THEME: Employment - The White and Blue Collars

In recent years, our legal profession has seen an open-door policy that allows foreign lawyers to practise law Singapore law in transactional matters. Yet, even though the rules are relaxed to admit foreign law practices into Singapore, there is still one category of foreign lawyers who remain subject to a long-standing strict legal regime for their admission here - Queens' Counsels.

The rules permit the admission of Queen's Counsels (or "QCs") for them to represent a litigant before our courts if the QC has, inter alia, special qualifications or experience pertaining to the case. This idea in the admission of QCs ensures that a real foreign talent is being allowed to represent a litigant in place of a local counsel. This same idea of "special qualifications or experience" should be considered as part of the criteria for allowing foreigners to take up any job in the category of Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians ("PMET") in Singapore where we are not short of suitable candidates.

It is a reasonable assumption that each job taken up by a foreign PMET in our job market means that one potential Singaporean candidate is displaced. The justification for doing so must be that the applicant is a "real foreign talent" who is not paid a less favourable remuneration package than that offered to a local candidate. Where a real foreign talent is recruited, there should be a requirement that a transfer of his/her knowledge and skills should take place during the tenure so as to upgrade the quality of our own local pool of PMETs. Any extension of the foreign PMETs' eligibility to continue working here should be supported with cogent reasons and corroborated by a statement from a local apprentice.

The construction industry has traditionally relied on foreign construction workers and there are not many Singaporeans who will consider taking up construction work except as foremen and project managers. Construction workers do not seem to pose a threat to our workforce and have become more or less indispensable. However, in the F&B industry, the need for cleaners, waiters, front service and other workers has not been adequately met by our local workforce because of low wages and a lack of pride in such jobs. In order to develop our own labour force to undertake the work that is now substantially taken up by foreign labour, we need to take a hard look at the costs of living that our workers at the lowest rung of our economic ladder are facing and how to inculcate job-pride.

There is a growing need for us to seriously consider whether minimum wages should be imposed to protect the rights of the most vulnerable groups in our workforce who contribute to the massive profits that many of our local companies are generating. The Progressive Wage Model advocated by NTUC to increase the salaries of workers in the cleaning and security industries, which is enforced only through licensing requirements,is in substance a minimum wage scheme and a step in the right direction, But more can be done to match up the wages to the minimum costs of subsistence.

Wages and work morale are not unrelated. In fact, low wages lead directly to low morale. Perhaps, there are business owners who will be genuinely troubled by wage increases because of their costs of doing business such are high rental costs. But if businesses are taking care of their workers, then the state with all its resources, ought to step in to see how they could help these businesses.

THEME: Transport - Making the COE and ERP systems more equitable

The costs of owning a car in Singapore are the highest in the world because of COEs or Certificates of Entitlement. To buy a motor vehicle, including motorcycles, taxis, buses and goods vehicles, one must first bid for a COE.

The COE bidding system is the means by which the state seeks to control vehicle population and the ERP system is for controlling traffic flow. Looking at the congested roads everyday even on ERP roads, many have come to see both COEs and ERPs as revenue churners rather than truly effective vehicular control mechanisms.

Any good policy to control vehicle  population and traffic flow must be equitable both in principle and in implementation. The COE works on a bidding system that has led to spiraling COE prices. Bidders include car dealers who drive up the bids in order to clear their stocks. High COE prices increase the costs of transport and lead to higher inflation, which in turn contributes to high costs of living. The ERP charges, which are now collected at all expressways and major roads leading into and out of the central business district, have exacerbated the situation and adversely affected businesses during the ERP operating hours. Orchard Road, for instance, sees motorists paying to drive in and drive out even on Saturdays.

It is time to review the roles of the COE and ERP systems, especially when our MRT system has become more unreliable. There is a social injustice in a situation where people are left with a Hodson's choice - forking out huge sums of money to have one's own means of transport or taking public transport which are hard to get on or often disrupted.

Until a better system is devised, the current systems can be improved upon to be more equitable. Instead of being conducted monthly, COE biddings can be carried out quarterly and the COE premium should be fixed for every quarter. This fixed quarterly COE premium will provide some certainty for prospective buyers working on their budgets and to plan their expenditure accordingly. 

Only car buyers should be allowed to bid for COEs and they should pay for what they bid subject to a non-transfer-ability period to prevent profiteering. The there could be a restriction on number of times that a person may bid within a fixed period so as to allow others a chance to bid, COEs should also last longer instead of the current 10 year period as cars are made to last much longer. This is also more ecologically friendly and helps reduce wastage of limited resources.

Motorcycles, or at least those of lower capacities, should be exempted from the COE system. They are the means of transport for many dispatch riders and lower income workers. Taxis and buses, which are a means of public transport, should also be considered for exemption from the COE system. Commercial vehicles should also be considered for exemption in the interest of lowering transport costs for businesses, thereby reducing the prices of goods and services.

ERPs should operate only on major roads leading into the central business districts and only during the peak office hours. Saturdays should be free from ERP and the collection of ERP for vehicles leaving Orchard Road should stop. Whilst there may be a case to collect an administrative fee non-payment of ERP charges and a penalty for further default despite reminders, inadequate payment due to insufficient stored value in cash cards should not attract any such fees or penalty. The ERP system should deduct whatever is available in the card and allow the motorist to pay the shortfall within a prescribed period.

Traffic congestion can be substantially reduced construction works are not carried out so intensively.  Heavy trucks and construction vehicles add to the traffic volume and and certain arterial roads could be designated off-limits to construction vehicles during peak hours. More traffic policeman should be deployed on patrols and traffic lights could be better synchronized to smoothen traffic flow. 

State policies should be imbued with pro-people sensitivities to promote trust and respect for the systems that are suppose to operate for their benefit. We can certainly do more in this respect.

Thoughts From A Concerned Singaporean

A fellow Singaporean sent me a message and I thought of sharing it with you.

The writer's message (as it is) is as follows:

"We have a large and brain tank in public service. Sometimes I wonder

(1) Why we react to public needs of reducing migrant workers before increasing workforce in service industry. Strategies to overcome shortages should be in place first. For example, increase the culture and empathy for people in the service sector. Initiatives can take many forms, such as requiring Students to do ECA or internship in service sector, and increasing minimum wage of service staff. 

(2) Pilots are paid well. Taxi drivers can earn >$3k a month. Bus drivers, also shuttle many lives around. Many of them are not locals. Can you imagine bus drivers cannot convey information on bus routes during mrt breakdowns? 

(3) We link ministers' salary to link the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singaporean citizens, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the ethos of political service. Couldn't the public service, under this group of leaders also re-look at the half baked solution of implementing tray return policy at hawker centers. After years of implementation, is it really working or shall we discontinue this good objective but a major implementation breakdown with ill creativity?

(4) LTA hopes to create a people centered land. Does LTA knows that aunties and uncles do not use wifi. Shouldn't visual aids on bus arrival time be indicated at every bus stops? As we age, shouldn't all bus stops have seats instead and take priority over narrow sliding benches that aims to prevent people be sleeping over it?

(5) Surely LTA has done numerous study trips overseas before implementing MRT in Singapore. LED signs in trains are often faculty or blocked in crowded trains. Announcements are muffled by rattling sounds of the train. As Riders may lose track of the approaching station after a tired day, has LTA observed that the London Underground has images of the approaching station's name along the tunnel much before the train arrival ? After all, gadgets like LED and announcements failed to delivery."

What are your thoughts?