Mr Tan, how did we arrive when govt has to beg that citizens are hired first?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

What stood out for me with regards to the Fair Consideration Framework, announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on 23 September, were these two lines in the ministry’s press release, attributed to Mr Tan Chuan Jin:

“The framework is not about ‘Hire Singaporeans First, or Hire Singaporeans Only’. What the government is doing is to help them get a fair opportunity.”

The same minister had said, in May, that like TAFEP, he preferred to use the ”moral suasion approach to tackle the issue of discrimination at the workplace.”

Mr Tan “was quick to add that for now, the Government prefers to stick to its approach of persuading companies to change. It “is working for us”, he said, as the root cause of discrimination in Singapore is employers’ mindsets.”

His latest about-turn seems to imply that the “moral suasion” route in fact is not working, but at the same time, he is reluctant to introduce legislation to protect Singaporean workers – and is only willing to pussyfoot around the matter by introducing instead a “framework”. One which he at the same time has to reiterate is not about “hire Singaporeans first”.

There are several things about the above two latest sentences in the MOM statement which are disturbing.

One, that the minister needed to clarify that the framework is not about hiring Singaporeans first. For all intent and purposes, the framework is indeed about hiring Singaporeans first, in fact. How else could it be? If it were not, then why even bother to go through this whole exercise?

Or is the minister saying that all he wants employers and businesses to do is for them to just “consider” Singaporeans first only? Like, you know, all you need do is to think this in your mind, the 2 weeks advert on the MOM Jobs Bank notwithstanding.



And two, if that were so, it is a sad state of affairs that we have come to, as indeed we have, that our Government has to plead/beg/implore/urge (choose any word) employers to consider Singaporeans first. How did we end up this way?

Three, the fact that the minister had to “clarify” so promptly (in the very same statement) that the framework “is not about ‘Hire Singaporeans First’”, shows that he is almost apologetic for having to come up with such a framework. And apparently he is also quick to distance himself from any such suggestion – that the framework is about hiring Singaporeans first.

Apparently, he feels there is something wrong with such a suggestion.

Isn’t it a bit strange that a minister would shy away from saying, “Yes, please hire Singaporeans first”? That he in fact had to disavow such a suggestion when the framework is in fact about hiring Singaporeans first?

How did we end up in such a state – where citizens have to bend at the knee to even be considered for a job?

There are, of course, a few culprits – the most important one being the Government’s open-door immigration and foreign labour policies the last 10 to 15 years, particularly the last 5 years or so. Many have said much about this already.

There is another culprit which is just as responsible for this woeful state we find ourselves in – and this is the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC).....

http://andrewlohhp.wordpress.com/201...a-govt-pleads/


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