Singapore vs Singapore Inc.

We love our country, Singapore. Foreigners also love our Singapore for many reasons, including cleanliness, security, corruption-free, orderliness, etc. However, since GE2011, there has been a lot of outpouring of unhappiness in the island paradise. Local Singaporeans feel shortchanged and feel that foreigners are benefitting at the expense of Singapore.

Management Model

In my opinion, the government is running Singapore like a business. Its management style is similar to those of Microsoft, 3M, Apple. How? If we look at these companies, even as they launch a new product, they are already working hard at developing a new product. Take Apple for example. Once they launch the highly successful I-phone, they have been quick to launch newer versions. This is adopted to keep ahead of competition. There have been many copycats, but apple has so far been able to keep ahead of competition.

Coming back to Singapore. In the 60s and 70s, our industry was mainly labour intensive, e.g. textile, wood. In 80s, we moved more into electronics industries. The woodworking and textile industries were in their sunset years. In the 90s, we began to face stiff competiton from other countries, such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, for a share of the electronics pie. What would have happened if the government did not change course? Imagine ourselves still stuck with textile or woodworking industries. Our economy would be in bad shape.

So, what next? The government has been right to move into the service industry - education, medical hub, financial hub (of course I take exception to the IRs). However, there are areas that I think that can be improved on:
- the govt offered subsidised education to foreigners as we needed huge numbers of graduate engineers & other professionals. The 3-year bond was to ensure that these people return to the community. However, with the name brand of NUS and NTU, I am sure that there are sufficient numbers of students from neighbouring countries willing to study in Spore without tuition grants. Then it makes economic sense to make tertiary education as a profit generating industry.
- there is over weightage to engineering per se, given the changing nature of the industries. The polytechnics and unis should offer more courses relevant to the industry. Mid-career professionals in outdated fields should be given a fresh start in new areas with training & opportunities for re-employment.

Social impact
In the corporate world, those who cannot adapt to change, will normally be redundant and forced to leave on their own accord, or through retrenchment exercises. However, in Singapore's case, we need to change fast to continue to stay relevant, but we cannot retrench or ignore the less capable members of our society. If the poor turn to crime out of dire needs, it does not help the rest of the population. It is therefore necessary to have a system in place to ensure that they can pick themselves up and try to live decent lives. Schemes that I find was very helpful was the Job credit scheme and the SPUR program. Of course, there will always be people who take advantage of loopholes, but these helped.
The other challenge will be for the grassroots to reach out to those in need - most probably those in need would not know where to look for assistance, and some may end up in the clutches of loansharks and vices.

Singapore has progressed economically for the majority, but as humans, we may not have progressed. In pursuit of economic success, we have left behind other qualities such as compassion, graciousness. If we can develop these as well, then Singapore may truly become an island paradise.