Overseas students don't want to work in Singapore

[littlefish]

From the outside looking in, Singapore is a first world country. From the inside looking out, if you are an employee, the working conditions are third world like with the dice heavily loaded against you.

Let's face the truth, most countries will have a brain drain issue save for the few topmost attractive ones. Instead of looking internally to reduce the outflow, the government tried to increase the inflow. The problem with this strategy is that it further exacerbates the outflow. Imagine you have a leaking bucket. The first thing you do is to try to fix the leak, not to keep filling it with more water to replace the water lost.

Other than money, there is no way Singapore can compete to be one of the most attractive locations. This strategy will not necessarily attract the best as there are also a lot of other factors that come into consideration. Besides, other countries can also similarly match the pay for top talent and offer much more beyond money. If the government had carried out nation-building in its true spirit, then the overseas Singaporeans might be better inclined to return after a working stint overseas. Although they might not give Singapore their youth, at least they will be able to contribute their experience gained when they return in their later years. Who knows, the later years might prove to be the best years of their lives. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen due to third world working conditions (e.g. age discrimination) and the fact that the people here do not value a person for who he is until he has achieved success defined in a narrow way. When the person achieves success outside Singapore, do you think he will be grateful to Singapore just because he is born here?

 

[scroobal]

Brilliant post.

From the outside looking in, Singapore is a first world country. From the inside looking out, if you are an employee, the working conditions are third world like with the dice heavily loaded against you.

Let's face the truth, most countries will have a brain drain issue save for the few topmost attractive ones. Instead of looking internally to reduce the outflow, the government tried to increase the inflow. The problem with this strategy is that it further exacerbates the outflow. Imagine you have a leaking bucket. The first thing you do is to try to fix the leak, not to keep filling it with more water to replace the water lost.

Other than money, there is no way Singapore can compete to be one of the most attractive locations. This strategy will not necessarily attract the best as there are also a lot of other factors that come into consideration. Besides, other countries can also similarly match the pay for top talent and offer much more beyond money. If the government had carried out nation-building in its true spirit, then the overseas Singaporeans might be better inclined to return after a working stint overseas. Although they might not give Singapore their youth, at least they will be able to contribute their experience gained when they return in their later years. Who knows, the later years might prove to be the best years of their lives. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen due to third world working conditions (e.g. age discrimination) and the fact that the people here do not value a person for who he is until he has achieved success defined in a narrow way. When the person achieves success outside Singapore, do you think he will be grateful to Singapore just because he is born here?

 

[TeeKee]

The Leak is caused by PAP....

Remove PAP, the Leak is gone!

 

[cowbehcowbu]

PRC is very successful in attracting their own talents to go back after working and learning the necessary skills and experiwnce.many of these returned PRC even join the gov bodies at a fraction of the private salaries....very loyal and dedicated to their countries.........
maybe singapore gabmen could learn from the commie gov how their not only return their best brains, also manage to attract foreign trained elite to return to motherland..some even accept much lower salary!!!!!

 

[moolightaffairs]

what are all of you talking about??? the fact is gov has made our cuntry into a intellectual sweat shop. we are slaves that possess professional skills and millitary skills. this is a perfect formula for dictatorship. all of us here are very capable but kena brain wash till we do not fight for what we worth. what we worth or how capable we are is what our master tell us through all the slave education and training system, not the real potential of all of us. in sinkapoor, foreign trash are better than slaves. slave supervisor are the better slave who possess cock licking, cock sucking, ball licking, AR etc. so in sinkapoor, slave will always be slave once u r born.

 

[besotted]

Those who want to worship the West can remain there and not come back

There are many high quality PRCs to take their place

And they are not tainted with the loser mindset of the typical Singaporean

The fresh perspective and the new talent bode well for our future

There are now many PRCs in our tertiary institutions, in our labs and in civil engineering at the professional level

And there are very many of them in services such as retail and F&B

This country will do well if it continues wide open door policy to PRC

 

[TeeKee]

maybe singapore gabmen could learn from the commie gov how their not only return their best brains, also manage to attract foreign trained elite to return to motherland..some even accept much lower salary!!!!!

the secret is years of propaganda..of nationalistic ideals..down with imperialistic influences...LOL..

 

[scroobal]

Nation building did play a part in the early years. It was an opportune time. When Malaysia introduced Malay as the main language in schools and in government somewhere around the early 70s, there was tremendous amount of brain drain of non-bumis, particulary to Singapore. We were doing well.

