Comments on: Singapore employers discriminate against their own

By: nick ong

nick ong — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:02:41 +0000

i agree with you.

but, the problem is. many wanna take a shortcut without even using their head. complain, number 1. compare, number 1.

By: Loyola

Loyola — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:47:45 +0000

Some musings.. If you go through life and do the motions required of you in this system, it’s not enough. Don’t just be exam smart, for e.g, go learn a creative skill, work in a unique place, go intern at a Fortune 500 firm, head off the beaten path, and you will realise that you can contribute more, and are in greater demand than the average graduate with nothing but a 2nd upper honours and zilch life experience that doesn’t bring value to the corporate world today, except a typical rat-race life.

Market yourself, think of ways to stand out, to show you can juggle multiple disciplines and are a flexible employee.

By: nick ong

nick ong — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:24:31 +0000

allow me to stray off track and share with you, as a management staff of my company.
i have more headaches with own fellow singaporean staff. having being lenient, i have tolerated what i can. not from the reservist. not because of salary too high. not because of age.
it is because of working attitude.
i know this will irk some here but honestly, sometimes, i simple cannot take their attitude. my own fellow citizens.
first, before even showing significant contribution to the company, started asking for higher pay. i know salary is an issue. however, no results but want rewards is not reasonable.
second. i am looking for people who can work, contribute, willing to be humble and learn. not going around with flashy cars, telling how experienced they are etc.
third. i really do not know what those i have recruited learn in school.
fourthly, with long sleeve shirt and tie under the sun for 30 minutes is like asking them for their life! ok. we allow them to fold up their sleeves but some even requested for their tie to be taken off when my boss is in his coat with our foreign customer.
i am a singaporean and yes, i will help my fellow citizens. but please show the right attitude, the right aptitude.
every time i submit my request to employ someone,my boss will always ask ’singaporean? how long do you expect him to stay?’
sad to say, out of 12 that i have employed, 10 are locals and 2 foreigners, the foreigners have not left and are doing exactly what we wanted.
but the other 10? well, i have changed one round of all 10, some have left just 1 week on the job – reasons: too hot (in hanger for 2 to 3 hours and it is sheltered), too low pay (mind you. i am paying locals 2.4k for 2 yrs experience), too far (i need not say more). and these are SOME of the reasons they gave during exit interview. my god. i just cannot believe it.
and, we give locals 5 day work week whereas my 2 foreigners alternate sat off! and for reservist, the company offers 2 additional day off. FOC!
as a recruiter myself, i have more or less, loss confidence in hiring locals.
so tell me, locals or foreigners? the company needs people to work to function, it is either foreigners or we move out completely.

By: Sleepless last night

Sleepless last night — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:24:55 +0000

Wake up. This is Singapore. No countryside for you to retire to no matter how much you like Country music and the Wild West style of life. Again, you resort to personal attacks whenever you run out of things to say. Finally as I said earlier, as much as I don’t like some of the PAP’s policies, I tend to think that the policies are they best they have for us. Why?

1. I’d rather they have a high pay without extra claims here and there unlike UK Ministers who have entertainment tabs etc etc. That’s all they are paid. Fullstop. Now, they should do their job.
2. They are the best our education system has to offer. Who else do you think can do a better job if many people (local and overseas) can’t even beat them at simple studying? Maybe you can.
3. I do not claim to justify the Ministerial pay, but this is what I think. How else do you think you can attract local talents to join the civil service to serve? Passion for the country? Sorry this isn’t a Red State. You need something more practical and concrete. You think you deserve the pay? Join the civil service as one of its Administrative Officers – If you can. Complaining will get you nowhere. Many of my scholar friends prefer to join the private sector instead of the civil service. Why? They earn MUCH more than in the private sector than in the civil service for the same effort put in. No need to declare investments, no need to declare spouse’s interests etc.
4. Put the current opposition in place of the PAP and you will (maybe) see a redistribution of the reserves (maybe S&P will protest, maybe they wont. Just downgrade.) and international CEOs asking the opposition ‘Where did you graduate from? This is what I think and you are wrong. I came from MIT and I had 1st class honours.’
5. Policies never fail. Policies that fail are policies such as the 1970s Nixon-Shock that ended Bretton-Woods at that time as well as China’s Cultural Revolution.(GLF had its merits)
6. It’s a question of whether you can do better than the current portfolio of ministers and their panel of academic and industrial experts. I don’t think I can frequently outsmart my professor. You think you can? Go ahead and try.
7. There is a culture difference between Singapore and other nations. Try as I might, I will never be able to get people not to swear, not to speak Dialect/Chinese/Malay/Hindi-laced English not to complain. But I expect people of our generation to understand that what matters in this age now is hard work, hard work and hard work. Read up on the Polgar sisters for inspiration. Kept me studying for hours after that.
8. Lastly, I support the Minimum wage system as long as it is implemented with extensive means testing and elasticity testing. I think the Singapore labour force is well-prepared as it is more robust as compared to previous years.

