People's Power Party Labour Day Message

People's Power Party Labour Day Message

First and foremost, our deepest condolences to the family of Pte Dave Lee Han Xuan who had died of heat injury. PPP takes a serious view on such death of our NS men as they are all underpaid service men without proper insurance coverage by their direct employer, SAF.


We have heard of constant boast of the SAF on how advance their medical service is, especially in dealing with common problem of heat stroke among our soldiers, but yet, we are still losing a good soldier like Pte Dave Lee. Such Death is really one too many and it shouldn't happen in the first place if proper protocols are observed. We urge the authorities to hold an independent inquiry into this incident with external audit on the processes and protocols.

Work place safety seems to be neglected in many other places as well, including GLCs. The recent case of technician bringing PSA to court for exposing him to cancer causing substance asbestos resulting him to develop lung cancer is one fine example. We would not speculate how the court will make their judgement on this case but the fact that PSA had brought its defence based on technicality (of 15 years legal claim time frame) instead of admitting its management neglect and make good of its mistake, is a glaring display of irresponsible corporate culture and management. We condemn such irresponsible management culture which disregard work safety practice that put our workers at great health risk. It is totally unacceptable for a Government Linked Company to attempt brushing its corporate responsibility towards its workers' health safety aside via mere legal technicality.

For all workers in Singapore, we only want to earn our money in a safe environment and return to our home safely to enjoy the fruits of our labour. On top of that, we want to protect the value of the money we had earned but it seems that PAP government has been creaming off our hard earn money through increasing prices of electricity, water tariff, gas, etc. Inflation is the number one enemy to workers and inflating prices on basic necessities is the most damaging to our workers.

To add salt to injury, PAP government has announced that they will be increasing GST from 7% to 9% in the near future! We do not see the need for PAP government to increase GST when it continues to enjoy hefty surplus throughout the years. We do not even see the need for PAP to have GST at all when they are creaming off the returns of our CPF money which was invested in the two Sovereign Wealth Funds; they reportedly earn huge returns more than 4% but we are only given 2.5% to 4% for our CPF savings!

PPP would also urge financial prudence to many Singaporeans who are pouring huge money into their HDB purchases. Whenever there are reports of record high transactions of HDB flats in the resale market, we are very worried. Contrary to what PAP has been propagating throughout the decades, HDB is largely a consumption item rather than an "investment nest" which will help you to fund your retirement. The mis-selling of Asset Enhancement Scheme is politically motivated but financially misleading to all Singaporeans. Any increase in HDB price should NOT be celebrated but be feared as INFLATION on our consumption. The truth is, you will be paying more "property tax" on your HDB if the prices in the resale market continued to increase! But ultimately, our HDB flats will be ZERO in value when its lease expired and there will be little chance of SERS.

We would urge Singaporeans not to be misled by PAP's propaganda into treating your only home as some "great investment" for retirement. Paying huge amount of money, up to million dollars will only increase the cost of your consumption of housing and will not make you rich at all.

While PAP had always boasted about how well our GDP has grown, we would urge all Singaporeans to do a reality check of your salary increase in comparison with GDP growth rates. If there is a shortfall, it would mean that all these talks of good economic growth are quite meaningless.

Last but not least, we wish all Singaporeans a Happy Labour Day.

People's Power Party Singapore

TOTD: May Day Lunch Box Economics

Thought of the Day - Lunch Box Economics

The Prime Minister's Stealing Advice

It is shocking to hear our Prime Minister trying to lecture our workers on how we should “steal other people's lunch boxes” in this year May Day celebration.

There are a few issues here:

1) To many Singaporeans who have lost their jobs to some cheap foreign substitutes, all thanks to PAP’s FT policy which encourages and allows millions of foreign labour to come to Singapore and work under the guise of job creation for Singaporeans, this is a totally ironic statement that needs cynical mocking! PAP government is the one who helps Foreigners to “Steal” our lunch boxes right at our doorstep and yet the PM has the cheek to tell us go and steal othet people's lunch boxes? That's basically shameless!

2) PAP government has basically stolen part of our workers’ lunch boxes recently, practically reducing the size of our lunch boxes by increasing Water Fee by 30%, Electricity tarriff, cooking gas and we expect more to come。。。 maybe GST or public transport fares. Can PAP stop stealing our luncheon meat from our lunch boxes?

3) In all international free trade agreement negotiation, all countries will try very hard to protect their own citizens’ lunch boxes but only PAP would sell our workers out by agreeing UNLIMITED foreign labour to come to this tiny red dot to steal Singaporeans’ lunch boxes! Oh while talking about this, I wonder how PAP and PM are going to negotiate more favorable FTA terms when other countries will now be extremely wary about PAP‘s intention of stealing their citizens’ jobs!?

4) Most probably our PM has run out of ideas in ensuring our own citizens can have meaningful well paying jobs insteas of facing rising unemployment rate. Lim Swee Say could actually say that jobs are not lacking but it is Singaporeans who do not have the skils! Hey, Singapore is a First World Country with best universities, tertiary institutions and education system in this part of the world! Many people from surrounding third world developing countries yearn to study in our schools! How could our education system unable to provide the necessary knowledge and skills for Singaporeans to get decent paying jobs while foreigners from third world countries could have those skills instead? He is basically insulting our intelligence!

5) The economic theory of Free Trade and Globalization isn't based n stealing other people's lunch boxes. If that is the case, no country would want to open up trade. The fundamental Free Trade is not based on competitive advantage but rather comparative advantage. It strives to provide win win situation instead of cannibalism if lunch boxes from others. Maybe our PM and the whole cabinet of million dollar ministers should go back to school learn basic economics fundamental





The Incoherent Excuses

First, it was Minister Lim Swee Say who said there is no lack of jobs in Singapore but it is Singaporeans "lack of skills" to take up these jobs.

Then we have Minister Ong Ye Kang who said Singapore capped the number of Singaporeans studying in local universities at 30%!

Now, it seems that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing! If PAP is to cap the number of Singaporeans from obtaining the highest learning of knowledge and skills at 30%, no wonder we are lack of "skills" while we have to import so many Degree Holders (some with dubious certificates) from Third World Countries!

Job Reality on the Ground

We seemingly have a bunch of ministers who have totally lost touch of the ground. On one hand the Ministers think by capping the number of Singaporeans going to local Universities could prevent more Singaporeans from being unemployed graduates, thinking that by having more poly and ITE graduates with skills training, will make them more employable while the other Minister thinks that there are jobs but Singaporeans lack the skills...

If 70% of Singaporeans are already sent to poly and ITE, why are Singaporeans still lacking of skills?

The truth is, everyone who have education in Singapore should have acquired a certain skill sets and definitely so for university graduates.

The truth is, most of the time Singaporeans without a university degree will be scorned and salaries suppressed because employers will say "at this salary of xxx I can employ a FT with degree or even a master degree blah blah blah"....All thanks to PAP's extremely lax FT policy!

The Major Irony

Ironic... while PAP keeps talking about continuous Life long learning and upgrading, but in the end they want to restrict the number of people going to local Universities at 30%!

And PAP always lament Singapore does not have even "Talents" thus needs Foreign Talents from Third World countries but now we know it is PAP itself which deliberately restricts Singaporeans from grooming into Talents by depriving them a place in Universities via setting this limited quota!

Do you see the True Color of PAP yet?

Goh Meng Seng

TOTD: The Parasites of Elitist Cronism

Thought of the Day - The Parasites of Elitist Cronism

GLCs or Government Linked companies used to be the PRIDE of Singaporeans where many Singaporeans would like to work for them. We always thought that being "government linked", they are big and supposed to protect Singapore's and Singaporeans' interests, including those Singaporeans who work for them. And indeed, in the past, these GLCs set the high standards of employment, in terms of pay as well as benefits, in Singapore's labour market.

But now, we suddenly find more and more of these GLCs are actually in suspect of breaching the labour law or good HR and employment practices. Some even bully their lowly educated employees to take advantage of them, by deducting their over time hours consistently without giving any good reasons and making them working excessive overtime hours, much more than the 73 hours over time per month allowed by labour law.

Worse still, these entities play with figures manipulated the pay structure in their employment contract as contrast to their advertised salary. They set extremely low basic pay so that whatever overtime pay you claim would be based on a low pay structure. Furthermore, they will set unreasonable conditions to milk the employees, basically inhumane to take away the "monthly allowance" if the employees take Medical leave or annual leave in the month which were legitimately protected as entitlement under the labour law!

Basically such employment terms are MODERN SLAVERY to the max and it is really unimaginable that all these bad practices are actually coming from our once glorious GLCs!

And now, we have another GLC trying to disguise massive retrenchment as some "sacking of under performers" in the bid to avoid paying retrenchment compensation!

What is wrong with all these GLCs? Well, to me, this is the inevitable result of a government that runs on Ultra-capitalism mindset. The top management will only care about their own fat pay cheque and to meet all KPI (Key Performance Indicators) so that they could get more salary increment to their million dollar pay as well as asking for bigger "performance bonus". But these KPI or "performance" don't really add value to the company nor the economy as a whole. These are all based on exploitative unethical enslaving employment practices rather than real value add to the company.

