REACH 207 - How can Singapore support business and uplift workers (SK)
19 Mar 2021 (11am - 7pm)
REACH
[10:47 am, 19/03/2021] +REACH: Dear contributors,
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Megan 😊
[11:00 am, 19/03/2021] +REACH: 📢 Topic 📢
More than 98,000 employers will receive S$940 million in Wage Credit Scheme payouts by Mar 31, said the Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on Thursday (Mar 18).
💬 How can Singapore continue supporting our employers and uplift our workers to emerge stronger as a workforce?
The WCS, introduced in 2013, co-funds wage increases. In Budget 2021, it was extended by another year at a co-funding level of 15 per cent, to further support wage increments to help companies build up their local workforce and emerge stronger from Covid-19.
In a Facebook post on Thursday (March 18), Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat wrote that uplifting workers remains "at the very centre of all that we do", as the Government makes every effort to cope with the pandemic and transform the economy and businesses.
"By continuing to put the well-being of our workers at the heart of what we do, businesses will build stronger bonds with their workers, and emerge stronger together in a post-pandemic world."
👉 https://str.sg/J9J5
👉 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3862899137081916&id=195137123858154
[0:48 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH: Dear Contributors,
The chat is now open. Feel free to share your views on today’s topic!
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[0:58 pm, 19/03/2021] +Alvin Lim: Slightly off topic but allow some 2.14 cents on the recent "Count on Me" fiasco.
Quite a number of Singaporeans are taken back by MCCY initial "flattery" post on their Social Media. Now they are changing their tune after backlash. Maybe a few pointers going forward for ministries.
1) Things which has implication to nationalism, identity or pride, historical roots, in the form of song, place, greenery or anything else, could the relevant ministries be more careful in CRAFTING their response on Social Media? Keep it simple (ie. we are looking into this, we are investigating and will follow due course, etc) and leave it at that.
2) Solicit feedback when some noises start to pop up find out the issue at hand. Stem it out before it goes "viral" or speculations get out of hand, with firm and confident response that the matter is serious and will be looked into, rest assured Gov have interest of people and nation at heart.
3) Finally be honest and responsible when providing the findings after investigations are concluded.
MCCY could seek redress from respective organs of state MinLaw/IPOS/etc... and leave it at that for now. Avoid further response if the copycat insinuates that he has the original song etc. Let the right ministry or body follow up with the results. They have messed up with the initial "flattery" response and should avoid being embroiled further with this issue.
My 2.14 cents as usual
[0:59 pm, 19/03/2021] +Nat: Clearly main topic isn't interesting once again
[0:59 pm, 19/03/2021] +Rama: 🤣😅😂
[1:00 pm, 19/03/2021] +Leonard Lau: The G has to do more to build SG Core .
Not just co-funding , G has to go into ways to explore the availability of SG experienced workforce to build a new work culture where we just not only grow our pool of local talents. The experienced has to hands-hold the younger ones too . We have to make our workforce competitive globally .
Develop SG process methodology where consists of industry best practices . We can export our skills/quality assurance methodologies as a National brand . People would tend to hire our workers or buy our SG services .
[1:06 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
1. Luckily Singapore has a very strong fiscal position due to many years of accumulation of budget surplus and financial reserves due to prudent savings, accumulation of wealth and careful investment.
2. In time of crisis like the present pandemic, a portion of the fund can be used to help business to transform their business and upskill workers - so that our business can stay relevant and workers can remain competitive.
3. Business and workers must make full use of such lull period and government funding to transform and reskill - so that when the pandemic blow over, our Economy can emerge in n a better position to do well in the global world.
4. Having say so, such large government funding is one off or for the period when pandemic is making business difficult - as it is not sustainable.
5. As vaccination is ongoing, most likely the economy will be recovering and such large government funding will have to taper off - to ensure our financial reserves continue to be strong and not depleted.
[1:09 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-allow-foreign-visitors-had-093906325.html
Singapore not included in the China list because China vaccine still not yet approve.
