TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent Stung by rising anger on the ground at the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore, the state media resorted to playing around with statistics again to mislead Singaporeans into believing that fewer foreign workers were being hired last year. The Straits Times declared that "the number of foreign workers employed fell by 0.4 percent" last year based on the Labor Report released by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) today: [Source: Ministry of Manpower] It also claimed that "more locals were hired last December from a year ago, going up by 41,800 or 2.2 per cent." An unsuspecting reader would have believed that Singapore is indeed hiring less foreign workers in accordance to speeches made by PAP leaders lately that the government will reduce its perennial dependence on foreigners. What was not revealed is the little known fact that MOM lumps "citizens" and "PRs" together under the same category of "locals" and so an increase in the hiring of locals does not automatically translate to more Singapore citizens being employed. (boxed above in red) For some strange reasons, MOM has refused to reveal the exact numbers of Sinagpore citizens being employed or retrenched in all its official statistics. Aren't PRs foreigners too? How can they be considered as "locals" together with native Singaporeans? Furthermore, given the ease in which Singapore PRs are given out to foreigners like toilet papers, the categorization of PRs as "local" workers make no sense at all as they can be foreigners only a few months ago! According to Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, two out of every three PR applicants in Singapore are successful, an astonishingly high success rate for a developed nation. Unlike other developed countries like Australia and Canada which stipulate a minimum period of residencies before prospective migrants can apply for PRs, there are no such regulations in Singapore. The state media reported last year of a China National Zhang Yuanyuan who obtained her Singapore PR within two months of application. She worked as a Chinese language teacher in a private school. Another scheme called the “Landed Permanent Residence” scheme allowed “top notch professionals” to obtain Singapore PR without even setting foot on the country. [Source: Guide me Singapore] With so many foreigners "fast-tracked" to become Singapore PRs, the employment statistics provided by MOM are inevitably distorted and do not provide an accurate picture of the reality on the ground. MOM should stop obfuscating the matter and gives us a breakdown of the exact number of Singapore citizens, PRs and foreigners who are hired in 2009 as well as their respective unemployment rates instead of vague figures and categories like "local" workers.   Related articles: >> Exposing the six major flaws in the PAP's immigration policies >> Wong Kan Seng promises to tighten immigration policies >> SM Goh: Foreign workers numbers may still rise >> Malaysian car mechanic applying for Singapore citizenship >> PAP launches Singapore Citizenship Journey to help new citizens integrate >> Compulsory for new citizens to attend "sharing sessions" with grassroots leaders >> Wong Kan Seng urged Singaporeans to be more tolerant of foreign workers >> Tharman: Foreign workers increase income of low-income families >> Sylvia Lim: Pace and influx of foreigners over last few years is wrong >> Amy Khor urges Singaporeans to welcome foreigners >> PAP MP wants more money to be spent to make new citizens feel welcomed in Singapore >> Shanmugam: Foreigners generate jobs for Singaporeans >> Vivian happy there are 4,500 new citizens serving as grassroots leaders >> Cosmetic changes made to immigration policy >> SM Goh: New immigrants needed to make up population shortfall >> PAP ministers hailed contributions of foreigners >> SM Goh expressed support for Zhang Yuanyuan >> State media: citizens have more rights over PRs >> Zhang Yuanyuan got her Singapore PR in only 2 months >> Official reply from government on the Zhang Yuanyuan fiasco >> Singapore PRC PR proclaimed loyalty to China publicly >> PRC resident hung China flag to celebrate its National Day >> PRC student in Singapore wants more scholarships for foreigners >> PRC prostitutes solicit for customers on Singapore’s cyberspace >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs   EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! Be a fan of our facebook here Join our tweet at: http://www.twitter.com/temasekreview  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Just when the Jack Neo sex scandal appears to be fizzling out, Foyce Le Xuan dropped a bombshell in her interview with The New Paper yesterday insinuating that she may have had sexual intercourse with Jack! The Jack Neo affair has captured the attention of Singaporeans after it was leaked to the press by his mistress 22 year old Wendy Chong. Foyce subsequently came forward with her story that Jack had made sexual advances towards her during her stint with his entertainment group 6 years ago. Jack has since denied her allegations and challenged her to show the proof that he had sexually harrassed him. A sobbing Foyce Le Xuan told TNP that she had "held back certain details during her first interview" on Monday: "I didn't reveal all the details of Jack's advances towards me six years ago. I didn't tell the media as I didn't want to defame myself and hurt his family further." Foyce used words like "inhuman" and "devil" to describe Jack Neo, but declined to reveal exactly what he "did" to her. When asked if Jack had sex with her, she replied: "If I confess to this, the matter will blow up." Her non-commital reply seemed to suggest that she did have "intimate" contact with Jack or otherwise she would have answered "NO" immediately. Foyce said she had "confessed" to her pastor "all the horrible things that Jack had done" and he will speak to Jack's pastor in turn. She did not reveal what "horrible" things that Jack had done to her, but it is unlikely to be just a few flirtatious SMSes. Both Foyce and Jack are from City Harvest Church. Foyce claimed that she will only let the matter go and move on if Jack publicly admit that "he had made advances towards her." It is highly unlikely that Jack Neo, who appears to enjoy the tacit support of his close friend Foreign Minister George Yeo will agree to her request to do so as it will be tantamount to him admitting that he has been lying all along. Just as when Singaporeans are preparing to move on, it will be an unmitigated PR disaster for him to admit now that he had sexually harrassed Foyce Le Xuan or worse exert pressure on her to "succumb" to him after days of refuting the allegations and counter-accusing the girls of lying.     