Brah wrote:sundaymorningstaple wrote:I'll be interested to see if the PAP DOES take the hint and continues to sharply curtail foreign talent (talented or otherwise).
I was never sure of what that unfortunate term actually meant.
Does it refer to underpaid Burmese and PRC men riding dangerously and degradingly in pickup truck beds, performing backbreaking and dangerous work which no one else wants to do, living in filthy compounds, discriminated by many, while living far from their loved ones,
or if it implies the textbook whinging, corpulent and overpaid Westerners on full expat deals which include premium housing, expensive club memberships, car allowances and the like, that everyone likes to hate,
or it if refers to foreigners living here on local packages, also far from their loved ones back home, on modest salaries with few benefits and no company subsidies, paying a relatively high cost of living on a currency weaker than back home, and for some being double-taxed, in a less career-enriching environment that operates at a slower pace and with more limited promotional potential,
or, all of the above.
As one of the latter contingent, I can't help but think if the government decide to start 'curtailing' what companies have poured great time, effort and money into building up their Singapore offices, often while 'offshoring' staff from home offices to here, that these companies will start looking elsewhere. And the economic impact that will have for Singapore.
Actually it's kinda academic anyway, as Singapore has become too expensive for what was once considered a lower-cost alternative, and I predict that over the next 4-5 years that many MNCs will slowly decrease their emphasis on Singapore in favor of other locales, and then start migrating out to them. In some cases it's already begun.
Brah,
If you've been following my posts and also on facebook, you would have notice that that has been a recurring theme of mine. And I'm afraid it's "all of the above" depending on which segment of the population you are speaking to at the time.
WIMH, your ideological bent is admirable, but just what if, because the PM looked soooo smug even with a only 60% majority (a loss of 15 or 16% of eligible voters) thinks he can still, with a 2/3's majority, run the country as he sees fit. If that is the case and this curtailing of FT or Not so Talented, but due the the fact that there are NOT enough Singaporeans, full stop, to keep the engines of MNC and Regional MNC's like KepFels and others going, what's going to happen here? the MNC's are gonna leave to countries that CAN supply the labour. You worry about a "home" instead of a "house". I worry that my predictions here of a couple years go will come true. This economic miracle, which cannot be called a country because there is no way to survive as a country (without any resources whatsoever), but as a corporation with the ability to turn on a dime to changing external stimuli, will slowly and then rapidly be in an ever decreasing tailspin back to something akin the the backwater it used to be 40 years ago. Not in infrastructure but in economies. GDP? Without GDP or nataural resources, what is going to supply this country? Exaggeration? Yes. Possibility to be left behind as all the neignbours catch up wile Singapore spends her time in "discussions" with opposition. Likely. (which, due to the twin wins of the WP will act like a magnet for the next election - but doubtful after than as the damage will already have been done - and the worked so hard for reputation for investment by MNCs eliminated). When that happens, will you own up to your nephews that you were partly responsible for the trigger of the decline of this little red dot?
Oh, around a third of the population voted for the opposition regardless of the wards, and regardless of the quality of the opposition. What does that say. Sure, credentials plays 'some' part but, obviously across the island, it didn't if fully a third of the population voted for opposition members while only 2 managed to win. Considering most of the members were jokes, it's very scary. Gen Y may have a lot to answer for in the future.
How would they know if the current gubment is corrupt, who is going to tell them?
There is no opposition, to act as a check and balance.
There is no free media.
There is no concept of investigative journalism.
JR8, Today, with the social media and other internet sources, they have to self police and I think they do a reasonably good job of it. In fact, they have done so even before the advent of the social media. That is why the population was so afraid, because they were adept and ferreting out information like the stasi were. And they've always jealously protected anything that might resemble a taint on the party. And that has been both within and without the party.
Today the Social Media is more than adequate unless there is a viable opposition. Time will tell if that's going to be the case here. If we had to lose a GRC or a couple of seats to the opposition, I have to admit that it would have been the best that WP did win as with few notable exceptions, the other opposition parties were bereft of anything credible. Some were riding on the backs of their parents only and not on their own credibility.
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strange! Or maybe my eyes are failing me.
