledge of Singapore history. He should refrain from making such ridiculous sweeping
statements.

I was born shortly after the Second World War and raised in Singapore before immigrating to Canada. I have worked and lived in more countries than Mr Brooks. There is no doubt that most Singaporeans deeply
appreciate the outstanding work done by the Singapore leaders in bringing the country from third world status to the present world class status. However, gratitude evolves with time and social changes. Singaporeans are now better educated. They travel, see, learn, compare and adapt. Singaporeans are not stupid or naive.

Singaporeans now have a higher level of thinking and are more demanding. This demonstrates progress. Higher aspirations, greater expectations come with evolving progressive social changes. A society that remains complacent and stagnant deteriorates and eventually collapses. No country can excel with a mindless society of puppets. The Singapore government should be grateful that its citizens are matured and not treat anyone with opposing views as public enemy. Most of them are as passionate as the government in making Singapore a better society.

Singaporeans are smart enough to see through spins and propaganda and evaluate the truths for themselves. It is difficult for most Singaporeans to remain silent whilst government leaders lecture them to be thrifty, not to be materialistic and not to demand for higher pay. On the other hand, the leaders reward themselves with pay packages that exceed the leaders' of the eight richest countries in the world combined.

The Singapore ministers� argument that their pay package is only a small fraction of the country's GDP is weak and debatable. The Canadian prime minister draws less than 10 per cent that of the Singapore prime minister's but he governs a country 15,000 times the size of Singapore, with a population that is eight times larger and with a GDP that is ten times more. Vancouver in Canada is constantly voted the best place to live in the world. This example put the Singapore government�s argument out of context.

The government gives S$360 a month as financial support for the poor and needy. If such an amount is computed by the government as enough to survive, why then do they need to pay themselves by millions?

I cordially invite any member of parliament and/or news media reporter to come and stay with me for a period of time and I will show them that it takes only a small tiny fraction of their salaries to live happily and healthily
in a beautiful environment with a good standard of living.

Is it a surprise that Singaporeans are discontented? It is just human nature. Confucius was quoted as telling the emperor on good government:

�How can the emperor be happy when the people have nothing? How can the emperor not be happy when the people have everything?�

Does Mr. Brooks know that 79% of Singapore students after studying overseas do not return to Singapore? Are they not grateful too?

So Mr. Brooks, before you further make a fool of yourself in Singapore, be grateful to Canada and not complain because of a temporary disruption in garbage collection in Toronto. Be thankful of the good healthcare system
and the generous old age pension. If you truly like Singapore you should be a citizen. There are lots of Singaporeans who are willing to trade your citizenship if it is possible.


Yours truly,
Wing Lee Cheong
 

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A Tale Of Two Cities

Singapore

Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story


Mar 27, 2010

Almost Singaporean

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Permanent residents Vishal Garg and his wife Shweta moved to a Marine Parade condo to improve their three-year-old son Prateek's chances of getting into popular schools nearby, but recent changes mean PRs will get one fewer ballot than citizens for places at schools. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

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THREE-YEAR-OLD Prateek Garg once smacked his Chinese playmate for calling him Indian. 'I'm Singaporean!' bawled the child, whose favourite food is chicken rice.
His mum, training and development manager Shweta Garg, 30, came to Singapore from India in 2004. Dad Vishal Garg, 32, is an assistant vice-president at Barclays Capital. They are permanent residents (PRs) here.
Having picked up the Singaporean kiasu (afraid to lose) trait, the Gargs moved to a Marine Parade condominium to improve Prateek's chances of getting into nearby Tao Nan School or Ngee Ann Primary School.
But a slew of recent changes to favour citizens over PRs means they get one fewer ballot than citizens for places in popular schools.
'I totally agree that Singaporeans must be given a privilege, but we are doing our part for the country and giving back to it,' said Mrs Garg, about the recent changes that range from public housing to education and health care.
'If my son can't get into a good school because of the balloting, what do I tell him? That it was because you are not Singaporean?'
Today's Insight asks PRs what they feel about the recent changes, and whether they are now encouraged to sink roots here or seek greener pastures elsewhere.