This is the reality of PAP's entrenched rule of over 50 years. They have lost sight of their moral compass in running the country after all these years and ended up with a bunch of elitist cronies who are turning into parasites of the whole system. Instead of adding real value to the companies, people and country as a whole, they are only interested in feeding on the blood and sweat of the people.

When they screw up a GLC and cannot turn it around, they would just do lelong sale of valuable assets to show unreal "profitability and value", cut cost by cutting jobs to continue justify their big fat pay and eventually sell off the whole company to foreign ownership just to wash off their hands of the inconvenient truth of their failure! Well, never mind if that is an National iconic company!

This is the sad state of affairs in Singaporeans, run by a group of unethical, heartless and soul-less, undeserving and overpaid elitist cronies groomed by PAP's rule!


Goh Meng Seng

The Setup of Labour Task Force

After our initial effort in exposing the discriminatory hiring practice of Certis Cisco in its recruitment effort of Taiwanese to become Auxiliary Police officers in Singapore, Certis Cisco has tried to clarify that it is "paying the same" or "even more" to local Singaporeans.


We are dissatisfied with Certis Cisco's statement because apparently, it did not put up the full picture of its hiring policy in its public statement and it did not include the Free Lodging which it is providing to the Taiwanese employees. In addition, what Certis Cisco had said, contradicted the hiring advertisement and reports posted in Taiwanese media. According to the recruitment advertisement, it has specifically said that the BASIC salary is NT60,000 which amounts to SGD$2,700 instead of the SGD$2,575 which Certis Cisco has claimed. The recruitment advertisement has also said that there will be additional Over Time pay for the Taiwanese Auxiliary Police Officers.

However, we have cross-checked with various sources. For local Singapore Auxiliary Police Officers, they are receiving extremely low "BASIC PAY" while the $2575 as stated by Certis Cisco is actually salary ALREADY included Over Time pay and "Allowances". We were also told that no CPF was paid for these "allowances". These allowances are also subjected to stringent conditions that the Auxiliary Police should not take any Medical Leave during the month else the bonus will not be given to them.

From our various sources, we did not get any information of the "$10,000 bonus" given upon at the end of the contract. We would like to urge current Auxiliary Police Officers to come forward and verify on whether they have received this $10,000 bonus before or is it subjected to some ridiculously stringent terms and conditions.

On top of that, there are more complains of the couple of companies which employ Auxiliary Police Officers by former as well as current employees of their Human Resource policies which we think may possibly contravene our Singapore Labour Law.

PPP is extremely concerned about all these labour issues arising in the hiring and Human Resource management practices. In view of the seriousness of the various issues raised by the public over these companies' hiring practices, PPP has decided to set up a small Labour Task Force to investigate and look into the various labour issues arising from the hiring of Auxiliary Police Officers.

The Task Force will be led by our Organizing Secretary Mr Augustine Lee Zixu. This Task Force will investigate thoroughly the truth of the matters with regards to the hiring practices of these few big security companies which manage and supply Auxiliary Police Officers. It will embark on a fact finding mission and would make formal complains if there is any lapse or breach of the Labour Law by these big security firms.
We hope that former and current Auxiliary Police Officers who have suffered any unfair treatment by their employers would contact us through Private Message, to provide or furnish us with details of their employment terms and conditions as well as their working conditions. We will seek professional Human Resource advice to evaluate and make assessment on the situation. All identities of informers will be kept private and confidential unless they are ready to lodge formal complains.

These leaders of the security industry should lead by example as a role model to implement good HR management system for all other smaller security firms to look up to.

We empathize with the plight of the employees in the security industry and we just want to make sure that none would be exploited in any way by their employers.

Goh Meng Seng
Secretary General
People's Power Party

Why Singapore PM Lee is so concerned about TPP?

I happened to read about an article on TPP posted on TOC (The Online Citizen) website
but I found it has misrepresented some of the things on TPP. I have written the following in response on my Facebook:

There are some erroneous or inaccuracies written in this TOC article. Apparently, it is not written by someone who is well verse in Economics.

First of all, TPP is not just about Trade. It is about Free Market Globalization. i.e. Besides the free trade of goods and services, it also includes free mobility of capital as well as labour.

The reason of "Protectionism" vs such Free Market Globalization is not only because it protects companies and their products, but it also protects its wages for the labour as well as certain sovereignty issues in prevention of critical assets of a country being acquired by foreign countries.

While the article is right to say that most of the time, it is the more well off countries which will resist such agreements, but there are also costs to poorer countries. For example, there is "Economic Colonization"; i.e. all critical resources would be exploited or plundered by the richer countries.

As for wages, it is not a guarantee that workers will benefit from TPP just because companies can sell to a larger market or consumer base. In fact, more likely so, workers will be exploited by wage suppression as they could be replaced by a larger and cheaper source of workers among the countries. i.e. supply of workers suddenly increased many thousand folds. This is actually what is happening right now in Singapore.

Moreover, bigger companies benefit the most as compared to the local companies. All these will result in great wealth and income disparity. i.e. Big companies shareholders will be richer while workers suffered lower wages.

There is also an issue of structural immobility. In Keynesian Economics concept, Free market is good as the invisible hands will solve everything. But the truth is, this doesn't take into considerations of many things. Product life cycle is becoming shorter and thus, we see a lot of structural displacement of skilled workers who will suddenly find themselves irrelevant. Talking about re-training and restructuring is easy but execution will be difficult.

The only reason why Singapore needs TPP badly is due to the fact that it is a small open economy without much agricultural sector. Not even much organic industrial sector to start with. We all depend on MNCs and GLCs. MNCs needs mobility of funds. GLCs and our sovereign funds like Temasek and GIC, needed ease of mobility of capital to effect greater returns with less cost in capital investment. These are the main REAL benefits for Singapore.

Small and Medium companies may benefit from bigger market but the truth is, as stated in the article itself, we already have quite a lot of FTAs with most of the individual countries listed in TPP!

But the cost to us, Singaporeans, in return for GIC, Temasek and all those big GLCs to have more investment opportunities, is continued suppression of our wages. Income and wealth disparity will continue to be widen and only those ruling elites and their cronies in these GLCs will earn higher exorbitant bonuses and salaries.

On top of that, as the article says, we will face HIGHER cost of medicines with the elimination of generic drugs.

BTW, when Japan can sell more cars to USA, it doesn't need to use our port facilities. That's utterly wrong to say that. They could well ship direct to US across the pacific. (For anyone who want to doubt me on this point, please refer to this website on a freight forwarding shipping company specialized in car-cargo transhipment)

In short, the reason why our PM Lee is so concerned about TPP is not about Singaporeans'  well being; in fact, TPP will make most Singaporeans worse off, with bigger wage suppression from a larger pool of foreign labour from the Third and First World countries. Singaporeans will face higher healthcare cost and we will face a deepening of income and wealth disparity in Singapore.

The only reason why PAP wanted TPP so badly is because TPP could enhance its GLCs, Temasek Holdings and GIC investment opportunities overseas. We have seen this in CECA which we have signed with India in which we promised easy access and migration for Indians to come to Singapore and work, in return for investment opportunities in Indian's financial industry and such.

This will only help to enhance the ever rising salaries and bonuses of the top management of these entities, the elite cronies of PAP.

These are the crux of the matter, not so much about "free trade" alone, lest about jobs creation for Singaporeans.

Goh Meng Seng

Ministry of Manpower Statistics lacks Credibility

Someone alerted me to the Ministry of Manpower's Statistics on Employment recently and I took a good look at it. The first doubt I have in mind is related to the "differentials". 

Let me explain. Increment in Jobs data for "Local"  may be subjected to a few factors which was explained by MOM in this news article at Straits Time.

MOM clarified that the increase mentioned by Dr Chee is not the total number of new jobs taken up by locals last year. The increase is actually the difference between the total number of locals taking up and leaving jobs, for example due to retirement. This difference - the "net" number of new jobs taken by locals - was 700 last year.

Locals here is defined as Singapore citizens + Permanent Residents. What this means could be expressed in the following simple equation:

Increment in Jobs for Locals = Increase in Citizen workforce (ICW) + Increase in PR workforce (IPRW) - Death (D) - Retirement of older workers (ROW) - "those left workforce but not looking for new jobs" (LW) - Retrenched (R)

Where the variables are affected by:

ICW     - Directly influenced by those born 20 years ago

IPRW  - Directly due to New Permanent Residents issued (Net growth of PR+New Citizens)

ROW  - Directly influenced by those born 55 years ago

LW     - Reflected in Long Term Resident Unemployment

R       - Reflected in changes in Unemployment figures

For those who are well trained in statistics would just take MOM's explanation just as it is. BUT, if you want to really understand the relevance of the whole statistics, you will have to look at each and every component. I shall leave out Death (D) but examine the others. 

Most importantly, one way to observe whether such statistics are relevant or "good data sets" or not, we will have to examine the "differentials" by looking at the comparisons between past and forward data, if any. 

I shall compare the data between 2015 vs 2014. 

