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  • If You Aren’t Chinese You Can’t Compete In Singapore

    If You Aren’t Chinese You Can’t Compete In Singapore

    NOVEMBER 30 — The owner of the famous local briyani restaurant Blue Diamond, Abdul Hameed Mohamed Farook, is being prosecuted for hiring workers on an S pass (a visa category that requires a salary of S$2,200 or RM5,708 a month) but paying them far less.

    This might appear quite patently dishonest and illegal, and I’m all for paying workers a fair wage, but it seems to me he had little choice.

    His business is an Indian restaurant and to run an Indian restaurant you need Indian workers, or in a pinch maybe Pakistani or Bangladeshi workers.

    However, Singapore doesn’t in fact allow you to hire Indian or any South Asian workers as restaurant staff. In fact, they can’t be given work permits for any jobs in the service sector which includes Retail, Restaurants, and Beauty among others.

    The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) which regulates labour on the island has decreed that work permits in the service sector must only be granted to workers from North Asian sources; the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau and an exception is made for Malaysia. (http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/passes-visas/work-permit-fw/before-you-apply/Pages/service-sector.aspx)

    Now, Singapore is reliant on foreign labour. Any large scale business must hire foreigners — to stack shelves, to staff kitchens, to man pliers and tweezers.

    But according to the MOM these foreigners can only come from one country — the People’s Republic (and to some extent Malaysia). Because no one is really going to be importing shelf stackers and pot stirrers from Hong Kong or South Korea.

    This puts any non-Chinese business at a disadvantage as PRC workers tend to speak only Chinese and it is never easy to manage staff you can’t communicate with. It puts these community facing businesses at a particular disadvantage; perhaps an Indian-run shop can make do with PRC shelf stackers, but a Malayalee restaurant or saree store is unlikely to be able to manage.

    Now you can say this is all to protect some sort of ethnic balance because there are so many Indian and Bangladeshi workers in construction that having service sector workers from China balances things out.

    But firstly isn’t maintaining a “correct” race balance in itself a dubious exercise? And even if we accept this need for racial quotas, exceptions must be made for community facing businesses.

    The local Indian community is simply too small and the Malaysian Indian community hardly large enough to provide the labour for local Indian restaurants, beauty parlours, flower shops and the like. And the fact that Chinese shops, hairdressers and restaurants have access to effectively unlimited cheap labour gives them an innate advantage.

    The situation is patently unfair as it privileges one race over the other.

    What does this policy say to us? That Filipinos can be maids but not servers? Indians are good for being construction coolies but we don’t want to see them as hotel staff? This is why you see Mandarin-speaking servers struggling to pronounce Palak Paneer across the curry houses of Singapore.

    It’s destroying Singaporean businesses: Indians, Malays and Eurasians have been put in a position where they can’t compete on equal terms. The incentive to break and bend the rules in order to hire staff you can communicate with is very high and Blue Diamond is very unlikely to be the only offender.

    For simply wanting to hire staff who speaks their language, a whole community is liable to be criminalised and if you ask me, that’s racist.

    *These are the opinions of the columnist, Surekha A Yadav.

     

    Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Ringgit Slumps To 10-Month Low Against Sing Dollar

    Ringgit Slumps To 10-Month Low Against Sing Dollar

    The ringgit slumped to a 10-month low against the Singdollar today (Dec 1), prompting many to rush to money-changers to snap up the Malaysian currency.

    The ringgit’s sudden steep decline came amid fears that tumbling global oil prices will hit oil-exporter Malaysia.
    As of 5pm today, S$1 could buy RM2.63 — a 2.3 per cent slide from last week’s rate of RM2.57. The last time the ringgit fell to a similar level was on Feb 13 this year, when the ringgit closed at 2.627 against the Singdollar.

    Mr Mohamed Rafeeq, the Money Changers Association of Singapore’s secretary, said many money-changers at Raffles Place were shocked at the falling value of the ringgit today.

    “We thought there was some mistake, then more and more people started coming to change money. But after seeing that we could only sell our current stock at the previous rate which was 2.57, (the customers) went away and said they would wait until we had new stock which we could sell at a lower price,” he told TODAY over the phone.

