- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
- Messages
- 2,874
- Points
- 0
http://www.swingingsingapore.com/blog/my-son-the-foreign-talent
My Son the Foreign Talent
My son recently graduated from Imperial College in London. He also found a job at an international financial company in London. The company recruited 18 graduates, one of whom is my dear son. Out of these 18, only two were British citizens and they were Indian immigrants!
If this had happened in Singapore, the story would have gone viral on the internet. Hate mail for our government would have gushed forth like Niagara Falls or maybe a broken sewage pipe. Nothing of this sort happened in the British blogosphere.
Yes, there had been pressure on the British government to cut down on immigration, but I think on the whole, the British are less xenophobic than Singaporeans. Otherwise, my son would not have been a foreign talent working in England.
I brought up this story to sound the alarm about Singapore’s future. Singapore aspires to be a global financial center. But how can it compete with London if banks in Singapore cannot hire who it wants?
Following public complaints about foreign companies hiring too many foreigners, our government has set up a job bank to give Singaporeans the priority for jobs. But what is the future of our banks if they cannot hire the best talent from around the world?
If British banks can scour the world to hire the best staff and our OCBC, DBS and UOB are limited to a small talent pool of Singaporeans, then our local banks will be handicapped. They would find it tough to grow into worldwide banks.
As an investor, I would prefer to invest in foreign banks that show promise of growing worldwide rather than local banks. If you own stocks in our three local banks, you might want to consider switching to foreign banks and companies.
On a national scale, the current policy of preferential treatment for Singaporeans in the hiring decisions will harm Singapore in the long run. We have full employment, but growth is slowing down for Singapore.
It is time for our government to reconsider easing of this policy to encourage more companies to invest here. They don’t like it if we tell them who they can or cannot hire.
The world is now globalized. There is now a free flow of three things - people, capital and goods. People now work anywhere in the world. The best job you can find might not be in Singapore and the best employee for your company may not be Singaporean. Singaporeans will now work abroad and foreigners will now work here. Money will flow around the world at the touch of a button. It goes to where it can get the best return for the risk level. This means that foreign money will flow in and the Singaporean money will flow out. The same is true for goods. We will buy and sell internationally.
My Son the Foreign Talent
My son recently graduated from Imperial College in London. He also found a job at an international financial company in London. The company recruited 18 graduates, one of whom is my dear son. Out of these 18, only two were British citizens and they were Indian immigrants!
If this had happened in Singapore, the story would have gone viral on the internet. Hate mail for our government would have gushed forth like Niagara Falls or maybe a broken sewage pipe. Nothing of this sort happened in the British blogosphere.
Yes, there had been pressure on the British government to cut down on immigration, but I think on the whole, the British are less xenophobic than Singaporeans. Otherwise, my son would not have been a foreign talent working in England.
I brought up this story to sound the alarm about Singapore’s future. Singapore aspires to be a global financial center. But how can it compete with London if banks in Singapore cannot hire who it wants?
Following public complaints about foreign companies hiring too many foreigners, our government has set up a job bank to give Singaporeans the priority for jobs. But what is the future of our banks if they cannot hire the best talent from around the world?
If British banks can scour the world to hire the best staff and our OCBC, DBS and UOB are limited to a small talent pool of Singaporeans, then our local banks will be handicapped. They would find it tough to grow into worldwide banks.
As an investor, I would prefer to invest in foreign banks that show promise of growing worldwide rather than local banks. If you own stocks in our three local banks, you might want to consider switching to foreign banks and companies.
On a national scale, the current policy of preferential treatment for Singaporeans in the hiring decisions will harm Singapore in the long run. We have full employment, but growth is slowing down for Singapore.
It is time for our government to reconsider easing of this policy to encourage more companies to invest here. They don’t like it if we tell them who they can or cannot hire.
The world is now globalized. There is now a free flow of three things - people, capital and goods. People now work anywhere in the world. The best job you can find might not be in Singapore and the best employee for your company may not be Singaporean. Singaporeans will now work abroad and foreigners will now work here. Money will flow around the world at the touch of a button. It goes to where it can get the best return for the risk level. This means that foreign money will flow in and the Singaporean money will flow out. The same is true for goods. We will buy and sell internationally.
