Singapore primary schools “swarmed” by PRs and foreigners
January 13th, 2010 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
The shocking truth that everybody has been guessing is finally out: that Singapore primary schools are “swarmed” by PRs and foreigners.
In a written reply to questions from Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Baey Yam Keng, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen revealed that “about 26,000 permanent residents here are studying in national primary schools, making up about 10 per cent of the enrolment.”
The exact number of foreigners studying in Singapore primary schools is not known, but if it is counted in the equation, it will mean that more than 10 per cent of the enrolment are non-Singaporeans, an astonishingly high figure for public schools which are supposed to cater to citizens only since they are funded by taxpayers’ monies.
Singapore is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where PRs and foreigners are allowed to study in its public schools run by the Ministry of Education.
In other countries, foreigners will have to put up their children in international schools.
For example, Singaporeans working in China enroll their children in Singapore international schools and not in Chinese schools run by the Chinese government, assuming that they are on par with the standard of a Singapore school.
PRs and foreigners should not be competing with Singaporeans for limited primary school places in the first place.
In the past, PRs enjoy equal opportunities as citizens in balloting for places in primary schools which sparked widespread unhappiness and resentment among Singaporeans.
The rules were “tweaked” recently when the Education Ministry announced a month ago that Singaporeans will have one more ballot slip than permanent residents when they ballot for a place in the Primary 1 school registration exercise this year.
However, the additional ballot will count for little due to the rising numbers of PRs and foreigners in Singapore as a result of the ruling party’s liberal immigration policies.
A forumer pointed out on the Straits Times discussion board that the change will have little impact other than to spur more PRs to take up citizenship or to join grassroots organizations.
The token increase in the school fees paid by PRs to over $800 is only a half-hearted measure to better “distinguish” between citizens and PRs.
Most PRs can well afford to put their children up at international schools which charge between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. They should not be allowed to “leech” on precious public resources reserved for Singaporeans just because they want to save a few extra dollars.
Those PRs who are unable to “compete” with locals should not even be permitted to step foot on Singapore to work at all.
Why are we giving PRs to PRC construction workers, cleaners and masseurs and investing in their children but not our very own Singaporeans?
PRs should not be given a ballot to compete with Singapore citizens for places in primary schools, especially the popular ones like Raffles Girl, Henry Park, Nanyang and Rosyth Primary schools.
They can only be allowed to apply for leftover places in Singapore primary schools after the citizens have taken their pick and this is already a very generous gesture to them.
PRs should stop whining that they deserve “equal rights” as Singaporeans because they pay taxes and contribute to Singapore economy too.
To borrow an infamous quote from Lee Kuan Yew who is so infatuated with his new pets:
“If PRs and foreigners are falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide,” that is THEIR problem, and NOT the problem of Singapore citizens.”
Posted in Editorial
it might have something to do with the birth rate.
i heard sg has one of the worse reproduction rates in the world… if i had time, would pull some sources, but anyone else care to elaborate?
i’m pretty sure “true” singaporean population is in decline at the moment.
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Guess who’s policy (2 is enough) it is that resulted in our low birth rate…
Basically, pap has betrayed the people who voted them all these years, treating foreigners better than citizens..
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Recently many anti-government websites have launched many diatribes against our government. However, it is important for us to realise that there are not many sinagporeans( not in the PAP) who are willing or able to rise up to the ministerial positions in our parliament. That is to say there are far too few strong opposition leaders in Singapore to form a strong voice against the ruling party. Our focus now should be forming a strong opposition party to convince the nation to cast a vote for them in the following election.
I must applaud temasek review efforts in allowing Singaporeans to gain awareness of the current political situation in Singapore
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The old man is too old to procreate so he has to import babies
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1） If birth rate is the root problem, tackle it generously with sincerity.
重赏之下必有勇夫
2） Seriously these are free loafers from china & india.
In fact most TF & PR are useless bum or worst unwanted goods. If they are so talented their country would have engage them to help grow their country economy.
