Manpower Minister Tan See Leng urged opposition Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai to refrain from hurting Singapore’s cohesiveness by constantly requesting employment data differentiating original, new citizens and permanent residents (PRs).
During the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) budget debate on Friday (Mar 4), Dr Tan noted that the frequent inquiries would create societal rifts.
“I urge Mr Leong – have a care. Please don’t undermine the cohesiveness we have painstakingly built over the years. And please ask people who share your point of view to also have a care for the rest of us,” said Dr Tan.
In his statement, Mr Leong said MOM was reluctant in differentiating employment data by categories such as “original citizens,” “new citizens,” and PRs. Instead, the ministry “lumps all the figures” under “locals.”
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“We do not have a clear picture of how policies have affected each category of people,” Mr Leong noted. He added the PSP had disputed previously the figures provided by Dr Tan in July last year regarding job creation for locals.
Mr Leong was referring to Dr Tan’s ministerial statement indicating that the number of local professionals, managers, and executives (PMEs) had grown by more than 380,000 from 2005 to 2020.
PSP NCMP Hazel Poa later contended in a parliamentary debate that a portion of these jobs may have resulted from foreign workers becoming PRs or PRs taking up citizenship.
Mr Leong repeated on Friday that most of the 380,000 increase was “not a real increase.”
“If we truly want the foreigners to complement the Singaporean core, then MOM must ensure that Singaporean jobs are not being threatened,” he said.
In his response, Dr Tan said, “We get the sense that the persistent requests coming from him for more information are red herrings. They are distractions from the key problem at hand.”
Despite Dr Tan points out that the majority of local PME growth in the last decade had gone to Singaporeans born in Singapore, “Mr Leong persists in drawing these divisions, asking for statistics splitting between original citizens, new citizens and permanent residents,” said the minister.
“I’ve also alluded, at that particular point in time, that as a society, we should not constantly be drawing such lines.
“Many of our new citizens and PRs share family ties with Singaporeans, or they’ve studied; they’ve worked; they’ve contributed, and they have also lived here for some time,” said Dr Tan, noting this population contributes to Singapore’s strengths as a society and economy.
Meanwhile, members from the online community shared a different perspective on the matter, noting a detailed breakdown of original citizens, new citizens, and PRs would be “helpful and useful for everyone to obtain a better understanding of the population growing trend in Singapore.”
Others highlighted that Mr Leong’s requests came from the ground and should not be taken negatively.
“PAP always claimed to be transparent, but when MP request for data, which they are entitled to, minister gave all sort of excuses. Is it so difficult to give, or there is something to hide?” said a netizen.
“Something is badly wrong when transparency of labour data will break cohesiveness,” a Facebook user added. /TISG