And the papa cries

A young man dies. He was a jovial and easy going person. ‘He was very active and we would always look out for each other when we played soccer,’ said his schoolmate. Muhammad Fahrurrazi died when on active service as a NSman, in Brunei.

The Defence Minister wrote a personal letter of condolence to his father. A general presented his father with the nation’s flag and his(Muhammad's) beret. He was given a military funeral with honour. But the young man died. These niceties were only awarded when a soldier dies in service.

What would the NSman get in return should he not die and live till is ORD? If he joins the civil service, he may get two increments in salary. Oh, he will get some income tax deduction if his income is high enough to be taxable. He may get some handouts into his CPF which he may not see or touch for a long time to come, or not at all. He would risk losing his girl friend while doing his two years in NS. He will lose two years of employment and the full income he deserves. And if things did not turn out right, he will lose his life, like Muhammad Fahrurrazi.

Has the sacrifice of the NSmen been really appreciated by the policy makers? So many young men have lost their lives for the nation. And many faded into oblivion as forgotten soldiers. In Muhammad’s case his father only had this to say, ‘I regret not meeting him the last time he returned to Singapore…He was just carrying out his duties.’

The citizens have accepted this cruel fate of life, quietly, and their sons making the ultimate sacrifice. Many have taken this for granted as the fate of being a Singaporean man. What should they expect? What do they think they should be entitled to for this sacrifice? No, nothing, no sacrifice. It is part of being a Singaporean!

And the mama cries.

A social economic system that disadvantages Sinkies?

Two key factors in our economic infrastructure will doom whatever that were built over the last 40 years. The first is high pay at the top, both private and public. With everyone at the top demanding and expecting to be paid in the millions, the money must come from somewhere. No need to guess from where or who.

The next most crucial factor is high property price. All the professionals would need to make more to feed this property bubble, to buy that multi million property. The average Sinkies too would need more to buy their flats. The professionals would need to charge more for their expertise. Who pays? No need to guess.

The average Sinkies need to get better paying jobs to cover the high cost of living. They have no choice but to shun lower paying jobs. Why blame them for asking for higher pay? Employers would thus not want them as they could substitute them with cheaper foreigners. The average Sinkies would find themselves more difficult to get the jobs they want to be able to foot the bills. They become unattractive to employers and ended up unable to make ends meet if they accept a lower paying job or not getting a job while waiting for a higher paying one.

They are then told to lower their expectations, live within their means. The reality is that living within their means with such high cost of living is still difficult if they don’t get a job with a decent pay. The only real option is to downgrade everything to the level of the cheap foreigners to survive.

And Sinkieland has just been crowned the richest country in the world and will stay there for the next 40 years with average income of US$56,532 in 2010 and US$137,310 in 2050. Shouldn’t Sinkies be the richest and happiest people in the world? Shouldn’t the govt be praised to sky high for the great job it has done? Why are the daft Sinkies so unhappy, and so angry?

Shouldn't all Sinkies be popping champagne and celebrating the good life?

An Immigration Bonus for Singaporeans?

 Making the Foreigner More Acceptable


By Yolanda Chin, Nadica Pavlovska and Norman Vasu

Synopsis

In order to make Singaporeans more receptive to foreigners, it may be worth considering making the benefits of their presence more tangible to Singaporeans through an “Immigration Bonus” for citizens from a revenue pool of immigrant labour levies….

Making Singaporeans appreciate foreigners

While the current efforts to mitigate the drawbacks of the influx of foreigners are steps in the right direction, two issues remain. Firstly, the fact remains that the immediate downsides clearly continue to be palpable while the benefits remain obscure. Secondly, the staunchly anti-immigration camp may not appreciate the potential cost of a closed-door immigration policy.

A way forward would be to introduce an “Immigration Bonus” from a revenue pool derived from the levies collected for the Work Permit and S Pass Holders as well as the possible introduction of a one-off entry levy for Employment Pass Holders. The new levy for Employment Pass Holders should not deter foreign talent from coming to Singapore given that the dual benefits of competitively low taxes and life in a vibrant safe environment are likely to outweigh the cost of the levy….

Yolanda Chin is a Research Fellow, Nadica Pavlovska Associate Research Fellow and Norman Vasu Assistant Professor at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University

The above two paragraphs are the gist of what this high level think tank team from RSIS has conceived after very serious meditation in the wilderness of NTU. Who would have thought of such a brilliant idea, to use money collected from the immigrants to appease the anger of the daft Sinkies who could not understand or appreciate the indispensable benefits of having foreigners to come and help them and provide jobs for them. And if they continue to be daft, the whole country will simply fold up.

The daft Sinkies are so daft that they did not even know the danger facing them and the little island they have built without the help of these new highly talented immigrants. But not all is lost. With brilliant academics thinking for them, taking their advice would not go wrong. And hey, the Immigration Bonus could be used to offset the increasing GST and save them some money as well. It is definitely a win win and win situation. The immigrants win, the daft Sinkies win, the brilliant academics with their clever idea also win.

