Saturday, November 10, 2012

An issue of justice and conscience


A number of academics and research economists,
including establishment figures,
have recently criticised the PAP,
mostly in modest language but sometimes rather strongly.
Their main criticism is
the continuing mass intake of “cheap” foreign workers
and the adverse impact it has on Singaporeans.
Another area they seek to speak up on is
the public accusation of unequal job treatment in favour of the newcomers.
Some of these academics may feel compelled to take a stand now
for fear that the problem will become even more serious.
Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh
is the latest to add his voice
to speak up for the little guys, the poor and the needy.
Several months ago,
the former state economic adviser, Prof Lim Chong Yah,
had a dramatic proposal to narrow the economic gap.
Next,
Prof Tan Khee Giap of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
hit out at the state’s foreign recruitment policies
and called for better protection of locals.
Another surprising critic was Yeoh Lam Keong,
former chief economist at the GIC headed by Lee Kuan Yew.
Prominent commentator Chua Chin Leng
praised these elites for speaking up.
“It must be a matter of conscience, of a sense of justice.”

11 comments:

zhummmeng said...

Abuse by the employment agencies. Abuse by employers and an incompetent, naive and stoopid ICA which were conned by both.
Worse is a blinkered vision of pursuit of economic growth at the expense of social and financial well being of the poor and aged in the last 20 years.

yujuan said...

Quote of the Day:

"In the absence of justice, what
is sovereignty but organized
robbery."
By Saint Augustine.

In the Singapore context, we are robbed of jobs, dignity and worst of all, our sovereignty, all on home ground, and by our own Govt, made up of dumb politicians, who think too highly of themselves.
We guess we are being fooled by the secret pacts that our Govt had engaged with various foreign Govts on bringing in foreigners, in exchange for terms, all these are put on gag order, like the stealthy, secretive punishment meted out on a wayward Asean scholar, Alex, by NUS.
Grabbing for riches by stepping on the shoulders of the marginalized poor and our own PMETs, if not injustice, then what.
Those who visited Changi Business Park, you would be speechless, wondering whether you are in India, the place teeming with Indian FTs.

Xianlong said...

When so many cheap foreign workers are flooded in & displaced & advantaged local guys having done 2years NS & years of reservist after that, what justice & conscience is there?

The recent $100M vouchers to NSmen & conscripts shows how deeply rotten the state of affairs it is.

Guess how many tick 'No' in survey form when asked whether they will die defending sg?

The answer is obvious else the hybrid regime won't be forking $100M for damage control.

Lye Khuen Way said...

Yes, it is comforting to see prominent figures from the Establishment speaking up.

Their sense of righteousness and fair play is so refreshing. The latest is Mr Ngiam.

So all is not lost.

We do have men of substance.
By the way, except for Ms Catherine Lim, where have all the flowers gone?

yujuan said...

Changi Business Park, teeming with Indian FTs, with 95% of them, half baked FTs, who need to be trained by local IT suppliers.
And the just as ignorant Govt calling them FTs, the greatest joke in the world.
Go fly a kite.

Tan Choon Hong said...

When you have fulfilled your basic needs, it is time to work towards your higher purpose in life, to reach “self-actualisation” as Abraham Maslow theorises in his “hierarchy of needs”. These well-known figures have reached this stage in life’s journey and are helping raise issues to highlight the predicament of the underbelly of society. Their calls for change and proposals are commendable, but it is to be seen if any action will follow from the people in control.

michael13 said...

There is a strong belief among the Christians: "When God made/created us, he also planted a seed of conscience in us. So much so that we will follow the sound principle of doing the right things all the time".

Glad that these members of elites club must be very much disturbed by their consciences and now, they are trying to do something to redeem themselves.

May God save Singapore from further destruction and bless all good Singaporeans always!

C H Yak said...

In McKinsey 7S Framework there is this attribute called "Super-ordinate Goals or (Shared Values)"...while all the other 3 "Hard Elements" + 3 "Soft Elements" dealt with the Big Systems + the Individuals that make up the System model... it is "Super-ordinate Goals or (Shared Values)" that will determine if all will integrate and function as a "whole".... a Value System ... and they must be "shared values" to make it "sustainable"...not dictated ones like past PAP policies.

In this respect, the "learned" are more willing to take the risks to critique ... even former PS Ngiam Tong Dow is now saying "Dons should critique policies".....although he might think that there is still "a climate of fear".

Weng Mao Fa said...

"...mass intake of cheap foreign workers.."

Not really. They are expensive than a fresh university graduate in Thailand. A civil servant is earning less than S$400. He/she has to take care own lodge, transport fee and food. Our domestic helper (maid) are far better than a Thailand civil servant. Are foreign worker here contribute to producivity gain?

Unknown said...

If it's just 1-2 person, they're hero. If there are so many of them, then it's fishy. Something that's too good to be true is usually too good to be true.

I think it's just a front. These are all Civil servants, they're are trained to be obedient. So I can only think they're "told" to "speak-up". Get some credible guys to make some noise against cheap foreign labour so that the (foreign) business men get the perception that PAP is working for them, against all those prominent guys' advice.

The citizens feel happy because more people have voiced out for them. They felt they're "heard" even though the government has done nothing yet. Have you ever wondered why don't they just send their views to the Natcon comittee or REACH or just email the ministers in charge? Why does the papers cover these news when it's supposed to be pro-gov?

If you recall, one of their learning lesson in GE2011 is they need to "engage better with the citizens" and "improvement in communication of government policies".

After years of being put into defensive to answer for their "mistakes", now they get the civil servants to use words like "ponding" then the minister comes out to say "I call a "spade" a "spade"".

Now after adjusting our Q2 figures, we've avoided a technical receesion We all know the economy has been slow for this year, now get these top civil servants say that:
1) can't depend on cheap foreign labour,
2) need shock therapy, etc

LHL come out to say "We can't just measure our success by GDP growth, as important as it is, but also by the growth of our values - compassion, empathy, altruism, love for our fellow citizens...."

Come on, we've been telling you that for the longest time.

yujuan said...

Jim Rogers, the Commodities Investment guru residing in Singapore, said once he has stopped listening to the Govt (dun know whether he's referring to the PAP Govt or his own American Govt) a long time ago.
Meaning, take whatever being spewed out with a pinch of salt and make our own judgement.

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