If you have a chance, listen to their conversation you will find out that they have no substance at all ” boh liao “.
Our government is behaving like a typical “karang guni man” collecting discarded goods. Probably this is their karma.
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standard of living is so high in sg……of cos birth rate low
and who is to blame for the low birth rate????
DENIFINATELY NOT the govt
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Balloting is for PR and foreigners only. Citizens should be admitted into primary school without the balloting system.
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Singaporeans working in China enroll their children in Singapore international schools and not in Chinese schools run by the Chinese government, assuming that they are on par with the standard of a Singapore school.
no need to assume.. they are not on par.
beside this foreign student pays more which help to offset local student’s fee.
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@ nick
You are 40 years behind time.Something to do with the birthrate? Are you real? It’s EVERYTHING to do with the birthrate!!! If the forecaster was that clever we wouldn’t have landed ourselves in such a shit hole!!
And yes! we are in the lowest ranking of the birth reproductive index,go check that out!!
Now everything is in a bloody mess!We the true born Singapore citizens don’t know where we stand,don’t know where we fit in.Some are in shock! The old and weak are asked to be discarded to somewhere in JB! Many able bodied citizens are being squeezed out by cheap-laboured foreigners!!
Do we have a say in our own affairs any more??
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Charity begins at home in most countries. Singapore is an exception.
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“Singapore primary schools “swarmed” by PRs and foreigners”
10% is hardly “swarmed”, TR.
Pls don’t pick up bad habits of local MSM in headline writing
And this piece belongs under Opinions not News. 50% is opinion. 50% news reporting.
Don’t pick up TOC’s bad habit of masquerading opinions cum reporting as objective str forward reporting. When in doubt stick it under Opinions.
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The PAP is embarking on economic genocide to wipe out native singaporeans so they can make way for new citizens who are more ‘hard driving’, ‘cheaper, faster, and stronger’. That explains LKY’s remarks of sg not being a nation yet… he thinks he needs to replace the entire populace so that he gets the sinkapore he wants…. an island of unquestioning, grateful, cheap workers.
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When I was studying in Temasek Polytechnic in 2005, already 15% of the student population were foreigners (not even PRs). Almost all of them took advantage of the govt subsidy so that their school fees were at most just 5% more than citizens’. Otherwise, full foreigner school fees is at least 3 times higher.
After graduation, these foreigners just need to stay in S’pore for 3 years and work locally. No big deal, even if undercut singaporean by accepting $1.5K / mth, it is already 3 times the salary of a bachelor degree-holder back in china.
Some don’t even bother to stay 3 yrs, just run road without paying back the education subsidies. At most don’t come back to S’pore.
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Fascist rubbish. Got your SS uniforms yet?
ed
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The person set the two child policy is to be executed.
Forcing every new couple at that time to bear only two children the most, additional child additional penalty.
He even put alot of effort to shame those parents having more than two children.
His concern maybe the malays couple in singapore are giving more babies than the chinese. And I affirmatively think he is completely wrong because all races are able to live in harmony for so long and the bond already built without his knowledge.
Whichever race has more population, we should let nature take its course.
Stop all these importing of human to replace the chinese because these bums are not fit to do so !!!
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Temasek Review:
PLEASE heed the advice of post by”A Tan on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 5:33 pm”
10% is not swarmed.
I am surprised that so many bloggers hitched on to your tune and condmend the government without further thought. It has become an incorrigible irrational habit. No wonder we need a cooling off period.
Look, each class has 42 students in the primary school. what’s the problem if 4 of them on average are foreigners and 38 locals?
Cool down everybody, there is no issue with foreigners in the primary school, today. In fact, assuming you are a chinese singaporean primary school kid, i would think it a great honour to have the opportunity to have a foreign chinese kid expecially, with good chinese speaking style to learn from and make friend with. Chinese properly spoken is beautiful language. Be humble. don’t complain, and be reasonable before criticising. Then you will maintain your creditability.
zero
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@nick, the govt logic of low birth rate of sg = low replacement of locals = import more foreigners doesn’t make sense to me at all.
the foreigners are hardly babies, they dun come here to give birth, their kids may or may not even stay here, and if they do, how to ensure that they have kids??
