Silverisgood,
Your attempt to incite further row between locals and expats will not even come close to any success, simply because none has similar mentality like yours.
Back to the thread, it's a pity that this year SIA has to let go so many expats. Inside sources revealed that flight ops indeed had attempted to hold back the decision to "cut loose" expats to contain cost. However, those of you who're in the company long enough, do know that the real boss is not G Y himself, it's HR.
It's really really such regret that the bean-counters are totally convinced that for 2009 and 2010, we have to shed couple of hundreds of Skippers to keep the book looking "presentable" to the shareholders.
And despite this unpopular move by the much despised HR department, when it's time to rehiring, they will still have queue long enough to stretch from STC to Shenton Way. (Again, you gotta be long enough in the company to know that SIA is one of the best Expats airlines for most.)
For now, when they are totally done with the expats, even locals should start thinking hard of what may come next. The way things go, major steps can be expected after July this year.