Movement for change Say NO to CECA and 6.9 million population
I gave a speech at Hong Lim Park on 3 November 2019. Here is the text of my speech.

I watched the video of Ramesh Erramalli scolding, abusing and belittling the security officer in his condominium. I find Ramesh behaviour to be arrogant, abusive and deplorable. I saw a foreigner who came to Singapore to take a well paid job bullying a local who earns perhaps less than one tenth of his salary and has to put in 12 hours a day just to make a living.

 The ministry of home affairs said that Ramesh is a Singapore citizen. It does not make any difference to me. I still see him as a foreigner, because he did not serve national service.

I cannot understand why he can take a high paying job in a bank when there are many well educated Singaporeans and have worked many years in the financial service industry. Why can’t this well paying job be filled by a Singaporean who has served national service?

I read that many other Singaporeans are upset with disgusted with Ramesh’s behaviour. They showed their anger using strong language to make personal attack and threat against Ramesh. 

I also do not agree with this excessive hatred displayed by my fellow Singaporeans.

We must remember that our views, as expressed in the social media, are reported in the global media and are read by both locals and foreigners in Singapore and elsewhere.

We not want the foreigners to see Singaporeans as bigots, racists or aggressive people. We should preserve the reputation and good image of Singaporeans.

A friend approached me to sign a petition asking for Ramesh to be sacked from his job and expelled from Singapore.

I declined to sign it. I prefer to be forgiving and to wait for Ramesh to apologise.

Ramesh did apologise to the security officer. I believe his apology to be sincere and that he has learned his lesson.

However, I am still angry at this episode. I am angry not at Ramesh, but at the government, the PAP government.

I am angry at the PAP national service policy. It requires our local males to serve two years full time as conscripts. They join the workforce two years later than foreigners, like Ramesh, and have to compete with foreigners for the good jobs.

The national service policy also requires our local males to serve ten years as reservists and to be called up each year for reservists training. I understand that many employers prefer to employ foreigners, rather than local males, as the locals are called up regularly for reservist training causing disruption to their work schedules.

When national service started in the 1960s, I supported it fully. Many Singaporeans supported it. It was necessary to build up a credible defence force. Singapore was then a poor country. The local males have to put in a sacrifice for the country.

Fifty years have passed. Singapore is no longer a poor country. Singapore is no longer a weak country in military terms.
Why are we still imposing this heavy burden our local male citizens? We can’t we pay them adequately for the sacrifice that we expect from them. We do we still have to take so much of their time in full time and reservist training compared to many other countries? We need to review this national service policy.

I am also angry at our ministry of manpower. They allowed foreigners to come into Singapore on employment pass to take jobs that could be done by our locals. In some cases, the foreigners get the employment pass with fake degrees or with degrees from dubious universities.

Why can’t we impose a levy on these foreigners on employment pass similar to the levy that is paid for foreign workers at lower levels? Why should these foreigners get good paying jobs, at the expense of our locals, who have to serve national service?

Why can’t the ministry scrutinize the applications more carefully and disallow fake and dubious degrees?

I am told that some employers prefer foreigners for another reason. The foreigners have to pay a high commission, amounting to several months of salary to the employment agent to get them a job in Singapore. Some employment agents pass some of the fee as a kickback to the employer or the human resource manager. I do not have any evidence that this is indeed the practice, but I can guess that it is likely to be true.

I am also angry at CECA, the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement signed between Singapore and India.
I believe that Ramesh came into Singapore under CECA. It is not only Ramesh. There are many more people like him, perhaps 50,000 or 100,000 or more.

These foreigners who come in freely under CECA take over jobs that could be filled by our locals. In some cases, the locals who already held the jobs were retrenched and their places were taken over by the foreigners under CECA.

When the company is a foreign owned company or when the human resource manager is a foreigner, there is a tendency for the employer or manager to take in workers from their home country, and in some cases from the own villages.

It is widely believed that CECA caused a lot of problems to Singaporeans in competing for good paying jobs in Singapore against the foreigners.

How does CECA benefit Singapore? What is the quid pro quo? So far, we have not seen any convincing evidence or report from the government.

CECA has been implemented for almost 15 years. Has it been a balanced agreement with balanced benefit to the people of both countries? If it is one sided, should CECA be reviewed or abandoned?

A month ago, someone spoke to me. He said that in many advanced countries, the people who drive taxis are the immigrants who cannot find any well paying permanent jobs to make a living. Why is it that in Singapore, it is the locals who have to be taxi drivers and private hire drivers, while the foreigners take over the good paying jobs? I was not able to give him a satisfactory answer.

I have met many people, especially the older ones. Like me, they have been proud of what Singapore has achieved in the past. They have supported the PAP and stood with the government to face the past challenges.

Many of them have felt that the current PAP government had betrayed the people. The government did not take care of the interest of the citizens and instead took care of the interest of foreigners.
General election is around the corner. It will be called in 3, 6 or 9 months time.

I call on voters to think not only of ourselves but of the future of our children and grand children.

We cannot allow the PAP to continue their current policies which have been bad for the people. We should be united and have the courage to vote for change.

We should vote for a party other than the PAP.  If all thinking people vote for another party, other than the PAP, we will be able to vote into Parliament a larger number of opposition MPs.

I hope that we can vote in at least one third of opposition MPs.
I know that some angry voters prefer to see the downfall of the PAP. We have to be patient. It will have to take a few general elections, not one.

If the PAP loses a large number of seats, they will know that their days are numbered. They will have to change their policies to take better care of the interest of the people, and not the foreigners.

The theme for today’s rally is – No for CECA, No for Ramesh and No for 6.9 million population.

I call for your support to send a strong message to the PAP government. And that means vote against the PAP at the next general election.

Thank you.

Tan Kin Lian
Vote - do you agree with my points?





 
 

Add Comment

---