I have an idea to make up for the falling birthrate, how about mass adoption of (orphaned) babies from less well to do countries instead?? use the money wasted on these FT programs to set up childcare centers or something and provide jobs for the locals at the same time. haha
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Lee Kee See
How did the Government ‘force’ you to have two kids only? Were anyone thrown into Jail for having 3 kids or have the 3rd kid murdered?
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@Newtype
You should check with your parents and neighbours in the 60’s and 70’s.
You are right they were not jailed but were penalize by a penalty only.
Forcing most parents to stop at two child is worst than murdering. Murdering at most involved afew life only.
But this policy is against human reproduction here and a full destruction to the country population.
This problem is akin to sending every one learning english in school, what happened ? Majority speaks singlish, hated chinese language, throwing away their dialects and culture.
We paid very high price for this singlish.
无风不起浪，起浪必有因
Maybe you wish to explain your family background and I hope to learn you. Regards,
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LeeKeeSee on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 7:08 pm,
You’ve got a strange and very extreme view here.
One of the dire issues facing many third world countries is their high unbridled birthrate. At their speed, their economy won’t have the breathing space to lift much of the population out of poverty. Many of newborns will be “murdered” by poverty itself and poverty-related crimes.
Family planning is not murder like you said. International agencies are advising and promoting where it’s needed. Surely, these agencies aren’t conducting mass murder.
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There are many public schools in S.E. suburbs of Melbourne that have migrants accounting for about 50% of their student population. I know of one primary school where 70% are migrants from China, India & Sri Lanka.
I think 10% is not really an alarming figure
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Singapore can be considered the worst in the world. The other 2 behind us are not even considered countries…. HK and Macau.
wait.. we aren’t one either..ohh… no wonder…
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‘To Newtype’
I was born in the 70s and was aware of the stop at two policy.
Singapore did not have sufficient resources for a large population at that time.
It’s known that in Singapore, the most successful way of implementing a policy is to make sure to hurt us where it hurts the most, and that is, our pockets.
Back then, we were all trying to survive with meagre wages. So couples who had an additional child after their second, were ‘fined’ with lower priorities to education, housing and fewer rebates (eg. tax rebates)
However, there was another sub-campaign. It was believed that offsprings of graduates will produce ’superior’ children. Their children have a higher priority to education and they to housing and rebates. But being graduates, they focused more on their careers than making babies.
I suggest before we make unnecessary comments, we should be aware of our history.
And before I get flamed or bashed, do read:
http://www.photius.com/countries/singapore/society/singapore_society_population_control_p~11008.html
On a more insidious note:
It is widely known of our Dear Leader’s Daddy’s belief in the master race. Back then, the majority of Singaporeans who had large families were the non-chinese, and he viewed them as inferior to his race. So the stop at 2 policy was a shadow campaign to curtail their population growth.
We can also see his delusional belief in the Chinese Master Race (you can easily google to find these info):
1. His insistence to invite the Chinese from Hong Kong to Singapore when it was returned to China
2. The investments made in China’s Industrial Park even though it is bleeding us dry
3. Promoting polices to invite more immigrants from the PRC
4. Establishing SAP schools that caters to the ‘chinese elite’ but not cater to the other races
5. His non stop positive comments of China and overlooking China’s atrocities against the Tibetan people and Ughirs.
6. Tweaking the teaching of the Chinese Language but not the other non-Chinese language in schools
On a lighter note, maybe our dear leader can contribute his ’swimmers’ and pay people to surrogate his babies so that his dream of a master race becomes a reality.
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@objective
I don’t remember anyone died of poverty. Do you ?
Are you saying that we have no crimes at present and crimes surface when there is poverty.
I believe singapore economy have the breathing space to lift much of the population out of poverty because we have highly paid forecaster.
