The MRT Solution
So what’s new? I just received a letter from MOM telling me that from 2010, MOM will increase the minimum insurance coverage for foreign workers from $5000 a year to $15,000 a year. What else? New security bond conditions. Employers must ensure and provide proper housing, food, cost of repatriation for whatever reason, cost of cremation upon death, prompt cancellation and reporting upon termination …
This reminds me of the MRT or what I call the MRT solution. When people complain that it’s too crowded and senior citizens and pregnant women have no place to sit, what do you do? Run more trains, install more seats? No, you run campaigns to educate people to give up their seats. Make them feel guilty for occupying a seat they’ve paid for. That way, seats are spontaneously and effortlessly “created” for those who need it more - without the transport company having to spend more money running extra trains or providing extra seats.
With choices and competition, passengers can react to such manoeuvres in an appropriate way. Not here in Singapore for obvious reasons. The more bloggers complain about the old and pregnant not getting to sit down on trains and buses, the more “reserved seats” the trains and buses are going to get. Bloggers stop complaining about crowded MRT trains. Instead, they shame passengers who don’t move in even when they are getting off at the next stop. They takes pictures and show the faces of inconsiderate people who didn’t give up their seats for the aged and pregnant. What about the self-serving public transport company? There seems to be more attractive targets now.
And the people who sabotage employers are really the bloggers who show us filthy pictures of workers’ quarters in First World Singapore in an attempt to disgrace the powers that be. Singaporeans, being the nice and caring people they are, sink their teeth into stories like that and start talking about ministers’ salaries, generals’ promotions, the IR etc.
The powers that be respond most democratically by pleasing the majority of the people. They pass more liability to employers, using the “MRT solution” once again. increase the minimum insurance coverage for foreign workers from $5000 a year to $15,000 a year. New security bond conditions. All spelt out in the MOM letter I got. It’s quite an ingenious plan actually. The foreign workers will be happy, the bloggers will have to dig out more juicy details about Ris Low and the netizens who sympathise with the plight of these folks are satisfied. Even those who complain about too many jobs going to foreigners will be satisfied. Employers are penalised even more for employing foreigners now. So who cares about employers? They form only a small minority of voters.
Meanwhile, there’s a catfight going on between Ris Low and Claire Lee. Let’s bring on the jello. Nice distraction.
