Racial ignorance has led to job discrimination for some
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/162175/1/.html
SINGAPORE : Labour chief Lim Boon Heng has said ignorance in Singapore's multi-racial and multi-religious society has led to some Malays and Indians feeling discriminated against when looking for jobs.
Mr Lim was speaking at a National Day observance ceremony at the National Trades Union Congress on Monday.
He said non-Chinese job seekers say they have been asked if they can speak Mandarin during their job interviews.
The few who could were even asked if they could write Chinese.
Mr Lim says such employers should stop these tactics.
The minister says if any minority group feels there is discrimination, there will be tension and this could break the harmony Singaporeans have painstakingly built.
Mr Lim urged all employers to play their part and recruit on the basis of merit, not by race or religion.
He says it is also in everyone's collective interest to observe the established tripartite Code of Employment Practice. - CNA /ct -
i dont see anything discriminating here. if the company have dealings in china chances are chinese is required as a tool of communication. thus the ability to speak and write in chinese is necessary.Originally posted by About A GaL:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/162175/1/.html
SINGAPORE : Labour chief Lim Boon Heng has said ignorance in Singapore's multi-racial and multi-religious society has led to some Malays and Indians feeling discriminated against when looking for jobs.
Mr Lim was speaking at a National Day observance ceremony at the National Trades Union Congress on Monday.
He said non-Chinese job seekers say they have been asked if they can speak Mandarin during their job interviews.
The few who could were even asked if they could write Chinese.
Mr Lim says such employers should stop these tactics.
The minister says if any minority group feels there is discrimination, there will be tension and this could break the harmony Singaporeans have painstakingly built.
Mr Lim urged all employers to play their part and recruit on the basis of merit, not by race or religion.
He says it is also in everyone's collective interest to observe the established tripartite Code of Employment Practice. - CNA /ct -
That is not true most of the time. Several times i had gone for interviews with companies which didnt have dealings with China but i was asked if i could speak mandarin. The world is a globaisated state now and that means the standard business language should English. Like labour chief said, it is a tacticOriginally posted by precipice:i dont see anything discriminating here. if the company have dealings in china chances are chinese is required as a tool of communication. thus the ability to speak and write in chinese is necessary.
For those of you who think you can pray on the minority and stereotype them ,I got one thing to say YOU IN TURN WILL BE THE MINORITY WHEN YOU MIGRATE THAN AND ONLY THAN YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE LOOKED DOWN ON. -
I hate to work in places wher there is a lot of PRC. Prefer locals
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that is not true most of the timem several time I see teh n00bs wtf si globaisated omglol that means the standard should |337 LOL wtf it si teh tactic omfg!!! dont PRAY PRAY!!!!! YUO IN TURN WILL BE TEH SUXORZ THAN SPEAK TEH ENGLISH LOL THAN THAN THAN GLOBAISATED LOLWTF PRAY!!Originally posted by Vasantham_Central:That is not true most of the time. Several times i had gone for interviews with companies which didnt have dealings with China but i was asked if i could speak mandarin. The world is a globaisated state now and that means the standard business language should English. Like labour chief said, it is a tactic
For those of you who think you can pray on the minority and stereotype them ,I got one thing to say YOU IN TURN WILL BE THE MINORITY WHEN YOU MIGRATE THAN AND ONLY THAN YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE LOOKED DOWN ON. -
Ah Heng's statement is so unnecessary.
Many good jobs need people who can speak Korean or Jap. Do we call them racists?
Now that he made this kind of statement, every non-Chinese is now thinking that Chinese employers are racists. -
true... but for other com tat dun need the use of chinese n still apply tis way to filter then its considered discriminating...Originally posted by precipice:i dont see anything discriminating here. if the company have dealings in china chances are chinese is required as a tool of communication. thus the ability to speak and write in chinese is necessary. -
I'm guilty of that, I admit. What was mentioned here is indeed very true. Go around and ask about it in the HR and job agencies.Originally posted by Honeybunz:Ah Heng's statement is so unnecessary.
Many good jobs need people who can speak Korean or Jap. Do we call them racists?
Now that he made this kind of statement, every non-Chinese is now thinking that Chinese employers are racists.
We need to change that mentality but how to when there are other races are being stereo-typed since who knows when... -
I think it really is for the sake of communication purpose. Since many fellow co-workers or clients or suppliers speak mainly in Chinese. And older people don't have very good command of English.
So, it's a plus if u can speak Chinese. It's just a linguistic skill. To communicate.
But if the Minister wants to curb any impression of discrimination, it's OK also loh. -
It is one of Singapore's vulnerability to giants like China. Undoubtedly Almost all educated Singaporeans talk and bred in English but the China MNC's are not.
English is not widely spoken and there will be a communication barrier. One may argue the same about the Indian companies but it is a fact that most Indian FTs converse in English and India was a british colony once. On the part of the Govt, they should have standard guidelines to tackle the issue. This is where the shorcomings are inherent. If the govt wants to have fairness and equality in the light of a multi racial harmony, they have a problem.
English is the business lang of the world. It is unjust that minorities who cant speak mandarin should be sidelined. It is not their right to learn a language which determines their career chances. -
It's just a communication skill. It's a skill like any other skills, like typing skill, public speaking skill, computer skills, etc. It's a linguistic skill in this case. Of course companies would recognize a skill as a plus, as long as it's a relevant skill for them. In this case, SG still has large percentage of people speaking mainly in Chinese, so it becomes a relevant skill.
It doesn't have anything to do whether a particular SG company is doing business in China or doing international business, because domestically it already operates in an environment where Chinese is used significantly. Naturally it would see a Chinese speaking candidate as having a plus.
For English to truly be THE language, without the need for requiring Chinese, it's only possible if SG society's linguistic topography change drastically. That is, everybody communicates in English, firstly and mainly. Everybody can express their ideas in English fluently. English is the language of choice. -
To solve the problem in the long run, let the non Chinese students have the option to study Chinese Language as a 3rd language. Last time I was also given the option to learn Malay Language on top of Eng and Chinese.
I don't think any employer next time will be stupid enough to print this in the job ad "Non-Chinese need not apply".
And at the job interview, the non-Chinese can say "Wo hui jiang hua yu" -
given singaporeans' shockingly poor command of the english language, i can forsee that STANDARD english will not be the main lingua franca of this country anytime soon.
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"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive." - Mahatma Gandhi
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its just that we chose not to speak the right english.Originally posted by vito_corleone:given singaporeans' shockingly poor command of the english language, i can forsee that STANDARD english will not be the main lingua franca of this country anytime soon. -
you "chose" or "choose" not to?Originally posted by alan-:its just that we chose not to speak the right english.
people pronouncing "three" as "tree", that i see not as a choice, but as a an inability. -
i go malaysia interview they say i chinese cannot speak malayu and rejected me..they all hire chinese can speak malayu and malays who can speak chinese......not fairOriginally posted by Vasantham_Central:That is not true most of the time. Several times i had gone for interviews with companies which didnt have dealings with China but i was asked if i could speak mandarin. The world is a globaisated state now and that means the standard business language should English. Like labour chief said, it is a tactic
For those of you who think you can pray on the minority and stereotype them ,I got one thing to say YOU IN TURN WILL BE THE MINORITY WHEN YOU MIGRATE THAN AND ONLY THAN YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE LOOKED DOWN ON.
so i decided to get a job in singapore 
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im sad to hear that!