ST Forum

Home > ST Forum > Story


Mar 31, 2010

Tough being a S'pore PR? Try China

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AS A Singaporean working in China on non-expatriate terms, I am puzzled about the grouses of Singapore permanent residents (PRs) like Mr Vishal Garg and his wife Shweta in last Saturday's report ('Almost Singaporean').
I cannot afford to buy a home in China because prices are almost as stiff as in Singapore and I cannot use my Central Provident Fund savings. My two sons cannot attend local schools or participate in local sports because they are not Chinese citizens. They must attend an international school and their annual school fees alone cost more than for a pair of four-year degree courses at the National University of Singapore.
I am almost 50 years old, have done my national service (NS) and am still liable as a reservist. When they reach 18, my sons must return to Singapore to serve NS.
My boys will have to live on their own in Singapore and will add to my financial burden for which the Singapore Government does not provide me with any financial support or relief.
China has one of the world's highest income taxes. Hygiene and safety remain a constant concern. The standards of some local hospitals are nowhere near Singapore's and if we fall ill, we must seek treatment at private hospitals, whose costs are exorbitant.
Given a choice, I would have preferred to remain in Singapore, but I am not complaining.
It is true that some foreigners, for example a top biomedical scientist, bring special talents to Singapore and we must always welcome such talent. But for every top talent, there are hundreds who are here because there is good money to be made and Singapore is a vibrant and accommodating country.
For many years, Singapore PRs have enjoyed benefits as that of citizens without having to pay for it.
In Singapore, citizenship has its privileges, but at least we treat foreigners and PRs with respect and provide them with decent benefits at a minimum cost. In some countries, foreigners are called aliens.

Patrick Tan
 

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Your Singapore's Total Defence

Home > Breaking News > Asia > Story
March 9, 2009
Taiwan to end conscription <!--10 min-->
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From 2011, the number of conscripts will be reduced by at least 10 percent each year, to be replaced by professional soldiers. -- PHOTO: AP
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--> TAIPEI - TAIWAN will phase out its decades-old military conscription policy over the next five years, the defence minister said on Monday, amid warming ties with China. Currently all men aged over 20 are required to do one year's military service.
But Defence Minister Chen Chao-min told reporters that the structure of Taiwan's military manpower will undergo a dramatic change over the next few years.
'From 2011, the number of conscripts will be reduced by at least 10 percent each year, to be replaced by professional soldiers,' Mr Chen said.
'That is to say, eventually, conscript measures will come to an end by 2014.' Critics have argued that the island's armed forces have struggled to enhance their defence capabilities because conscripts are unable to become proficient in high-tech weaponry in their short military service.
However, the new proposals sparked concerns over whether the defence ministry would be able to recruit sufficiently qualified professional soldiers at a monthly salary of NT$35,000 (S$1,550).
The plan to phase out conscription was a campaign pledge of President Ma Ying-jeou during the 2008 election.
The number of service personnel in Taiwan stands at around 275,000, down from a peak of 600,000 during the Cold War.
Taiwan's relatively large army is a legacy of decades of tensions with China, which has regarded the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
However, ties between Taiwan and China have improved dramatically since Mr Ma's Kuomintang party took office last May promising to boost cross-strait trade and tourism. -- AFP
 

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Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home

