Singapore — Ho Ching, CEO of Temasek Holdings has taken to Facebook (16 Aug) to defend her staff members against people who have doxxed them for alleged unfair hiring practices without any evidence.
Ho is the chief of the investment company headquartered in Singapore with a multinational staff of 800 people. “And let’s not yell unfair hiring, just bcos we weren’t hired,” she stated in her post.
“If we have a grievance, go report to MOM, to the board of the company, or go to their regulator. Better still, let’s reskill, upskill, to remain relevant in a fast changing world. Let’s not be fooled by anyone who tries to stir up racial biases that lurks beneath everyone of us.”
Her post came two days after Temasek released a statement defending their employees from India against “divisive, racist campaign” on social media. In the statement, Temasek said that it would “continue to press them to be more active in stamping out such hate speech, wherever it occurs on their platforms.” Similarly, Temasek also disclosed the demographics of their employees showing that 90 per cent of its 600 staff were made up of Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs).
They also added that it would have been “foolish of us not to tap on the global pool of talent” as a global investor and a forward-looking institution.” Facebook has since removed some of the posts after Temasek flagged them out for breaching community guidelines on hate speech.
Ho’s post defends Singapore’s global nature “And this one nation cannot earn a living and have better livelihoods making and selling things to one another, however noble that may seem. We have made our living connecting and interconnecting with the world and the region,” she said.
“And in this intensely connected world of internet and global markets, we forget this, and will slip into oblivion as had happened in the centuries past.”Â
Some netizens not pleased by Ho Ching’s Recommendation to “report to MOM”Â
Netizens took to the comment section to question Ho’s recommendation to “report to MOM” for any complaints about unfair hiring practices. One said that “Even for MOM, MOH, they practise double standards for Covid matters, and brushed away concerns raised by whistleblower, and called it case closed after “investigation”. What investigation?”
One also suggested that “MOM might consider providing more relevant information to disabuse Singaporeans of their misguided or wrong notions about discriminatory hiring”.
As of Aug 5, MOM released a statement that more than 1,200 employers have been put on the watch list for potentially discriminatory hiring practices. Minister of Manpower, Josephine Teo, had also previously released a statement on 1 Jan that employers will now face stiffer penalties for discriminatory hiring practices such as those found guilty of workplace discrimination will not be able to renew work passes for existing employees during the period of debarment.
Ho also followed up her first post with another post on the same day, writing about how over 400 of her staff in the Temasek Singapore office have been stepping up to fight Covid-19 in a myriad of ways.
Ho wrote, “They came forward to volunteer on top of their day jobs. No one checked their race, religion, or passports because we are OneTemasek team.”-/TISG