The Singapore Cabinet - a new position?

[scroobal]

There has been a number of discussion on insurance, CPF and the ability to look after oneself. These are recurring themes in this forum and other forums as well.

My sense is that Cabinet ministers follow a remit where they look after a particular function within the wider remit of the Govt where the focus has been on Singapore rather than its citizens.

So we have great airports, roads, subway, port, and pretty much well ahead of most countries including 1st world countries.

But when it comes to local human capital, little or no investment,very little oversight unless they commit a crime or do something socially irresponsible etc. They expected to fend for themselves. The last big initiative where human capital was concerned was 4 decades ago when Lim Kim San led the monumental task of housing the citizens in affordable homes with ready mortgages and good facilities like Hawker Centres.

It is time that a Ministry be created to look after Singapore local human capital. To invest in our own and groom them over the years. Not to run government departments, the SAF or GLCs but to help develop a society that is gracious, highly skilled and integrated - back to a nation.

The current ministry under Chan looks after the less fortunate and welfare cases and therefore not suitable.

 

[OverTheCounter]

Isn't the NPTD supposed to take care of top talent in Singapore? What the fuck are they doing, other than grooming foreigners?

And yes, there is no ministry that has the remit to groom local talent.

MSF is a big joke. Again, no mention about grooming talent.

 

[Bigfuck]

What you are saying is not new. USA can totally irradicate Iraqis with neutron bombs and chemical weapons like pests overnight. It is possible to build all kinds of infrastructure there after that. But you cannot run the country without people. The ideal thing to do is to populate it with Americans. You could populate it with other races but then it would have made more sense to have kept the Iraqis alive as they also belong to others. Here in Singapore, except for the Ivory Tower ones, everyone else is others. Funny thing is ivory tower ones also came from others.

 

[kukubird58]

hahaha.....in the past, such a thread would have attracted a few pages by now....
seems like my idol is loosing his shine but then he is like a cockroach.....
despite being discredited, rediculed, fxxked left and right, my idol will still carry on as if nothing has happened....lol.

 

[peppertail]

hahaha.....in the past, such a thread would have attracted a few pages by now....
seems like my idol is loosing his shine but then he is like a cockroach.....
despite being discredited, rediculed, fxxked left and right, my idol will still carry on as if nothing has happened....lol.

Yes, a few pages of junk. No thanks!

 

[kingrant]

Trouble is this govt does not or cannot see issues in human capital terms, or when someone suggests so, he's taken to task for being liberal softie, weak, soft-headed, and ridiculed for being populistic!
It has calcified into a habit, a de rigeur m.o. that it will take years to correct.

 

[Bigfuck]

Trouble is this govt does not or cannot see issues in human capital terms, or when someone suggests so, he's taken to task for being liberal softie, weak, soft-headed, and ridiculed for being populistic!
It has calcified into a habit, a de rigeur m.o. that it will take years to correct.

Like I said, they are fake scholars. If you treat human input as digits, you can add a weightage factor, a deviant factor and loyalty factor as efficiency coefficients to look at the ratio of foreign to local labor inputs. With actual polls done regularly, you can actually track its movement to some degree of predictive range. As it is unscientific as is this pseudo science of econometrics. The laws of econometrics and financial engineering are not the laws of physics or astrophysics. Limbeh can choose not to play by the rules and large countries like USA can change the rules of the mechanics of the world. Remember Mahathir said fuck care during the 97 and 98 financial crisis and closed doors for its currency. Same with mexico with its 82 bankruptcy. Like I said, we can also grow the GDP tomorrow by 50% by going into debt. Why not? 50% of the growth is on super infrastructure and green energy and we can even retrain the unemployed workforce to do the job for 5 years straight and guess what, our currency will also devalue to make us more export competitive. We can even fix the MRT. This is not joke and if you know how to lock monetization effectively like you do for CPF, cannot die. Hell, you can set up a credit rating for SOEs here where their worth is locked into a fixed pseuodo CBF country building fund created and it will used as the benchmark to borrow money from banks to cut cash transactions and cashflow uncertainties. WE are already doing this with stupid REITS. Go REITS MRT loh.