April 23, 2009

<NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home </NYT_HEADLINE>

<NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">By HIROKO TABUCHI
</NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>HAMAMATSU, Japan — Rita Yamaoka, a mother of three who immigrated from Brazil, recently lost her factory job here. Now, Japan has made her an offer she might not be able to refuse.
The government will pay thousands of dollars to fly Mrs. Yamaoka; her husband, who is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent; and their family back to Brazil. But in exchange, Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband must agree never to seek to work in Japan again.
“I feel immense stress. I’ve been crying very often,” Mrs. Yamaoka, 38, said after a meeting where local officials detailed the offer in this industrial town in central Japan.
“I tell my husband that we should take the money and go back,” she said, her eyes teary. “We can’t afford to stay here much longer.”
Japan’s offer, extended to hundreds of thousands of blue-collar Latin American immigrants, is part of a new drive to encourage them to leave this recession-racked country. So far, at least 100 workers and their families have agreed to leave, Japanese officials said.
But critics denounce the program as shortsighted, inhumane and a threat to what little progress Japan has made in opening its economy to foreign workers.
“It’s a disgrace. It’s cold-hearted,” said Hidenori Sakanaka, director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, an independent research organization.
“And Japan is kicking itself in the foot,” he added. “We might be in a recession now, but it’s clear it doesn’t have a future without workers from overseas.”
The program is limited to the country’s Latin American guest workers, whose Japanese parents and grandparents emigrated to Brazil and neighboring countries a century ago to work on coffee plantations.
In 1990, Japan — facing a growing industrial labor shortage — started issuing thousands of special work visas to descendants of these emigrants. An estimated 366,000 Brazilians and Peruvians now live in Japan.
The guest workers quickly became the largest group of foreign blue-collar workers in an otherwise immigration-averse country, filling the so-called three-K jobs (kitsui, kitanai, kiken — hard, dirty and dangerous).
But the nation’s manufacturing sector has slumped as demand for Japanese goods evaporated, pushing unemployment to a three-year high of 4.4 percent. Japan’s exports plunged 45.6 percent in March from a year earlier, and industrial production is at its lowest level in 25 years.
New data from the Japanese trade ministry suggested manufacturing output could rise in March and April, as manufacturers start to ease production cuts. But the numbers could have more to do with inventories falling so low that they need to be replenished than with any increase in demand.
While Japan waits for that to happen, it has been keen to help foreign workers leave, which could ease pressure on domestic labor markets and the unemployment rolls.
“There won’t be good employment opportunities for a while, so that’s why we’re suggesting that the Nikkei Brazilians go home,” said Jiro Kawasaki, a former health minister and senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
“Nikkei” visas are special visas granted because of Japanese ancestry or association.
Mr. Kawasaki led the ruling party task force that devised the repatriation plan, part of a wider emergency strategy to combat rising unemployment.
Under the emergency program, introduced this month, the country’s Brazilian and other Latin American guest workers are offered $3,000 toward air fare, plus $2,000 for each dependent — attractive lump sums for many immigrants here. Workers who leave have been told they can pocket any amount left over.
But those who travel home on Japan’s dime will not be allowed to reapply for a work visa. Stripped of that status, most would find it all but impossible to return. They could come back on three-month tourist visas. Or, if they became doctors or bankers or held certain other positions, and had a company sponsor, they could apply for professional visas.
Spain, with a unemployment rate of 15.5 percent, has adopted a similar program, but immigrants are allowed to reclaim their residency and work visas after three years.
Japan is under pressure to allow returns. Officials have said they will consider such a modification, but have not committed to it.
“Naturally, we don’t want those same people back in Japan after a couple of months,” Mr. Kawasaki said. “Japanese taxpayers would ask, ‘What kind of ridiculous policy is this?’ ”
The plan came as a shock to many, especially after the government introduced a number of measures in recent months to help jobless foreigners, including free Japanese-language courses, vocational training and job counseling. Guest workers are eligible for limited cash unemployment benefits, provided they have paid monthly premiums.
“It’s baffling,” said Angelo Ishi, an associate professor in sociology at Musashi University in Tokyo. “The Japanese government has previously made it clear that they welcome Japanese-Brazilians, but this is an insult to the community.”
It could also hurt Japan in the long run. The aging country faces an impending labor shortage. The population has been falling since 2005, and its working-age population could fall by a third by 2050. Though manufacturers have been laying off workers, sectors like farming and care for the elderly still face shortages.
But Mr. Kawasaki said the economic slump was a good opportunity to overhaul Japan’s immigration policy as a whole.
“We should stop letting unskilled laborers into Japan. We should make sure that even the three-K jobs are paid well, and that they are filled by Japanese,” he said. “I do not think that Japan should ever become a multiethnic society.”
He said the United States had been “a failure on the immigration front,” and cited extreme income inequalities between rich Americans and poor immigrants.
At the packed town hall meeting in Hamamatsu, immigrants voiced disbelief that they would be barred from returning. Angry members of the audience converged on officials. Others walked out of the meeting room.
“Are you saying even our children will not be able to come back?” one man shouted.
“That is correct, they will not be able to come back,” a local labor official, Masahiro Watai, answered calmly.
Claudio Nishimori, 30, said he was considering returning to Brazil because his shifts at a electronics parts factory were recently reduced. But he felt anxious about going back to a country he had left so long ago.
