TR EMERITUS

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who had come under fire of late from Singaporeans for his failure to control sky-rocketing HDB flat prices, now tries to woo the man in the street by revealing his "common roots" during his younger days. Mr Mah was a boss at the Singapore Bus Service in the late 1970s. Speaking during this year's May Day dinner, Mr Mah revealed that he once learnt to drive a bus to understand the difficulties drivers face in reverse-parking a bus. He did not elaborate more on whether his "experience" served any useful purpose to the workers or SBS. In order to win trust from the workers, he also learnt how to "swear" in Hokkien though he did not mention the expletives he had picked up. Mr Mah claimed that "the deep level of mutual trust and understanding among the tripartite partners was the 'most fundamental and abiding' reason for the recovery from last year's recession." "If anyone thinks that was easy, just look at the situation in many other countries, where government, employers and unions were locked in conflict, unable to take difficult decisions because they simply did not trust one another," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. The "tripartite partners" refer to the government, employers and workers. Mr Mah forgot to add that there are no independent trade unions in Singapore who truly represent the interests of ordinary Singapore workers. The largest trade union NTUC is a pseudo-PAP organization which is always led by a PAP minister. It has limited power or influence to fight for higher wages and better working conditions on behalf of the workers. For example, many Singaporeans were forced to accept a wage cut during last year's recession, but when the economy improves this year, their wages have yet to increase despite repeated exhortations by NTUC on employers to do so. Fortunately for Mr Mah, he is expected to receive a hefty 8.8 percent pay rise this year on top of his $2 million dollar annual salary, which is more than four times that of U.S. President Barack Obama.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

