Category: Politik

Discouraged, More Under 30 Stop Looking For Jobs

After he graduated with a degree in economics and finance in 2014, Mr Haziq Baharudin spent a year sending out hundreds of resumes as he looked for a permanent job.

Late last year, the 25-year-old decided it was time to give up on his job search after he failed to receive any responses.

He decided he would resume his search for a full-time position when the economy improves and joined his friends and started an F&B business.

Mr Haziq is part of a growing number of discouraged workers here aged under 30.

This year, there were 1,200 young discouraged workers, up from 700 last year. A discouraged worker is someone who is not actively looking for a job because he or she does not think that a search will yield results.

When the prevailing outlook in the economy is gloomy and there is a shortage of jobs, the incidence of discouraged workers tends to increase.

This year, there were 9,900 discouraged workers, up from 8,700 last year but lower than the 11,100 in 2009.

According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) advance release on the labour force two weeks ago, 6,900 of discouraged workers – nearly 70 per cent – were aged above 50.

The under 30s were the second largest group at 12 per cent.

The MOM report cited some reasons for workers being discouraged – the belief that there is no suitable work available, employers’ discrimination or the lack of necessary qualifications, training or experience.

National University of Singapore (NUS) labour economist Liu Hao Ming says it is hard to guess if young discouraged workers here are highly educated.

He said: “By definition, these individuals believe that they cannot find a job at the wage rate that is at or above their reservation wages (lowest wage rate at which a worker is willing to accept a particular type of job).

“It… is a mix of expectation of acceptable wages and probability of finding such jobs.”

Mr Haziq admits that his chances of employment could have been limited because he insisted on getting a job in the creative industry.

Eventually, worry over his finances led him to set up SteamHaus with his friends.

SteamHaus sells steamed buns at events and has been quite successful so far.

He said: “I think I would be a lot more stressed if the business was going badly. I saved quite a bit during National Service and from my freelance jobs, but I was worried this would dry up.”

NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser thinks that the number of young discouraged workers could rise if there continues to be a mismatch of skills and expectations between job seekers and employers.

He said: “Our young people have been brought up to believe in the Singapore Dream – they want to be able to purchase a flat, settle down and enjoy a decent standard of living. If their job prospects do not support that kind of aspirations, they would be rather discouraged.”

Source: The New Paper

December 12, 2016
Jokowi Meets Kofi Annan To Discuss Myanmar

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held a meeting with former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday to discuss humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people in Rakhine state, Myanmar.

The 30-minute bilateral meeting took place before the President officially opened the ninth Bali Democracy Forum, in which Annan, who served as UN secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, became the keynote speaker.

Annan, who founded the Kofi Annan Foundation, is now the head of the Advisory Committee for Rakhine State. During the meeting, he explained to Jokowi his findings during his visit to the conflict area and advised countries to take urgent steps to help victims of the humanitarian crisis.

“Indonesia will soon dispatch humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people. I have ordered the relevant ministers to prepare the necessary logistics, especially food and blankets,” Jokowi said after the meeting.

Accompanying the President at the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Annan appreciated the Indonesian government for taking prompt action to provide humanitarian assistance for victims in the troubled state.

“In the longer term, we will also support Myanmar in terms of providing capacity building in the field of good governance, democracy and human rights. We have started these programs and will continue to do that, because it is very important,” she explained, citing results of her recent discussion with Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Delegations from 94 countries and observers from several organizations are attending the two-day conference to discuss democracy, religious tolerance and pluralism and strengthen global cooperation.

Source: The Jakarta Post

December 12, 2016
Falling HDB Parts At Hougang And Circuit Road: Town Councils To Take Action

Probes into two recent cases of facade parts falling off Housing Board blocks have been completed, and the respective town councils are taking steps to avoid a recurrence.

In October, a cladding board made of calcium silicate fell off Block 51, Circuit Road. The next month, a plaster slab dislodged from Block 449, Hougang Avenue 10 and crashed to the ground.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said investigations showed that the cladding in the Circuit Road case had dislodged because of “wear and tear”.

After inspecting the block in question and 24 other blocks in the precinct, the professional engineer appointed by Marine Parade Town Council has recommended that similar calcium silicate cladding panels at all of these blocks be removed.

Those at the service duct areas will be replaced with new metal panels.

“We understand that Marine Parade Town Council will be progressively carrying out these rectification works as recommended by the PE to ensure public safety,” the BCA said.

Marine Parade Town Council told The Straits Times that it is currently working with its professional engineer and contractor to perform the necessary works.

During the inspection, some boards were found to have “loose connection of screws to the claddings”, said Marine Parade Town Council. These damaged boards have been removed, it said, adding that visual inspections were carried out on the other 24 blocks.