“I’ve lived in Japan for 13 years. I’m not sure what job I can find when I return to Brazil,” he said. But his wife has been unemployed since being laid off last year and he can no longer afford to support his family.
Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband, Sergio, who settled here three years ago at the height of the export boom, are undecided. But they have both lost jobs at auto factories. Others have made up their minds to leave. About 1,000 of Hamamatsu’s Brazilian inhabitants left the city before the aid was even announced. The city’s Brazilian elementary school closed last month.
“They put up with us as long as they needed the labor,” said Wellington Shibuya, who came six years ago and lost his job at a stove factory in October. “But now that the economy is bad, they throw us a bit of cash and say goodbye.”
He recently applied for the government repatriation aid and is set to leave in June.
“We worked hard; we tried to fit in. Yet they’re so quick to kick us out,” he said. “I’m happy to leave a country like this.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/global/23immigrant.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=F10 vAlign=top>New migrants are hungrier</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=F6 vAlign=top>SEAH CHIANG NEE
The Star
Publication Date : 24-04-2010
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Lee Kuan Yew’s assertion that today’s Singaporean has turned soft has not gone down well with some quarters, but the reality is successive generations of migrants lose some of their forefathers’ pioneering spirit.
ARE Singaporeans – third-generation migrants who helped to turn a rundown town into a global city – losing their steam?
The answer is yes, according to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and quite a few employers share his view that it was good to have brought in foreign workers to fill the decline.
“Over time, Singaporeans had become less hard-driving and hard-striving,” Lee said in a recent interview
The hard-talking Lee then upset many people when he said that if Singaporeans were falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide”, that was their problem.
He described the new immigrants from China and the region as “hungry” – helped by parents who “pushed the children very hard”. (Actually, Singaporean parents are often accused of putting too much pressure on their kids.)
Predictably, some Singaporeans were angry with the remarks that implied they were becoming lazy and ought to be spurred like slow horses.
His words were inimitable Lee, and his sentiments were shared by employers and some older Singaporeans who truly feel that the youth today have less drive.
One retiree said Lee was partly right. “Many middle class Singaporeans are becoming spoiled and complacent compared with (their counterparts in) some emerging nations.”
Particularly poor is the attitude of service workers, with only one in five willing to go that extra mile to keep customers satisfied.
Lee’s view, however, does not represent the average Singaporean, who is often told his diligence ranks highly in the world.
That portion of Lee’s unpopular remarks was diplomatically omitted in a Channel News Asia broadcast, but the quotes were widely posted online.
It prompted an unprecedented demand from a 15-year-old schoolboy for Lee to proffer an apology to Singaporeans.
One forum writer said: “Lee’s wrong. Singaporeans work and work like a busy bee – work for wife and children, work to pay loans, bills, and if they have a little money left, they will save for a rainy day.”
Some of the world institutions dealing with workers have released studies that contrasted with Lee’s judgment of his own people.
Since 1980, Washington-based risk consultancy agency BERI has rated Singapore’s workforce as the world’s best – long before the bulk of foreign workers arrived.
Its latest ranking places Singapore’s workforce as the seventh most motivated in the world and second in Asia.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that despite the recent recession, Singa&shy;pore workers clocked up more hours than people of any other country, except Iceland.
They worked longer hours than the Japanese (4th) and Korean (5th) – both renowned for their workaholic ethics.
One lecturer said it was not useful to compare the new poorer immigrants, hungry to earn Singapore dollars, with Singapore’s better-educated young Singaporeans.
“New economic migrants who move to a wealthy country will always strive harder than the locals,” said a lecturer. “It is natural because they want to build a future for their families.”
It would have gone against historical trends for the better-educated, affluent hosts to out-work the new arrivals, he said.
He is right. Singaporeans are third-generation migrants who have prospered while the new arrivals are struggling first-generation immigrants with many mouths to feed back home.
Most of Singapore’s modern migrants who came in the 40s and 50s were probably as enterprising and hardworking as today’s newcomers.
At the time they had no more than the shirt on their back, hope in their heart and a dream in their eyes.
They desperately wanted to build a better life. Over decades of hard work and sacrifices, Singapore’s first-wave migrants have become prosperous and helped give a good education to their children.
This is The Singapore Story.
The present lot is the third generation of the early pioneers and has progressed and opted for a more relaxed lifestyle.
It is in the nature of things that each successive generation of migrants lose some of their forefathers’ pioneering strive and spirit. Singa&shy;pore is no exception.
Given time, this cycle will be repeated in Singapore when today’s newcomers – or their offspring – become prosperous and become contented and less striving.
By then these affluent and well-educated immigrants – whether from China or India – would have become as picky as our present generation of youths when it comes to “dirty” or “heavy” jobs.
I have read that even in China, some youths in the cities are becoming laidback as their parents become rich.
One analyst wrote that the new immigrants are like previous groups who came and worked hard.
“In future, their descendants will be like our present younger generation and tend to relax and take things easy. So in future, are we going to import more foreigners to spur their hide to make them work harder?” he asked.
“If so, that would ensure that nationhood will never take place.”
Some who agree with Lee blame it on the environment he created.
“I have met Singaporeans or ex-Singaporeans who have flourished in other countries.”
Surfer Normal Guy said Lee’s comments would not make him give up.
“My friends around me are not giving up, either. We will work real hard to grow, protect our nests and always try to stay ahead of whatever will happen in the next five years.”