You should check on country Butan and Nepal family income before you spout again.
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//Newtype
you are just not given a lot subsidy for having more than 2 kids at one stage.
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Well, if you can afford to have 3 kids, subsidy should’d mean that much to you. And if that lack of subsidy really hurt you alot, you should not have 3 kids right?
I believe the correct word should be the Government strongly encourage you to stop at 2. The word ‘force’ is abit over kill…
anyway this is a place where ppl are fond of using big words.
btw, if you have so much beef with the policy, why don’t you support the anti-abortion law then? Isn’t that real murder?
p.s i come from a family of 2 kids
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All these PRs and forerngers only use Singapore’s facility as a jumping stone.
Most of them will leave Singapore once they are strong and rich. With lots of cash after selling their HDB flat.
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Whats the point of describing this problem when the majority are the ones who voted for them so that they can continue with all their policies? We can only wait for the ultimate retirement.
With the continuous DDOS’ing, the majority will not be reached in time.
The root problem is cannot be addressed. Its called Apathy.
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Steve Chia (then-NMP) asked in Parliament before how much of Singaporean taxpayers are paid out to subsidise the fees of foreigners in the tertiary education institutions. No surprise, he never got an answer.
Many years on, we can imagine how much this figure has since ballooned with the bulgeoning foreign population.
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The minister is talking bull shit ! in 2006 he asked whether Low T K from WP can lower down the cost of petrol . He is a talking nonsense, better go back to work as a doctor because singapore is shortage of doctors.He can earn more than minister’s pay in private practice but the sad thing is that he can’t bring the money to hell!!!
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Seems to be some confusion over the “stop at two” policy of the 80s. Just my 2 cents worth.
There was NO disincentives at all. Ongoing was an attempt at eugenics by Old Man. His theory was that parents of lower academic qualification should stop at two. To prove his sincerity, if the couple produce a ligation certification, they will receive a grant of 10,000 for the purchase of a new flat.
A few years later, young graduate mothers, who bears children below the age of 30, are given tax incentives. So there was no disincentives, but rather disproportinate incentives to swing the birth rate of graduate mothers, as opposed to suppressing births from uneducated mothers.
This was the theory behind Nature versus Nurture. i remember rather well as I was in pre U and this topic was always hot during GP classes.
I may have missed out alot more, and corrections are most welcomed to clear the haziness
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Like to add to “incredulous” comments
Recently, my friend’s kid got into a SAP school, so I asked, is there a noticeable race. She said yes, hardly any Malays or Indians. SO I asked her, you know why? Becos to get there you need Chinese as a mother tongue. So it is still happening. Meritocracy is a dirty word. Like most goverment policies, the terms of engagement are all there, if you dont qualify, blame no one.
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http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/keyind.html
fertility rate 1.28?
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Didn’t the person who created the Stop At 2 policy know that as the standard of living increase, the birth rate naturally decrease. Shows the Singapore wants to see results in quick time. Totally no patience at all…
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Siblings of PRs who are already studying in popular primary schools will enjoy priority over S’poreans under Phase 1 of registration!!!
I will vote against PAP for this single stupid policy of allowing PRs/foreigners to get almost the same benefits as S’poreans!!!
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Spreading misinformation and propaganda would only alienate several average (and rational) readers… 10% doesn’t really qualify as SWARMED Besides, a PR’s child generally pays a lot more (not 5% more, as some poster suggested) as an ex-colleague of mine happened to discuss this issue at work. Also, PR’s pay tax and as such, they aren’t being subsidized by “taxpayers” money.
Furthermore, about the subsidies being mentioned at institutions of higher learning – its generally extended to the smartest and brightest (in exchange, they sign a bond. i.e. they serve a designated government agency for a fixed period, at lower pay – before they can start exploring other opportunities).
It’s great to have an intelligent discourse and make people understand things from an alternative perspective (even if the perspective qualifies as deviant), but when it turns into a clear anti-something agenda for the sake of it… it loses credibility.
