A sharp difference in policy between two neighboring countries. Which country gets it right?

Agence France-Presse - 1/20/2008 4:54 AM
Malaysia to cut 500,000 foreign workers by 2009: report

The Malaysian government is planning to send home up to 500,000 foreign workers by 2009 in a bid to force employers here to hire locals, according to a report Sunday.

The move follows a denial by the government earlier this month that it had frozen the recruitment of workers from India after reports quoted officials saying a ban was in place.

There are about 2.3 million foreign workers in Malaysia, according to home ministry figures, with the vast majority mainly employed in manufacturing and agriculture as well as in domestic work.

"We have been lax with the ruling to allow employers to cut costs with cheaper foreign labour," the Home Ministry's top civil servant Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap told the Star daily.

"But now, they have to turn to locals and pay a reasonable salary based on supply and demand," he added.

Raja Azahar told the paper his ministry was planning to have only 1.8 million foreign workers in the country by next year with the number dropping further to 1.5 million by 2015.

He told the Star only foreign workers in the construction, manufacturing and plantation industries would be exempt from the plan.

The government will not approve work permits of unskilled foreign workers in Malaysia for five years or more, it reported, with skilled workers getting a maximum of 10 years.

New minimum requirements could also be introduced for employers of foreign domestic help, it reported.

"We are looking into the possibility that only those who earn more that 5,000 ringgit (1,534 dollars) (compared to 3,000 ringgit presently) be allowed to employ foreign maids," he said.

... don't be mistaken, we are totally different;

... Malaysia has a government...

... Singapore is run by Businessmen who says they are government...

Move to Malaysia loh!

*cough* bshit..

If locals were half as hard working...

s'poreans will like MC KING work until die
pity them

Originally posted by Seven_Dragon:

s'poreans will like MC KING work until die
pity them

Get use to it.....

If not, then join the thousands that had left already......

so any one think MY govt can run a country better than PAP?

tell me why SG is not so bad compared with MY,when MY posses
oil,palm trees ,water and other natural resources.

SG is a barren rock!!

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

Originally posted by lionnoisy:

so any one think MY govt can run a country better than PAP?

tell me why SG is not so bad compared with MY,when MY posses
oil,palm trees ,water and other natural resources.

SG is a barren rock!!

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

u can say that again

Originally posted by lionnoisy:

so any one think MY govt can run a country better than PAP?

tell me why SG is not so bad compared with MY,when MY posses
oil,palm trees ,water and other natural resources.

SG is a barren rock!!

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

Whose babies ?

Originally posted by lionnoisy:

so any one think MY govt can run a country better than PAP?

tell me why SG is not so bad compared with MY,when MY posses
oil,palm trees ,water and other natural resources.

SG is a barren rock!!

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

Singapore is so small whereas Malaysia is much larger. It is of course much more easier to manage Singapore than Malaysia. Even if Malaysia is run by PAP, I doubt it can do any better!

Originally posted by lionnoisy:

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

$10,000 cash in our a/c? Don't make me laugh. Perhaps, maybe a few more billions in annual surpluses, more foreign investments and more reason to increase the ministers paycheck.

Originally posted by lionnoisy:

so any one think MY govt can run a country better than PAP?

tell me why SG is not so bad compared with MY,when MY posses
oil,palm trees ,water and other natural resources.

SG is a barren rock!!

If SG has oil,palm trees and run by PAP,every baby will
get a $10,000 cash a/c in POSB.

every baby will get $10,000... but gahmen will take back $10,001... minimum...

I think the Singaporean government is going on a right track. The malaysia side is crazy to want to expel foreigners from their country.

One of the main advantages Malaysia has is their low currency as compared to Singapore. With proper management, they can overtake Singapore in attracting foreign businesses simply because labour costs are so low there.
If they forcebly drive wages up, as they are now doing, they are taking away their main advantage against Singapore.

If you were a foreign company, would you like the possiblity of your workers being packed up and sent home ? Malaysia gov - Say bye bye , your no longer needed here.

ME thinks this is just a knee jerk reaction to the recent allegations of judicial corruption in the country. A 'carrot' to sooth over the anger of the populace against an incompetent government. Sooner or later, this act will come back to them and bite them in the ass.

Originally posted by royston_ang:

Singapore is so small whereas Malaysia is much larger. It is of course much more easier to manage Singapore than Malaysia. Even if Malaysia is run by PAP, I doubt it can do any better!

They've oil be it palm or crude, rubber, fruits, vegetables yet why are they no better than us?

If size can determine our fate, then we should be eating Malaysia's dust

Originally posted by zanza:

I think the Singaporean government is going on a right track. The malaysia side is crazy to want to expel foreigners from their country.