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Australia Tightens Foreign Property Ownership Rules

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Bloomberg

Australia Tightens Foreign Property Ownership Rules (Update3)

April 24, 2010, 2:08 AM EDT <!-- Aggregate knowledge -->More From Businessweek

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(Adds Rudd’s comment in second paragraph.)
By Ben Sharples
April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Australia will tighten rules on foreign investment in real estate, and introduce penalties to enforce the changes, to ensure pressure isn’t placed on housing availability for local residents.
Temporary residents will require approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to buy property, and will have to sell when leaving the country, Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry said. It ensures “working families are not being priced out of their own family homes,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in Canberra today, a transcript from his office shows.
Treasurer Wayne Swan eased restrictions on non-residents in late 2008, making it easier for foreigners to buy property without government approval. Surging house prices, which advanced more than 10 percent last year, were among reasons the Reserve Bank of Australia boosted the benchmark interest rate this month for the fifth time in six meetings.
“Foreign purchasers can play an important role in supporting the development of new rental properties,” Aaron Gadiel, chief executive of Urban Taskforce Australia, said in an e-mailed statement. “Given that our national housing undersupply is reaching 200,000 homes, we should welcome any investment by foreign residents or businesses in boosting our supply of newly built homes.”
The lack of housing supply is the underlying issue for housing affordability, Gadiel said. Urban Taskforce Australia is an industry group representing property developers and equity financiers.
‘Foreign Speculators’
“We want to make sure that foreign speculators are not going to force up prices for Australians seeking to buy their own home, buy their first home, and we think this is the right course of action,” said Rudd, who faces an election within a year.
Australia will back up the changes with compliance, monitoring and enforcement measures including civil penalties, Assistant Treasurer Sherry said in a statement today. These include compulsory sales of property purchased in breach of the new investment regime, Sherry said.
Temporary residents will be required to start construction on undeveloped land within two years of purchase or be forced to sell, he said. The tighter rules will also apply to people on student visas, Sherry said.
Overseas Buyers
Overseas buying may have contributed to rising house prices, Sherry told reporters in Melbourne today. The measures are precautionary and won’t have a “major impact” on the housing market in Australia, Sherry said.
David Airey, president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, is among those blaming gains in home prices on an increase in investment from overseas buyers, particularly Chinese. The institute today supported stricter rules. Prices jumped 12.7 percent in the year through February, a March 31 report by real-estate monitoring company RP Data-Rismark showed.
Overseas purchasers accounted for about 0.62 percent of transactions by LJ Hooker in 2009, David Maher, business analyst at the real estate agency, said in a telephone interview on April 15.
‘Ridiculous Claims’
“Claims that overseas buyers are pricing people out of the market are ridiculous,” Maher said. “There’d have to be a mammoth increase in the level of overseas investment to have any real effect on affordability in the Australian market. The numbers don’t show that.”
An increase in housing through the release of more land, and measures to reduce the amount of money and time it takes to develop new projects, are required to ease prices, Charles Tarbey, local chairman of Century21 Real Estate, said April 6.
The average sales price of houses and apartments its agents sold between Jan. 1 and March 29 this year was A$407,228 ($378,000), an 18 percent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Century21 data.
--With assistance from Nichola Saminather in Sydney. Editors: Jim McDonald, Ravil Shirodkar
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Millard at [email protected]

