Tag: Singapore

Daily Discourse – Priority to the Local Worker

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This must have been the most pleasing thing that Lim Swee Say Shee Shee has said [see below], even though I have said this back in Oct 24. The only difference is that I am a nobody and I ain’t paid a million. Maybe they ought to fire him and put me on his job for half the pay.

Labour chief urges employers to give priority to local workers
Channel NewsAsia – Friday, December 5

SINGAPORE: It may make more business sense to let go of foreign rank—and—file workers rather than Singaporean workers if retrenchment is unavoidable, said Labour chief Lim Swee Say at the Singapore Tripartism Forum on Thursday.

The secretary—general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said: “We’re talking about rank—and—file workers who are, by and large, replaceable. Our message is — Give priority to the local workers. Not only will you help us minimise unemployment in Singapore, but more importantly, it makes business sense for your company.”

Mr Lim said if Singaporeans are laid off, companies may find it tough to re—employ them when the economy improves because they will be sought after by companies which must fulfil a quota of local talent first, before they can hire foreign ones.

At the same time, foreign workers are necessary for companies to keep costs down and to avoid a scenario whereby local firms choose to relocate overseas.

Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong related a conversation he had with a company head.

“If he were asked to employ only Singaporeans, his costs would have gone up and he would have had no choice but to shift the whole company out of Singapore to China,” said Mr Gan.

A recent survey of employers showed that about 60 per cent of them were freezing headcount and a few planned to retrench workers.

Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), said: “Many companies choose to do the easier one first — freeze hiring. And for those who have left by natural attrition, they don’t replace. The next step is non—renewal of contracts and that will mostly affect foreign workers.”

The labour movement stressed that retrenchment should be the last resort. And despite the current economic gloom, employers and employees should help one another and plan tactics carefully so that Singapore can rebound quickly, once the economic downturn is over.

— CNA/so

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, one can figure out with a rat’s ass the effect of this is going to be negligible!

First of all, foreign companies may use this excuse to just leave Singapore for good, be it to set up at a new place (no matter how unlikely). Alternatively, they just wind down their operations here in Singapore to so-call ‘concentrate on its core competencies’. And this appears to be the fate the buyer has installed for my current employer once the acquisition is complete …

Secondly, PRs don’t count towards to quota which companies need to maintain to keep a foreign worker. So technically, a company can still retrench a Singaporeans and keep the job for a PR, who in essence is nothing more than just a foreigner.

So, Lim Shee Shee can say whatever he wants and it is unlikely that it’s going to have a great effect in helping some of us keep our jobs anyway. And it’s not like the Tali-PAP ever really give a shit whether we have a job anyway. After all, they’ll just blame us for not being qualified enough to get employed.

In simpler words, when there’s a problem it’s always our own fault!

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Trivial:
On June 22, 1941, Soviet archaeologists working in the Samarkand crypt opened the sarcophagus to study the body of Timur (Tamerlane) and found the inscription: “Whoever opens this will be defeated by an enemy more fearsome than I.” Hours later, Hitler invaded Russia. Five weeks after the great Emir was re-interred in 1942, the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad.

Daily Discourse – STARiS

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TODAY [November 8 2008]
– Leong Wee Keat

Can’t hear the name of the station when arriving at the next stop? Wondering whether thedoors will open on the right or left side? Soon, commuters can use a new onboard rail travel information system to find the answers.

SMRT, which operates the North-South and East-West lines, put the system – which includes a new route map and information system – on trial on one train on Friday.

Unlike the existing static route maps in trains, the new map mounted above all train doors will indicate the direction of travel with a series of lights. A red light will show the current station, while a blinking red light will indicate the next station.

A series of green lights will indicate which line the train is travelling on, and the direction of travel. The route map will also have a “door opening” indicator, to show which side of the train the doors will open. Information about terminal and interchange stations will also be shown.

In addition, a fluorescent unit – similar to those seen in 21 trains here – will be mounted on train ceilings, displaying multi-language text synchronised with in-train audio announcements.

The system, called STARIS, was developed by SMRT over two months. It will be installed on all 106 SMRT trains after the trial ends in January. The entire installation would cost the train operator around $12.72 million, and should be completed by 2010.

SMRT deputy president and chief operating officer Yeo Meng Hin said costs would not be passed on to commuters: “It is a service issue and not a fare issue.”

Commuters on the trial train gave their thumbs up. Frenchman Franklin Huber, 26, said: “It helps to tell where you are going. The trains can be quite noisy so we may not hear the announcements.”

Finally! It would have been well done and a pat on the back but what took you fellows so long? After all, the trains have been running since 1987. Thus, SMRT COO Yeo is right to say that this is a service issue and not a fare issue because this should have been implemented for ages.