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Richin on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 10:53 pm,
you are mistaken. this never is alternative media. don’t expect anything balanced. there are many twist and turns. it’s propaganda site.
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NTU is definitely a different place when i studied there in the mid-late 90’s. It is now swarming with PRC rejects. Their english is atrocious. PRC Postgraduate work there is just a photostating sweatshop.
The only people who could use them are unscrupulous businessmen churning out defective and problematic products at low price points.
Really talented PRC don’t come here, they emigrate to the USA.
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Here’s some perspective for those who say 10% PR composition is a trivial proportion. For America, the foreign-born student enrollment rate (see page eight) for all educational institutions (excluding grad schools) is a mere 7% for both government and private schools. Excluding colleges (read: universities), that figure drops to 5.8%.
See table on page 8. What’s worse those who make the “10%-isn’t-a-lot” claim ignores the fact that the article specifically makes it clear that the 10% consists of PRs only. Factoring in foreigners means that the foreign composition exceeds 10%.
Seriously, take a good look at other countries out there before claiming 10% is nothing.
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To: Richin on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 10:53 pm
Really? PRs pay a lot more? Where are your figures from? Mine are here straight from the ICA. The differences in fees payable decreases as one moves up the education ladder.
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well, my old sec sch friend is complaining that she pay higher insurance for her car because she is only a PR.
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Why do we want to offer PR to others?
Make it easier, either you be a citizen or a foreigner. Why PR?
Being a PR, they got the benefit of both worlds. If they don’t like it here they can go home. Some even gone home still hold PR citizen and buy Singapore HDB as investment. This is not fair to our citizens.
Of course we can have a small exception, where extremely high net worth and extremely talented individual for example Jet Li can be given permanent citizen. Just some shrewd business sense because individual like this don’t rush with us for that MRT seat or primary school.
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To slo,
The link I have provided, do read it; it explains about Singapore’s Stop at Two Policy.
We do have bright non-Chinese who excels in the Chinese Language but yet, are not give access to SAP or the ‘Elite’ schools. And why, not being able to Speak Chinese means, the non-Chinese do not have access to the best education?
Meritocracy, is an ideal concept but in Singapore, it has been bastardized into a shadow policy to curtail the growth of the non-Chinese. I advise you read more and do your research before making such narrow comments.
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Maybe this link can help you understand ‘Meritocracy’ in Singapore:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy
Note the paragraph under ‘Meritocratic States’
Another good read is from Michael D. Barr
http://sgforums.com/forums/10/topics/384231
And, from Temasek Review
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/09/20/the-facade-of-meritocracy-in-singapore/
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/09/30/why-singapore-%E2%80%9Cmeritocracy%E2%80%9D-isn%E2%80%99t-meritocracy/
So before we make off-the-cuff statements, please do some research.
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is it wrong to buy HDB flat as an investment? PRs could only buy 2nd hand HDB flats and not the new subsidised HDB flats. For 2nd hand HDB flats, it works on the market principle, fair and square for everyone to buy HDB flat at the valuated price. If a Singaporean want to buy, what is stopping him or her. So tell me what is unfair?
And don’t forget that this nation was built by immigrants. If you start discriminating people by saying this is my land and you are not welcome here, things will go awry. Just take a look at Malaysia, which the Malays there consider as their land, and do not give rights to other races.
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And what about National Service? Many PRs do serve national service too.
Don’t be such a xenophobic.I am glad that such people are not running the country. Protectionist policies will only ruin this country. Just try to open up your mind a bit.
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@concerned :We are opening up our mind, just that you didn’t opened yours. That the reason we write what we want voice up is already opening up. Give us the figure that many PRs do serve national, there back ground, length of stay in sg. So you prefer the current one that runs the country, of course if you are one of them. After lossing billions and they still runs the country. You must be out of your mind. Been paid millions dollars yearly, and you can find homeless or people in Sg living in the Park. Are we third world or 1st. More like we are slave rather than citizen.
