SINGAPORE — Immigration policies need a shakeup, both in terms of getting the right foreigners in, as well as preparing Singaporeans properly to take on jobs handled by foreigners now, said Singaporeans First (SingFirst) Party chairman Ang Yong Guan today (Aug29).

Foreigners need to be scrutinised on whether they can contribute to Singapore, as well as whether they can integrate with society here before they are let in, he said, at a press conference to introduce its candidates for the elections next month.

“Select the best. Make sure they contribute to the nation and they can also integrate with the society here. No point getting a misfit,” said Dr Ang, who will be contesting in his second General Election.

He added that Singaporeans have been subscribing to the belief that low-wage jobs were not suitable for them, and foreign workers could easily fill in the gap in the labour market. This was fuelled by the paper chase in Singapore, said vice-chairman Tan Peng Ann, 67, who was one of the new candidates unveiled today.

“Along the line, something went wrong. We failed to train locals to do those specific jobs. And it’s quite messy now. We might have to press the restart button all over again and employ people who can contribute to the nation,” said Dr Ang, 60.

The solution, he said, would be making changes in education; specifically, teaching Singaporeans the value of working their way up from scratch.

“You’ve got to educate Singaporeans. You’ve got to work hard, and through hard work, you’ll be rewarded. You’ll go up the career line, from being a labourer to supervisor to head of department,” said Dr Ang.

In addition, a lack of skills among locals cannot continue to be the justification for bringing foreigners in, he added. Instead, the solution should be to make sure local “graduates possess as much talent and skills as foreigners”.

During the press conference at the party’s headquarters at Tras Street today, three other new faces were also presented as potential SingFirst candidates.

Besides Mr Tan, who is a retired army colonel, treasurer and chemist David Foo Ming Jin, 51; central executive committee member and retired police officer Sukdeu Singh, 64, and chemical sales director Wong Soon Hong, 57, intend to stand in next months’

Dr Ang is the only one to have contested in a General Election. In 2011, he was fielded by the Singapore Democratic Party in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC but his team lost with 39.92 per cent of the votes.

SingFirst will be fielding two five-member teams in Tanjong Pagar and Jurong GRCs. The line-up for both teams will be revealed on Nomination Day.

Their campaign slogan — Restore our Nation — was launched yesterday by party chief Tan Jee Say, 61. The rest of the candidates include communications consultant Fahmi Rais, 48; market risk manager Chirag Desai, 38; IT consultant Wong Chee Wai, 44, and sales executive Melvyn Chiu, 36.

Acknowledging the lack of women on the team, Dr Ang said that SingFirst initially had “one or two” women under consideration, but they eventually withdrew due to family pressure.

“There’s this climate of fear in Singapore. It’s very sad. After 50 years of national development, we may be First World in economy but Third World in politics,” he said, adding that he hopes more young people would join the party. Efforts have been made to engage youths through the setting up of a youth wing, called YoungFirst, and social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Asked about the gaffe regarding the botched Tamil translation of the party’s campaign slogan, which was put up as a backdrop at a press conference yesterday, Dr Ang said: “We’re honest enough to embrace mistakes. We corrected it within hours.”

An acquaintance had stepped in to help with the correct translation, and the new version was pasted over the original banner in a cost-saving move.

“It’s no worse off than misspelling an ex-president’s name,” said vice-chairman Mr Tan, alluding to the recent misspelling of former president Yusof Ishak’s name in the SG50 commemorative notes’ folder.