There was a recent spat in parliament between Chan Chun Sing, our Minister for Trade and Industry and Pritam Singh, the leader of the Workers’ Party, our main opposition party. Much has been said about the debate, so I won’t go into details but essentially, Mr. Singh asked Mr. Chan what was the percentage of Singaporeans versus foreigners in certain jobs. Mr. Chan refused to answer directly and accused Mr. Singh of stirring up certain divisions. Mr. Chan also argued that it was necessary to have foreigners in high paying positions because they had the qualifications for the jobs, which the locals did not and the locals would eventually catch up.
I’ve always believed that this is an issue has become a convenient sticking point for all involved and everybody misses the point. While I don’t disagree with the fact that we should have tighter checks on things like fake qualifications (Look if a guy got into the job on a “fake” qualification but managed to last beyond six-months in places like JP Morgan, he’s got to be doing something right), I don’t think that jobs should go to anyone based on nationality and residential status.
I also look at the fact that we’ve never had an issue against “foreigners” holding good jobs until people from other parts of Asia started getting “the jobs.” We were quite comfortable and even grateful to people from the West coming here to do the “plush jobs,” and getting the salaries that those jobs came with. It has become so that its understood that people from the West would earn more than the Asians. I remember one of my previous chefs asking me why I refused to take a full-time position at the Bistrot, since most of the customers assumed, I owned the Bistrot. My answer was simple, what was on offer was significantly less than what my Belgium predecessor was getting. The reply was, “You can’t compare, he’s an Ang Moh. (Hokkien term for Caucasian – used mainly in Malaysia and Singapore).”
Things have become different now that the jobs are going to the proverbial darkies from other parts of Asia. Suddenly, Singaporeans are feeling displaced and they can’t understand why people from the places they deemed “backwards,” are now sitting jobs they assumed were the natural birthright of the people from developed nations and lording it over the locals, who are apparently better educated and more in tune with international business.
Unfortunately, the real jobs issue here is that our people are for the most part not qualified for the top jobs nor are they willing to work at the bottom of the ladder. Unfortunately, the people who get qualified from “Shithole” countries are. Even if you discount the fact that a good number of them may have “Fake” qualifications and some may have used their “connections,” the people from the proverbial “Shithole” countries have proven that they can compete on the world stage.
I remember Thambi Pundek asking me what was so special about the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and what did the IIM’s do that the National University of Singapore (NUS) could not do. My reply was to ask how many people did NUS produce who ran a big global corporation that was not dependent on the Singapore government.
Neither he or I could name a single one. By constrast, IIM (Specifically IIM Ahmedabad and Calcutta) produced Ajay Banga, the current CEO of Master Card and Indra Noyi, the former CEO of Pepsico. A comparison in alumni can be found at the following links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IIM_Ahmedabad_alumni
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_University_of_Singapore_people
I’ve always believed that this is an issue has become a convenient sticking point for all involved and everybody misses the point. While I don’t disagree with the fact that we should have tighter checks on things like fake qualifications (Look if a guy got into the job on a “fake” qualification but managed to last beyond six-months in places like JP Morgan, he’s got to be doing something right), I don’t think that jobs should go to anyone based on nationality and residential status.
I also look at the fact that we’ve never had an issue against “foreigners” holding good jobs until people from other parts of Asia started getting “the jobs.” We were quite comfortable and even grateful to people from the West coming here to do the “plush jobs,” and getting the salaries that those jobs came with. It has become so that its understood that people from the West would earn more than the Asians. I remember one of my previous chefs asking me why I refused to take a full-time position at the Bistrot, since most of the customers assumed, I owned the Bistrot. My answer was simple, what was on offer was significantly less than what my Belgium predecessor was getting. The reply was, “You can’t compare, he’s an Ang Moh. (Hokkien term for Caucasian – used mainly in Malaysia and Singapore).”
Things have become different now that the jobs are going to the proverbial darkies from other parts of Asia. Suddenly, Singaporeans are feeling displaced and they can’t understand why people from the places they deemed “backwards,” are now sitting jobs they assumed were the natural birthright of the people from developed nations and lording it over the locals, who are apparently better educated and more in tune with international business.
Unfortunately, the real jobs issue here is that our people are for the most part not qualified for the top jobs nor are they willing to work at the bottom of the ladder. Unfortunately, the people who get qualified from “Shithole” countries are. Even if you discount the fact that a good number of them may have “Fake” qualifications and some may have used their “connections,” the people from the proverbial “Shithole” countries have proven that they can compete on the world stage.
I remember Thambi Pundek asking me what was so special about the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and what did the IIM’s do that the National University of Singapore (NUS) could not do. My reply was to ask how many people did NUS produce who ran a big global corporation that was not dependent on the Singapore government.
Neither he or I could name a single one. By constrast, IIM (Specifically IIM Ahmedabad and Calcutta) produced Ajay Banga, the current CEO of Master Card and Indra Noyi, the former CEO of Pepsico. A comparison in alumni can be found at the following links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IIM_Ahmedabad_alumni
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_University_of_Singapore_people
Admittedly the IIM’s do have an advantage that many educational institutions do not have – they have a vast pool of people to draw from. The population of the “hyper-successful” in India is probably larger than the population of most countries.
Having said that, it still does not detract from the key issue in as much as, our institutions are not training people for the global market.
In fairness to our institutions, they do a fabulous job in training technical people for most industries. However, their record on training people to run a global business that requires cross-cultural intelligence and independent thinking is lacking. Our technical people are also good with the tools of today but haven’t done much to create the tools of tomorrow.
This was brought home to me by a German businessman, who deals with high end technology. He said, “There is NO high-end technology in Singapore.” By contrast, this German businessman was full of praise for China’s tech-scene. He told me, “They’re getting things done – they’ll do the same thing in a dirty little room than needs to be done in a clean lab in Germany – but they’re getting it done.”
Our minds appear stuck in the past along with our policies. I remember Lee Kuan Yew telling people that Singapore simply didn’t have the size to produce world class companies. Our policy of being a centre for multinationals has been successful.
However, the global economic scene has changed. Things are not as safe as they used to be and the ability to see things differently has become an essential survival skill. One has to be able to think beyond geographical boundaries. I go back to the profile of the Western Expat. Sometimes they’re derided as people who “couldn’t make it” in their own countries – but hey, they had the guts to take on assignments outside of their comfort zone – this group may not have been making it in their homelands but they’re making it even if its elsewhere. The Indian Expats are only doing what they’re Western Counterparts have done for years – moving to places where they could do the things, they couldn’t do at home to get the life they wanted.
Our top people also don’t venture beyond the familiar. I remember a top banker telling me he could climb higher at Citi but didn’t want to take promotions because – “you never know when you’ll come home.”
Our institutions need to instill a sense of “adventurism” and “opportunism.” In the old days, one could avoid taking the risk of the unknown if you had comfort at home. However, it’s now such that the basic jobs in the modern economy need you to have a sense of adventurism and opportunism.
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