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To incredulous,
I read the link on the Stop at two policy and my memory is more or less correct. Elite schools are accessible if you can master the Chinese language. You are right in saying if a non chinese can master it, he can get in. perhaps they can run concurrent elite schools whereby you need higher Tamil or higher Malay to gain access. If you consider this a level playing field, then its fine by me. I have my opinions.
MOE will say it will be too prohibitive to cater for the minority as in the recent case of the child prodicy who obtained his O levels at age 10. He has to go to KL.
Off the cuff is the spice to any forum. Its not spewing untruths. Its the expressions of the mind.
Cheers
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what? only a tiny fraction of PRs do NS. Most do not. Those who claim otherwise are either ignorant or dishonest.
The bureaucrats running this country have a mentality of pulling others down to get ahead. They have nothing to offer but eager to tax.
Put faith in our workers, engineers and scientists, be they young or old that come to the aid of our people.
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@concerned: You are concerned. concern with you own rice bowl. So you are glad that the current people who loss billions to run the country. Increase HDB price, up min CPF. And yet they take millions. ARe you one of them. You shld be the one to open your mind.
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“it will mean that more than 10 per cent of the enrolment are non-Singaporeans, an astonishingly high figure for public schools which are supposed to cater to citizens only since they are funded by taxpayers’ monies.”
Fact 1: PR pay taxes and probably more taxes than SG citizens because they earn more. Therefore, they would have as much right to public schools as citizens.
“Singapore is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where PRs and foreigners are allowed to study in its public schools run by the Ministry of Education.”
Fact 2: People with a permanent residence permit in almost all European countries (Netherlands, Sweden, Germany etc) have equal access to public schools.
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To: concerned on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 6:56 am
Here’s what’s wrong about speculating in HDB flats. HDB is government organisation whom serves the people they are supposed to provide for. If PRs and foreigners want to speculate on private property, I could hardly care less. But if they want to speculate on flats built by government organisation funded by taxpayers monies then of course there’s something wrong.
As for your claim that Singapore was built by immigrants, please don’t forget that almost EVERY country in the world is built by immigrants. A few examples: United States, Australia, New Zealand etc. Yet I don’t see the government of these respective countries throwing open the floodgates to all new immigrants.
As for conscription, PRs can avoid national service if they become PRs after a certain age. That isn’t clear to you?
I find the claim that PRs have to pay more compared to citizens quite irrelevant. Of course they should have to pay more. Bear in mind that these PRs are citizens of ANOTHER country and they are entitled to their country’s privileges Singaporeans are not. On the other hand, Singaporeans are only entitled to citizenship privileges which as you can see here are barely a step above the PRs. Isn’t obvious then that PRs enjoy more advantages in total compared to Singaporeans?
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Jet Li is given citizenship, i think…
to be honest, without the PR policy, we would had No worker since 1966.
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I am generally quite happy with the quality of articles presented in TR, and have been an avid reader for some time.
However, this article is unnecessarily harsh on PRs. I do not know the intention of TR in publishing this article, it certainly fuels nationalism/patriotism to certain extend, and might even win more readership from fellow Singapore citizen.
Per what previous commentator Facts noted, PR pays taxes, I do not have exact statistics, I’d say a significant portion of tax paying residents are either PR or foreigners.
So the “taxpayer money” argument lacks much ground, given that PR pays taxes, ERP, CPF, etc whatever you do, the only difference is probably PR does not have a citizenship certificate.
Maybe TR should consider itself, in whether such article truly have merits or merely a publicity stun to win more citizen viewership?? Is it beneficially to stoke the flame with the tensions already high? Does TR need to resource to such tactics? I sincerely hope not.
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You wrote: “more than 10 per cent of the enrolment are non-Singaporeans, an astonishingly high figure for public schools which are supposed to cater to citizens only since they are funded by taxpayers’ monies.”
What you say is illogical. PR and foreigners pay taxes too, in fact more than Singaporeans as they do not get many of the tax deductions Singaporeans get. If PR and foreigners pay for the schools why couldn’t they use them too?
