Re: Mark Lee admits that most of his workers at Old Town White Coffee are from mainla
Angry netizens call for boycott of Old Town White Coffee for employing “too many” PRC workers
February 5, 2010 by Our Correspondent
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Written by Our Correspondent
Angry netizens have called for a boycott of Old Town White Coffee after its owner famous comedian Mark Lee admitted in a recent interview with Chinese news portal xin.sg that most of its workers are from mainland China.
Mark Lee is even contemplating buying a cash counting machine to pay his China workers in cash:
“That is why we are going to buy a cash counting machine this year. I’m not being proud by saying this – otherwise, we really can’t count the cash!”
[Xin.sg, 27 January 2010]
Two days after Temasek Review published an article about it, we received a deluge of letters from angry readers saying that they will boycott Old Town White Coffee now. (read article here)
The Temasek Review has been publishing the names of companies which employ mostly foreigners or put up discriminatory job advertisements seeking PRs and foreigners of selected nationalities.
Three days after we published a job advertisement put up by Courts in Malaysia to recruit Malaysians for various positions in Singapore, we received a letter of “clarification” from its CEO Terry O’ Connor to explain why it had to recruit Malaysians instead of Singaporeans.
While we did not call for an open boycott of Old Town White Coffee, netizens continue to lambast Mark Lee for employing mainland Chinese at the expense of Singapore citizens.
The Patriot was obviously peeved off by Mark Lee:
“Boycott Old Town White Coffee! We Singaporeans serve NS to provide security for companies and businesses to prosper here but in return they betray us by employing foreigners. In the end, the offsprings of the native Singaporeans will fall behind because their parents just could not find jobs and earn enough to bring them up properly. When Singapore finally collapses, the people who have enrich themselves by exploiting and betraying the native Singaporeans will be able to emigrate, thereby leaving all the poor native Singaporeans to fend for themselves.”
NTU graduate concurred:
“Boycott Old Town White Coffee! Greedy entrepreneur that hire PRC over Singaporean. If most of the employers is like that, Singaporean how to survive? If those great minds think alike, those lower end Singaporean worker will suffer. That why the rich is getting richer and forgotten that they enjoy their live at the expense of the suffering of others.”
PAPUpLorry, an old customer of Old Town, is joining in the boycott too:
“Used to buy Old Town 3in1 coffee now that I know I shall change to other brand. There are other cheaper brand that taste as good if not better. Its matter of getting use to it that’s all. In fact I like to brew my own coffee but just too lazy. Count me in guys. I SHALL BOYCOTT WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.”
Some netizens sympathize with Mark Lee and felt that he should not bear the blame entirely.
SG wrote:
“Anyone who wants to do business in sg has to employ the cheapest labour in order to remain competitive. Don’t blame the businessman. Blame the govt who imports the cheap FWs indiscriminately.”
His views were shared by CheaperFasterBetter:
“Cannot blame him also lah. They also have to compete with others, in terms of overheads etc. Either we blame the Government & cast our vote of change
or We listen to our government – Be CHEAPER, FASTER & BETTER!”
Due to rising resentment, frustration and anger among Singaporeans at the ruling party’s liberal immigration policies, it is now “shifting” its policies to make them more “palatable” to them.
PAP leaders have been singing a different tune in the last few weeks to appease Singaporeans by promising to reduce the “inflow” of foreigners.
Even its strongest advocate for importing more foreigners into Singapore Lee Kuan Yew has done an abrupt U-turn:
“We’ve grown in the last five years by just importing labour. Now, the people feel uncomfortable, there are too many foreigners. Trains are overcrowded with foreigners, buses too, property prices have gone up because foreigners with permanent residence are buying into the market. The answer is simple: We check the flow of foreigners, raise your productivity, do the job better, so that instead of two workers, eventually you’ll do it with one worker, like the Japanese do,” he was quoted saying in the Straits Times on 28 January 2010.
Despite the massive propaganda being churned out by the state media to signal the PAP’s “big shift”, few netizens believe that it is sincere in reversing its disastrous pro-foreigner policies.
In an online poll conducted on the Temasek Review, 96 per cent of some 600 respondents believe that the recent change in the PAP’s stance is no more but a pre-election ploy to placate angry voters on the ground.
is he another, hakka yen?