In the mid 80s onwards, it became apparent that Malaysians stopped taking up Singapore citizenship and preferred to retire back to Malaysia. Cheap land and house were conveniently explained away as the reason. It then became acute, and tremendous pressure was applied to Malaysians working in GLC and the Civil service to convert. It did not work. The rule was then introduced that all Dept Heads must be Singaporeans. In some cases it did not work. The policy makers could not understand why non-bumi Malaysians preferred to retain their Malaysian citizenship.

Then the stream became a river where well qualified Singaporeans were leaving. This was early 90s and this was when statistics on Singaporeans were blocked and no longer available to the general public from MTI. Interestingly, they decided that the elite admin service be opened to non-singaporeans but they were expected to become citizens. Signs of desperation. It also enmeshed with the policy of paying much higher to retain them.

In the late 90s, a special unit was formed within PMO with a Perm Sec to head it. First time a dedicated Perm Sec was assigned to a small unit. It was sensitive, it was important and presumably, the right policies would come out.

After 10 years - the results -

1) the leaking bucket ( as you correctly pointed out ) approach was adopted. Can't plug the holes so just leave the tap on. Singapore ended up having the most liberal immigration policy in the world. Practically anyone can find work here. Its did not matter if a 3 room HDB flat could house 12 overseas workers. As long as the water level remained constant, the quality of water was not an issue.

2) food festivals in Melbourne, London with the likes of Gurmit Singh an company. (yes, this policy came from Pop Unit - PMO.) Hopefully, by going to the Food fest and singapore carnival, Singaporeans working overseas will be tempted to remember and return. The push factors such as lack of nation building was considered too hard. Anyway as a side issue, it was good for staff morale and frequent flyer points to travel to cities of the world rather than stay home and build a cohesive nation. It was the classic 3rd world mentality where to build a dam at home, you travel to many countriesw to see their dams first on a supposed fact finding junkets.

3) Overseas Network ( kid you not, serious networks )established in major concentration points to keep in touch with Singaporeans studying and working abroad. This backfired when the same networks ended up linking singaporeans with opportunities overseas and finally a new home overseas as well.


The result -
The new emerging Singapore - vibrant, cosmopolitan, regional hub for businesses, watering hole and a wonderful place to seek a career but not to put down roots. Economic indicators became the recognised parameters for success.

If the government had carried out nation-building in its true spirit, then the overseas Singaporeans might be better inclined to return after a working stint overseas. Although they might not give Singapore their youth, at least they will be able to contribute their experience gained when they return in their later years. Who knows, the later years might prove to be the best years of their lives.

 

[tonychat]

1)PAP doesn't pay me
2)I have never voted for them in my life
3)I don't belong to any org associated with PAP
4)No I don't work in the public sector nor have I ever worked in any GLCs

Trying to pose a lie here? It will not work!!!

 

[2lanu]

The core of this place has already eroded from what we have seen or felt. But white scums have another idea to call this change. It's call globalisation and people now move around more frequently. And the problem in here is SGean move and handly think of coming back...

 

[johnny333]

3) Overseas Network ( kid you not, serious networks )established in major concentration points to keep in touch with Singaporeans studying and working abroad. This backfired when the same networks ended up linking singaporeans with opportunities overseas and finally a new home overseas as well.

As a student, I remember going to one get togethers organised by the Spore gov't, free food lah

It didn't change minds. Same rules, same laws, same gov't,...., That was years & years ago & sadly its gotten worse

 

[CPTMiller]

I can see you have a few good points about the condition we are in now.
As you know the past policy from the government has already created such environment now.
It is too late to correct it now.
Our government is trying the best to fill up the bucket with Foreigners fast as they could even there are a few holes in it.
They even set target to be 6.5 million.

From the outside looking in, Singapore is a first world country. From the inside looking out, if you are an employee, the working conditions are third world like with the dice heavily loaded against you.

Let's face the truth, most countries will have a brain drain issue save for the few topmost attractive ones. Instead of looking internally to reduce the outflow, the government tried to increase the inflow. The problem with this strategy is that it further exacerbates the outflow. Imagine you have a leaking bucket. The first thing you do is to try to fix the leak, not to keep filling it with more water to replace the water lost.

