Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Foreign Talents in Singapore

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Foreign Talents in Singapore

Dear Mr. Tan,

I refer to the Business Times article about "Foreign Talents in Singapore", 17 September.

While it may be true that Singapore's GDP growth rate has gone up notches, the question is who benefited from the higher growth rate? If you get paid more so that you can pay for the same food that cost more, use the same road that cost more to drive on, rent the same house that now cost you more to rent, ... then it is just inflation.

If the higher growth means you work harder to get higher pay so that you can buy more of something you don't need, eat more and then has to go swimming everyday to get rid of the calories, then the higher growth just translates to wastage.

If all said, people are happier than before then it is all right, but are they?

Heng Chee Meng

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: Villagers are unusually happy, they are spiritual rich:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxUGxU0-Phk

If not happy, fall sick and spend more money !; September 17, 2009 12:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Everything is measured by money.

If you have high pay it means you are talented.

If you make good or even obscene profits, you are a talented businessman and envied.

If you have lots of money then no need to worry about having a job. You can pursue your passion and leisures.

If you can pay high or more, you get quality and talent.

But of course may not be so simple lah. As they said, the rich have their problems, the poor also have theirs but they are not the same.; September 17, 2009 1:26 PM
Anonymous said...: sure u re free to choose to be out of the rat race.....; September 17, 2009 3:30 PM
Anonymous said...: GDP numbers can be misleading. If we take away the amount generated and earned by foreigners and foreign companies e.g. MNCs and banks, our GDP can be 10%, 20% or even 30% lower. These coupled with the amount generated and kept by the government, its agencies and the government-linked-companies, the money that go into individuals will be even lesser. This could be the reason why government is not increasing the family income ceiling of $8000 for applying HDB flats for so many years.; September 17, 2009 5:27 PM
Vincent Sear said...: Sorry but I think the earlier respondents missed the point. The point isn't about being happy while rich or being happy while poor. The point is, what good does it mean for a citizen when the country's GDP growth and ranking goes up and up while oneself or certain group gets left behind?

If one earns less than S$1k p.m. or can't even get a subsistently gainful job for prolonged period, what good does it do to belong to a country, and what pride does it inspire in the sense of citizenship and nationhood. This was one main reason why most of our ancestors came here, and by extension, why we're now here instead of China or India.

China and India were big enough and have history long enough to afford almost any imaginable numbers in population exodus. Singapore? One major click and we're wiped off the map.

I'm not trying to paint a doomsday picture. It's not all that bad, at least not yet, hopefully for a long long time. However, the government should be sensitive and responsive to citizens' needs and concerns, that's any government's fundamental duty. Don't just assume it's a one-party dominant country without viable alternative government and be blinded in the pursuit of economic numbers.; September 17, 2009 8:13 PM
Unknown said...: The GDP or CPI are just numbers the govt uses. It does not directly correlate to each and every Singaporean. We have rich, middle class and poor Singaporeans. We are not one people.

The poor in every country gets the leftovers after the rich and middle class have finished.

It is more important that there is income mobility, that people are given a chance to improve their situation, if they want to.

Those of us who can afford to, can do their part by donating more, we get 2.5 times income reduction for our taxes.; September 17, 2009 11:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Today, My father & I visited a hospital with frustration. It is not a first case. The problem is YOUNG local doctor can not speak Chinese dialect or mandarin with elderly patient.

I think we want FT (doctor & nurse) from Taiwan or HK or PRC who able to communicate with elderly patient.

If we reject FT (all health care professional & health care worker), you will probably BADLY suffered.

(I am ex-hospital worker); September 18, 2009 4:09 PM
Vincent Sear said...: This is sure getting more complicated. First we have Singaporeans complaining about service staff not speaking English. Now we have Singaporeans complaining about doctors not speaking Mandarin or dialects.; September 18, 2009 6:14 PM
Anonymous said...: REX comments as follows.

At the risk of being accused as a pappie freak, i say that i don't oppose the influx of foreign workers aka. mainland chinese into singapore. I agree that the term "talent" is not a very good word to use as mentioned by our host blogger before. Nevertheless the presence of chinese nationals here will do good for singapore. I hope they will intermarry locals and breed a new group of super singaporeans.

As it is, the average chinese singaporean's command of chinese, the average chinese singaporeans value of culture and history, is actually like kindergarten or primary school standard in china/taiwan/hongkong. Probably a china construction worker knows more about the Romance of the 3 kingdoms and essential chinese literature that makes a chinese a chinese, than your average Ah Beng here.

Singaporean chinese on average (actually more than average) are just training to be money-worshippers from the day they are born. They have generally, no interest in history, culture, poems, art, literature, language. Why? simply becuse of "lack of example". If their parents didnt inculcate same to them, they will not learn to appreciate. They only seem to know how to talk about money, their lives are so bound, so narrow..

Foreigners somehow have some kind of richness in their lives which we don't have (generally speaking). It is nothing to do with money seeking. They exude a sense of confidence, simply because they are proud of their origins, they are masters of their mother tongue. We need to learn from them. Our english as spoken is terrible. any mainlander chinese who learned english, would have picked up the correct accents and would have far greater potential. Needless to say, singaporeans command of chinese language is shameful compared to many common folk of china or taiwan.

We have much to learn from foreign workers, i enjoy their company very much in fact, In fact someday, singapreans should speak proper chinese. Chinglish, like Singlish is an illegtimate excuse for things gone wrong.

REX; September 25, 2009 2:49 PM