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[COLOR="_______"]Since when do we need “foreign talent” to be clinic assistants?[/COLOR]
October 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Top News
According to the Straits Times report yesterday, a 37 year old Chinese national was fined $5,000 for submitting a forged nursing diploma to get a work pass.
Ma Yuqing, however, will serve a default sentence of four weeks’ jail as she could not pay the fine. On Jan 28, she lied to the Controller of Work Passes in her application for an S Pass that she was a nursing graduate from the Chinese university.
She was given an S Pass to work as a medical assistant for J.R. Family Clinic and Acupuncture Centre where she worked until June 9.
The irony of it all is that Ma would still have been granted the S pass even if she did not have the forged qualification.
With due respect to clinic assistants, one does not need any special qualifications to become one. Most clinic assistants require only basic “N” or “O” level passes.
As such, there are many Singaporeans who qualify for the job. Why does J.R. Family clinic need to employ a Chinese national to fill the position?
Singaporeans are told repeatedly by the government that we need both highly qualified professionals and unskilled foreigners to take up jobs that Singaporeans shun such as construction work.
In the past, all the clinic assistants in Singapore are locals. It offers a stable job with a reasonable income and therefore it is unlikely that locals will shun them. Therefore, why are foreigners like Ma allowed to work in Singapore as one on a S-pass?
Besides clinic assistants, foreigners are also taking up jobs that can otherwise be filled by Singaporeans such as tele-marketeers, administrators, IT engineers and even coffeeshop assistants.
Some cannot speak even basic English or English with such a heavy accent which is incomprehensive to locals. Yet, they are able invited to become PRs after working in Singapore for two years. To add salt to the injury, the government is now offering free language courses to them at the expenses of taxpayers!
Though foreigners are needed in certain sectors of the economy, they should be kept strictly out of bounds from jobs like clinic assistants.
The ultimate aim of employers is simply to keep business costs down. Between a foreigner who cost much less than a local, the choice is obvious. But foreigners can survive on with a monthly salary of less than $1,000 as they are living alone here while Singaporeans need to feed their families which explains many do not want to take up these jobs at low pay.
The influx of foreigners had kept the wages of the bottom 20 per cent of the income group stagnant over the last decade. On the contrary, the upper 5 per cent of the income group has seen their wages increased annually with the exception of last year due to the global economic crisis. (Source: singstat)
Mass import of foreigners will surely increase our GDP growth because they produce more at a lower cost. Unfortunately, the fruits of Singapore’s GDP is not spread evenly across the population.
It is time for the government to review its liberal pro-foreigner manpower and immigration policies so that “foreign talent” like Ma can be kept out of Singapore’s shores.
October 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Top News
According to the Straits Times report yesterday, a 37 year old Chinese national was fined $5,000 for submitting a forged nursing diploma to get a work pass.
Ma Yuqing, however, will serve a default sentence of four weeks’ jail as she could not pay the fine. On Jan 28, she lied to the Controller of Work Passes in her application for an S Pass that she was a nursing graduate from the Chinese university.
She was given an S Pass to work as a medical assistant for J.R. Family Clinic and Acupuncture Centre where she worked until June 9.
The irony of it all is that Ma would still have been granted the S pass even if she did not have the forged qualification.
With due respect to clinic assistants, one does not need any special qualifications to become one. Most clinic assistants require only basic “N” or “O” level passes.
As such, there are many Singaporeans who qualify for the job. Why does J.R. Family clinic need to employ a Chinese national to fill the position?
Singaporeans are told repeatedly by the government that we need both highly qualified professionals and unskilled foreigners to take up jobs that Singaporeans shun such as construction work.
In the past, all the clinic assistants in Singapore are locals. It offers a stable job with a reasonable income and therefore it is unlikely that locals will shun them. Therefore, why are foreigners like Ma allowed to work in Singapore as one on a S-pass?
Besides clinic assistants, foreigners are also taking up jobs that can otherwise be filled by Singaporeans such as tele-marketeers, administrators, IT engineers and even coffeeshop assistants.
Some cannot speak even basic English or English with such a heavy accent which is incomprehensive to locals. Yet, they are able invited to become PRs after working in Singapore for two years. To add salt to the injury, the government is now offering free language courses to them at the expenses of taxpayers!
Though foreigners are needed in certain sectors of the economy, they should be kept strictly out of bounds from jobs like clinic assistants.
The ultimate aim of employers is simply to keep business costs down. Between a foreigner who cost much less than a local, the choice is obvious. But foreigners can survive on with a monthly salary of less than $1,000 as they are living alone here while Singaporeans need to feed their families which explains many do not want to take up these jobs at low pay.
The influx of foreigners had kept the wages of the bottom 20 per cent of the income group stagnant over the last decade. On the contrary, the upper 5 per cent of the income group has seen their wages increased annually with the exception of last year due to the global economic crisis. (Source: singstat)
Mass import of foreigners will surely increase our GDP growth because they produce more at a lower cost. Unfortunately, the fruits of Singapore’s GDP is not spread evenly across the population.
It is time for the government to review its liberal pro-foreigner manpower and immigration policies so that “foreign talent” like Ma can be kept out of Singapore’s shores.
