TR EMERITUS

Reuters, 17 April 2010 A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spreading out across Europe is causing air travel chaos on a scale unseen since the Sept 11 attacks and costing airlines hundreds of millions of dollars. The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, threw travel plans into disarray on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday Severe disruption of European air traffic was expected today, aviation officials said. Airports in much of Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands remained closed and flights were set to be grounded in Hungary and parts of Romania. “I am furious and frustrated,” said Sara Bicoccih, stranded at Frankfurt airport on her way home to Italy from Miami. The US military had to reroute many flights, including those evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said. “I would think Europe was probably experiencing its greatest disruption to air travel since 9/11,” a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Britain’s aviation regulator, said. “In terms of closure of air space, this is worse than after 9/11. The disruption is probably larger than anything we’ve probably seen.” Following the attacks on Washington and New York in 2001, US air space was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services. Disruption from the volcanic ash eruption in Iceland is costing airlines more than US$200 million (RM640 million) a day, air industry group the International Air Transport Association said. But unless the cloud disrupts flights for weeks, threatening factories’ supply chains, economists do not think it will significantly slow Europe’s shaky recovery from recession or affect second-quarter gross domestic product figures. “The overall impact should be very limited even if the problem persists for a day or more ... ,” IHS Global Insight chief UK and European economist Howard Archer said. - Reuters  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Speaking at the Singapore-China Forum on Leadership yesterday, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said that "building trust between government and citizens is a continuous process" and noted that it is a "good thing" that young Singaporeans want to participate in the decision-making process. "Instead of regarding this development as a vexatious demand for Government to be more open, transparent and accountable, it should be regarded as a positive sign of the citizens wanting to join in to build a better society," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. He also heaped generous self-praise on how the PAP continually "re-established" trust with the people during recent crises in 1985, 1997 and 2001 to illustrate the importance of building trust between the government and the media. SM Goh quoted a "February survey by US-based PR firm Edelman, which found that 84 per cent of Singaporeans and 74 per cent of Chinese citizens trust their governments respectively, compared to 46 per cent for the US and 38 per cent for Britain." He forgot to mention that the media in U.S. and Britain are free compared to Singapore and China. The Singapore media is ranked 133th in the world in terms of press freedom by international media watchdog Reporters without Borders last year. As the state media is staunchly pro-government, negative publicity about the government is often censored and covered up.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans.  Read More →

OPINION Two weeks ago, Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd finally succumbed to growing public pressure to appoint a population minister Mr Tony Burke to better evaluate the number of immigrants the nation can sustain. Mr Burke told ABC Radio that he plans not just to tweak immigration levels, but to examine all areas of government and how population could be spread into the regions as well to reduce congestion in the cities. If a big country like Australia is getting cold feet about the increasing number of migrants flooding the nation, what about Singapore? In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his ambitious plan to increase Singapore's population to 6.5 million people via immigration by 2030. All of sudden without warning, the floodgates were flung open to immigrants with far-reaching repercussions to Singaporeans. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore has depressed the wages of ordinary Singapore workers, increased the cost of living and led to an overall decline in the standards of living. There are rising complaints from the ground especially the vocal youth on the increased congestion in buses and trains, finding themselves strangers in Singapore and unfair competition posed by foreigners in a limited job market. The PAP has made some cosmetic changes to its disastrous immigration policies to better "differentiate" citizens from foreigners in order to placate angry voters, but there was no debate on the issue. Neither did Prime Minister Lee clarify if his population target is still on track. Are we accepting too many immigrants over the last few years? Are Singaporeans comfortable with the large number of immigrants living in our midst? Are the immigrants integrating well into our society? Should we change the population target to a more feasible and sustainable number? Who should take charge of Singapore's immigration policy in the future? These questions remain unanswered to this day. We seriously need a national debate on the PAP's immigration policy involving not only the PAP ministers, but members of the public, academia and opposition as well. Serious questions need to be raised on whether too many immigrants are being brought into Singapore within too short a period of time and if we have the necessary infrastructure in place to accommodate all of them. Since citizens are the ultimate stakeholders of the nation, their views should be sought after actively as well. Instead of a National Integration Council, a National Population Council should be convened immediately to revamp the PAP's immigration policy and to chart a new direction for our nation. While we cannot turn back the clock, we must ensure that the same mistake cannot be repeated again. Singaporeans have already paid a high price for the PAP's recklessness and lack of foresight in planning for the expected increase in population. For example, only about 3,000 HDB flats were built between the years 2006 - 2008 when there were an estimated 100,000 PRs and new citizens each year leading to the glut in public housing and astronomical prices right now. PRs are given too liberally to undeserving foreigners without a minimal period of residency. The state media reported last year of one China National working as a language teacher here who obtained her PR within two months. Wholesale changes need to be made not only to the immigration policy, but to the housing, labor, education and healthcare policies as well to ensure that Singaporeans do not lose out to the newcomers. The opposition parties should consider starting a shadow population council of their own and exert pressure on the PAP by proposing alternative policies for Singapore at part of its manifesto in the next general election. With public sentiment against the PAP at an all-time high, the opposition should strike while the iron is hot and offer a viable alternative vision for Singapore. Immigration is likely to be the hottest issue in the election which will put the PAP on a defensive because there is nothing it can do to justify the relentless inflow of foreigners over the last few years. It is a fallacy that foreigners are employed only in sectors shunned by Singaporeans and the PAP has been "strict" on its immigration policy. The Home Ministry admitted that two out of every three PR applicants are successful, some of whom are masseurs, cleaners, construction workers and even freelance prostitutes. Foreigners are allowed to compete directly with Singaporeans for jobs which can otherwise be taken up by them. Contact Singapore, a government agency, has sent a team to Taiwan last week to recruit thousands of Taiwanese PMETs to work in Singapore. Nobody can deny the fact that immigration is necessary to boost Singapore's flagging birth rates and sluggish economic growth, but we must first put in adequate safeguards to ensure that Singaporeans do not lose out in the rat-race. The lax immigration policies have already taken a toll on a fatigued citizenry over the last few years. We seriously need an urgent comprehensive debate on the matter in and out of parliament.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans.   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: >> 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 →