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250 Engineering Positions - Locals Need Not Appy!

首届新加坡电子行业人才选拔会即将于上海开幕

知名企业热推250个赴“新”就业机会

  2010年6月4日 北京 —— 新加坡经济发展局和人力部成立的联盟联系新加坡今天宣布,首届新加坡电子行业人才选拔会将于6月26日在上海举办。届时将有联发科技、芯科实验室有限公司以及罗克韦尔自动化有限公司等全球知名企业亲临现场,与广大中国电子工程师面对面交流。
  据悉,此次面向中国电子业人才开放的职位将多达250个,涉及集成电路设计师(RF IC Design Engineer)、应用工程师(Application Engineer)、数字设计工程师(Digital Design Engineer)、设备及维护工程师(Equipment & Maintenance Engineer)、高级硬件工程师(Senior Hardware Engineer)等多个职业定向。除了将亲临现场进行招聘的公司外,还将有众多国际和新加坡本土企业在活动官网发布招聘信息,包括松下、安华高科技、英飞凌等。有意应聘者只需登录网站,递交职位申请和简历,就有机会获得海外工作的良机。
  电子业是新加坡经济的支柱产业,在其制造业年产值中所占比例超过30%,全国从业人员超过90,000人。尽管近年全球经济大环境并不喜人,新加坡电子业却依旧保持了稳定的增长,并引领着全球电子业的复苏。新加坡经济发展局公布的最新数据显示,新加坡今年第一季度制造业表现抢眼。其中,电子行业累计产值飙升70.2%,成为最大的驱动力。依托于强大的知识密集型产业结构,新加坡已成为电子领域的卓越中心。包括联发科技、芯科实验室有限公司、罗克韦尔自动化有限公司以及松下等在内的诸多国际大公司都选择在新加坡开设工场和研发机构。新加坡电子业坚实的产业基础和优良的商业环境,为全球人才提供了广阔的发展空间。
  谈到首届新加坡电子行业人才选拔会,联系新加坡的大中华区域主任柯志声先生说:“新加坡在世界电子业的领先地位,可从目前境内相关设施数量之多、种类之广泛上显而易见。新加坡致力成为国际电子业中心,不断吸引国际人才是实现这一目标的重要途径。我们希望通过举办专场招聘活动,为中国电子业的优秀人才和在新加坡的知名企业牵线搭桥,为中国的精英提供具有国际化的职业发展平台。”
  在联系新加坡的配合下,已有不少中国电子业人才成功立足新加坡。31岁的徐飞就是其中一位。他原是罗克韦尔自动化公司上海研究中心的一位高级工程师,工作稳定。但当他了解到新加坡分公司有空缺职位时,毅然决定前往,并于今年1月,在联系新加坡的协助下顺利落户。在赴新之前,徐飞还有些担心自己不能适应新加坡的工作要求和节奏,但后来发现新同事和上司都非常热情,自己很快融入其中。回顾自己的这一重大决定,他说:“我认为新加坡有国际化的工作环境,可以接触到不同的管理理念,和不同国家的工程师交流。我非常庆幸做了这样的选择。”
  听闻联系新加坡这次将在上海举办电子行业的人才选拔会,徐飞激动地表示:“这真的是一个不容错过的良机!我鼓励想尝试新体验、乐于接受变化和挑战的同行们来新加坡工作。这样的经历对事业和个人生活都会有重大的积极改观。”
  欲了解关于在新加坡工作、投资和生活的更多信息,请访问联系新加坡中文网站:

