From The New Paper:
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He deals with Chinese nationals but says...
I never needed Chinese in my work
On 26 Dec, we ran a report on whether not knowing Mandarin can cost
you a job. Readers respond
By Shree Ann Mathavan
December 30, 2005
MR ALVIN Ho (right), 40, is a business development manager in an IT
company. He failed his Mandarin in school.
Mr Alvin Ho.
But he doesn't have to use Chinese at work.
The Chinese nationals he deals with usually understand
English.
'Unless the company intends to send a successful job applicant to
China for an extended working stint of three to six months or
longer, I would say there is probably no need to understand Chinese
while working in Singapore.'
He added that many Chinese want to learn to speak English as they
know it is the only way to improve their grasp of this
international language of commerce.
Mr Ho was among many readers, both Chinese and non-Chinese, who
responded to The New Paper's 26 Dec report, I Put Bosses To The
Test.
The gist of it: Do job advertisements which mention Mandarin skills
as a requirement discriminate against non-Chinese Singaporeans
looking for work?
The New Paper sent me, a non-Chinese, to 'test the waters' by
applying for jobs which had Mandarin as a requirement.
TOUCHED A RAW NERVE
Reporter Shree Ann (left), asking Ms Cynthia Yeo, manager of a
travel agency, whether knowledge of Mandarin was a job requirement,
for her Boxing Day report.
We decided to do the story after letters on job discrimination
appeared in the press.
This was followed by several political and community leaders, among
them Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and labour chief Lim Boon Heng,
cautioning employers not to use Mandarin to discriminate against
applicants if the job did not require such language skills.
For a few readers, the subject touched a raw nerve.
One thing was clear: Whatever stand they took, no one was sitting
on the fence.
Some non-Chinese readers wrote in with examples of how race was
involved when some firms hire workers.
Ms Kamaleswari Balakrishnan, 29, who can speak Mandarin, has been
looking for a clerical job for the past six months.
She said administrative work involved mainly English, yet the
employers asked her if she was Chinese and rejected her when she
said no.
She wrote: 'What potential employers ask is: 'Are you Chinese?'
They fail to see my skills and potential for the job.
'I have told many employers I can speak Mandarin, and I have even
been put to the test. But, eventually, they wanted a Chinese, as in
race, not someone who can speak the language.'
Another reader, Ms Niza Hamzah, who has had a similar experience,
said: 'We live in a multi-racial society where English is
important.'
Other readers shared their positive experience in predominantly
Chinese workplaces.
One of them, Mr Muhammad Putra, 17, a graphics designer at Pearl
Centre who often designs and prints materials in Chinese, which he
does not understand. His customers, mainly Chinese nationals, have
helped him.
'For example, they were willing to write down both the Chinese
character and its hanyu pinyin pronunciation to help me type out
the characters.'
He said he was lucky that his employers looked at his abilities,
not his race.
A few said some bosses were justified in looking for Chinese
speakers for certain jobs.
Mr Tan Ying, 61, a retiree, wrote: 'Some bosses really need to
employ someone who can speak a little Chinese so that they can
please their Chinese customers, especially those from Hong Kong,
Taiwan or China.'
'It is easier to clinch business contracts.'
Mr Koh Juan Kiat, 53, from the String not found, STYL = STYL.INL,
PC = 3B33 Singapore National Employers Federation, said that
mentioning language abilities in ads are 'legitimate requirements
for the job'.
'Language abilities like English, Mandarin, Malay, Japanese, Korean
to handle customers, or for developing businesses in specific
countries are business requirements.'
Madam Halimah Yacob, 51, NTUC assistant secretary-general, said
recently that when bosses ask for knowledge of Mandarin in jobs
that do not require it, people can become resentful and view the
requirement as discriminatory.
EDUCATE EMPLOYERS
On employers who discriminate based on race, she said publicising
such cases can help correct the situation.
'We need to educate employers that all forms of discrimination,
whether on the basis of race, religion, gender, or age is bad for
business as it deprives them of the best person for the job,' she
said.
Madam Halimah added that racial discrimination was not a major
problem in Singapore.