[1:12 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Having say so, the vaccination nationalism will make doing international business difficult.
Foreign affairs diplomacy need to ramp up - to ensure our business are not left out due to vaccination diplomatic jostling.
[1:13 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3125658/china-digital-currency-us-worried-it-falls-behind-curve-race
China digital yuan advancement worried the US who is 5 years behind the curve.
[2:10 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
1. Advancement in Digitalisation of the currency is not the root cause to financial competitiveness.
2. Sound fiscal fundamental (government spending not based on debt),
- Healthy trade - where foreign countries need to exchange currency with you.
Will be the real root cause of strong financial currency.
3. If US turn protectionist by refusing to trade and turn inwards.
- if US keep building up its debt by rampant spending with no regards to financial prudent.
Then it will come a time where foreign countries will no longer buy US treasury bonds - and US dollars values will plummet as inflation rise due to runaway quantitative easing, borrowing and high debt.
[2:11 pm, 19/03/2021] +An fan: I do not think Chinese government’s vaccine policy is right, forcing foreigners to take its vaccines which have no convincing data information. How many vaccines have they successfully developed all these years? None! How come for this Covid-19 they are so sure they are successful?
[2:14 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
We need to ramp up our foreign affairs diplomacy to secure our interest.
[2:17 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Fosun-BioNTech vaccines that China has license to use for China vaccination - is the same as Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
So if our people is jab with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - then it is also a China vaccines.
[2:17 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
That's why I push for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
[2:18 pm, 19/03/2021] +Rama: Is this in Singapore? O understand the earlier one is.
[2:19 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Fosun-BioNTech vaccines is only distributed in China and not outside China.
But is exactly the same as Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
[2:21 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
As Fosun-BioNTech and Pfizer jointly develop the vaccine.
[2:21 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
To China, Moderna is a US vaccine.
[2:24 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is essentially a joint Germany-China-US vaccine.
In terms of safety, efficacy and vaccine diplomacy - Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the best vaccine.
That's why I push for this vaccine.
Now everyone can see why.
[2:32 pm, 19/03/2021] +Dan: How can Singapore support and uplift our workers?
About 200,000 Burmese recinds in Singapore. My parents' domestic worker is also from Myanmar. Since 2 days ago, she was disconnected with her parents because the Junta disconnect the internet in Myanmar. What do we intend to do for them?
[2:33 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
So go EU also can.
Go China also can.
Go US also can.
[2:33 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH: Asean military chiefs meet to discuss regional and international security challenges
Asean military chiefs met on Thursday (March 18) to discuss regional and international security challenges and made plans to boost cooperation between their armed forces.
Representatives of all 10 Asean members attended the 18th Asean Chiefs of Defence Forces' Meeting chaired by Brunei and held via video-conferencing. Singapore was represented by Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong.
More: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/asean-military-chiefs-meet-to-discuss-regional-and-international-security-challenges
[2:39 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
It is the most political neutral vaccine.
[2:41 pm, 19/03/2021] +Alvin Lim: To even encourage more people to work and employers to uplift our local workforce, we could perhaps look at a few areas.
1) For every dollar the employee and employer puts into CPF, gov matches dollar for dollar cap at a certain ceiling. Can tweak this upwards for elderly workers.
2) Employer who hire locals should be allowed to claim incentives per head if they have flexi benefits, family off or perks that is provided for their staff. Employers will need to provide documents to claim this amount.
3) Continue with WCS and tweak the wage ceiling or percentage as situation changes and/or industries that are affected by the covid situation.
If there are already such schemes in place then pls ignore.
My 2.14 cents
[2:46 pm, 19/03/2021] +Valli: With Covid-19, and virtual classes & graduation, there is a rise in more fake qualifications.
And even people who were not able to obtain their diploma & degree during classroom learning have now easily obtain their degrees & diplomas.
Even local fake diploma & degree templates are being circulated that looks real.
Hope authorities will be alert on this.
[2:47 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
I believe Myanmar has an embassy here?
