Several days ago, Minister Mentor Lee commented from Australia about Singapore’s brain drain in the form of Singaporeans going overseas to work and live (and possibly to migrate for good):
the whole idea is balance – to gain more than you lose. And for now, Singapore is gaining, with more Indians and Chinese coming in.
MM’s Lee idea of gaining more than what Singapore is losing seems to imply that keeping indigenous Singaporeans in the country is less important than getting more Indian and Chinese “talents” in (to compete with indigenous Singaporeans, and further spur more of us to harbour thoughts of leaving).
Indeed, this is quite apparent since more than 60% of mainland Chinese undergraduates in Singapore eventually get PR or Citizenship status. They enjoy economic benefits in Singapore while having no obligations to protect the country. And then, like in the recent case of a “foreign talent” sportswoman, can just pack up and return to their home countries with their earnings after a few lucrative years here. What a generous government we have.
If that’s the attitude our government holds towards native Singaporeans, then why should we bother to love and protect a country that doesn’t even bother about an increasing exodus of its own people more than its plans of getting 2.5 million more immigrants in? Where is the justice and equality in having foreigners in to enjoy economic benefits at the expense of displacing native Singaporeans (from education and employment opportunities, and eventually, from our homeland when we can no longer tolerate the intense competition)?
Today’s Sunday Times had a feature on mainland Chinese students topping classes in Singapore and displacing their Singaporean counterparts. It mentioned about how Singaporean youths feel inferior compared to these “talents”, so much so that many of them decided to live with the fact that they can never score higher than those foreigners. What is the government going to do about this? Continue to get more foreign students in to work towards its’ plan of a 6.5 million population, and further aggravate the tension between Singaporean and foreign students?
It is no secret that these foreign students most often keep within their own groups, rather than blending in with the local crowd. For some reason, it’s difficult for them to accept Singaporeans as friends, and vice-versa. There are lots of name-calling and racist/country jokes going around on campus nowadays.
My feelings about this is that, if at a young age, we are already breeding unhappiness among Singaporeans and foreigners, the situation will eventually get worse when these kids graduate into working lives. This will only encourage more native Singaporeans to pack up and leave this place for good.
So are Singaporeans really the ones who are gaining more than what we are losing, or is it just the government and capitalists that are enjoying the benefits (from cost savings by employing “cheaper”, foreign workers)? Are there really no other economic policies that can be taken to benefit the country while not sacrificing native Singaporeans? From what I see, our brilliant policy makers are just applying textbook economics, and we all know that while textbook concepts work in theory, when implemented without considering the social implications the consequences can be disastrous.
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you put the system to the test, you know why it falls flat. the breed here is incredibly mediocre when you examine closer. alot of the ordinary people’s problems are easily isolated and suppressed so you really don’t have a real feel of the kind of problems people are facing. they only feed you what you need tohear so you get the good reports. when there is problem, you find that the breed are lazy and care more for their jobs than for the people or country so at the end of the day,nobody really gives a damn. so either you have been lucky so far to see the better side here or naive to think all is well.
get real> The message I’m trying to bring across is that not all is as rosy as what the ministers is painting them to be, so I guess that message wasn’t meant for me?
This is what happen when the country is being run like a company. When employees of the company quit, the employers simply hire people from outside to replace them. The employer doesn’t give a damn about the nationalities of the people coming in, as long as they help to generate profits for the company.
When singaporeans are being asked to make sacrifices while foreigners are being welcomed in open arms, there’s little wonder that more and more singaporeans decided to look for greener pastures. It becomes a vicious cycle and I don’t think the govt really give a damn.
You know…I thought almost the same thing when I read the article.
Why serve NS when in the end, most of the people that will benefit from our national service ain’t even Singaporeans. Or who will eventually be Singaporeans without having to sacrifice for Singapore. Sure, some people argue that their kids will have to do it but I think that is missing the point. I think their kids will have an advantage over our kids because they didn’t need to do NS while we had to and the two years set us behind. I know it is probably simplistic, but I think in the next generation, a majority of the middle-upper to upper class will either be from families that were already rich in this generation, working for the government (and making it to the top) or first generation immigrants from places like China and India. Sure, some non-first generation Singaporeans from this period might be able to make it to that level in the future, but I think they will be the minority. Nothing to substantiate this of course because it is all in the future, but I can’t shake the feeling that this will happen. In the future, I fear Singapore will become a society of Morlocks and Eloi if we aren’t already there.
Uncharted waters, you are right. The govt does not give a damn. On the surface it pays lip service to grooming locals, “no one is left behind” and such rhetoric. But action speaks louder than words. If you look at the people who are on top of it all, LKY and his son, they are not the sort willing to listen, backtrack, or have any wish to be “held hostage” by the growing demands of citizens of this country. LKY himself said many years ago this is not his style of govt. The Lees will sooner send tanks into tianamen to quell what they see as dissent than be seen to be soft. Generations of Singaporeans have been brainwashed into thinking our country’s achievements are due to one or two individuals, and I am afraid it will take more than a generation or two to undo the brainwashing.