Crucial for parties to find common ground on fundamentals vital to S'pore: Ong Ye Kung

It is important for political parties to find common ground on fundamentals that are vital to Singapore, such as the present need for the Ethnic Integration Policy and the importance of free trade agreements, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung yesterday.

"We don't have to disagree for the sake of disagreeing," Mr Ong wrote in a Facebook post on the debates in Parliament last week on racism, and on free trade agreements and foreign manpower.

National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) deputy secretary-general Chee Hong Tat also took to Facebook yesterday to comment on the debates and to respond to Workers' Party (WP) chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, who spoke about xenophobia and nativism last Thursday at a Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) event.

Mr Chee, who is also Senior Minister of State for Transport, said: "I am glad that Mr Singh understands the stakes, and has not taken a zero-sum view.

"There are genuine concerns with foreigners working and living in Singapore, and it is not always easy to persuade people why we cannot have more jobs for locals without some competition from foreigners."

Mr Ong criticised the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) for refusing to withdraw what he said were wrongful allegations about the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Ceca). In Parliament, Mr Ong had cited some PSP leaders as saying that Ceca gave professionals from India "a free hand" to come to Singapore to work.

"It is a shame that PSP colleagues, after listening to the facts, would only say that they will study the matter further," Mr Ong wrote.

He said he took comfort in Mr Singh's acceptance of the Government's corrections, and accepted Mr Singh's point that the Government could have come forward with data and information earlier.

"If we can sustain this sort of politics in Singapore, we can be confident that better days are still ahead," said Mr Ong.

Mr Chee said NTUC supports the Government's position on free trade agreements and the Manpower Ministry's efforts to enhance protection for local workers.

NTUC will continue to push for more to be done to ensure fair consideration for Singaporeans when it comes to hiring and career progression, and will look at all options, including anti-discrimination laws, he added.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng told Parliament last week that his ministry has been studying various options to give the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices more bite.

Dr Tan told reporters on Saturday that anti-discrimination laws are being considered even if they are not a panacea for unfair employment practices.

He added that stiffer penalties may be adopted for employers who do not consider Singaporeans fairly for job opportunities, and "it will not be long" before his ministry and tripartite partners come back with a recommendation.

Dr Tan was responding to Mr Singh, who at the SICC event had called for businesses to lobby the Government to pass anti-discrimination laws.

Mr Singh said the WP supports the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) in principle, but the framework needed more teeth.

Under the FCF, employers who unfairly hire foreigners over Singaporeans are subjected only to administrative penalties.

Anti-discrimination laws with statutory penalties, he said, would send a "powerful signal" for businesses to change how they recruit.

Mr Chee said the Government pays careful attention to managing the inflow of foreign workers.

This includes enhancing the FCF, tightening dependency ratio ceilings and raising minimum qualifying salary thresholds for employment pass holders.

NTUC also has in place programmes that help to get displaced Singaporeans back into good jobs.

"We focus on growth to enlarge the economic pie so that Singaporeans can benefit from better jobs and higher pay," Mr Chee added.

"Without foreign investment and foreign manpower, we would not have achieved the economic growth and prosperity that we have today, and Singaporean workers would be worse off."