I think we have all heard our fair share of “cheap sales talk” in our life. Sales people saying my product quality best grade and very reliable, price very cheap, my fruits very sweet, … blah blah blah. “We will improve quality of life” : Another “cheap sales talk” by the PAP that can only convince the much older & lower-educated die-hard pro-PAP loyalists that are now in the 70’s/80’s and they most probably doesn’t know exactly what the PAP is saying. They also cannot comprehend the negative impact the PAP policy has done to the lives of their children and grandchildren. You have grown up children that are unemployed because of the foreign worker policy and yet their 70+ years old parents happily continue to vote for the PAP. I often see roadside or store promoter doing a much better sales speech than these PAP MP/Ministers and they can sell because they are good sales people and they have a good product which the consumer wants.
Most of us are not expert in the product we shop and we cannot possibly know the true value of the product. Sales people often push products that earn them the most profit or commission that may not be of the best value to the consumer. How often we pay more for a product when we don’t use many of the functions. With this 6.9M/2030, we could overbuild and put our national wealth at considerable risk. Many bad sales people are not even familiar with the product they are selling. I don’t feel the PAP ministers truly understand how all this is going to come together, I feel this thing is beyond them and their presentation is not giving people a lot of confidence
It’s the brand recognition and product packaging that guides our buying decision. The PAP brand is one of the oldest brand and they had many loyal supporters in the past because the previous PAP gov’t have indeed improved the quality of life for the Singapore people. They are now like Blackberry and Nokia that were once great and have now faltered. 6.9M/2030 is hardly a Blackberry 10 or a Nokia Lumina that have a good chance to save these 2 companies. Nobody can say 6.9M/2030 will be a big flop but it is not getting any support from the people. It seems both the product and the packaging sucks.
PAP has always pursued economic growth. The fantastic top line growth does not mean that everyone benefits. So far only the elites and the foreign workers are the ones that benefitted the most of this amazing top line growth over the years. High unemployment doesn’t mean that True Singaporeans are fully employed. There are many Singaporean executives forced to take a lower position than their ability because of the Gov’t foreign worker policy which has created an unfair advantage to the foreign worker. There are many highly qualified executives or skilled workers in the 40’s/50’s now unemployed because of the excessive number of cheaper foreign workers. Even people at a lower level are also facing problems. How many more are forced to leave Singapore? Nobody is against the foreign workers; they are against the excessive number of foreign workers that are making their lives miserable. The gov’t is not helping the people to realize their aspirations. Another “cheap sales talk” I hear from the PAP is that “we will leave no one behind” parroting some overseas politician when they are leaving a lot of Singaporeans behind.
PAP is still aggressive debating how to keep companies from moving away. So what if there are companies moving away and our top line drops a bit. We will just be a little less wealthy but we won’t stave and we will still be a lot wealthier than many other nations. The exceptional value which Singapore has developed over the years to attract foreign investments is still as strong as ever. The value which Singapore provides is not low cost foreign labour but the ability to help certain types of companies prosper with our unique combination of stable gov’t, skilled & ethical workforce, efficient infrastructure, professionalism and much more. So why worry so much if there is going to be some uncompetitive companies moving away. It’s high time the gov’t focus on the Singapore citizen.
There is no point for parliament to debate this proposal, it’s a no win situation for PAP and they will lose more votes in the next GE if they pushes ahead with this. PAP should go back to the drawing board, do further studies and look at their numbers again. They should review their objectives and their primary objective should be making the lives of Singaporeans better. Look at the Singaporeans that fell thru the cracks in their existing foreign workers policy, fill those cracks. Get everyone up to real full employment that fits their qualifications and not trade down.
Education Ministry must constantly be on the look-out for current and future skills deficiency, develop education programs for these skills or identify overseas program which our students can pursue so that they have a higher chances for employment after graduation. Provide scholarship or subsidies for such overseas education or at the very least interest free loans. This will reduce reliance on foreign talent for skills which Singaporean do not have now and allow our own to enjoy better paying jobs.
We are not farmers, we do not need to have so many people to work the field so that everyone have enough to eat. We have a high-yield workforce, we may be able to have a smaller workforce generating sufficient wealth to take care of an ageing population. So they should look at the numbers again.
This proposal has created lot of anxiety for everyone. There are many Singaporean waiting for the right job today, many are eating porridge and can’t wait much longer. It’s not for the Opposition to come up with the policy to move Singapore ahead. It’s the PAP job.
PAP needs to take a step back and take some time to do this correctly. No one force them to take this job, they go on stage during election and promise to make our lives better. They have even sworn an oath in Parliament to work for the Singapore people plus they are paid an obscene amount of money.
I hope PAP will save everyone the “cheap sales talk” give us a great plan and this time, please do a better job selling it.
