TR EMERITUS

The importance of independent journalism. In this case, by Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai. Please read and share. Personally, I find it extremely odd that 5 rather young foreign workers, who all had covid-19 infections, would suddenly die and then have their deaths classified as non-covid-19-related deaths. The 5 all died within a space of one month. The questions asked in this report are ones everyone should be asking of the authorities. At the moment, there is scarce information about the 5 men. Apparently, reporters have not asked the authorities for more information, and the authorities are not offering much. The families of the five foreign workers - foreign workers whom we now are praising and thanking and everything else - deserve to know the facts of the deaths of their loved ones. And we too, the society at large, need to know the medical facts behind the deaths, so that we can take precautions. As a heart patient myself, one who had a quadruple bypass, I am personally interested in knowing how 2 of the workers, so young, who had covid-19, could suddenly die of heart attacks. I think many heart patients, especially younger ones, would also be interested to know.     Andrew Loh      Read More →

One of the saddest things about Singapore is that the small business is often regarded as an irritant and an inconvenience to the grand scheme of things. If you read the official version of our fabulous success story, its always down to a benevolent and wise government that had the foresight to welcome multinationals to build up our nation from a third world swamp into a thriving global metropolis. While I don’t dispute the official version out of hand, it paints an unrealistic picture of what actually happened. Yes, the government, especially in the early years, got the key things right. I don’t dispute that multinational investment is on the scale of things good in as much as your average Singaporean worker has to produce things and services according to “world standards” as opposed to “Singapore standards.” However, this was true, it white washes the fact that many of the guys who made Singapore tick were small time traders who supplied essential services that kept the show running. A few made vast fortunes and most of them managed to earn a simple enough living without having to look for handouts (which in Singapore speak is a very good thing). You’d imagine that these people would receive some credit, especially in a nation that makes so much noise about being a small nation that does big things. In America, which is famous for doing everything big, small business people are often regarded as heroes. This isn’t the case in Singapore, where our founding father even went as far as to say, “We didn’t have entrepreneurs, our people were mostly traders.” Why does our small nation have such a blind spot against small time businesses? Having spent 15-years as a freelancer and five as a full-time corporate employee, it’s dawned on me why the government has a blind spot against small businesses. It’s not so much a question of money but a question of mindset. Employees develop a “wife” or “vertical” approach to life. Your livelihood is dependent on a single employer who gets your loyalty in return for providing a steady pay cheque. A small-time trader or entrepreneur develops a “prostitute” or “horizontal” mindset, where you look to many sources for your income and the wider your net the more you earn. If you look at things through this scope, it becomes clear why the government treated and still treats the small-time trader as a nuisance. Employees know where they’re proverbial rice bowls belong. Small traders don’t. In recent years, the government has seemed to have shifted its mindset and started encouraging “entrepreneurs” and “entrepreneurship.” If you look carefully enough at the website of say, Enterprise Singapore, you’d find that the government is offering lots of money to people starting up businesses. Block 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent in Singapore’s West, houses an amazing number of start-ups with the next “killer” technology to take the world by storm. Unfortunately, the government’s approach to creating entrepreneurs has been pretty much like how it attracted multinational investments – throw money and offer tax advantages. While money, tax breaks and stability are important for cultivating entrepreneurship, there is missing element namely, minimal government interference. To get entrepreneurs running, you need to leave them alone and that’s something our “top-down” society seems unable to do. The most recent example of this can be seen in an incident involving an actress called Ateeqah Mazlan. Ms. Mazlan caused an internet storm when she reported a home-based business to the Housing Development Board (HDB) and filmed herself doing so. More on the story can be found at: [LINK] The government stepped in to tighten the proverbial noose on home-based businesses. More can be found at: [LINK] If you read through the lines, you’ll note that the noose comes from not allowing home-based businesses to use third party delivery services to get around the rules on restriction of movement. Third party delivery services have been allowed to function in order to keep things running and established food and beverage outlets are allowed to use them, so one would have to ask, what exactly is the issue home-based businesses using them? A petition was circulated online to allow home-based businesses to function within the rules of the circuit breaker, thus earning the wrath of the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Minister for Muslim Affairs, Mr. Masagos Zulkifi. More on the report can be found at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/irresponsible-incite-home-based-business-put-pressure-government-grant-exceptions-says and on Mr. Zulkifi’s Facebook page: [LINK] While the Minister has a point when he says that the rights of the entrepreneur should play a secondary role to the larger public health issue, one should note that the petition calling for the reinstatement of home-based businesses was very clear that this was to be “in compliance,” with the circuit breaker. Let us be clear that what the home-based businesses were calling for was not an “American” style freedom of movement and disbandment of all stay-home orders. Singapore’s home-based businesses are clearly aware that the rules are there for a reason and were merely asking to operate within the rules. Many Singaporeans have made the same point as can be seen from: [LINK] Question remains, why is there one set of rules for home-based businesses that help the poorer communities earn extra money and one for established businesses? Home-based businesses are not asking for the government to help or asking for the tax payer to subsidise their income and the point that cannot be stressed enough is that the home-based businesses are not asking for exemptions from the existing rules. They merely asking for the right to operate within the rules and not for any special exemptions. The government for its part has shown that it is capable of flexibility. One example can be seen in the way that it has ring-fenced wet markets to prevent crowds from overwhelming them. Surely, if the government can find a workable solution for wet markets, it can do the same for home-based businesses. Surely, a government that claims to value resilience and independence should not have a bone to pick with a segment trying to be resilient and asking to work within existing rules, unless I’m missing something here.   Tang Li *Although I've been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I've had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I've befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I've had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.          Read More →

