Netizens sceptical about PM Lee’s promise to slow intake of foreigners
September 18, 2009 by admin
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From our Correspondent
Singapore netizens are reserved and sceptical about PM Lee’s promise to slow down the intake of foreigners during a speech made recently at NTU.
Over at the Straits Times discussion forum, some forumers questioned the sincerity of the Prime Minister while others called for concrete action instead of mere empty rhetoric.
Kokoobird was the first to retort:
“Are you doing it because the election is near about 1 year or less from now ? After that what happens ? - Back to the old policy ?”
Followed by Wannamen:
“Sounds like election is coming next year – a speech made to appease a growing number of unhappy Singaporeans? Maybe a tad too late.”
Refugees added:
“PM is listening, which only meant 1 thing… election is coming, better make your demands now with your MPs…”
Some wrote that they are supportive of bringing in talented foreigners, but not at the government’s faulty implementation of its open-door policy.
Misnomer wrote:
“By all means, bring in real talents – people with skills which Singaporeans lack. Let in those too, who would do jobs which locals will not. But not the in betweens, liberal granting of “S” passes. These people mostly have secondary school education, even if with a uni degree, are no better than our ITE/poly grads, but they are willing to slog for meagre wages which Singaporeans cannot survive on. Easy access to foreign workers will not goad local employers to improve their work process to be productive or to hire locals. Our chronic unemployment is on the rise, so will social problems.”
lowsukling concurred:
“There was always going to be a problem with the FT policy. The problem is there seems no way of weeding out the FNTs (Foreign No Talent), who seems mostly to have a golden rice bowl at the expense of his more hardworking local colleagues, largely due to the patronage of his boss who shares the same skin colour. This is especially prevalent in the financial sector. The government must have a mechanism of a) making sure that talented foreigners pass on skill sets, and b) that FNTs are not taking up positions at the expense of better qualified and capable locals. And dont be fooled into believing that there are no more expat packages. These FNT bums have the audacity of making Singapore sound like the hardship tour while commanding to locals’ wages.”
Karaokeking disagreed with the government’s definition of “talent”:
“It’s perfectly right to continue to attract real talents. What’s wrong is our govt’s definition of ‘talent’. The foreigners we commoners come into contact with every day are more trash than talent. And it’s this ‘mismatch’ that causes frustrations.”
While Singaporeans acknowledge the importance of recruiting talented foreigners to work in Singapore, they disagree with the government’s policy of opening the floodgates indiscriminately to semi-skilled foreigners to compete directly with locals for jobs.
A few forumers quoted examples of other countries to highlight the flaws of Singapore’s immigration policy.
Stevewu77 wrote of his personal experience in the U.S.
“Personally, I have nothing against any foreigners. I believe every Singaporean would like to be treated with civility when he/she works and lives in a foreign country. I have had a pleasant stay in the US for a decade. I would like to contrast the Singapore approach with an example from the US. The STAPLE Act calls - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize certain aliens who have earned a Ph.D. degree from a United States institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limitations on H-1B nonimmigrants”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1791
The point is that if a country really wants talent in a particular area, there is an appropriate way to do it.”
Harokitty recounted his experience in UAE:
“Me too, just returned to our motherland from the UAE. It is true, the total percentage of locals is less than 2% of the total population in Dubai. Nevertheless, the government there has never loss focus of who is their main core, who will be there for their country. We, foreigners know that we are there to make some $$ and send those $$ home to our homecountry that is not our country and that is not where our loyal lies, the government there has policies to ensure that we know our place. Locals there will always be special to their government and we foreigners respect that and respect their government for taking good care of their own people.
Coming back to Singapore, darn – now I feel like a fool for proudly hanging my country’s flag in my living room when I was in the UAE, what so big deal about being a Singaporean?!?! It is so cheaply and easily available to certain undesirable national!
I do not understand, do we not have any standards in accepting and when offering our citizenship or permanent residency? I agree on the welcoming on talents that Singapore is lacking, but what I see so far are far from it! Why are students from China so special? What nonsense is Peidu-mama? What kind of contribution can this group of people contribute to our country besides opening a door for them to easily enter and create social problems and ‘conning’ away some stone-in-the-head old men’s CPF and life savings?
There are many talented people in China, but how many of them are here? We are getting the spits that China itself does not particularly care about. Just take a walk down Chinatown or Bugis, just throw a pebble and you’ll hit an entire village of them.”
