There was a handsome Pinoy family in the paper a couple of days back.
The husband was an IT talent but his application to renew his EP was
rejected. The MOM has started to close the door a bit and not approving
every application for EP here.
From the interviews of the foreigners Singapore is still a choice
destination for employment. They praised not only the safe and stable
living environment here. The working environment is excellent, good
jobs, good pay and good prospect. But this funny part is not what
Sinkies, especially the PMEs are experiencing. Why is Singapore so good
for foreigners and so bad to some Sinkies is a big irony and a big
mystery.
Say whatever you like, the govt must know our strength, how good
Singapore is as a place for business and work. It is not just cheap
labour. It is the whole package which is very attractive and very
competitive among the first world countries. There is no comparison
among the third world countries. Only fools will compare the two and
tell you the third world countries are better.
Another astonishing truth that was revealed in the same article was the
lack of IT and banking and finance professionals. According to Gerdeep
Hora from Synergy HRD Consultancies in New Delhi, ‘Singapore lacks IT
experts and managers in its banking and finance sectors, and employers
have been hiring directly form India in these areas.’ When has India
become the banking and finance and IT centres that a first world
country, a regional financial centre, must go to India to recruit such
experts that a regional financial centre is lacking?
What is happening? Employers forming a beeline to India to hire IT
experts and managers in banking and finance directly? India a banking
and financial centre producing all the experts that a regional banking
and financial centre cannot produce?
Holy cow, I dunno what to say.
10/02/2013
10/01/2013
Tuition, the silliness of it all
There is an article in today’s ST on tuition by Nirmala, ST’s
correspondent. In the article she quoted a Professor Mark Bray on some
of the characteristics of East Asian societies and the growth and
importance of tuition. ‘These East Asian territories are highly
globalised and competitive. They stress a need for workers to remain
ahead in skills and for students to acquire skills relevant to the
global economy….the Singapore education system is a good one that has
delivered high quality output.’ She added, ‘But Singaporean parents,
like those in many other cultures, are competitive, seeking what they
perceive to be the best for their children in a competitive system, and
thus are trying to add more even though the school system is already
delivering much that is already very good, he(Bray) said.’
Now what is so silly or sickening about all these comments? Did not our education system and the parents make them the best educated and skilled workers for the workforce?
It is not about the inequality that tuition will cause as this is a harsh reality that the poorer working class must get used to. The rich will pay for the best tutors for their children. You cannot ban tuition and tell them not to pay for tuition. Well, South Korea did ban tuition for 20 years, but has since allowed it to practice again. There were many ways to curb tuition to prevent it from worsening the inequality, which is absolutely a silly thing to do and to even think about for any govt. Forcing the people to level down is an idiotic thing to do, really, believe me.
Then what is so silly about tuition? With so much money and effort put in to develop the young, with such great education system and to quote, ‘They stress a need for workers to remain ahead in skills and students to acquire skills relevant to the global economy’, now can you see what is wrong or sickening?
Our workers lack motivation, lack drive, lack of skill, uncompetitive, lack of talent, that we need to bring in workers from third world countries without the competitive culture, without the resources and the drive to do well in education or a good education system to replace them in jobs here. They don’t even have competitive parents to make sure their children received the best education money can buy. Basically after all the stress and money spent, the startling result, our students turned workers are a useless bunch for the job market. Really, trust me.
What an irony? The less competitive societies and lesser equipped education system are producing all the qualified and skilled workers that our system could not produce.
Shall I laugh or cry?
What is wrong, MOE, MOM?
Now what is so silly or sickening about all these comments? Did not our education system and the parents make them the best educated and skilled workers for the workforce?
It is not about the inequality that tuition will cause as this is a harsh reality that the poorer working class must get used to. The rich will pay for the best tutors for their children. You cannot ban tuition and tell them not to pay for tuition. Well, South Korea did ban tuition for 20 years, but has since allowed it to practice again. There were many ways to curb tuition to prevent it from worsening the inequality, which is absolutely a silly thing to do and to even think about for any govt. Forcing the people to level down is an idiotic thing to do, really, believe me.
Then what is so silly about tuition? With so much money and effort put in to develop the young, with such great education system and to quote, ‘They stress a need for workers to remain ahead in skills and students to acquire skills relevant to the global economy’, now can you see what is wrong or sickening?
Our workers lack motivation, lack drive, lack of skill, uncompetitive, lack of talent, that we need to bring in workers from third world countries without the competitive culture, without the resources and the drive to do well in education or a good education system to replace them in jobs here. They don’t even have competitive parents to make sure their children received the best education money can buy. Basically after all the stress and money spent, the startling result, our students turned workers are a useless bunch for the job market. Really, trust me.
What an irony? The less competitive societies and lesser equipped education system are producing all the qualified and skilled workers that our system could not produce.
Shall I laugh or cry?
What is wrong, MOE, MOM?