Please refer to the following data set which is from MOM website:

2015 is a "abnormal" whereby there is a DRASTIC drop of the increment of jobs for LOCALS, from 96,000 to 700, as compared to a slight drop of increment of jobs for Foreign Labour, from 34,000 to 31,600! 

Such imbalanced drop in the increment of jobs for Locals vs Foreign is pretty alarming but MOM tried to explain it away by using the logic that there was more retirement of older workers than new entrants to the workforce due to "aging population". 

However, aging population is NOT a new phenomenon. Every year, there will be people retiring from the workforce while there will be new entrants. The differentials or "net effect" of this is reflected by the net difference between the two. 

However, such differential cannot varies in such a wide variance! How to examine or determine such variance?

 

Now, before we look at the variance, we shall look at the unemployment rate. According to MOM's statistics, the Resident (equivalent to Locals) unemployment rate is pretty stable for the past few years. Specifically for 2014 and 2015, there is only a slight increase of 700 unemployed which constitute an insignificant 0.1% to the overall unemployment rate.   

 

Thus what does this say? The differential must be due solely to difference in new entrants vs retired workforce.

New Entrants to workforce comes from two sources. One, increase in PRs and two, due to natural births happening twenty over years ago.

For simplicity, we compare the numbers born in 1960 (the earliest recorded data on birth) vs 1994 ( taking 21 years old). The result is 61775-49554= 12221 for birth differential. What does this mean? It means that we have a deficit of about 12,000 jobs if we depended on our natural growth of workforce alone. i.e. a negative growth of jobs for Locals of 12K if there are no supplement of PRs.

Please also note that for the period of 1990 to 1995, the total birth were pretty constant without much variation. 

However, what is the supplement from PRs and New Citizens? 

The following is the old chart I have used before on this blog. We must note that we must use data from this chart by minus 1 year basis in order to reflect on 2015 growth of local JOBS. i.e. for 2015 increment of jobs due to increase of PRs, we should look at 2014 new PR granted by ICA. 

Consistently for the past few years, the increase in PRs is pretty constant, along with New citizens. Please note that we should not include the data on New Citizens because these new citizens are from the original PR stock. The net effect should only be reflected by the total increase of PRs. 

The consistent potential maximum contribution of increase in PR + New Citizens is less than 30k.  

What do all these imply? It actually means that the new entrants for the past few years should be pretty CONSTANT.

Even if we take the variation of retirement of old workforce (ROW) into consideration, the variance should not exceed 5,000!

So how could MOM statistics come up with such a statistics with such a wide variation while maintaining a pretty constant unemployment rate?


From the 12K deficits of jobs, we add 30K impact of increase in PRs, we will get a net effect of about 18K of increase in jobs for Locals! Do a plus minus 5K or even 10K for the variation due to birth rate variance in the 1950s or 1960s, at most we should get about 28K of new jobs! How could we ever get such a huge 96K increase in jobs in 2014 for locals?

Does it mean that those previously out of job market aka in long term unemployment have re-entered the job market? No. The Resident (or Local) Long Term Unemployment numbers are pretty constant for the past few years as well! (No drastic decrease).

Thus, to me, the sum doesn't add up.

There are two question marks here. If we assume normal distribution (a technical statistical assumption), it is totally IMPOSSIBLE to have 96K increment of jobs in 2014 (which equivalent to about more than 100K new jobs created) or even 37,900 increment of jobs for Locals in 2011 IF we do not have at least 100K of new PRs in 2014 or 50K of new PRs for 2011!

And it is impossible to have such a minimal increase of unemployed Locals if there are nearly 30K of new PRs in 2014 which presumably will get into the workforce. There should be at least 15K of increment of jobs, not 700!

This is why I conclude that MOM's statistics doesn't really make any sense nor tally to differential between births in different time frame and the increase in PRs. Thus, MOM's statistics lack Credibility and totally nonsense in my view. Especially for period from 2010 to 2014 whereby New PR issued was curbed at constant about 29K but they still report such a high number such as 96K for increment of jobs!

It is either ICA's statistics is erroneous or MOM's statistics is totally rubbish. There is no other way around it.

In short, when Birth rates are pretty constant in the short period of 5 years from 1990 to 1994 as well as 1960 to 1965, new PRs numbers for last few years are pretty stable, unemployment numbers stable, long term unemployment stable etc but only increment of jobs for Locals fluctuates with WIDE variance, there MUST BE something wrong with the statistics. Such inconsistency is a very telling sign of rubbish statistics in the making.

Goh Meng Seng


 

Minimum Wage - Including Prisoner Labour

Imagine that they will be made to think there is no value in good hard work because people will look down on them, make them slaves. So they would rather go back to gangs again or bad old ways when they are released.

If the prisoners are rewarded with a decent minimum wage, it will make them realize that they can also survive if they are willing to work hard. That is positive reform message to them.

Thus, in my view, to establish a Minimum wage even for the prisoners, is an important move towards the Yellow Ribbon Movement.

Goh Meng Seng

What is Trans Pacific Partnership all about?

PAP government has signed the TPP agreement on 4 Feb 2016 WITHOUT any Public Consultation NOR public debates at all.

There is not even parliamentary debate over this important issue and our only labour union NTUC has been acting Deaf, Blind, Mute and Dumb - Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Say no Evil and Think no Evil!

To understand the flaws of TPP, you can lick on the following:

TPP in 10 cards

I shall extract out two parts of which I am deadly concerned about:

The following information is on how TPP could compromise our sovereignty, in effect, selling away our sovereignty to huge MNCs which will dictate on what our laws can and cannot be.

What's ISDS, and why is Elizabeth Warren so upset about it?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is one of the TPP's most prominent critics, and her campaign against the deal has focused on an otherwise obscure provision called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The goal — to mediate disputes between a government and foreign investors — might sound innocuous. But Warren warns that ISDS poses a threat to American sovereignty and could inhibit robust regulation of industries such as banking.

ISDS rules are designed to address a real problem. Suppose an investor from one country spends money building a factory in another country. Then a new government comes to power there and nationalizes the factory. That's unfair to the investor, and in the long run it's likely to be bad for the country with the factory as well. ISDS is an arbitration process that uses trade sanctions to pressure governments to compensate investors whose property is seized.

Obviously, the United States has a robust legal system that doesn't allow this kind of naked expropriation. Nevertheless, the TPP is expected to allow foreign investors to make ISDS complaints against the United States. And Warren argues that could "tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations" in a way that would "undermine US sovereignty."

TPP opponents worry that foreign companies could argue that the way America regulates banks, the minimum wage, or the environment constitutes an unjust taking of their property. If an ISDS panel agrees, the United States could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages.

There are two aspects of ISDS that have raised particular concern. One is the fact that, as with most trade dispute settlement panels, the process is overseen by arbitrators rather than independent judges. Warren worries these arbitrators, who may also represent corporate clients in other cases, will cause panels to be biased toward big companies.

Second, while the ordinary WTO dispute settlement process only allows complaints by governments, ISDS allows any foreign investor to complain. Critics say that removes an important check on misuse of the dispute settlement process.

Defenders of ISDS say Warren's concerns are overblown. The White House notes that there are about 3,000 trade deals around the world with ISDS provisions, including about 50 that involve the United States. According to the Obama administration, the US has only faced 13 ISDS cases under those treaties, and has never lost a case. The White House also says the ISDS provisions in the TPP will have stronger safeguards against abuse than those in previous treaties.

And it's important to note that ISDS can't actually force countries to change their laws or regulations. The most an ISDS panel can do is impose a financial penalty.

The next part deals with drug patents and how TPP will compromise our Healthcare Cost by giving extensive power to huge Pharmaceutical Companies.

The problem with drug patents in TPP is much more devilish than I initially thought.

It prevented Generic drugs from being available as there are clauses that set the barriers to it, even AFTER the patent expires.

For biologics, it applies the barriers HIGHER and for other drugs, it allows the original patent holders to just TWEAK the formula and thus, extending the patent longer.... ever green extension of patents forever!

Why are some public health groups opposing the TPP?

Public health groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the AIDS research group amfAR have warned that the TPP could delay the introduction of generic drugs, boosting drug prices and ultimately costing lives. Here's how that could happen.

Laws in the US and around the world grant patents and other legal privileges to the first company to invent a new drug — a reward to encourage research and development. After these legal protections expire, other companies can make cheap generic versions of the drugs.

Of course, big pharmaceutical companies hate this competition. So they've lobbied for the TPP to include rules delaying the introduction of generic drugs into the market.

For example, one proposal would expand the types of inventions that are eligible for patent protection to include modifications of existing drugs. Critics say this would make it easier for drug companies to engage in "evergreening," a process where drug companies make minor modifications to their products in order to extend the effective length of patent protection.

The TPP requires governments to extend the term of patent protection if the patent office processes a patent application too slowly, or if regulators delay approval of a pharmaceutical patent.

