I am with Zeddy on this. We need to gather together as Singaporeans and speak with one voice. I was with disappointed Ravi P, Andrew Loh and Alex Au who have online profile and could have done the discussion as the eyes and years of Singaporeans. Instead they took a stand politically stand because people like Alex have. Huge coterie of foreign friends working and living here.
They are govt critics but will happily attend NGOs parties as celebrities of local flavour.
Yoooz Scroobal, long time no see. I guess this article is a kick in Andrew and Ravi's collective arses. Interesting read, PAP, Australia etc.
http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=39639
Why On|Offline’s discussion of xenophobia is pointless
"The low road is opening the flood gates to cheap foreign labour. These foreigners hail from developing countries. There are two ways to improve output of production, to harness improvement in technology which results in a more efficient production process or increase labour input, especially cheap foreign labour – the more head-counts you have in your labour force, the more output you can produce. Thus, what is the end result of this low road that the PAP government has taken? Simply put, improvements in productivity which can be served by technological progress or a work force skilled and knowledgeable in harnessing new technologies are placed on the sacrificial altar, in favour of a quickfire way to improve production output by opening the flood gates to cheap foreign labour."
"Now, the problem comes about with PAP’s open door policy, which allows foreign nationals (from Southeast Asia and elsewhere) whose knowledge and skill attainment (because their countries are less technologically advanced) are lesser than Singaporeans through our immigration gates, that means we do not screen these foreigners for their qualifications, e.g. those with a degree from a run-of-the-mill institution in China as compared to say an engineering degree from Tsing Hua. This has a detrimental impact on Singapore. Firstly, Singaporeans are displaced from their jobs by cheaper workers, even though, if we assume a local graduate, he would have been more competent knowledge and skills-wise.
With the displacement of the Singapore workforce by workers from less technologically advanced developing nations, we are looking at the “regressive” form of the Solow-Swan model – an exogenous input of labour of lesser skill and knowledge (we made up this part, there is no such Solow model, it is just to highlight the impact of an input of a labour force that is lesser skilled), which means it is less likely we will achieve the level of technological progress and process innovation to create new markets or products, and produce efficiently. Hence, Singapore will not make inroads in terms of productivity."
"Now, the PAP has to go back to the drawing board, maybe even discard its old templates in favour of newer economic plans that benefit Singaporeans. The PAP has to realise by now that if they do not organise an overhaul of their economic plan, there is a last card, and it is going to be a ‘bloody’ scenario for the party. Many readers think that Lim Chong Yah’s prescription on freezing wages for top earners and increasing incomes for the poorest is shock therapy, the one that is reminiscent of the electric shock therapy that they do for depressed patients to reboot their mental circuits according to our good doctor. The shock therapy we are talking about is the sacking of the entire PAP ministerial cabinet during an election, where the PAP now becomes an opposition party. This makes Lim’s prescription look like a mere pin prick. This one is Singapore’s economy rebooting."