A young mother, mickey08 shared her difficulties of getting a proper job due to competition from foreigners and expressed her worries for future generations of Singaporeans:
“I used to be working, but phase out of work because of FTs. I have 2 diplomas.. one from Ngee Ann Poly and another from the US , but worked as teacher assistant in an international school. I worked half a day, ie. 8 to 12 to accomodate my children……but I was retrenched due to the FTs. Not that they are better, as I was more hardworking and more efficient… that was what the chinese teacher told me.. The FTs can do anything, they left their home country, and so can even work round the clock, but we are different. We have families and that spell responsibilities and time !
It is not that Singaporeans are fussy, but we have family commitments. How to find keep work and family in balance when what employers want is give-give-give since there are easily available, foreigners? Put the flexi-work scheme in law, and more housewives will be delighted to work half-day while the children are in school, than to depend on FTs ! You see, if the employers can employ FTs easily, why rely on Singaporeans ?
It is so hard-pressed to be parents in Singapore. Now, get the link.. that is why many young couples do not want children no matter what kind of carrots are dangled in front of them. If I can turn back the clock, yes.. I would say NO to children, after having to sacrifice my career, and sanity to race through the stressful education that we are having, and to think again, my children will face the same dilemma that I am facing…FTs will easily available to take their work.. that is a frightening tot. Maybe one of the solution is.. to get out for good.. because as I experience now, there is no advantage to being a Singaporean in our own home country ! What an irony ! The country should take care of his citizens first, but fails to do so because all the top brass PAPpy are lopsided – all supposedly made up of very smart and intelligent men/women who are too smart and extraordinary to understand the life and struggles of the average Singaporeans ! Isn’t it the people who made the nation, and not the other way around ?
To those who are doing well now. What can you ensure that your children will be able to earn a decent living here ? Frightening tots. See our govt does not listen to us. They inform us . You either take it or leave it… so we die la.. fighting with the FTs ! Anyway the PAPpy need not fight with FTs, their job is theirs to keep for life, with tons of money thrown in !”
Be reasonable replied:
“Hello mickey08,
I feel your heartbeat. I can’t agree more with you that our government is not being reasonable and fair to the locals.
First they want every able Singaporeans to work to power our economy. They tell the old, don’t retire but take half your previous pay. Then they tell the educated women to have more babies and still hold on to their jobs. And they design the maid’s policy in such an unfair way to penalize employers in every situation and rob the maid’s pay partially in the form of levy, saying it is not desirable to have too many of them here. So, who is going be to look after these babes? Infant care is ~$1,200 per month and is likely to be out of reach to many lower-middle family. Worst of all, if they have a few young mouths to feed at the same time.
September 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under Top News
Leave a comment
From our Correspondent
Singapore netizens are reserved and sceptical about PM Lee’s promise to slow down the intake of foreigners during a speech made recently at NTU.
Over at the Straits Times discussion forum, some forumers questioned the sincerity of the Prime Minister while others called for concrete action instead of mere empty rhetoric.
Kokoobird was the first to retort:
“Are you doing it because the election is near about 1 year or less from now ? After that what happens ? - Back to the old policy ?”
Followed by Wannamen:
“Sounds like election is coming next year – a speech made to appease a growing number of unhappy Singaporeans? Maybe a tad too late.”
Refugees added:
“PM is listening, which only meant 1 thing… election is coming, better make your demands now with your MPs…”
Some wrote that they are supportive of bringing in talented foreigners, but not at the government’s faulty implementation of its open-door policy.
Misnomer wrote:
“By all means, bring in real talents – people with skills which Singaporeans lack. Let in those too, who would do jobs which locals will not. But not the in betweens, liberal granting of “S” passes. These people mostly have secondary school education, even if with a uni degree, are no better than our ITE/poly grads, but they are willing to slog for meagre wages which Singaporeans cannot survive on. Easy access to foreign workers will not goad local employers to improve their work process to be productive or to hire locals. Our chronic unemployment is on the rise, so will social problems.”
lowsukling concurred:
“There was always going to be a problem with the FT policy. The problem is there seems no way of weeding out the FNTs (Foreign No Talent), who seems mostly to have a golden rice bowl at the expense of his more hardworking local colleagues, largely due to the patronage of his boss who shares the same skin colour. This is especially prevalent in the financial sector. The government must have a mechanism of a) making sure that talented foreigners pass on skill sets, and b) that FNTs are not taking up positions at the expense of better qualified and capable locals. And dont be fooled into believing that there are no more expat packages. These FNT bums have the audacity of making Singapore sound like the hardship tour while commanding to locals’ wages.”
Karaokeking disagreed with the government’s definition of “talent”:
“It’s perfectly right to continue to attract real talents. What’s wrong is our govt’s definition of ‘talent’. The foreigners we commoners come into contact with every day are more trash than talent. And it’s this ‘mismatch’ that causes frustrations.”