Another provision concerns complex drugs called biologics. Before these drugs can be introduced to the market, the Food and Drug administration requires drugmakers to prove they are safe and effective. Often, data from one drug's clinical trials is useful to other companies wanting to introduce competing, biologically similar drugs. But a controversial US law requires competing drug manufacturers to wait 12 years before they can use this data in their own applications. That makes it harder for generic drugmakers to get into the market, raising prices.

The Obama administration reportedly pushed for language requiring that all countries adopt a similar 12-year requirement. That was surprising because Obama's own 2016 budget suggested reducing the exclusivity period to seven years. Ultimately, US negotiators didn't get what they wanted; the final text of the TPP requires countries to provide five to eight years of data exclusivity for biologic drugs.

In short, the TPP can be expected to reduce competition and therefore raise the prices of drugs in some TPP countries. The deal probably won't have much effect in the US, where biologics already receive 12 years of protection and the law is relatively friendly to evergreen patents, but it will have a bigger impact in other TPP countries.

Singaporeans have to get themselves more involved and concerned about this implementation of TPP as there is absolutely NO ESCAPE Clause once it is signed and ratified by parliament.

PAP government did not put up the full text for public information and scrutiny, most probably for fear of massive objections.

If you want to know the exact text of TPP which Singapore is one of the signatory countries, you may not find the details in any Singapore portal. Countries who signed this pact are supposed to put up information for public debates so to get consensus and parliamentary ratification but PAP didn't even want to talk about it, lest hold any public debate or consultation.

You could find the exact text and details from New Zealand government website. Only more responsible government will be transparent and open about their dealings, instead of hiding in Such black box operations

You can find the Full text in the following link to New Zealand government website:

http://www.tpp.mfat.govt.nz/text


Now you would understand why massive people around the world would march and protest against TPP or its similar agreement which was imposed on the European Unions.

This so call trade pack is not merely a simple trade pack but a whole list of legislation which will sell off our rights to cheaper Healthcare and our Sovereignty. It will not only affect us alone but for ALL our future generations.

It is up to Singaporeans to get themselves information on all these important trade agreements being signed QUIETLY away, selling our future to the big corporations of the world. Go to your MPs and demand an explanation or lodge your complains against TPP. Do it and put pressure on PAP to think twice about ratifying this TPP.

Goh Meng Seng

Press Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

For Immediate Release
Press Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

1) The conclusion of the negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been announced by the President of United States as well as our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 5 Oct 2015. However the negotiation was done in total darkness of a black box operation in which, up till now, there is no formal public revelation of the details of all the 33 Chapters embedded in this agreement.

2) While the Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Lim Hng Khiang has painted a rosy picture for Singapore SMEs to benefit from this TPPA, but we know that for every Free Trade Agreement, there will always be tradeoffs for every country.

3) It is inadequate for our Prime Minister and Minister to only talk about the potential benefits of TPPA without telling Singaporeans the tradeoffs we are going to make in return.

4) We urge the PAP government to make public all information with regards to TPPA as early as possible so that debate on this extremely important FTA could be carried out rigorously. We note that the government is obliged to make public the details of this agreement within 30 days from the signing. We would expect PAP government to fulfill this obligation.

5) It would be more helpful if an independent panel of academia, economists and experts could be set up to explain the potential implications of all the 33 Chapters.

6) We are particularly concerned over the impact on the income growth as well as job prospects of all Singaporeans, medicine cost, cost of living and population growth.

7) We are also concerned on the social and national impact of TPPA. In particularly, will TPPA give overwhelming powers to big corporations and MNCs to dictate our local legislation based on compliance clauses stated in it?

8) People’s Power Party is against black box operations for any legislation or ratification of any Free Trade Agreement without much transparency, open debate and scrutiny. If TPPA was proven to be overly controversial, we would want a referendum over its final approval.

9) We hope that PAP is more forthcoming and transparent with all the information of TPPA and do not shy away from public debate over this agreement.


Goh Meng Seng
Secretary General
For Pro-tem Committee People’s Power Party

Campaign Trail - Foreign Labour and Population Policy

Campaign Trail - Foreign Labour and Population Policy

Foreign Labour and Population Policy (FLPP) still remains as the SUPER HOT TOPIC on the ground when we went around CCK.

Interesting enough, I have met FIVE different groups of people so far, putting up their grievances about this FLPP.

1) The first group of people is of course Singaporeans who are EXTREMELY Angry of Singaporeans being displaced by cheaper foreign labour and forced to drive taxi or suffers "underemployment". These people will not show up in government statistics as "unemployed" but the truth is, these PMETs are UNDEREMPLOYED.

2) This group of Singaporeans are angry about the crowding effect of overpopulation and the cultural conflicts caused by excessive foreign population growth. This is a big potential time bomb and it has become BIGGER than a mere problem of "integration".

3) This group of Singaporeans are those with foreign spouses. PAP government has refused citizenship/PRs to their foreign spouses or give long term visit passes to their foreign parents to come to Singapore so that they could take care of their children. This is due to the "low income" criteria that ICA set for such cases. The irony is that while PAP government discriminated against lower income earners in marrying foreign spouses but to the lower income earners, the only option for them to get married is to marry foreign brides!

4) This group of Singaporeans were born in Singapore but they have siblings who are born elsewhere (eg. Malaysia). They wanted to get their siblings to come and live with them, even willing to be their sponsors but ICA has ruled against it! This is basically inhumane!

5) This group consists of SMEs owners who are "victims" of people pressuring PAP government to tighten FLPP. They seems to blame "opposition parties" for it but I have to explain to them that it is PAP's mismanagement of the FLPP and quota system that created their problems.

I also explain to them that they should take active steps to review their company or factories' processes to increase productivity while cutting down dependency on extensive labour. MOM should coordinate and monitor such improvement made to SMEs. SMEs may lack access to technology or expertise which are used in other countries and MOM or SPRING should be playing a more active role in consultancy work to help them to further improve processes. Productivity growth continues to be low because PAP government only throw money after tons of paper work and bureaucracy. If a SME has really reached a high level of automation but still have difficulties in employing local operators, then MOM should allow them to increase their quota. This should be done case by case basis.

MNCs and GLCs hardly have any problems in employing Foreign Labour and some have extremely favourable quota to start with. The irony is that these jobs are mainly PMET jobs which Singaporeans desire and want to do but PAP government has allowed them to be displaced by loose quota.

Ironically, PAP government has set very high workers' levies on jobs which Singaporeans shun away (eg. Construction)

I also find it extremely CRUEL and Inhumanely inconsiderate for ICA to make it extremely difficult for middle-lower income Singaporeans to get PRs or citizenship for their foreign spouses. It is ironic that some of them whom are from lower income household, could not get citizenship for their foreign spouses and ended up paying more for everything just because their PRs or just long term visiting pass status.

I am not entirely against FLPP but I believe, we should do it responsibly and with a right direction. I would want to GROW ORGANIC local families with foreign spouses and would not mind giving citizenship to these foreigners who are married to Singaporeans.

It would be totally ironic to see foreign labour from India or PRCs allowed to bring their whole family to Singapore to reside and getting PRs so easily just because they earn higher income or subject to the liberal FTAs signed with their home countries while our local Singaporeans' foreign spouses were discriminated against, due to the lower earning power.

Foreign spouses of Singaporeans will integrate into our society much easier than those foreign labour who bring in their whole family from foreign land. I really cannot understand the rationale behind such discrimination against our own Singaporeans at all.

Last but not least, we should set up a "Recovery from Underemployment" mechanism to help those who are really underemployed (eg PMETs turn taxi drivers) to get back to work in the field of their expertise again.

Goh Meng Seng

The Mother of All Problems - Unchecked Population Growth

Reporter called to ask me on my view of PM Lee's NDR speech. The key point lies on the "sensitive" Foreign Labour-Population growth policy.

I have issued a SERIOUS warning to PM Lee and his PAP team. This "sensitive" issue of unchecked population growth has reached a dangerous social boiling point. It is no longer about simple trade offs but rather, when will there be social uprising against this senseless GDP growth at all cost which resulted in explosive population growth if there is no immediate measures to moderate it.

It will no longer be whether we can have good economic/GDP growth but whether our social fabric will rupture and social disgruntlement will turn ugly, creating instability.

PAP ruling elites should stop running the country by burying themselves in their world of digits and economic theories.

PAP has made two critical mistakes in managing the population growth:

1) Inadequate corresponding infrastructure development to cope with sudden rapid population growth. It is definitely amazing for the supposed top talents who are paid millions every year to make such amateur, common sense mistake. Take hospital beds for example. for the last decade, there is a growth of over 1 million population but there was only an increase of 500 beds. It will take more than another decade before another 2000 beds to be added in the immediate future. However, PAP is planning to have another more than 1 million population growth! This is totally unacceptable.

2) Disastrous management of population growth whereby there is practically no proper checks done on the qualifications of those who wanted to come to Singapore to work. MOM has the gull to say that it is the responsibility of employers to do due diligence on the qualifications of their employees! Furthermore, the FTAs signed with other big third world countries have put in terms of allowing "UNLIMITED NUMBER" of people from these countries to come to Singapore to work! For example, India has over 1 billion people. Singapore, as a tiny little red dot, has actually signed CECA which allows unlimited number of Indians to come to Singapore to work in 127 professions! Can we accommodate even 1% of Indian population of 10 million people? Here again, I do not know why such intelligent breed of PAP leaders could have such simple common sense escape them!

