Singaporeans, is this what you want? To drive investments away and together with it, the jobs as well?

Singaporeans, is this what you want? To drive investments away and together with it, the jobs as well?

Your noise will be heard far and wide.

The Government has to strike a balance. In striking this balance, they take into account 3 factors:

1. The needs of our industries and enterprises.

2. The needs of our workers of this generation.

3. The opportunities for our children in the next generations.

When you send the wrong signal and turn investors away, not only your jobs will be impacted, the good jobs the government wants to create for the young who are still in schools, and those yet to be born will be impacted as well.

There are Singaporeans with valid concerns to be addressed but there are far more people with a political agenda who, on a daily basis, are on social media to stir the negative sentiments such as pointing out the number of errant companies flagged for discriminatory hiring practices.

Tell you what, the fact that you even get to know that such discriminatory practices exist means that there is monitoring of the situation by the authorities. And yes, the process can be refined and that is being looked into.

Those who continue to stir the negative sentiments against foreigners are not doing Singaporeans any favour. Their agenda is political.

A business hub means being cosmopolitan

A business or regional hub that does not welcome foreign talents? Is it even logical?

Back in the early 2000s, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew told students in NTU this:

"If we do not attract, welcome and make talent feel comfortable in Singapore, we will not be a global city, and if we are not a global city, we will not count for much.

With modern transportation and communications, you either play in the big league or you're not a player."

Singapore needs access to global markets to earn our living

International trade is our lifeline. Our trade to GDP ratio is around 319%, one of the highest globally. This is how important international trade is to our economy, and therefore to Singaporeans. This is also why our FTAs are so crucial to us.

PM Lee said in a Facebook post :

Singapore needs access to global markets to earn our living, and Free Trade Agreements play a crucial role in letting us do so.

Our network of FTAs has benefited us enormously. They create investments and opportunities for our businesses, and jobs for our people. They have helped make us a leading global hub.

The misrepresentation of the effects of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India has caused much unnecessary public concern.

Singaporeans are anxious about jobs, foreign competition, as well as the impact of the large number of foreigners working and living here. These are valid concerns which we will address. But if we put the blame on CECA, that will not solve our problem but instead make it worse.

Shanmugam tells PSP Leong Mun Wai to put up a motion on CECA for debate

Singapore has been going down the path of racism and xenophobia. Let's see which opposition politician will stand up and consistently speak against racism and xenophobia and not pay lip service in Parliament.

In Parliament, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that if Singapore continues to fan the flames of racism, we will get to an uncomfortable position.

He said:

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞.

Comments on these sites have Indians being called “cockroaches”, “rapists” and so on. 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦 – 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, “𝐎𝐡, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬”, 𝐨𝐫 “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐄𝐂𝐀”, 𝐨𝐫 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲”, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐱𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.

Just ask whether racism and xenophobia can ever be justified on these grounds.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐄𝐂𝐀, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧. If anyone here believes that CECA is a problem, put it up for a Motion, debate it openly and let’s hear whether Singaporeans benefit or lose from it.

I am looking at you, Mr Leong. I invite you to put up a Motion to debate CECA. You know that most of what is said about CECA is false.

And, what is happening on the ground? We are picking up from different coffeeshops. This morning, a friend of mine overheard in a coffeeshop, a conversation between five elderly gentlemen. They discussed the incident covered in the media of an Indian expatriate family.

We don’t know the facts. Several highly racist comments targeting Indians. So, it’s getting to the ground, and being repeated.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥.

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐱𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Singapore is 725 square kilometers of rock. We have to make a living by being open to the world. We will fail if we allow racism and xenophobia to become prevalent, and it is contrary to everything that has made us successful and proud to be Singaporean.