Other than money, there is no way Singapore can compete to be one of the most attractive locations. This strategy will not necessarily attract the best as there are also a lot of other factors that come into consideration. Besides, other countries can also similarly match the pay for top talent and offer much more beyond money. If the government had carried out nation-building in its true spirit, then the overseas Singaporeans might be better inclined to return after a working stint overseas. Although they might not give Singapore their youth, at least they will be able to contribute their experience gained when they return in their later years. Who knows, the later years might prove to be the best years of their lives. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen due to third world working conditions (e.g. age discrimination) and the fact that the people here do not value a person for who he is until he has achieved success defined in a narrow way. When the person achieves success outside Singapore, do you think he will be grateful to Singapore just because he is born here?

 

[Char_Azn]

Trying to pose a lie here? It will not work!!!

I'm not sure how U came to the conclusion that I am lying

1. I am not getting paid by the PAP. I'd probably be able to afford a bigger house if I was one of them.
2. I have never voted before in my life hence by default I could not have voted for either PAP or the opposition(I live in Tanjong Pagar GRC, U can do a search here. I've stated this before MANY TIMES)
3. I have no affiliation with any other organisation outside of company I work for(if U consider being a certified person to work on certain area to be a kind of connection to something then I have "connections" to Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Redhat since I'm certified by all 3)
4. And finally I like I said earlier I currently work for a French MNC which has nothing to do with any local GLCs, Temasek or GIC. The office here is but a regional office with no real operations whatsoever. In fact most of the staff here have to travel to plants and offices most of the time because all the operations are in the other countries

 

[tonychat]

oh pls, repeating the same mantra again. And only 4 , it should be more than 10. try thinking a few more.

 

[angry_one]

The rulers had many opportunities to retain talent while they were still sinkees. By default, young sinkees are loyal to their country. A lot must happen to make them want to stay away, like denied places in local unis, NS, not given opportunities, no ownership in any important decisions... etc.

It's a no-brainer: invest in your own people and they will reward you on their own accord. Wooing them when the make it overseas is already too late!

 

[scroobal]

Absolutely agree. Well said.

It's a no-brainer: invest in your own people and they will reward you on their own accord. Wooing them when the make it overseas is already too late!

 

[Papsmearer]

The PAP had identified this problem back in the 80's, and now still dun have a solution. All that idiot Lau Goh has to do is ask his own daughter why she don't go back and work in S'pore after graduating from LSE. And ask her what it will take for her to return to S'pore. Pay him millions of dollars to wayang wayang and pretend to be "concerned". Cheebye, pay him salary not to be concerned, but to solve the problem.

 

[johnny333]

The rulers had many opportunities to retain talent while they were still sinkees. By default, young sinkees are loyal to their country. A lot must happen to make them want to stay away, like denied places in local unis, NS, not given opportunities, no ownership in any important decisions... etc.

PAP continues to blame Sporeans for being "quitters"

Obviously they haven't learned anything from their mistakes

 

[Papsmearer]

From the outside looking in, Singapore is a first world country. From the inside looking out, if you are an employee, the working conditions are third world like with the dice heavily loaded against you.

Let's face the truth, most countries will have a brain drain issue save for the few topmost attractive ones. Instead of looking internally to reduce the outflow, the government tried to increase the inflow. The problem with this strategy is that it further exacerbates the outflow. Imagine you have a leaking bucket. The first thing you do is to try to fix the leak, not to keep filling it with more water to replace the water lost.

Other than money, there is no way Singapore can compete to be one of the most attractive locations. This strategy will not necessarily attract the best as there are also a lot of other factors that come into consideration. Besides, other countries can also similarly match the pay for top talent and offer much more beyond money. If the government had carried out nation-building in its true spirit, then the overseas Singaporeans might be better inclined to return after a working stint overseas. Although they might not give Singapore their youth, at least they will be able to contribute their experience gained when they return in their later years. Who knows, the later years might prove to be the best years of their lives. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen due to third world working conditions (e.g. age discrimination) and the fact that the people here do not value a person for who he is until he has achieved success defined in a narrow way. When the person achieves success outside Singapore, do you think he will be grateful to Singapore just because he is born here?

The problem is that the PAP is bankrupt of ideas on how to fix this problem. All the fixes require solutions that they are not willing to do. i.e. give up some control, allow for more dissent and democracy, lower the cost of living, etc.

 

[johnny333]

All that idiot Lau Goh has to do is ask his own daughter why she don't go back and work in S'pore after graduating from LSE. .

His daugther is just another lesser mortal with rich parents.

More important is LKY 's own grandson who doesn't want to return. It must have surprised LKY

So after LHL the Lee dynasty is going to end.