My take is, if PM Lee and his team still continue to ignore all the disturbing signs from the ground while keep talking about "painful trade offs", it will be just a matter of time before social unrest blew up right in front of their faces.

Goh Meng Seng

Singaporeans, I believe.

Sometimes, it is really depressing to be Singaporeans if you are not one of the Elites within PAP or its cronies and organizations.

Singaporeans have been told by PAP that we need "Foreign Talents", as if only Foreigners are Talents while there is none among us, other than the million dollar Ministers and their PAP MPs plus cronies.

Singaporeans are told that they are basically useless and they need millions of Foreign Talents to "create jobs" for them. But in the end, many Singaporeans have found out that the so call "jobs" created for them are "taxi-drivers" and "security guards". We start to see taxi drivers with Master degree and even PHD. We start to see colonies of migrants were brought in by their own people to replace Singaporeans at work place, be it Filipino, Indians, PRCs or otherwise. We are made or forced to believe these people, from third world country, many of them with dubious and fake degrees or qualifications, are some TALENTS who are BETTER than Singaporeans.

Some people and yes, some Singaporeans as well, will start to scold me "Xenophobic" by now but I am determined to say it as it is. I am not against Foreigners or Foreign workers and in fact, I have been employing the services of foreigners in other countries and places as well, along with the Singaporeans who work with me. Whatever others or PAP may say about Singaporeans, but I believe among the regional "Third World" countries, Singaporeans are relatively more trustworthy, reliable and hardworking. The PRCs may say Singaporeans are dumb or stupid, but I see that as a compliment as compared to the many unscrupulous things PRCs will do just to make more money or even cheat.

Singaporeans are among the best co-workers I have met over time. They are efficient and quick in learning. Unlike the many "Third World countries" people whom I have worked for, they have the right attitude towards work. In fact, Singapore has provided a platform to "educate" or "cultivate" many foreigners form third world countries the correct working attitude. For example, comparing a Vietnamese in Vietnam and a Vietnamese working in Singapore, you can experience a vast difference between their attitude towards efficiency, morals and work ethics.

Singaporeans may lack certain Global exposures but I do not think that is a critical handicap at all. If given the right opportunities, I believe most Singaporeans will be a quick learner and adapt very well to new situation and environment. In fact, Singaporeans are fairly well regarded as a people for their honesty, hardworking and efficiency in many parts of the world. The REAL problem with Singaporeans is its choice of PAP as its ruling party.

No where in the world could I find a government as sadistic as PAP government which has constantly thumbing down on Singaporeans as "inferior" to their "Foreign Talents". Even Malaysian Government will come up with "Malaysia Boleh" or "Satu Malaysia" (Malaysia Number One). Even China, with a massive population of uncultured citizenry which irk so many people around the world with their barbaric and uncivilized behavior, would come up with a strong rhetoric of "China Dream", drumming up Nationalism as its core message. Even the Filipinos are whipping up their Nationalism in foreign land like Singapore!

It is no wonder, foreigners in Singapore, especially those from the "Third World Countries", are starting to snarl and mock at Singaporeans, calling them names and pride themselves in superiority over Singaporeans, citing the "FACT" that even our PAP government wanted them so much because they are "TALENTS" which Singaporeans are not!

Well, we may be angry against these rude and ungrateful people from the "Third World Countries" but they are not wrong at all. The fault lies with PAP which has repeated talked down on Singaporeans. eg. Singaporeans commit more crimes than Foreigners.

But my fellow Singaporeans, most of these so call "Foreign Talents" from the "Third World Countries" are just cheap substitutes brought in to displace you. Logically speaking, how could somebody who graduated from "Third World Countries" be more "superior" than Singaporeans who have gone through the First World education in Singapore? We should not feel any bit INFERIOR as compared to these people. We are the HOSTS of this country which provides the platform to give them jobs and money to feed their families in their Third World Countries.

Many people from first world countries have mistaken that Singaporeans are Xenophobic but we are not. Most Singaporeans are people with big heart, tolerant and well behaved. If you have met anyone from USA or European countries who talk down to you about being Xenophobic, tell them off by suggesting filling up their own countries with 40% foreigners and see whether they will be MORE or less angry and intolerant as Singaporeans.

All countries will have foreign population or migrant workers. But at most, most of the First World Countries have less than 25% of their population as foreigners. They do not understand what Singaporeans are unhappy about. Just tell them that we have 40% and PAP intends to increase to 50% or even 60% of our population to be foreigners. That is exactly what they are trying to do, else how do you think they can increase our population to 6.9million within such a short time?

The truth is, even the REAL Talents from First World Countries like US or Britain, are shocked at what PAP is doing. A friend of mine told me about a conversation which he had with a British who has worked in Singapore but leaving.

The British told him, PAP is stupid. Yes, you hear it right, a British FT telling PAP off. He said Singaporeans are actually very good people, highly intelligent, hardworking and highly competent. But PAP prefers to get people like him, to be paid 3 or 4 times more than Singaporeans to do exactly the same thing and hold the same amount of responsibility which Singaporeans could do with great proficiency! Yes, this is a FRANK comment from the British 'FT'.

PAP is stupid because it doesn't believe in its own people, Singaporeans. It doesn't believe Singaporeans can be as good as, if not better than most of the foreigners; even if they are from some First World Countries, least, Third World.

Such policy mindset will deprive Singaporeans from earning their rightful salaries but also neglect the grooming of Singaporeans by depriving them the opportunities to get exposures from the many important positions which were taken up by foreigners.

PAP is not only spending millions in scholarship to groom foreigners from Third World Countries in our colleges and universities but they are also grooming them in their working lives by allowing them to displace local Singaporeans. The irony is that, while foreigners get free education in Singapore and displace Singaporeans in important positions, many local Singaporeans who have paid a hefty price (university fees have been increasing over time) for their tertiary education, were unable to find any job!

No matter how hard Singaporeans try to upgrade their skills, qualifications etc, they eventually find themselves being displaced by foreigners at ALL LEVELS of jobs.

Singaporeans in Singapore may be talked down by PAP in all aspects, but when it comes to international job markets, Singaporeans are well sort after. Why? It is because Singaporeans are trustworthy, law abiding, intelligent and efficient.

Many people, especially those from the very Third World Countries which PAP has tried to court their "talents", regard Singaporeans as good people, trustworthy people to do business with, in comparison with their own people.

Over these few years, I have met Singaporeans working and doing business overseas. They have given me one simple impression: back in Singapore, PAP and its system, regard them as dirt, unworthy people. They have to leave Singapore to prove their worth in other countries and places like Hong Kong. They made it in their life, because they believe in themselves, not PAP's nonsense about "Foreign Talents".

(Some of you may feel that I am exaggerating and may use the Sim Lim Square lemon retailers as example of how "bad" Singaporean businessmen were. There will always be bad apples among the millions but while we make so much noise over these few bad apples, splashing over local headlines and such, but can you imagine there are many millions more of such cheats in the Third World Countries like China? It has become a NORM there and that is why you will never see headlines over such "trivial" things in these countries!)

PAP is the root of the problems Singaporeans are facing a people, as a Nation. A Nation of People who have low esteem will not do us good and PAP is the one who is constantly causing our people to become so.


Singaporeans should rebuild their own self-esteem and there is nothing Xenophobic about that. PAP Ministers and their cronies are not the only "Talents" in Singapore. The truth is, every Singaporeans can be a talent in his or her own field, in their own right. Every Singaporeans should be worth as much as their skill set and not only PAP Ministers have the rightful claim to the over-exaggerated million dollar salary. We should not allow PAP to continue thumbing us down as a people and depressing our wages and quality of life.

Singaporeans, I believe, could really be a World Class people, World Class workforce, if given the proper opportunities, grooming and recognition. Our Singapore Brand as a people, is Trustworthiness, quick learners, law abiding, no nonsense, intelligent, well educated and efficient people. Singaporeans should start to believe in themselves and reclaim what is rightfully theirs. STOP believing in PAP's nonsense about only Foreigners and their cronies, are Talents and nobody else.

While I encourage Singaporeans to walk out of Singapore into the World, but you can't be a good fighter without confidence and self esteem. I believe that Singaporeans do not need PAP's degrading rhetoric on their FT policy but what they need is to get more World exposures.

Singaporeans, I also believe, should fight and strive to retain the high standards we have set for ourselves and future generations. While our system has provided a good platform to educate those foreign workers from Third World Countries on efficiency, reliability and such, we should not allow many of these foreigners to skewed, change or lower the standards we expect from our system.

Working attitude is one important factor in determining success of an organization or even a country. I know many Singaporeans are just suffering in silence from the incompetency of their foreign counterparts but you should not be so. You should be voicing out in firm assertion to demand the best from everyone, foreign or otherwise.

