Policies against foreigners to appease Singaporeans
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I think the reason why Singaporeans take a long time to shift against PAP's policies is largely due to the fact that PAP has been in power since Singapore really started moving forward. As time went by, PAP's policies grew from a wooden fist to a iron fist method of control, and I feel that it is relevant to the analogy of a frog in a beaker. As the temperature slowly rises, the frog will not leap out till it realizes that it will become cooked.
Wake up already, Singapore..
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Originally posted by donkhead333:
I think the reason why Singaporeans take a long time to shift against PAP's policies is largely due to the fact that PAP has been in power since Singapore really started moving forward. As time went by, PAP's policies grew from a wooden fist to a iron fist method of control, and I feel that it is relevant to the analogy of a frog in a beaker. As the temperature slowly rises, the frog will not leap out till it realizes that it will become cooked.
Wake up already, Singapore..
because singaporean vote from the pocket lah....
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Originally posted by Plastic Bag:
Singaporeans are so easily appeased. That is how the ruling party gets to stay in power.
Upgrade lift, give a bit of money and every vote goes to them.
they are mostly timid, unimaginative, unhappy and expects the bare minimum from their rulers. Ideal slaves(sorry but this is my honest opinion) -
IT'S PAY BACK TIME!
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DON;T FORGET.
LAST YEAR, FINANCIAL CRISIS.
A LOT PEOPLE WHINE, YET THEY DID SO LITTLE!
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Originally posted by John Penn:
DON;T FORGET.
LAST YEAR, FINANCIAL CRISIS.
did the financial knock you out hahahahahahhahha so much for PAP and being economic tiger. It's a wimpy economy...proven!!! -
Originally posted by Miracles&Prophecies:
did the financial knock you out hahahahahahhahha so much for PAP and being economic tiger. It's a wimpy economy...proven!!!I
AFTER 1997, I GAVE UP ON THEMTHEY JUST IMPORT SO MANY FOREIGN ALIENS
PUI
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Hmm I wish you guys Singaporeans could live free from these power hungry animals. That is the lky familee. This familee could be the downfall of Singapore.
This island is practically theirs and they are getting more and more unashamed with their corruption. Intimidating people, murder and cover up of murder, the abuse of IMH, the falsifying of grades due to political reasons, phone tapping, internet surveillance, camera surveillance, Mind and heart surveillance with psy agent(lol), the abuse of police force, the abuse of court, the lack of freedom of press and the lack of human rights preservation especially if they consider you enemy of the state on a whim even. -
Singaporeans deserve better than lee kuan duck
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their performance is not good
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Originally posted by TrueBeauty:
their performance is not good
I don't really care about their performance but their attitude towards Singaporeans and foreigners living in the city. They seem to consider themselves above all that is above moral, above law, above the constitution, above God. Made me want to throw up. -
MOE: Schools can consider extending financial help to foreign students
December 23, 2009
The recent announcement by the government to increase the school fees of PRs and foreigners have led to some concerns that needy foreign students will be deprived of a quality education in Singapore.
A PR in secondary school now pays only $264 a year or $14 more than a Singaporean. It will go up to $852 in 2010.
The Straits Times today quoted the Education Ministry saying that “schools can consider extending financial help to foreign students who may have trouble paying the higher fees.”
Bright permanent residents (PRs) and other foreign students may be nominated for financial assistance from the school community, grassroots or welfare organisations, said a ministry spokesman.
However, these organizations are ultimately funded by taxpayers in one way or another.
Besides, the government is already very generous with foreign students. It gives out scholarships to bright college students in the region to study in Singapore varsities which cover the entire course of study, some with no bond at all.
For example, the Dr Goh Keng Seng Scholarship which is opened for application from 18 November 2009 to 18 January 2010 is open only to students from ASEAN countries, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, PRC and Taiwan.
It is even stated explicitly on its website that “Singapore citizens and PRs are not eligible to apply for the Dr GKS Scholarship”.
The scholarship will cover the duration of the undergraduate course (3 to 4 years) and provides the following for the students: tuition and other compulsory fees; airfare to Singapore and return to home country, annual maintenance allowance of $6,500, hostel allowance and settling-in allowance of $200 upon arrival in Singapore.
