SG PR Chance?

[zzm9980]

I am all with iamneo on his points. The reason why islamisation is increasingly on the rise in recent months is because the government does not want to face up to the sorry state of the country's economy. they find it easier to find a scapegoat in other religions that they think pose a threat to islam - the latest on the issue concerning the use of the word 'allah'.

I assume we're talking about Malaysia here and not Singapore.

[yogaloungeforever]

I was addressing iamneo's point # 3 when he highlighted the rise of islamisation in malaysia

I am all with iamneo on his points. The reason why islamisation is increasingly on the rise in recent months is because the government does not want to face up to the sorry state of the country's economy. they find it easier to find a scapegoat in other religions that they think pose a threat to islam - the latest on the issue concerning the use of the word 'allah'.

I assume we're talking about Malaysia here and not Singapore.

[the lynx]

Going by the backward logic of pseudo-righteous leaders, they are banning almost 40% of the Malaysian population from singing state anthems in probably half of the states in Malaysia. Because they have the word Allah in them and for the non-Muslims to sing that word out in the anthema must have been preposterous to them!

Good luck defending this logic, states of Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

[AndrewV]

gotta hand it to iamneo, he raised some valid points and didn't pull a hit and run holiday

[sundaymorningstaple]

This is true. He will be a welcome addition to the motley crew here!

[iamneo]

I read this article in Channelnewsasia:
"WASHINGTON: India has warned the United States of consequences for its companies if lawmakers tighten visa rules on high-tech firms as part of an immigration overhaul."

This is another prime example of why we need to diversify and why we cannot depend too much on a single source of supply. I am pretty sure that someone in PAP is reading this article and making notes.

I do not know Mr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar but he reminds me of UMNO politicians. Americans do not respond very well to threats and American politicians are a lot more worried about elections/public opinions than the fate of some Indian IT workers and what they can or cannot do. If Indian IT companies cannot deliver then American companies will just move on to someone who can. I have worked in Citibank for a while as a consultant and I have seen and heard of projects being scrapped and vendors/contractors being thrown out like dirt.

Fortunately, the managers of Indian IT companies like TCS, WIPRO and Infosys are a lot more intelligent and pragmatic. Based on market news, these companies are already planning to ramp up the localization of their onsite teams and Infosys has already taken the lead by creating new local jobs in Australia.

[midlet2013]

I tght this article is less about diversification and more about stricter criterion for granting work visas. Rite now, your so called TCS, Infosys are taking mediocre people with slighly lower salaries for outsourced jobs to US on H1B, and this is what needs to be curbed to protect American peoples jobs.

This bill also suggest visas for Graduate students in the US , a bulk of which are Indians and Chinese.

The article is not about diversification. Its about making sure that the right people get the right visas in the US, unlike Singapore where the definition of right is different from that in the US.

I read this article in Channelnewsasia:
"WASHINGTON: India has warned the United States of consequences for its companies if lawmakers tighten visa rules on high-tech firms as part of an immigration overhaul."

This is another prime example of why we need to diversify and why we cannot depend too much on a single source of supply. I am pretty sure that someone in PAP is reading this article and making notes.

I do not know Mr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar but he reminds me of UMNO politicians. Americans do not respond very well to threats and American politicians are a lot more worried about elections/public opinions than the fate of some Indian IT workers and what they can or cannot do. If Indian IT companies cannot deliver then American companies will just move on to someone who can. I have worked in Citibank for a while as a consultant and I have seen and heard of projects being scrapped and vendors/contractors being thrown out like dirt.

Fortunately, the managers of Indian IT companies like TCS, WIPRO and Infosys are a lot more intelligent and pragmatic. Based on market news, these companies are already planning to ramp up the localization of their onsite teams and Infosys has already taken the lead by creating new local jobs in Australia.

[iamneo]

My comments are more on the threats made by Ambassador Jaishankar. It is a example of how foreign labour issues and work visas restrictions can be escalated into political disputes between countries. US is overly reliant on imported Indian IT workers and India is overly obsessed in exporting their own citizens. When things go wrong (and they usually do), both countries will suffer. In this case, India will suffer more but it is also time for them to review their IT industry and their onshore/offshore business model. Political issues will shape and influence business strategies and companies have to change and adapt in order to survive. Visa tightening measures are taking place globally in many developed countries (US, UK, Singapore and even UAE), it is no longer practically for Indian IT companies to build onshore teams with visa holders.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Sadly, they brought most of it on themselves in their penchant for hiring their own regardless of the capabilities of other applicants. This abuse of and in their host countries has caused the majority of the problems and animosity against them. Singapore as suffered much as well, hence the current pogrom.

