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Suddenly, throughout the week, the mainstream (controlled) “media” have been inundated with government press releases and pronouncements about the hiring of foreigners in Singapore. They amount to what appears to be a concerted attempt to manipulate public discussions on the subject. But they may be inadvertently revealing more than they should about some internal contradictions in the government.
The Ministry of Manpower came out brandishing a glittering sword on behalf of Singapore’s beleaguered workers. Starting September 1, companies that apply for new job passes for foreign professionals will have to pay them a fixed monthly salary of at least $ 4,500, up from $ 3,900 today.
The bar will be set higher for those in the financial services sector: Beginning December 1, new EP holders will need to receive at least $ 5,000, MOM said. This is the first time you have specified a higher qualifying salary for a certain industry.
Qualifying salaries for experienced applicants in their 40s will also be increased to remain around double the minimum wage for younger applicants.
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The new criteria, which mark the biggest adjustment for EPs in the last decade, will go into effect on May 1 next year for EP renewals, The Straits Times reported.
When you start to wonder why the financial industry has excelled, wonder no more. The elephant in the room are, of course, foreigners working in our banks. Just a week ago, Temasek became very nervous about reports and accusations that he has been inundated with foreign personnel and issued a strong defense of his policy of having a diverse workforce. He appealed to Singaporeans to be fair and so on. And it described as “racist”, “false” and “divisive” Facebook posts targeting its Indian employees, respecting its hiring policies and asking for more courtesy on social media.
DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank have also come under similar criticism on social media, in what observers said are “real tensions between groups” that need to be resolved.
The other keeper of one of our three sovereign wealth fund sources (Singaporean and NOT the ruling party), the Monetary Authority of Singapore, also criticized the spreading of falsehoods about financial institutions’ hiring practices. He said it was useless and unfair to foreigners working and contributing to Singapore.
“We listen to the views and concerns of Singaporeans who have spoken out on the issue of local representation in the financial sector,” the central bank and financial regulator said.
“But the spread of falsehoods by some people is useless for an informed discussion on these topics; Not to mention that it is unfair to the financial institutions concerned, as well as the foreigners who work here and contribute to Singapore. “
MAS said the outlook is generally positive for Singaporeans. Singaporeans hold seven out of 10 jobs in the financial services sector.
Very cleverly, the government has been maneuvering the debate over unfair policies that have placed Singaporeans at a growing disadvantage in their own country – one that it says Singaporeans should avoid. He sidetracks and avoids mainstream topics to talk about things almost irrelevant to the national debate now raging online, thousands of years away from the true professional and shameful purveyors of falsehoods, also known as mainstream “media.”
The general mantra that is chanted seems to be: “Don’t be racist.”
The question is: How does it become a racist comment to express the perception that so many citizens of a particular foreign country are “locking in” certain businesses? It is a legitimate right of Singaporeans to draw the attention of the authorities to this issue, unless the authorities prefer to monitor everything themselves and simply expect citizens to suffer in silence.
The very fact that all the companies that appear to be the target of online publications have come up with figures showing that foreigners do not dominate companies is a good thing.
In fact, MOM itself has said that it has included 47 more companies on its Fair Consideration Framework watchlist presented in 2016 to identify employers suspected of having “discriminatory hiring practices”.
Of the 47 companies, 30 belong to the financial services and professional services sectors.
Several of these employers have an exceptionally high proportion of foreign PMETs compared to their industry peers.
In a wealth management company here, almost three-quarters of its PMETs are of the same nationality. The scenario is similar in another company in the financial services sector, a bank, where almost two-thirds of its PMETs are of the same nationality.
Everything seems to be well orchestrated in an effort to appear to be listening to everyone, even if that means saying different things to different people. Either that, or we are now witnessing that various arms of a government are not entirely in agreement with each other.
A ministry under fire takes the correct nationalist line to protect Singaporeans. At the same time, at least two of the three organizations in charge of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds are saying in the face of true blues: We are not in your debt.
MOM is right. Well done. Temasek and MAS can go flying their foreign kites elsewhere.
Tan Bah Bah, Consulting Editor for TheIndependent.Sg, is a former lead writer for The Straits Times. He was also editor-in-chief of a local magazine publisher.
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