Singapore — A debate that was meant to be about jobs ended up centring around racism and the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in Parliament on Tuesday (Sept 14).
On Aug 31, Progress Singapore Party’ Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai filed a motion about the “widespread anxiety among Singaporeans on jobs and livelihoods caused by the foreign talent policy.”
This was followed on Sept. 8 by a similar motion filed by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, which also asked, however, that Parliament deplore “attempts to spread misinformation about free trade agreements like CECA, stir up racism and xenophobia, and cause fear and anxiety amongst Singaporeans.”
Mr Wong spoke first, criticising the motion from PSP for having “strong racist and xenophobic undertones.”
He added that “the government is prepared to fight any party that chooses to take a populist line and stirs racism and xenophobia”.
He also said that PSP’s motion is “barking up the wrong tree because the issue is not about local talent versus foreign talent,” later adding that if the NCMP “continues to equivocate, or to make misleading or false claims, then we can only conclude that CECA is a cover for the PSP to stoke racist and xenophobic sentiments.”
As for Mr Leong, he firmly denied all accusations of racism, calling it “a shame that this Government has persistently tried to link the public discourse on CECA to racism.
“I hereby state categorically that PSP is against linking the public discourse on CECA to racism,” he added, “All that Singaporeans want to know is why the jobs and livelihood situation for many Singaporeans has worsened over the last twenty years. Give me the data, give me the answers.”
The PSP NCMP also clarified that the motion hennaed filed is not directed at any nationality or race, and that PSP “welcomes foreigners to work with Singaporeans for mutual benefit.”
He also said, “Singaporeans would like to ask the Minister for Trade and Industry to clarify the definition of Foreign Talent and whether the hundreds of thousands of work pass holders in our country are all considered foreign talent.”
At the end of his speech Mr Leong noted that the debate is hampered “by the Government’s unwillingness to give full disclosure on immigration and employment data to the 23 parliamentary questions that the PSP has tabled,” as well as “further hindered by unnecessary distractions like comments about racial undertone.” /TISG
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Leong Mun Wai: “The assumption that foreign talent is the silver bullet… is turning into a fallacy”