Stop this ‘local’ shit
PRs are not locals but foreigners. Locals are the citizens. This
deception of calling PRs locals to conceal the employment of citizens in
the job market must cease. Let’s tell the truth. Let’s face the truth.
Let’s be honest and transparent. Or else don’t talk about trust.
When statistics are used, when Singaporeans want to know how many citizens are employed versus foreigners, ie, PRs and non citizens, please tell us the truth. People who have been telling everyone to be honest and transparent must be honest and transparent to be believeable.
What is the percentage of citizens being employed in the banks, both local and foreign? The people want the truth. What is the percentage of citizens, PRs and foreigners in the various banks here?
Cannot tell? What is there to hide? The truth cannot be hidden for long. The citizens know what is happening. By not telling the truth it only makes thing worst and leading to mistrust. Who is standing on the roof shouting to the people about being honest and transparent?
When statistics are used, when Singaporeans want to know how many citizens are employed versus foreigners, ie, PRs and non citizens, please tell us the truth. People who have been telling everyone to be honest and transparent must be honest and transparent to be believeable.
What is the percentage of citizens being employed in the banks, both local and foreign? The people want the truth. What is the percentage of citizens, PRs and foreigners in the various banks here?
Cannot tell? What is there to hide? The truth cannot be hidden for long. The citizens know what is happening. By not telling the truth it only makes thing worst and leading to mistrust. Who is standing on the roof shouting to the people about being honest and transparent?
Chin Peng, a commentary from an armchair expert
It is so easy to make comments on another historical figure with a
little knowledge of the person and events. It is even easier to
selectively choose information to fit into a construct that one chose to
use. Chin Peng was a hero, Chin Peng was a freedom fighter, Chin Peng
was a terrorist, a fanatic, a simpleton or a genius. Just take your
pick. I can choose any one of these tags to write a story on Chin Peng
and it would sound even more credible if I called myself an expert, a
professor or add a Ph D behind my name.
Let me just give my 2 cents worth of what I know of this man from the
history books, news and some self proclaimed expert knowledge on this
man.
Chin Peng and his comrades were anti Japanese fighter first and foremost. In the 1940s, the timing and years are important as they defined who and what of a man he was. Both Singapore and Malaya were British colonies, not countries. No citizenship or rights of citizenship for the likes of Chin Peng. Their loyalty was to the Chinese civilization and an ancient China. They were also British subjects if I am not mistaken for being in Malaya.
There was a war of aggression in China conducted by the Japanese. Chin Peng fought under the Malayan People’s Anti Japanese Army. They were also part of Force 136 supported by and supporting the British. They were fighting on the side of the British when the Japanese invaded Malaya and Singapore. Up to this point Chin Peng and his men/women were on the right side of history, fighting an aggressor, the Japanese. He was a war hero and awarded the OBE by the British Empire. His men paraded at our Padang in a victory parade. His OBE was withdrawn when he took the side of the communist to fight an anti colonial war against the British. Chin Peng was a good man turned bad for fighting the British. If one is a member of the British Empire, Chin Peng was bad. If one was anti colonialism, Chin Peng was a patriot.
Communism in the early 1930s and 40s was favoured by the revolutionary Chinese over the corrupt Chinese Nationalist Party, the KMT. Chin Peng was a communist, so was bad and on the wrong side. He was good in the history books of CCP. How one looks at Chin Peng would depend on one’s political inclination.
The Malayan Emergency was not a war of terrorism but a war against the colonial master. Remember, 1948, Malaya was a British colony. The natives could be fighting for their freedom from colonial rule as well. Some fought, some chose to live with the colonial master, some simply did nothing, and some worked and conspired with the British against the CPM.
When the British outlawed the Labour Movement and started to arrest the communist elements, the MPAJA was changed to MPABA, an anti British Army. This was subsequently changed to the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army fighting for the independence of Malaya from the British Empire.
History would look at Chin Peng differently if they had won and gained independence for Malaya from the British. They lost that war and signed a truce in 1955 in Baling. Malaya only gained independence from the British in 1957. The CPM withdrew to the Thai Malayan border and kept a low profile. The fact that a Thai Princess and many Thai generals paid their last respect to Chin Peng spoke of a close and friendly working relationship between them, and that Chin Peng was not a nuisance or menace to Thailand. They regarded him as a friend.
Chin Peng was kept away from Malaysia more because of domestic political reasons than for his revolutionary past. He could have been welcomed back as a nationalist, a hero if he was a bumiputra. He was a soldier, nothing more and nothing less. For some joker armchair critics to put him in the same league as terrorists and the bombing of America is simply a wild and cheap shot. Ever since the end of the Malayan Emergency, Chin Peng and his men lived peacefully in Thailand and probably became Thai citizens.
These are my comments on this historical figure of the twentieth century, one of the last survivors of those turbulent times.
