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2/06/2006
life is getting tougher at home
forumer jimmy ho kwok hoong wrote a long article in today paper explaining why life is tough from birth to death in this prosperous country when unemployment rate is as low as 2 and a half per cent, and wealth and richness are on display everywhere. how can life be tough? isn't that a misconception or an irony? people are all doing very well, million dollar salaries, landed properties, driving around in mercedes and bmws, car show rooms are packed with happy customers.
jimmy then listed out the struggle of a child, their parents to bring them up, and the parents lost of high paying jobs, the short lifespan of working, and the downgrading of lifestyles when one becomes unemployed. foreign worker's policies seemed to be the biggest culprit.
this is supported by another forumer nelson quah who wrote that in australia, citizens and prs have priority over foreigners when employment is concerned. hey, this is alien to singaporeans. we have been following the western model of free economy and free everything, even giving our citizens' jobs to foreigners on a free competition basis. how can such things happened in australia? why are countries protecting their citizens for jobs and we think it is alright for our citizens to lose their jobs to non citizens?
with the election around the corner, will the govt pay a heavy price for such a policy? or the views of the two forumers were wrong. that people are all very happy and well taken care off by the govt? looking at the confidence and happy faces of the mps and ministers, everything is fine. the people will continue to give a strong vote of confidence for the policies of the govt.
now who is right?
Singapore is the only country that I know of that put its Citizens and PRs who do not serve NS on Equal Footing with the Foreigners when come to job employment.
ReplyDeleteNS again...
ReplyDeleteWhy not put all the PES E out of job compare to Pes C1 then?
Mind you... Many PES E include the richee kids. :D
NS is an immature consideration in such issue.
Well, everyone has an asshole, and an opinion, and it is great that we live in times and place where it is OK to be wrong, in fact you have the right to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteBoth these guys are catagorically wrong.
If you can't get it together in a modern society like Singapore, regardless of its uptight totalitarian dictatorship, where the fuck are you going to get it together?
Mr Quah is mistaken about Australia: citizens and pr's might have "priority" in certain circumstances, but at the present, there is so much skills shortage expecially in IT that there are plenty of foereigners working here.
Australia has taken the rational step of keeping politics out of business - as best they can, although there is still alot of political regulation in the market. This can't be helped - unions, the Labour Party and that shadow of "white protectionism" still lurks in the background.
To hire a capable foreigner over a mediocre local makes perfect sense: the better worker is more efficient, and the lowliest in the society benefit from this - even the worker who is displaced benefits.
What's "local" and "foreign" anyway? Just because someone hails from another territorial area means what? That special laws need to be passed? That a bigoted stance needs adoption?
We're One Race, living on One Planet. Unfortunately we're divided by states, and the evil governments who run them. If we removed the governments and privatised all the land of the states, we'd have a very different world - more peace, and prosperity.
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ReplyDeletequah is still right when you said there is a shortage in IT personnel, so more foreigners get the job. that is fair. but not when foreigners are doing the jobs of locals when locals are prepared to do it.
ReplyDeletein the recent past, the locals were demanding too much. today, the locals are not demanding any more. just a decent job with decent pay.
but the jobs are still given to foreigners. even if it is a few dollars less, the jobs must go to the singaporeans.
we cannot hollow out opportunities at home for singaporeans. this is a crucial flaw in the govt's policy. all things being equal or slightly unequal, citizens must have priority. and there is this ns sacrifice and duty which the govt must not forget.
when the country is in shit, who is going to take up arms to die for the country? this call by the country will only see the citizens stepping out without question.
a little short term benefit and we sacrifice the interest of the people is very shortsighted.
we have taken our ns men for granted for too long. all the talks about recognising ns men amounts to a few dollars worth.
ReplyDeletei have nothing against foreigners. but lets take care of our people first.
Hi Redbean, hope you are well.
ReplyDeleteSingapore, according to figures published in the ST has been enjoying tremendous growth. Unemployment is down and with the distribution of surplus wealth by the govt, people should all be happy and secure. Maybe Jimmy and Nelson are both mistaken. Maybe they are two of the unfortunate 2.5% unemployed. Maybe they are too demanding and unwilling to work for low salaries.
As you have pointed out, all you see around you in Singapore is wealth, prosperity and big payouts. Where is this poverty that Jimmy and Nelson talked about? Maybe they mean Indonesia and not Singapore?
haha speed,
ReplyDeletei can taste the sarcasm.
but statistically, 240,000 low income. this is official. unofficial, anybody's guess. for jimmy and nelson to post those articles, they must have known of people that are in trouble.
Actually, I defend the right of any boss to hire whoever he wants for whatever his reason.
ReplyDeleteThe govt who interferes with this is indeed an evil, meddling government.
For those who "believe" in NS, good for you - serve your mother cuntry, and be done.
For those who consider NS an intolerable abomination, I support and encourage you to live by you rown standards.
The cuntry that doesn't allow you freedom to choose is a cuntry NOT WORTH DEFENDING!
