Next Election will be a Watershed

[aang1971]

The issue on the dependence and addiction to foreign labor boils down to them chasing economic growth in an unsustainable manner. On this count I have to penalize their lack of foresight. Yes, quite a few of those privileged enough (to take advantage of the opportunities created from burgeoning foreign labor) had a hell lot gained from the past few years of explosive, unsustainable growth.

But the fallout of it is an economy addicted to cheap, poorly-skilled, and unassimilatable foreign labor that directly and indirectly incited so much social ill. They (the PAP) will have to bear much of the responsibility for their choice. We as the electorate have to shoulder the rest of the blame as the majority gave them the mandate to do as they please.

well i always had the impression that PAP wasn't telling us the full picture when they explain policy to us

immigration is not the solution for aging population, many developed countries are facing this and they have dismissed immigration as the solution...you wonder why PAP is pressing this, as though the immigrant will give births to plenty and not aged

tight labour market is never solve by cheap FT

you do not get knowledge transfer from workers from developing economy to a matured economy like Singapore

if I were you, i will also wonder why the sudden influx of doctors and IT personnel from India

So PAP is just looking after their interest...they just do not make that clear to voters

 

[tomasulu]

The issue on the dependence and addiction to foreign labor boils down to them chasing economic growth in an unsustainable manner. On this count I have to penalize their lack of foresight. Yes, quite a few of those privileged enough (to take advantage of the opportunities created from burgeoning foreign labor) had a hell lot gained from the past few years of explosive, unsustainable growth.

But the fallout of it is an economy addicted to cheap, poorly-skilled, and unassimilatable foreign labor that directly and indirectly incited so much social ill. They (the PAP) will have to bear much of the responsibility for their choice. We as the electorate have to shoulder the rest of the blame as the majority gave them the mandate to do as they please.

I don't know what social ills you're referring to. Nobody I know are really unhappy with foreign workers or maids in Singapore. Even for certain professions like nurses most will agree there is a need to supplement with labor from abroad. The shortfall for nurses is common in developed economies... It's a tough job and not enough want to do it.

The challenge is to identify those that we will not have enough of versus those we don't have enough because wages are artificially depressed since it's too easy to hire fws. Giving credit where it's due I think the new mom guy LSS is much better than TCJ. His idea of encouraging companies to develop a Singaporean core makes a lot of sense. I hope it's not just electioneering and the result will speak for itself down the road. The danger of relying completely on foreigners is we will hollow out competence of the local workforce within that domain. Once it's gone it's hard to get it back. Ahem engineers to support mrt and fsi IT and back office.

As many as they are, fws have been largely invisible to most of us. Yes there are issues with them congregating in certain areas during their off days and yes there was a riot. But by and large we appreciate the work they do. Work we don't aspire to and are happy to pass it along to someone who can do it for cheap.

 

[aang1971]

like getting MRT to work properly

no one wants to do it...they only want to make more profit and increase personal bonus

get some poorly qualified ceo from india to come and try get mrt working

cannot be worst than the current managing director of train

 

[CSNation]

This country is already condemned. Just pack our bags.

Sent from my xiang long shi ba zhang using GAGT

 

[Ethan_]

Think one has proven to be not so capable, the others have not yet proven to be capable. Its a hard choice.

But before one make a choice, do consider that when one sound like a broken record keep harping/direct the attention of the sheeps toward localised issue, whenever that time of the season comes (which don't seems to really solve the fundamental problems, when most of it come from national changes, which seems root of most problems), one know pretty well that it have run its course, don't know how to tackle the very mess it created anymore, try to delay as much as possible every round. Do bear in mind that trying is not one or two years, but decades in trying already. So, one question one should ask self, do one want to continue down the path of perhaps decay, or try new hope? Choosing the path of unknown is a tough choice, but at least there is some hope, perhaps?

 

[mwmwmw]

The issue on the dependence and addiction to foreign labor boils down to them chasing economic growth in an unsustainable manner. On this count I have to penalize their lack of foresight. Yes, quite a few of those privileged enough (to take advantage of the opportunities created from burgeoning foreign labor) had a hell lot gained from the past few years of explosive, unsustainable growth.