 

[Hawkeye1819]

The lack of attention to local human resource is a result of over-reliance on MNCs and foreign investment. The govt does not value locals because they think they can always depend on foreign capital, companies and labour to drive the economy.

 

[Bigfuck]

The lack of attention to local human resource is a result of over-reliance on MNCs and foreign investment. The govt does not value locals because they think they can always depend on foreign capital, companies and labour to drive the economy.

Look if MNCs leave tomorrow, you know that they are here because they can exploit slave labor from the world and not anything else. All MNCs view everyone as expendable and shield off all information tighter than SMEs who are hardpressed for manpower. MNCS hire many at differentiated salaries not because of ability but as differentiated tax avoiding sponges and as an advertisement. When the company does badly, different baskets of tax sponges are chucked away to bring the firm in the black again. Honestly, MNCs can survive with 1/10 the staff they have now, but then shareholders get angry and the government is angry you are not hiring people which creates political problems. It is this balance of paying taxes and politically hiring people that counts. Considering how low Singapore taxes are and Singapore allows left and right hand tax avoiding box companies liberally, it should not be difficult for MNCs to hire local and stay here.

 

[kingrant]

You can see that by the way the govt responded and reacted to the Gini coefficient and the Happiness index, there is a very dismissive and headstrong attitude. You need another Albert Winsemius on human capital to come in, but the govt has to admit that this area needs relooking, otherwise it would not be done. With boot-licking academics like Gillian koh, Eugene Tan, Kishore and ilk, it's safer to keep yr heads down, your tenures ( and therefore rice bowls) assured and hit the right chords if you have to strum. At times like this when the paradigm has shifted, a far-sighted govt leadership is sorely lacking. There is no towering figure like Dr Goh who would stand up and point a path in an opposite direction, and able to carry the Cabinet and voters with him.

 

[Bigfuck]

You can see that by the way the govt responded and reacted to the Gini coefficient and the Happiness index, there is a very dismissive and headstrong attitude. You need another Albert Winsemius on human capital to come in, but the govt has to admit that this area needs relooking, otherwise it would not be done. With boot-licking academics like Gillian koh, Eugene Tan, Kishore and ilk, it's safer to keep yr heads down, your tenures ( and therefore rice bowls) assured and hit the right chords if you have to strum. At times like this when the paradigm has shifted, a far-sighted govt leadership is sorely lacking. There is no towering figure like Dr Goh who would stand up and point a path in an opposite direction, and able to carry the Cabinet and voters with him.

GKS is dead. The math to model, simulate and project is not difficult. It is based on a common sense hunch, which is then calculated and simulated to give you ideas what it will play out and then you implement and adjust to external and internal variables. You need to use probabilistic calculations and adjustments as you are adjusting to time as it unfolds. To force a result just to look good for a fucking scholar's 1 year project and ignoring the consequences could leave shit for decades to come. I repeat - fake scholars. Most of these fake scholars are I know were self-serving and have very thin skin, no imagination no ability to conceptualize. Textbooks are written in ceterus paribus to freeze frame to allow people to see. It is not an end all solution. Life is full of move frames and it is important to stay in frame.

 

[Hawkeye1819]

GKS is dead. The math to model, simulate and project is not difficult. It is based on a common sense hunch, which is then calculated and simulated to give you ideas what it will play out and then you implement and adjust to external and internal variables. You need to use probabilistic calculations and adjustments as you are adjusting to time as it unfolds. To force a result just to look good for a fucking scholar's 1 year project and ignoring the consequences could leave shit for decades to come. I repeat - fake scholars. Most of these fake scholars are I know were self-serving and have very thin skin, no imagination no ability to conceptualize. Textbooks are written in ceterus paribus to freeze frame to allow people to see. It is not an end all solution. Life is full of move frames and it is important to stay in frame.

