Yesterday, PM Lee shared how a young Chinese start-up entrepreneur he met in Davos had a workforce in Shenzhen that was 40 per cent foreign, and he wanted to double this to 80 per cent because he needed that diversity of talent."This is in China - you are drawing from 1.4 billion people, bringing in talent to one city, and you still need to have that diversity and that mix from around the world," said Mr Lee.
But when they come, and workers see that only 40 per cent or 60 per cent in the company are Singaporeans, and many of their colleagues and their boss are not Singaporean, they will ask: Why is it here? "If they were not here, those jobs would not exist. And if you said: 'We want Singaporeans to take over the jobs, which the non-Singaporeans are holding', I'm not sure that we will be able to make it work."Singaporeans must also feel assured that if they are working in such a company, they are fairly treated.
He noted that some opposition parties were trying to exploit and widen the divide between foreign and local workers.