Long live PAP !

Like what Dr Tan BL has said, I do think the people employed in the civil service don’t know how to count (either that or they refuse to count properly). I read a couple days ago that starting pay for fresh grads as economists in the government is about S$3,500. Wow. So high pay yet we get all the wrong/misleading numbers so frequently!

I do think the blogosphere needs to continue blogging about this specific issue on the foreign students ratio… only if we keep the topic burning then they will pay attention to it and come out to clarify matters!

I have been shocked to see and feel the overwhelming intrusion and “invasion” by the number of foreign students occupying each and every one of our campuses, especially the universities. To my mind, the figure can go as high as 50% in some faculties because I have spoken to many of the undergrads whenever I had the chance to meet them, both foreign as well as local.

How can a Minister then bring himself to “honestly” report to the Parliament that the actual figure for foreign students was only 987?

Even after the correction, that altered the figure to 4,218, I am still not convinced that it was the REAL figure that encompasses each and every single foreign students actually studying in our local universities. I think the figure given was only for the 1st Year students. Many foreign students had entered directly into the 2nd Year programs for reasons only known to the universities concerned and the MOE.

Another thing that I have been shocked was the number of free-loading foreign students in our campus. I sincerely believe that at least 80 percent of them are either on scholarships, grants or easy-loans given by our govt at the expense of our own local students and taxpayers’ money.

What about those on Masters, PhD and Research Programs? At least, I believe, 70% of the places for Masters and 90% for PhD and Research are being taken up by foreigners; mostly on a “free-loading” basis.

How do you think I feel, when I had to work extremely hard, even downgrading my status to a taxi driver from that of a middle management, in order to support my children in the universities, while our govt is giving away free scholarships, grants and easy-loans to foreigners so easily and in so questionable numbers without blinking an eyelid?

I didnt give much notice to it, dismissing it even as paranoid and delusional.

Today my 21 yr old daughter posted it to me again and I read it, this time, it gives me no pleasure no report, it neither reads as paranoid and delusional.

It’s time to really ask some serious questions like do they know how to count?

Let’s hope our ministers get their act together soon.

They only do at their own discretion. If they do so, they believe that they are doing Singaporean a flavour instead. keeping mum now is the wisest thing they want to do now.

Anyway, if history has repeat itself, the ministers are very confident the problem will go away itself in matter of time and be long forgotten. Nevermind, if people remember and recall it in next election, because the election is still very much a PAP’s sure win game because ‘what you gonna do, when the world’s large cronies step over you’ ? Answer: NOTHING, and as usual, suffer in silence.

*Comments deleted by editor.

*Dear Robert, please refrain from posting lengthy comments here. This comment which I have deleted is a few thousand words long. Thanks.

Mistakes can happen but “deliberate” mistakes must not be allowed to take root as it will erode the confidence of the people on the government and do a dis-service to our pioneer Ministers who worked very very hard to bring Singapore to what it is today through their prinicipals, one of which is “INTEGRITY”.

So far, we stand out well in the world stage, our leaders do not “FLIP FLOP” as what we have seen in recent months and for that we are very fortunate to have such leaders. Hence, a reminder to our leaders that we must not compromise on the trust our citizen placed on the government. If this is a statistical honest mistake, lets admit it and don’t repeat it and lets move on.

Well, foreign student numbers and legal service become hot but what about the cost of living stuff.

Even if it was MOE officials who gave him the numbers, as Minister of State for Education, he should know these numbers at the back of his hands. This is especially so when, as you rightly said, this issue of foreign students is a “hot” one among singaporeans.

And considering the thousands of foreign students we are letting in, it is even more critical that he knows the exact numbers.

The buck stops with him – as minister.

The figures came from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

The figures given by MOS Gan were almost definitely provided to him by MOE. He was just reading from the prepared figures that MOE officers provided to him. Unless he decided to deliberately fudge the figures himself (which I don’t believe he did), fault lies with MOE not with him. Nevertheless he is ultimately accountable since he delivered the speech.

The question we need to ask now — and be concerned about — is: Did MOE deliberately try to mislead Singaporeans or was it an honest mistake on the part of their officers?

Given the number of top brain scholars in MOE, it is hard to believe that none of them spotted such an obvious discrepancy until it was raised by blogosphere. Added to the fact that the high proportion of foreign students on our campuses is already a hot potato political issue, it is hard not to suspect that MOE was trying to use its initial set of figures to downplay concern about Singaporeans’ places being denied because of foreigners.

If it turns out (and we might never know) that MOE really was using half truths to ease public unease, we really need to be concerned that some of those scholars there may be taking their “helicopter vision” too far.