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[h=2]I urge Hsien Loong & his ministers to read this TRE post &
its comments[/h]
August 3rd, 2013 |
Author: Contributions
PM Lee Hsien Loong
This is the title of a very depressing post (‘Only 6 interviews for jobless PMET, 53, since Dec 2011‘) in TRE
that I recommend Hsien Loong and all his ministers to read. And I would
recommend that Hsien Loong throw away the National Day Speech he is working on
at the moment and write something with the issues raised in this post. The
comments following the article by a lkh are cries of despair and hopelessness,
and very resentful of the PAP and the govt. And if more and more people are
feeling this way, the PAP is a goner come 2016.
The issue is about the plight of Sinkie PMETs above 45 years old, very
qualified, very experienced, used to earning 5 figure salaries, but who now
cannot find employment. To make matter worse, many have growing up children to
feed and some may also have mortgages to service. Many have been jobless for
years and had to downgrade to cheaper homes.
What makes them angrier is that the country has jobs for more than a million
foreigners, many of whom are less qualified and with a big number having fake
qualifications. A govt that cannot provide jobs for qualified professionals who
are citizens, who are willing to work, who are able, will not last long, not
longer than the next election. The call to ‘Vote Them Out’ is getting
louder.
The problem of the PMETs is a very serious one, a clear and present crisis,
as every PMET has a family and extended family who will know of his plight. If
the Govt still continues to be yaya papaya and tiada apa, and refuses to
acknowledge and deal with this problem immediately, the end of its rule will
come much faster than they think.
With a life expectancy of 80 or even 90 years, and with good medical care and
good quality of life, many are healthy and can continue to work till their 70s.
And many must continue to work as not many have enough savings to retire when
their nest eggs are eaten up by high inflation. 50 or 60 is the prime of their
lives and they should not be cut off from the job market just like that and be
replaced with foreigners.
Is the govt listening? Is Hsien Loong listening? Do they bother? Do they
really think that the people will vote for them again in the next GE while they
keep ignoring the people’s jobless problem? Do they think it is ok to send these
PMETs to be cleaners and security guards or taxi drivers or whatever part time
agents? Is it just a matter of mismatch that their skills and experience can
find no takers and they need to be retrained to be cleaners and security guards
while the questionable skills and experience of foreigners can find a few
hundred thousand jobs here?
Hsien Loong better make his National Day Speech count and address the
unemployment of PMETs now while there is still time to make amends, how to get
them decent jobs that befit their qualifications. An easy task is to freeze all
ministries, stats boards and GLC hiring of foreigners right away and take in all
the Sinkie PMETs immediately. No Sinkie can afford to be unemployed living in
this very expensive city.
I urge Hsien Loong and his ministers to read this post in TRE and the
comments again and again personally. Or is it that they are so used to such
matters that they are no longer sensitive to them, just treat them like all the
patients waiting outside the Emergency units of the hospitals, all equally ill,
desperate and needing immediate medical attention. Just let them be. There are
better things to do, like bringing in more foreigners to replace the older
Sinkies.
The two most important and urgent matters for the govt to deal with are jobs
for jobless PMETs and a home for every Singaporean without all the silly
disqualification rules. Every Singaporean deserves and is entitled to buy his
first flat direct from the govt. This is a social contract the govt owes to the
citizens. With the unbearable high cost of private housing, not allowing Sinkies
to buy from HDB is as good as telling them to move out, unwanted, Singapore has
no place for them.
There is no need to waste the people’s time with a 2 or 3 hour speech that
makes the listeners feel good for a moment but not solving the dire problems of
the people. A short half an hour speech with concrete measures to make the lives
of Sinkies better, get them their jobs and their homes, is more important,
useful and welcome than a long and grandiose speech of
nothingness.
Chua Chin Leng aka
redbean
* The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com.
its comments[/h]
PM Lee Hsien Loong
This is the title of a very depressing post (‘Only 6 interviews for jobless PMET, 53, since Dec 2011‘) in TRE
that I recommend Hsien Loong and all his ministers to read. And I would
recommend that Hsien Loong throw away the National Day Speech he is working on
at the moment and write something with the issues raised in this post. The
comments following the article by a lkh are cries of despair and hopelessness,
and very resentful of the PAP and the govt. And if more and more people are
feeling this way, the PAP is a goner come 2016.
The issue is about the plight of Sinkie PMETs above 45 years old, very
qualified, very experienced, used to earning 5 figure salaries, but who now
cannot find employment. To make matter worse, many have growing up children to
feed and some may also have mortgages to service. Many have been jobless for
years and had to downgrade to cheaper homes.
What makes them angrier is that the country has jobs for more than a million
foreigners, many of whom are less qualified and with a big number having fake
qualifications. A govt that cannot provide jobs for qualified professionals who
are citizens, who are willing to work, who are able, will not last long, not
longer than the next election. The call to ‘Vote Them Out’ is getting
louder.
The problem of the PMETs is a very serious one, a clear and present crisis,
as every PMET has a family and extended family who will know of his plight. If
the Govt still continues to be yaya papaya and tiada apa, and refuses to
acknowledge and deal with this problem immediately, the end of its rule will
come much faster than they think.
With a life expectancy of 80 or even 90 years, and with good medical care and
good quality of life, many are healthy and can continue to work till their 70s.
And many must continue to work as not many have enough savings to retire when
their nest eggs are eaten up by high inflation. 50 or 60 is the prime of their
lives and they should not be cut off from the job market just like that and be
replaced with foreigners.
Is the govt listening? Is Hsien Loong listening? Do they bother? Do they
really think that the people will vote for them again in the next GE while they
keep ignoring the people’s jobless problem? Do they think it is ok to send these
PMETs to be cleaners and security guards or taxi drivers or whatever part time
agents? Is it just a matter of mismatch that their skills and experience can
find no takers and they need to be retrained to be cleaners and security guards
while the questionable skills and experience of foreigners can find a few
hundred thousand jobs here?
Hsien Loong better make his National Day Speech count and address the
unemployment of PMETs now while there is still time to make amends, how to get
them decent jobs that befit their qualifications. An easy task is to freeze all
ministries, stats boards and GLC hiring of foreigners right away and take in all
the Sinkie PMETs immediately. No Sinkie can afford to be unemployed living in
this very expensive city.
I urge Hsien Loong and his ministers to read this post in TRE and the
comments again and again personally. Or is it that they are so used to such
matters that they are no longer sensitive to them, just treat them like all the
patients waiting outside the Emergency units of the hospitals, all equally ill,
desperate and needing immediate medical attention. Just let them be. There are
better things to do, like bringing in more foreigners to replace the older
Sinkies.
The two most important and urgent matters for the govt to deal with are jobs
for jobless PMETs and a home for every Singaporean without all the silly
disqualification rules. Every Singaporean deserves and is entitled to buy his
first flat direct from the govt. This is a social contract the govt owes to the
citizens. With the unbearable high cost of private housing, not allowing Sinkies
to buy from HDB is as good as telling them to move out, unwanted, Singapore has
no place for them.
There is no need to waste the people’s time with a 2 or 3 hour speech that
makes the listeners feel good for a moment but not solving the dire problems of
the people. A short half an hour speech with concrete measures to make the lives
of Sinkies better, get them their jobs and their homes, is more important,
useful and welcome than a long and grandiose speech of
nothingness.
Chua Chin Leng aka
redbean
* The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com.
