Singapore — Lawyer and opposition leader Lim Tean said that his party, People’s Voice (VSP) supports the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) for “Standing Up For Singaporean Workers!”
PSP has repeatedly brought up concerns regarding CECA, the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, on what may be preferential treatment toward Indian professionals at the expense of Singaporean workers.
A lengthy debate was held in Parliament last Tuesday (Jul 6), when PSP Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai sparred with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng concerning the agreement.
At the end of the debate, while Mr Leong said that he and fellow PSP NCMP Hazel Poa are in favor of Singapore’s Free Trade Agreements, he said that PSP will look further as to “whether CECA has contributed to the influx of some of the PMETs into Singapore in relation to our overall foreign talent policy”.
“We don’t agree that CECA is net beneficial to Singapore at this stage,” Mr Leong also said, adding, “We know the importance of the FTAs for Singapore as an open economy and especially as a small city state. However, what we are concerned about is what price we are paying.”
Mr Lim is the secretary-general of PV, which has long called for CECA to be abolished.
He wrote in a Facebook post, “You can’t be a fence sitter on this grave issue concerning Singaporean jobs!
You are either for Singaporean workers’ interests or you are in favour of foreign workers’ interest! Those in favour of the latter describe those who stand up for Singaporean workers’ rights as racist, xenophobic and nativist. They rather like the idea of being the global elites, whose main concerns are corporate profits rather than the wages of the Singaporean worker.”
Holding nothing back, Mr Lim added that he “would rather be insulted by these global elites than to sell my fellow Singaporeans down the river.
I will not keep quiet and see my country become an employer of last resort for hundreds of thousands of foreigners who cannot find employment back home, when our local well-qualified Singaporeans are deprived of good paying jobs and are encouraged to become Hawkers, Cleaners, PHV Drivers etc.”
Mr Lim also shared a Facebook post on last week’s ministerial statements on CECA by Mr Cheang Kok Ming, who is also part of PV.
Mr Cheang’s Jul 11 post has gone somewhat viral, with nearly 200 shares.
In the post, he also praised the PSP NCMPs, writing that Mr Leong had stood up to the pressure, and that he and Ms Poa had protected “Singaporean PMETs’ interest in a global economy.”
“Finally, when the curtain was drawn, we saw Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa standing tall in Parliament.
Well done!” /TISG