Bro, you write damn cheem. You are basically saying the government has lost its sense of adaptability and realism in favour of quantitative modelling and abstraction. That much I agree. I can come up with a statistical model that would justify a 10m population. No sweat. Problem is my model would fail to take into account quality of life, human dignity, the value of the Singapore citizenship, the value of National Service, and so many other intangibles that make life worth living

My model would lead to a fat GDP though.

 

[Bigfuck]

Bro, you write damn cheem. You are basically saying the government has lost its sense of adaptability and realism in favour of quantitative modelling and abstraction. That much I agree. I can come up with a statistical model that would justify a 10m population. No sweat. Problem is my model would fail to take into account quality of life, human dignity, the value of the Singapore citizenship, the value of National Service, and so many other intangibles that make life worth living

My model would lead to a fat GDP though.

You can factor in into account quality of life, human dignity, the value of the Singapore citizenship, the value of National Service, and so many other intangibles that make life worth living. Because there is an opportunity - full cost accounting. If you say it is a figment of imagination then we shoot all financial analysts and insurance agents and destroy both these industries. My money is my money. WTF tell me about car accident or inflation. Or as fake as the next MLM.

You can quantify the value of national service, the value of Singapore citizenship (that is the years of invested training costs in them), environmental costs (UN never implemented green accounting as it would tip the balance of which countries being called rich many in SE Asia and South America) of natural sinks versus artificial sinks. Everything can be quantified. What is the value of a human? The net worth a human body by composition of materals and substances is said to be US$4.50. As a 100w generating machine, we are not very useful in providing light though we generate quite a bit of heat. So if we go by assumption, everyone is cheap. So do not tell me about million dollar fake scholars. They are US$4.50 lousy light bulbs and do not generate more than 0.3hp at peak loads. If you want to then quantify in high monetary terms, then everything needs to be weighted and evaluated and an efficiency value (also considering if you overpay scholars above a certain sum with no punity values they slack and do not work) and you can start the simulations. Mind you, homemakers do generate value which is not recognized. A dedicated household finance manager, housekeeper, lovemaker, babysitter, nutritionist expert, stay in cook, stay in tuition teacher all in one is very difficult to find. Try hiring all the above in your house and work the bill. If you consider all the economic contribution to be worth zero, then, maids, finance managers, prostitutes, babysitters, nutritional experts, cooks, teachers should be paid zero. Why the helll are taxpayer funded fake scholars then not get then sorry spouses to do the work in the own house and paying for a maid? I mean if it is valued at zero, so why even have these as professions? Hell, all these activities are hobbies! The State technically owes homemakers money as they are really sweatshop workers with great value. You could at least give them virtual money like CPF over even food vouchers. Lousy accountants and bookkeepers think otherwise. Look, if you shoot all the accountants and bookkeepers and bankers in Singapore tomorrow, there would still be trade. We can trade without them albeit less efficiently. Hell, our fish farms and farms would still be producing and we would still be trading. If we shoot all our lawyers and judges and go by community jury and communal arbitration, we can still get grievances resolved. Fair or not, equitable or otherwise is still based on opinion, even with the current expensive court systems. Our fake scholars who claim to be super worth, still die when shot by a bullet, die from transfat or old age. So what is so special about them? If they can calculate the cost to Singapore and the loss to Singapore if hired by the private sector, they can jolly well calculate the cost of Singaporeans rioting, not cooperating or sabotaging services or fighting with the foreigners. What do you think? Only ivory tower got value meh? They only how many people? We ship them on a boat into open sea, Singapore will still create value leh. But we save ourselves millions and billions in losses generated by them. What say you? This can surely be quantified. I am sure can find much cheaper alternatives to them and new CEOs that will listen to shareholders aka Singaporean citizens.

 

[scroobal]

It looks like NPTD was created to to ensure that there is human capital not necessarily local to keep the economy buzzing. In fact until the 2011 GE, it looked after integration of FT.

I would like to see a cabinet minister for this role and accountable for it.

Isn't the NPTD supposed to take care of top talent in Singapore? What the fuck are they doing, other than grooming foreigners?