OPINION The buzzword lately is "integration, integration and integration". Not a single day pass without the state media harping on the magical word which is spreading like a bug to afflict all aspects of life in Singapore. Even the classroom is not spared. A few days ago, a Symposium on Integration in Schools was held to study ways of promoting social interaction and integration between Singaporeans and foreign students in Singapore schools. A week earlier, a "Water Festival" was held by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations to celebrate the New Year of the Burmese, Thai and Cambodian community in Singapore. PAP MP Grace Fu who was the Guest-of-Honor at the event, said: "We are a cosmopolitan society, and we celebrate a lot of festivals that do not originate here. I told the grassroots to look at activities that will drive the crowd here because if people all stay in their flats, integration cannot take place." Yes, the key word is still "integration". Singaporeans are having "integration" forced down their throats literally by the PAP and the state media which continues to churn out "integration" propaganda day after day faithfully. The question is: how many Singaporeans are genuinely interested in "integration"? Saved for the grassroots leaders who are coerced to lend their support to such "integration" events, not many Singaporeans appear to be aware of the activities being held in their neighborhood to promote "bonding" between them and the immigrants. Integration is a natural process which will take time to materialize and cannot be accelerated artificially by such half-hearted superficial attempts. In the United States for example, it was found that immigrants generally take at least three generations to become fully naturalized U.S. citizens. It is impossible to expect the newcomers to become Singaporeans overnight, especially when so many of them are allowed into Singapore within a short a period of time. As there is already a significant number of their compatriots in Singapore, they tend to congregate within their respective communities and have few incentives to reach out to Singaporeans. Furthermore, some immigrants do not even understand or speak English, the lingua franca which unites the various races in Singapore. How can one ever integrate into an English-speaking nation without speaking the language in the first place? The onus is on the new immigrants to integrate into Singapore society and if they do not bother to put in the effort, no amount of money spent on integration by the PAP will help. Had the PAP got its immigration policy right in the first place, there will be no need to spend so much money to promote "integration" now. With public disgruntlement rising against the relentless influx of foreigners, the atmosphere is not quite appropriate for the PAP to implement its "integration" policies on the ground. The state media only selects rare examples to highlight how the immigrants are "integrating" into Singapore society which is not exatly reflective of the reality. Singaporeans are already suffering from the recklessness of the PAP's misguided policies. They should not have "integration" forced down their throats down to cover up for the PAP's ineptitude. We did not ask for so many foreigners to be brought into Singapore. Why must we "integrate" with them? Shouldn't the immigrants be the ones to integrate into our society instead? While Singaporeans are forced to live with the increasing number of foreigners in their country, it is their choice to decide if they want to socialize with them. If the integration efforts turn out to be an abject failure, the fault lies with the PAP alone for not formulating its policies well and not Singaporeans. At the end of the day, Singapore belongs to every Singaporean and not just the PAP. Being citizens of this country, we have the right to decide its fate, including the number and type of immigrants we should accept.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.   The UBS Series: >> Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers >> Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living >> Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy   Related articles: >> Teo Chee Hean aspired to build immigrant society for all races >> Citizens and immigrants bond via quiz on Singapore >> Urgent need for population debate in Singapore >> The fallacy of using lax immigration policies to solve low fertility and aging population issues >> PAP mass-recruiting Taiwanese PMETs to compete with Singaporeans >> Halimah Yacob: Not true that employers hiring foreigners over Singaporeans >> Conversation with a PRC prostitute given Singapore PR by the PAP >> Teo Chee Hean: PAP’s immigration policy has always been “strict” >> How the PAP allows foreigners into Singapore to compete with locals for jobs >> Why Singaporeans ‘fear’ of new immigrants is absolutely rational >> SM Goh reassures immigrants that they are still welcomed in Singapore >> Singaporean working in China lashed out at grouses of Singapore PRs >> Eight reasons why foreign workers will be preferred over local ones >> Declining wages of Singaporeans and the continued denial by PAP leaders >> Halimah Yacob refutes UBS study findings >> Halimah Yacob: Productivity drive will be derailed if foreign worker challenge not addressed  >> Exposing the six major flaws in the PAP’s immigration policies >> Wong Kan Seng promises to tighten immigration policies >> SM Goh: Foreign workers numbers may still rise >> Malaysian car mechanic applying for Singapore citizenship >> PAP launches Singapore Citizenship Journey to help new citizens integrate >> Compulsory for new citizens to attend “sharing sessions” with grassroots leaders >> Wong Kan Seng urged Singaporeans to be more tolerant of foreign workers >> Tharman: Foreign workers increase income of low-income families >> Sylvia Lim: Pace and influx of foreigners over last few years is wrong >> Amy Khor urges Singaporeans to welcome foreigners >> PAP MP wants more money to be spent to make new citizens feel welcomed in Singapore >> Shanmugam: Foreigners generate jobs for Singaporeans >> Vivian happy there are 4,500 new citizens serving as grassroots leaders >> Cosmetic changes made to immigration policy >> SM Goh: New immigrants needed to make up population shortfall >> PAP ministers hailed contributions of foreigners >> SM Goh expressed support for Zhang Yuanyuan >> State media: citizens have more rights over PRs >> Zhang Yuanyuan got her Singapore PR in only 2 months >> Official reply from government on the Zhang Yuanyuan fiasco >> Singapore PRC PR proclaimed loyalty to China publicly >> PRC resident hung China flag to celebrate its National Day >> PRC student in Singapore wants more scholarships for foreigners >> PRC prostitutes solicit for customers on Singapore’s cyberspace >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs  Read More →

The PAP's REACH Forum will be rolling out a series of initiatives to "engage" Singaporeans and to show that the PAP is "listening" to them during this year's May Day Rally. Besides launching a dedicated website to provide constant live updates to the various feedback channels, it will conduct a telephone poll to garner feedback from Singaporeans on the Rally. An e-Townhall webchat chaired by Minister of State to the Prime Minister's Office, Heng Chee How, REACH chairman, Dr Amy Khor, and NTUC Assistant Secretary-General, Mr Ong Ye Kung will also be organized. The REACH Forum was launched amidst much fanfare a few years ago as an official channel for Singaporeans to provide feedback directly to the PAP. However, its website has suffered from poor traffic and its Facebook membership languishes far behind those run by independent socio-political blogs. There is a perception among some Singaporeans that their feedback posted on REACH will end up inside a "black hole" with no concrete action taken. The ruling PAP controls 82 out of 84 seats in Parliament with no opposition to check on it. As such, no external parties can exert any sort of political pressure on it. Unpopular policies are often forced down the throats of Singaporeans as "bitter medicine" for their own "good". The media is tightly controlled to serve as the PAP's mouthpiece. Law Minister Shanmugam reiterated in Parliament lately that Singapore needs a "strong" government with a "clear" majority. With such a "strong" government in power, the REACH Forum is no more than a mere PR exercise to provide a channel for disaffected Singaporeans to ventilate.   Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans. This page is maintained independently by a TR reader.  Read More →