Progress Singapore Party is Our Only Cure for CECA Cancer!

Our country is sick, so much so that Singaporeans are underemployed, and under-represented in the top management, even in local companies. CECA has made matters worse, with many locals complaining about discriminatory hiring, and Indian nationals with non-accredited degrees taking PMET jobs from us. No opposition party has questioned the merits of CECA more often than the Progress Singapore Party (PSP).

PSP has locked horns with the PAP over the FT issue on many occasions. Although the WP has more opposition MPs, they did not speak up on this as often, for fear of being seen as xenophobic and racist. They have forsaken their working-class roots in favor of social justice issues to pander to their “woke” millennial supporters. Whereas, the PSP is a pro-Singaporean party, committed from day one, to removing the CECA cancer that is tormenting our nation. Here is what they have been fighting for us over the years:

How does CECA benefit Singapore?

Early on during PSP’s official party launch in 2019, Dr Tan Cheng Bock announced that they will ask the government to produce a balance sheet on how CECA has benefited Singapore — the number of Indians employed in PMET roles locally VS the number of Singaporeans employed in PMET roles in India.

Review CECA! Why rely on FTs?

In GE2020, PSP mentioned that they aim to review CECA to secure jobs for Singaporeans and reduce reliance on foreign labor.

After the elections, NCMP Leong Mun Wai also spoke about the FT issue in his maiden parliamentary speech. He urged the Government to reduce work pass approvals and renewals in the short term to channel more existing jobs to Singaporeans, and provide statistics of PMET jobs, broken down into citizen and PR categories.

He even added that he is “deeply disappointed” that DBS did not have a homegrown chief executive since the bank’s CEO, Piyush Gupta, was born in India and only became a Singapore citizen in 2009, making him a beneficiary of CECA.

Earlier this February, Leong Mun Wai also asked Chan Chun Sing whether MTI intends to negotiate for better terms in reviewing CECA in light of the DBS group’s merger with Lakshmi Vilas Bank. However, Chan Chun Sing replied that The Third Review of CECA is based on changing economic patterns between Singapore and our trade partners, and is therefore not linked to specific commercial transactions.

Few days ago, the Minister for Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam warned against groups capitalizing on Singaporeans’ anxiety over jobs to fan the flames of racism, and issued a challenge to Leong Mun Wai to file a motion to debate CECA in Parliament.

So far, the PSP is the only consistent party in voicing out Singaporeans’ concerns resulting from the unfair playing field brought about by CECA. The onus now should be on the PAP to provide data to prove that Singaporeans are not getting the short end of the stick, instead of rehashing the same arguments extolling the virtues of foreign expertise.

Singapore has always been an inclusive and open society, but no one likes to be taken advantage of, especially in our own home.

Reader’s Contribution by Ong