Law minister says Singaporeans should welcome foreign workers
<cite class="auth">Channel NewsAsia - Monday, November 3
</cite>SINGAPORE: Having foreign workers in Singapore is in the country’s national interest, said Law Minister K Shanmugam on Sunday, in response to questions from some Singaporeans who felt that the country could do with fewer foreign workers.
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</noscript>The concerns were raised amidst a worsening economy, with greater competition expected for fewer jobs. Mr Shanmugam, who took over the Ministry of Law six months ago, made his first community visit on Sunday to Queenstown — one of Singapore’s oldest public housing estates. Besides meeting him, residents there also took the opportunity to raise issues of concern at a dialogue session. Among the matters raised was the social cost of having more foreign workers in Singapore. The law minister said: "Who builds our HDB flats? Where do we live? Who builds our roads? Can we really even have our basic infrastructure to continue to be upgraded, without foreign workers? "There are some jobs that Singaporeans won’t do, and then there are some jobs that Singaporeans cannot do... We need to be welcoming our guest workers; we need to be welcoming our expatriates, all of that in pursuit of our national interest." Other issues raised included the recent hike in electricity tariffs and the need for electronic road pricing.
Mr Shanmugam also spoke on another current topic — whether investors who have bought Lehman Minibonds or Lehman—linked products can collectively sue the financial institutions for mis—selling. He said lawyers can, in general, represent a group of people to sue on their behalf. "We may not have the classic class action suits that are available in the US where an action can be brought on behalf of a group of people, whether or not they’re parties to an action. "We have representative action, that whoever needs to be benefiting from an action, needs to be a party to that action and lawyers might be signing up or may sign up a large number of people to commence action," said Mr Shanmugam. But he hopes investors will consider lawsuits as a last resort, and instead go through the current channels put in place by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The law minister said: "The government has set service standards for the various institutions involved — where there has been mis—selling, there has to be compensation. And how do you identify mis—selling? "We have neutral evaluators and certain processes to follow. All complaints need to be acknowledged within two days. Any complaint should be dealt with in a matter of weeks, each to be looked at carefully."
— CNA/so
<cite class="auth">Channel NewsAsia - Monday, November 3
</cite>SINGAPORE: Having foreign workers in Singapore is in the country’s national interest, said Law Minister K Shanmugam on Sunday, in response to questions from some Singaporeans who felt that the country could do with fewer foreign workers.
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Mr Shanmugam also spoke on another current topic — whether investors who have bought Lehman Minibonds or Lehman—linked products can collectively sue the financial institutions for mis—selling. He said lawyers can, in general, represent a group of people to sue on their behalf. "We may not have the classic class action suits that are available in the US where an action can be brought on behalf of a group of people, whether or not they’re parties to an action. "We have representative action, that whoever needs to be benefiting from an action, needs to be a party to that action and lawyers might be signing up or may sign up a large number of people to commence action," said Mr Shanmugam. But he hopes investors will consider lawsuits as a last resort, and instead go through the current channels put in place by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The law minister said: "The government has set service standards for the various institutions involved — where there has been mis—selling, there has to be compensation. And how do you identify mis—selling? "We have neutral evaluators and certain processes to follow. All complaints need to be acknowledged within two days. Any complaint should be dealt with in a matter of weeks, each to be looked at carefully."
— CNA/so