But the fallout of it is an economy addicted to cheap, poorly-skilled, and unassimilatable foreign labor that directly and indirectly incited so much social ill. They (the PAP) will have to bear much of the responsibility for their choice. We as the electorate have to shoulder the rest of the blame as the majority gave them the mandate to do as they please.

Theres 2 issues, or rather 2 separate groups of people here.

1. FWs - nobody is saying we have too much FWs. we need to supplement our workforce in the service and construction sectors. everyone is in agreement here.

2. FTs - what are FTs? these are the so called white collar workers who are imported from india/ph/myanmar/china, usually with degrees (whether accredited or not is another issue). most of these have little or no experience to qualify as FTs, and they most certainly wont be able to get a job in aus/uk/us.

the gov is importing FTs to drive GDP, or rather, in hope really. however, they failed to recognise that its only the caucasians that truly spend their money in SG - wine and dine, better rentals etc. for the most of it, the indians and pinoys save the majority of their salary in SG and buy land back home.

is this sustainable? yes in the short run. the FTs spend their money in SG, everyone's happy. what happens if say, theres a economic recession in europe and us? most MNCs start to retrench their workforce, the FTs exit en mass. the rentals they hold are suddenly empty, and the poor singaporeans who bought multiple properties in hope of the small rental yield are suddenly broke as they cant find rental. home prices plunge, and the banks call for additional margin, which they cant post. house of cards economy

 

[aang1971]

i am always wondering about PAP fascination with FT.

Even now, there are talks about having 1/3 of residents here as foreign workers

I am in midst of researching into precedents from developed countries

No time really to conclude my studies and find a conclusion but it seems

1) Places like Switzerland are not immigration friendly but managed to develop well
2) Well they might have issues with aging population, they seems to be coping well, maybe because they have strong external economies and successful private enterprises vs Singapore weak external economy and weak private enterprises (GRSs don't count)
3. Replacement birthrate is acceptable in such countries..but we do have unnaturally low birth rate

I can only deduce root cause of this is PAP and their policies

Supporting them will only make it worst

 

[mwmwmw]

i am always wondering about PAP fascination with FT.

Even now, there are talks about having 1/3 of residents here as foreign workers

I am in midst of researching into precedents from developed countries

No time really to conclude my studies and find a conclusion but it seems

1) Places like Switzerland are not immigration friendly but managed to develop well
2) Well they might have issues with aging population, they seems to be coping well, maybe because they have strong external economies and successful private enterprises vs Singapore weak external economy and weak private enterprises (GRSs don't count)
3. Replacement birthrate is acceptable in such countries..but we do have unnaturally low birth rate

I can only deduce root cause of this is PAP and their policies

Supporting them will only make it worst

another rather obvious reason is GDP growth. benchmarking the gov and public sector performance with the GRP growth is the main issue.

mass importing of FTs to ensure a year on year GDP growth, due to the excess spending power of a new population. drives up rental yield and property prices, cause inflation blah blah.

more FTs -> higher GDP -> better bonus. see the link?

 

[aang1971]

another rather obvious reason is GDP growth. benchmarking the gov and public sector performance with the GRP growth is the main issue.

mass importing of FTs to ensure a year on year GDP growth, due to the excess spending power of a new population. drives up rental yield and property prices, cause inflation blah blah.

more FTs -> higher GDP -> better bonus. see the link?

that is what is said

trying to trace the growth and trend in 1st world developed europe and asia (hk n japan)

I have formed an impression through some of the articles/white paper and scholars paper..but not yet

anyway my thesis not due lolzzz

 

[OrangePineapple]

I disagree on both counts. I am not convinced WP screwed up the management of AHPETC. Having read the facts of the case, everything they did were above board, nothing that the PAP won't do themselves. They just had poor accounting practices that did not amount to anything near illegal.

I also disagree that PAP screwed up the whole country. Credit has to be where its due, a large part of what we enjoy today can be directly due to the foresight of the founding fathers (be it that it was mainly the PAP). But ever since LHL took ever, things have been going downhill, and I'm not convinced he will be the one to take us forward.

I second your WP observations. I felt WP mostly committed mistakes and lapses. These occur everywhere, and is definitely more common when you are new to the job. This is first time WP is managing a GRC, but they are expected to be as good as PAP who have run GRCs for decades.

Such expectations, in my opinion, are unrealistic.

 

[aang1971]

Even govt agencies fail audits

What is the big deal on Aljunied