TR EMERITUS

There are obvious discrepancies in some of our Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that are detrimental to the well-being of Singaporeans. Despite much feedback and criticisms, our current 4G politicians seem to prefer being oblivious to these issues rather than solving them. Over time, these issues became protracted and contentious when more Singaporeans find themselves being displaced from good paying jobs, with some being reduced to serving these new ‘foreign talents’ as drivers or being retrenched into low-paying and stressful jobs such as security guards or cleaners - if they are fortunate to find a job at all. While Singapore has been well ranked in the world for our education, it is getting disheartening to be learning that some of our children are now graduating into unemployment or having to take on less lucrative jobs despite our economic success. When ‘foreign talents’ who got into our workforce through FTAs such as the CECA despite graduating from unranked universities in their homelands, questions are being asked about what our universities and Ministry of Education are doing about it. What is the use of Singapore spending big budget to ensure our universities are well-ranked when our graduates cannot compete with graduates from unranked universities or roadside training centres in our own private sector? These are serious issues that any citizen-centric government will address with urgency. In the case of Singapore, it is hard to comprehend as to why our 4G government is still trying to downplay these realities and treat feedbacks and criticisms with contempt. When foreigners are treated better than Singaporeans Our present government must start to seriously differentiate their foreign and investment policies from its domestic socio-economic policies. It is reasonable to welcome foreigners, their specialized competencies and Foreign Direct Investments “FDIs”. But these must be balanced against the many trade-offs. When it comes to our domestic socio-economic policies, it is clearly not showing explicitly or vividly that it pays to be a patriotic Singaporean. In its current form, the endless demands outweigh the benefits of being a Singaporean. From tertiary education to National Service, from employment to business opportunities, from public housing to race-based policy, Singaporeans are being made to feel like second class citizens, slaving right in their homeland. We are witnessing enclaves of foreigners forming without restraint within our residential space, yet Singaporeans are being restricted from forming their own enclave with restrictive public housing policy. Has someone in our Ministry of National Development forgotten that race or nationalistic enclave by foreigners is equally averse to our Nation Building? Unless our present government has a double-standard policy that favour foreigner over its own citizens, it is reasonable for Singaporeans to be demanding for a more transparent and fairer socio-economic policy when it comes to foreign talent and new citizens. Unrestraint exploitation of our immigration policy Our immigration policy is being exploited by many new citizens. Some male Permanent Resident “PR” deliberately timed their application for citizenship after they are sure that they would not have to serve National Service. Others selectively apply for citizenships only for themselves and their female children while conveniently leaving out their male children. With their PR status, they get to enjoy almost the full benefits of being a Singaporeans without the burden of its social responsibilities. This is neither tenable nor fair. Before we start blaming these new citizens, we should be asking the relevant ministries and their agencies as to how they could be so blind or clueless to such extensive exploitations by these new citizens. It is all about maximizing the benefits for themselves against having the least responsibilities. As such, our political leaders must understand that they are the one who are sowing and flaming the growing contentious divide between the people and the government. Patriotic citizens are merely vocalizing their failures and incompetency. Patriotism is the foundation of good governance Singaporeans who have been vocal about these issues are merely being patriotic. It takes time and resources to articulate feedbacks or to be critical of our socio-economic policies with the sole objective of improving our public governance, the well-being of fellow-Singaporeans and our country. When these well-intended feedbacks and criticisms were ignored, real patriotism is being undermined. History has shown us that any country that lacks patriotism will collapse without exception. Patriotism, from the perspective of democracy, is the natural counterbalance to good governance. If any government has been proactively managing their socio-economic well, such issues would have been well mitigated centuries ago. It is precisely because when the present government failed to manage the discrepancies caused by their poorly crafted socio-economic policies, patriotic citizens have to be burdened with the task of escalating these issues into the public domain. If all else failed, then protest is the next course of valid action until the people have the chance to vote for a positive change in government. Protest is a positive function of a functional democracy As such, protest is a function of our democratic system of governance. Valid grievances must be allowed and not be suppressed in any functional democracy. This unique feature differentiates democracy from other autocratic or dictatorial governance such as communist or socialist type. The country belongs to the people. At election time, it is the people who must be free to elect representatives who they think can serve them and the country well. In between election time, feedbacks and criticisms take the first course of action and when that failed and when the issues become pressing, then protest become the next best course of action. This is the basic right of the people in any given democracy. While it is true that protest do embarrass the incumbent government, they have themselves to blame in the first place. If they do not want to be embarrassed, then they should be responsive to the plights and concerns of their people. As such, by putting more onerous restrictions and regulations upon patriotic Singaporeans from staging valid protest, it becomes a double-edged sword that will ultimately hurt the country. Should these restrictions and regulations fall into the hand of rogue government, they could well be used to suppress the people from staging valid protests. This will ultimately lead to social upheaval as seen in other parts of the world. Even our first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew has warned Singaporeans explicitly about this risk, without exception even to his own PAP government. For an ultra-rich country like Singapore, such risks are real and imminent, and Singaporeans should take heed of his warning and take their vote seriously by voting for deserving politicians and not be fooled by any political party. Political leaders must be at the service of its people. As such, when the Police called in Gilbert Goh for questioning over his Anti-CECA Protest at Hong Lim, many cans of worm were opened. Like the Pink-Dot Protest, it is indeed onerous and mind-blowing for the authority to be holding patriotic Singaporeans responsible against foreign interference. If our government is indeed against all form of foreign interference, then it must first lead by example. It should not have enlisted the help of foreigners such as NAS DAILY or others to advocate on their behalf. Promoting Singapore is one thing but for these foreigners to be telling the world that all is well in SG when the harsh realities are pointing in the opposite direction is another. It is natural for patriotic Singaporeans to be upset by such foreign interference that, from their perspective, seek to distort the truth and undermine their plights and valid concerns. As Hong Lim Park is the only designated protest site in Singapore, the relevant authorities ought to be putting up clear signs more prominently to warn foreigners and tourists from venturing into the park whenever protest is being staged. Better still, all inbound flights, at the two causeways and ports, should carry such messaging so as to warn foreigners and tourists alike to stay clear of Hong Lim Park. If the government and the relevant authorities are not treating the risk of foreign interference more vigorously but expect patriotic Singaporeans to take on such hefty responsibilities, then the whole issue of foreign interference becomes debatable. Question is, why was this bill passed in parliament without more stringent review and why has no one in parliament raise the risk about rogue government being able to exploit this law to suppress the people as explicitly warned by Lee Kuan Yew? While Lee Kuan Yew may have passed on, this advice of his remains valid. Have our politicians also forgotten the many other good advices from our Founding Fathers who reminded them to always put the welfare and interest of Singaporeans ahead of themselves? If so, why bother to build a Founders’ Memorial? If any foreigner or tourist is to venture into Hong Lim Park, the onus should be on the police to arrest them and charge them directly for breaking the law. This will send a strong message to the world that Singapore does not tolerate foreign interference. Isn’t this a much more desirable option? Better still, why not build a “wall” around Hong Lim Park to send a clear and loud message to the world? Do we value patriotism? If our politicians do truly value patriotism, then they must stand up and seriously review this bill and several other recently introduced bills that may be used by rogue government and politicians to curtail valid criticisms. The alternative to being patriotic is to be spineless or become a pushover. Should Singapore be reduced to a nation of spineless people or pushovers, then all of our past efforts and resources spent on National Security and National Defense will be wasted. Worse still, we will become the laughing stock of Asia. On this serious note, I hope our Defense Minister will weigh in seriously and not allow patriotism to be trampled by any party-politics or laws. Should the political divide become even more contentious, then it may be too late when a rogue government or politician plunder the wealth of our nation and exploit our citizens mercilessly. As such, patriotism needs to be championed consistently by our leaders so that it will be seen to be triumphing above any party politics or agenda. Instead of focusing to win big at the next election, I hope our 4G politicians will wake up and see the mess that they have created. The current political divide that is distancing the people from the government is largely due to their collective incompetency. Instead of invoking more laws that could be exploited by rogue politicians, they should be heeding the advice of Lee Kuan Yew more seriously by addressing the plights and concerns of Singaporeans and ensure that our socio-economic policies are indeed citizen-centric. While we welcome new citizens, they must know that it is not acceptable for them to be running amok, exploiting our socio-economic system or be treated above patriotic Singaporeans. Singapore and patriotic Singaporeans deserve much better.   Joseph Nathan      Read More →

