May 13, 2008

Singapore's Unloved Chinese Labor Boom

Forbes said:

Low-skilled workers from China are ubiquitous in Singapore these days: in the shiny new terminal of Changi Airport, in coffee shops, in shopping malls, in supermarkets, at gas stations, at construction sites and populating the much-loved open-air food courts called hawker centers.

They also make their presence felt in five-star hotels, where one recent encounter found a Mandarin-speaking maid who could not comprehend a word of English. Most recently, Singapore's two bus companies began hiring drivers from China.

Chinese workers are just one constituency in Singapore's fast-growing foreign population, but they are the largest component of an expatriate contingent that crossed the 1 million mark in October, helping boost the overall population to 4.68 million in an otherwise chronically aging society. Foreigners make up about one-third of the national workforce. The country set a goal to raise its population total to 6.5 million within two decades, rejuvenating itself mainly through immigration from India and China.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Forbes on Singapore's Chinese labour influx."

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Submitted by Anonymous Coward on May 13//1:52pm and published by jseng, Agagooga :: 1832 reads | trackback (1)
Comments 5


The Filipinos are eloquent, pleasant and intrinsically good-natured, yet they only get to be maids.

The Thais are humble and respectful and seem to be able to pick up English, Malay and Chinese dialects relatively fast. Yet they are only allowed as far as the construction sector.

The (south) Indians will work for peanuts (and not the 600K kind, mind you) and have a rudimentary understanding of English from India itself to be able to communicate. Although not refined in social behaviour, they are docile and compliant and will work very hard irrespective of salary. Yet, the men are restricted only to the lower rungs of the construction sector whilst the women are limited to domestic service.

Why are only the PRC Nationals, who couldn't be bothered to learn English - they unapologetically speak Mandarin to a Malay or Indian person expecting him or her to understand; who are uncouth, unrefined and calculative; who are loud, brash and rebellious; who wouldn't think twice about selfishly exploiting a loophole to benefit their own cause; and, who assume that it is their right to remain in Singapore whilst it is a mere privilege for a non-Chinese Singaporean, the only ones being allowed free reign into the country and into all areas of the workforce?

If it isn't the first logical thing that one would think of - the blatant injection of preferred ethnicity into the population, then what is it I wonder?