A netizen said, “Let’s not beat around the bush. After 50 years, we still do not have an alternative political party who could competently take over the sitting government. There is no equal. The opposition that we have are no more than complaint bureaus and comedy clubs.”
Sadly, this is the truth. You’re in denial if you disagree. Just look at Lim Tean, Goh Meng Seng, Charles Yeo and Leong Mun Wai, just to name a few.
And then you look at those you thought would do better and you’re disappointed.
Take Jamus Lim, an associate professor and academic. He publishes on Facebook what residents tell him and draws conclusions from an anecdote or two that he hears from them. But he is too lazy to research further or find out how residents can be helped.
Instead of repeating what a resident said – that ‘Singaporeans enjoyed few privileges in the local job market’ and it was ‘tough’ competing with foreigners willing to work for less’ – he should have asked himself why, in this current very tight labour market, his resident has difficulty getting a job.
Not only that, he could have gone further to render assistance to his residents because there are schemes in place to help them. But this was not done. The Opposition is only keen to amplify unhappiness and stop short of offering available assistance.
A Global Hiring Realities Survey in 2021 shows that 85% of Singaporeans were looking to change their jobs in the next 6 to 12 months. 1 in 2 also declined job offers.
These are not the attitudes of people disadvantaged in their job search. These are attitudes of people choosing their employers and the best job.
More than 92 per cent of polytechnic graduates found jobs within six months of graduation or completing National Service in 2021.
In the current tight labour market with many jobs unfilled for months, jobs are chasing Singaporeans.
My young friend who works in a bank sent out applications for a new job, got several interviews and 4 job offers with one offering a 50% pay increase on her current salary.
If one anecdote is enough to make sweeping generalisations (as Jamus did), who says employers are looking only to hire cheap in this tight labour market?
In stark constrast, Assoc Professor Elmie Nekmat, a member of the PAP team in Sengkang GRC, received requests for assistance from residents on job-switching and on the difficulty of finding suitable jobs during house visits. His response was to act on the requests to do all that was within his ability to help residents with follow-up as well.
If Jamus Lim truly believes that things are what his residents said to him, and if he wants to be taken seriously, he should raise the issues in Parliament instead of posting on Facebook. After all, he is an elected MP with a platform to speak in Parliament.
WP cannot expect to do any less than this.
The Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh is given an office in Parliament, staff support paid for with taxpayers’ money, resources, and additional allowance.
