TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent Singapore's open door labor policy to foreign workers is causing intense hardship not only to Singaporeans, but to "foreign talents" who had arrived earlier. Business Mirror interviewed a Filipino "foreign talent" who moved to Singapore nine years ago armed with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines who was retrenched last year and still looking for a job. "Until now, I’m still looking for a job. It’s been four months, and I’ve only had two interviews in this time. I think companies here give importance to the locals, but it’s the same in my country, so I can understand that," he lamented. Foreign workers made up more than one third of Singapore's labor force, an indication of how dependent the Singapore economy is on foreigners. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, the relentless influx of foreigners over the last few years had 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. Besides competing with Singaporeans, skilled labor like Luacan now has to face intense competition from other foreign workers who are willing to settle for less pay. "The market is spoilt. Some foreigners, from Burma, for example, are asking for a salary of S$2,000 (or some 50 percent less than the salary Rod expects for his qualifications, skills and years of experience)," Luacan complained. Luacan should consider himself much more fortunate than Singaporeans. He can always pack his bags and return to the Philipines where the cost of living is much lower if he really cannot find a job in Singapore. Singaporeans have no choice but to stay put and compete directly with the continued inflow of foreign migrant workers who are getting "cheaper", but not necessarily better or faster. Furthermore, Singapore males are hampered by their four week reservist obligations yearly unlike foreigners who are free from such restrictions and thereby more "attractive" to employers. Unlike other countries like Australia and Britain which are taking active measures to protect the livelihoods of their own citizens, the ruling party of Singapore continues to insist that foreigners are essential for the economy. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said lately that there will not be a sudden "turnaround" in the ruling party's pro-foreigner policy and the number of foreign workers may actually increase in the next few years.  Read More →

By Barney Henderson from The Age SINGAPORE has been accused of launching a clandestine ''sand war'' against its neighbours by paying smugglers to steal entire beaches under the cover of night. The island city-state's size has increased more than 20 per cent since the 1960s and demand for sand for lucrative land reclamation and development projects is higher than ever. However, recent bans on exporting sand in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have cut supplies and opened up a thriving smuggling trade. Thieves have begun making night-time raids on the beaches of Indonesia and Malaysia, carving out millions of tonnes of coastline and leading to fears of an environmental catastrophe. Singapore's land developers are now pitted against environmental groups, which claim several of the 83 border islands off the north coast of Indonesia could disappear into the sea in the next decade unless the smugglers are stopped. ''It is a war for natural resources that is being fought secretly,'' said Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace Indonesia spokesman. ''The smugglers have no problem getting it into Singapore and these boats are rarely intercepted by customs boats or the navy.'' The Singapore government has declined to comment, but corruption has been blamed for much of the trade. Last month, 34 Malaysian civil servants were arrested for accepting bribes and sexual favours to facilitate sand smuggling to Singapore. The main motorway from Malaysia to Singapore was blocked for most of the day last Monday when 37 lorries loaded with sand were abandoned after their drivers learnt of a customs operation at the border. According to Malaysia's former prime minister, 700 lorries a day loaded with sand cross the border to Singapore. - The Age  Read More →

By Hurr Riyahi In the recent fiasco of Paster Rony Tan, it is not unusual to see ISD intervening. It is always either ISD who intervene in cases of any breach or potential breach in race or inter-faith relations. However what is unusual is that if one looks at any developed or civilized countries, there is no other parallel of a security intelligence agency taking such a role. Instead without involving security or enforcement agencies, other countries try to seek resolution using much peaceful and amicable methods. Local governments elsewhere being able to resolve race and inter-faith issues I have seen in many instances in several countries where someone says something unpleasant like Rony Tan or whatsoever to breach the cordiality of race or inter-faith relations. Many a times, the local governments are able to intervene together with community agencies and seek a resolution. Local governments refer to municipalities and in