Friday, April 13, 2012
Stay Strong
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The weak do not love. Only the strong do.
to change the world.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Imported Importance
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*** The following are general sentiments aired by fellow Singaporeans and are not meant to put down the government. ***
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Excerpt 1:
Did the PAP government quit on Singaporeans?
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Now there are 2 questions that come to my mind, did these “foreign talent” quit their country to come here for greener pastures, and did the PAP govt quit on Singaporeans by welcoming foreigners to come in and depress our wages or make us jobless ?
Why did the PAP govt not look towards Singaporeans to solve our own problems? Did the PAP govt not quit on Singaporeans by allowing foreigners to come into our country, when these jobs could have been performed by a Singaporean, is depressing our wages or making us jobless a solution for any of our Singaporean problems to being with?
What were the considerations made before such a decision was made? Today companies prefer to hire foreigners because they don’t have to pay them CPF, and these foreigners got no NS or likely family commitment in Singapore.
We don’t have minimum wage to protect us but we have minimum CPF sum and minimum withdrawal age, but what happens when you are young and jobless and have no CPF contribution at all?
Today we feel like a foreigner in your own country, and I have to ask myself, did the PAP govt quit on Singaporeans?
-Ray, TREMERITUS
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Excerpt 2:
Talent buy becomes sore point
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To the government, expanding the talent pool is crucial for the economy.
Since the birthrate is declining, why not import youngsters from the region by the thousands, especially from China and Asean, to come and study here free of charge.
The issue is developing into another controversy, with critics labelling it as a short-cut development of human resources through imports rather than focusing on home talents.
It is not only pursued in sports, where young foreign winners are brought in to win gold medals, but also extends to bio-medical research scientists.
The issue took to the media last month when the government revealed in Parliament that at least 2,000 scholarships worth S$36mil (RM87.8mil) were awarded each year to overseas students.
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Mainly, people are annoyed over the loss of opportunities and salary undercutting by these newcomers from poorer countries.
Besides, as former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once admitted, the majority came to enjoy the scholarships, not to settle down.
They use Singapore as a jumping-off point for the West.
Lee once remarked that if only 20% settled here, the government would be satisfied. As a general rule, taking in foreign students adds value to tertiary studies.
“Besides, some scholarship students return home to assume top posts in the government or private companies, which can help smooth bilateral relations with Singapore.
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“Compared with other countries, Singapore likely has a larger proportion of scholarships taken up by foreign students as compared to locals,” said David Loong.
Opposition Reform Party politician Lim Zi Rui criticised the government for treating Singaporeans as second, and even third, class citizens when it comes to education.
He said: “Our local students lose out, lose the chance, even though they are of the same calibre.”
The rapid intake of foreign students and professors, many of whom are poor in English, may have been one cause for the drop in rankings of Singapore’s two top universities.
The National University of Singapore had fallen from 18th in the world in 2004 to 34th in 2010, according to Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. And Nanyang Technological University dropped from 50th to 174th position.
-SEAH CHIANG NEE, thestaronline.
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My thoughts:
Taking in foreign talent is good because it spurs competition among us Singaporeans so that we would not rest on our laurels and would work hard for the things we want in life.
However, the problem arises when there are too many of them.
This creates an imbalance of population dynamics which, in turn, possibly generates more problems in the society.
Competition
Competition leads to stress. Stress is good to push society forward, but too much of it becomes bad. Companies prefer hiring foreigners of the same caliber as Singaporeans because it is more economical to do so. This threatens Singaporeans as we would not want to lose our jobs. Moreover, besides being threatened, we would feel that this is unfair as the job opportunity is offered preferentially to foreigners just because they can be hired at a lower cost. With such a threat that we face in our daily lives, it is only logical to put our career at the top of our priorities in life. The statistics on Pg 22 of http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/people/popinbrief2011.pdf show clearly that people are having later marriages over the past decade. I would believe that it is largely due to having a career-first mindset that has caused such a trend. When it is so difficult to make a decent living with local AND foreign competition AND rising inflation, having kids seems unaffordable. Does this also explain the falling birth rates? Yes, maybe the policies of the past have shaped our mindset, but the policies of the present have also sharpened them. How much time should one spend at work in order to earn more to be able to provide for the family? How much time is actually spent at home with one's spouse? How can marriages remain strong when more than half the time one is away? Even if they are at home, will they be at the computer, using handphones and gadgets, or watching the television? Is there even time to re-think about divorce?
About the falling birth rates, I would say that change takes time. If the government hopes that birth rates would increase, then there needs to be a suitable environment for such a scenario to occur. And to change the societal stop-at-2 mentality really takes years.
Property
Only the rich are able to buy property. Generally, the foreigners who come to Singapore are wealthy. Property may be a good investment for them. This way, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Housing prices are increasing so drastically that makes owning a flat unaffordable. We are increasing the demand by introducing more people here when our land supply is limited?
Commitment
If foreigners are just here in Singapore to use it as a platform to further their studies or to take-off in their businesses, they have no commitment. The very basic mindset that they have here would most probably be to earn so that they can return to their mainland to provide for their children. Maybe having foreigners take up higher positions does increase bilateral relations. But at what expense will this be? Will they do it for the people living in Singapore? Or for personal interests? Where is their commitment anyway?
Space
A home is a place where we are given space to grow.
http://static.stomp.com.sg/site/servlet/linkableblob/stomp/787940/data/crowd1jpg1318500989275-data.jpg
Needless to elaborate, we experience it everyday.
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We only feel so strongly because we are not appreciated enough.
Will there actually be some cap to the foreign talent? Will the government allow Singapore Citizens to have more exclusive rights?
Or have we been forgotten?
:/
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For people like you and me who are not able to change policies, let us still have a positive outlook from this.
Despite our negative sentiments, may we remain humble and remember that we are not superior to foreigners, treat them with due respect, and genuinely keep a friendly disposition towards them. So that for those who are able to recognize this, can leave Singapore in a better state than they first came.
While we pray that we are in good hands.
to change the world.
|
i am, christopher lye
21 on 15 March 2012
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