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen was quoted as saying in today’s newspaper that the "US engagement in South East Asia important". This is not new - the US has always been a stabilising force in South-East Asia and Singapore walks its belief by allowing the US military to use our air and naval bases for almost 30 years. But whilst we welcome US's presence, I have my questions and my worries as a citizen. In the context of a “cold war” between China and the US, is Singapore's prominence at promoting the US's rebalancing back to South East Asia a sound foreign policy in the long run? Today, China is not a poor country anymore. It is a nett creditor nation whereas the US is not. On our local bourses, we have more Chinese companies listed on it than US companies. At the same time, China is a key trading partner that is both fast-growing and important. It is an investment destination for the Singapore government and many local companies. Why then haven’t we heard the Singapore government's call to China to be more engaged in South East Asia, like their calls to the US? Is the PAP government then earning money off China but at the same time aligning Singapore closely militarily with the US to play them off one against the other? Looking back, our ‘old-guard’ PAP Ministers had the political instincts and common sense to understand our pecking order in our part of the world and only established our diplomatic relations with China after our bigger neighbours had done so. Therefore, I really wonder if Singapore's engagement with the US is a clever or stupid move? To me, the answer is not difficult to grapple and I am sure that China is not a sucker.   Simon Lim      Read More →

I spoke with an old Friend recently who was fired from his job again, only to find out they were replacing him with a worker from our neighbour up North. Ok lor, like that lor, hire people who just want to come in earn triple. Many Hardworking Singaporeans may not even have jobs yet, and yet local supermarkets are hiring foreigners! I will not name and shame his employer but it is a local supermarket that loves to hire foreigners. Unlike NTUC Fairprice that favours and protect older workers, this local supermarket blatantly hires foreigners all the time, from the butcher, cashiers and staff in their store. My Friend has only worked 2 weeks before they fired him, claiming his performance was unsatisfactory just because he took a few mc as he was feeling unwell. Are local companies this cruel and inflexible to our own Singaporean Core? My Friend happened to overslept twice and even so for this simple mistake, he was reprimanded severely and the manager threaten to dock his pay. Also, he told me the foreigners will gang up together against locals. His co-workers complains he was using his phone while working to his boss, and told the boss about his Long toilet breaks. Sad to hear locals being discriminated against in our own country! I am am very disappointed with the government for allowing so many foreigners to come in and take our jobs, leading to locals being fired. This is a reminder to all to VOTE THEM OUT. To protect our Singaporean core.   An Angry Singaporean      Read More →