    He said he was not worried as he expected the ringgit to remain low for at least another week.

    Two other money-changers reported brisk business today, although they did not say what rate they offered for the ringgit.

    Mr Siraydin, of Sirajudin Money Changer, saw almost double the number of daily customers at his shop in People’s Park Complex.

    “Normally, (we get) about 30 people, today more people came to change to ringgit — about 50-plus,” he told TODAY.

    Mr Mohamed Rafi, who owns M.M. Shariff Traders, said his shop in The Arcade — a popular money-changing hub in Raffles Place — saw a 50 per cent jump in the number of customers buying the ringgit.

    Malaysian Chew Zhi Loon, 27, who works as an actuarial executive in Singapore, said he plans to take advantage of the falling ringgit to remit more money home. Mr Chew, who sends money to his parents once every few months, added that he had never remitted money at such a low rate.

    Singaporean Rosnah Hussin, 30, who travels to Johor Bahru up to twice a week plans to “stock up” on ringgit.

    “I go to JB to buy groceries, pump petrol and even wash my car because it is cheaper there,” said the student relations officer.

    The ringgit also fell hard, at 2.5 per cent, against the American dollar — its biggest two-day slide since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

    Analysts have said that Malaysia, whose oil-related industries account for a third of the country’s revenue, is likely to be the Asian country which will be hit hardest by the sudden steep decline in oil prices.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Osman Sulaiman: Malay Muslim Community Must Make A Stand As The Government’s Inconsistent Policies Continue to Divide

    Osman Sulaiman: Malay Muslim Community Must Make A Stand As The Government’s Inconsistent Policies Continue to Divide

    I believe the reason why some people still fear the Muslim women who wear the hijab is becoz they have little or poor knowledge on why these ladies put it on. And they most probably have not had the opportunity nor the exposure to mingle and make contact with them.

    For 50 years, our gov has all of the necessary apparatus to assuage this matter but it has not done so and has in fact shown to be unwilling to do so. It continues to do this so that it can rule by division.

    They continue to disallow any muslim child who wear the headgear from attending the mainstream school and thus segregating the mass of the population from these people and thus compounding the misconception about people who wear the hijabs.

    Many studies have shown that the younger the child is exposed to a certain environment, the better these children will be able to adapt. Unfortunately, the people that rule us think otherwise.

    How then do we integrate people of different faith together? Oddly enough, the Sikh community is given the green light to wear the turban in school if they choose to.

    Dont get me wrong. Im not advocating for the gov to ban turbans in pri and sec schools becoz the muslim girls weren’t allowed to practice their faith but rather to apply the policy consistently for the greater good of the people as a whole.

    For all of its time in power, our gov has continued with its iniquity towards certain segment of the society in particular the malays and/or muslims.

    From time to time, we will also hear the ministers on record to give their skewed perspective of the malays and muslims, creating further doubts. I wonder how our malay/muslim ministers feel serving such a government.

    I also find it hard to swallow that Singapore reproves its neighbour up north for their exclusion of talent based on race but at the same time doing exactly the opposite of what it propagates.

    Other than disallowing the muslim girls who wear the headgear in pri and sec mainstream schools, many job opportunities (particularly in the uniform groups) are also not made available to them by way of implementing discriminating policies. This act has unfortunately spilled over to the private sectors.

    Our gov is certainly not oblivious on the aspirations of the malay/muslim community to be treated justly and to remove any doubts on its loyalty towards the nation. It has come to a point where our fundamental rights are now treated as candies to be given at the pleasure of these people governing us.

    If there are social faultlines that divide us, especially on race or religion, then i believe this gov is the main contributor of such matters.

    It has been many years my community keep giving this current gov their support but have seen no change to this issue. I implore my community to rethink on their choices. The support should be given to people who believe in inclusiveness. Not the artificial ones that we are experiencing now.

    Ask yourself this pertinent question. How many more years do we want to wait? If we have never contributed anything significant to our own community, this is the best chance to do so on a huge scale.

    We cant have any success without a little sacrifice. We should not fear the unknown. No one will change our fate unless we change it ourselves.

