TR EMERITUS

Written by: 新加坡文献馆 (Read Original Article HERE)

Translated by: SgVolcano (a TR reader)

The NDP 2010 rally speech by LHL has covered a few topics. The Chinese website of BBC had put up the main topic of LHL appealing to Singaporeans to accept new immigrants, and reported the views of the PAP government regarding new immigrants, and the PAP’s solutions for solving associated social problems caused by new immigrants.

The Singapore government has habitually viewed the problem of immigrants and foreign workers as a social problem of Singaporeans opposing new immigrants and foreign labour, and the huge increase of foreigners has hence become a hot topic. The people are unhappy about the government continuously increasing the number of foreigners so much so that there is now severe competition in terms of work, education and living space, and the quality of life has been greatly reduced. In addition, they think that the huge influx of foreigners within such a short time span, has generated social issues and eroded the unity of the people as a whole.

This official government view regarding the immigration problem, is superficial, and clearly lacking in reality. Not only is it biased, it also does not truly reflect the real root of the problems.

In fact, this has twisted the root of problem to a great degree. In actual fact, it is not that Singaporeans are against the social problem of new immigrants and foreign labour, the truth is that people are not pleased with the socio-economic policies, the public infrastructure such as education and public transport, and they are disgusted by the way the government handles the ill effects arising from their policies and public service.

In other words, the government inappropriately “equates” the people’s unhappiness with government policies and public service, with the people’s unhappiness with new immigrants and foreign labour. This kind of tactic not only hides the failures of the government policies and the public service, but also shirks the responsibilities of the government and transfers the responsibility of solving social problems to the people.

Take public transport for example, according to earlier reports in Straits Times, the over-crowdedness in JE MRT station has a history of over 10 years, and the new platform which is in the midst of construction will only be completed in the middle of next year. Obviously, this situation has arisen due to a mismanagement of public services, and is not related to the new immigrants or foreign labour, although they have exacerbated the crowdedness.

It is obvious that this political tactic of the government is incapable of solving the root of the problems. Not only does it not resolve existing social problems, it also creates new social problems. That is, it exacerbates the social conflicts between Singaporeans and the newcomers.

The problems faced by the Singapore society now, for instance, lowly educated workers are not able to find jobs, Singapore companies are not able to find suitable local staff, these social problems are actually a result of past and present government policies. It has not much to do with new immigrants and foreign labour.

First of all, the reason why Singapore has a lot of unskilled workers, is due to the failure in Singapore’ education system. Dr Goh Keng Swee thought that Singapore should not waste valuable resources on academically poor students who had low chances of achieving academic success. The objective of Singapore’s streaming system is to ensure effective use of scarce resources. But this is a view which is mercenary and lacking in humanity and has huge social repercussions.

Singapore government implemented the primary 6 streaming system in the 1960s, which has resulted in a group of academically poor students who were streamed and abandoned too early in their academic pursuit. These old lowly educated workers who are currently facing unemployment, are probably a result of this mercenary and short-sighted education system.

Besides, the criticisms hurled against these lowly-educated workers, (for eg, they are picky about jobs and unwilling to work as cleaners) are largely biased. The reality is often not the case.

The CPF system has a different effect on citizens versus foreign workers. From an economic point of view, employers has a lower cost of labour when hiring foreign workers as they do not have to shoulder the cost of CPF. And from a personal income point of view, Singapore employees have a lower get-home-pay has CPF has to be deducted from their salaries.

In addition, the foreign workers benefit from the favourable exchange rate, and what they earn here is far more than what they would receive in their own home countries. Hence foreign workers have no resistance at all regarding the low pay in Singapore. But on the other hand, Singaporeans can hardly feed themselves with the meager salary, and have to put up with such horrible treatment towards citizens, how can one not feel sad or depressed?

Under the outsourcing system, companies compete on the basis of price. Companies’ ability to pay higher salary is reduced when they earn less. Lowly educated workers have no choice but to accept the same job but with lower wages. But at the same time, workers have to face the pressure of higher costs of living, utilities and transport.

The increasingly difficult living conditions faced by Singaporeans, is not due to the fact that they are lazy or not hard-striving. It is due to the result of the current socio-economic powers at work. Their difficulties are not alleviated because the government has failed to see the root of the problem or has chosen to close an eye. The case of Tan Jee Suan (who jumped into the MRT tracks) is a classic example.

