TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong admitted yesterday that Singapore still has a considerable way to go in its productivity drive compared to other countries and urged Singaporeans to boost its productivity by 60 to 70 per cent. His minister Lim Swee Say had earlier urged Singapore workers to be "cheaper, faster and better." Now, the emphasis is on productivity. PM Lee emphasized that more efforts must be put in in order for Singapore to achieve the target of two to three per cent productivity growth over the next 10 years. "It's a turning point. Your numbers will grow more slowly and if you want the economy to do well, that means the productivity must go up....And if your productivity doesn't go up and we don't get the growth, then I think you may feel that you're relaxing a little bit more but the mood, the buoyancy, the optimism, will be quite different. So we have to work hard and take this very seriously," he added. PM Lee forgot to mention the fact that Singapore's over-reliance on foreign workers is a key reason behind its low productivity. Due to the easy availability of cheap foreign labor, companies and employers usually take the easy way out to employ large number of them to cut cost instead of boosting productivity to do so. Below is a graph depicting the relation between the rise in the number of foreign workers and Singapore's reduced labor productivity: [Source: Kojakbit, 3in1kopitiam moderator] How can PM Lee expect Singaporeans to boost their productivity when they have to compete directly with cheap foreign workers who undercut their pay? Unfortunately, it appears that he is still unwilling to acknowledge the severity of the problem is caused by his recklessness in opening the floodgates to foreign workers without putting in adequate safeguards to protect the livelihood of Singaporeans. Though his administration is singing a slightly different tune now compared to the past, its pro-foreigner policy seems to remain intact. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said lately that there will not be a major "turnaround" in the ruling party's lax labor policies and the number of foreign workers may actually increase in the next few years. Without any opposition in parliament to check on the ruling party, Singaporeans will have no choice but to listen to their political masters and increase their productivity while remaining "cheaper, better and faster" at the same time.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Influential international journal The Economist has hit out at the Singapore government of being a "stingy nanny state" in reference to its antipathy and resistance towards public welfare. Though it acknowledges that the government "does run a handful of schemes directed at some of the needy, from low-income students to the unassisted elderly, these benefits are rigorously means-tested and granted only sparingly." "The most destitute citizens’ families may apply for public assistance; only 3,000 currently qualify. Laid-off workers receive no automatic benefits. Instead they are sorted into “workfare” and training schemes," it added. Known as the Public Assistance (PA) scheme, it gives applicants a monthly allowance of $330 which is hardly sufficient to survive in Singapore. One has to be completely destitute without any living relatives or certified permanently unfit to work by a medical specialist before one can qualify for it. The process of seeking help is also made tiresome and in some ways humiliating on purpose to deter "free-riders" from "abusing" the system. Singapore workers have no job security to speak of as a result of the government's open-door policies towards foreign migrant workers who now make up more than 35 per cent of the workforce. "Official reassurances that migrants create growth do not convince those competing for scarce jobs. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father and still its "minister mentor" has maintained that ambitious migrants help to keep citizens on their toes. In an interview given to National Geographic last July he said that if native Singaporeans lag behind “hungry” foreigners because “the spurs are not stuck on [their] hinds”, that is not the state’s problem to solve," noted the Economist. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreign workers has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standards of living. To compound matters, there are no independent trade unions to represent and fight for the interests of Singapore workers. The only legal trade union in Singapore - NTUC is a pseudo-PAP organization which is always headed by a PAP Minister (without portfolio). Right after he became Prime Minister in 2003, Lee Hsien Loong emphasized that "welfare is a dirty word in Singapore", a sign that his administration will not do much to help those who have fallen behind. In a speech made in Parliament in November 2006, he said: "We need a sustainable approach.  You saw the numbers.  You see how quickly the number of old people and the proportion of old people is growing in Singapore.  Some MPs and some other commentators outside writing in the newspapers have suggested old age pensions, which they argue every Singaporean should have as of right, because I am born here, I carry a pink IC, I should have an old age pension.  But if every old person, whether rich or poor, is entitled to an old age pension, it is going to impose a very heavy financial burden on the State, which means a very heavy financial burden on young Singaporeans, because they are the ones who are going to be working and paying the taxes, which is where the State will get the money." Yet the state is flushed with cash as evident by the billions of dollars it lost recently in failed overseas investments via its two sovereign wealth funds - GIC and Temasek Holdings. The Economist Society of Singapore (ESS) recently proposed to a government committee that it should build a more robust safety net, starting with unemployment insurance which would promote social stability and help muster public support for Singapore’s open-door migration policies. "While self-reliance is a good principle in general, it may be neither efficient nor just if taken to extremes," it claimed.  Read More →

Channel News Asia, 14 February 2010 Singapore's first casino opened for business Sunday as the first punter was allowed into the gaming section of Resorts World Sentosa complex. The opening - to be followed within months by a second casino resort - is part of a multi-billion-dollar effort to transform Singapore's tourism industry. The doors to the cavernous and carpeted casino were thrown open to the public at 12:18 pm on the first day of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar. When pronounced in the Cantonese dialect, 12:18 sounds like "prosperity". A middle-aged Singaporean woman was the first gambler allowed in, followed by an initial crowd of about 200. The US$4.4-billion resort features Southeast Asia's first Universal Studios movie theme park, which also opened for a week of sneak previews from Sunday. "We have waited a long time for this. Today's opening of the casino is a milestone for Resorts World Sentosa, for Genting Group and for Singapore," said Genting Group chairman Lim Kok Thay in a ceremony before the doors opened. "We couldn't have asked for a better time to open," he said, referring to Asia leading the world in recovering from the worst global recession since the 1930s. Singapore's second casino complex, Marina Bay Sands, is being completed by US-based Las Vegas Sands and is expected to open in April. Officials hope the casinos will help Singapore achieve its target of 17 million visitors a year generating more than US$21 billion by 2015, boosting the services sector and reducing the role of manufacturing in the economy. A lion dance and firecrackers preceded the opening of the casino. Resorts World Sentosa last month opened four premium hotels and is testing the rides at the Universal Studios theme park before it is fully opened to the public. Singapore in 2005 agreed to go ahead with two casino resorts after a rare public debate. Opponents feared gambling would threaten Singapore's "family values" reputation and put it at risk of becoming a centre for money-laundering. As a "social safeguard", Singaporeans will have to pay S$100 a day to enter the casinos.  - CNA  Read More →