She can communicate via the embassy I believe.
[2:51 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Embassy connectivity usually don't use the internet.
They either go by satellite or private leased line.
So as Myanmar shut down their internet - they won't shut down the embassy connectivity.
[2:55 pm, 19/03/2021] +Nat: There's actually digital certificates based on the OpenCert technology nowadays so that helps a little
Of course it's up to employers if they want to scrutinise the PDF version of a certification or not
[2:58 pm, 19/03/2021] +Ken: Agree that’s hard to prove also
[3:07 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singtel-m1-and-starhub-lagging-global-download-speeds-experts-say-no-rush-get-5g-networks
Singtel, M1 and StarHub lagging in global download speeds, but experts say no rush to get 5G networks
[3:08 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
By slowing down the 5G deployment, how will this impact Singapore competitiveness?
China, S Korea are at least 2 years ahead of us.
[3:10 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Our Telcos seems to try their best to recover their 4G investment while delaying the roll out of 5G.
[3:13 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
As I scout the market, predominantly all are 4G devices.
I only come across one Xiaomi 5G phone.
When I stress test it, i notice the 5G speed is phenomenal almost instantaneous with no latency.
But the price is more than 3 times that of a 4G phone.
[3:16 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
If want to do good video conferencing, online learning, work from home - 5G speed is the right deployment - almost instantaneous like cache speed.
4G latency is too high.
[3:16 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH:
Fake police report used by scammer selling electronic gadgets on Carousell
The police on Friday (March 19) warned consumers about e-commerce scams involving the sale of electronic gadgets on Carousell where the scammer allegedly claims to offer retail services verified by the government.
The seller would purportedly provide a fake police report to support the claim, the police added.
In these cases, the seller would direct victims to transact outside of the online shopping platform and communicate over the messaging app Telegram instead.
More: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/fake-police-report-used-by-scammer-selling-electronic-gadgets-on-carousell
[3:18 pm, 19/03/2021] +Nat: TopGear TopTip
Anything off platform is hard to trace, always keep the conversation on the platform so disputes can be settled easily
[3:46 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH: 15 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, all imported
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-new-cases-singapore-mar-19-all-imported-moh-14443406
[3:56 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-tells-china-it-does-not-seek-conflict-but-will-stand-up-for-principles
Rocky start to US-China talks in Alaska as top officials trade barbs in public
[3:59 pm, 19/03/2021] +jimmy chew: Good that the voice their anger, hopefully the storming leads to norming and then performing as per Tuckman's team dynamics
[4:00 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心:
Going forward, the adversity between the 2 Superpowers - will pose bigger challenges to Singapore and the rest of the world in international business, relationship and politics.
We have to tread carefully like treading a minefield - whether in trade, business, foreign affairs, vaccine diplomacy etc
[5:44 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/covid-19-vaccination-of-pregnant-women-could-protect-babies-14424334 Israel researchers discover that vaccination can protect babies for pregnant women via placentas or through breastfeeding - after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination.
[5:53 pm, 19/03/2021] +Ken: https://youtu.be/cGycBsawTew
Oh my god this is so scary 😣
First is deep fake now is totally person don’t exist 😓
[6:50 pm, 19/03/2021] +Leonard Lau: Btw she sings .. refer to her clips and lookout for articles how she was produced ..
[6:51 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/face-verification-atm-transactions-security-ocbc-14444772
OCBC bank has roll out facial recognition as authentication to replace ATM card.
With deepfake AI tech - is single factor biometric authentication good enough?
[6:54 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH: Dear Contributors,
⏰ We will be closing the chat in 5 minutes ⏰
Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.
Goodnight!
Megan
[6:55 pm, 19/03/2021] ☸️ Danny 心: MAS need to verify.
[6:56 pm, 19/03/2021] +Alvin Lim: Gdnite Megan!
[7:00 pm, 19/03/2021] +REACH: Dear Contributors,
We will be closing the chat for today.
Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.
Have a great weekend! 🎉
Goodnight!
Megan 😊
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