By: Sleepless last night

Sleepless last night — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:23:47 +0000

Here is a simple analogy: I often ask my fellow undergrads to join activities and be more active on the social and political scene in Singapore through forums and volunteering activities. Better still, I try to rope people in for competitions and seminars and the typical answer they have is ‘Oh that’s too boring.’ ‘Huh, so chim, don’t want lah’ ‘So scary’ ‘I’d rather go for hall dance sessions’

So what happened was one day we had to compete with each other for overseas exchange opportunities and internships through a rigid and stringent process. Surprise surprise, I had an overwhelming amount of choices to choose from, but some of my nonchalant friends had trickle-me-downs from rejects by much more outstanding undergrads. So, they complain, complain and complain. They get unhappy when they see my resume in comparison to theirs. Whose fault is it? Just to clarify, I am not a nerd. I just know what my priorities are.

Similarly, many Singaporeans default on their HDB loans of just 2.6% interest because of poor financial planning. If a couple living in a 4-room earns $40,000 in annual income, after deducting for CPF contributions, they will be left with approx $1,300 for their monthly expenses. After using CPF for HDB-loan-repayment (about $600), they will be left to pay approx 100-300 depending on the area that they stay in. That leaves about $1,000 to $1,200 for monthly expenses. After controlling for food and misc expenses, they will have about $500-800 left for savings – If they do not possess a car, do not have a lifestyle disproportionate to their income level, do not have expensive weddings and renovations and no outstanding installments.

Now we have established that poor financial planning might be one of the reasons why Singaporeans find themselves unable to pay their arrears. Does that mean its their fault? Rightly so. Should this continue? Absolutely not. So what should follow will be them seeking help from the Government through NGOs and Meet-the-People sessions. If you have an Income Statement and if you have the relevant documents to illustrate your case, I can guarantee you the MP will work things out with HDB to smooth out the arrears over longer years.

Yes, I may not have the answer to the problems, but I do not presume to be smarter or cleverer than our Oxbridge and Ivy-schooled Ministers. Likewise, they do not presume to have all the answers too. That’s why policies are liable to change just as the environment and social pressures change. I do scrutinize some of the policies that are closer to me in life and when I do find something I can contribute, I voice out.

And no, you joke. The Taiwanese do not have more monies for retirement and higher disposable income. Try living in Taipei or Gao-Hsiung. I presume either you made that statement out of ignorance or conveniently withholding the fact that you can retire to the suburban/countryside for a lower cost of living.

By: Sleepless last night

Sleepless last night — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:22:06 +0000

To avoid waiting for moderation, I will post in 3 parts. just to clarify, I have my uni exams coming up thats why i was sleepless. I am interested in Public Policy as a whole but not to such an extent so as to lose my sleep.

Anyway, here are some basic statistics i complied in my free time which should be relevant in my reply, relevant as of 31 Dec 2009. Residents = Singaporeans and PRs. Employment = 15 years and above and actively looking for economic employment.

1. Non-residents/Residents as a % of total workforce of 3 million people = 35% and 65% respectively.
2. Of the employed workforce, Residents with min-taxable ann. income of $20,000 stands at 43% whereas Non-Residents stand at 3%. In other words, 57% of Residents earn less than min-Taxable Income and 97% of Non-Residents earn less than min-Taxable Income (prob transient labour).
3. Among Residents earning min. taxable income of $20,000, 33% earns an annual income of $20,001 – $40,000; 48% earns an annual income of $40,001 – $100,000; 19% earns more than $100,000 per year.
4. In contrast, among Non-Residents, 81% earns less than $20,000 in annual income; 10% earns annual income of $20,001 – $40,000; 6% earns annual income of $40,001 – $100,000; and only 3% earns more than $100,000 per year.