Government Parliamentary Committee for Education chairman Josephine Teo said that scholarships were available for deserving foreign students.
“Financial assistance schemes are for those who really need it, primarily our citizens. We are a small country with limited resources so we have to be practical and targeted with help provided,” she said.
Perhaps the government should consider doing more to ensure more needy local students are able to complete their education from primary till tertiary level instead of “investing” in foreign students, however bright they are.
PRs have been paying such “low” school fees for many years. If not for the widespread disgruntlement and anger on the ground at the government’s ill-conceived pro-foreigner policies and the looming elections, it is highly doubtful that their school fees will be raised at all.
Foreign students are most welcomed to study in Singapore schools, but not at the expense of locals.
Scholarships and bursaries should be provided solely by private institutions out of goodwill and not by the government or any pseudo-government organizations which obtain its income from Singapore taxpayers.
The Singapore government has no business to take care of foreign students. It is voted in by Singapore citizens to look after us and should it fail or decline to do so, then Singaporeans have every right to choose another which will do so.
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Singapore’s decision to hike fees for foreign students distresses Malaysians parents
December 23, 2009
Malaysian Sun, 23 December 2009
he Singapore Government’s decision to increase the school fees for the foreign residents has caught Malaysians living in that country by surprise.
Dalillah Yusof, 46, whose three children with permanent residency are studying in Singapore, was shocked to hear about the development.
“I am currently paying 440 ringgits per year for my son in secondary school and 352 ringgits each for my son and daughter in primary school. If the Singapore Government increases the fees substantially, I may have to review my decision to send my children to schools there,” The Star Online quoted her, as saying.
Singapore Education Minister Ng Eng Hen recently announced the plan to increase the school fees for foreign students as part of a move to draw a distinction between Singaporeans and non-citizens.
A businesswoman, Hiu, said she might have to consider other options should her non-PR daughter’s primary school fees be increased to triple the current amount.
“She has been following the Singapore’s school syllabus for the whole of primary school. It will be very difficult to take her out from the school as the syllabus is different from Malaysia,” she said.
She however was thankful that the Singapore Government had given a year’s notice for the proposed hike.
Currently, about eight percent of students in national schools in the republic are PRs, and four percent are international students. – Malaysian Sun
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Amy Khor urges Singaporeans to welcome foreigners and forge a new identity with them
December 23
PAP MP Dr Amy Khor and Chairman of REACH has urged Singaporeans to embrace PRs and new citizens to make them feel welcomed in Singapore.
“By and large, most of them are wanting to start afresh here, build up their home and future here and our locals must give them a chance and welcome them and together forge a new identity with them so that together, we can build a good future for Singapore as a united people. We need to continue to do that,” Dr Khor told CNA in an interview on the top issues received by REACH in 2009.
Foreign talent, and integrating permanent residents and new citizens into Singapore society are the issues most frequently discussed on the government feedback portal, set up to provide a “feedback channel” for the people.
Despite the government’s efforts to promote REACH, its readership lacks far behind that of independent news sites like the Temasek Review which garner on average, about 400 – 500 comments a day.
Dr Khor opined that while it is understandable that locals are afraid of foreigners crowding them out, they need to understand at the “intellectual level” that there is a need to “augment” our population with new
“And we got to continue to assure them that – be it in terms of sharpening the differences between PRs and citizens, as well as appealing to them to have open hearts and open minds to understand that even for new citizens, they have actually taken a big step forward, given up their birth rights in their own country to set up home here,” she added.
Singapore has one of the most lax immigration policies among the developed nations.
In other countries like Australia, Canada and United Kingdom, only skilled workers and professionals who reside there for a number of years are granted PRs.
In Singapore, even cleaners, construction workers and masseurs are able to “qualify” for PRs and citizenships and they often receive it in a short span of time.
It was reported in the state media that a Chinese PR who worked as a Chinese language teacher in a private school Zhang Yuanyuan received her PR within two months of application.
Dr Khor’s views were echoed by Halimah Yacob who warned that doing away with foreigners will “bring our economy to a standstill, particularly in those areas where it is difficult to get Singaporeans to work and in those areas where there continues to be a knowledge and skills gap in the workforce.”
