5/11/2008

Bring back the foreign worker statue

Some time last year someone thought of honouring the foreign workers' contribution to the growth of Singapore and created a statue to stand side by side with Stamford Raffles, sharing equal honours in the history of Singapore. I was cynical about the idea and was unhappy that such a thought did surfaced, not that their contribution should be ignored, but what about the contributions of all our citizen workers past and present? With the recent publicity given and explanation of the greatness of foreign workers, I am having second thought. After hearing all the reasonings, I am starting to be convinced that foreign workers are our saviours and deserve a special place of honour. The statue that was discarded and kept in wrap last year should be brought to life and put at a high profile place. I think the most appropriate place would be in front of the NTUC Building in Finlayson Green, to replace the piece of tin can there. Now what made me change my mind? 1. They do the works that Singaporeans did not want to do. 2. They save the embarrassment of Singaporeans for allowing their parents to work as cleaners cleaning tables and washing plates or sweeping floors. Without them, all these cleaners will be the fathers, mothers or grandpas and grandmas of Singaporeans. 3. They create work for Singaporeans, like littering the parks which means more cleaning works and more contracts for cleaning companies. 4. They create demands for rentals. So Singaporeans can retire living on their rentals and can dump the CPF Life for good. 5. They create demand for goods and services, ie higher sales. This also leads to more jobs for service staff and foodcourts. I believe the public transport companies high profit is to a great part contributed by foreign workers. 6. They help to reduce cost to manfacturers who will then relocate here. We will become more competitive. 7. They provide a talent pool to bolster our otherwise talent depleted manpower. 8. They keep Singaporeans on their toes so that Singaporeans will not be complacent. 9. They can buy over the properties of cash strap Singaporeans or Singaporeans who are migrating, thus maintaining the value of properties. 10. The presence of these talents will rub off to the less talented Singaporeans and Singaporeans will get smarter in the process. And I can go on and on. They are indeed our benefactors and we must give due respect and recognition to them. They also teach Singaporeans not to be too gullible, and be easily conned by kidnap scams or washing dirty money. I rest my case.

3 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The great majority of Singaporeans are of foreign ancestry.

If a statue is to be commissioned, make it a likeness of Lee Kuan Yew. Then the birds can shit on it, kids can write graffiti, I can take a piss on it and one day when the PAP is finnaly kicked out...we can do this

Anonymous said...

Bo lampa Singaporeans must ask themselves honestly, if they are willing to work in the same job for half the pay. If not, then shut the fuck up coz without foreign talent, Singapore will lose its competitiveness.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i think in this sense singaporeans are better off than foreigners. the govt will top up their pay as long as they work. and if that is not enough, there are many charity schemes available.