Six speakers take stage at Hong Lim Park protest

SINGAPORE – Concerns over income inequality and foreigners competing with Singaporeans for jobs were among the topics raised by speakers at a demonstration held at Hong Lim Park yesterday afternoon.

The six speakers were mostly ordinary Singaporeans who claimed to know of cases in which Singaporeans lost jobs to foreigners.

Mr Kwan Yue Keng, a volunteer with the website transitioning.org, said the site had seen more professionals, managers, executives and technicians losing jobs to foreigners. Others, such as Mr Leong Sze Hian, argued that local graduates found it harder to secure jobs, as they were more costly to hire than foreign fresh graduates.

Yesterday’s event was the second Labour Day protest organised by Mr Gilbert Goh, who runs transitioning.org. Those who were in attendance were encouraged to wear a black headband bearing the slogan Protect Singaporean Rights.

The police had on Wednesday contacted Mr Goh regarding his Facebook post calling on the public to deface a poster of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the demonstration.

The police had also advised Mr Goh against carrying out such activities during the demonstration, as they could be considered offences under the Penal Code and the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

Mr Goh, who heeded the police’s advice yesterday, said he thought such acts were allowed in a protest.

“But now that I know we can’t do it, I won’t do it. I’m not someone who wants to get arrested. If the police said you can’t do it, we don’t do it,” he told a press conference held after the protest.

Mr Goh received a similar warning in January, when he proposed burning an effigy of Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew at a demonstration against a public transport fare hike.

While the protest aimed to speak out against labour laws and about the frustration with the employment situation here, some speakers also sought to weigh in on the recent debate that erupted after some netizens had harassed organisers of a planned Philippine Independence Day celebration in Orchard Road.

“We Singaporeans are not xenophobic; we do not hate foreigners,” said Mr Kwan, adding that, over the years, Singaporeans have been accepting of workers from countries such as the Philippines and Thailand. Siau Ming En