After all these statistics, here is a conclusion of the condition of the Singapore workforce.
1. Most low-paying jobs are held by transient labour comprising mainly of Non-Residents earning non-taxable income of <$20,000. In fact, out of 1,192,200 Employed non-residents, only 32, 219 are eligible for income tax. In other words, 1,053,500 low-paying jobs such as labourers and coffee shop cleaners and toilet cleaners are filled by these transient labour holding Work Permits. This allows for higher-paying jobs to be filled by Singaporeans. Read up on Keynesian Economics if you don’t understand.
2. Singaporeans and PRs, in contrast, hold a higher proportion of higher-paying jobs, with 43% of them holding jobs that pay above $20,000 p.a – a total of 833,211 people.
3. This leaves the Singaporeans and PRs holding low-paying jobs. At 57% of the Employed workforce, they stand at 1,113,086.
4. Does that mean they are poor and needy? No. Often, these individuals come from a normal dual-parent family nucleus with double the bread for the household.
5. So what is the problem? Is the situation as dire as what some want us to believe? No. Why? I am not prepared to write a full-length 5,000-20,000 word essay on it, but attend grassroots activities and you will understand. Often, individuals have no one but themselves to blame for the predicament that they find themselves in.

By: ayoungsingaporean

ayoungsingaporean — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:59:20 +0000

Indeed, I agree that many of TOC’s articles often contain misplaced anger and resentment. The rental subsidies or inconvenience benefits paid to certain higher level expatriates is really not the issue. A few of the issues that some of the posters have brought up are definitely more legitimate than the article we are commenting on. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it’s still discourse of some sort.
I feel that the employment market is biased. Yes, I’ve heard from many of my more academically gifted friends that getting employed is about having an extra X-Factor in the 21st century. A degree on it’s own doesn’t really cut it and yes, if you’re a trained doctor, lawyer, accountant or any other major professional, you would find it slighly easier to land a job.
What’s wrong with Singapore’s employment market then? This a small summary of what many of us are already angry about.

1. The NS-Reservist Handicap (for men)
We need to compete fairly with other job hunters. Being a Singaporean male, this is already tilted against us. Most of us are fine with having to exercise regularly for reservist and IPPT but when an employer disciminates against us (very often subtly) over a foreigner or PR or even a woman, this tilts the balance. If you consider the educational handicap that 2 years of service brings, the balance tilts further. If a male is also of a minority race in Singapore and doesn’t speak Mandarin, it get’s more than a little annoying.

2. Salary Equity
More qualified folk with more experience get more pay. This is a given. But why are many foreign entry level executives paid so much less than Singaporeans? Why are they allowed this when Singaporeans already have CPF contributions which are anything but unsubstantial. My best guess would be that this keeps salaries a lower for a little longer. So while the article I am replying to may be arguing the opposite (that expats get MORE money with all the little subsidies and inconvenience benefits), I think the problem still lies with cheaper alternatives. The Government is obviously to blame for this. And if they still insist that meritocracy is at play when employing foreigners, they should remove the huge cost that CPF contributions adds to an employer’s expense (as A Tan
Oct 20, 2009 7:54 illustrated). Allowing foreigners to fill those positions should come with a levy that is equivalent to the CPF contributions of a Singaporean in the same position, and not just a $50 token fee. This is meritocracy. Tying a boxer’s hand behind his back and asking him why he didn’t train harder isn’t. It’s just cruel.

3. A Minimum Wage
There are obviously many pros and cons to a minimum wage system. Yes, it affects flexibility on the labour curve. But, without it, more inequity results. Employers simply take advantage of cheap labour because they can. The salary at McDonalds has increased over the years, but it is still a pittance. I think that having a minimum wage of 4 to 5 dollars and hour, adjusted for inflation yearly, will reduce a lot of resentment among service staff and other blue collar workers. The minimum wage would allow every working person in Singapore to have enough money at the end of every hour to buy a decent meal for him/herself. This is not too much. Why shouldn’t a janitor be able to buy his entire family of 4 a good meal with just half a day’s work, instead of having to slog for 2 days with the salaries paid by some employers today? What is he to eat the other half of the month? Criticisms of the minimum wage have been varied, mainly revolving around how much of a burden raising it yearly would be. Shouldn’t more expensive food (due to annual inflation) be met with more money? If this is unreasonable, I really have no clue what is.
Singapore’s government has done a good job building this country. We acknowledge that. It is a marvel in many ways. What isn’t so marvellous though is how self-serving many policies have been of late. The economy isn’s everything.

