An alternative response to Gilbert Goh's advice

There is a saying that goes, "When all you have a is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail waiting to be hit." This was very much the feeling I read Gilbert Goh's article on a highly qualified risk manager who was made redundant. You know, he runs Transitioning.org and is filling a gap in the market where otherwise many would be staring into the abyss. So I really hate to criticize him, so please note that I am merely offering an alternative reaction to the situation he analysed - this is in no way a criticism. I am not going to retell the story of 'John' - so please read Gilbert's original article here. Okay, there's that whole rant of competition from FTs etc - nothing new but then both John and Gilbert seem to latch onto something to blame on.

As his interviewers are also foreigners, John felt that there may be some bias here. “I couldn’t speak as well as those foreigners and this probably is my biggest handicap during an interview,” John lamented to me in one of his rare show of displeasure at his jobless situation.

Are you afraid to speak up?

Really? Oh for crying out aloud. Reading that just made me feel like I've stepped back in time to the 1970s when Singaporeans got nervous about speaking to white people because they had never ever met one before. Listen, they're white, they're Angmohs, so what? Aren't there plenty of white people in Singapore already - like have you never met one before? Is this John going to quiver in his shoes just because he's interviewed by someone who is not of the same nationality or ethnicity? OMFG. Get real John. If you've fucked up at the interview, then admit it - but don't play the race card here. You're so barking up the wrong tree.

Now I realize that not everyone is articulate and eloquent but for that to be a major handicap really depends on the kind of job you are going for. Say if you want to be a radio DJ or a TV talk show host, then yeah you really must have the gift of the gab. But good grief, a risk manager? Are you for real? Okay, hold on for a second, let's go back to basics and remind ourselves what a risk manager actually does.

Risk managers advise organisations on any potential risks to the profitability or existence of the company. They identify and assess threats, put plans in place for if things go wrong and decide how to avoid, reduce or transfer risks. Risk managers are responsible for managing the risk to the organisation, its employees, customers, reputation, assets and interests of stakeholders. They may work in a variety of sectors and may specialise in a number of areas including enterprise risk, corporate governance, regulatory and operational risk, business continuity, information and security risk, technology risk, and market and credit risk.

Source: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/risk_manager_job_description.htm

Risk managers make sense of the markets for companies and evaluate their risk. 

In practice, risk managers are the ones who have to crunch numbers, plough through a large amount of data and evidence and write very long reports on any potential risks to profit or the company. Often they don't even have to present the report - it's usually just emailed. This is quite different say from the role of a sales manager, where he has to pitch the clients and do important sales presentations to potential buyers. Different jobs require different skills - a risk manager is picked for his analytical skills rather than his eloquence. In John's case, given that he worked for a Japanese bank, that would have probably meant a large amount of quantitative analysis - which is a nice way of saying "number crunching". Hey, if it's a job you can do well, the banks will pay you a lot of money to perform that task. 

Whilst I have always encouraged my readers to develop their soft skills, we also have to be realistic here. We need to play to our strengths and recognize where our talents lie. What was Gilbert's solution for John? 

"Even the uneducated (Australian) road sweeper spoke better English than me! I told John maybe he can consider joining a Tostmaster programme as they teach people how to speak properly in front of an audience."

Well I beg to differ. There are plenty of English people who are woefully inarticulate and struggle with the English language. It is a fallacy that all native speakers of English (Americans, Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Irish etc) are somehow fluent in it. If that is the case, why is English still a language that is taught in British schools? Those is countries like the UK, Canada and Australia may have an advantage in learning English - given that they are in an English speaking environment and have far more opportunities to practice their English, but a lot of that depends on your social class. The working class in the UK have a tendency to speak in broken English - that includes mispronunciations and incorrect grammar. Let's compare standard English and British working class English.

Standard English: "You were going to meet Mr Jones yesterday, but he cancelled last minute. That's typical, isn't it?" 

Working class English: "You was gonna meet Mr Jones yesterday, but he cancelled last minute. Dat's typical, innit?" 