I believe part of the problems we face in Singapore's MRT system is the lax working attitude of foreign engineers (from Third World Countries) which causes constant breakdowns in the system. They do not have the Singapore mindset and culture of no-nonsense when it comes to such important work. I have heard enough of retired SMRT Singaporean engineers complaining about cheapo materials being used as well as the quality of foreign engineers and technicians employed. But my dear Singaporeans, they are so, because we allow them to be so. It is because we have allowed the Third World mentality to invade our work place and replace the good work ethics we used to have in our system. We have not voiced out in firm assertion to maintain the high standards we used to uphold. We should not allow them to erode our culture, our belief in high standards and our identity as Singapore Brand.

Singaporeans, I believe, cannot depend on PAP and its cronies to do the right thing at all. They are more concerned about how much profits they can make and how much salary and bonuses they can get, rather than the more important Singapore Culture we have cultivated over the decades of Nation Building. This Singapore Culture which defines us as a Singapore Brand, is facing its greatest challenge at the largest scale ever.

Singaporeans, I believe, united as one, we can overcome all these nonsense PAP has installed in this system. We have only ourselves to depend on for the sake of our future generations. We should not allow PAP's flawed Population Policy to dictate and deteriorate our Nation to Third World standards. We should hold our future firmly in our own hands. I believe.

Goh Meng Seng

The Protest @ Hong Lim Park 5 July 2014

I am compelled to write this article to record this event not because of the low turnout we have but rather, the fantastic event I have enjoyed should not went unrecorded.

This event is special because it has included a live band singing of songs which inspires political struggles. All thanks to Gilbert Louis, Tina Mercury de Costa along with her long lost cousin, Daniel de Costa. They have uplifted the spirit of the protest with their inspiring songs.

We have impressive young speaker like 17 year old Ariffin Sha to 72 year old elderly layman like Sulaiman to share their views. Of course, not to mention the "agent provocateur" who spoke in support of PM Lee Hsien Loong but was met with unexpected reactions from the crowd who just booed him out of stage half way through his speech.

I have learned something from Mr. Sulaiman. The PAP government has not spent enough money to help Singaporeans and we should not be a "Beggar State" whereby citizens have to beg the government for help. This may sound too simple to many people but it means something very profound to me. It simply sums up how stingy PAP government is when it comes to helping our citizens in need.

There are a few songs sang by Gilbert Louis group. The songs include my all time favourite John Lenon's "Imagine", the infamous song from Les Miserables "Do You Hear the People Sing", "Wind of Change", "Voices That Care", "From a Distance", "Shout" (by Tears for Fears) etc. I personally feel that these songs are great songs which could become a group of Theme Songs for any protests held in Hong Lim Park. These songs are not just any other songs but come with meaningful background and lyrics.



I have seen how the protest organizers in Hong Kong utilize various songs effectively for their events. They even have their own written songs for their own events. The annual 4th  June Vigil is one good example.

Music and songs are powerful medium and tools to create the appropriate atmosphere for such events. These are so powerful and influential that PAP has to ban them altogether for any political rallies held during General Elections. But I believe we need to change all that.

Next, I will come to my own speech, which is in fact, "incomplete" as we were running out of time then. I am going to run through the rationale of my speech here.

The whole theme of my speech is, what are the reasons which will justify an urgent need to ask Mr. Lee Hsien Loong to resign as Prime Minister? I have somehow missed out some important points during the rally as there was a time constrain but the following are my thoughts:



1) Leadership Quality

The role of the government and thus, Prime Minister, is to take care of Singaporeans' welfare and interests. What does a Prime Minister needs, beside eyes, ears and a brain? It is the HEART. If you do not have the HEART to take care of the citizens' welfare and interests when you are making every decisions, then you are not fit to be our political leaders, least Prime Minister.

PAP has always been OVERLY GENEROUS towards themselves while being EXTREMELY STINGY towards Singaporeans in need. As the other speaker Mr. Sulaiman has mentioned, we have become a "Beggar State" under PAP rule. The Singapore Government hardly spent any money extensively on the welfare of Singaporeans. Even hospitals are no longer "Government Hospitals" but business oriented "Restructured Hospital".

There is little help available for Singaporeans who have, for whatever reasons, fallen into temporary hardship. We have to BEG PAP government for that miserable help they squeeze out of their tiny little pocket hole. That's what "Beggar State" is all about.

I am going to talk about the problem of having Ho Ching even though none of other speakers have spoken on this. I am not interested to DEFAME Lee Hsien Loong but the truth is, when he agreed to put his wife Ho Ching as the CEO of Temasek Holdings, he has set a VERY BAD EXAMPLE for such an important leadership position.

There are numerous corruption cases being investigated and charged in court. High level, well paid civil servants are deemed to give special favours or special treatments to their mistresses, students turned girlfriend or simply friends, are charged for corruptions. What is the fundamental problem of all these? Conflicts of interests! (the crowd responded as well) Yes, it is all about conflicts of interests. But in two cases, the accused have been acquitted of corruptions even though there is such a glaring conflicts of interests! Why? Conflicts of interests may not necessarily be considered as "corruptions" even though it might have created doubts or speculations. However, what is considered as "legally acceptable" may not be "politically" acceptable.

When the Prime Minister agreed to put his wife in such a high prominent position which runs the government owned Temasek Holdings, no matter what due diligence has been made whatsoever, it is inevitable that such arrangement will be seen as a problem of Conflicts of Interests! How can the Prime Minister have the moral authority to lead when such conflicts of interests has been displayed? Can the Prime Minister tell the civil servants off if they did the same thing?

The Prime Minister, as the TOP LEADER of the government, should lead by examples. The proper thing for the Prime Minister to do, is to practice AVOIDANCE of Conflicts of Interests! It means that no matter who want to "por" (flatter or attempt to show favor) the Prime Minister by suggesting to put his wife or sister or whoever in his family members at top positions in the civil service or government owned entities, he should DECLINE as a good practice of "Avoidance of Conflicts of Interests"!

Else, he will lose the critical moral authority to lead politically.


2) Really BAD Diplomatic Gaffes

We can't fault Mr. Lee for some of the embarrassing gaffes that he has made over the years, from "Mee Siam Mai Hum" to labeling Singaporeans as "Kao Peh Kao Bu" (Cry Father Cry Mother which implicitly cursing one of making noise as if their parents are dead. ) when we made too much noise in the internet. This is basically because he was born in with a Golden Spoon, has never eve stayed in a Condominium or Terrace House before, least a HDB flat like most of us. But when he made a gaffe that would affect International Diplomatic Relationship with one of the most important country in the world, that will no longer be just "funny" but actually DEAD SERIOUS.

During his visit to Washington and after meeting President Obama, PM Lee recounted a sick joke about Beijing's air pollution, alleging that you just need to open the window to get a "free smoke"! This was speculated to be one of the main reasons why China's President Xi has deliberately give Singapore a by-pass while he was shuttling between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur while he was attending the APEC meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

If we allow Mr. Lee Hsien Loong to continue to lead us as Prime Minister, I do not know how many such embarrassing and damaging gaffes we would have to suffer in future.


3) Vision? Mission? Core Values? What is Mr. Lee Hsien Loong's Principles?

Does anyone know exactly what is Mr. Lee Hsien Loong's Vision? Mission? Core Values? Principles? The only come to our mind is MONEY $$$ ! (In fact, the crowd responded with the same answer as well.)

We got used with the "Pay and Pay" notion of the ruling party PAP way back from 1980s till now. It is ok for most Singaporeans to tolerate such "Pay and Pay" situation as long as they can have a good job and earn more than enough money to cope with such culture.

However, after Mr. Lee Hsien Loong took over as Prime Minister, the situation is really worse than Pay and Pay. The Core Principle of Money-Minded government has evolved into a bigger monster. We, Singaporeans, have been sold out for whatever money they can get from the deals they made.

For example, when there was a huge protest against the White Paper on 6.9 million, PAP announced that they might have to slow down the intake of foreign workers. Which was the first country to make noise about this? India. India government claimed that by doing so, Singapore would have breached the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that we have signed with India! I did a little research on this FTA which PAP has signed with India. This is what I have found:

The India-Singapore FTA is called CECA which stands for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. It was signed on 29 June 2005, just about a year after Mr. Lee Hsien Loong became our Prime Minister.

If you read carefully through the CECA, the main benefits for us is for our mostly banks and companies owned by Temasek Holdings to have the right and access to invest in India, mostly in their financial, telecommunication and real estate industries. (Read Trade in Services):

The sectors which Singapore gets preferential access include business services, construction and related engineering services, financial services, telecommunication services, tourism and travel related services and transport services.

For Financial Services, Singapore owned or controlled financial institutions have been given greater privileges to access the Indian market. In banking, DBS, UOB and OCBC can each set up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) in India to enjoy treatment on par with Indian banks in branching, places of operations and prudential requirements. Alternatively, should they choose to set up as branches, they have been allocated a separate quota of 15 branches (for all 3 banks) over 4 years, over and above the quota for all foreign banks.

For asset management, Singapore owned or controlled fund managers have the additional privilege of offering Indian investors mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CIS) listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as well as exchange traded funds (ETF). These instruments offered by our asset managers are free from the restriction that they must only invest in entities which have a stake in Indian companies.