Legal immigrants to Western countries get exactly the same rights as citizens including free schools and in most cases free health care — ask the many Singaporeans who have left Singapore — their kids are assigned to public schools without any discrimination.
You wrote: “For example, Singaporeans working in China enroll their children in Singapore international schools and not in Chinese schools run by the Chinese government, assuming that they are on par with the standard of a Singapore school.”
It is probably the Singaporean parents’ choice — they probably prefer Singaporean schools. The fact that they send their children to Singaporean schools does not prove that they cannot send them to public schools (which are probably not of the same standard as Singaporean schools). You cannot assume they cannot send them to public schools.
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@concern 口是心非，
are you sure PR do NS ? how many ?
Our minds & Eyes wide Open….both your eyes closed.
within few years 10%, later 100% PR students……
don’t underestimate 10% 蚯蚓虽小，但它把堤岸穿透了，就能把整个城市淹没。比喻不注意小的事故，就会引起大祸。
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1) 10% will increase super fast to 100%. And situation will deteriorate.
2) PR & foreigners pay taxes, did they do National Service ? They have a option to leave if they do not want….I will show them the way to airport include transport.
3) National Service has no age limit, if they were forced to go for BMT and two years of NS, make a guess how many will stay ?
4) Do not tell us that their children will go NS because our children will do the same. The question is their parents must do Nation Service and not grassroots service at RC. It is completely different.
Coming to the stop at two policy, somebody need to be accountable for. Singapore cannot survive by importing those from china & india. Their intention, mindset, culture, behaviour really do not fit into this country. Indonesia have a population of more than 200millions, wouldn’t it be easily to import from our neighbouring country. why didn’t the government do it ?
Getting Free-Loafers in is very bad.
We need to encourage true blue singaporean couple to have baby. That is the only option.
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The number of PR students in our schools reflect to some extent the increasing number of foreigners coming here to wrestle scarce jobs from natives.
I would not really mind for our kids’ more diverse exposure if
these PR kiddies come here just for studies but more often than not,it’s their parents or gaurdians who are here together with them and these adult foreigners are the ones taking jobs away form natives.
So,it;s kind of diffcult to segragate the two,i.e., foreignenrs coming here just to attend schools or foreigners coming here to take away scarce jobs by under-cutting singaporean workers.
I f our economy is doing well,by all means if we our workers cannot cope but policies must not unwittingly work against
foregners like those of HDB.
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@talknonsense at 11.11 am
last line should be “…but policies must not work unwittingly against natives like those of HDB”….INSTEAD of foreigners.
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To author of article:
1.Foreigners in EU have their childrens in gov. public schools. They can also choose to put them in private schools.
2.I dont see any problems having PR/EP/FT having their kids in our public schools, as far as I know THEY PAY INCOME TAX too!
Get your facts right.
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1) Listen, if these are talented people will they leave when their countries economy are booming……
2) Again, if they are talented, do they still required tax payers money used by government to help them integrate into singapore and attend free english lessons, this is absurd ?
3) Obviously majority of these new citizens & PR are unwanted goods discarded by China & India.
4) So what if they pay taxes, they have the option to leave singapore immediately. In fact they should pay taxes to their own country and contribute to their own country economy rather than being a leech or free loafers in singapore.
5) These new citizens & PR do not create jobs, they compete unfairly or snatch job from native singaporeans.
Your present here are disgraceful to China and India because you are telling the whole world China and India have no jobs, no schools no future for you. Aren’t you ??????
As a Chinese myself, I am shameful of what you doing right now !
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my maid sents her two kids to eunos primary school. first, she gets to be a PR, secondly, her kids get to enjoy education in a public school. not that our public schools are the dogs – all of our schools are in a much better shape than most developed countries.
singaporeans now has to fight for what is fundamentally theirs. we pay to stay, but see our rights taken away!
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Once PAP lose their power simply patch all these bums ( new citizens, PR or any so call talented people into 40footer container and ship to China & India.
