Free Trade Agreements and the Liberalization of Financial Services and Labor Background As an international finance centre (IFC) and highly open economy, Singapore’s continued prosperity relies on attracting a highly skilled global workforce to fill certain positions where local talent may be lacking. In this regard, free trade agreements (FTAs) serve an important function in promoting stronger trade linkages through the greater exchange of flows of people, goods and services. However, the recently concluded India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, or CECAi has been viewed as a threat to domestic job security, where citizens incorrectly perceive that CECA allows a flood of Indian professionals to take over PMET roles, sparking off a political flashpoint during the 2020 General Elections and in parliamentary debates. Past events involving Indian professionals behaving badly towards local blue-collar workers have reinforced negative sentiments towards CECA and Indian expatriates. It is not clear whether these negative attitudes towards CECA and Indian expatriates are based on a sound understanding of the technicalities surrounding CECA. Fake news further complicates matters. Fake social media postings, particularly on Facebook, of DBS’s dominant hiring of Indian workers have fueled xenophobic attitudes against Indian nationals. The fact that CECA was debated during the pandemic, a period of high economic uncertainty, reflected mounting concerns about the government’s support for domestic employment. With Indian expatriates supporting key industries such as finance and IT, calling Singapore their home as they live, work and play here, not much is understood about their daily spaces of encounter with Singaporeans. The same is true for Singaporean professionals’ interactions with Indian professionals. To what extent do their worlds meet in this tiny island state, and how does a lack of encounters contribute to deficiencies in cultural understandings that might perpetuate anti-CECA sentiments? Instructions - In pairs (you can find a friend from the other cohort), interview two Indian expatriates and two local professionals using the appropriate set of interview questions. - When finding participants, be sure to tell them the purpose of this interview (it will be graded for your course!) and identify yourself as SUTD students. - Each interview should take at least 30 minutes and no more than an hour to complete. - The interview should preferably be recorded so that it can be transcribed later on. If the participant declines to be recorded, you can take down notes during the interview. Either interview transcripts or organized interview notes can be submitted. - A short post-fieldwork report (done by you and your partner) of not more than 1,500 words should accompany your interview transcripts/notes in your deliverables. You can discuss the challenges of fieldwork, including finding and recruiting participants, the interview process, and the main findings from the interviews. You can summarize some of the themes that emerge from both groups and discuss what it means for Singapore in terms of better integration of foreigners into local society. - This interview project will be graded based on your interviewing skills i.e. ability to elicit responses from your interviewees (probe them to talk more beyond simple yes/no answers) (75%) and your postfieldwork report (25%). Resources How to do a research interview- https://youtu.be/9t-_hYjAKww Tips during the interview - https://youtu.be/6PhcglOGFg8 [start from the 12:20 mark] i A digestible summary of CECA is provided by this Mothership article.