In the Hougang case, a professional engineer appointed by Ang Mo Kio Town Council inspected and found all existing plaster surfaces at the incident block “in satisfactory condition”, the BCA said.

“Based on the PE’s investigation report, the fallen plaster had dislodged as it had deteriorated due to exposure to weather over time.

“We understand that Ang Mo Kio Town Council will be repairing the affected area and stepping up checks on the surrounding blocks.”

The latest investigations come amid a string of incidents in which facade parts have fallen off HDB blocks.

In September, a concrete sunshade dislodged from Block 201E, Tampines Street 23, and fell on another sunshade below it.

After a probe, the BCA said last week (Dec 4) that the sunshade, about 5m long, had no reinforcement bars on the side that fell.

In relation to the Tampines case, the BCA said it is presently further investigating to “determine whether there were contraventions to the building regulations when the sunshades were built”.

It added: “Building owners are responsible for the maintenance of their buildings, including facade elements and any exterior features. They should carry out regular checks and maintenance of the facade of their building including all such exterior features.”

While no one was hurt in any of these incidents, the BCA is carrying out a review on building facade safety here.

Source: The Straits Times

December 12, 2016
Study Finds Majority Of People Condemning Ahok’s ‘Blasphemy’ Not Well Informed

Few Indonesian people who believe that Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has committed blasphemy have a clear understanding of the context of his speech during which he quoted a Quranic verse, a survey has found.

The survey commissioned by Jakarta-based pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) revealed on Thursday that 45.2 percent of respondents regarded Ahok’s remarks during his conversation with local residents in Thousand Islands regency on Sept.27, in which he cited Surah al-Maidah, as blasphemous.

However, when they were asked about the governor’s remarks, only 11.5 percent of the respondents said they clearly understood what Ahok had said.

The study further found that only 12.9 percent of the public had seen the video of Ahok’s speech uploaded on the Internet.

“As the study found that only a very few people had actually watched the video [of Ahok’s statement], much of the blasphemy-related negative sentiment about Ahok is baseless,” SMRC founder Saiful Mujani told a discussion on Thursday.

SMRC surveyed 1,220 respondents aged 17 years and above in its study conducted from Nov. 22 through 28 in response to the massive anti-Ahok demonstration organized by Islamic organizations, including the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), on Nov. 4. The survey was conducted through direct interviews with respondents in various areas across the country.

Source: The Jakarta Post

December 12, 2016
No Influx Of Chinese Nationals In Johor

JOHOR BARU • Investments from China into Johor are part of a global trend and it does not make sense to say that there will soon be 700,000 Chinese nationals living in the southern state, said Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He made the remarks to rebut a claim by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad that housing projects in Johor such as Forest City township will result in an influx of Chinese nationals into the state.

Datuk Seri Khaled said China has become an economic powerhouse with a large middle class that has a strong appetite for property all over the globe, the Malay Mail Online news website quoted him as saying on Thursday.

And Dr Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years, should understand the importance of foreign investments as he had flown all over the world to ask investors to put money in the country.

“This is a global phenomenon and it behoves all parties, particularly the private sector, to attract investment from China and, specifically, to Johor. More so when Johor is just next to Singapore,” Mr Khaled said in a statement.

“But it is wildly inaccurate to state that property… is only for the Chinese. What more when developers in Johor do not target only Chinese as their prospects.”

Dr Mahathir, who now leads an opposition party, claimed in a speech late last month that a “gigantic city” being built in Johor would be peopled by Chinese nationals.

He further claimed that he had heard that they would be given Malaysian identity cards to vote for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition.

“This is the frightening story I heard, that there is an attempt to issue ICs to foreigners to support Najib in the next general election,” he said in a speech at an opposition rally last week, as quoted by the Malaysian Digest news site.

“Johoreans, Malays or even local Chinese and Indians can’t fill up this gigantic city that can hold 700,000 people. Foreigners will be imported to fill these houses being funded by Chinese developers, to settle them into our community,” Dr Mahathir said.

Rebutting the claim, Mr Khaled said the 1,386ha Forest City project, which is being built on four man-made islands, is a project lasting 30 years.

“Marketing for residential properties in Forest City is not concentrated only in China but also in Australia, Middle East and other countries, and it is only offering 10,000 units,” he said, as quoted by Bernama news agency.

“After 30 years, maybe there will be 700,000 foreigners in Johor but it is unlikely all of them will be Chinese nationals.”

He added: “We, in Johor, do not want to be the backyard of Singapore. We want to develop on our own efforts, our capability, strength and on the position of Johor itself.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

December 11, 2016