And yes, there is no ministry that has the remit to groom local talent.

MSF is a big joke. Again, no mention about grooming talent.

 

[scroobal]

Good point and good analogy.

What you are saying is not new. USA can totally irradicate Iraqis with neutron bombs and chemical weapons like pests overnight. It is possible to build all kinds of infrastructure there after that. But you cannot run the country without people. The ideal thing to do is to populate it with Americans. You could populate it with other races but then it would have made more sense to have kept the Iraqis alive as they also belong to others. Here in Singapore, except for the Ivory Tower ones, everyone else is others. Funny thing is ivory tower ones also came from others.

 

[scroobal]

I think besides their families and friends, they considered everyone else including foreigners the same. As economic digits I suppose. I don't think they meant to do it the way it came out but they must have assumed like water, everyone will find their level.

It is also odd that despite a large supposedly high performance cadre of superscale officers and the best and the brightest roped in to form government, none seem to have sensed that this country would lose its identity, the locals their jobs and their position within the country and that the compact would be fractured.

Many years ago a former ISD director was appointed as the first Perm Sec to the newly formed NPTD in PMO. I wonder what his actual remit was. I know that they sent people like Gurmit Singh, the Makansutra guy etc to host events in overseas cities to bring Singaporeans back especially those studying overseas. I would have thought the approach should be to keep them before they left. We could have set more Universities, offered more place, opened Medical undergrads places. Instead we have doctors from 3rd world countries. We pay Perm Secs and politicians a kings ransom and this is the crap we get.

The lack of attention to local human resource is a result of over-reliance on MNCs and foreign investment. The govt does not value locals because they think they can always depend on foreign capital, companies and labour to drive the economy.

 

[bullfrog]

Isnt Teo Chee Hean the one? And any Minister for this portfolio cant just be accountable for human capital for only local, right? It has to be foreign and local, wouldnt it?

It looks like NPTD was created to to ensure that there is human capital not necessarily local to keep the economy buzzing. In fact until the 2011 GE, it looked after integration of FT.

I would like to see a cabinet minister for this role and accountable for it.

 

[zhihau]

I am sure can find much cheaper alternatives to them and new CEOs that will listen to shareholders aka Singaporean citizens.

Tuan,
can you run for the elections?

 

[Bigfuck]

Tuan,
can you run for the elections?

That possibility is on the table. When it becomes absolutely necessary, I will return. BTW, you remember the Wolf-Sheep-Grass Simulation? Our fake scholars must really suck at it and do not understand the balance of forces. All are digits in there you know. You can ignore any set of digits.

 

[ChaoPappyPoodle]

There has been a number of discussion on insurance, CPF and the ability to look after oneself. These are recurring themes in this forum and other forums as well.

My sense is that Cabinet ministers follow a remit where they look after a particular function within the wider remit of the Govt where the focus has been on Singapore rather than its citizens.

So we have great airports, roads, subway, port, and pretty much well ahead of most countries including 1st world countries.

But when it comes to local human capital, little or no investment,very little oversight unless they commit a crime or do something socially irresponsible etc. They expected to fend for themselves. The last big initiative where human capital was concerned was 4 decades ago when Lim Kim San led the monumental task of housing the citizens in affordable homes with ready mortgages and good facilities like Hawker Centres.

It is time that a Ministry be created to look after Singapore local human capital. To invest in our own and groom them over the years. Not to run government departments, the SAF or GLCs but to help develop a society that is gracious, highly skilled and integrated - back to a nation.

The current ministry under Chan looks after the less fortunate and welfare cases and therefore not suitable.

You are getting more idiotic each day. First you say that the ministries are not doing their job for Singaporeans. Then you say that a ministry should be created for this purpose. If the bastards do not know that their job is to care and suuport their citizens then how will they come to the decision to create a ministry for such a purpose? :*:

I suggest to you that soon after, you will suggest a ministry to oversee this HUman CApital ministry because the human capital ministry isn't doing it's job.