The Singapore economy will be transformed. The global economy in the future will have less global trade. Most countries will manufacture a bigger proportion of their products at home. This will affect Singapore badly. There will be less global trade and the need for financial services. Many of the well paying jobs in the past will disappear. How can Singaporeans, especially the younger ones, find jobs in the future? We have no choice. More people will have to accept the jobs created in the domestic economy. These are jobs that rely on foreign workers in the past. These jobs include health care, retail, food and beverage, bus drivers, security officers, cleaners, construction workers and the like. We need to pay adequately for these jobs, so that they allow our locals to make a living. We also have to give them a sense of pride in doing these jobs. We have to create greater flexibility in the working arrangements. Some of these jobs are in the public sector. The government can afford to pay higher wages. These wages can also set the benchmark for the private sector. We also have to provide more flexible work arrangements. Instead of requiring the workers to keep to rigid work schedules, they are allowed to work shorter hours (and earn corresponding less), if this fits their personal schedule better. The flexible arrangements can work when there is a buffer in the work force and smart scheduling is applied using technology. Suppose the job of a health care worker, bus driver or security worker pays $20 to $25 an hour. Will this be attractive? A person who works for 160 hours a month can earn $3,200 to $4,000. Jobs that require lower skills can pay a lower rate. I believe that this will attract locals to take up the jobs. The wages set by the public sector can be the benchmark for the private sector. Many private sector businesses cannot afford the higher wage cost over the short term, such as the retail, food or beverage businesses. They can be assisted during a period of adjustment through a wage subsidy. Over the longer term, the cost of rental should be reduced. Some of these businesses will introduce automation. The government can fund the new companies that develop and provide automation tools and make them available at low cost. It will be possible to introduce self driving buses. This will remove the need for the job of bus driving. Instead, the buses should employ a conductor to provide customer service. The job of a conductor is less strenuous than bus driving and is suitable for older people and do not require a high wage to be paid. A forward looking government will identify useful jobs that can be created for the older workers. There is a need to provide personal care for children and older people or to be guides at public places for locals and tourists. They allow people to continue to work rather than stay unemployed and idle. They do not require to be paid a high wage. These initiatives require the government to provide the leadership. They have the funds to support these initiatives and remove the business risks. The actual work can be carried out by private businesses, but the state should provide the framework for these initiatives to be sustainable. Not all jobs will be domestic jobs. We still need jobs to cater for the export market and to serve international customers. However, there will be less of these types of jobs in the future. This strategy of creating more domestic jobs will allow us to rely less on foreign workers. This os a more sustainable strategy. It will avoid the kind of problems that caused our economy to be locked down due to the wide spread covid-19 infection among the foreign workers. I quote the example during the depression during the 1930s in America. President Roosevelt got the federal government to create a million plus jobs to build the infrastructure and the national parks. This kind of bold initiative require the government to take charge. It cannot happen when it is left to the private sector. Will the Singapore government have leaders that have the vision to lead this change, in the new economic landscape after the pandemic?   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →