Our Economy Beyond 2010

Changi Simei. Singapore, 8 Dec 2010

Many Singaporeans are unhappy about the influx of foreign talents in our country. Many blame them for their personal misfortune or for our personal non competitiveness in the job market.

Are foreign talents the real cause to our current unhappiness with them? It appears so when I read postings from the internet. Many postings put the blame squarely on these foreign talents for turning “true blue” citizens into second class citizens in our own country. If we can’t find a job, it is the foreign talents who are being favoured by employers because they are cheaper and willing to work 7 days a week. We envy them for not performing national service to defend the country. When our public transport is filled to the brink, we point our finger to foreign talents for traffic congestion on our roads and overcrowded MRT trains. The current hot topic is about housing and many attribute their inability to buy HDB flats to unaffordable prices as foreign talents soak up the market and perhaps speculating in HDB flats. There are more postings in the internet detailing why we should not bring in foreign talents as they are their threats.

It all boils down to our expectations of our life journeys to be smooth without storm and any under current. We ask what our country can do for us instead of what we can do for the country. Such belief gives rise to the “entitlement” mental model and the rejection of foreign talents.

Nonetheless, is there any thing wrong with accepting foreign talents to add value to the Singapore’s economy? I was reading our population replacement ratio which was published recently. It was in ratio of 1.22, hardly enough to even replace their parents. With such ratio, can our economy sustain in the long term? Look at the Japanese’s society which has low population growth and at the same time rejects foreign talents and where are they now? The Japanese’s economy has been in the low since the burst of the bubble in the 80s. The Japanese are still struggling with the economy. Will Singapore be in this state of affairs in the near future when the baby boomers population comes out of their economic productive lives? Though I am not an economist, without a large population base, our economy may not sustain for long. I am worried about the economy in the long term even though I may have long gone under. 

I have read a report that the Chinese government is also attracting foreign talents? Why should they with a more than a billion population? There must be some thing that the Chinese government knows that we don’t.

Just turn to Malaysia, it was reported in the Straits Times on 7 Dec 2010 that the Malaysian government plans new visa to woo foreign talent. It is making it easier for skilled expats to live and work in the country as part of its plans to woo the needed talent to help to spur its economy. The catch is skilled expatriates. Finally, they have woken up to our detriments. They will be our real economic threat in the future as they also aim to be a world class economy.

While other countries openly embrace foreign talents, back home, we apply pressure on our government to limit the inflow of foreign talents. While I agree that we should not take in all sort of foreign talents, nonetheless, we should take in the best and also the unskilled labourers. We need the unskilled workers as they are a critical pillar to the success of our economy at the lower grade jobs where no Singaporeans will want to take up. Imagine one day when all the foreign workers in the conservancy and maintenance industry are gone. Who is going to upkeep the cleanliness in our society, who is going to build our HDB flats and other properties etc?

I am also inclined to agree that foreign talents affect our social fabric and add pressure on our limited infrastructures but without them, our economy will shrink. It is a question of how we balance between the need for them and at the same time looking at our own interest. There are advocates and opposition and I respect their positions. Nevertheless, is a fine line to tread.    

I am pretty sure that our government is aware of the resentments against foreign talents thus adjusting its foreign talents policy. Too much twitching of polices would result in Singapore being unattractive to attract these foreign talents. Therefore, our government will need to do more for Singaporeans to alleviate their fears on the onslaught of foreign talents. But Singaporean will also need to work harder, cultivating good work attitude instead of taking medical leave at the slightest of illness like headaches. We must remember that no one owes us a living except ourselves.

Singapore needs foreign talents as part of our long term strategy to propel our economy to the next plane if not maintaining the current level of prosperity.