For asset management, Singapore owned or controlled fund managers have the additional privilege of offering Indian investors mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CIS) listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as well as exchange traded funds (ETF). These instruments offered by our asset managers are free from the restriction that they must only invest in entities which have a stake in Indian companies.

India has similarly lifted this limitation for India owned or controlled fund managers. Both Singapore and India owned or controlled fund managers can also invest an additional US$250m in equities and instruments listed on the SGX, including mutual funds, CIS and ETFs. This is in addition to the US$1 billion cap that all asset managers can invest abroad.

For Telecommunication Services, India will bind its foreign equity limit from 25% to 49% for most services including basic, cellular and long distance services and 74% for internet and infrastructure services. India will also ensure that telecommunication providers from Singapore are treated fairly, transparently, and allowed to obtain access to the necessary public infrastructure in order to offer their services, thereby creating a more level playing field in India for our Singapore's telecom providers.

It is all good but at whose expense? We must first remember that although our CPF money is mixed into the Main Reserves and allocated for GIC or Temasek Holdings to invest, we do not benefit FULLY on the actual returns made from their investments. In spite of the inherent risk resulting from the investment made from GIC or Temasek, we are only given a fixed return of 2.5% to 5% on our CPF accounts.

In order to let Temasek and GIC made in-route into India's emerging market, our jobs have been totally sold out to India by PAP government led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This is clearly stated under Chapter 9 Movement of Natural Persons. It comes with an attached list of 40 professional fields of jobs which Singapore should allow Indian Nationals to access for employment! Furthermore, not only should Singapore be obliged to allow Indian Nationals to gain employment in Singapore for these 40 professions, but we are also obliged to allow the spouses and "dependents" to gain access to our Singapore job market in ANY OTHER FIELDS!!!

This is clearly stated under Article 9.6:

ARTICLE 9.6: EMPLOYMENT OF SPOUSES AND DEPENDANTS

For natural persons of a Party who have been granted the right to long term temporary entry and have been allowed to bring in their spouses or dependants, a Party shall, upon application, grant the accompanying spouses or dependants of the other Party the right to work as managers, executives or specialists (as defined in paragraphs 2(f)(i) to (iii) of Article 9.2), subject to its relevant licensing, administrative and registration
requirements. Such spouses or dependants can apply independently in their own capacity (and not necessarily as accompanying spouses or dependants) and shall not be barred by the Party granting them the right to work from taking up employment in a category other than that of managers, executives, or specialists solely on the ground that
they as the accompanying spouses or dependants are already employed in its territory as managers, executives or specialists.

Now, let's get this straight. Even for Singaporeans with foreign spouses, Permanent Residencies are not easily granted to their foreign spouses. For the first numerous years, they will only be granted some long term visit passes that do not grant them any rights to work in Singapore at all. Here, we have PAP government under PM Lee's leadership, promising to provide jobs not only to Indian professionals listed in the list of 40, but also to provide jobs to their spouses in any jobs in other fields with absolutely no restrictions at all!

India is a huge country with a huge population of almost 1.3 BILLION people, about 370 times of our population size of 3.5 million! Is it logical for us to provide UNLIMITED jobs to India which has a population so much bigger than us? Got logic or not?

Thus, it is obvious that this India-Singapore CECA is basically a blatant TOTAL sell out of our Singaporeans' jobs to India in exchange for the benefits of Temasek Holdings and GIC! We Singaporeans' welfare and interests can be sold out for their benefits!

Did PM Lee and PAP give any thought to our Singaporeans' interests, welfare and jobs when they sign this FTA with India? Apparently not. They are only concerned of how much money they can make from the opportunities of investing in India and the number of CHEAP LABOUR from India to help their GLCs and MNCs to save more labour costs! And obviously, that is at the expense of Singaporeans' wages and jobs! Our wages will definitely be suppressed by such influx of Indian workers!

Furthermore, did they care about the impact of such move upon our infrastructure? When we complain about the THIRD WORLD conditions in our "Restructured Hospitals" all over Singapore, PAP Doctor MP has the cheek to declare "Don't Politicise Healthcare issues". I have to reiterate again, ANYTHING that affects Singaporeans' lives, interests, welfare and benefits, IS POLITICAL. More so for the CRITICAL situation we have in our hospitals' A&E departments! PAP MPs and Ministers may not have the opportunity to experience first hand how bad the situation is due to their privileged background but I still want to get this message straight to PM Lee, his RECKLESS, ILL PLANNED and IRRESPONSIBLE action in increasing our population size by importing FTs rapidly, is ENDANGERING our Singaporeans' lives!

I speak from my personal encounters when my mother was admitted to KTPH. I believe the other hospitals around Singapore is as bad as, if not worse, than the situation in KTPH. And this is EVERYDAY PROBLEM we are facing in hospitals, not just an outlier happening.

I shall not elaborate here as I have written a separate article on this issue. But my point is, has PM Lee thought about such deadly consequences when he decided to sign this FTA with India? Absolutely no.

Thus, PM Lee has basically led us into some very dangerous situation whereby the concept of Pay and Pay no longer satisfy his vision of $$$. Singaporeans' jobs and interests can be and have been sold off for the benefits of Temasek and GICs!


4) What is Lee Hsien Loong's Economic Policy direction?

Do we know exactly what is Lee Hsien Loong's Economic Policy Direction? There are two. One is Casino. Two, increase labour and MNC investment.

The Casinos, under the guise of "Integrated Resorts" have been introduced after Lee Hsien Loong took over as Prime Minister. Up till now, we are still unsure how many jobs have these casinos created for Singaporeans but we definitely know how these Casinos are killing Singaporeans with so many suicides due to debts, problem gambling incidents and affecting our economy adversely when not only aunties and uncles got hook on casino gambling but wealthy businessmen who should be spending more time to enhancing their businesses, ended up hooked or even bankrupted by casino gambling!

The second madness of PAP's economic policy under Lee Hsien Loong is GDP growth at ALL COST. Why does he need that? To justify his and his ministers' multi-million dollar annual pay!

Basic Economics state that GDP= Labour + Capital Investment + Land.

If you want to grow GDP, just increase labour and capital investment. This is why PAP is so engrossed in opening up the floodgate to CHEAP foreign workers as well as MNCs, even though sometimes, these MNCs are only employing overwhelmingly CHEAP foreign workers instead of Singaporeans!

But did Lee Hsien Loong plan properly? Has he considered the impact on the various infrastructure in Singapore? The impact on inadequate Public Transport system? Housing? Hospital care?

During last elections, MBT kept saying that HDB is "affordable" but when I challenged him to a live open debate on this housing issue, he just siam ah! Who pay for PAP's mistake? Our younger generation Singaporeans! When I suggested the Cost-plus pricing mechanism for our young Singaporeans to lower prices of new HDB flats drastically, MBT proclaimed that this would effect a "raid on our reserves"! Well, my simple retort is, when PAP keep increasing their million dollar pay, isn't that also "raid on our reserves"?

Lee Hsien Loong's administration has gone so far to come up with that infamous "6.9 population White Paper" without first solving the immediate mess that his past screwed up economic policy has created! What is he really thinking in his brain?


5 Clear and Present IMMEDIATE Danger of PM Lee's recent Decision...

I am not so sure whether PM Lee has studied physics or not but he should know that for nuclear substance, there is something called "half life". For nuclear substances, half lives can range from over 60 years to almost 100 years. What does this mean? It means that it will take more than 60 years before the nuclear substance is being half, thus, radiation also being halved.

It means that it will not just take a few couple of years for the nuclear leaks in Fukushima to be solved but it will take tens and maybe hundreds of years before nuclear contamination could be minimized in Fukushima!

How can PM Lee decide to lift the ban on food imports from Fukushima right now when even farmers in Fukushima don't even dare to consume their own produce? Is Lee Hsien Loong putting Singaporeans' health is utter danger of nuclear contaminated food?

Why would PM Lee do that? Now, most probably, it is encourage Japan to get into the Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP agreement!

Do we still want a Prime Minister that would put our immediate health in danger just for some economic benefits from a broad free trade agreement which most likely, benefiting mostly Temasek and GIC again?

Conclusion

Apparently Mr. Lee Hsien Loong has completely lost the moral authority to lead Singapore and he has to be removed immediately because his totally bizarre decisions which will not only compromise Singaporeans' jobs but also endanger our lives. If we were to wait until next GE before we could remove him by voting him out, it might be too late as these irreparable and irreversible harm would be entirely instituted into our system.



Goh Meng Seng














 

The underlying cause of Little India Riot

I have given my comment to Chinese Asia Week (亚洲周刊) on the underlying cause of Little India Riot just a couple of days after it happened. It was published almost in complete with regard to what I have said to the journalist. They get more angry when New York Times and Washington Times picked up the story.

Apparently what I have said in this report has caused great unhappiness to PAP ministers and that is the main reason for the VIP harassment I get at the immigration when I flew back to Singapore in mid-January. Apart of that, PAP ministers have responded to my comments on my Facebook by visiting the dormitory when I criticised them of not understanding the ground before they made comments about there is no problem of  low wage and poor accommodation for our migrant workers. Of course the minister later visited a BETTER dormitory instead of those make shift container-dormitory.