What has the government and their associated business partners done for the ill effects of our system?

Some people have requested the public transport authorities to let the senior citizens enjoy a full-day subsidized rate. The reply from the authorities is that, they don’t encourage senior citizens from going out early in the morning due to lack of sunlight. Now who would want to wake up early in the morning to work if it is not for the sake of earning a living? To the lowly educated workers, the more money spent on public transport would mean that they would have to survive on less food. What kind of cold-blooded reply is that? Doesn’t this reflect the fact that the Singapore elites have IQ but no EQ?

A PAP MP has suggested to let elderly workers increase their confidence and working enthusiasm by wearing sports shoes and sports cap to portray a more professional image. How can this kind of suggestion which is clearly lacking in substance and professional knowledge, improve the welfare of those unfortunate elderly workers? The naivety of not knowing the hardships of the people, coupled with the high-handed attitude of government officials, has unavoidably evoked strong protests from elderly workers. Is this the ill effects of the GRC system, when we have such low quality talent who has managed to penetrate into the PAP system?

Firstly, the failures in the PAP policies, coupled with their inability to resolve the ill effects arising from such policies are the main reasons why there are so much grumbles and complaints from the society at large. Again, this has not much to do with the import of new immigrants and foreign labour, although they have also exacerbated the problems.

Secondly, the human resources problem faced by Singapore companies is a result of government policies. Because the local talents are not able to satisfy companies in terms of both quality and quantity, hence employing foreign labour is the only choice. For instance, the huge increase in 2010Q2 GDP in the casino and pharmaceutical industries is the result of the mass import of foreign labour. The construction and running of the casinoes, and the manufacturing facilities of the pharmaceutical companies have to rely all on foreign labour.

Then, why is there such a mismatch in economic situation and human resources?

This situation reflects the serious insufficiencies and imbalances that the government faced in forecasting the economy, in planning developmental strategies, and in developing social and economic policies.

Singapore had to rely heavily on foreign labour during the industrialization in the 1960s. But in letting local industries and enterprises play a minor role instead of the main role, it has limited the development of local industries and enterprises. That was the main reason why local industries and enterprises were not able to develop, accumulate experience and create new technologies.

Just look at Taiwan, from the birth, development, accumulation of experience and creation of new technologies in their electronics industry, and you can easily see the shortfalls of the Singapore economic and development strategies. Now the Taiwanese electronic industry plays a leading role worldwide, but what about our local electronics industry?

In 1979, the government abandoned SMEs via higher wages, and released the labour back to high-tech MNCs. This was the main reason why Singapore local technology industry cannot fluorish and grow.

In addition, the financial grants and packages were only granted to MNCs, this kind of discriminatory policy resulted in the fact that the local industries had nowhere to turn to for help. Why did the government favour the MNCs over local companies? Why couldn’t the government give priority to the local SMEs?

The principle behind the distribution of resources and the streaming in education was the brainchild of Dr Goh Keng Swee. Do not waste valuable resources on SMEs which have no economical future. This kind of thinking had killed the passion and opportunities of local low-cost enterprises. Besides, urban renewal had also destroyed the low-cost economic environment that Singapore once had.

Singapore is unable to cultivate local industrial technologies, and hence it is unable to actively control the directions of its own economic development and production. In other words, Singapore has to continuously rely on foreign investment and foreign technologies. This basically explains why Singapore constantly imports foreign labour to push its GDP growth.

From the economic history of Singapore, we know why Singapore has to rely on foreign investment and foreign technologies in the long term, is because Singapore’s economic development strategies lack a forward-looking and intelligent view.

But because both MM Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Goh Keng Swee are both rare intelligent talented men, hence it is controversial to view Singapore’s government policies as utterly useless. Or perhaps the hidden agenda of the Singapore government is to build a political and economic agent of the western capitalist economies in the Far East.

In the history of Singapore, the original political motive of the British government before and after WWII was to retain an independent Singapore as a military and economic fortress in the Far East. Certainly this is another historical topic that needs to be verified. This is a necessary footnote to interpreting Singapore government policies.

In other words, Singapore’s social problems are due to a failure in government policies and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with new immigrants and foreign labour. Singaporeans are unhappy about the governing ability of the government. They are not against new immigrants and foreign labour.

38 Responses to “What are the problems behind the immigration problems in Singapore?”