TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent In his New Year message to Singaporeans, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong continues to emphasize the importance of foreigners to Singapore. In a repeat of what he said earlier during his National Day Rally speech, PM Lee said his government will 'manage and moderate' the inflow of foreign workers, so that Singaporeans are not overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. But he hastened to add that 'we must continue to welcome hardworking, enterprising people to our shores.' 'We need them both to expand our talent pool and help Singapore to prosper, as well as to top up our own population and make up for our low birth rates. We need the many foreign workers who work here, to build HDB flats and MRT lines, to work in factories especially on late shifts, and to help man the IRs," he said. Under PM Lee's leadership, immigration became a cornerstone of his policy to increase Singapore's population via immigration. Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Singapore's population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. According to figures from the Home Affairs Ministry, there were more than 20,000 new citizens and 90,000 PRs in 2008 alone. While foreigners were only allowed to take up jobs shunned by Singaporeans in the past, they are now competing directly with locals for mid-level and semi-skilled jobs such as the PMETs. PRs and citizenships are also given out easily to foreigners, many of whom are unable to speak a single word of English. There were media reports of cleaners, construction workers, masseurs, beauticians being given Singapore PRs and citizenships. Due to the increasing number of complaints from locals and tourists alike of service staff who cannot speak English, the ruling party has unveiled a $10 million dollar Community Integration Fund to make the newcomers feel "welcomed" in Singapore. Part of the fund will be used to sponsor foreigners for free English lessons which was already started by a Yew Tee grassroots organization two months ago. The ruling party is also actively recruiting new citizens and PRs to serve as grassroots leaders in various constituencies. PM Lee reassured Singaporeans that they remain a "top priority for the government, which will aim to grow the economy in a way that allows all citizens to share in the benefits." However, it appears that it is the new citizens which matters more to the ruling party judging from the way it has been wooing them. As new citizens tend to vote for the ruling party which gives them the opportunity to start life afresh in Singapore, they will form an increasingly influential voting block in future elections. With their support waning among locals who are becoming peeved with its many ill-conceived policies, it is a good time to shore up its support level by bringing in as many foreigners on board as new citizens. If Singaporeans do not vote wisely in the next general election, they may soon find their voices drown out by the newcomers pretty soon.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Stung by the massive outcry in cyberspace over MM Lee Kuan Yew's disparaging remarks about Singaporeans, the state media moves into a damage control mode in a lame attempt to limit the fallout from the PR disaster by omitting the actual words used by Lee in the interview with National Geographic magazine in July 2009. Though NatGeo journalist Mark Jacobson's article which was based largely on the interview first appeared in the online version of the National Geographic magazine on 20 December 2009, it made the headlines only after The Temasek Review had highlighted Lee's words 5 days later. In an article titled "Social cohesion key to keeping Singapore going: MM Lee" published on CNA yesterday, Imelda Saad tried to lessen the negative publicity surrounding Lee's message with a toned-down version: "Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has expressed concerns over how the younger generation may be less driven compared to the growing number of foreigners in the country.....Mr Lee noted that if Singaporeans do not work hard, they may lose out." [Source: Channel News Asia] Channel News Asia is owned by MediaCorp, the sole broadcasting company in Singapore. It is in turn controlled by Temasek Holdings whose CEO is Ho Ching, the daughter-in-law of Lee. Contrast this to Mark Jacobson's passage in his article "The Singapore Solution": "Over time, the MM says, Singaporeans have become “less hard-driving and hard-striving.” This is why it is a good thing, the MM says, that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (25 percent of the population is now foreign-born). He is aware that many Singaporeans are unhappy with the influx of immigrants, especially those educated newcomers prepared to fight for higher paying jobs. But taking a typically Darwinian stance, the MM describes the country’s new subjects as “hungry,” with parents who “pushed the children very hard.” If native Singaporeans are falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide,” that is their problem." [Source: National Geographic] Nowhere did Lee express his concerns about the younger generation. In fact, he said plainly that it is their "problem" if they are falling behind the Chinese immigrants. If Mark Jacobson had misquoted Lee in anyway, he would have been sued for defamation a long time ago. Since Lee has not taken legal action against him, we can safely assume that Lee had meant what he said and the article is a fairly accurate reflection of Lee's thoughts about Singaporeans and the new Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, the words "less hard-driving and hard-striving" and "the spurs are not stuck in the hide" were indeed mentioned by Lee as recorded in the full transcript of the media interview as well. It is unbecoming of Channel News Asia to deliberately distort the words of Lee in order to lessen their impact. Perhaps Lee had wanted to send a wake-up call to young Singaporeans who are getting "complacent"? CNA should interview Lee and asked him to clarify what he has meant exactly in the interview instead of trying ways and means to twist and turn his words in order to salvage his embattled image. In the past, Lee's words would have gone unnoticed if the state media did not report on it. With the continued growth of the new media and socio-political news sites with a large readership like The Temasek Review, it is foolhardy to continue to practice self-censorship to pull a wool over the eyes of the people.  Read More →

