FTA with Singapore detrimental to SL: JO

8 May 2018 10:38 pm - 16 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with Singapore was detrimental to the country because it would allow the flowing in of cheap labour from countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the joint opposition said today.

JO MP Bandula Gunawardana said any company which is registered in Singapore, irrespective of its composition or origin, would be allowed to outsource employees from any country to Sri Lanka.

“When a Sri Lankan firm requests Singapore for employees, be it carpenters, painters or masons, Singapore can send employees from other countries to Sri Lanka,” he told a news briefing.

The MP said trained and unskilled labourers arriving in Sri Lanka would make an impact on the employment of Sri Lankans.

“When a hotel of Indian origin requests for Indian labourers to be sent, Singapore can provide them now,” he said.

The MP said they were not against any FTA or any particular country and said they are only against the FTAs which would be harmful to Sri Lanka and be beneficial to the other country.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman G.L. Peiris said no Singaporean will come to work in Sri Lanka because their salaries are higher than ours.

“It is the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals who would come here through Singaporean firms, because the salaries here are higher than theirs,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

Video by Sanjeewa

Pix by Nisal Baduge

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Comments - 16

JuniorCitizen Tuesday, 08 May 2018 11:30 PM

These guys are farting through their mouth. How is one an MP and the other a Professor....

Cooray Wednesday, 09 May 2018 10:36 AM

Glad that the JO expose the racket. Now the trade unions should take a stand.

Mandy Wednesday, 09 May 2018 01:40 PM

Where were you when MR gave 250 Hectares to China at Port City as freehold with 200 miles of sea with it. Not detrimental ?? Ha Ha.

TONY Tuesday, 08 May 2018 11:48 PM

JO ONLY WANTS AGREEMENTS WITH THE CHINESE STARTED BY MR

Dasa Wednesday, 09 May 2018 10:40 AM

What was the JVP doing when this agreement was signed. Pretending?

Ramesh Wednesday, 09 May 2018 01:21 AM

FTA should be cancelled ,,Ranil has an infiriority complex that foriegners are better than Sri Lankans.,, which is rubbish and he has signed this agreement prepared by Malik Samarawickreme making it disadvantages to sri lankan professional in our own country,In ,which do u get this Rubish,,,The FTA with sinagpore should be cancelled immediately and Ranil should be made responsible for such irresponsibe acts

Buddhist Wednesday, 09 May 2018 03:05 AM

Fake news kings are these two. There is no way an Indian, Pakistani or any other national can come to Sri Lanka to work. Only those who are Singapore citizens can work in SL under this agreement. Even that no Singaporean will come to work in SL as the wages here are way lower than Singapore and there is still labour shortages in Singapore. So these two are Fake News spreaders.

Preethi Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:41 AM

If no Sinhoporian come to SL, why include that in FTA? It clearly says Singapore registered companies can bring in any number of workers.

Dee Wednesday, 09 May 2018 05:36 AM

Anything other than Rs.2500/- per family to survive is detrimental for SL. Isn't it?

Unchikun Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:15 AM

Hello Mr. Bandula. Please visit Kompannawidiya at around 05_00 pm on a weekday. You will be able to see a large population of Chinese working on building projects. This was happening when you where in power. You did nothing. If you did so there would have been the infamous white van.

AJ Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:27 AM

The major problem to the economy is the lack of skilled works for industries like Construction, Tourism, IT, BPO, which are high growth industries but we don't have the skilled workers to meet the demand? This will help our economy grow because we can add skilled works to fill the gaps.

Jaliya Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:30 AM

Can someone leash these two baboons and put them back to wild. Utter garbage comes from people have absolute zero understanding of reality. Sri lanka needs foreign investments specifically in the manufacturing sector … it makes perfect sense to import labor from any country where the workmanship is economical to any foreign company wishes to invest in sri lanka. We have too many holidays and a lazy workforce … to make it more impractical we have a corrupt government with many local swindlers .. now why on earth any foreign company is interested in local investments ? FTA is the perfect solution for a country is deprived of its labor force. [Please note: those Indians cannot eat beetle leaves and spit on our parapet walls .. there has to be some sort of training before they are given work visa .. at least train them not to spit, urinate in open public places]

Ajja Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:31 AM

The main reason for this is because our lazy people drive three wheeler s just after school and not keen to learn technical know how.They try to cash easy money.so there is no alternate other than bringing foreign labor. Let them come and marry our women too.

willowsd Wednesday, 09 May 2018 11:36 AM

Anything for these Jokers is detrimental?

fox Wednesday, 09 May 2018 03:40 PM

ok, why would they want to bring labourers from outside? simple, coz our people are lazy and incompetent but requesting higher salaries.

Dhammika Wednesday, 09 May 2018 04:35 PM

If the JOkers did it , its GOOD , Others do it its BAD . JOkers have caused political uncertainity and chaos in SL .

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FTA with Singapore detrimental to SL: JO

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