TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Straits Times reported today of a 26 year old Myanmar national Yin Yin Oo signed up for free English classes at a Community Club because she needed "help" in spoken English. She has been working in Singapore as an "accounts executive" for over a year. While it is not revealed what she does exactly, it is highly unlikely that she is a professional accountant by training when she admits that "she was at the 'intermediate' level in reading and writing". In all likelihood, Ms Yin is probably doing some simple book-keeping at a local SME which employed her due to lower wage demands. With due respect to Ms Yin, her job can be easily taken over by any Singaporean with a ITE or "O" level certificate. The ruling party has been defending its "foreign talent" policy on the ground that foreigners are needed to fill vacancies in certain sectors shunned by locals such as construction, nursing and IT support services. However, in the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of foreigners on S-passes (S for semi-skilled) flocking to work in Singapore. These semi-skilled foreign workers compete directly with Singaporeans for jobs which otherwise belong to them such as nursery school teachers, administrators, clinic assistants, IT engineers and "accounts executives". They are in high demand due to their lower wages which help to raise the profit margins of small businesses. A PRC nursery school teacher commands a monthly salary of only $1,200 to $1,400 compared to Singaporean who fetches more than $2,000. Given a choice, any employer will hire the cheaper PRC and save $800 - $1,000 in wages monthly. It is impossible for local workers to compete with these so-called "foreign talents." A PRC living alone in Singapore can survive with that kind of salary, but what about a Singaporean with a family to feed? The question is: why are these PRCs allowed to work in Singapore at all when their qualifications are a suspect in the first place? (like the infamous Zhang Yuanyuan who came to Singapore armed with a diploma from an unknown institution in China; she got her PR within 2 months of application) The Manpower Ministry should release more information on the number of foreign workers in Singapore on S-passes, their occupations as well as the percentage who are granted Singapore PRs to enable Singaporeans to better assess if these foreigners are indeed "talents" or "thrash". A recent article by Wall Street Journal suggested that the influx of foreigners into Singapore in the last few years has led directly to the stagnation of wages of blue-collar workers, widening of the income gap between the rich and the poor, overall decrease in labor productivity and standards of living. (read article here) Singapore companies must start thinking of ways to boost their productivity and reduce their over-dependence on foreign workers. Ms Yin will probably not be able to find work in any other first world country with the exception of Singapore. More stringent criteria should be put in place so that we only recruit foreigners in selected sectors which genuinely face manpower shortage due to difficulties in employing locals. DISCLAIMER: Mingalaba! We are not against any race or nationality. The gist of the article is simply to highlight the ruling party's lax immigration guidelines in allowing too many foreigners on S-passes to work in Singapore when their jobs can easily be taken over by locals. To be fair, Burmese are generally quite hardworking, honest and genial by nature compared to some others. For those of us who have been to Burma, you will agree that Burmese are among the most hospitable people in the world. We apologize if you we have hurt the feelings of our fellow Burmese friends in anyway. Khay-zu-din-ba-leh!  Read More →

BEIJING : China will lose out if Google makes good on a threat to quit the country over cyberattacks and censorship, a state newspaper warned Thursday, saying people had the right to a free flow of information. “Should the world’s most populous nation fail to provide a foothold to the world’s top search engine, it would imply a setback to China and serious loss to China’s Net culture,” said the English-language Global Times, run by the Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily. It said if the US Internet giant pulled out of the country with the world’s largest online population at 360 million, it would be “an incalculable loss to its long-term commitment to innovation” as well as a loss of future business. Google vowed Tuesday to stop bowing to Chinese Internet censors and risk banishment from the lucrative market to protest “highly sophisticated” cyberattacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists. “The information highway demands not only safe driving but also free flow of traffic. And, in the interests of the majority’s right to know, free flow of information should take precedence in a civil society,” the Global Times said. “Google and China going their separate ways would hurt both sides.” China has said it was seeking more information about the announcement. Requests for comment from the foreign, commerce and information technology ministries were not immediately answered. The Global Times — which splashed the story on its front page, as did the state-run China Daily — said while censorship was justified in a “transitional society” like China to maintain social stability, some limits were needed. “The government must face up to the challenge of where and how to put the checkpoints on the (information) highway,” it said. Source: Global Times, China. 谷歌证实考虑退出中国市场 可能关闭网站 中新社旧金山一月十二日电 (记者 刘丹)谷歌今天在此间声称，有可能关闭谷歌中国网站，并完全撤离中国市场。 　　谷歌法律总监大卫·德拉蒙德今天下午在谷歌官方博客中发表文章作上述表示。中新社记者随后通过邮件向谷歌求证，谷歌新闻部门回电话给中新社记者，证实了德拉蒙德的说法。 　　谷歌表示，将在未来几周与中国官方探讨在法律范围内运行之相关事宜。 　　原定于北京时间十二日下午开始的谷歌与中国文字著作权协会第四轮谈判突然被谷歌单方面取消，谷歌没有披露原因。  Read More →

We, the undersigned, condemn in no uncertain terms, the arson and violence against churches following the spate of controversy over the disputed use of the word “Allah”. We stand in solidarity with all segments of the society that promote peace and justice and urge all sides to exercise their utmost restraint in dealing with the matter to avoid playing into the hands of those who have vested interests in seeing violence escalate. It is without a doubt that the recent attacks on churches in Malaysia is an attempt to undermine the racial and religious harmony and understanding painstakingly built over many generations. Given the close ties and cultural similarities that we have with Malaysia, Singaporeans are watching the incident closely and we, the Young Democrats, stand firmly with our Malaysian counterparts in calling for a peaceful resolution to the matter. Violence has no place in our world today, and acts of violence at places of worship where the general populace seek peace of mind and solace are especially deplorable. However, these acts of violence should not, and must not be framed in the perception of communal and religious conflict between Muslims and Christians, as they are as much an insult to the tenets of peace as espoused by Islam and all religions, as they are to Christianity. We enjoin all segments of Malaysian society to condemn this spate of barbaric and cowardly acts, and call upon all groups with differing spiritual, cultural and ideological backgrounds to reach a consensus by rational dialogue. This statement is also supported by the leadership of Parti KeADILan Rakyat (Malaysia) and Singapore Democratic Party (Singapore) Signed, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Chief, Angkatan Muda Keadilan Priveen Suraj, President, Young Democrats  Read More →