Why is this the case? Well, uneducated British people have always spoken English - they just speak it their way, paying no heed to proper grammar or what the rules of standard English are. Whilst younger working class people may have all had the benefit of a decent education, their parents and grandparents may not. So whilst you have the poor teacher trying to teach them proper English in the classroom, they are going to go home after school and go right back to speaking broken English with their family and friends. Unless you had a teacher to tell you that "you was" is incorrect, how were you supposed to know the difference between "you was" and "you were"? Furthermore, if everyone in your community said "you was" instead of "you were" - then it feels normal to say "you was" in everyday speech if that is what you are hearing all the time. Leaving aside Australian road sweepers, I would expect a white British road sweeper to say "you was" and speak in non-standard English.

Gilbert and John are both definitely barking up the wrong tree by focussing on John's ability to speak well - after all, his profession which does not require him to do any public speaking. In any case, I felt rather insulted as Gilbert insinuated that those from Singapore are simply not as articulate as those from America or Australia - WTF?! Are you assuming that Singaporeans are somehow less articulate than white people? What utter total racist bullshit! Look, if that came from a white person, then I would come out all guns blazing but both Gilbert and John are as Singaporean as they come - so what the hell is going on here? Is this a clear case of self-hatred: the Singaporean looking down on himself, with this "angmoh must be better" attitude? That is just so freaking wrong on so many levels! In Gilbert's words:

"Mild-mannered and rather shy in his demeanor, John will definitely lose out to a more vocal foreigner from the US or Australia during a job interview – who are known to have the gift of the gab."

In any country, be it China or Colombia, Singapore or Sweden, Malaysia or Mauritania, you will get a full spectrum of people from those who are eloquent and witty to the other extreme: the 'Vicky Pollard's who are inarticulate and sound downright stupid. And yes, even in America and Australia, there are plenty of white people who struggle with the English language. Should this come as a surprise to you? I don't think so - yet there is more than a hint of a defeatist attitude in Gilbert's article about John's ability when compared to an angmoh FT. I'm sorry but that's so wrong - how can Gilbert help John when Gilbert don't even believe in John to begin with? Perhaps it's not John per se, but what John represents. The local vs the FT. I'd like to see local Singaporeans respond with a lot of chutzpah and passion when it comes to rising to the occasion.

Whilst I may not be eloquent nor am I that articulate, I don't make any excuses about being shy or mild-mannered - I work on my weaknesses and speak up when it is necessary. Here's one of my videos from earlier this year - after all, it wouldn't be fair for me to pass judgement on others without putting myself out there for you to judge as well.

Gilbert does tend to see a problem with the Singaporean mindset, in his words and I quote:

"John is now reduced to a mixed bag of uncertainty and disappointment – betrayed by the very ones who told us that they will take care of the people if we excel in our stringent educational system and be diligent in our work."

Okay, so what does he prescribe? More of the same. "I told John maybe he can consider joining a Tostmaster programme as they teach people how to speak properly in front of an audience." Duh. Studying hard didn't quite yield the results John wanted - so what does Gilbert suggest? Go back and study some more. Let me use the famous "It's a Jackal!" Family Guy clip to illustrate my point. 

When something didn't work the first time, it is not going to work the second (third, fourth etc) time. But that's what you Singaporeans are good at: studying (or mugging, as we say in Singapore) - if that's what you are good at doing, then that's your first response to every problem you come across: you try to study your way out of the situation. Sometimes it can work but I don't think it can in this case. Allow me to offer a different perspective. 

I have offered this perspective in the past in my article about the "Jilted Lover Syndrome" - it is time to revisit it. Gilbert and John are both in denial about the situation - there is a relationship that has ended and someone need to send John an email to inform him of it. I'm talking about the relationship John (as a Singaporean citizen) has with his government. Wake up and smell the coffee guys. You guys can bitch about the PAP's foreign talent policies and how they wish to grow the population to 6 million etc - but such bitching and whining isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference whatsoever. Newsflash people: the PAP doesn't care about you any more and you've been dumped. In fact, you were dumped a long time ago but most of you were just too bloody blur or stupid to notice. 

