SINGAPORE — Last Friday (23 Sep 2022), Associate Professor Jamus Lim who is the Workers’ Party Member of Parliament for Sengkang GRC posted a message on his Facebook page, highlighting concerns of the new ONE Pass scheme from the Manpower Ministry (MOM) would rob Singaporeans the opportunities to attain higher positions in companies.

“This week’s house visits brought #TeamSengkang to 355A, where we had so many long, sobering conversations that we only made our way through a third of the block,” Assoc Prof Lim said. “With so many Singaporeans returning to the workplace, many conversations revolved around the labor market, and in particular, the place of foreign talent relative to our domestic workforce.”

In particular, Assoc Prof Lim mentioned that one resident had shared with him his concerns over the One Pass scheme. The resident returned back to Singapore after a long stint in China, and has been having difficulties finding a job here, despite his extensive experience and solid skill set.

“He expressed his concern that ONE Pass—despite its high qualification bar—would ultimately end up exacerbating the difficulties locals faced in advancing to the upper tiers of the corporate hierarchy, thereby relegating them to being trapped in middle management.”

This fear was further corroborated by the impression that many foreign nationals working here tended to favor their own countrymen, further alienating Singaporean job seekers, Assoc Prof Lim added.

In his post, Assoc Prof Lim said it broke his heart hearing that there are many Singaporeans who feel being discriminated against “right at home”.

Indeed, in a 2019 written response by then-Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, she was forced to reveal that the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) received an average of 379 workplace discrimination complaints each year between 2014 and the first half of 2021, but the interesting fact is that the bulk of the complaints (61.5%) were attributed as “discrimination by nationality”.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng Rebuts Assoc Prof Lim

In response to the posting from Assoc Prof Lim, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng rebutted him in another Facebook post on Friday (30 Sep). Dr Tan reiterated that the ONE Pass scheme is to “bring in global talent who can create more opportunities for Singaporeans”.

“More Singaporeans will have opportunities to work in leading firms, alongside experts from around the world, and progress in their careers,” he said. He went on to describe the various government programmes to “grow the local talent pool”.

“Local leadership development schemes like International Posting Programme (iPOST) and SkillsFuture Leadership Development Initiative also help local talent gain regional and global experiences, to prepare them for senior positions,” he said. “On the macro level, local employment has continued to grow every year since 2020, and unemployment rates have since recovered to pre-COVID levels.”

But of course, Singaporean PMETs who are retrenched and forced to drive Grab would not be counted as “unemployed”.

With regard to discrimination against locals, Dr Tan said MOM takes fair consideration “seriously”.

“Employers must practise fair consideration in their selection of candidates and MOM will not hesitate to take action against employers found to be discriminatory,” he assured. “If there are specific instances of discriminatory behaviour or unfair treatment, we urge members of the public to report them to TAFEP Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices.”

“Companies invest in Singapore and create good jobs here because we have built up a strong talent pool. Having the right complementary talent here will add to the number of opportunities available to us, and to future generations. This is what our foreign manpower policy and schemes like ONE Pass aim to achieve.”

“I Felt Like A Foreigner In My Own Country”

Not all netizens, however, agreed with Dr Tan’s comment that “Singaporeans will have opportunities to work in leading firms, alongside experts from around the world, and progress in their careers”.

One wrote on Dr Tan’s Facebook post: “Dear minister, please check the front office positions of UBS, Barings Private Equity Asia, Warburg Pincus , SC Ventures, KKR, Morgan Stanley and Value Partners”

Another commenter, Wong wrote: “Didn’t gov know that the Prerequisite for your statement must be these foreigners in top positions will hire talented Singaporeans for PMET and senior positions! Take a walk at Changi Business Park and MBFC. It’s not so hard for you to figure out that Foreigners will hire and promote their own people!”

Indeed, during a Parliamentary debate about a month after 2020 GE, MP Ang Wei Neng recounted his experience while visiting the Changi Business Park.

When he entered a lift, Mr Ang said he noticed that the “well-dressed” people around him were “apparently foreigners” and speaking in a language foreign to him. He said it was the first time he had felt “like a foreigner in my own country”.

Mr Ang questioned why this might be, especially with assurances from the government that nearly six in 10 in the workforce are locals. He then pointed to the high number of Employment Pass and S-Pass issued to foreign PMETs.

“When I checked the MOM’s statistics, I noted there were 193,700 Employment Pass holder or E-Pass holders and 200,000 S-Pass holders as of December 2019. Why are there so many?”

He cautioned the government how Singaporeans would be unhappy if they lost their jobs while foreigners held on to PMET jobs.

Mr Ang’s comments came after his party lost a second GRC — Sengkang GRC — to the opposition in the 2020 GE.