But of course we need to retain those really are contributing to our country and are willing to stay for good.
However I am sure the percentage is extremely small thus we need many 40 footers containers ready once the time is ripe !
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“Singapore is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where PRs and foreigners are allowed to study in its public schools run by the Ministry of Education.”
that is simply untrue. in fact, Singapore is one of the few (if not the only) countries that differentiates the benefits between citizens and PRs when it comes to benefits in education. furthermore, PRs in other countries also get the same amount of social assistance that their citizens get (e.g. Australia. my brother, who’s a PR there, was ‘in between jobs’ for a while. and he got free money from the Australian government…)
and to Lim who says that none of the PRs actually stay… well… i’d caution against any absolute statements. a lot of friends i know from school (which was quite a long time ago) are still now in Singapore, some served NS, many converted to SC. and a lot of them contribute in many other ways to the community, financially, or volunteering their time (and i don’t just mean with grassroots organisations). so let’s not tar everyone with the same brush…
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@rc
Cut all these craps of yours.
How many friends you have 10 thousands, 1 millions.
We are talking about native singaporeans, not those free loafers.
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“Your present here are disgraceful to China and India because you are telling the whole world China and India have no jobs, no schools no future for you. Aren’t you ??????
As a Chinese myself, I am shameful of what you doing right now !”
Friend, your forefather also come to singapore for the same reason.. btw i assume you are not bumiputra.
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Singapolung,
your mother, sister, daughter and niece also didn’t services NS, therefore they don’t deserve the same rights as me!!!
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@newtype
You should compare your ancestors with these bums…not mine.
My relative went through with me during NS. how about you?
Most ancestors came here during end of Qing dynasty.
Logic question : will someone leave their country when their economy is going to be one of the super power ?
I think you know nuts about real life and history.
Read your history and get your facts right.
Alternatively you share your family background with us and I think we can help you think realistically.
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LeeKeeSee on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 8:21 pm,
I suggest you read up more about poverty and overpopulation. When you know more, you’ll get to learn about the programs conducted by international agencies. If you’re moved, you can also donate or even volunteer in some ways, if you are able to. Good luck.
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@objective
hello ! open your eyes and check the topic above.
You are writing out of context.
Perhaps you are one of the singlish speakering singlish.
The person need to read more is you and myself
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LeeKeeSee on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 7:56 pm,
Excuse me, I’m afraid you need to read your own posts to refresh your memory.
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@Singapolung:
please define free loafers.
so you do NS, does that necessarily mean that you have contributed more than every single PR? what did you do in NS? coy 2IC? and for reservist, what are you? Battalion commander?
i know of at least one PR who served NS, LTA Kok Khiew Fai, who saved a recruit’s life. perhaps to you he’s a ‘free loafer’, but at least i’m sure the recruit whose life LTA Kok saved is grateful that LTA Kok, who is a PR, is given an opportunity to be in Singapore, to integrate into our society, enough for him to want to do NS.
so, Singapolung, what have you done for this country, other than just ‘NS’?
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Singapolung on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 7:06 pm,
Sound like a fool. Thinks so big of your own experience, relatives, family and friends. As if, compared to you, your family, relatives and friends, all PRs and any Singaporeans who don’t agree with your idea are nothing to Singapore.
Such stupid logic. You not shy to say out, people hear feel shy for you leh.
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@rc and anonymous: Which side are you? Saving one life has nothing to do with PR. I save many lifes when I was in NS. The current argument is jobs for PR, school for PR and F and those not so talented one are taking jobs away from local( true blue sg). From UOB bank officer, to bus driver, to OG salesgirl. The priority must be to the citizens. And spending $10m for them to integrate. Why not spend on citizen looking for a rental home while staying in the park. May be you can start by contributing your $ to these people or better gets the PR to save the lifes of Sg living in the park.
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@sad:
i am on the side of people who have contributed to this nation, regardless of country of birth, race, language or religion.
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Why does it look like the chinese don’t like integrating with anyone? Not with local minorities, or foreigners.
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