By: Ah Siao

Ah Siao — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:46:15 +0000

@ Sleepless night
“So no matter how much I don’t like how the PAP does some of its policies, I ask myself, am I able to think of a better solution, or come up with a better analysis of the issue to derive a better solution? Often, the answer is ‘no’.”
Fine, your answer is ‘no’. And your master also got no answer. Then why the bloody pay so bloody high?

By: mon

mon — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:39:36 +0000

//Sleepless night.
What a joke!
As if the policies of LHL and MBT are rational?
They have resulted at least in many many people not having enough for retirement and homeless.
In a democracy why should we support policies that failed?
I don’t see a point of collecting ever increasing amount of fee for this and that social purpose, when the huge funds don’t produce a return higher than the cost of capital.
Mind as well, we keep the monies ourselves and manage it ourselves.
After all, we are one of the most highly qualified people in the world or most highly educated people of the world.
If the Taiwanese can have more monies for retirement and higher disposable income, why can’t we?
Being sleepless over such things is silly.
If you want the govt to win votes, tell them to do their work properly. Don’t try to con like using stolen sand.

By: Tan Beng Sim

Tan Beng Sim — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:35:09 +0000

Sleepless night : “…and its my 1st time posting.”

please post more and help fight Apathy.

Your effort is important for all of us.
Thanks!

By: anon

anon — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:33:04 +0000

some of the posts here are hilarious, especially the one that rambles away trying to defend PAP’s growth-at-all-costs policies.

pray, how many of the 1,500,000 foreigners in Singapore belong to the category that “tons of other cities like Hong Kong, S.Korea, Boston, London” would compete for?

i din know that the last time I stepped into a hawker center/visited a GP clinic/bought junkie fast-food/took a stroll in the Chinese Gardens, i was served by these special highly-sought-after “talents”…

have a conscience, VOTE PROTEST

By: rubbish in rubbish out

rubbish in rubbish out — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:12:18 +0000

Don’t blame the employers…It’s the government that allow such a policy to discriminate Singaporeans that voted them in in the first place.
Yes jobs for foreigners …NS for singaporeans.
You can only blame yourself for being Daft to vote them in…
Now it’s time to be Daft to vote in more opposition….

By: PollocksPaintDrip

PollocksPaintDrip — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:39:46 +0000

Expat2Singapore, no problem. Apology appreciated/accepted. We do tend to agree more than we “whine” (I kid! hah.)

Enjoy your work/stay in Singapore.

By: Do Re Mi

Do Re Mi — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:54:50 +0000

Yes foreigners at their early 20s are priming for masters, except for Israelis, Taiwanese, Koreans, Germans, Finns, Thais and 20 more other countries in the developed world.
The foreigners you are talking about probably come from PRC, the US, the UK and some of our neighbours. In fact, many men of our generation are conscripted for national defense of their own country.
Being a grad, you should know that Singapore nowadays are flooded with grads and in order to distinguish yourself to the employer, you either:
1. have a shining cv so it doesnt belong to the waste paper basket.
2.Shine during your internship/industrial attachment days so you are guaranteed a job upon graduation.
3. Grad with 2nd upper and above for your degree.
4. Go for higher education.
5. Possess specialised skills (such as Medicine/Dentistry/Pharmacy/Accountancy) or you have relatives in the industry that can ‘look after’ you.
Otherwise, you will belong to the rest of the normal people who will have to fight each other for a job opening.
Welcome to the working world.

By: SadSadPlace

SadSadPlace — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:38:15 +0000

i graduated recently and found myself competing for a job with foreigners who have been in Singapore for less than 2 weeks. I lost the job to some of these foreigners and found myself slapped with a fine for failing to do my RT although I am unemployed and am busy searching for a job … It makes me wonder why I went through that 2.5 years of army when foreigners at my age are already getting their Master Degrees ….. arrrr ….
the bottom line is why are Singaporean Males …. especially the ones who have given their full reservist cycle to this country are at the greatest disadvantage when it comes to employment ….

By: Sleepless night.

Sleepless night. — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:21:53 +0000

sorry for the paragraphing and grammatical errors. i was too tired and its my 1st time posting.