This is simply wonderful food for thought. I must confess I would never have thought of it. No wonder they said Sinkies are daft. I am also one daft Sinkies. No need further proof.

Intimidation, intimidation!

As I read the morning papers my hands were shivering in fear. The word intimidation seems to be everywhere and jumping out from the pages. But who is intimidating who? This one I no able to figure out. In Parliament, everyone is so clever and it is really very hard to tell what they said and what they meant. And of course there is no intimidation in our first world Parliament. No chairs or punches were thrown, so we are one class above those gangster infested parliaments. Sure no see blood.

While I am still very hazy about the ongoings and recovering from the shock, I still think it may be a good idea for MPs on the wrong side of the power equation to exercise extreme care when asking questions in Parliament. Asking questions they must, but there are certain special nuances and skills required to be able to ask questions safely and successfully.

For one, include a prologue to the questions. Use a template as it can be used in all circumstances, by all MPs, before a question is asked. The things to say shall include ‘I am not casting any aspersion against anyone or any institution. I have full confidence in the integrity of the institution and its officers and have not the slightest doubt that they will be dishonest or bad or abuse their positions in anyway in the conduct of their duties. I have faith that these are people of great repute and infallible to temptations of all kinds. I have no motive in asking this question and it is done in good faith.’ I think this should be safe enough.

Only after saying this, like swearing on oath, should one proceed to ask question. Oh, before that, take care in phrasing the question carefully to make sure that it is free from any innuendoes or insinuations, or intimidations as they can be easily smelt out by the experts. After asking the question, just sit down and listen. Whatever the answer, just accept it as good and end of the story. And give oneself a pat on the back that one has done a good job, in asking questions in Parliament.

Then there will be a happy ending and no need to sweat under the threat of assumed intimidation. Our Parliament is a first world parliament and proper conduct with correct decorum will get one a long way. It can also be very gracious and enlightening in the company of great and talented politicians, some could even pass off as immortals.

Have a nice day.

Giving up on your own people

‘When you import sporting talent just to win, you have given up on your own people and it represents the “cannot do” spirit …a confirmation that you don't believe in your own people and their talents. No surprise to me that the sports association that is most active in importing sporting talent to win is led by a PAP [ruling party] MP….it reflects the faith and confidence they have in our own people.’ Lucky Tan.

The dependency on bought foreign talents to represent Sinkieland and to win medals has drawn many furious comments from concerned Sinkies. The above quote from Lucky Tan is one of the many comments made by Sinkies and has wider implications. Spending some money, since we have so much money, on something of fancy like the fantasies of an adolescent is nothing serious. It is a phase of growing up and once the dust has settled, the fantasy in the hands, it may lead to a realisation that all the farce wasn’t worth it.

What is more serious is the mentality of taking short cuts like instant trees. What is even more serious is to give up on our own people in other more important fields of enterprise. Many foreigners have been recruited to fill up very senior positions in govt and in the private sector, particularly in GLCs. Such acts are more detrimental to the well beings of the citizens, unless our own citizens are not able to fill the positions. In many instances it is not really the case but more like having more faith in foreigners than our very own. The Americans have paid a very heavy price for recruiting banking and finance talents from a little town called Mumbai when New York is the financial centre of the world. And when the most advanced financial centre could not find the talents it needed in NY and had to look at the wilderness for its talents, it deserved to have its financial institutions and industry crippled and ruined.

The importing of foreign talents to replace locals is very insulting when locals are left out in the cold, as incompetents by its own rulers. Giving foreigners a pink IC does not really change anything. It is still giving up on your own people.

There have been some policy shifts lately like priorities for allocation of schools, and differential subsidies for Sinkies. The sad part still is that many good jobs were given to foreigners instead of Sinkies. In some industries it has become a big joke. No wonder foreigners are despising and looking down on the locals. When your own do not look up to Sinkies and always look around the world to fill top jobs, it gives an impression that our own are simply useless or inept. And it is our own doing.

Give the locals a chance, put them on the job, just like politicians. There is no need to have any experience or special qualifications to be turned into an expert and advisor in many things. One can be minister this and minister that without having any prior knowledge of the business as long as the boss man has faith in him. We have eye surgeons solving flood and irrigation problems, soldiers becoming experts in trains and social services overnight, including making babies, finance man becoming education experts or housing experts etc etc. Why can’t this mentality be extended to all institutions and industries? Soon our own academics would only be found in dustbins or as taxi drivers, replaced by ‘more talented’ foreigners in the academies. And it raised the rankings of our universities to have more foreigners running it. Bloody good!

In sports, Sinkie parents are unlikely to want to put their children through the tough training regimes. They all want their children to go to the best schools and have straight As. There are no more Chan Ah Kows to spend his own time and money to put his own children through the mills.

Would the fetish hang-ups to employ foreigners be reviewed? Would there be a local’s first policy or always foreigners are deemed betterer and be the favoured choice? How would the Sinkies take it when the country gives up on them?

How would the national conversation change such a mindset of inferiority complex, that the govt has more confidence in foreigners than its own people?