OPINION 2010 will be a crucial year in the history of Singapore with the next general election most likely held sometime either in the middle of the year or towards the end. The stakes are going to be high: not only are Singaporeans voting for a government to lead them for the next 5 years, they will also be sending a signal to the world if they will continue to condone and accept the one-party system promulgated by its strongman and de facto leader Lee Kuan Yew for fifty years since 1959. While many opposition supporters have been hoping for a similar political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia in 2008, the likelihood is that the PAP will still win the election easily with its two third majority intact. Though the status quo may appear more or less unchanged, any decrease in the percentage of votes garnered by the PAP nationwide, the loss of a single GRC or one more single seat in addition to Hougang and Potong Pasir may be a sign that we are finally seeing the beginning of the end of the PAP. Some Singaporeans may ask: who else can we vote for besides the PAP? The PAP may appear to be the "default" choice now because the opposition is too weak to mount a credible challenge to it, but that doesn't mean the current imbalance will continue forever. A political party is only as strong as its leaders are. Weak leaders will eventually bring about the downfall of any parties, no matter how strong they are. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is the most powerful political entity in Japan with its intimate links with major conglomerates and lobby groups, but was defeated by a young upstart the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the recent elections. Similarly, Malaysia's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) was dismissed by many as politically irrelevant before the 2008 general election when it was still headed by former DPM Anwar Ibrahim. After it won 31 seats to become the largest opposition party in the Dewan Rakyat (Malaysia's federal parliament), PKR saw its membership doubled in one month alone and it managed to attract former Health Minister Chua Jui Meng and Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim into its ranks. Today, PKR is not just an opposition party, it is the government-in-waiting. Support for PKR among young Malaysians of all races is constantly higher than its chief adversary UMNO. As we can see from the above examples, political fortunes wax and wane depending on the prevailing circumstances in the country. Nothing is certain in life, let alone politics. Winston Churchill once said famously: "One week is a long time in politics." We have less than a year to go before the next GE and anything can happen between now and then to dent the PAP's superiority. Singaporeans should not be afraid to vote for the opposition because the PAP is expected to win anyway. By voting for the opposition, you will help to decrease the PAP's winning margin which will send a message to them not to take us Singaporeans for granted. Do you think the PAP will bother to show us any respect if we continue to give it an "overwhelming" mandate to lord over us? Like the example of PKR in Malaysia, the biggest opposition winner in the next GE will be a magnet for young Singaporeans to join politics. In a way, the next GE is more like a "primer" for what is to come in subsequent elections. Singaporeans dare not join the opposition right now because it is too weak to challenge the PAP which is akin to "knocking an egg against a rock". Though the present opposition is less than ideal, there is still ample space for it to grow and develop so long Singaporeans are willing to lend support to it. The opposition party of today may become the government of tomorrow. We need two teams of qualified leaders to manage Singapore, not only one. It is foolhardy to put all our eggs into one single basket. What if the PAP fails or become corrupted one day, where can we find an alternative out of the blue to replace it? Therefore it is of paramount importance that we start growing the opposition in the next general election. Never mind what the PAP says, it is going to win anyway. All we need to do is to convince as many of our relatives and friends to cast a vote for the opposition. A vote against the PAP is not just a protest vote against its policies, but a vote for a Singapore where all citizens have a stake in instead of leaving the running of the nation entirely in the hands of a bunch of self-serving elites. We have to reclaim our rights and places in our own country before it is too late. At the rate the PAP is mass-importing foreigners, we may find ourselves in the minority in not too long a distant future. The new citizens will almost always vote for the PAP or at least it will take them some time before they see through their charade and start asserting themselves. Singapore has more than enough talents who are willing to serve the nation, but are unwilling to do so because of the repressive political climate being perpetuated by the PAP. Once the floodgates are opened, nothing will stop Singaporeans from participating in politics and dismantling the PAP system into pieces bit and bit. Let 2010 be the year when we Singaporeans finally reclaim our rights as citizens of this country which we belong to!  Read More →