By: Expat2Singapore

Expat2Singapore — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:17:05 +0000

To PollocksPaintDrip: You are right, I shouldn’t have said “whining.” Apologies. AND, I agree with your comment about the policies here driving local talent away.
To Sleepless Night: Thanks for a well thought out reply.

By: PollocksPaintDrip

PollocksPaintDrip — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:53:06 +0000

Expat2Singapore: “So stop expending your energy complaining (one talent that Singapore has enough of!)”
Not a fair statement. I was active till a few years back in American and British-based forums where there is a lot of socio-political discussions on topics from A-Z. And naturally, the discussions often verge on the critical towards the powers-that-be. I don’t ever call them complaint kings or whiners. Why is that when the average Singaporeans are silent, they are called drones/government dogs and when they speak out on issues, they are whiners? If I agree with you that we are whiners, then you have to agree that you are whining against the whiners, while I whine against the whiner who is against whining. Fair?
TOC provides a platform for discussion on socio-political issues. This is a social issue.
I would’ve stopped at the first 2 paragraphs, since you’ve made good arguments. The “hardship fee” included within an expatriate package and market value, are some of which I would agree on to an extent. Though it all unravels with your “pull-your-bootstraps” & “you are the problem” argument in the 3rd paragraph. Typical conservative counter-arguments against anyone with a semblance of “liberal” critique that all is not well with (insert-your-society-here).
—–
There is a problem in Singapore and institutionalising and fetishizing of the foreign, and the foreign=talent equation is one (and I’m in no means a xenophobe). I mean, the TOEFL/English teacher phenomena in Japan comes to mind. How many of those English teachers in Japan are just kids fresh out of college wanting travel experiences? I know a few.
I recognise the irony for example, of how Aussie creatives are in demand in Singapore and and the industry initially passed off a Singaporean who had a Australian degree – who could only initially compete based on cut-throat salary. That Singaporean friend of mine could work for an Australian company but chose to stay for family reasons. And a bigger paycheck and better remunerations, given that the Aussie govt makes it easier for those with an Aussie degree to work there regardless of nationality (talk about talent retention/siphoning).
Another friend who is also a graduate, gets housing allowance in Australia. And that is not unheard of as a local term of hire. I have an American friend who gets housing allowance, all for working within the same state (PA) within 10 km of his previous apartment. Note: he’s not a college grad but has climbed up to supervisory position. One sure way to a brain-drain is to throw meritocracy rule out of throw – squeeze the locals, spend on foreigners for doing the same job. And when you’re bereft of local talents (screw you, Singapore, we’re going abroad), you import in foreigners. And so goes the cycle. The powers-that-be complain that there are no talents in Singapore, which is kind of true, since their policies drove most who could go away… away. Unlike in other developed countries that do their best to retain their talent, ours seems specifically set-up to drive our own away. From employment to housing policies. We don’t have minimum wage for example and discriminatory hiring practices isn’t against the law, it’s just against some Ministry of Manpower “guideline”. It’s not because we are a “whiny” lot, really.
I agree there are specialist field where we lack the local expertise for it. But for it to happen across the board in almost every industry I can think of – I don’t think so.

By: Sleepless night.

Sleepless night. — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:16:21 +0000

typo. gallivanting not galvanising. lol.

By: Sleepless night.

Sleepless night. — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:14:47 +0000