While Singaporeans do understand the need for foreign workers to take up jobs not wanted by locals, what they are unhappy about it the ease at which the ruling party is “selling” Singapore’s citizenship away.
A commonly cited cause of the problem is that Singaporeans are not producing enough babies which is caused chiefly by the high cost of public housing in Singapore.
The government should tackle the source of the problem by making public housing more affordable to Singaporeans so as to encourage them to start a family earlier and to have more children.
Though there was a recent change to allow citizens one additional ballot for primary school application, the underlying fundamental pro-foreigner policy of the ruling party remains essentially the same.
A $10-million Community Integrated Fund was unveiled lately by Minister of Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to make the newcomers feel “welcomed” in Singapore at a time when the construction of the Singapore Sports Hub was facing repeated delays due to financial constraints.
Dr Khor appeared to be happy that her CDC is already tapping on the fund to win the allegiance of the new citizens:
“For the Southwest CDC, we have actually applied for the community integration fund and this is a first-ever “Getting to know Singapore Integration quiz” that we are organising for all 16 constituencies in the district…..In addition, they also get to know about Singapore, because the quiz is about all things Singapore – the people, the culture, the food – and we are also getting the community to participate so that more people will be involved in this bonding programme in terms of integration,” she quipped.
Singaporeans should not be deceived again by the ruling party’s latest “wayang” to appease them as PAP ministers continue to reiterate that allaying the fears of Singaporeans about “foreign talent” is a “long-term” initiative.
By the PAP’s definition, “long-term” can be 10, 20 or 30 years by when locals may find themselves in the minority, being swarmed by the flood of foreigners the ruling party has gleefully opened Singapore’s doors to.
As history has shown, the ruling party will have no qualms throwing “crumbs” to Singaporeans just before the election after which they will take whatever they have given earlier (on top of “interest”).
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WISHING ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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can policies be reverted or changed asking from a technical point of view, say sometime next year or the year after? I mean, eg. by coincidence?
why not? tell me. i like to know.
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New citizen: don’t discriminate against us in education policy
December 24, 2009
A new citizen by the name of Xing Yun has written to the Straits Times Forum today lambasting Mr Edmund Lin for “dividing” Singaporeans.
Mr Lin had earlier urged the government to tweak the balloting rules to differentiate between old and new citizens as he felt that the system is still open to abuse by some new citizens:
“Many expatriate couples usually strategise by having one spouse take up Singapore citizenship to enjoy subsidies in housing, childcare and education while the other retains the couple’s native citizenship, even though both are equally qualified for Singapore citizenship. By that definition, they are automatically categorised as a newly formed Singapore citizen household. There are many such households here.”
He suggests categorizing Singaporean households as old and new so that only families in which father has been an active national serviceman or those with both parents born in Singapore can have two ballots.
“This way, new Singapore citizen households will not compete directly with native Singapore citizen households. At the same time, it will add to the benefits of serving the nation,” he added.
Xing Yun pointed out that “Mr Lin seems to have some misunderstandings about the new policy.”
“The number of ballot votes given is dependent on the nationality of the pupil rather than that of his parent. A Singaporean boy will still serve national service even if his parents are ’strategising expatriates. That aside, I fail to see Mr Lin’s need to divide Singaporeans into two classes – old and new,” he added.
He added his letter by quoting Article 152 of the Constitution:
“According to Article 152 of the Constitution, Malays are deemed ‘the indigenous people of Singapore’. With ever greater numbers of newly inducted citizens, we should focus on integration rather than bicker meaninglessly about the nativeness of someone’s blood.”
Xing Yun should realize that the Constitution, like the National Pledge, is only an “aspiration” which is seldom practiced in real life.
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Originally posted by donkhead333:
I think the reason why Singaporeans take a long time to shift against PAP's policies is largely due to the fact that PAP has been in power since Singapore really started moving forward. As time went by, PAP's policies grew from a wooden fist to a iron fist method of control, and I feel that it is relevant to the analogy of a frog in a beaker. As the temperature slowly rises, the frog will not leap out till it realizes that it will become cooked.
Wake up already, Singapore..
