Is this the Singapore for Singaporeans

Read the case of a 43 year old Singaporean with a BA from NUS and a MBA from a UK university. He was forced to leave his job and had 19 years of corporate experience. He has a family to feed. He sent out many resumes but still unable to get a job. He had an A for Economics at A level and at MBA level. He even tried to be a tuition teacher to teach A level Economics but no one wants him. He is desperate and suffering from depression.

Another 42 year old with a B of Commerce degree also could not find a decent job in the banking industry. This is a man who tried to upgrade himself, a lot of fight, and got a degree at 39. This is not a man who gives up. But nobody wants him. Recruitment agencies recommended him to work as an operator in a call centre. Is this what a Singaporean with a degree is fit for? His may not be the normal degree but he worked hard for it.

How many Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s are caught in such dire situations? The sickening thing is that this country is providing PME jobs to at least half a million foreigners. This is becoming like a country that has no place for its own citizens.

Would MOM and Tan Chuan Jin start to do something seriously to see that young Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s who are willing to work get a decent job? They have heavy family responsibilities, children and mortgages. This is very serious matters and may drive them to suicide. They have no dignity, losing their confidence and self respect, and unable to put food on the table or money in their children’s pockets.

What kind of country is Singapore becoming when its own citizens cannot find decent jobs and foreigners keep flooding in with jobs ready for them? Can someone tell the jobless Singaporeans what is happening? I am puzzled that things are still so peaceful in the streets.

I hope Singaporeans do not talk nonsense to rubbish these Singaporeans in trouble over getting a job. Please have a heart, no nasty silly remarks. The problem in Singaporean getting a decent job is a very serious matter. Please don’t ask them to go and eat shit. They deserve some respect for trying very hard and desperately wanting to get a job.

But the millionaires would probably have more important things to do, like where is the best place to take their families for a holiday. You can see them everywhere with their smiles of contentment written all over their rich faces and not a worry to care. Even if you tell them that Singaporeans are desperately seeking for jobs, they would just smile as if they were non events.

Gilbert Goh’s Transitioning.org has many such cases pleading for help. This is not politics but survival. The cost of living here is one of the highest in the world and not having a decent income is frightening and a death threatening thing. These Singaporeans need help urgently. MOM must set up a team or unit to help them quickly. Stop wasting time and resources on the good to have things like kindness movements, save the dogs and cats, more parks and bicycle lanes. These people need a job urgently. They are not asking for charity or subsidies. What is the point of bragging about full employment when our citizens are going to starve while foreigners are having a party here?

Kopi Level - Green

Huffington Post: Is Singapore the perfect country of our time?

‘You land at Changi Airport after flying for what seems a lifetime, and you're naturally disoriented, even before you hit the customs booths that feature bowls of mints, dire warnings about the death penalty for those bringing in drugs, and digital comment cards asking if the service was to your liking. Duck into a public restroom and you'll be exhorted to aim carefully and to "flush with oomph" for the sake of cleanliness. Outside, it's tropical sticky but impeccably clean, in a city inhabited by Chinese, Malays, Indians, and a multiplicity of guest workers from around the world -- all speaking English.’
 
My simple answer to this poser is yes, Singapore is the perfect country for the English speaking rich. You can live here, feel very at home, and flaunt your wealth in perfect safety and do as you please minus the small irritation of no gum chewing, and no drugs. If you can live with these two minor misgivings, Singapore is the perfect city to live in.
 
And the best part, it is going to be better and better, provided you can afford the convenience and luxury of peace, safety and stability at a price. Not many can afford it, not even the millionaire citizens. Many would be here for the last time, downgrade, have a good fling with life until their last dollar is spent and off to another paradise. Their children would have to find their own way except for the scions of the very rich.
 
Everything is superbly fine in Singapore. The only thing rotting is the core. The Singaporean core, the original people that built this wonderful city, will shrivel and eventually cough out like the stone of a plum. The new core, assuming that they are just as good, will take their place so that this unbelieveable city of prosperity and opulence will go on and on.
 
Even the CPF scheme is designed that way though not spoken. The average citizens can only enjoy their wealth by trading their citizenships that allowed them to withdraw their lifesavings. This would allow them to be rich in a cheaper country of their choosing. If they stay put, many would not be able to afford the high cost of living when a cheap small car would cost $100k, and a cheap 3 bedroom public flat would cost nearly half a million Sing$. A private apartment of the same size would cost a million easily and treatment for a major illness will cost more than the price of a 3 bedroom flat. This is small change for the super rich but would bankrupt the average citizens.
 
Yes, Singapore is the perfect place to be in, for those who can afford it when a few hundred thousand dollars are small change, when paying $10 daily for ERP is small change.

Kopi Level - Green

The CPF is a good scheme if….

The CPF was a good scheme and can continue to be a good scheme with many people happily putting their life savings into it. What needs to be done is to modify the terms with more elements of options and choices and the removal of compulsion.
 