Singapore the equivalent will be town councils. Unfortunately in Singapore, town councils seem to be more interested of garbage collection and investing in mini-bonds even though it is not capable of the latter. The reason why local governments intervene is because they are closest to the issue and often they are able to move in fast together with all the community organizations, community representatives and so on. Then again the other issue is that local governments in civilized and developed countries will not wait for instructions from higher authorities which will be the case if Singapore town councils played a greater role in race and inter-faith relations. Local governments typically also have better staff who are capable of managing issues beyond garbage collection. They also foster close partnerships with community individuals, organisations, places of worship etc. Communities being able to resolve race and inter-faith issues I have also seen communities themselves being able to resolve race ad inter-faith issues. For instance in a case like Rony Tan, if this was happening in a civilized or developed country, one can expect other churches to step in to diffuse the tension. Unfortunately in Singapore we have not seen this. Should instead of Rony Tan, some other priest of some other faith in Singapore had behaved in the same fashion, the respective communities will also not have stepped in immediately. Part of the reason is the fragmentation of the various communities. The reason why other churches didnt intervene is partly because they may have felt it is the problem of the church of Paster Rony Tan and not theirs. Part of the reason is also fear of intervening. Singaporeans are generally fearful of intervening in an issue where they are not the primary person involved. What Singapore needs is not the empowerment of politicians, ministries, statutory boards, government agencies etc but none of these can really solve a race or inter-faith issue. The police and ISD can at the most disrupt the issues but not resolve such issues. What instead is required is empowerment of the communities in Singapore. The next time an issue such as what we have seen repeats, the first person to intervene should be the various churches together with temples. If at this day and age if Singaporeans are not capable of such amicable resolution to such issues and instead are only capable of brawls, shouting matches and confrontations, then we as a society are only half human in nature. Politicians should play a more active role It was funny to see there has been only the MInister of Home Affairs speaking on the issue and that too because ISD intervened. Instead all the MPs have gone into hiding. They should be the ones stepping forward to diffuse the tension. They should not try to control how the issue should be resolved but instead act as mediators bringing the various community individuals, institutions etc together to the resolution table.  I used to live in one municipality where the MP will organize community parties at the house of my friend who is a respected member of community.  Whenever there is any issue involving the community, MP will contact and communicate majority of the key community members within an hour and resolve any issue fast within days or weeks. The fact that no MP in Singapore intervened shows they lack the confidence to manage race and inter-faith issues in Singapore. What they are capable of is only passing consitutency walkabout statements about need for harmony blah blah blah. They are absolutely useless in diffusion of tension and achieving amicable resolution of conflicts. ISD is a security agency, in essence Essentially ISD is a security agency. They should be intervening in issues where someone is planning to disrupt the security of the country. Pastor Rony Tan was not at all planning anything like that. He should not have received a call from ISD at all. Instead he should have received a call from his local MP who should have coordinated with his town council and other churches and temples. Many issues can hypothetically escalate to threaten public and national security and ISD shouldnt be a paranoid freakish organisation intervening in all such hypothetical cases. They should intervene in very clear categorical cases. Instead other necessary agents of society such as stated above should be the ones intervening.   Other articles by Hurr Riyahi: >> Security threat posed by foreigners versus Muslims >> How often is there tolerance in Singapore or Malaysia   Related articles: 1. What LKY said to Archbishop Gregory Yong in 1987 2. Is it really necessary for the ISD to deal with Pastor Rony Tan? 3. Public anger against Rony Tan fast turning to PAP 4. Rony Tan’s Facebook closed after being flooded with comments from netizens 5. Rony Tan’s views on homosexuality 6. Perceived double standards in the application of Sedition Act 7. Facebook group set up to demand punishment for Rony Tan 8. VIDEO: Pastor Rony Tan’s comments on Buddhism 9. Hardwarezone forumers up in arms over Pastor Rony Tan’s remarks 10. Pastor Rony Tan issues public apology on his remarks about Buddhism  Read More →