"Let them eat cake" ;-)
Nearly everything is taken for granted in Singapore... what lacks the ability to appreciate will mean having more on granted. :D
ReplyDeleteMatilah,
Reddie is right. If Singaoporeans are willing to do the jobs, then train them up, let them gain skills and experiences on job, not just pay absurd school fees then go blindly searching.
hi guys,
ReplyDeletethere are two artificialities here. one is citizenship and the rights of citizens in his own country. the second is ns. the imposing of ns is a very high price that the men paid to be a citizen. and this cannot brush away simply and be forgotten because ns is not that 2 or 2 and a half years. it is almost the whole life of a male citizen.
and normally, countries must take care of their citizens first. so with the added burden of ns, the citizens rightly should demand for some positive discrimination.
i just posted a short article about the short shelf life of a worker in singapore. it is depressing.
I'm not against training. In fact, I know that it is necessary to be learning constantly.
ReplyDeleteHowever I do take exception to the fact that the govt gets involved in this. They're the ones who started the NS shit.
The tenor of my posts are always directed in reducing to the greatest extent possible, govt meddling in our lives.
The more we can get done privately, the less need we have for govt, and eventually...hopefully... one day we can dismantle the state once and for all.
... oh shit... back to reality...
Hahaha... Reddie, after Matilah gets rid of the government he can be our government... :D
ReplyDeleteHehehehe... Come on.
Interventionist governing approach when people are stucked and get no right intervention is horrible. Might as well stop intervening then. Poor governance never means well.
But the momentum will be needed to change things. It's now merely the speed of how such momentum gathers.
basic human nature is such that you cannot get away with no govt. they will be replaced by the mafia with their own rules.
ReplyDeletethe people will organise themselves. the strong to control the weak and the weak to fight against the strong.
no way can there be no govt.
Well, I go for the non interventionist approach... all the way.
ReplyDeleteIf the people can't get it together, fuck them, let them wipe themselves out. If they have to WAIT for someone to come along and FORCE them to CO OPERATE, then these folks are not yet ready to take the next evolutionary step. They are still savages.
EVERY society which enjoys the fruits of human achievement has learnt about "volunteerism" and "cooperation" emerging from a spontaneous order.
I've live in so many communities which are essentially self-governed. People know each other, they look out for themselves. I really do believe that no government is necessay - AT ALL.
you are living in a fictitious time and place. it is too good to last.
ReplyDeleteassuming your conditions exist today, when most nations were as lawless and without a recognisable govt, we will all be colonised once again,
that was exactly what happened in the last three or four hundred years. the people who organised themselves controlled the disorganised. the european powers were able to organise and share the loot of the disorganised asians and africans, including the americas and the pacific islands.
the organised will rule. that we have seen and will be repeated. and that is what georgie and his gangs are trying to achieve. fortunately the rest of the world are organised or specificaly, europe and china and india are organised. even the muslim world is organised, though the weakest link.
your model of free market, anarchy cannot work. but if it comes into being, it is a temporary state of affair once people see the strength in organisation.
Nay. Actually the intervenist approach is needed and has always been there but at various degree of 'confession' everywhere else in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe key issue, for Singapore in this discussion, is much epitomised by the crooked gun shooting of Listing NTUC...
Every good system or what governance... without the good elements, it's ALL finished.
Intervene so long so much... look at our sorry selves. It's already obvious the Indpendent with all the tying, self-sufficient with no farms cos all juicy ones are snatched quickly by the sharks around... and what bullshit principles and greatness would a common sense governor wanna justify of such interventionist policy?
Obviously, the guns in the wrong hands has done nothing much more good than realistically be.
Papa wanna intervene in his daughters' matters... only to get flesh with them...? Hahaha... Got what I mean? :D Problematic time. Which is why I (actually all of us should be) am waiting for the great leader to emerge. We NEED political leader/s of our time. Period.
singapore was blessed for the last 40 years. will we be so blessed to deserve another bright star?
ReplyDeletelooking back into history, the founding father is always the strongest and went through the toughest time to build up an empire.
his immediate successor will have the easiest of time and ride the momentum. the problems will come with the third or at best the fourth when the excesses of the wrong policies of the past will be fully exposed.
we are in the third/fourth generation stage. unlikely to see a repeat of another brilliant star. unless we are really that lucky and blessed.
I think, if got chance, will have to have a nice lengthy chat with you over that post of yours.
ReplyDeleteWhichever the case, if miracle shall come, it'd happen to myself first. :D
Remember every miracle has to have a reason. They don't just happen.
Who'd expect a young commoner to talk politics as such? But there's a reason as well.
There is never need to confirm death in what 3rd/4th generation. Before Shang Dynasty crushed itself, there were several 'revival' periods. Even Kang Xi~Qian Long Prosperity isn't relevant because the first Qing emperor is not Kang Xi but either Duo'erGun or Nu'erHaCi (depending on how you decide), and the first of communist China is not Deng Xiao Ping but Mao.
It all depends on the leaders, see? Good era should never be taken for granted or religious obey some 'laws of common'... Whether the 4th generation would survive... that's one issue only god knows.
elfred,
ReplyDeletethe rules are only a generalisation. the china today is seeing the 6th ruler after mao, and it is still steaming ahead. why?