Reading some of these comments just reinforced my belief that many Singaporeans are short sighted, irrational and blindly echoing each others’ sentiments.
Sure, go ahead and vote for change for change! go ahead and criticize policies (Stop at Two) that are relevant then but are obviously irrelevant now. I thought a basic education in History/Social Studies is prescribed in our Ed. System! I sooo bet that you guys can predict the future just like what Nostradamus did. This is an irony if its not obvious.
Also, if i’m an expatriate with a valuable and much sought-after skill set, what would be my opp. costs for working in a foreign country? Put it this way. Singapore needs more of people like me to drive her growth in the biotech and financial services sector, but unfortunately there are tons of other cities like Hong Kong, S.Korea, Boston, London to compete with. So How? How to ensure that my current and future needs are provided for? Why Singapore? Do you even know that a Ph.D post-doctoral candidate from Kyoto University working as a Research Fellow in NUS is paid about $3.5k per month only? Study a total of 23-25 years and you start out with a starting pay just 500-1000 more than local Bachelors?
In fact, if I was an expatriate i wouldnt even consider the above perks. The above is considered tiny compared to what some companies like GSK and Barclays pay its employees with allowances and entertainment claims here and there not incl. seasonal bonuses and performance bonuses. Furthermore, NS liabilities only come into question when our men decide to work for overseas employers. Locally, if you are good, first-class honours with summa-cum laude to boot, so what if you have NS liabilities. Sure get good job lor!
Give the People an effective measure to improve our global marketability and competitiveness, cope with the rise of China, cope with a declining birth rate and marriage age, cope with OS braindrain, all without having a more relaxed FT policy. Mind you, in Singapore, although our personal income levels are not high, our average household income is more than $5000 monthly. Tell me that’s not enough to cope with daily expenses. In fact, anyone who earn a taxable income (>$20,000 p.a.) stands at the top 43% of native Singaporeans and top 28% of Resident Singaporeans incl. foreigners.
So, for all who say that foreigners depress wages, check your facts. In fact, 81% of foreigners earn less than the min. taxable income of $20,000.
In fact, the poor are being taken care off, and the rich can take care of themselves. Our problem now is the sandwiched middle class, which are no longer able to afford a wider selection of goods due to a stagnation of wages, but has to cope with a higher cost of living. These people are the middle classes. What is critical in moving up the social ladder is hard work, hard work and hard work. Everyone is gifted with a basic intelligence level to study and understand what others are saying. The difference is whether people use it galvanizing their teens/early twenties away or spend it fruitfully at books/studying so as to reap the rewards later.
In fact, credible leadership is so important that Senior Management often ask people telling them what to do ‘who are you and why are you telling me what to do?’. Especially so if he/she graduated from an elite school overseas. That is why high performers are identified early and locked by the PSC before the opportunities are fully open to them during networking sessions organised by their Universities.
Change for the sake of change is worthless. The most important thing now is to come up with a critical analysis of the current issue at hand while coming up with policies that clearly identify potential stakeholders while being feasible enough for the government to implement. If you think that the government cant, can you?
Criticizing the government or anybody for that matter is worthless, useless, and valueless. It is not what someone with knowledge or passion or determination will do. The knowledgeable will analyse, the passionate will lead or serve, and the determined will contribute in any way that he can.
Criticisms should be done in a constructive manner, where if alternatives cannot be found, at least a more in-depth analysis of the issue at hand be accomplished. If both fail, all attempts at further discourse are not meaningful save further polarizing different parties at stake.
I don’t like how the PAP communicates with the general public, but I certainly appreciate the development of Singapore over the years, despite me being in my early twenties. I see how policies in different countries have evolved over the years responding to different environmental and social pressure. For instance, compare Finland to Singapore. Finland has everything Singapore wants. But can Singapore ever be Finland? No, we cant. For a simple reason, our cultures are different.
Put the local Ah Beng in a CEO position. Even if the Ah Beng has earned a few million dollars, would the ex-Ah Beng be willing to trade his position as CEO for a cleaner who earns a pittance? He wouldn’t. The Finnish would.
Following Singapore’s cultural development and our need to continuously attract and retain foreign talent, our Personal Income Tax cannot be as high as Finland’s where locals pay up to 50% of their income on Tax for their system. It is a Proportional Tax System (Check the IRAS webby) but it is much lesser than what other countries tax their rich. Our only asset in this tiny island is Manpower. We need to utilize the most out of every citizen. For a country of just 4 million, we have created man-made economic miracles. In fact, the ITEs are equipped with facilities rivaling that of many overseas universities in order to prepare them for the working world.
Yes the UK has Cambridge and Oxford, but they also have throngs of homeless people and their nation is burdened with a unsustainable welfare system and an ineffective bureaucracy (much worse than Sg I assure you.)
So no matter how much I don’t like how the PAP does some of its policies, I ask myself, am I able to think of a better solution, or come up with a better analysis of the issue to derive a better solution? Often, the answer is ‘no’. In the few instances that I think I did, I discuss with my peers and end up discussing it with relevant authorities. I don’t rant. This is one of the few instances that I do, out of sheer desperation.
So before you criticize, do consider the issue from various facets before blindly criticizing. At least give insightful inputs or constructive suggestions. It appalls me to no end that to think that the level of political and socio-economic discourse in Singapore is so one-sided and biased from any kind of academic perspective. Btw, I still think CPF is a great idea seeing that 401(k)s proves to be disastrous.