A TOC reader, Mr Tan Toh Hwee wrote in to indicate his unhappiness over an advertisement posted by Japan Airlines (JAL) on 23rd Dec. He wrote,
“l would like to bring your attention to this job advertised by Japan Airlines on Today newspaper dated 23 Dec 2014.
l am very upset and angry that such job discrimination against National Service is allowed to be published on a newspaper.
Why they are looking for person with no NS liability? By having such condition, it is very obvious the company has no interesting in employ Singaporean males. l understand majority of cabin attendants females. But from the advertisement, it is very clear they are also looking for male attendants as well. But why they must exclude any Singapore male with NS liability? If they feel National Service is disruptive for their business, they should consider moving out of Singapore.
But stating this, they are excluding majority of Singaporean male from applying. Is this a type of job discrimination?”
After enquiring with JAL, the media spokesperson wrote back saying,
“Thanks for info on ad comment.
It is not JAL’s intention to discriminate Singapore male applicants from this position. In fact, they are most welcome to apply for the said position.
Thank you for keeping us informed of the reader’s comment.
We will take action to take off this last sentence from the ad immediately.”
An enquiry was also sent to Ministry of Manpower if such advertising criteria constitutes discrimination against men with national service, however no reply has been received from the ministry at time of posting.