Let the original withdrawal age be at 55, or perhaps, this is a big retreat from its original position, to allow two withdrawal age, ie 55 and 60. The minimum sum schemes should be hanged or mothballed. There is no good reason to dictate that a person’s life savings should be retained against his wish even if by legislation. Where is the moral justification to mess around with other people’s money?
 
What the Govt can do is to provide a few options for the people to want to leave their life savings with the CPF after the withdrawal age. A 4% interest rate against a near zero bank interest rate would be very attractive for people who do not need the money urgently. And to make the scheme more attractive, those who left their money in the CPF after the withdrawal age should be allowed to make withdrawals any time if they so choose to. This will give confidence to people to keep their money in the CPF.
 
Not everyone will want to keep all their life savings in the CPF when they could withdraw them. But there will be a substantial number of people who would want to enjoy the higher interest rate or whatever attractive annuity schemes the CPF board could offer on a voluntary basis.
 
The Govt would have a much more happier group of people putting their money with the CPF as a matter of choice. There would be people who, no matter what, would not want to leave any money with the CPF. But when they can withdraw them at will, anytime, it makes sense for many to leave their money with the CPF. And there will be the odd balls that would squander their money away the very next day they took them out. These are social problems that the Govt would have to deal with and cannot be reasons to punish the whole population in a straight jacket policy. What kind of logic is that? Simple Simon?
 
Make the CPF an attractive scheme that the people would chose to keep their money by choice after the withdrawal age and be grateful to the Govt. The present schemes have started to smell and the rotting smell will only get worse and becomes unbearable. It is nearly there.
 
The Govt has a choice to do the right thing.

Kopi Level - Green

An honest dialogue on the CPF

MP Hri Kumar wanted to have a dialogue with his residents in Thomson and Toa Payoh on 14 Jun. The banner for this dialogue reads, ‘CPF – An Honest Conversation: Public Dialogue with Thomson-Toa Payoh Residents’. I wrote about this earlier that Roy Ngerng, KJ Jeyaretnam, Leong Sze Hian and Ariffin Sha had registered to attend this dialogue.
 
The latest, Kri Kumar did not accept their registration as the event was only for his residents. Ariffin posted a couple of responses by Hri Kumar saying that he was pleased that residents from outside his constituency were interested in the dialogue.
 
Netizens are crying foul that Hri Kumar is not accepting residents from other constituencies to attend this dialogue on the CPF which is a national issue. I thought it would be a great opportunity for Hri Kumar to give the govt’s version of the CPF story and clarify whatever doubts raised by the people. And if necessary, Hri could bring in more experts like Indranee Rajah or a minister to assist him in this very important conversation. It would be the first opportunity for the govt to rebut whatever issues that were raised at the Hong Lim Park protest rally.
 
It is all about communication and explaining govt policies to the people and this dialogue could be raised to a national level and would receive greater publicity than intended. It would be good for Hri Kumar and the govt to say what they need to say to the residents and to remove whatever wrong perceptions they have on the CPF issue.
 
Why should an MP not willing to engage in a serious conversation on a serious matter with the residents, or a few residents just because they were from different constituencies? This is a golden opportunity not to be missed for the govt to say its piece. Why not? Why abstain when so many doubts and issues have been raised by the speakers at Hong Lim and needing answers?
 
Should not this be what constructive politics be, engaging the people?

Kopi Level - Yellow

Bankruptcy in the banking and IT industries

Oh I am not referring to the monetary aspect of these two industries. I am referring to the skill sets of the professionals particularly at the senior and top management levels. There seems to be a dearth of local talents in these two industries today. 20 years ago, we were already a major financial centre in the region and our locals were filling up the top management positions in these industries. Particularly in banking and finance, the MAS, under the leadership of Koh Beng Seng, were telling the foreign banks operating here to train the locals to assume top management positions.
 
Today, the top management positions are filled by foreigners and more foreigners are coming in to replace the locals caused they can’t find any locals good enough. What is happening? What were the foreign banks doing in the last twenty years? Why is this financial centre and highly IT connected city facing bankruptcy in its local human resource to fill the needs of these industries?
 
The situation is real bad when it has to recruit its top management staff from a third world country like India. Singapore was so advanced in banking and finance and IT relative to India. Why is Singapore becoming dependent on India for its professional manpower in these industries? Why is a first world city state losing out in developing its manpower skill sets to a third world country that is anything but a financial centre?
 
And the pathetic thing today is the call to train our young recruits in these industries for future leadership positions. What it means is that the current batch of middle and senior management staff are duds or inepts, not good enough, not material for top management. And it would take another 20 or 30 years to groom the young things of today to prepare them for the future. In the meantime, in the next 20 or 30 years, the top financial centre and IT city will have to depend on foreigners to fill up top positions in these two industries. In total at least 50 years have been wasted with a vacuum of top management talents that would put the city state in a very precarious position. It has no talents!
 
Is this a joke? If this is real, then it is a very serious problem caused by bad planning and lack of foresight. It cannot be intentional. It is no laughing matter that we can take our own sweet time to talk cock and sing song.

Kopi Level - Yellow