And see how the shameless 154th leeporter ended the leeport on a high note.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Feb 28, 2009
TIGHTER S-PASS RULES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Does restricting foreign talent help Singaporeans?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
WHEN Mr Mansoor Ali was retrenched from his engineering job late last year, he was both shocked and angry.
Shocked because the 38-year-old felt he was doing little wrong in the semiconductor company that he had been with for more than 21/2 years.
Shock quickly turned into anger when he learnt that 20 foreigners working in the same department were not being retrenched.
'I am the sole breadwinner in my family with a school-going child. Did it matter to my employer? No, the general manager said it was a business decision,' said Mr Mansoor, who is married with two children.
'My situation didn't matter to them. I felt as if locals were not protected.'
His bitter reaction mirrors the sentiment that some Singaporeans have towards foreigners. They feel that foreigners here take their jobs away.
It is a sentiment that the current downturn - in which jobs are becoming ever more scarce - will do little to alleviate.
MPs too have started to ask whether it is time to rethink the open door policy that Singapore adopted towards foreigners during the boom years.
In particular, they single out foreigners on the S-Pass - a category of foreign workers who compete for jobs most directly with local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
Addressing such concerns during the recent Budget debate, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the qualifying criteria for the S-Pass would be raised.
He did stress, however, that it would hurt the economy as a whole if Singapore were to chase foreigners out.
What does such a move signal? Will it be effective in creating more opportunities for local PMETs? Or will it add to the burden of struggling companies?
Tweaking the S-Pass
THE S-Pass is an employment pass for semi-skilled workers with diploma-level or post-secondary-level education and who earn at least $1,800 a month.
It was introduced in 2004 by the Government as a means of helping businesses get access to foreign manpower on the back of a booming economy.
Companies complained that they were struggling to find the manpower to meet their business needs.
To ease their woes, the S-Pass was created to allow semi-skilled professionals, such as assistant engineers, skilled technicians and accountants who were in high demand, into the economy.
Initially, the quota for S-Pass holders in each company was capped at just 5per cent of a company's staff strength. It was raised gradually over the years to the current cap of 25per cent.
As a result, the overall number of S-Pass holders has jumped.
In 2006, there were just 25,000 S-Pass holders here. This trebled to 74,000 last year.
These figures mirror the rise in the total population of the foreign workforce here.
In 1998, there were 640,000 foreign workers in Singapore.
Last year, the figure rose to slightly more than a million - or almost 35per cent of the 2.86million-strong workforce here, Manpower Ministry (MOM) figures show.
S-Pass holders are now dispersed throughout the economy. They build ships in shipyards, man telephones at call centres, work as retail assistants, and in restaurants as managers and chefs.
The Government reassured Singaporeans that the S-Pass was not going to crowd Singaporeans out since companies could tap on the S-Pass to fill urgent manpower needs.
Government leaders point out that without access to such foreign labour - S-Pass holders included - companies can face problems meeting orders.
But while this may have been true in the good times, the liberal policy of the S-Pass should be relooked now, as the downturn takes its toll on workers' jobs, said Dr Lim Wee Kiak, an MP for Sembawang GRC.
'Now that the economy has contracted, should we also think about whether allowing so many S-Pass holders creates too much competition here for our local PMETs?'
Dr Lim was pleased when he heard that MOM would be raising the qualifying criteria for S-Pass holders.
He believes it is a good move and will stem the wave of S-Pass holders coming here.
'This strikes a good balance between ensuring that jobs continue to exist for locals and allowing in semi-skilled foreigners.'
Furthermore, he said this will complete the package of help that the Government has laid out for PMETs.
There are already training and skills upgrading opportunities - such as the newly launched Professional Skills Programme, and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) - that PMETs can tap.
But these training efforts may come to nought if there are no jobs for trained personnel to take up, said Dr Lim.
Using the analogy of fishermen and fish, he said: 'It's best to train one how to fish. But if there are few fishes and too many fishermen, there will be too few fish for everyone - even for skilled fishermen.'
His views are echoed by Mr David Leong, managing director of human resource firm PeopleWorldwide.
He thinks the ministry's move will help funnel the flow of foreign manpower to those jobs where there is a lack of skills among the local workforce.
For example, those in the service industry 'will likely be hardest hit as these jobs are easily filled by Singaporeans, with training if need be', he said.
'The learning curve for such skills as sales, marketing and retail merchandising is not as steep as that in technical areas like safety supervisors, construction foremen or commissioning superintendents, where specific technical qualifications are needed.'
