mbeza wrote:Anyone that has traveled to other countries will not be surprised by the reaction of singaporeans to foreing talent. some of them hate the word foreign talent - well, the truth is it is foreign talent. there is clearly not enough local talent.
Singaporeans don't understand that without foreign talent they would be as backward as some of their neighbours. The Singapore Govt is the smartest I know, but the citizens are not nearly as smart to get what the government is doing. This country relies purely on foreign trade and without foreign companies here, this is a poor country. The only developed sector here is the public sector - the govt.
So wake up people.
If you are comparing Singapore to developing countries around Singapore or any developing country, sure Singapore fares well except Singaporeans are not paying the lower standard of living like in those places; but are receiving stagnated wages. This is exactly what the govt have been telling people,the thing is what's the point of comparing to those who are worst off. I tend to believe most Singaporeans want to compete against to those on par with you or better than you, after all that's how the country can improve!
No doubt Singapore has benefitted from foreign companies and the foreign professionals these industries attract but the recent influx of foreigners,with no regards to skill levels, has major impact on the social and economic issues. Even a big immigrant country like USA brings in 65K new foreign professional each year; but Singapore took in 150K (both professional and non-professionals) each year in last few years, obviously that generates discontent among locals, wouldn't it?
In general, Singaporeans welcome managerial/professionals but not so much for the low skilled workers as the lower-skilled not only compete for low paying jobs but also resources in the HDB estates. On the other hand, the liberal policies that allow new PRs to get HDB apartments (and remember public housing in Singapore has no income restrictions as compared to say the US) has caused skyrocketed real estate price, as a result of well-to-do PRs buying both private apt and holding HDB flat. It also created shortage of affordable HDB housing for the younger generation. So this is double wammies for the locals. So most would agree that the immigration policies need to be looked at, should be more selective as to who they want in the country?