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6/01/2008
The changing demographic pattern
'Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said Singapore is a good destination for skilled and semi-skilled Bangladeshi workers.' I can add a few more. Singapore is a great place for Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and Sri Lankan maids. Singapore is also a good place for Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi workers.
With Singapore becoming a haven for these third world low talent and low skill workers, the demographic pattern will soon change. I can simply divide them into two groups, the haves and the have nots. The haves will be the elite and the real foreign talents, driving around in their limousines and residing in exclusive suburbs or in the clouds. At the lower and down to earth end will be the hardlanders and the MRT squeeze with our third world workers.
After travelling in MRTs for a while, the ingenuity of nature soon makes one less sensitive to odour and human heat and sweat. Well, got to get use to life in the lower strata of society, taking public transport to work. Mind you, this is world class transport at its best. Imagine if the population continues to increase or when the aircon breaks down. Life in paradise or more accurately living in a third world haven is really great, especially if one comes from the rundown and properly kept public facilities of developing countries. Everything here is like heaven indeed.
There is no cause for alarm. Lo-wage lo skilled workers tend to stay only as long as they are contracted. This is because of the high price of accomodation in S'pore.
ReplyDeleteThe principle of having open borders to allow the ease of entry and allocationof labour is in keeping with free-market principles, and thus gets my full endorsement.
My only suggestion to the govt is to relax the rules even MORE.
Locals who are worried about their jobs had best pull themselves up by their boot-straps, and stop getting in the way of progress which benefits everyone.
this temporary nature of things can be 3 years or 10 years or more.
ReplyDeleteand the low down working class citizens should fight tooth and nail for their existence with the foreign workers? fighting for jobs, fighting for place in the train and in public parks?
are we being too uncaring for our citizens?
What is the problem? S'pore is the easiet place to prevail in the whole of Asia. It is too easy to live there...despite a nut-case govt.
ReplyDeleteLook after what citizens? What for? Are people such babies that they need "looking after"?
Don't be silly lah. You should know better redbean.