Indian FTrash: NO VALUE in Pink IC Woh!

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PRs: Has the welcome mat been rolled back? (ST 27 Mar)

Posted by admin 26 March, 2010

Mar 27, 2010

PRs: Has the welcome mat been rolled back?

One policy change after another has been unveiled to sharpen the distinctions in the privileges and benefits enjoyed by citizens and permanent residents (PRs). How are PRs reacting to the changes? Do they feel less welcome, more insecure? Will they decide to sink their roots here, seek greener pastures elsewhere or return home?

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By Cai Haoxiang
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BUSINESS consultant Manisha Kalra came to Singapore from India in 2007 because she felt it was open to foreigners.
But in the last few months, she had been reading a slew of articles about simmering local resentment against permanent residents (PRs) like her.
=> Simmering? It is GOOD NEWS that the 154th is doing all it can to pray down the surging tide, so that the FAPee can be lulled into complacency and make their fall even more inevitable and heavier!
Then came the flurry of government announcements of policy changes aimed at widening the gap between the benefits and privileges given to citizens and PRs.
That’s when she began to get the jitters.
‘I started rethinking my long-term plans,’ says Ms Manisha, 26, whose sales manager husband is a PR as well. The couple do not have any children.
‘Is Singapore really the place to live in? I don’t know what policies it’ll have in the future.’
She concedes there is now little value in trading her Indian passport for a Singaporean one.
‘Citizenship benefits seem to be for people in their 30s, and not so much for the younger generation who are just starting out,’ she says, referring to for-citizen-only baby bonuses, childcare subsidies, and longer maternity leave.
As she owns a condominium apartment here, she says she is not in need of any housing grants that citizens are eligible for.
Despite the recent policy changes, however, Ms Manisha admits that Singapore still makes her feel more welcome compared to other countries.
She is one of the record-high 533,000 PRs here as of June last year, representing a rise of 11 per cent over the previous year. This works out to one PR for every six citizens.
In 1990, there was one PR for every 23 citizens. In 2000, the number narrowed to one PR for every 10 citizens.
The number of new PRs minted each year rose from 32,000 in 2003 to 63,000 in 2007, which worked out to an average of 48,300 a year over that five-year period.
=> Why are the 2008 and 2009 figures censored?
As of September last year, Singapore had 3.2 million citizens, or 64 per cent of its total population of five million.
=> In other words close to 4 in 10 are FTrash! Apart from Dubai, which other cuntry in the world has been so FTrashised? But Dubai makes sure its citizens get all the benefits first! While in Peesai, the FAPee TRAITORS make sure they and their FTrash pets are given all the freebies!
Sharpening the distinctions
THE ever-swelling inflow of foreigners and PRs caused a growing groundswell of discontent and disquiet among Singaporeans, who blamed them for depressing their pay, taking away their jobs and school and university places, rising property prices and a variety of social ills.
They complained about the big squeeze in buses, MRT trains and public spaces. They griped that there was no difference between the benefits enjoyed by citizens and PRs.
To reassure them, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) forum last September that the way in which citizens and PRs were treated would be tweaked ‘to reflect the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship’.
Elaborating a day later, Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said: ‘Foreigners in our midst will still feel a sense of welcome, but they must understand that they cannot demand the same privileges that come with membership. This is something we have to keep calibrating with time.’
The promised changes came fast and furious. Last December, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen announced that Singaporeans will get an extra ballot during Primary 1 school registration from July this year, to help them get into the school of their choice when applicants outnumber places.
___________=> SHAMELESS LIE![/SIZE]

 