[nakatago]

Sadly, they brought most of it on themselves in their penchant for hiring their own regardless of the capabilities of other applicants. This abuse of and in their host countries has caused the majority of the problems and animosity against them. Singapore as suffered much as well, hence the current pogrom.

I just tried looking for Infosys and Wipro in LinkedIn and looked at the respective companies' employees in the United States.

Now that I think about it, I remember the Wipro contractors I encountered when I was in Japan...

[yogaloungeforever]

well i am not sure how much of the below is impacting Singapore and how much is being done to address this problem. I am still seeing a lot of MNCs having an indian front HR, as if the role of HR is so highly specialised that they need an indian. For as long as an indian fronts HR rest can be assured well paying and career progressing roles will go to their own kind.

My comments are more on the threats made by Ambassador Jaishankar. It is a example of how foreign labour issues and work visas restrictions can be escalated into political disputes between countries. US is overly reliant on imported Indian IT workers and India is overly obsessed in exporting their own citizens. When things go wrong (and they usually do), both countries will suffer. In this case, India will suffer more but it is also time for them to review their IT industry and their onshore/offshore business model. Political issues will shape and influence business strategies and companies have to change and adapt in order to survive. Visa tightening measures are taking place globally in many developed countries (US, UK, Singapore and even UAE), it is no longer practically for Indian IT companies to build onshore teams with visa holders.

[iamneo]

HR is considered as a rubber stamping department by many Singaporeans and there is a lot of repetitive paperwork involved. These are jobs shunned by Singaporeans. But in most of the companies that I worked for, the HR heads or the senior positions are usually taken up by Singaporeans.

The issue of races will always influence Singapore politics. The IPS has conducted several national level surveys since the 2011 GE. So far, the IPS surveys have shown that Singaporeans are not comfortable with PRC Chinese and India Indian making up the majorities of new immigrants. The latest survey has also shown that discrimination against nationalities are on the rise among Singaporeans. The PAP government will no doubt take results of these surveys into consideration when tuning the immigration policies.

A few months, Mr Goh Chok Tong also raised a question, asking if it is time for Singapore to break away from the traditional sources of immigrants and to look beyond Asia for new citizens. He did not provide any answer but left the question to the younger generation to decide.

[yogaloungeforever]

i beg to differ on the below. With the exception of knowing the hiring manager personally, all job applicants have to have their applications sifted and filtered via HR. So if HR is a sub-continental we can only wish ourselves good luck if our job applications ever get in front of the hiring manager's eyes

HR is considered as a rubber stamping department by many Singaporeans and there is a lot of repetitive paperwork involved. ........

[PNGMK]

i beg to differ on the below. With the exception of knowing the hiring manager personally, all job applicants have to have their applications sifted and filtered via HR. So if HR is a sub-continental we can only wish ourselves good luck if our job applications ever get in front of the hiring manager's eyes

HR is considered as a rubber stamping department by many Singaporeans and there is a lot of repetitive paperwork involved. ........

Indeed, having been a hiring manager myself, I can tell you it takes a lot of energy and push to get HR out of the way and to view the resumes oneself.

[sundaymorningstaple]

As a former engineering headhunter, I can vouch for the fact as well. In fact, that is not even confined to subcontinental HR heads, but most Asian HR heads are biased. I've sent CV's that were spot on for the position (this is not as an unsuccessful recruiter's P.O.V. but as an Oilfield construction worker who spent 20 years in the Industry, so I knew damn well what was required. Fortunately, even though LinkedIn didn't exist, my circle of contacts back in those days were enormous and often I just did end runs around the HR departments altogether and just make contact with the end user - then they ran interference internally with HR. My closing rate was better than 50% because of it. I never used the shotgun method of candidate submission so if they got a CV from me, you could rest pretty well assured that the candidate was suitable and it would only be cost negotiations that would hold it up. But if the end user was already in the picture before HR and his stamp of approval on, it would generally fly.