TR EMERITUS

During the APEC TEL Workshop & 9th IAC forum held at NUS today (16 Jun), the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) told the media on the sidelines it is exploring high-tech gadgets like robotic pets to keep the elderly company. IDA said that it is looking into using high-tech gadgets like wearable monitoring devices, robotic legs and pets to help Singaporeans cope with ageing. The forum aims to use technology to improve daily living for seniors. More than 120 government officials, academics and business leaders were at the forum. IDA is especially keen to tap on Japan's experience and expertise in dealing with an ageing society. "In terms of policies, I'm sure Japan is way ahead of us as a 'super-ageing' society," said Mr Amos Tan, Director for IDA's Strategy & Innovation Division. "We are not super-ageing yet, but today we have one in 12 citizens above the age of 65," he said. Mr Tan said that Singapore can learn from Japan's expertise in robotics. "That is definitely one area we can look at - how we can deploy some of these in a practical way for some of the families that need these technologies," he added. He did not say who will be paying for such high-tech gadgets. Searching the internet, one can find Paro from Japan [Link], touted to be the most interactive "healing pet" made to date, designed to be used for animal therapy. It is said to feel just like a real, lovable pet in its natural responses: Paro is modeled on a baby seal and has been listed by Guinness World Records as the most effective therapeutic pet of its kind. It has an array of sensors, and is said to be capable of developing a personality over time that corresponds with how people interact with it. It is priced at close to US$6,000 per unit. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw41YClQL-E However, not everyone is agreeable to using robotic pets as company for the elderly. Thw Wall Street Journal reported that Paro is being used in some nursing homes in the US [Link]. "If you give me a robot that helps perform mundane tasks associated with care giving, such as vacuuming or doing the dishes, I'm all for that," says Dr. Thomas, founder of the Green House Project, a campaign to make nursing homes smaller and more like regular houses. But "if we wind up with nursing homes full of baby-seal robots, the robots will be trying to fulfill the relationship piece of care giving, while the humans are running around changing the beds and cooking the food." Sherry Turkle, a professor in the Science, Technology and Society program at MIT, warns against regarding it as a companion. "Why are we so willing to provide our parents, then ourselves, with faux relationships?" she asked. Lakewood Manor, a continuing-care retirement community in Virginia state, borrowed a Paro from the distributor but sent it back after 3 months. A spokesperson said, "I think the staff took to him more than the residents did."  Read More →

Oh, I am not referring to the monetary aspect of these two industries. I am referring to the skill sets of the professionals particularly at the senior and top management levels. There seems to be a dearth of local talents in these two industries today. 20 years ago, we were already a major financial centre in the region and our locals were filling up the top management positions in these industries. Particularly in banking and finance, the MAS, under the leadership of Koh Beng Seng, were telling the foreign banks operating here to train the locals to assume top management positions. Today, the top management positions are filled by foreigners and more foreigners are coming in to replace the locals caused they can’t find any locals good enough. What is happening? What were the foreign banks doing in the last twenty years? Why is this financial centre and highly IT connected city facing bankruptcy in its local human resource to fill the needs of these industries? The situation is real bad when it has to recruit its top management staff from a third world country like India. Singapore was so advanced in banking and finance and IT relative to India. Why is Singapore becoming dependent on India for its professional manpower in these industries? Why is a first world city state losing out in developing its manpower skill sets to a third world country that is anything but a financial centre? And the pathetic thing today is the call to train our young recruits in these industries for future leadership positions. What it means is that the current batch of middle and senior management staff are duds or inept, not good enough, not material for top management. And it would take another 20 or 30 years to groom the young things of today to prepare them for the future. In the meantime, in the next 20 or 30 years, the top financial centre and IT city will have to depend on foreigners to fill up top positions in these two industries. In total at least 50 years have been wasted with a vacuum of top management talents that would put the city state in a very precarious position. It has no talents! Is this a joke? If this is real, then it is a very serious problem caused by bad planning and lack of foresight. It cannot be intentional. It is no laughing matter that we can take our own sweet time to talk cock and sing song. Chua Chin Leng aka redbean * The writer blogs at mysingaporenew.blogspot.com.  Read More →

Mr Leong Sze Hian offered good comparisons between our Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund (EPF) on rates of return ("CPF protest draws crowd"; Sunday). While the EPF's 6 per cent interest rate sounds attractive, it is unfair to use that as a benchmark for comparison. Unlike Singapore, Malaysia has an early mandatory retirement age, with an estimated 92 per cent of the current retirees having left the workforce by age 60, according to a Centre for Strategic and International Studies survey. Although the primary purpose of the EPF is to encourage savings for retirement, the early retirement age may not enable workers to enjoy the interest rates in the long run once they retire. This is why Singapore increased the retirement age to 62, and gradually to 65 and beyond. While the EPF paid out a solid dividend of 6.35 per cent last year, the rates are not guaranteed - in 2002, it fell to a low of 4.25 per cent. This is because EPF funds are invested in various instruments such as state and corporate bonds, equities, money market bills and properties, and are dependent on global interest rates and bond yields. Such investments are linked to market interest rates that have an impact on the Malaysian government securities, loans or bonds. This is why fluctuating interest rates have affected the returns for EPF investments. On the other hand, CPF monies are invested by the CPF Board in Special Singapore Government Securities that are issued and guaranteed by the Singapore Government. The investment of CPF monies by the Government relieves the CPF of taking on the investment risk of a fund manager and allows it to concentrate on its role as a national social security institution. Francis Cheng * Letter first appeared in ST Forum (14 Jun), "Not all retirement funds as risk-free as CPF".  Read More →