Sorry, bros, much as I try to appreciate the paper, I cannot help being negative about it. I think a lot of it is hype and rehash from past papers as understandably what happens when they have to get it out under pressure. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong over the days that follow. Certain facts and arguments also do not stand up to scrutiny, e.g. this section on
“Remaining Open and Globally Competitive to Tap on Asia’s Growth
3.7 Singapore is well-positioned for growth. The 21st century is expected to be an “Asian Century”. Asia is likely to continue growing faster than
advanced economies in the coming decades.4
Asian Century? I thought that happened a decade or more ago. What were we doing for the past 10 years or so? The world had two financial crises and we were told we were in a recession. So we took in more cheap labour to bolster the GDP. That was how it all happened. What will we do different this time? Will this White Paper address it?
3.8 In order that two-thirds of Singaporean workers can find PMET jobs, we need a dynamic economy and businesses that produce goods and
services not just for Singapore, but for the region and the world. Our economy must stay ahead of other Asian cities, so that we can provide them
with the high-end goods and services that they need but are not yet able to produce themselves.
Hello? Manufacturing always is the biggest employer of PMETs. When we had the Seagates, the Texas Instruments, the Motorola, the Philips, and the General Electrics, PMETs were hired by tens of thousands. Manufacturing has now hollowed out long ago and we cant even hang on to our MNCs. So will these jobs come back? Or will they be in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and China? Has the over-rated EDB agency since then come up with any new winnable sectors? What were we doing the last decade? Biotech, solar energy, clean energy, water purification – none of which could replicate what the MNCs of the lost decade do in creating mass employment for PMETs? If you had a Master, be prepared to wash test-tubes! So how many well-paying PMET jobs can these sectors reasonably throw up?
Our businesses will need a workforce with the full range of skills, backgrounds and experiences who can kick-start high value-added emerging sectors, and understand regional and international markets. This requires a complementary workforce of Singaporeans and foreigners (see Box on Growing Professional Services in Singapore).
What were our Universities and polytechnics doing under Tony Tan? Arent the courses and programmes directed to serve market needs? Were not there the hype on digital media, animation, supply chain logistics services? Didnt we have enough of our own skills, backgrounds, and experiences to kick-start hig value-added blah blah? High value-added emerging sectors? Now did I not hear that before when the MNCs were around? What happened? China’s factories leap-frog us, instead of us leapfrogging them, to produce LCD and plasma High Res colour TVs, monitors; and once more our economic planners were caught flat-footed. Where are these high VA emerging sectors now? And most of all, can they be the mass producer of jobs for the tens of thousands of PMETs in our midst.
If we cannot even find employment to maintain the 50% of PMETs in workforce now, what makes them think they can even increase it to 66%?
4 The Asian Development Bank has projected that Asia will account for half of the world’s output by 2050. “Asia 2050 – Realising the Asian Century”, Asian
Development Bank, 2011.
Growing Profess ional Services in Singapore
Singapore’s skilled workforce and position as a global hub in Asia give us the unique opportunity
to capture the growing demand for professional services in Asia. Growing the professional services
sector will help us create the high-end, high-value jobs that Singaporeans aspire towards.
For example, there is increasing demand for legal services that span multiple jurisdictions in Asia.
This is due to the increase of cross-border business activities and the different legal systems and
processes in Asian countries. To meet the growing demand, several international firms like Shearman
and Sterling (US) and Beachcroft (UK) have opened new offices in Singapore to advise on pan-Asian
legal matters.
Seriously how many lawyers does a legal service firm need? I suspect this is where they will justify the import of more querulous, garrulous and self-serving Indian lawyers from India.
Or take a guy like Koh Poh Koon. Did we feel/see any trickle-down effect from what he was doing?
Accounting and consulting firms are also establishing their global centres of excellence in Asia,
to tap the growth in Asian business activities and the growing influence of Asian economies on
global issues. International firms like the Boston Consulting Group have recruited
many Singaporeans to fill new advisory and research roles in these centres. This has
provided Singaporeans with opportunities to work with global clients on their pan-
Asian challenges. Some firms like KPMG have also appointed Singaporeans to lead
their teams.
Same poser. Even worse prospects. How many will be neeed to fill “new advisory and research roles”? And what is the ethnic profile of advisors filling these jobs? Where will they truthfully come from? I also loved this thing about applying balm - sure some Sinkies have been appointed - maybe in the past. Like how many? Enough to absorb even ten PMETs?
Friends, if the elites can lose their 20/20 foresight, what makes you think they wont lose the plot another time? Same wine, new bottle.