If this John is indeed an experienced risk manager, then he should start applying for jobs elsewhere - take your pick: China, Australia, Taiwan, Europe, Canada etc - the world is your oyster but you have to get the hell out of Singapore. It is frustrating to see Singaporeans limit their choices by insisting on staying in Singapore even though the odds are stacked against them in Singapore. How fucking ironic eh? That Singaporeans are worst off in their own country and are better off anywhere else but in Singapore. 

Do you know why Singaporeans are still oblivious to how fucked they are in their own country by their government? It's because they have believed this big fat lie for the last 50 years that they won't be better off in another country because white people are racist. What a total lie. Unfortunately, people like my father totally bought into this big fat lie and here's the irony. My dad doesn't speak English at all, yet he can bitch to me about white people being racist to Asian people and I'm like, you can't even speak English, how do you interact with white people and know that they are racist? What kind of bullshit rubbish are you talking about? You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I know you're such a racist - you totally hate white people - but please don't assume that they hate you just because you hate them.

So Singaporeans go into this pessimistic mode where they believe, "yeah I'm fucked in Singapore, but white people are racist and will hate me so I can't move to the west and other Asians hate us too so I can't move to any other country, so being totally fucked in Singapore is the best option." Newsflash people: I'm not saying that you won't encounter problems transitioning to another country. Trying to cope with a new culture, possibly a new language, a different climate, a new lifestyle can be challenging, but those challenges are the main problems you will face. And racism doesn't even come into the picture at all. Not at all I repeat. Not one bit. 

Let me tell you what my biggest problem was in my first year at university, I fell ill. Like really ill and had to drag my sorry ass to the hospital when I had a really bad eye infection. My eyes were so swollen I could barely see and this was like within a few weeks of arriving in the UK. I remembered how my sister had fallen ill back home and we all took turns taking good care of her so she could simply rest and focus on getting better - what about me? I had to take care of myself, I was so far away from my family and had no one to take care of me then. Yeah that's a very real situation you may find yourself in when you are halfway around the world and you must be prepared to deal with challenges like that without any help from your family. 

Racism doesn't even come into the picture at all and even if it did creep up, I am more than capable of challenging the person and taking care of myself. Please lah, I am your Chao Ah Beng from Ang Mo Kio - you think I am going to just wither and die like some frail flower when someone hurls a racist insult at me? What do you take me for - a typical Singaporean wimp? Hell no, I'm of the Chao Ah Beng variety - the kind you don't wanna get into a staring match with. You think Limpeh cannot defend myself in such a situation? 

Let's finish with Gilbert's conclusion:  "The next few years will be tough for Singaporeans as they have to stay on top to retain their jobs or else they will be replaced by 800,000 more foreigners flooding the tiny red dot looking for work. Let’s hope that our government can come to their senses and stop the country from sinking into chaos and oblivion."

LMFAO. OMFG Gilbert, are you fucking kidding me? You are hoping that the PAP will come to their senses? OMFG Gilbert. Like get real dude, wake up and smell the fucking coffee. Either start helping the opposition get into power and reverse this flood of FTs or it's time to move to another country. Call me cynical but when the government keeps stacking the odds against its own citizens, you have to be pretty blind not to take a hint that the government no longer favours you. To try to continue any kind of relationship with someone after they have sent such a clear signal to you is masochistic to say the least. No thanks, I'm no masochist! 

Even if Gilbert Goh doesn't get it - at least Demon-cratic does. You can't have a love affair with a lover who has already jilted you. When you want to do something that involves another party, you have to realize it's not just what you want - you have to persuade them to do it with you. Remember how you had to ask that guy or girl you really liked out for a date? In that simple act, you are seeking their consent to pursue the relationship. Gilbert's plea to the government to "come to their senses" sounds like a battered wife begging her husband to forgive her even after he has just kicked the crap out of her. Geez. Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert .... You know I respect you for what you do but good grief. You need to move out of this 'battered wife' mode if you really want to help people like John.