Foreign
professionals will face tougher rules on working in Singapore, Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday as part of moves to allay public anger that saw his
party suffer in May elections.
Resentment over the government's accommodating policy on
foreign workers was among the issues that led to the ruling People's Action
Party (PAP) recording its worst showing since independence in 1965 at the vote.
Pledging to put Singaporeans "first", Lee said the
government will tighten requirements for hiring foreign professionals and
skilled workers who compete directly with local mid-level managers and
executives.
Singapore has already imposed measures to curb the hiring of
lower-skilled foreign labourers, but Lee said the city-state will remain fully
open to the entry of top-level professionals and entrepreneurs.
"At the bottom we are tightening, at the top we have to
be free," he said in his annual National Day rally speech.
"In between, we have to make some adjustment (in) the
middle, the lower middle level."
The PAP was returned to power with a huge majority in the May
polls, but public anger over a range of issues saw its share of the vote fall
to an all-time low of 60 percent, from 67 percent in 2006 and 75 percent in
2001.
The opposition won six seats out of 87, its best performance
since Singapore's independence, with the PAP casualties including foreign
minister George Yeo, whose six-member team lost to the Workers' Party in one
district.
In his speech, Lee also sought to address Singaporeans'
complaints about soaring residential property prices, saying the government was
ramping up the building of more highrise apartment blocks to meet demand.
He announced expanded slots for Singaporeans at local universities,
and pledged that medical care will be made more affordable to a bigger number
of citizens with chronic ailments.
Source : AFP
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