TR EMERITUS

The Singapore Government and the U.S. State Department have clashed over the issue of trafficking workers and prostitutes. In recent days the authorities of the city-state have published a document in response to criticisms of non-compliance contained in the annual U.S. report on human trafficking. "Singapore-reads the paper – does not have a serious problem of trafficking in persons. The United States should perhaps examine their data more carefully before deciding on other countries”. In the annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2010, published in June, Washington included Singapore alongside countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, China，Vietnam and India. The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-2010, although it said there has been progress over the past decade. The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its watch list -- Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka stayed on the list, unchanged from a year earlier. North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking. Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade. The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits. According to the report there are active criminal groups operating in the sex trade in women and children in Singapore. They attract the victims from Thailand, Philippines and China with the promise of legal jobs or tourist visas, but once in Singapore force them into prostitution. They meet clients in publically owned dormitories for migrant workers. Singapore denies being "passive and unresponsive" to the crime and calls on U.S. to review its data. In a counter-report, published on July 2 last, the government of Singapore cites the 2252 inspections made in 2009 to control foreign workers. It also denies allegations of lack of commitment to punish forced labour, citing the 476 employers prosecuted in 2009, but under different clauses of the Penal Code. In the report the government indicates the 2600 operations against prostitution, the arrest of over 7600 people, an increase compared to 1400 operations and 5047 arrests in 2008.   John Doe  Source: U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2010      Read More →

It is a common complaint nowadays among Singaporeans that they feel like strangers in their own country abroad a bus or MRT train, being overwhelmed by the presence of foreigners. In a short letter to the Straits Times Forum yesterday, Mr Loh Ngin Seng described his experience on a bus journey: "In a bus I recently took from Rochor to Sembawang at 8pm, I felt like a stranger in my own country, so overwhelmed was I by the numerical superiority of foreigners." Mr Loh's unpleasant experience is apparently shared by many Singaporeans as well. Shannon Yu wrote on TR's Facebook: "Oh it's not THAT bad. My carriage yesterday looked like 4 natives for every 5 passengers. The crowd, however, was an entirely different matter." Russell Teo added: "You try 169 from Woodlands Int to Admiralty West." Elliot Chong mused: "Sometimes NEL feels like subway from India." Due to the PAP's ultra pro-foreigner and liberal immigration policies, foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore's population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. The PAP ministers and MPs will be unable to understand the plight of ordinary Singaporeans as most, if not all them drive and hardly use public transport. (except for the purpose of public 'wayang' from time to time). The next election may be the last opportunity for native Singaporeans to reclaim ownership of Singapore after which they will surely be relegated to being second class minorities in their land of birth, controlled, dominated and squeezed dry by the self-serving PAP and its new pets.     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

Dear editor, I refer to the letter by Mr Eric Brooks dated 8 Jul 2010. He claims that many Singaporeans think of themselves as Chinese, Indian or Malay first, Singaporean second. He claims that Singaporeans feel more comfortable speaking to someone of their own race. These are largely unsubstantiated, sweeping statements. Local Indians have expressed unhappiness at foreign Indians of higher caste bossing them around. On the other hand, Singaporeans of all races have celebrated the successes of Fandi Ahmad and Ang Peng Siong because they feel for Singapore rather than for individual races. Mr Brooks claims that America welcomes people from different countries with tolerance. But he fails to mention that racism is still rife there and probably much worse than it is here. He used his own personal experiences of cleaning toilets and working at supermarkets during his teenage years to support his claim that foreigners bring the advantage of seeing humble work as dignity rather than humiliation. However, his experiences are probably unique only to America or the Western nations and are not representative of those from mainland China, India or Malaysia where the bulk of our foreign workers come from. Where the bulk of our foreign workers come from, the shunning of humble jobs is probably more or less the same. The only difference is that the same humble jobs pay a lot more here than it does back in the foreign workers' home countries. Mr Brooks claims that there is no competition between Singaporeans who wouldn't get their hands dirty versus foreigners who would. But the American teenagers who would wash toilets aren't the Americans coming here to find work. The Americans here are not here to wash toilets or to get their hands 'dirty'. Those who come to wash toilets are probably from poorer countries and are certainly not teenagers. They compete directly with older, less educated Singaporeans even for jobs that require getting their hands dirty. Mr Brooks claims that foreigners must be disciplined in order to pay household bills as though Singaporeans need not. It is common knowledge that America is a nation that lives on credit and that the people collectively owe more debt than any other country in the world. Singapore on the other hand is a country rooted in Confucian ethics and thrift is a virtue that remains important. As such, while there is no denying that there will be some young Singaporeans who splurge on Louis Vuitton bags, on the whole, there is no evidence that Singaporeans splurge any more than their American counterparts do. In fact, consumption as a percentage of GDP is so much higher for the US than it is for Singapore. As far as personal responsibility is concerned, Singapore being a notoriously non-welfare state is streets ahead of Mr Brooks' America. Therefore, while championing personal responsibility, it would be good if Mr Brooks looks at his own country first.    Thank you   Ng Kok Lim  In reply to: https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/07/09/canadian-pr-anxiety-over-foreigners-come-from-frail-sense-of-national-identity/?preview=true&preview_id=28033&preview_nonce=75edcec58b   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →