HR professionals must do national service to recruit Singaporeans

Nation building has been a continuous process for this little island of less than 50 years. We became a nation by accident in a way, by the grace of colonialism and a twist of fate. The colonialists came, grabbed whatever they wanted from the nascent countries everywhere when the natives were still evolving in different stages of civilisation. Nationhood was an alien concept to these tribal people that grew and lived naturally in their land. There were tribal chiefs, princes, kings, sultans, rajas etc etc but no nation or country recognisable with defined territories and sovereignties. The borders were porous, expanded or shrunk depending on the powers of the chieftains. It was easy for the colonialists to take over everything under the barrel of their guns. They lumped everything they could seize under their empires, breaking down all barriers of tribes, kingdoms or whatever.

Singapore existed for many centuries as a loot of the British Empire, part of the Straits Settlements that include Malacca and Penang, three entities separated by land and water hundreds of miles apart. The colonialists treated them as little jigsaw pieces and pieced them together or took them apart at their whims and fancies. Immigrants moved freely with the consent of the colonialists to meet their needs of the moment. There was no citizenship, no ownership, just subjects of Empires or free or indentured labour marketed by the human traders of the day.

1959, 1963 and 1965 were milestones in our history that saw this island becoming a country and nation with its own citizens. This was followed by years of daily drumming of a nation state, of being citizens of a country, our country, our people and our land. We have to gel as one people. And as citizens, live, work and fight to earn our rights to be equal in our very own country. We pledge to look after one another, for a better life for ourselves and our children.

We almost made it as a nation, almost, until things took a crooked turn. Overnight we were told we were not a nation or just a nation in the making, just a city. Worst, some even regard it as a hotel, free for all, anyone can come and stake his claim in the island, just like the citizens, with no barriers to entry. The silly cries of meritocracy prevailed and became the mantra of the day. Anyone that is good, or faked to be good, has all the right to step over the undead bodies of the citizens, to climb over them for the fruits of labour planted by the pioneers of this islands, the forebears of the daft citizens.

Meritocracy was embraced without question and distinction of nationalities. Many citizens fell on the sidelines and were disregarded as losers and have no place and right to protest. They were seen as simply no good. Foreign talents, the biggest myth that is being perpetuated in this city, not a country, are the new privileged class. They have more rights than the citizens by virtue of their claims to talents. The truth, many were fakes or just below average cons from third world countries.

The slack and neglect to recognise the worth and rights of citizens have allowed many foreigners to be here, some issued with citizenships, some as PRs, some with Employment Passes to dominate the job market in executive, managerial and top management levels. No one cares. Everyone forgotten that we are a country, a nation of people. We invited foreigners to take over our jobs and our city. And the foreigners were not going to be shy about this golden opportunity offered to them by the daft citizens of this failed nation. They seized the moment to dig in, bring in all their tribes, to set root here, easing or knocking down the citizens to make way for their buddies and tribesmen to gain a foothold in a paradise painted with gold. They are now entrenched, all with the blessing of top management and the human resource practitioners. And the best part, the govt did not know and has nothing to do with it.

The management of businesses and private institutions are only interested in their bottom lines. And the HR staff just tagged along, to recruit foreigners without a thought to the citizens. I think even ministries and GLCs too did not bother or care a hoot that they are taking in non citizens and abandoning the citizens. It was just not something that matters. Citizens, non citizens, they all look alike, they only want the headcounts.

The problem grows and is now a big problem when the displaced citizens have grown too big to be ignored. There is a sudden awakening, the disadvantaged citizens are not going to take it lying down anymore. They are staking their claims as citizens and wanted to be treated as citizens above others.

The management of businesses and enterprises, the ministries and GLCs and their HR now have a job cut out for them. They have a national duty to recruit citizens first above all else. All management and HRs must start to take care of citizens or failing which, they too will be replaced in a matter of time.

The HRs is the first line of defence of the citizen’s rights to employment. They must stop the crazy calls of meritocracy and foreign talents and start to think country, nation and citizens first. And they must report discrimination and victimisation of citizens at workplace by foreigners or management if they are unable to make things right. The HRs must stand on the side of the miserable citizens that have lost their jobs to foreigners, to give citizens a chance to employment, to reclaim their rights to work and live with dignity as citizens of a nation, not a hotel without owners.

The human resource practitioners have a vital role to care for the citizens and to protect the citizens from the hordes of foreigners here to replace the citizens from their jobs. This is a call to the HR practitioners to do national service. Their job is not to blindly recruit foreigners and to kick the citizens aside. Their future is with the citizens of this nation and they must close ranks with the citizens, to move forward together as one people. They must not be the enemies of the citizens of this country.