http://www.contactsingapore.sg /cn
 

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Twice In 50 Years

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD width=44>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Title[/FONT]</TD><TD width=10>:</TD><TD width=546>[FONT=Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif]Govt to review canals across S'pore as part of effort against floods [/FONT]
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=44>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif]By[/FONT]</TD><TD width=10>:</TD><TD width=546>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif][/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD width=44>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif]Date[/FONT]</TD><TD width=10>:</TD><TD width=546>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif]19 June 2010 1636 hrs (SST) [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD width=44>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif]URL[/FONT]</TD><TD width=10>:</TD><TD width=546>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif]http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1064320/1/.html [/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE border=1 cellSpacing=5 borderColor=#cccccc borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#cccccc cellPadding=3 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]SINGAPORE : Following Wednesday's Orchard Road floods, the government will be reviewing all canals across Singapore to prevent a recurrence of the floods.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said this on Saturday on the sidelines of a community event.

He added that it is a matter the government is taking "very seriously".

Dr Yaacob said the government will be reviewing all canals in Singapore to see what more can be done.

It will look at ways to improve maintenance.

For example, the cleaning contracts for canals will be extended from three to five years so that contractors can invest in new technologies to clean the canals.

"Every event is a new learning experience for us. This rainfall was totally unexpected, I can be very honest about it. If you look at rainfall patterns, we've never seen such a pattern," said Dr Yaacob.

"Having said that, it means there are new things happening, so the approach we should be taking is to learn from this, improve upon it, and assure Singaporeans that we'll do our best to prevent this as much as possible," he added.

"The Marina Barrage works because when the rainfall came, we opened up six gates and the water flowed out and there was no flooding downtown. So had there not been a blockage, it'll be a very good system as far as we're concerned," he said.

Dr Yaacob said early investigations showed that both sections of the Stamford Canal in Orchard Road could handle the storm surge, if not for the blockage in one of them.

So this is one area that agencies like PUB and the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be looking into to prevent a future occurrence.

"The ministries responsible will have to take it up. On my part, PUB and NEA will do their part to improve this, (and) if we have to work with NParks, we'll work with NParks. The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said Dr Yaacob.

The minister also said the response by PUB and other agencies has been commendable, as they did their best to help the businesses and people affected.

"The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said dr Yaacob.

Asked about compensation for the damage, Dr Yaacob said the government will assist those affected as much as possible.

He also said that new buildings and construction in the area are not a contributing factor to the floods, contrary to what some believe. - CNA /ls
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Accept and adapt

Jun 21, 2010

Accept and adapt

Grassroots organisations have been designated the frontline of the national integration effort. But with the growing number of PRs and new citizens determined to carve out their own spaces in these heartland institutions, adaptation is proving a two-way street.

By Rachael Chang

MEMBER of Parliament Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim recalls a recent party for new citizens and permanent residents from India in his Kaki Bukit ward, organised by the local grassroots group Indian Activity Executive Committee.

Attendance was outstanding, with over 100 present: 'They brought their entire families...three or four generations in the room.'

There were chairs and tables, but the guests chose to sit on the floor to eat.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of the Straits Times.

[email protected]

Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access

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More expats took up personalised work pass

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Business @ AsiaOne

More expats took up personalised work pass

Pass gives them greater stability and flexibility when job market is unstable.

Melissa Sim

Tue, Jun 22, 2010
The Straits Times

DURING last year's recession, more foreign professionals chose to take up a Personalised Employment Pass (PEP), said human resource experts.
Human resource firms saw greater numbers of PEP holders seeking new employment last year, and such holders who spoke to The Straits Times said they did it for greater stability and flexibility, especially when the job market here was unstable.
The PEP, introduced in 2007 to attract highly skilled foreigners, allows non-Singaporeans to work here without being tied to a specific employer, unlike the traditional Employment Pass.

