During his maiden speech in Parliament earlier today (Sep 1), Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai touched on two pertinent issues – immigration and jobs.
As the Debate on the President’s Address took place, Mr Leong in his speech raised the following three questions:
• Why there are seemingly fewer good jobs for Singaporeans while the immigrant workforce has grown rapidly over the last two decades? Does it mean there is discrimination against Singaporeans?
• Why are there not enough skilled Singaporeans to take up the good jobs in the new industries as claimed, despite having “world-ranking” universities? Are there no corrective actions taken to increase the number of suitably qualified Singaporeans in areas where we are lacking?
• Why are Singaporeans paying higher and higher taxes when there are 40% of immigrants in our workforce whose taxes should have helped to reduce the tax burden? Do we have a net gain in tax revenue after deducting all the infrastructural and social costs incurred in supporting these foreigners?
He explained that the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) is a pro-Singaporean, pro-Singapore party, that has observed strong sentiments on the ground and called for “immediate action to be taken to restore the balance of interests between the Singaporeans and the foreigners in our country”.
“After two decades of rapid immigration growth, the immigrant share of our population stands at more than 40% today. As a result, one can expect the group dynamics at the workplace to have changed drastically, and we must take the rumblings from the ground about Singaporeans being discriminated against seriously”, Mr Leong noted in his speech.
He called for the ‘Foreign Talent Model’ to be tweaked to reduce new work pass approvals and renewals in order to channel more existing jobs to Singaporeans.
He also proposed the designation of a group of Offshore Companies with products and services which Singaporeans do not yet have the skills to produce. These companies can have a “freer hand” in attracting talents from all over the world, he said.
In his speech, Mr Leong also stressed that “citizenship is sacrosanct to Singaporeans who are justifiably concerned about the erosion of national identity and the dilution of our citizenship”.
His full speech can be found here. /TISG