I read with great disbelief that Mr Ong Ah Heng, a Singapore Member of Parliament, actually said this in Parliament during the budget debate.
“I know of one family who complain the cleaners in their precinct are lazy and too old. They don’t want local workers who are old, they want young foreign workers. To satisfy the demand, I changed the local workers to foreign workers. Foreign workers are not a burden to us. Their presence here is not negative. Without foreign workers, things will be worse,”
Mr Ong Ah Heng should be ashamed of himself for making such statement in Parliament. Has he ever questioned why the senior citizen have to work as cleaners instead of enjoying their retirement? Does he know that these senior citizen have contributed to the development of Singapore when they were younger? Why isn’t the country taking care of them when they are old? Is this how the Government treat it’s citizens who had contributed to the country? Replace them with foreign workers when they grow old.
And he is doing this because of ONE complaint? So what if one day someone from his constituency complaint that the MP is too old and want a young foreign one? Is he going to sack himself and hire a foreigner to take over his job?
I think Singapore is really a very unique country. Our Member of Parliament are actually taking care of the foreigners more than its own citizen. What kind of rubbish is this? Fire the older locals and hire younger foreigners? Did he check what went wrong before replacing them with foreign workers? Could he had improve the working environment so that the senior citizen could do their work better? If the senior citizen is really not performing in his/her job, could he replaced him/her with another local instead of a foreigner? Why is there a need to change all to foreign workers? Why label all senior citizen as burden just because of 1 complaint? Are older local worker really a burden to us? And most importantly, can we afford to carry this burden? Remember: We used to be THEIR burden when they were younger.
Utterly disgusted that we have this kind of MP in Singapore. Has he forgotten about PM Lee’s New Year message for 2010 where he emphasized that Singaporeans are top priority for the Government.
Seriously, who voted for this fellow?
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 9:39 AM
My friend’s mom is working as a cleaner to bring in more cash for the family relying on my friend alone. Her usual complaints are the poor quality of cheap detergents that her company has provided them, insufficient cleaning tools etc. Maybe somebody should tell Mr Ong that there’s more than one reason to a problem and he might be barking up the wrong tree.
Tan Ah Beng´s last blog ..Make it compulsory for new immigrants to apply for the PAssion card
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Vote? What vote? I’ve lived in Singapore all my life (34 years) and I’ve never had a chance to vote.
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Except for a few, none of the people sitting in that room were voted in.
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 11:31 AM
[...] Budget 2010 Debate – New Asia Republic: The question of productivity – New Asia Republic: How GST adds value – Singapore Dino: PAP MP asks Khaw Boon Wan for “secret to looking young” during Parliament debate – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Who voted this Ong Ah Heng into Parliament? [...]
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Tan Ah Beng: You got a point. I guess he will find out when the foreign workers are also not performing in their job. But then, we will never hear him say that in parliament.
Daniel: Time for you to move house if you want to vote.
g: Well, 1 thing for sure, this guy is voted in. Which is why I’m wondering why did they vote this fellow in. And hope after seeing this, they will reconsider their decision during the next election.
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 1:08 PM
He was probably referring to his own family. I wonder what he really wants, cleaners or cheena prostitutes? If it’s the latter of course the younger ones better.
Why are you and me and everyone else paying taxes to pay for this guys’ several thousand dollar per day job? To pay for his geylang visits?
Ryu´s last blog ..Stephen Colbert has an iPad…. Two months before everyone else!
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 1:30 PM
“Why are you not paying your maintenance to your parents?” “But sir, gahmen tell us to be cheaper, better, faster, and they replace all the old workers with cheaper foreigners, so I take cue from them and use that money to hire a maid instead. Nothing wrong, what!”
True?
on Mar 10th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
[...] Who voted this Ong Ah Heng into Parliament? – Dee Kay Dot As Gee [...]
on Mar 11th, 2010 at 7:12 AM
How old are you, Mr. Ong?
on Mar 11th, 2010 at 9:59 AM
Jerrick: I think he is 66 this year
on Mar 13th, 2010 at 10:22 AM
[...] Boon Wan for “secret to looking young” during Parliament debate – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Who voted this Ong Ah Heng into Parliament? – The Temasek Review: Appropriateness and integrity in the use of government statistics – Times [...]
on Mar 16th, 2010 at 1:25 AM
Don’t vote also will vote for him… his place there is a stronghold leh.
on Mar 17th, 2010 at 8:02 PM
@Robert, we can only dream of a day when there are no strongholds, no GRCs. Then every candidate will have to work for every vote. But then… That requires as much change in the mentality of the voter as of the politician, yes?