While Singaporeans acknowledge the importance of recruiting talented foreigners to work in Singapore, they disagree with the government’s policy of opening the floodgates indiscriminately to semi-skilled foreigners to compete directly with locals for jobs.
A few forumers quoted examples of other countries to highlight the flaws of Singapore’s immigration policy.
Stevewu77 wrote of his personal experience in the U.S.
“Personally, I have nothing against any foreigners. I believe every Singaporean would like to be treated with civility when he/she works and lives in a foreign country. I have had a pleasant stay in the US for a decade. I would like to contrast the Singapore approach with an example from the US. The STAPLE Act calls - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize certain aliens who have earned a Ph.D. degree from a United States institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limitations on H-1B nonimmigrants”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1791
The point is that if a country really wants talent in a particular area, there is an appropriate way to do it.”
Harokitty recounted his experience in UAE:
“Me too, just returned to our motherland from the UAE. It is true, the total percentage of locals is less than 2% of the total population in Dubai. Nevertheless, the government there has never loss focus of who is their main core, who will be there for their country. We, foreigners know that we are there to make some $$ and send those $$ home to our homecountry that is not our country and that is not where our loyal lies, the government there has policies to ensure that we know our place. Locals there will always be special to their government and we foreigners respect that and respect their government for taking good care of their own people.
Coming back to Singapore, darn – now I feel like a fool for proudly hanging my country’s flag in my living room when I was in the UAE, what so big deal about being a Singaporean?!?! It is so cheaply and easily available to certain undesirable national!
I do not understand, do we not have any standards in accepting and when offering our citizenship or permanent residency? I agree on the welcoming on talents that Singapore is lacking, but what I see so far are far from it! Why are students from China so special? What nonsense is Peidu-mama? What kind of contribution can this group of people contribute to our country besides opening a door for them to easily enter and create social problems and ‘conning’ away some stone-in-the-head old men’s CPF and life savings?
There are many talented people in China, but how many of them are here? We are getting the spits that China itself does not particularly care about. Just take a walk down Chinatown or Bugis, just throw a pebble and you’ll hit an entire village of them.”
A young mother, mickey08 shared her difficulties of getting a proper job due to competition from foreigners and expressed her worries for future generations of Singaporeans:
“I used to be working, but phase out of work because of FTs. I have 2 diplomas.. one from Ngee Ann Poly and another from the US , but worked as teacher assistant in an international school. I worked half a day, ie. 8 to 12 to accomodate my children……but I was retrenched due to the FTs. Not that they are better, as I was more hardworking and more efficient… that was what the chinese teacher told me.. The FTs can do anything, they left their home country, and so can even work round the clock, but we are different. We have families and that spell responsibilities and time !
It is not that Singaporeans are fussy, but we have family commitments. How to find keep work and family in balance when what employers want is give-give-give since there are easily available, foreigners? Put the flexi-work scheme in law, and more housewives will be delighted to work half-day while the children are in school, than to depend on FTs ! You see, if the employers can employ FTs easily, why rely on Singaporeans ?
It is so hard-pressed to be parents in Singapore. Now, get the link.. that is why many young couples do not want children no matter what kind of carrots are dangled in front of them. If I can turn back the clock, yes.. I would say NO to children, after having to sacrifice my career, and sanity to race through the stressful education that we are having, and to think again, my children will face the same dilemma that I am facing…FTs will easily available to take their work.. that is a frightening tot. Maybe one of the solution is.. to get out for good.. because as I experience now, there is no advantage to being a Singaporean in our own home country ! What an irony ! The country should take care of his citizens first, but fails to do so because all the top brass PAPpy are lopsided – all supposedly made up of very smart and intelligent men/women who are too smart and extraordinary to understand the life and struggles of the average Singaporeans ! Isn’t it the people who made the nation, and not the other way around ?
To those who are doing well now. What can you ensure that your children will be able to earn a decent living here ? Frightening tots. See our govt does not listen to us. They inform us . You either take it or leave it… so we die la.. fighting with the FTs ! Anyway the PAPpy need not fight with FTs, their job is theirs to keep for life, with tons of money thrown in !”
Be reasonable replied:
“Hello mickey08,
I feel your heartbeat. I can’t agree more with you that our government is not being reasonable and fair to the locals.
First they want every able Singaporeans to work to power our economy. They tell the old, don’t retire but take half your previous pay. Then they tell the educated women to have more babies and still hold on to their jobs. And they design the maid’s policy in such an unfair way to penalize employers in every situation and rob the maid’s pay partially in the form of levy, saying it is not desirable to have too many of them here. So, who is going be to look after these babes? Infant care is ~$1,200 per month and is likely to be out of reach to many lower-middle family. Worst of all, if they have a few young mouths to feed at the same time.
