Let's be balanced about this. There is NO way we can close our
doors to foreigners. If companies and factories cannot get cheap
labour here, they would go elsewhere. But these are my
gripes:
1. Why is it that we cannot compete with them on salaries? We are
here for the long-term, we have to buy HDB flats, we have to pay
for our children's education, we have to save up for our retirement
here. ALL OF WHICH ARE EXPENSIVE. Foreigners can take the low pay
and cramped living conditions because many are here for the
short-term ONLY.
2. What about NS. Our boys and men will spend or spent the best 2
years of their lives to help "jagar" the country. The government,
rightly, stated that it should be a duty. Fine. But foreign males
don't do it. And i am sure many have heard of how our fellow PR
colleagues sent their boys overseas instead of serving NS, AFTER
they have studied here all the way up to JC level. Great isn't
it?
3. To elaborate on point 1, not ALL foreigners are cheap and good.
Cheap? The professionals demand the same pay. The government is
opening up the medical sector to foreign (Indian) doctors, most of
whic have been ejected from UK. Does anyone think they will accept
long-term lower pay than our own doctors? If they are going to get
the same pay anyway, why not train more of our own as Singaporeans
prefer to be seen by Singaporean doctors? As for being good, well,
in anecdotes I have heard and incidents I have witnessed, our
friendly Indian FTs are good in putting up shows, but ask them to
"cho kang" and .................
4. For any companies, would the employer prefer to employ a male
Singaporean who may have to spend up to 2-3 weeks every year away
from the company or a foreign male is better since he is always
around?
By all means, make Singapore competitive by letting in some foreign
"talents" in, the principle is correct, but the implementation has
to be fine-tuned.