Chin Peng and his comrades were anti Japanese fighter first and foremost. In the 1940s, the timing and years are important as they defined who and what of a man he was. Both Singapore and Malaya were British colonies, not countries. No citizenship or rights of citizenship for the likes of Chin Peng. Their loyalty was to the Chinese civilization and an ancient China. They were also British subjects if I am not mistaken for being in Malaya.
There was a war of aggression in China conducted by the Japanese. Chin Peng fought under the Malayan People’s Anti Japanese Army. They were also part of Force 136 supported by and supporting the British. They were fighting on the side of the British when the Japanese invaded Malaya and Singapore. Up to this point Chin Peng and his men/women were on the right side of history, fighting an aggressor, the Japanese. He was a war hero and awarded the OBE by the British Empire. His men paraded at our Padang in a victory parade. His OBE was withdrawn when he took the side of the communist to fight an anti colonial war against the British. Chin Peng was a good man turned bad for fighting the British. If one is a member of the British Empire, Chin Peng was bad. If one was anti colonialism, Chin Peng was a patriot.
Communism in the early 1930s and 40s was favoured by the revolutionary Chinese over the corrupt Chinese Nationalist Party, the KMT. Chin Peng was a communist, so was bad and on the wrong side. He was good in the history books of CCP. How one looks at Chin Peng would depend on one’s political inclination.
The Malayan Emergency was not a war of terrorism but a war against the colonial master. Remember, 1948, Malaya was a British colony. The natives could be fighting for their freedom from colonial rule as well. Some fought, some chose to live with the colonial master, some simply did nothing, and some worked and conspired with the British against the CPM.
When the British outlawed the Labour Movement and started to arrest the communist elements, the MPAJA was changed to MPABA, an anti British Army. This was subsequently changed to the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army fighting for the independence of Malaya from the British Empire.
History would look at Chin Peng differently if they had won and gained independence for Malaya from the British. They lost that war and signed a truce in 1955 in Baling. Malaya only gained independence from the British in 1957. The CPM withdrew to the Thai Malayan border and kept a low profile. The fact that a Thai Princess and many Thai generals paid their last respect to Chin Peng spoke of a close and friendly working relationship between them, and that Chin Peng was not a nuisance or menace to Thailand. They regarded him as a friend.
Chin Peng was kept away from Malaysia more because of domestic political reasons than for his revolutionary past. He could have been welcomed back as a nationalist, a hero if he was a bumiputra. He was a soldier, nothing more and nothing less. For some joker armchair critics to put him in the same league as terrorists and the bombing of America is simply a wild and cheap shot. Ever since the end of the Malayan Emergency, Chin Peng and his men lived peacefully in Thailand and probably became Thai citizens.
These are my comments on this historical figure of the twentieth century, one of the last survivors of those turbulent times.
Gan Kim Yong learning well from Japan
Gan Kim Yong and his teams of officials from the Health and Housing
ministries have returned from their fact finding and learning mission in
Japan on ageing problems. He has learnt well, many times better than
Boon Heng. In yesterday’s ST he has already came out with a list of
innovative initiatives learnt from Japan for implementation. He is also
setting up a committee to look deeper into the ageing population
problems.
Among the things that the team has learnt for implementations are:
1. A need for support services during working hours when the young are at work. Also in cases of oldies living alone, night services are also needed.
2. Medical practitioners and polyclinics should be located near the ageing population.
3. Employ the elderly, and retirement age should be raised to 67. Only the Japanese could come up with such a clever idea. Didn’t we been employing people up to 90 and onwards?
4. Need for home care and more nursing homes as our population ages. Dunno if these facilities are provided free.
5. More support to caregivers, probably salary increases.
The govt should send more such study trips to learn from other countries to make life better for Singaporeans. They have forgotten to send Chuan Jin and the NTUC officials to study how other countries are handling their foreign workers and immigrant problems and if foreigners were discriminating their citizens how to deal with such problems. Maybe after such an enlightening trip the MOM could introduce more effective measures or at least get enlightened.
Money well spent for sure, every cent of it.
Among the things that the team has learnt for implementations are:
1. A need for support services during working hours when the young are at work. Also in cases of oldies living alone, night services are also needed.
2. Medical practitioners and polyclinics should be located near the ageing population.
3. Employ the elderly, and retirement age should be raised to 67. Only the Japanese could come up with such a clever idea. Didn’t we been employing people up to 90 and onwards?
4. Need for home care and more nursing homes as our population ages. Dunno if these facilities are provided free.
5. More support to caregivers, probably salary increases.
The govt should send more such study trips to learn from other countries to make life better for Singaporeans. They have forgotten to send Chuan Jin and the NTUC officials to study how other countries are handling their foreign workers and immigrant problems and if foreigners were discriminating their citizens how to deal with such problems. Maybe after such an enlightening trip the MOM could introduce more effective measures or at least get enlightened.
Money well spent for sure, every cent of it.
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