Iron fist?? wha lau are you still sleeping ar??? no more iron fist already hor...or so call iron rice bowl liao...still iron meh...now it is call titanium Fist ya. -
Originally posted by angel7030:
Iron fist?? wha lau are you still sleeping ar??? no more iron fist already hor...or so call iron rice bowl liao...still iron meh...now it is call titanium Fist ya.
also, no more iron rice bowl - you thought China is it -
Originally posted by John Penn:
New citizen: don’t discriminate against us in education policy
December 24, 2009
A new citizen by the name of Xing Yun has written to the Straits Times Forum today lambasting Mr Edmund Lin for “dividing” Singaporeans.
Mr Lin had earlier urged the government to tweak the balloting rules to differentiate between old and new citizens as he felt that the system is still open to abuse by some new citizens:
“Many expatriate couples usually strategise by having one spouse take up Singapore citizenship to enjoy subsidies in housing, childcare and education while the other retains the couple’s native citizenship, even though both are equally qualified for Singapore citizenship. By that definition, they are automatically categorised as a newly formed Singapore citizen household. There are many such households here.”
He suggests categorizing Singaporean households as old and new so that only families in which father has been an active national serviceman or those with both parents born in Singapore can have two ballots.
“This way, new Singapore citizen households will not compete directly with native Singapore citizen households. At the same time, it will add to the benefits of serving the nation,” he added.
Xing Yun pointed out that “Mr Lin seems to have some misunderstandings about the new policy.”
“The number of ballot votes given is dependent on the nationality of the pupil rather than that of his parent. A Singaporean boy will still serve national service even if his parents are ’strategising expatriates. That aside, I fail to see Mr Lin’s need to divide Singaporeans into two classes – old and new,” he added.
He added his letter by quoting Article 152 of the Constitution:
“According to Article 152 of the Constitution, Malays are deemed ‘the indigenous people of Singapore’. With ever greater numbers of newly inducted citizens, we should focus on integration rather than bicker meaninglessly about the nativeness of someone’s blood.”
Xing Yun should realize that the Constitution, like the National Pledge, is only an “aspiration” which is seldom practiced in real life.
Dun worry Uncle John, they will learn sooner than later, many had flock here in believing this is a gold mountain, wait till they see those bills then they know shit or gold. The article reflected the agony of foreigners here, and if Singaporeans are agonized by the immigration policies and foreigners coming here are also agonised by the class differentiation. Good luck to PAP.
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Originally posted by John Penn:
also, no more iron rice bowl - you thought China is it
Korea, i went to korea, they give me iron rich bowl with steel chopstick and spoon.by Samsung
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Originally posted by angel7030:
WISHING ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Same to you.And all forumers / readers of Speaker's Corner.
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HMMMM....AND DATS WHY ANGEL70 END UP LIKE DAT.NO JOBS IN COMPANIES TAT WANT TO EMPLOY HER DUE TO TOO MUCH FOREIGNERS FROM MALAYSIA ,CHINA,INDIA,PHIILLIPPINES ETC.
SO ANGEL NO CHOICE,,,INSTEAD OF WERKIN WITH MR TADASHI OR MR SHIGUERO FROM NATIONAL ELECTRONICS.SHE NOW HAS TO MAKE E NDS MEET BY WERKIN IN SOME SLEAZY 2 BIT JOINT ....MIGHT AS WELL BE WERKIN IN 7-11.
WHY??BECAUSE HER RESUME GOT FLOODED BY THOUSANDS OF MALAYSIANS AND CHINA GIRLS FOR SUPERVISIR POSITION.YESS....U CAN BE A SUPERVISOR IN SPORE IN JAP COMPANY TOO ...AS LONG AS YA SPOREAN...BUT THOSE WERK PERMIT HOLDERS WITH JOB AGENTS WELL CONNECTED WITH MR SHIGUERO GOT THE ASSISTANT SUPERVISIR OR SUPERVISOR POSITION .
YER RESUME WAS THROWN AWAY AFTER COMPANY HR RECEIVED IT IN FAVOUR OF YOUNG N SWEET GALS FROM OVERSEAS WITH WERK PERMIT ONLY.
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looks like the sentiment of dissidence is enormous!