My personal views:
1. Perceived as too arrogant: Look at the way James Gomez being
thrashed. I tend to believe that JG had deliberately "forgotten"
the submission of the form. But PAP called him a liar without
concreate evidence is a turn-off. You can't read JG's mind, so you
can't label him as a liar until he has confessed that he intended
to cheat and discredit the government. A logical deduction or
guessing shall not be the basis for calling a person a "liar".
Imagine if WP do the same thin to PAP?
2. Foreign "talent" issue: We have too many foreign "talents" here.
Gauging their job performances leaves many wonder what kind of
"talents" they can offer to Singapore. If SIngaporean can do the
job equally well, the priority shall go to Singaporeans. Govt can't
control how the job market work, but they can put in incentives to
encourage some form of behavior. For example, higher levies for
foreign workers that do not possess the necessary skills that
S'pore needs. And there has been many unhappiness over the fact
that there is no benefits being a Singaporean. We pay the same tax,
enjoy the same treatment as the foreigners. And worse, we need to
serve NS and reservists while foreigners do not need to. The meagre
amount of progress package or handouts are not good enough for me
to think that I am being treated better than a foreigner. And not
forgetting the fact that if there are any turbalances here, I am
still staying. Foreigners will just leave. And yet the ricebowls
are given to the foreigners SO EASILY. And since foreigners do not
need to serve NS or reservists, can the government put in different
tax structure for these foreigners, so that effectively, they will
pay higher tax than Singaproeans? I am not advocating too much,
just 1% more than what a Singaproean pay is good enough to convince
us that we are being treated better than the foreigners.
3. Cost of living. This is easily understood. Take for example, the
recent in crease in tuition fees at the universities. Since the
government has been giving the same tuition subsidies to the
foreign students (I heard that they will only need to work here
after graduation for three years if they take up the subsidies),
why can't we reduce their subsidies? If we go overseas to study,
foreign governments do not extend the tuition subsidies to us.
Again here, if the foreigners receive 10% less tuition subsidies is
godd enough to convince us that we are being treated better than a
foreigners. The savings can be used to grant some form of tax
rebates to the Singapore parents who need to send their children
overseas to study because we do not have enough vacancies in local
universities.
So the message is: listen to the people, and make us feel being
treated slightly better than the foreigners. We are here to stay,
in war and peace. Don't tell us the foreigners can be a citizen -
they still do not need to serve reservist. Or don't tell us their
children will serve NS - they are enjoying the same benefits
NOW.