The Manpower Minister, during the parliamentary sitting, then proclaimed that there is no modern slavery in Singapore, criticising people like me for spreading untruth.He put up "facts" or "statistics" and such to make his point.

Let me run through briefly what I thought were interesting:

1) This is no ordinary riot. In most riots happening in the world, especially those "spontaneous" ones, rioters will attack all kinds of things, private properties, looting shops, overturning private cars and burn it. But WHY in this Little India Riot those rioters only focus on police cars, ambulances and SCDF vehicles? They did not attack or loot those shops around the area.

2) The rioters didn't attack any policeman or uniformed personnel at all.Why would they overturn the vehicles and burn them but not attack these people?

3) They are NOT exactly DRUNK. When the riot police moved in, ALL the rioters ran away! There were no resistance nor attack on these riot police at all! The people they have arrested are those who are too drunk to move, least riot in any ways, in the aftermath. These people cannot even understand what the police wanted them to do due to communication problems. They were arrested and initially charged for rioting but of course, it does not take a genius to realize that this is totally absurd. Thus, the charge was modified to "failure to disperse" when ordered by police. This is the main reason why PAP Ministers have erroneously concluded that alcohol is the main reason of the riot at the very first instance.

4) PAP government started to deport all "suspects" even though they set up a Committee Of Inquiry. But wait, how would the Committee of Inquiry find out any Truth when all these IMPORTANT participants are deported? Who are they supposed to interview or question to find out the real underlying reasons of this riot?

This is really a REAL CIRCUS of chaos of PAP's rule. PAP Ministers should learn from ancient Qing Emperor Kang Xi: the most untrustworthy things in this world, is "reports" from officials. （最不可信的是奏折！）If you want to know the truth, don't ever attend dialogue or talk organized by the people below. You should just walk up to some foreign workers on the street IN RANDOM and ask them about their situation. This is what I have done always. Talk to REAL PEOPLE, not STAGED People.

Those reports and statistics done by the people below, most of the time, will try to fit into what they want you to hear or the line for you to take. No Modern Slavery in Singapore? Think again.

1) Government Workers' Levy is a form of extortion of hard labour of these migrant workers. The government may think that these levies are targeted at the employers but the truth is, the employers will just take off from the total cost of employing these foreign labour to pay for these levies. Thus, the truth is, just like the ancient slavery system in the feudal system, PAP government is just benefiting from these migrant workers' hard labour just like that.This is a form of true exploitation by the PAP government on migrant workers' hard labour.

2) PAP ministers claimed that these migrant workers are "reasonably paid". But just read this report from  Asiaone They are paid only S$1.50 per hour for their job! The worst part is, MOM backed off from enhancing the rule that all payroll must be made with a proper salary slip! How difficult for employers in this modern age to issue salary slip? The truth is, most of the time, these employers just under pay their migrant workers!

3) No complain doesn't mean no problem. As mentioned in this report, most migrant workers do not complain or even go into strike due to bad treatment or pay irregularities for fear of being deported immediately. PAP government is the main culprit of deporting them immediately at the first sight of trouble, how could they trust this system of slavery?

4) There is no minimum wage system for these migrant workers but higher and higher workers' levies imposed on them. It basically means that PAP government is not interested in setting up a fair employment system for these migrant workers but only interested in benefiting from their labour through workers' levy! It is absurd to say that it would be extra administrative work and cost for the employers if they were to issue salary slip when they are already doing all the administrative work to pay the government workers levies!

PAP government has to face up to the reality of this monster system of Modern Slavery they have created to unfairly profiteering from these migrant workers. What they should do is to minimize the workers' levies and instead, set a fair minimum wage for ALL construction workers, both for these migrant workers and for those Singaporeans who want to work in this industry.

It is no coincidence that these foreign workers are venting their anger against the establishment via their "proxies" on the ground where police cars and all other vehicles which represent the ruling system. PAP government can continue to be angry of me for telling the truth and shaming them in the public international sphere and I will just call a spade a spade. Scrap this system of Modern Slavery!

Goh Meng Seng

The Asiaone report:

Some foreign workers say that on pay day, they are passed cash stuffed in envelopes and the amounts are occasionally far less than what they are owed. Mandating electronic transfers of salary could help overcome this problem. The main reason workers do not complain is that doing so can cost them their job.

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Radha Basu

The Straits Times

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2014

For a year, Bangladeshi construction worker Hossain Iqbel worked seven days a week fitting pipes underground on Jurong Island.

His basic wages - at $1.50 an hour or around $280 a month - were a third of the $800 he had been promised when he left home.

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He did not complain at first, despite having proof of his low wages - unlike many other employers of foreign workers, his issued payslips.

He held back because he had borrowed heavily to pay for recruitment fees and did not want to be repatriated.

Eventually, he lodged a complaint days before his contract was due to end, fearing he might be sent home without his dues being settled.

Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin told Parliament last month that migrant workers were generally treated well by employers, and a 2011 survey of 3,000 work permit holders showed that nine in 10 were satisfied.

Complaints to the ministry about work-related abuses are also low. It helped 7,000 foreign workers last year - less than 1 per cent of the 700,000 work permit holders here.

But these numbers may not reflect the true picture on the ground.

While covering foreign worker issues, I have been told time and again by workers and their advocates that despite grave abuses, many workers will not complain so long as the power balance between employer and employee remains skewed in the employer's favour. Some policies need tweaking to level the playing field.

First, the ministry could compel all big and medium-sized companies to issue itemised payslips, clearly showing basic and overtime pay, hours worked and deductions, if any. Itemisation is important. I have seen hastily scrawled figures on the backs of used envelopes that currently pass as "payslips". This needs to change.

A move to mandate payslips was deferred for all companies recently, after feedback that small and medium-sized enterprises needed more time to implement proper payroll systems.

An ongoing survey by workers' group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) shows that one in 10 claimed they were underpaid or not paid at all in the previous month. That could translate into tens of thousands of workers at any given time.

Itemised payslips - together with electronic payments - would give workers proof of being underpaid and empower them to complain.

Some workers say that on pay day, they are passed cash stuffed in envelopes and the amounts are occasionally far less than what they are owed.

Mandating electronic transfers of salary could help overcome this problem. The ministry says some workers may prefer the convenience of cash payments.

This could be easily catered for by having an opt-out feature.

But the main reason workers do not complain is that doing so can cost them their job.

The employer can unilaterally cancel the work permit and send the worker home once the complaint is resolved and dues are paid.

For workers who still have debts to repay, complaining is the last option.

A survey of 104 Bangladeshi workers showed that each paid an average of $6,500 to get here and it took up to 17months to repay their loans. Anyone sent home within his first year returns to big debts.

TWC2 advocates have suggested that a worker who leaves his job - whether he is sacked or resigns - should be allowed 60 days to remain in Singapore and find another.

A worker who feels unfairly treated or abused will more readily speak up and complain, if he is assured that he is not at risk of being packed off home.

Such a move could also help raise workers' wages and hurt the bad eggs, such as Mr Iqbel's employer, who profit by undercutting more ethical competitors who know it is morally wrong to pay a manual worker $1.50 an hour.

Employers' interests could be protected by proscribing mass resignations, to prevent large-scale poaching by competitors.

Significantly, Singapore allows foreign maids to transfer to another employer in case of disputes with an existing employer.

Also, as part of a little-known scheme, the Manpower Ministry already allows work permit holders to change jobs on a case-by-case basis.

It is unclear how many have been allowed to do so, but there were two cases recently of workers being given 14 days to look for a job after their permits were cancelled when their employer defaulted on levy payments.

Finally, there is the matter of wages.

In the absence of publicly available surveys of foreign workers' wages, it is hard to know how many workers earn as little as Mr Iqbel.

The Sunday Times understands that the Bangladeshi and 14 of his compatriots were each owed an average of $9,500 in wages.

They eventually opted to settle privately with their employer and left Singapore.

Thanks in part to tireless negotiations by unions, the Government recently announced that it would introduce new laws to ensure that local cleaners would get at least $1,000 in wages. More productive and skilled workers can earn more.

Even as we applaud the move, it is time to discuss how blue-collar wages can be pulled up in the construction and marine sector too, where, as Mr Iqbel's example shows, workers might be earning less than a third of what a cleaner gets, despite back-breaking manual labour.

Singaporeans have long clutched the moral fig leaf that it is okay to pay these foreigners a pittance because they spend the bulk of their salaries in their home countries, where the costs of living are far lower. Besides, they come willingly - and conventional wisdom has it that if they don't like what they get, they can leave.

Such attitudes must change. Working hard at vital jobs that most locals will never deign to do, migrant workers have played a key part in Singapore's economic success and deserve better - and fairer - returns.

It is time to evaluate whether it's right to pay anyone $1.50 an hour for hard work - just because it's legal and we can.

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/150-hour-just-too-little-anyone/page/0/3#sthash.7A8qFKGo.dpuf