Surf anywhere on the local blogosphere, forums and alternative news sites, you'd find an article or more regarding the unhappiness with foreign immigration or as the laughable misnomer by the PAP goverment calls them, "foreign talent".
The government's badly managed PR push to get Singaporeans to welcome these "necessary talent" is met with a rising tide of scorn and cynicism from a populace long assumed to be apathetic or even guileless to the self entrenched ruling parties ham-handed way of pushing unpopular policies through. For years, the smug "men in white" were able and grew accustomed to
steamrolling national initiatives (increase of GST from 5% - 7%, constant revision of public transport fares etc.) with nary a peep or murmur from the usually pliant citizens. But with the ascension of Lee Hsien Loong to the foregone conclusion of Prime Minister-ship and his opening of the floodgates *snicker to allow unrelenting streams of foreigners, particularly the ones from China and India, the administrations usual tactic of issuing positive-sounding-but-devoid-of-substantive-measures sound bites don't seem to be playing out well anymore.
The rising resentment stems from the fact that most Singaporeans have or are realising that these so-called talent are often just a convenient label for importing cheap labour for menial work. The chorus of dissent sings out that these foreign workers are taking up jobs that could and should be filled by a Singaporean. The evidence is as plain as PM Lee's pink shirt during his National Day Rally; foreigners have now taken up work in coffeeshops, retail outlets, bus captains and so many more. A fawning article by our state press helpfully points out all the other menial work currently being carried out by the so-called talent that the government claims Singapore needs in order to grow the economy and create jobs.
Way I see it, call a spade and a fish a fish. Have the balls to step up and admit that Singapore needs cheap foreign labour to take up jobs that Singaporeans have no interest in filling. Cut the crap with calling them "talent". The initial perception of an influx of well-educated and well heeled foreigners here to do some much-needed technology transfer were quickly dispelled when the first of many pei-du mamas started showing up in the press, arrested for moonlighting as "masseuse" and what not.
Next on the resentment list is the fact that these same 'talents' now strain our national infrastructure to the point where it's bursting at the seams. Other complaints point out that these new immigrants evince no interest in learning our language, leading to many a frustrated encounter in local shops and restaurants. Others point out that the practise of offering cheap citizenships to foreigners led to a bull run on the property market and more importantly, the government subsidised housing apartments. Housing prices have soared to astronomical heights. Foreign students are also offered scholarships and take up places in our local schools and universities. The list could go on and on.
The unhappy truth of course (though no one in the government would have the balls to come out and say it) is that capitalism at the end of the day wins. Many companies take advantage of the foreign-worker-to-locals quota wherever possible to hire cheaper skilled labour. All businesses exist for one reason and one reason alone - to make money. To claim otherwise is a crock of bullshit. As they say, money saved is money earned.
So are we in danger of becoming Pauline Hansons with this rising tide of hysteria over foreign workers coming in to steal our jobs, our homes, our childrens' places in schools? Pauline shot to international fame when she espoused a no-immigrants policy when she was running for elections. Her diatribe over "Asians" taking up jobs, homes and places in school now sound eerily familiar.
Truth is, I personally don't believe that the government owes its people long term job security or first priority in landing a job for that matter. It should however be responsible and oversee other factors that makes Singapore a great place to set up business in i.e. office rents, tax rebates. Instead of giving out lame handouts like GST Offset Package, set aside a real fund from which citizens can draw from to further improve themselves via training courses or the like. Grants for a worker to upgrade himself should be accessible to the individual himself, not dependent on a company. Artificially depressing wages by not implementing a minimum wage and making it so easy for a foreigner to find work here is just plain wrong.
That said, I think it sucks that I have to compete unfairly with a foreign worker for a job. But how I choose to deal with it is to make myself the best candidate possible. I do believe in being hired for my skills and knowledge, not because of my nationality. I have had to interview candidates for positions within my team or department before and the appalling examples of ill-prepared applicants are usually the local ones, whereas foreign applicants come across as earnest, hardworking and sometimes eager to please. Coupled with a "lower price tag", how can one blame local employers for choosing to hire "outside" help then?
Those who invoke the name of Pauline Hanson conveniently forget that she has long given up on Australian politics and has decided to move to the UK. Come on, Pauline Hanson was largely a leftover from the 1990s. Don't you have anything new to bring up?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, how many other countries in the world have foreign population of 36%? And the argument that foreign labour is needed to do jobs Singaporeans are not willing to do is pure nonsense. Any Econs 101 student will tell you that under free market conditions, if labour supply shrinks, wages will go up ceteris paribus until more workers are willing to work for that job. Are you saying no Singaporean would be willing to work as a construction worker if they paid $10,000 a month? Did you think developed economies around the world such as Germany, Japan, France, UK, US, Canada and other OECD nations import workers en masse to do low-skilled work the extent Singapore does? Shouldn't those guys over there be cutting costs the same way Singapore does?
It's the Singapore government which has arbitrarily decided that the free market shouldn't be allowed to take its course because wages should be kept low so as to maximise corporate profits share of GDP and true to that Singapore has kept wages to about 40+% of GDP whereas in many other countries it's much higher above 50%.
And the argument that Singaporeans can compete with FTs on an equal ground is pure BS. Singaporeans are already 1/3rd more expensive compared to FTs because of CPF contributions, money which they'll never be able to touch and is left to rot in the state coffers steadily eroded away by inflation while the state investment funds reap double digit returns on the same money. Not to mention the possibility of downtime for NSmen. All these makes hiring Singaporeans very unattractive.
hey there, thanks for commenting, but I believe you mis-read my post and what I was driving at.
ReplyDeleteFYI, Paulien Hanson said that she is looking to move to the UK but has yet to do so. In fact as of July 2010 she still expressed interest in joining Tony Abbot's coalition if he would have her, under the Liberal ticket.