One of the main advantages Malaysia has is their low currency as compared to Singapore. With proper management, they can overtake Singapore in attracting foreign businesses simply because labour costs are so low there.
If they forcebly drive wages up, as they are now doing, they are taking away their main advantage against Singapore.

If you were a foreign company, would you like the possiblity of your workers being packed up and sent home ? Malaysia gov - Say bye bye , your no longer needed here.

ME thinks this is just a knee jerk reaction to the recent allegations of judicial corruption in the country. A 'carrot' to sooth over the anger of the populace against an incompetent government. Sooner or later, this act will come back to them and bite them in the ass.

... Malaysia has Singapore to thank - because they watch and learn from the mistakes our FAP have been making through the decades...

Originally posted by sbst275:

They've oil be it palm or crude, rubber, fruits, vegetables yet why are they no better than us?

If size can determine our fate, then we should be eating Malaysia's dust

And they also have many times more people, problems than what our highly paid ministers have to face. If PAP is to take over and treat the Malaysian like what they are doing here, there will be riot everywhere.

Originally posted by royston_ang:

And they also have many times more people, problems than what our highly paid ministers have to face. If PAP is to take over and treat the Malaysian like what they are doing here, there will be riot everywhere.

... they'll be torn to pieces if they were ever given the opportunity to "manage" Malaysia...

Originally posted by sbst275:

They've oil be it palm or crude, rubber, fruits, vegetables yet why are they no better than us?

If size can determine our fate, then we should be eating Malaysia's dust

That's coz of mismanagement on their part but I'm not complaining

They have the ideas but no one to carry through the plans
If not their infrastructure don't support their big ideas
Or they don't have people with the skills
At the end of the day, it can all be blamed on Singapore

What's more their biggest population have the edge but don't want to work and just want more hand outs.

They are so spoilt that if they get rid of the bumis there will be riots

well, we need to attract people of different races in cause one particular race is multiply like h*gs, and what the authorities is doing is balance..so how can blame them??

Singapore and Malaysia are similar in the extent that our FT policies are too drastic and extreme. Attracting foreign talent to our work force brings in diversity and talent. But at the same time, neglecting the local pool of labor is disastrous for the long term.

the result of having FT's is to amend something

Singapore need to attract FTs because Singaporeans do not want to do those jobs. Many have good qualifications and they demand high-paying jobs. As a result, the government has to engage an army of FT to fill out the jobs Singaporeans do not want to do.

However, this move has a profound effect on low-educated Singaporeans, as they would be locking horns with the FTs, which majority are lowly-educated too.

Originally posted by Lim Wei Ming:

Singapore need to attract FTs because Singaporeans do not want to do those jobs. Many have good qualifications and they demand high-paying jobs. As a result, the government has to engage an army of FT to fill out the jobs Singaporeans do not want to do.

However, this move has a profound effect on low-educated Singaporeans, as they would be locking horns with the FTs, which majority are lowly-educated too.

... so, can we still call the FT Policy a 'solution'?

www.asiaone.com

More than 5,000 foreign sex workers caught in S'pore

SINGAPORE - THE Republic arrested more than 5,000 foreign prostitutes last year but it is unrealistic to expect vice to be eliminated, the Home Affairs Minister has told parliament.

Wong Kan Seng was responding to a question from an MP about efforts to curb 'rampant gambling and prostitution' in Singapore's red-light Geylang district.

'The vice situation in Singapore is under control,' Mr Wong said in a written response released on Tuesday.

He said police across the city-state last year conducted 950 vice-related operations, up from 890 the previous year. They arrested 5,400 foreign sex workers, a 25 percent increase over 2006, he said.

Despite its reputation as a straight-laced society, prostitution is legal in Singapore, where licensed brothels operate in designated areas such as Geylang. Pimping and public solicitation are illegal.

Foreign women working voluntarily in the sex trade cannot be arrested unless they are caught offering their services out in the street or violate immigration and other laws.

Mr Wong, who is also a deputy prime minister, said installation of closed-circuit television cameras in Geylang has helped deter solicitation.

He said daily police operations to target gambling in the back alleys of Geylang led to 280 arrests last year and an improvement in the situation.

'Illegal gambling in Geylang is not rampant,' he said.

'But I should add that it is not realistic to expect vice to be totally eliminated,' he said, particularly as the city-state seeks to promote tourism.

'Among those who come, there will be a very small number who enter under the pretext of social visits but engage in vice activities. This is the reality which Singaporeans should face up to.' -- AFP

Originally posted by HyperFocal:

... so, can we still call the FT Policy a 'solution'?

It depends on how you look at it. Personally if you ask me, its not right. The government is simply "giving-up" on Singaporeans. So, their most cost-effective solution would be to hire a army of FTs to replace us, by utilizing our clean-and-green, low-crime-rate country as one of the ways to attract them.