April 4, 2010
In other countries like Australia and New
Zealand, foreigners are employed only in
certain sectors where there is a shortage of local
workers. In Singapore, they are allowed to compete directly
with Singaporeans for jobs which can otherwise be taken up by
them.
PAP leaders have been insisting that Singapore needs to
recruit large number of foreign workers for positions shunned
by its own citizens. The state media for its part has largely
echoed the PAP’s stance while portraying Singaporeans as “fussy”
employees.
Customer service staff are jobs which Singaporeans
are interested in, but are increasingly being crowded out by
foreigners.
According to a Shin Min Daily report yesterday, a jobless
Singaporean who went to a Bread Talk outlet for an walk-in
interview was told by a Malaysian HR manager to back
off:
“We don’t want to hire Singaporeans. We look after our own
first.”
The Singaporean felt slighted and walked away in anger.
When contacted by the media, Bread Talk claimed that they hire
more “locals” than foreigners and is currently “investigating” the
matter.
It is not uncommon for HR managers who are foreigners to bring
in their “own kind” at the exclusion of native Singaporeans, e.g.
Indian HR managers recruiting Indians from their own hometowns in
India.
Under Singapore’s weird manpower statistics, citizens and PRs
are lumped together under the same “local” category thereby
obfuscating the real employment figures for citizens.
Though companies have the dependency quota to fulfil before they
can employ foreigners, the restriction can be easily circumvented
by getting earlier arrivals to apply for PRs which are usually
granted within a few months.
The Home Affairs Ministry revealed that every two out of three
PR applicants are successful, an astonishingly high success rate
for a developed nation.
There is no minimal period of residency in Singapore before a
foreigner can apply for Singapore PR which is given out liberally
like toilet papers to construction workers, masseurs, cleaners and
even freelance prostitutes.
While foreigners cost much less than local workers and have no
reservist obligations, the PAP continues to exhort Singaporeans to
be “cheaper, faster and better.”
A recent Wall Street Journal revealed that the relentless influx
of foreign workers into Singapore has depressed the wages of
ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living and led to an
overall decline in the standards of living.
Official statistics from the Manpower Ministry showed that the
real earnings of Singaporeans have decreased by 3.2 percent last
year even as PAP ministers reward themselves with another 8.2
percent pay hike this year.
It is the duty of the elected government of the day to take care
of Singaporeans first and not foreigners who should never be
permitted to compete with Singaporeans for jobs at all.
The above Singaporean will not end up in such a predicament in
his own country of birth had the government taken active measures
to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans.
Perhaps it is time for the PAP to consider changing its name to
“Phor-eigner Action Party” (”phor” meaning to please in Hokkien) to
better reflect its mission statement and vision for Singapore –
that it is acting more in the interests of foreigners than
Singapore voters.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/04/bread-talk-we-do-not-want-to-hire-singaporeans/