Hsien Loong visiting Washington as the White Knight

Hsien Loong is scheduled to meet Obama next month at Washington. Obama must be eagerly waiting for him this time as Hsien Loong is likely to bring along a big container of cash with him. And the Americans, especially the arms merchants must be praying that Hsien Loong arrived safely and be treated with more than a red carpet welcome.

The fate of the trouble stricken F35 multi role fighter of the American Empire could be saved by the White Knight in Hsien Loong. In yesterday’s paper it was said that the F35 is risking diving into a ‘death spiral’ because of the US budget cut. The Americans are running out of cash to support the production of this aircraft with many order cancellations or reductions. This would push up the already unbelieveable cost of several hundred millions per piece.

Hsien Loong could simply whisper to Obama for a bargain. How about Singapore picking up all the slacks, say we take a hundred pieces, we pay cash, but at a price Singapore cannot refuse, not with the normal Singapore premium of course? Singapore is fame for buying rubbish, troubled or bankrupt companies and paying a premium for it. The F35 is in deep shit and Singapore can come to the rescue without having to pay a hefty premium for them. Like they said, it is a win win deal, not the kind like Citibank or whatever banks Singapore bought and lost more money during the financial crisis .

With this deal, Singapore not only can scrap all the F5s, it can also lelong the F16s and replaced them with the F35s. The capabilities of these aircraft would make Singapore the most powerful airpower in the region, at least on paper. And Obama and his arms merchants will be eternally grateful to this rich kid that comes out of nowhere to save their lives.

Picking up a hundred pieces of F35s should be no problem with the profits made from the two SWFs. Sup sup suey. Bring them home.

We tax our sicks, our oldies, our jobless,…

I must keep repeating this if I have to. We claim to have the lowest personal income tax in the world or among the rich countries. We practise progressive taxations and tax the rich more than the poor. Really?

Please don’t forget that with GST, everyone is taxed, rich or poor, alive or dead, and the worst are the sick and the jobless, retirees.  If you talk about progressive taxations, the GST taxes the most at the poor and jobless level as all the items they consumed, including services, are taxed. And I say again, those that are yet to be borne or those who have left, dead, would still need to pay GST for their last journey.

As for the sick, what kind of people would levy taxes on people already sick, suffering, and being robbed in the hospitals by unprecedented hospital bills? Did the Sultan of Brunei’s relative pay GST as well? For those multi million dollar bills, at 7%, it is quite a handsome sum. But they are really nothing to the super rich. It is the 7% levied on the low incomes, in basic necessities, essentials and medical, that is really inhuman. I sounded like a softie socialist on a Sunday morning. : )

PS. The special children with disorder syndromes also pay heavily for GST.

It’s my child, no way….

Parental love is unmatched in human kindness, unparallelled, priceless and only one way, to give all they had.  Eve Yap wrote an article in the Sunday Times on the special love that parents sacrificed their precious children that come in all forms and shapes and sizes. She blurted out with a long list of disorders that children could be inflicted with, Antley Bixler syndrome, Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency, Cornelia de Lange syndrome and spinal muscular atrophy, just to name a few, would have murdered the parents trying to pronounce these words and understand what they are. These are names of serious disorders that threaten the normal physical and mental development of children and are often live threatening. Children struck with such disorders need special care, full day attention, costly operations, special diet and may have their lives terminated at the slightest mishap.

It is at times like this, when the parents are most vulnerable, physically, financially, emotionally drained and psychologically in despair that the best in human kindness and parental love are displayed beyond belief. These parents gave up jobs to stay by their babies, struggle with debts to pay for their diet, operations and care, and suffered emotional and psychological stigmatisation for having difficult babies. Hurt, stressed out, emotionally and financially, they soldiered on with babies that may not even reach pre schools. Forget about the straight As and the beautiful family photographs to show around. The lives of these parents evolved around the lives of their babies. Nothing else matters. They live each day for their special babies.

One couple were asked three times over a period of five years if they wanted the child to be resuscitated. The answer was Yes. ‘As long as her child wills it, they will fight alongside her.’

Parents in such difficult parenthood conundrum could take the easy way out like our govt policy on foreign talents. If the locals are not good enough, replace them with foreign talents, the best that money can buy. Why struggle and waste time on one that is not going to make it? If only parents were so mean and calculative, things would be very different. But no parents worth the name of being called mother or father would abandon their children when their children needed them most. Parental love supercedes all things, particularly human greed for money and financial well being. 