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School fees will also be raised for PRs and foreigners, starting from January next year. PRs will pay three times more for their children’s education compared to citizens by 2012.
In January, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced that the gap for health subsidies between PRs and citizens will widen to 20 percentage points.
Within the past month, higher fee hikes for PRs vis-a-vis citizens were also unveiled for the Institute of Technical Education, the five polytechnics and the three universities here. They will take effect this year.
During the Budget debate earlier this month, a quota for PR households was introduced for Housing Board (HDB) flats capped at 8 per cent in each block and 5 per cent within each neighbourhood, to prevent enclaves of foreigners from forming in the heartland.
Middle-class concerns
SO HOW are PRs reacting to all these policy changes? Do they feel that the welcome mat is being rolled back? Or do they understand Singaporeans’ anxieties and why the Government needs to change policies to reassure them?
Insight interviewed a wide range of PRs from a variety of nationalities, occupations, age and income groups.
In general, the better-off PRs in the upper stratas of society are not affected by the housing, education and health-care policies.
They typically live in private property and send their children to international schools. They are covered by comprehensive health insurance.
=> Cos they have leeplaced Sporns who would otherwise have enjoyed these benefits?
Data from June last year shows that only 4.9 per cent of HDB flats were owned by PRs.
___________=> SHAMELESS LIE #2![/size]
‘Many PRs tend to rent flats or even own private property,’ points out information technology and services specialist Amrit Barman, 42.
Administrative executive Huang Shuang, 28, who lives in a condominium, adds: ‘I’m not sure what the changes are for. I won’t feel insecure because I already have a property.’
=> Cannot find Sporn for such a job?
Ms Manisha says: ‘If I have a kid I’d rather put him in an international school.’
Those who express the greatest concern tend to be married with young children and belong to the middle to lower-middle income groups.
Take administrative officer Li Wei, 24, who wanted to buy a four-room HDB flat with her husband, but could not afford the 20 per cent downpayment.
She worries about more changes to come. ‘I don’t know whether they will come up with another policy saying PRs can’t own property.’
Her colleague, Mr Liu Xiaoyang, 26, who graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic in 2005 and got his PR status in 2007, agrees: ‘There’s a bit of pressure and insecurity.’
Mr Liu, who is married to a PR, is concerned about the rising costs of having children. ‘Maybe one of us will apply for citizenship,’ he says.
A common sentiment among PRs is that while they understand the rationale behind the policy changes, they feel that they should not be unfairly or unduly penalised.
After all, they point out, they are contributing to Singapore in income taxes and participating in community events. Their sons also do national service.
Straits Times Forum letter writer Ko Yuen Gi, a 20-year-old PR serving national service, argues that PRs should not be penalised for holding onto their roots. ‘P in PR does not stand for ‘provisional’ – it stands for ‘permanent’.’
=> Then why not take up the pink IC? Why didn't the leeporter ask him such a critical question?
Mr Atul Temurnikar, founder of the Global Indian International School, which caters mostly to the children of expatriate Indians, says: ‘The distinction between PRs and citizens from a health and education perspective is wider than it should be.’
But he acknowledges that Singapore’s adjustments in favour of citizens are in line with what other countries with large numbers of foreigners do, as in the United States.
New Chinese immigrant Li Ye Ming, who wrote a letter to the Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on the housing quota changes recently, says: ‘A lot of Singaporeans think PRs have a lot of money to push up housing prices. But PRs lead a tough life too.’
=> So what kinds of 'talents' are the FAPee TRAITORs attracting?
He notes that PRs tend to fill positions that Singaporeans do not want, and are often hired at a discount to the local equivalent wage cost.
=> Isn't this where the problem lie? That FTrash is to leeplace Sporns and not create more jobs! FCUK THE FAPEE TRAITORS!
In his letter, Mr Li argues that the changes make it harder for PRs to buy property in the cheaper areas in the west and north, and will force them to rent in groups, thus increasing the likelihood of enclaves being formed.
Speaking to Insight, he cautions: ‘The policies soothe Singaporeans but make PRs feel uneasy. But human nature is such that if people don’t find good opportunities, they will leave for greener pastures. This applies to Singaporeans too.’
Still a green pasture
AMONG the PRs interviewed by Insight, there seems to be more of a sense of anxiety and discomfiture rather than of anger and bitterness.
The prevailing view especially among those in the middle class is that despite the policy changes, Singapore still offers better opportunities than elsewhere.
‘Singapore is still attractive and competitive compared to other countries,’ says entrepreneur Avish Joseph, 33, who runs a data mining and market analytics company. He has been in Singapore for eight years.
To the expatriate Indian community, Singapore is a draw because of its proximity to India, its English-language environment, and its Indian community and culture, according to Mr Amrit Barman, whose book on the lives of the new Indian professionals in Singapore, entitled India Fever, was published last year.
=> mAKE IT MORE COMPLETE BY ADDING A CASTE SYSTEM?
As Mr Temurnikar puts it: ‘I think people will continue to come to Singapore and take up citizenship here. It is still one of the most attractive cities to live in in Asia.’
While it is harder for her to own a place here, Ms Li says property in Singapore is still cheaper and easier to obtain than back in her native China where property prices in the cities are spiralling out of control.
It is not just Indian and Chinese nationals who find opportunities here. The American Chamber of Commerce, for the first time, ran two sessions on the PR application process last year. This was in response to expatriates seeking to stay on here when their contracts with their companies ended or were terminated.
From PR to citizenship
THE big question regarding foreign talent, from the Government’s point of view, revolves around Singapore’s long-term prospects.
Politicians often reiterate the need for new citizens to prop up the country’s falling birth rate, which slid to a record low of 1.23 last year.
Singapore needs about 20,000 new citizens each year to ensure citizens form the core of the population, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng earlier this month.
=> More like they need 20k FAPee supporters every year lah!
But faced with higher education, health-care and housing costs, will PRs be pushed to seek better opportunities elsewhere, or apply for citizenship? Will they sink roots here or seek greener pastures elsewhere?
The PRs who admit to being affected by the new measures say the changes are not dramatic enough to force them to leave. Some do not rule out a citizenship application in future.
‘Maybe the Government’s policies are trying to target a specific group of middle-income PRs, to provide an economic incentive for PRs to become citizens,’ says Dr Zhang Zhibin, 39, an assistant professor of public administration at NTU.
‘But I think people shouldn’t become citizens because of purely economic incentives. Call me an idealist, but I want would-be citizens to have an identity change.’
Citizenship, some PRs contend, is a subjective and personal matter, and it takes time for an emotional bond to form.
Even with an emotional bond, they say Singapore’s restrictions on having dual citizenship will prevent a group of expatriates from applying.
Singapore-based Australian singer Corinne Gibbons feels that Singapore is her home, but thinks it is rare for people to renounce the country of their birth.
Ms Brigitte Holtschneider, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce, has been in Singapore for 10 years and a PR since 2005.
‘I got a citizenship invitation a couple of years back, but it’d mean I’ll have to give up my German passport,’ she says.
‘But I have a good job here, I’ve built up my life here, I like the climate, I feel it’s important to live and work where the future is, and for me the future is in Asia.’
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