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Feb 28, 2009
TIGHTER S-PASS RULES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Does restricting foreign talent help Singaporeans?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
WHEN Mr Mansoor Ali was retrenched from his engineering job late last year, he was both shocked and angry.
Shocked because the 38-year-old felt he was doing little wrong in the semiconductor company that he had been with for more than 21/2 years.
Shock quickly turned into anger when he learnt that 20 foreigners working in the same department were not being retrenched.
'I am the sole breadwinner in my family with a school-going child. Did it matter to my employer? No, the general manager said it was a business decision,' said Mr Mansoor, who is married with two children.
'My situation didn't matter to them. I felt as if locals were not protected.'
His bitter reaction mirrors the sentiment that some Singaporeans have towards foreigners. They feel that foreigners here take their jobs away.
It is a sentiment that the current downturn - in which jobs are becoming ever more scarce - will do little to alleviate.
MPs too have started to ask whether it is time to rethink the open door policy that Singapore adopted towards foreigners during the boom years.
In particular, they single out foreigners on the S-Pass - a category of foreign workers who compete for jobs most directly with local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
Addressing such concerns during the recent Budget debate, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the qualifying criteria for the S-Pass would be raised.
He did stress, however, that it would hurt the economy as a whole if Singapore were to chase foreigners out.
What does such a move signal? Will it be effective in creating more opportunities for local PMETs? Or will it add to the burden of struggling companies?
Tweaking the S-Pass
THE S-Pass is an employment pass for semi-skilled workers with diploma-level or post-secondary-level education and who earn at least $1,800 a month.
It was introduced in 2004 by the Government as a means of helping businesses get access to foreign manpower on the back of a booming economy.
Companies complained that they were struggling to find the manpower to meet their business needs.
To ease their woes, the S-Pass was created to allow semi-skilled professionals, such as assistant engineers, skilled technicians and accountants who were in high demand, into the economy.
Initially, the quota for S-Pass holders in each company was capped at just 5per cent of a company's staff strength. It was raised gradually over the years to the current cap of 25per cent.
As a result, the overall number of S-Pass holders has jumped.
In 2006, there were just 25,000 S-Pass holders here. This trebled to 74,000 last year.
These figures mirror the rise in the total population of the foreign workforce here.
In 1998, there were 640,000 foreign workers in Singapore.
Last year, the figure rose to slightly more than a million - or almost 35per cent of the 2.86million-strong workforce here, Manpower Ministry (MOM) figures show.
S-Pass holders are now dispersed throughout the economy. They build ships in shipyards, man telephones at call centres, work as retail assistants, and in restaurants as managers and chefs.
The Government reassured Singaporeans that the S-Pass was not going to crowd Singaporeans out since companies could tap on the S-Pass to fill urgent manpower needs.
Government leaders point out that without access to such foreign labour - S-Pass holders included - companies can face problems meeting orders.
But while this may have been true in the good times, the liberal policy of the S-Pass should be relooked now, as the downturn takes its toll on workers' jobs, said Dr Lim Wee Kiak, an MP for Sembawang GRC.
'Now that the economy has contracted, should we also think about whether allowing so many S-Pass holders creates too much competition here for our local PMETs?'
Dr Lim was pleased when he heard that MOM would be raising the qualifying criteria for S-Pass holders.
He believes it is a good move and will stem the wave of S-Pass holders coming here.
'This strikes a good balance between ensuring that jobs continue to exist for locals and allowing in semi-skilled foreigners.'
Furthermore, he said this will complete the package of help that the Government has laid out for PMETs.
There are already training and skills upgrading opportunities - such as the newly launched Professional Skills Programme, and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) - that PMETs can tap.
But these training efforts may come to nought if there are no jobs for trained personnel to take up, said Dr Lim.
Using the analogy of fishermen and fish, he said: 'It's best to train one how to fish. But if there are few fishes and too many fishermen, there will be too few fish for everyone - even for skilled fishermen.'
His views are echoed by Mr David Leong, managing director of human resource firm PeopleWorldwide.
He thinks the ministry's move will help funnel the flow of foreign manpower to those jobs where there is a lack of skills among the local workforce.
For example, those in the service industry 'will likely be hardest hit as these jobs are easily filled by Singaporeans, with training if need be', he said.
'The learning curve for such skills as sales, marketing and retail merchandising is not as steep as that in technical areas like safety supervisors, construction foremen or commissioning superintendents, where specific technical qualifications are needed.'