Thank God humans are not made the way politicians are made. Politicians pride themselves by calling them tough decisions to make for the good of country and people. The meaning of self sacrificing parents does not come with what is in it for me or how much. The dire the situation, the greater the love and devotion and sacrifice from the parents.

Policies that gone too far

If there is anything that this Govt is to be remembered for it must be the string of policies that have gone too far and no longer able to pull back to avoid further damages to people and country. My apologies, this is just my view. The Govt definitely disagree and believe all the policies are well thought out and calibrated. There cannot be any policy that is not carefully conceived and allowed to go too far. And all the policies are good for the people and country. These are the two extreme views of where Govt policies are heading and the consequences or benefits that came along.

I would just name a few that I think have gone too far with disastrous impact on the people and country. Some in the Govt, especially the ministers, still think that high ministerial pay is a matter of a few plates of char kway teow. The truth is that it filters down to the top few levels of political leaders and the top civil servants that ended with a huge payroll that the people will have to pay. This spreads to affect practically every aspect of the country’s social and economic activities leading to extremely high cost of living that is going to destroy the fabric and lifestyle of the average citizens. High ministerial salary is not a simple and isolated matter. It is felt in every corner of the country from the industries, the high compensation expected by all the top management and professionals to high property and car prices and high prices of everything.

High prices of properties and cars were allowed to carry on for too long with the Govt believing they are good things. Must be. They quietly and happily sanctioned the trend, and for those with many properties, seeing their net worth ballooning without having to work. It must be very good. Such selfish and short sighted views are expected from leaders without 20/20 vision, quite natural. By the time they realised that the policies have gone too far, there is no returning back. The various excuses that Boon Wan shared in Parliament are the hard truths that the people must live with. There is no turning back and those that cannot keep up, the only way is to sell them half a flat or a quarter of a flat.

As for high car prices, the fat bank account ministers would be saying cannot afford there is the efficient public transport as an option. And the higher the prices of car, of taxis, the better it is as it is only natural that luxury and convenience come with a price. They can afford all the luxuries with their extremely high income and there is no need to spare a thought for the losers who cannot make it.

The most serious policy that has gone too far is population growth and the influx of foreigners. Singaporeans are now virtually a minority in their home country. The call for foreigners to integrate with Singaporeans is a farce. The time has come for Singaporeans to integrate with foreigners and learn and to accept the foreigners’ way of life and idiosyncrasies. What is dire is that the Singaporeans have been battered and cowed all the years by the Govt that they have lost their fighting spirit of a can do people. They have resigned to their fate that the only way forward is to migrate or accept a lower existence here, playing second fiddle to foreigners taking over their jobs and a better life.

The revelation of the great numbers of foreigners here is simply frightening and beyond belief. And the numbers, and the Govt’s constant reminder of how great the foreigners are and how grateful the citizens must show to their saviours have bred a legion of foreigners who have no qualms in rubbishing the citizens, discriminate and victimise them at place of work and employment opportunities. And no one cares, no one bothers, no one in the Govt really cares two hoots of such a vicious development in the country of Singaporeans.

The recent show of disapproval in Parliament is a sickening farce. How could the parliamentarians raise the issues now as if they just woke up from their sleep, or were their minds went on holiday all this while?  And funny, they took the cue from the netizens. They heard it from the netizens. They did not know, really, they did not know. Or was it again another policy that they knew and approved and went along and allowed it to go too far?

Immediate and tough measures must be taken immediately by the MOM to mean business and return the country to Singaporeans. The country has been invaded and the foreigners have taken over many parts of the island, including businesses and high paying jobs. Talk cock and sing songs in Parliament are just that.

These are just a couple of examples of policies allowed to go too far. There are many many more that have resulted in higher and higher cost of living, the medical fees, education and allowing the tertiary institutions to be swarmed with foreigners to replace the local academics. How silly can it be? And the replaced academics too behave like daft and helpless average Sinkies, accepting their fate and cannot do anything about it.

Is there still time to recover the country from these wild policies that take on a life of their own to the detriment of people and country?  Is it too late for anything to be done and Singaporeans should just raise their hands and the white flag, give up their country and move their butts somewhere else. Let the better talented foreigners to keep the Singapore flag flying, if they did not change it sometimes in the future? Should the country exist for the people or people for the country?

They are going to bring in more foreigners to increase the population to 6.9m in 2030. So, has the population and immigration policies gone too far or still have many miles to go? They why the spectacle of protest and speaking up for Singaporeans and why not revisit the Population White Paper to stop the flow of more immigrants? As long as the White Paper is not stop, all the talks are meaningless, simply wayang. There is a big connect between the White Paper and the fate of Singaporeans facing the influx of more immigrants.