Singapore has been going through a “leadership” crisis in recent weeks with the announcement that the Prime Minister-in-Waiting, Mr. Heng Swee Keat announced in early April that he would be stepping aside and would not be succeeding the current Prime Minister as everyone had expected him to.
This news sent
the entire government machinery into a dizzy spin. A cabinet reshuffle has
taken place and the online sphere has exploded with stories about how the once famously
efficient PAP machinery had botched a succession.
There is plenty
of speculation as to why Mr. Heng decided to step aside. He has said that he’s now
60-years old and said that he’d be a little too old for the job by the time the
current Prime Minister steps down and he didn’t have a long enough run way to
be the Prime Minister that Singapore deserved.
Mr. Heng’s
reason’s for stepping aside have given the online crowd plenty to talk about
and many are speculating that his “too old” reasoning is an excuse for
something else. Leaving aside the speculation on why Mr. Heng suddenly decided
to step aside, has raised one of the most pressing but under reported issues of
our time – ageism. As American comedian, Bill Maher has aptly said, “Ageism is
the only ism that nobody hates.” He’s right. You can get sued and crucified in
the public space for being “racist” and “sexist” but have you heard of anyone
being sued for being “ageist.”
Mr. Heng is definitely
not the only person in Singapore who has been deemed “too old” for the job at
60. He’s merely the first to declare himself “too old” and the most
prominent. Ageism is rife in Singapore.
I remember when I got hired by the liquidator in 2014, when I was turning 40,
people told me, you better hold onto that job because it’s the last one you’ll
probably have. Funnily enough, they had a point. Here is a WhatsApp exchange I
had with an employment agent for a “restaurant” job that I had applied for:
Why should I
be surprised by this when……..
This wasn’t a high-level
corporate position that I was applying for. I was applying to be a restaurant
manager.” I have seven years of experience working in a restaurant. I have a
track record of being able to get people to spend money on premium dishes and wine
(in two restaurants). Add to that I’ve seen how accounting and marketing in
restaurants are done. I am qualified for the job (some might argue over
qualified). Yet, I fail the most important criteria, I am past a certain age. This
isn’t the first time that’s happened. I’ve replied to ads that have said they
were desperate for people only to be told by the job poster that they didn’t
need anyone and then only for them to post the ad the next day.
It happens at
the highest levels
I’ve reached a
stage where I’ve learnt to accept things as they are and so, rather than fight
against a trend that I can’t fight against I try and look for a different
route. I keep my day job because it pays the bills and I look for side hustles
to bring in some extra money. I may be “too old” for a high-flying corporate
career it does not mean that I can’t be useful for the odd project here and
there.
To an extent, I
can understand the ethos of wanting to hand the job over to someone younger and
fresher. Old folks who hang onto top jobs have a way of screwing up the very nations
or organisations that they devoted to building. The Arab Spring of 2011 which
saw the removal or Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt provide
examples of what happens when old folk don’t know when to step down and hang on
past their sell by date.
However, there
is a difference between letting old men (they’re usually men) at the top hang
on past their dotage and allowing them to hobble progress and discarding every
old person trying to make a living. This is especially true in a place like
Singapore where the cost of living has risen and the prospect of “work-till-you-die”
has become a fate an increasing number of us seem to accept. There’s only one
problem with “work-till-you-die,” which is the fact that employers are likely
to ax the old folks and the ones that get axed are not likely to get another
job, even one that is below their qualifications.
I’ve worked mostly
freelance for the better part of my working life. So, although I’ve not made
much money, I’m psychologically prepared to hustle to get “gig-jobs” and I’m
willing to work in menial jobs here and there to ensure there’s cash flow. I’m
a weird exception in this respect. My contemporaries who have had “successful”
careers take losing the stable job much harder.
Something has
to be done about this and one of the best places to start is the definition of
old. While I’ve past 45, I for one, refuse to accept that I am old. I am
considerably fitter in my “mid-forties” than I was in my thirties and I’ve got
more energy that quite a few people significantly younger (At 46 I do the
lifting in the office because the under 45s who inhabit it would die of
coronary if asked to carry anything heavier than a file and to walk beyond their
desk). However, I’m reminded by my 21-year-old that I’m a “disgusting” old man
whenever she catches me eyeing up the pretty young things who are closer to her
age than mine. So, while I’ve have reached an age where it is “inappropriate”
to eye up the chicks, I am by no means beyond the age of being useful. So, what
does someone like me do?
Well, if I was
born in the USA, I could probably run for President. America, which is seen as
the global creator of “youth culture” and all things hip was run by a 74-year-old
who has now been succeeded by a 78-year-old. Say what you like about the two
grandpas who fought last year’s election but they managed to galvanize more
people to turn out and vote than in any other election in history. Let’s face
it, Donald Trump and Joe Bidden are by any standards “Way too Old” managed to
get more people excited about coming out to vote than Barak Obama who sold
himself as young, hip and trendy.
Incidentally
enough, the 78-year-old in charge has been, despite being called “Sleepy” by
his opponent, has been focused and managed to get things done. If the Trump
Presidency was a golden gift for comedians, the Biden Presidency has thus far
been a disappointment for anyone hopping to crack senile jokes at his expense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPSK7inXesA
https://www.thewrap.com/bill-maher-holds-up-joe-biden-as-the-ultimate-way-to-debunk-ageism-video/
Thus far Mr.
Bidden has not only proven himself to be more effective than his predecessor but
also when compared to the “young” and “hip” man whom he served under as vice-president.
The qualities that people had tried to use against him have proven to be his
greatest assets – namely experience and wisdom. A report on the Biden
Presidency can be found at:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/3/31/donald-who-how-biden-is-outshining-trump-and-obama
There might be
some Asian readers who would argue that Messers Biden and Trump are different because
they are “Ang Moh” (local Singapore slang for Caucasian). Well, closer to home,
there’s the example of Malaysia’s perpetual Prime Minister, Dr. Mohamad
Mahathir who was not only Malaysia’s longest serving Prime Minister, but in
less than a decade of “retirement” Dr. Mahathir broke away from UMNO, the party
he was from, formed a new party and assembled a coalition to unseat UMNO in a
General Election, which was the first time in Malaysia’s history that UMNO had
been unseated. He did this at the age of 94.
Say what you
like about Dr. Mahathir, but he’s shown no sign of letting age hold him back as
can be seen from this video of him dancing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNetKWQlgU
Copyright –
RojakDaily
Yes, by all means,
its important to have “leadership renewal.” However, we need to learn how to
value older people and the experience that they bring to the table. Medical
science has reached a stage where the old are fitter and stronger than they used
to be and so, old rules of sell by dates are not as “true” as they used to be.
Leslie Fong,
former editor of the Straits Times once talked about “Older and more valuable”
eye balls. He has a point. In an aging society, we have to do more than throw
money at women who have options in life in the futile effort to get them to
have children they may not necessarily want to have. We need to see how we can
prolong the “usefulness” of the people already in the work force as much as we
try and bring in the young.
Singapore had a
ninety-year-old who managed to stay employed till the end. It’s such a shame
that he was the only one who seemed able to be “useful” in a nation of more
than five million. Instead of letting only one old person contribute, we should
find a way of allowing more old folks add to our social fabric. A nation that proclaims
it only has human resources should stop wasting it.
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