I came across lots of Malaysians heading Japanese and US corporations in Singapore.
I saw lots of Indian business team leads in Changi Business Park's MNCs.
I attended a meeting with various heads in Standard Chartered and there was only one singaporean.
In all of the examples cited above, I know some capable Singaporeans who can outperform these foreigners within the same Organization. But we have two fundamental issues:
- Our business environment is ideal for MNCs to operate in Singapore but, with our free trade agreement with India and almost unrestricted inflow of Malaysians, means that the MNCs enjoy lower overheads by hiring Indians or Malaysians in senior management.
- Capable local men get their career-progression hindered by their national service obligation. If a local fresh grad obtained second-upper Honours, they should work in civil service for greater job security and (almost-certainly) lesser workload than the private sector, given the same payscale.