But there’s something puzzling here. Why is there the need to develop the system when STARiS looked just exactly like what I saw on the Hong Kong MTR trains when I was there in August? Did Singapore once again reinvent the wheel, just like they did with our EzLinkItchyLink card when Hong Kong already have a similar system in place – the Octupus [八達通]?

Furthermore, will this be shared with Comfort Delgro, which is operating the N-E Line and have them pay for part of the development costs so they don’t have to re-re-invent the wheel again? Just why spend money to reinvent a technology that is already available when you can pay the money to obtain it? It makes one wonder what cost analysis was done on this matter to come to the conclusion that developing it is cheaper than obtaining it from overseas.

Either way, I have not much faith in believe that this cost won’t be passed to commuters. After all, if it’s not energy prices, then the justification would be operating costs – which will cover wages, maintenance of the trains (including STARiS), the tracks and replacement of the trains. Just how SMRT justify that it isn’t passed on to the commuters at all will be hard to verify. Above which, even if this was taken from part of the previous record profits SMRT has made to cover this… it simply means the cost has already been passed to commuters.

Oh well…

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Daily Discourse – Singapore Taxi Drivers

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The Taxi Driver is one of the most protected profession in Singapore. And I am not saying this lightly. I am sure you would agree with some of the examples I am giving below as support to my statement.

  1. They complained it is ‘unreasonable’ to expect them to enter the CBD with an empty cab because of the ERP charges, and a CBD surcharge is argued as a form of incentive for them to ply the streets in the CBD.

  2. They complained it is not fair for them to pay ERP charges for commuter alighting at the IBM towers, and commuters end up paying even when they are alighting outside the CBD.

  3. They complained that the diesel costs is too high, a 30cents diesel surcharge is slapped on commuters!

  4. And this is the best part… when we complained that it is difficult for them to get a cab in CBD during peak hours, a peak hour surcharge of 30% is slapped on the commuters – victims of cabbies who refused to pick up street hires – so cabbies can be enticed to enter the CBD.

  5. When we complained that even calling a cab is difficult as a result of the above, call charges during peak hours are also increased! Just why are passengers made to pay for telling cabbies where to get business is beyond me!

It wouldn’t be so bad had any of these sweeteners translate into an improvement of the cab service for commuters. Yet, the problem commuters face remains the same, while these surcharges just continue to mount, and encourages cabbies to remain recalcitrant. How the LTA continue to justify maintaining this unwieldy system that punishes commuters is perhaps only understood by the high level car-driving civil servants serpents of the LTA in their air-conditioned offices – the modern day equivalent of an ivory tower.

It doesn’t freaking matter to taxi drivers that being self-employed, and thus ‘businessmen’ in their own right, these operating charges should part of the operational risks that they should bear, along with traffic fines, congestion and accidents! Frankly, who listens to the entrepreneur who complains about the rising electricity tariffs, or even SingTel raising the fixed line charges by $10? No one is going to give any of these guys a bail out, but here we have the taxi companies acting in concert to pass all of that costs downstream to you and me when it is no fault of our own. No wonder even other businesses now shamelessly pass all the costs to their customers – such as when there is a cost increase in sugar, rice or egg prices!

Thus, it is of no surprise that some cab drivers can afford to wander around the street and ignore passengers flagging frantically for a cab or ignore the long queues in taxi stands. It is also not a surprise to find some cabbies doing side trades as pimps. They can also afford to disappear from the streets until the fares are in their favor, or reject passengers citing a myriad of reasons ranging from having an advanced booking, servicing or changing shift! And if you know which coffee shop to look for them, you can at times listen in to their chats and hear them boast about their earnings. Yet at the meantime they play up to the media just how difficult it is for them to earn a living.

And if you are wondering just why they are so protected… the first reason is the well being of taxi companies are intertwined with the taxi drivers’. If taxi drivers quit, taxi companies will end up with a large fleet of cabs rusting away and they will have a tough time explaining the losses to shareholders. Thus, you will only see taxi companies help their drivers by collaborating to pass the cost to commuters, but never by cutting rental. But still, taxi companies is really not the main reason why taxi drivers are protected.

The most important reason is the taxi driver profession serves as the proverbial carpet where Singapore sweeps its unemployment problem under. A lot of folks in their mid- to late-thirties usually end up as taxi drivers during recessions. Taxi drivers are where a part of Singapore’s unemployment problem is hidden, along with homemakers and students. In short, as long as taxi drivers remained in their trade, they will not show up as unemployed!

I suspect that is the real reason why Singapore taxi drivers are always protected under a jumble of surcharges, giving the recalcitrant ones the loopholes to screw commuters several times over. Frankly, if the LTA is really into a people-centred land transport system, I reiterate again that the correct thing to do will be to raise flag-down charges for cabs substantially, and do away with the insane surcharges – except the airport and midnight charges, of course.


