Tin Pei Ling: Singapore Has To Go ‘Cold-Turkey’ On Foreign Workers

Originally Posted by zjy

the root is from the rental,the land which sold to private,the higher the better,who benifit from it?the gov the rich ones.if rental cannot be cut,what else will u go too?the salary.

In cases where the government has indeed profiteered from rental income or land sales, then the government is to blame for the resulting hardship suffered by Singaporeans who suffer from depressed wages or lack of employment. That makes the government blame-worthy.

In any case, it is the government's job to protect the interests of Singaporeans and where quality of life is not up to standard (as compared to truly 1st world countries), then the government is at the very least incompetent by comparison to those of truly 1st world countries.

Just sharing my preliminary thoughts on this matter.

Originally Posted by bobbysayang

I can understand the need for weekends, leave for holidays with the family etc. It is disruptive to businesses but we will have to learn to manage it. Like Ang-mo countries, Christmas or summer holidays means a whole month of complete shut down for almost all businesses. Only essential services are available 24/7.

The foreigners are different, they are transient, coming here to make money, they can work 365 days without a break (I did when I was working in Indonesia, Middle East during my younger days). For them the reward is making enough to provide for their families back home.

The government has to take steps to improve the quality of life for the citizens.

Right now, its only about growth, GDP, foreigner influx. For us, what does it translates into, how is our life improved?

I look at it this way:

A father works hard to build up his wealth, purportedly for the well being of his children. As time goes on, he becomes so obsessed with building wealth, constantly acquiring more properties, employed consultants who are non-family members , pays them well and even gives scholarships to their children with the hope that they will look after his (the father's) wealth.

Meanwhile, his own children struggles in school, does reasonably well, but he refuses to pay for their tertiary education (even though he gave scholarships away freely). When his own children fall sick, they have to worry about their own medical expenses or he tells them to take a bus to JB, the medical care there is cheaper.

His children cannot throw him out, he keeps changing the rules to keep himself in power.

So what does his wealth mean to his children?

That is exactly what I am or I dare say, most of us, children of father Singapore are feeling now!

I agree with what you wrote above.

But I would like to add: Lee Kuan Yew never regarded us as children of Singapore. He has only taken care of his own flesh and blood. The majority of us are nothing but "digits" to him to maintain his family's wealth, power and business empire. (incidentally, it is to this end that a large part of the Singapore National budget is put into the military ---- instead of being spend on social welfare for those who really need it, for example). Singapore actually have some very powerful secret weapons that are quite cutting-edge. Unfortunately, the majority of the reservists have low morale and little reason to fight a war, because such a war is likely to mean that the reservists are merely defending the wealth and empire of the rich and political elites of Singapore who have much more to lose if Singapore falls to a foreign government.The political elites here fear Malaysia and Indonesia.)

[richardg]

quite brave of her, imho
and yes we shld go cold turkey...

Originally Posted by DarkMind

If I am a boss I will never exploit my workers just to earn profit or earn more profit. Greed is futile. And if I am a big boss, surely I can put the interests of Singaporeans first before foreigners if my business is based in Singapore.

If eventually u become towkay i m sure u will

[nutx]

Originally Posted by therat

Facebook MP

Originally Posted by Andrew Tan

Like that anyone can be a MP too ......

Walau...at least she got 15k a month for typing in FB...we type until finger tired in AF also got nothing ley.....

[byfun]

Cold turkey ... for her not an issue. For many in the industries where Sporeans are not willingly to work it's a big issue.

Yesterday just heard one of my friend who is doing recruiting for a famous F&B outlet. They wanna employ local but find it tough. So ask my friend to source for them from the deaf and mute org. They will assign job suitable for them. They also willingly to pay more than $1000 a month for basic job like cleaning.

When my friend called the deaf and mute org. The person in charge of matching them to jobs told her that indeed they have many members looking for jobs but many shun F&B jobs because need to work on holiday and weekend. The person also say actually pay not the issue but the work. There are not much takers but she would try to ask around and see any takers.

So you see even deaf and mute people who could only work in certain job scope also wanna be choosy even when employers make concession and willingly to employ. Some jobs really only foreign workers willingly to take up. Not to say local won't but they just make up a small percentage.

Originally Posted by coyote66

If eventually u become towkay i m sure u will

No, I will not never exploit my workers just to make profit and if I make money from Singapore, I will make sure Singaporeans get the job even if it increases my operating costs. It is the right thing to do. One should make profit and yet be socially responsible.

Rich people must realize if they operate their business solely on maximizing profit at the expense of their workers, this destabilizes the social fabric and could lead to social unrest, which will eventually lead to the loss of their wealth and assets in a given society. It makes sense to do the right thing in this case, not only for their own benefit, but for society at large (in this case, Singapore society).

Originally Posted by coyote66

If eventually u become towkay i m sure u will

To add: while I understand your pessimism about human nature, I do not believe that all big bosses will exploit (squeeze financially) their workers if they have the chance. Although it may just be a small percentage of such wise and nice big bosses around in this world, I believe they still exist. Hopefully in the future, there will be more of such people around. For this to happen, it requires increased awareness for big businesses to practise social responsibility and for an enlightened government to step in to prevent exploitation of workers by errant big businesses. Having truly independent trade unions would help in this regard too.

Just sharing my thoughts on this issue.

[globalcookie]

Originally Posted by DarkMind

If I am a boss I will never exploit my workers just to earn profit or earn more profit. Greed is futile. And if I am a big boss, surely I can put the interests of Singaporeans first before foreigners if my business is based in Singapore.

Pardon me for pointing that out.

IF is not realistic! A lot of times, people said "IF" they were this, "IF" there were that, they would do this do that... but when they are in the situation they said "IF" they are, would usually not do what they said they would "IF" they are in that situation.

A lot of times, circumstances doesn't permit business people to do things they wish they could.