March 2, 2010
Engineering used to be an attractive profession for Singaporeans
in the 1990s till the ruling party allowed the entry of large
number of foreign students to study engineering in local varsities
and foreign engineers, some of them only technicians to take up
jobs otherwise reserved for Singaporeans.
Today, the starting median wages for fresh engineer graduates
have remained stagnant for the last few years. Their predicament
may soon befall the legal and (maybe) dental professions.
Since the ruling party has opened the doors for entry of
foreign-trained lawyers to the Singapore Bar last year, foreigners
now make up 20 per cent of the number of practising lawyers in
Singapore.
There are already 923 foreign lawyers registered to practise
here, according to the Attorney-General’s Chambers in a Straits
Times article today. Foreign law firms here have grown from 85 in
2008 to 98 last year.
Though foreign lawyers are not allowed to practise Singapore law
now, new rules will be introduced next year for them to do so.
Foreign lawyers who are PRs here and with at least two years’
work-related experience need do only one part of the Bar exam to
qualify, followed by at least six months of training unless
exempted.
As usual, the Straits Times tried to paint a rosy picture about
the expected competition faced by Singapore lawyers by spinning a
story that the presence of foreign lawyers will create more
“opportunities” for local lawyers.
It quoted the example of a Canadian lawyer Ms Ciambella
expressing her wishes to start her own boutique law firm and hire
Singapore lawyers to substantiate its claim.
Besides the legal profession, it appears that even the dental
profession in Singapore may open its doors soon to foreign
dentists.
According to a dentist we know, the CEO of a dental group in
Singapore has been persuading the Ministry of Health to
permit his group to employ foreign dentists due to the shortage of
“manpower”.
These foreign dentists are likely to cost less than half of that
of Singapore dentists and will greatly drive down labor costs
thereby increasing the group’s profit margin.
If the dental profession is liberalized, the medical profession
may be next. There are already large number of foreign doctors
working in public hospitals and the polyclinics. Health Minister
Khaw Boon Wan revealed lately that one in three doctors in
Singapore graduated from a medical school overseas.
Singaporeans should realize that there are no “iron rice bowls”
in Singapore, be it lawyers, dentists or doctors so long the
pro-foreigner PAP remains in power.
In the old days, parents often encouraged their children to take
up law, medicine or engineering in universities to secure a good
future, but it no longer holds true nowadays given the easily
availability of cheap foreign labor and the reluctance of the
ruling party to protect the interests of Singaporeans.
As the last few years as shown, though the inflow of foreigners
have boosted GDP growths artificially thereby increasing the pay of
the PAP ministers, the gains from Singapore’s economic growth did
not filter down to ordinary Singaporeans.
The cost of living has sky-rocketed, especially that of public
housing, wages have remained stagnant, income gap has widened
considerably and the overall standards of living has declined.
Unless the professionals wake up from their slumber and vote out
the PAP in the next general election, they will soon find
themselves competing with foreign doctors, dentists, lawyers and
engineers for a meager pay not commensurate with their status in
the near future.