Limpeh on Foreign Talents

Recently, I have been asked to clarify my stance on Foreign Talents in Singapore for I have attacked the PAP on opening the flood gates to foreigners to Singapore. It's not something I have talked about for a while - so I shall do a post on it just to spell out exactly where I stand on the issue.

I left Singapore upon finishing my national service and have worked in many different countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia in the last 15 years. If any of these countries did not welcome foreigners working there, I would have been forced to return to Singapore to seek work upon my graduation. Clearly, I have benefited from the liberal policies these countries have on foreign talents working there. So yes, in short, I do believe that countries should have always keep their doors open to welcome those who can clearly contribute to their economies.

That's me working at BBC Media City, Manchester

However, I do believe that such a system needs to be executed in a way that doesn't disadvantage the locals in any way - they should at least be able to compete on a level playing field with the foreigners. This is why I felt I simply had to leave Singapore - it was ludicrous that after I had served 2 years 4 months of national service, I had to compete against other foreign talents and female Singaporeans who had no NS reservist obligations. And somehow male Singaporeans are supposed to just put up with that huge injustice in the name of patriotism? Really? It is terribly hard to feel patriotic towards a country which has come up with such an unfair system with the odds stacked against you. I was fortunate enough to be able to leave and work in another country and so I did.

Thus as you can see, I am all for a more liberal labour market, which will enable people to go work in other countries - but such a system needs to be well regulated. Many countries (such as Canada, Australia, the UK) have a points based system which sets the bar rather high - meet our high standards and in you come. If you don't earn enough points, then go away we don't love you. If you have a good system that works, that feels fair to everyone, then locals won't feel such resentment towards foreigners. It'll be like, "ah they're here to help us develop our economy", rather than "they're here to steal our jobs".

Are you afraid of foreign competition? 

I think back to my childhood in Singapore in the 1980s: that was when Thai construction workers and Filipino workers were on short term contracts and were sent home at the end of their contracts. However, things have changed a lot and now, even lowly paid workers get to become PRs in Singapore - WTF? None of this makes sense - by all means, let in the rocket scientists, the brain surgeons, the best engineers, the dotcom entrepreneurs like Eduardo Saverin, sports superstars and other highly skilled migrants who can contribute to Singapore's economic development. But when you let in lowly paid workers - that's when the tide of public opinion will turn from "they're here to help us develop our economy" to "they're here to steal our jobs".

It is up to the government to effectively manage these expectations and opinions of the people - they need to be seen to be in complete control of the situation. There is the very bizarre situation in Singapore whereby the government's policies are not supported actively by the people who voted for them. Take someone like my mother, a very typical Singaporean who is almost 70. She will always vote for the PAP, she does not know otherwise - however, if you were to ask her simple questions like, "do you think the ministers are overpaid?", "are there too many PRCs in Singapore?" and "is the government doing enough to help Singaporeans?"  Her answers would be yes, yes and no. Yet if you asked her, "would you still vote for the PAP?" She would definitely say, "yes". That's what confuses me, she is not happy with the situation - yet she is so brainwashed by the PAP that she cannot bring herself to contemplate an alternative, a Singapore without the PAP.

What is your take on the issue? 

Hence you have this situation where the government still somehow manages to win 60.14% of the popular vote despite not having the faith nor trust of more than half the people because people like my mother who are not happy with the PAP but cannot bring themselves to support the opposition. There simply isn't another democratically elected government in the world who are that unpopular with the electorate - especially when it comes to the issue of foreign talents in Singapore. Thus you have this bizarre situation of a population who are frustrated and angry with a government who still somehow, despite this strong sense of dissatisfaction amongst the people, yet somehow manages to hold on to power. It is a uniquely Singaporean paradox.

One more thing I really don't get (guys, help me out here) is the reluctance of Singaporeans to leave Singapore when they are so badly squeezed. I read of all these sob stories on Transitioning.org - and I'm like, geez, if life in Singapore is so shit, then just leave Singapore lah. 你留在那里受苦干嘛? (Why are you suffering there?)  Oh, you mean it's to be close to your family? That's a feeble excuse man. You're no bloody good to your family if you're this depressed, unemployed adult - you're better off going to some new frontier like Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand and getting a job there, so your family can be proud of you being productive in a new country. I know the guy who runs Transitioning.org has his heart in the right place, but for me the solution is so simple - it's far easier to leave Singapore and get a job in another country than to try to convince the PAP to change their ways. Why are some Singaporeans so afraid of the prospect of working outside Singapore, even if it's somewhere nearby like Thailand?

Why are Singaporeans so afraid about seeking greener pastures abroad?

You know, my Malaysian friends have observed that about Singaporeans - they said Singaporeans are very takut/胆小 (timid) compared to Malaysians. In Malaysia, they would gladly send their teenage children to another town/city or even another state just to get them into a better school. As a result of this, Malaysian teenagers have become far more independent their counterparts south of the causeway - is this purely a function of geography? Or are we a product of the Singaporean government's policies? After all, culturally, Malaysians may seem rather similar to Singaporeans - yet there are still stark differences when you look at the practical implications.

I remember how my Malaysian classmate laughed when we needed consent forms for an excursion during secondary school - his parents were far away in Penang and he was living in a hostel then in Singapore and was free to come and go as he wished. The concept of needed our parents' permission just to go visit some science exhibition 15 minutes down the road made us looked so pathetic in his eyes, like we were all so tied to our mothers' apron strings.

There is a huge difference between the Singaporean & Malaysian mindset

So there you go, that's a shorter than normal piece from me on the issue of foreign talents. Yes I do support the concept of welcoming true talents into your country to allow them to help you develop your economy - but Singapore is a different story as the government has well and truly messed up on this issue. Short of at least half of Singapore waking up and voting out the PAP at the next elections, I don't foresee a light at the end of the tunnel for this problem as long as the PAP is in power. Until then, the easy solution is to pack up and leave.