Commentary
The Kent Ridge Common, 18 Jul 2009, Kelvin Teo
SINGAPORE – Our leaders and economic advisor Dr Albert Winsemius did not make secret of their desire to lure Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Their economic policies are mainly directed towards the attraction of FDI firstly, and encouraging them to stay subsequently. Readers may recall an over-used rhetoric by our leaders:”Foreign talents create jobs for Singaporeans”. Perhaps, the phrasing of this statement is a little problematic, and thus, the statement as a whole should not be taken literally.
The part about “creating jobs” is paradoxical. For one, Singaporeans stand to lose their jobs to cheaper foreign labor. And the consequence is that liberally opening our doors to foreign labor have depressed wages. Hence, our leaders issued another piece of rhetoric “don’t be choosy”, which can simply be translated into “just accept any job regardless of the low wages”. Yes, it is equally true that jobs are created when policies created the conditions that attracted FDI, but provided the Singaporean applicant is willing to accept the depressed pay.
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