TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Singapore should now focus on its strong areas and grow the depth of expertise in these sectors. In a speech made at an Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) forum yesterday, Mr Tharman stressed the need for Singapore to build up capabilities such as workforce skills and quick commercialisation of new products within the sectors that Singapore is showing strength in. He said: "It'll mean not focusing on every area. But we move quickly to identify emerging trends and work with early adopters - global or local - to develop clusters of real strength. And we can probably be good at seven or eight areas and in each of those seven or eight areas, at any point in time, we want to develop real depth of capabilities. If you look at capabilities, we do need a step change in our next phase of growth." These sectors have not yet been identified, but are likely to be revealed by the time the committee finishes its work. The committee, formed in May this year, aims to develop ways for Singapore to grow the economy in the long term. It is set to unveil its key recommendations in January next year and release its full report by mid-2010. The Singapore government has the propensity to "put all its eggs" in a few baskets to grow the economy. Not too long ago, Life Sciences was in the vogue. More than $1 billion dollars have been pumped into the industry with few significant results to show. In 2006, casinos were allowed to be constructed in Singapore to ride on the bandwagon of the gaming industry. The two casinos are expected to be opened next year. An analyst from Citicorp Anil Daswani expressed doubts about the profitability of Singapore’s two integrated resorts. In a report on the prospects of Las Vegas Sands (LVS), which owns Marina Bay Sands (MBS) here, Citi said that assuming MBS contributes 20 per cent of LVS’s total Ebitdar in its first full year, every eligible Singaporean will have to go to the casino five times a year and spend more then the average visitor to Macau. ‘We liken the current sentiment towards the integrated resort to the Macau gaming boom in 2006/07 and urge investors to not be left holding this parcel when the music stops,’ he added. According to Mr Anil, Singapore needs to attract locals to gamble regularly if it wants its casinos to succeed. However, a hefty entry fee of $100 is likely to put off some Singaporeans. Furthermore, unlike Las Vegas or Melbourne, Singapore has a small population of only 4 million people. Singapore's economy is an odd mixture of capitalist / state-controlled. The government controlled a substantial portion of the domestic economy through its giant sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings as well as state-linked companies like Capitaland, Singtel and SIA.  Read More →

By Siva, Guest Columnist Not a single day in Singapore passes by without some debate on the huge influx of foreigners that Singapore is witnessing. If my memory serves me right, this trend started a few years ago and has steadily been gaining momentum. Accusations emanating from both camps such as ‘Singaporeans are xenophobic’ and ‘foreigners stealing jobs’ are being thrown around so often that they are in danger of turning banal. The Singapore government has been trying its best to maintain calm by assuring its citizens that foreigners are essential for Singapore’s future (or was it GDP?). Being a foreigner myself and having stayed in Singapore for a significant portion of my life I would like to bring my thoughts to the table. But before that some background about me. I am an Indian from India living in Singapore for the past 11 years. I came to this beautiful country at a tender age of 17 for my education and have been staying here ever since. I am proud to say that I have experienced Singapore and most importantly Singaporeans across a wide spectrum of its society. Something that I doubt many foreign residents can claim. During the course of my career I have worked with people from a variety of profession. Technicians, Engineers, Managers, Scientists, Professors Etc. I have also had the unique chance of experiencing Singapore’s tertiary education from polytechnic level all the way to post graduate level. I have more local friends than friends from my own land. It is from this extensive experience and exposure that I am saying this; Singaporeans are not xenophobic. And lately if they have been displaying what might be construed as signs of xenophobia then they are doing so rightfully! Singapore has always been a melting pot of people of different origins and its multi-cultural setting dates far beyond its independence period. Many Singaporeans are glad that foreigners like me have made Singapore our homes and are contributing actively to the country. I have come across many individuals who have lauded us Indians for being ‘clever’ in IT and bringing specialized expertise which is unavailable locally. But, as I had mentioned earlier, things have changed in the past few years. From being viewed as contributors of the society foreigners are now viewed as competitors in the society. The reason though being obvious to me seems lost among certain entities trying to justify the huge influx of foreigners. Traditionally Singapore has welcomed foreigners for two reasons. The first would be to fill positions in fields that Singaporeans shun. Examples would be construction, ship building and other labor intensive jobs that do not pay enough to maintain a decent lifestyle in Singapore. The second would be to fill positions where there is a dearth of locally available talent. Examples would be CEOs, scientists, professionals and other specialized jobs. These reasons are fully justified and have played a huge role in the Singapore miracle that has held the entire world in awe. However Singapore has now adopted a third reason and it is this third reason that is causing so much resentment among the local population. And that reason being to make up for a population shortage prognosticated to occur in 10 years time. Thousands of foreigners are brought in every month because Singaporeans are not producing enough babies to replace themselves. The question to be asked is this; are enough jobs being created for this influx in the present? If not then we have a situation where an increased number of people are competing for a fixed number of jobs. Artificial and rapid population boosts without an accompanying and proportional increase in jobs will lead to detrimental side effects such as depressed wages, lowered quality of life, lack of social well being etc. And this precisely what is happening in Singapore. The majority of the foreigners who are brought into Singapore do not create jobs per se, they are here to work. Essentially this means you have fixed number of jobs in the pool which is being contended for by an ever increasing pool of people brought about by rapid population boosts. Foreigners who are semi-skilled, semi-professional and non-specialized do not bring anything extraordinary to Singapore that can’t be found locally.  These foreigners end up competing with the local Singaporeans on what has traditionally been their economic turf. Is there a lack of Singaporeans with fresh-mid IT skills? Or semi-specialized mechanical engineers or electrical & electronics engineers? Or is it that enough Singaporeans can’t be trained in these areas? Many bright and talented local graduates have now resorted to selling insurance or property or are wasting their valuable hard-earned skills in unrelated fields because their traditional economic means is now being challenged by a huge number of foreigners who if not for the forecasted population shortage have no reason to be here. It is no wonder that Singaporeans have been expressing their displeasure and they have every reason to be so. Their earnings have steadily diminished, competition has steady risen, the cost of living has risen, they don’t have a place to fall back on unlike us foreigners and they have a minimum lifestyle to maintain. The Singapore government's policy of artificial population boosts is a brave and proactive one. But unless the influx is accompanied by a proportional increase in the relevant job sectors I am afraid the policy will do more harm than good and could seriously undermine the social apparatus of Singapore. What would ensure Singapore’s continued success into the next decade is not just a population of 6.5 million but a population of gainfully employed, happy and hopeful 6.5 million people. It is high time relevant entities realize this and work towards preserving a society that has always been proud of its multi-cultural and multi-national structure.  Read More →

TI CINEMA TOPIC: SUSTAINABLE DEMOCRACY UC Berkeley Professor of Political Science M. Steven Fish discusses why autocracy thrives in Russia and why it continues to be popular among the general public  Read More →