Ask What Your Country Can Do For You

Copyright - Nomad Capitalist  

Back when I was at school, I had to read a poem called “That Old Lie – Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori.” This is a War Poem written by Wilfred Owed, who had fought in the trenches of World War I and understood that war was and still is a horrible business that is fought by and paid by the blood of innocent young men who are told by old men sitting in offices that sacrificing their life is a glorious business.

I think about this poem because it sums up one of the great debates of our time – namely the increased migration of people around the world. While I personally believe that greater movement of people has been on the whole a good thing, there has been a greater polarization between “native born” people and “new arrivals” in just about every country on the planet. This is true even in Singapore, which sells itself as the “great melting pot of Asia.” I remember being at a function when a prominent doctor I knew was asked “Are you Singaporean?” To which the reply was “Are you asking if I’ve completed National Service.”

While the Singaporean government has taken pains to remind the population that we do need our new migrants, the truth is that all governments, particularly those that need democratic legitimacy love these types of “us-versus-them” mentalities in the voting population.

The most prominent example of this was Donald Trump, who was by no means the first politician who exploited the “us-versus-them” mentality. He was merely the most visible and, in a way, the most successful. The message was not necessarily based on fact but it was effective. There’s nothing like someone else to blame for all your failings in life. If you’re a white boy who can’t get laid, well that’s because the Mexicans are raping your women. If you’re a Singaporean, who didn’t get a job as a desk jockey, it’s because someone from India took it from you. The list goes on.

Politicians love this because when it comes to election time, all they need to do is to hit the migrants. In Singapore, the number of work passes being issued somehow decreases during election time – “see we’re looking after you the natives.”

The flip side is that the politicians love to drum up the message that its your patriotic duty to hang around to be on the receiving end of their goodness. Under our previous Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, it was summed up as “Stayer or Quitter.” Patriotic Singaporeans were supposed to stay because they were not horrible “quitters,” who didn’t love their country. While we grudgingly accepted that we’d have to work for companies run by expats, we could console ourselves with the thought that these guys were the ones who couldn’t make it in their native lands so they came here.

Now, when I think of the “stayer-quitter” debate, I’m reminded of that Wilfred Owen poem all those years ago. Mr. Owen had a valuable point in that the guys who were talking about the glory of dying for the country, where not the guys at risk of dying for anything in particular. The concept of kings and other sovereigns leading troops into battle died in the Middle Ages and the guys who inevitably make the decision about fighting wars are inevitably those who are furthest removed from the front line. In America, there was the obvious point of how General Tommy Franks conducted the Afghan Campaign from Florida and communicated with the guys on the ground via satellite. In tinny Singapore we do one better, we retire anyone with anything resembling combat experience as soon as they are done and push into obscurity and promote anyone else to the decision-making process.

The same is true on the economic front. The people who inevitably talk the most about foreign labour (cause it’s cheaper) or foreign talent, are never the ones who have to compete. It’s the multimillionaires who talk about how having a minimum wage is bad for the economy and the landlords are always the ones making the most noise about how we need to get back to the office.

So, what can we, the rest of the population do? Like Mr. Owen, we should probably look at the source of the issue. Foreigners are not the source of our problems. The people who have moved here are only doing what should be natural. If you’re a Filipino engineer who can only make many times more as a waiter in Singapore than you can as an engineer at home, why shouldn’t you try your luck to be a waiter? If you’re an ordinary Australian in the mailroom in Sydney and there’s an opportunity to be in a corner office in Singapore, you’d be a fool not to take it.

I recently discovered a site called “Nomad Capitalist,” which deals with helping people get second passports and off shore accounts. The site is started by an American who threw away his US passport for one of Caribbean ones. His tag line is “Go where you’re treated best.”

If you’ve been brought up to think of “patriotism” as the only option in life, you’ll get pissed off looking through his site. You’ll get angry that the rich aren’t limited by geography and citizenships can be sold.

However, if you look at things objectively, what’s wrong with being able to move to a country that gives you better opportunities. Sure, it’s easier to do it when you’re in the multibillion-dollar level, but even then, you got to ask yourself, why should you be limited by the borders of any particular nation. Technology has made it possible to do many things across borders and it shouldn’t be wrong for the ordinary person to take advantage of it.

One of the smartest guys I knew was a Malay taxi driver who explained that he had “cashed-out.” The price of his HDB in Singapore allowed him to buy a beautiful landed property in Johor and was building a place in Batam. He only came back to Singapore to drive as and when he needed the money.  To me, this guy has understood the way the world should be going.

Let’s remember the people who tell you that the world belongs to patriots are the least patriotic people you’ll find. Those who drum it into you that you need to be a “stayer” have their motives for wanting you to stay. It should no longer be a bad thing to ask what your country can do for you.