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Glory to our Paralympic Athletes

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Our Paralympic Athletes have done our country proud. Without much fuss over the issue of monetary awards and their nationality, these unsung heroines have won our country 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 brone medals. And that trumped our able-bodied athletes’ pathetic one silver medal.

Here’s the record:

  1. Laurentia Tan: 2 bronze in the equestrian events; and

  2. Yip Pin Xiu: 1 silver and 1 gold 50m swimming freestyle and backstroke respectively.

Also, Yip hold the world record for both the swimming events – 57.04s for 50m freestyle and 57.92s for 50m backstroke respectively.

Let us congratulate these daughters of Singapore for doing us all proud… even prouder than our Summer Olympic team ever could. It certainly showed the world that we Singaporeans are made of sterner stuff and not everyone of us are a bunch of whiners!

One step at a time [一步一步来]

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A discussion on Plurk about this news article took a turn when this comment was made – ‘No use talking about it. You want to fix things then come out with a concrete plan to fix it’

This is the most commonly used comment to stifle criticisms of idiotic policies and I personally loathe this comment. First of all, I am giving my feedback for free when at times it needs to be obtained by spending money to conduct surveys. Next, if we have a bunch of people who calls themselves the top brains of this country and earning $3 million a month, why should anyone even be contributing ideas at all? Will a substantial amount of that pay is given to the person who came up with a better idea? In fact, I recalled Mr. Low Thia Khiang once said something similar to this: ‘You wanna know my concrete plan how to fix it? Just quit and let me show you.’

Then this comment was made: ‘If Tali-PAP ever gets voted out, we will truly really die.’

I tell you the truth. I would buy that if God said so. Otherwise, give me back my choice, and I’ll bear whatever consequences that might come. In fact, let me choose the manner I will die, will ya, and not let the Tali-PAP kill me silently, slowly and steadily. Don’t even think about scaring me with insane extrapolations – like how the economy will shoot itself to hell simply because the opposition takes over because it’s as good as saying I should never leave home as a flower pot will drop on my head and kill me! At the mean time, I am supposed to lock myself in, while there’s a fire outside that cause me to slowly suffocate to death. And that’s not the best part yet… I am even asked to come out with a plan to put out the fire, if I don’t like this insane solution. Come on!!

Enough of my rants… and let me put aside my vehement hatred of the Tali-PAP and look at this situation realistically.

  1. None of the opposition parties are in any position to take over. In other words, stop asking the baby to come up with a plan to fly like Superman, when the baby isn’t even given the chance to walk. And by that I mean, if you don’t even vote – or trust – the opposition parties in to let them manage your own constituency and town council, why the hell are you even asking them for a plan when they are in no condition to, anyway? Is trust not built bit by bit? Would it not be more realistic that during elections, ask the opposition candidates what plan they have to make your constituency better or to run the town? Come on, even the Tali-PAP has downgraded the national election to a town / constituency level by repeatedly blackmailing the electorate with nothing more but estate and lift upgrading on a constituency level, and you expect the oppposition parties to do better?

    In fact, I do not recall that the Tali-PAP ever revealed any concrete national level plans during elections – like raising GST to help the needy, implementing more ERP to ease traffic conditions etc. So why should the opposition even come up with one?!

  2. Most Singaporeans would prefer more accountability – not a change in government gahmen.

    Accountability in the operations of GIC and Temasek Holdings, our CPF funds, and our reserves. In fact, to start with, can the Tali-PAP account for why their well run town councils have millions in sinking funds whereby some of that is used for gambling investments? When did our town councils become profitable entities which derive profits from money we pay to maintain our towns at yet at times the town councils still raise our conservancy charges? Then, can you explain to us why you need to raise GST by a hefty 40% (from 5% to 7%), claiming that there will be a deficit and then making a windfall?

    And when you are done with that, then tell us what drives and who makes the decisions behind the investments made by GIC and Temasek Holdings. How is it that our CPF is paying that meagre amount of interest, and during last year, not even good enough to cover inflation? How much is our national reserves? And in what form are they held? U.S. Treasury bonds? Assets?

In short, cut that bullshit about the opposition being not credible and them having no plans to take over. Who are you to define for me – if not the people – what the opposition’s role should be?

I am merely asking a watchdog with more bite. After all, the MAS requires that banks be audited by an external auditor regularly, even conduct audits on their own to ensure that the banks don’t fxxk up again like SocGen and Barings and also be accountable to the public… then who is there to conduct these audits of the GIC and Temasek Holdings, which manage the fortune of our nation and make sure that this gahmen is accountable?

Let’s not even start talking about having an opposition that could seize power yet, until we can agree on this! One step at a time alright?

Let me dedicate this Mandarin Xinyao [新谣] – 一步一步来 (One step at a time) – to my fellow Singaporeans. Let us take things one step at a time, and ignore that usual bullshit of demanding the opposition come up with a plan to ‘take over’ when they obviously can’t.

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