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Job-seekers reject offers

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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10 align=right>>> Back to the article</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Jun 29, 2010</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Job-seekers reject offers

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>By Kor Kian Beng </TD></TR><TR><TD class="marginbottom8 padlrt10">
THE pendulum has swung in favour of job-seekers, as the economy improves and companies get hungry for workers.​

More employers say they are getting the snub from these people, who are holding out for higher salaries and better benefits, according to a quarterly survey by recruiter Hudson.​

Its poll of more than 500 employers from key business sectors in Singapore show 40 per cent have received rejections of their job offers in the last six months. In contrast, only 21 per cent have not encountered any refusal.​

The common reasons given for the rejection are: higher salary expectations (55 per cent) and better offers from other companies (51 per cent). About 38 per cent say the candidates told them their employers had made a counter-offer while 10 per cent lost out because their benefits were not good enough.​

The Hudson's survey, released yesterday, also shows 57 per cent of bosses want to raise their headcount in the third quarter - a peak never achieved since the first quarter of 2001. It is also a rise from 54 per cent in the previous quarter and more than double the 26 per cent reported a year ago.​

The top hirers are banking and financial services (67 per cent), information technology and telecommunications (64 per cent) and healthcare and life sciences (50 per cent). Growth in Asia and improved business sentiments are fuelling the drive to hire, said Hudson Singapore's executive general manager Georgie Chong.​


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Re: Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home

April 23, 2009

<NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home </NYT_HEADLINE>

<NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">By HIROKO TABUCHI
</NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>HAMAMATSU, Japan — Rita Yamaoka, a mother of three who immigrated from Brazil, recently lost her factory job here. Now, Japan has made her an offer she might not be able to refuse.
The government will pay thousands of dollars to fly Mrs. Yamaoka; her husband, who is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent; and their family back to Brazil. But in exchange, Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband must agree never to seek to work in Japan again.
....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/global/23immigrant.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

</NYT_TEXT>
as much as i sort of hate you for cutting & pasting without commenting... thanks for posting thuis article. never knew the japs treated their FT so nicely. pretty much paid them money to deport themselves?!? no cheap bangla or even PR here will ever have it this good.
 

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Half Time 2010

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>Fkapore <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>5:51 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right>(1 of 7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"></TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>35562.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>18 Feb: Singapore polytechnics and ITEto increase tuition fees
22 Feb: Foreign worker levies to go up from July
9 Mar: At least two town councils to up S&C charges
12 Mar: Licence fees to sell cigarettes could increase
18 Mar: Singapore’s 3 public universities, NUS, NTU, SMU, to raise tuition fees
23 Mar: Sheng Siong raises rent at 5 wet markets by 30%
30 Mar: Electricity to cost more from April.
1 Apr: HDB resale prices up 2.7%
20 Apr: Public transport fares to go down 2.5 per cent?
22 Apr: Home loan rates rise.
24 Apr: Private home prices up.
26 Apr: ERP rates up from May 3
30 June: Electricity tariffs to go up again.
02 July: HDB resale prices up 3.8%.

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The Floodgate

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Published on VUFO - NGO Resource Centre Vietnam (http://www.ngocentre.org.vn)

Home > content > Singapore to Help Vietnam Train High-qualified Manpower
<HR class=print-hr>Singapore to Help Vietnam Train High-qualified Manpower



The Singapore Government will continue to help Vietnam train human resources to improve the country’s manpower quality in the context of global integration, said a Singaporean official.
“The government has assigned Singaporean-based RPT to cooperate with universities in Vietnam to send local students to Singapore for training,” the Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported June 29, citing Eric Trotter from RPT. In fact, Vietnamese students are good at theory but bad at practices, leading to low competitiveness of the national labor workforce, he admitted, noting that my companies, especially foreign-invested ones in Vietnam have had to retrain workers after recruitments.
“We are recruiting students in Malaysia, China and the Philippines to retrain them. We will create the opportunity for Vietnamese ones,” he noted.
Vietnam will need VND51.8 trillion ($2.71 billion) to carry out a project to improve the quality of the national manpower in the 2011-2020 period.
Currently, the country has 47 million people of working age. It aims to raise its trained manpower rate to 30% in 2010 from 28% in 2009.
Annually, vocational training schools train more than 1.5 million workers. The number, however, has not met the social demand.


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The coming election will be a showdown for the born and bred locals. It's now or never. SG has been overrun by foreigners without the SAF even firing a bullet. Make your vote count.
 
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