    We need to rally our family members and friends to do what is needed. Im afraid that with the influx of new citizens, our political voices will be diminished further. It might then be too late for any regrets.

    Regards,
    Osman Sulaiman

     

    Authored by Osman Sulaiman.

  • Visit By The Pope To Turkey Puts UMNO To Shame

    Visit By The Pope To Turkey Puts UMNO To Shame

    KUCHING: The just-concluded Umno General Assembly was marked by racist slurs, religious intolerance and bigotry, observed Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, while Christians and Muslims elsewhere in the civilised world are reaching out to each other in peace and tolerance.

    Anwar pointed out that Pope Francis, currently on a visit to Turkey, had been invited by Grand Mufti Rahmi Yaran of Turkey to pray at the famous Blue Mosque which was once a Cathedral when the country was part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.

    “The gesture by the Grand Mufti is unthinkable in Malaysia under Umno,” said Anwar who was on a visit to Kuching. “Umno leaders are taking backward steps in their relations with non-Muslims.”

    Anwar noted that the media had described the Pope’s visit to Turkey as demonstrating “a powerful vision of Christian-Muslim understanding at a time when neighbouring countries are experiencing violent Islamic assaults on Christians and religious minorities”.

    “There is a need to appreciate this move. It has relevance in terms of our attitude and the Umno General Assembly’s on relations with non-Muslims in this country,” Anwar said. “Pope Francis’ visit is a gesture that would go a long way towards blazing a trail for a new chapter on Christian-Muslim relations and mending the strained relations of the past.”

    “Once we get past theological polemics, which more often than not puts a strain on inter-religious relations, the matters that bind these two great faiths could be reason enough for cultivating tolerance and respect.”

    Pope Francis was radical, pointed out Anwar, as he preferred to relate rather than pontificate.

    “That has made all the difference. He goes to Turkey not to preach but to reach out, very much in the tradition of Christ, with humility and peace to the Muslim world,” said Anwar.

    Pope Francis’ genuine desire for understanding must be received warmly and reciprocated by leaders of the Muslim world, he added, but ruled out Umno taking a positive attitude on the Pope’s visit to Turkey.

     

    Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

  • Malaysia Will Not Allow Chin Peng’s Ashes To Be Brought Back To Malaysia

    Malaysia Will Not Allow Chin Peng’s Ashes To Be Brought Back To Malaysia

    MALACCA – The Malaysia government will not allow the ashes of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng to be brought back to Malaysia, said Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Sunday.

    “We will not allow his ashes to be brought back as we are sensitive to the feelings of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the soldiers, policemen and others whose family members were killed or maimed by the brutal CPM insurgents,” Datuk Seri Zahid said at a news conference after launching an event at the Malacca Motorcycle Carnival, The Star reported.

    Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, led the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Malaya against the colonial British authorities and then the Malayan government after 1957.

    The hostilities ended only in 1989 with a Thailand-brokered peace accord.

    Chin Peng died of cancer in September last year at the age of 88. He had been living in exile in Thailand after the 1989 peace accord, and his attempts to return to his birthplace in Perak had been stymied by the Malaysian courts on the basis that he did not have citizenship papers.

    Malaysian Premier Najib Razak has called him a “terrorist leader” and said that his ashes would not be allowed into the country.

    But a non-governmental organisation, 21st Century Malaysia Friendship Association, recently called for the Malaysian government to respect the Hatyai Peace Accord which allowed Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back to the country, The Star said.

    The Malaysian Chinese Association, a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, had pointed out that the remains of ethnic Malay terrorists like Noordin Mohammad Top were allowed to be buried in their Malaysia hometowns.

    On Sunday Dr Zahid also defended the government’s move to strengthen the 1948 Sedition Act, reported the Star.

    The Act will be amended to include sedition through the Internet, touching on religious sensitivities, and calling for Sabah and Sarawak to leave Malaysia. Dr Zahid was cited as saying the move was necessary to preserve unity and harmony in Malaysia’s multiracial society.

    “The Sedition Act was introduced in 1948 where there was no Internet at the time. Therefore, this Act needs to be amended,” said Dr Zahid. He added that a Bill to amend the Sedition Act is expected to be tabled in Parliament in March next year.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com