Originally posted by kenhor:
Government policy gone wrong with FT.
What is the purpose of FT? The correct purpose of FT is
a) To do work that Singaporeans DO NOT WANT to do or is to LOWLY
paid to do. Like Maids, road sweepers etc
you confuse FL with FT and its not just a matter of semantics.
Foreign Labour are much more easily recruited than Foreign
Talents... They come mainly due to Push factors back home.
Foreign Talents will come mainly because of Pull factors here. They
won't go where there are no perks for them.
b) To TEACH us how to do things that we do not know how to do as
yet.
and by teach, you should know that it is a
process and all processes takes time! you can't
tell someone "o.k. teach me how to be a world class
technopreneur/fund manager/scientist so i can change the world
tomorrow!"
i like learning from them and to be honest, i have learnt a lot
from them. it will take at least one generation for the lessons to
be adapted for the local context. don't condemn them just because u
have a lousy ang-moh boss or u're not willing to open your
mind.
learning is not an event. its an experience. don't blame ang-mohs
for not saying "hey, i'm gonna teach u this today" because nobody
does that outside the classroom!
c) If we do not have the people in a important field, FT are
needed so as to ensure that the industry can still grow.
which is true. we don't have enough in some industries.
But this trend has also creeped up to affect CAPITAL intensive
industries (like call centres, programming and IT Support) And now
both skilled and unskilled workers are being thrown out of work.
People want the job also can not get because FT is cheaper. So
policy a) failed
ha ha... i don't like all manners of FTs as well, but for very
different reasons... because some of them are overrated and
over-paid... Expats? Cheaper? get outta here...
c) No need to say this policy failed as FT are being inserted
even in fields that they are not needed like banking, manufacturing
& IT, in which we have plenty of willing and able people to do
the work. But greedy bosses need the FT to keep costs low.
again, you confuse FL with FT... its a painful transitional
process but you can't be stuck in a low-cost manufacturing economy
forever... H.K faces the same problems... people are moving plants
to shenzhen cos of cheaper costs. they have to find new niche to
survive.
For MNCs, its a different policy. Dr Mati of Malaysia has carped
about the new colonialsizm. I thought he is talking to just
Malaysians .. but it seems he is talking also to singaporeans.
Dr. Mat also had to re-assure MNCs that there would be no
restrictions on the number of expats they can bring in as long as
they're willing to invest. case in point: microsoft. They don't
have the pool of educated programmers and engineers and he knows
it.
We live in a country where our economy is NOT big enough to be
self sustaining. we need to sell to our neighbouring countries and
we need FDI. Hence, we need the good graces of the MNCs. Hence it
will be very easy for expats to put whoever they want into
Singapore. Australia has a tougher policy on jobs than Singapore
(even for fellow whites) I was told that if a position open in
Sydney, and american can not be sent to that position unless they
can not find a suitable australian for the job, even if the company
is an American MNC. In singapore, where got such policy.
that is why it will be economic suicide if u insulate your
economy from outside influences. U can't do that anymore! u see, if
that position in sydney cannot be filled by a local, it will still
go to a foreigner! if a local fills it and screws up, it still goes
to a foreigner! the labour markets is globalised too. nobody has a
strictly local labour market anymore.
We also allow our womenfolk to be subject to the rape and molest
of the white expat (who 90% will not marry our girls after having a
good time with them)
and you would lock up your sisters and daughters in the basement
and make them cover themselves head to toe when they go out????? it
takes 2 to clap... its not solely the fault of the expats. if the
trashy SPG wants to have it on with expats, u thank them cos it
keeps them away from the respectable women.
We suppport their home country foreign policy blindly (remember
how we had to be pro_america during that incident with China
shooting down the USA spy plane)and become their overseers for
their businesses in SEA.
not much else we could have done wouldn't u say? support china?
for what??? we pretty much stood on the sideline ready to help
mediate if called upon to do so.
So what have we become? we are independant from tryanny of the
Malaysians but we are now under different masters. We don't even
vote 75% of the time.
that, is the people's fault. ask anyone who voted in the last
elections and ask those who voted PAP WHY???
So all this ranting is this .. if the govt fail in their FT
policy and don't even admit it, how can we be sure that their
policy of buying white elephants is true?
nice rhetoric. doesn't work. 2 different matter. u wanna prove
your white elephant theory, prove it with facts that shows we don't
have a credible defence force. don't draw an obscure linkage.
see... if i screwed up once, going by your logic, it would mean
that i screwed up everywhere... doesn't make sense.