Jack Neo and wife Irene Kng’s press conference on 11 March 2010: 1. Video recording of press conference 2. Irene Kng fainted at press conference 3. Photo Gallery 4. Field Report: Jack Neo and wife broke down in tears 5. Live coverage of press conference   Related articles: 1. Foyce Le Xuan to make police report against Jack Neo 2. Jack Neo to Foyce Le Xuan: Show us proof that I have sexually harrassed you 3. Jack Neo: I had ONE affair only 4. Transsexual masseur: Jack Neo got “special service” from me 5. PBM Jack Neo apologizes on shared blog with George Yeo 6. PAP MP Lim Biow Chuan claimed he was “misquoted” by media 7. George Yeo slammed by netizens for supporting Jack Neo 8. Jack Neo makes advances to 16 year old French girl 9.Jack Neo’s 10 other flings after Wendy Chong 10. Wendy Chong on how Jack Neo initiated sex with her in his car 11. George Yeo supports PBM Jack Neo 12. Foyce accuses PBM Jack Neo of sexual harrassment 13. Wendy Chong: I had sex with Jack Neo twice a week 14. Jack Neo’s wife forgives him for extra marital affair 15. Jack Neo begged Wendy Chong to let him off  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent For Singaporeans who are still harboring false hopes that the prices of HDB flats will go down in the future, they are likely to be disappointed by this statement from National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan that the government has no intention of allowing flat prices in the future to go down. Worried at the rising chorus of public discontent against escalating HDB flat prices, poor Mr Mah had to burn his precious Sunday to be interviewed on "Talking Point" last night to explain his public housing policies to skeptical Singaporeans. The Channel News Asia programme also featured PAP MP Dr Lim Wee Kiat and Real Estate lecturer Mr Nicholas Mak. Mr Mah revealed that HDB will continue to built the majority of the flats in non-mature estate and to ensure that prices continue to stay up. "We make sure we don't overbuild because once you overbuild, you'll make flat prices in future go down, and that's not what we want", he said. He also declined to banning COVs as it will not be in the interest of homeowners: "When people talk about controlling COV ... they're talking about dampening prices, they're saying let's ban COVs.....If we control resale flat prices, we're actually moving away from the free market, which fundamentally would not be in the interest of homeowners." The prices of HDB flats have sky-rocketed over the last few years with that of resale flats growing by a record 8.2 percent in 2009 while median COVs doubled from $12,000 to $24,000 during the last quarter alone. There is a fine line between "over-building" and "under-building". Only slightly more than 11,000 new flats were built between the years 2006 – 2008 when there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens alone in 2008: [Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009] Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam: It is quite obvious that the high prices of HDB flats we see today is a result of poor planning by HDB to increase the supply of new flats to meet the expected increase in demand from immigration. The prices of HDB flats are kept artificially high not by market forces, but by building less flats than needed to meet the demand and increasing the population via immigration. As a result, Singaporeans are the ones who suffer in the end as they will have to shoulder more and more financial burden to pay for these over-priced 99-year leasehold public housing. Despite evidence showing otherwise, Mr Mah continues to insist that HDB flats remain "affordable" to the majority of Singaporeans though he admitted lately that he had been "caught off-guard" by the relentless increase in prices. He ended the interview on "Talking Point" with a key message to Singaporeans: "There is nothing wrong with the system." If there is really nothing wrong with the system, then the fault must lie with those who are in charge of the system. Singaporeans should stop complaining to the PAP, HDB and Mr Mah that they are being priced out of reach from the public housing market as Mr Mah appears to be still living high up in his own ivory tower. After all, according to his colleague Lim Swee Say, they are "DEAF" to all criticisms.   Related articles: >> Taiwanese PR offers $50k COV for resale flat >> Mah Bow Tan: PRs have minimal impact on resale flat prices >> No empirical evidence to suggest that public housing is affordable in Singapore >> When will Singapore’s property bubble burst? >> Why HDB is unable to reveal break down costs of new flats now >> HDB to consider introducing rules to curb property speculation >> HDB blames Singaporeans for not selecting flats when given the chance >> Singaporeans worried about retirement after depleting CPF to pay for over-priced HDB flats >> Mah Bow Tan acknowledged that rising HDB flat prices has sparked “fresh concerns” >> PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats” >> COVs of resale flats shooting through the roof >> HDB resale price index hit record high in 2009 >> Singaporean wants PRs to live in rented flats instead of buying resale flats >> Singaporeans wants PRs to be banned from selling HDB flats at a profit >> Shanmugam: Singaporeans likely culprits for driving up HDB flat prices >> Mah Bow Tan: HDB flats remain affordable >> Means testing for PRs to buy resale flats >> Immigration and public housing: should the govt or people plan ahead? >> Grace Fu: hard to predict demand for housing >> Indonesian PR bought 4-room flat at $653,000 >> Mah Bow Tan asks home buyers to be realistic >> PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get a flat for not planning ahead >> Home affordability: HDB versus the public >> Demand vs supply: so many applicants, so few flats >> Number of applicants exceed number of flats >> HDB to increase supply of flats >> Mah: don’t compare with prices in the past >> ERA: 40 per cent of HDB flat buyers are PRs  Read More →