Ladies and Gentlemen,
Several reports paint one picture of the city state; that it is the most competitive, that it has high GDP, that living standards are high. On the other hand, we also hear the island does not produce sufficient babies and if left alone, it's population will decline, that the majority of young people want to leave the country permanently, that emigration from the island with a population small as it is and shrinking is mounting with as much as a 1000 people every year leaving.
We also hear that the legal profession there has less than 3,000 members, a number totally inadequate with the country's population at 5 million. There is 2 people every day taking their own lives and homelessness is on the rise.
Unless I am not seeing something, these figures appear at cross purposes. It simply cannot be.
The truth I think is more like this. If there is business being done, it is not Singaporean, it is foreign. With unlimited free access to foreign companies and foreign workers, because of low taxation, good infra structure and facilities, companies from all over the world relocate their business to Singapore and do business there. If people are running the companies, it is not Singaporeans but foreigners. And if there is some success, it is the foreigners that make it happen.
Had I been an engineer and not a lawyer serving the Northern California community with a practice since the last 13 years, I too would not have minded going to Singapore for a few years if the pay was good. Just like I would not have minded a few years in Angola, Antigua or Afghanistan. After all when I am done, I can go home to where I live and call home. And this is how the foreigners working in Singapore think. While in Singapore temporarily, they of course contribute to the business statistics of the island, but they are there only for the moment, not permanently. And they can never be expected to perform the way a Singaporean would have done, if there were any.
As for Singaporeans in Singapore, they have no success in anything. By far they do the low paying jobs, live hand to mouth and they don't see any of the real or imaginary successes that the Singapore state controlled press churn out everyday.
The average Singaporean is poorly educated, unable to understand anything about human rights, unable to realize that he is being taken for a ride by Lee Kuan Yew and company and blissfully continue their daily lives blindly accepting any amount of arrogance lies and deceit thrown at them by their masters.
There are of course a few who know the truth but none of them stay in Singapore. At the first opportunity they are catching the first flight out.
The truth unfortunately is this. The numbers of young army deserters are mounting, there are insufficient entrants to every single occupation and profession, the civil service has insufficient entrants with the quality of their applicants continuing to fall, and so with every other government and civil sector.
Take this example. Hakikat Rai son of Harmurat Rai was a Straits Times sports reporter. He is 63 years old. A recent check on his whereabouts revealed he is still working as a sports reporter with Singapore state controlled newspapers, this time with Media Corp. A look at the poor quality of writing in Singapore's papers explains why. Singapore simply cannot find enough people to join the paper which forces them to re-employ men who should have retired a long time ago. Similarly only a few months ago did we read that as many as 500 or so retired civil servants, in their 60s, 70s and even 80s were asked to continue working for the service.
Singaporean young people are simply not coming forward, or they don't have the qualifications or they are simply non existent, forcing Lee Kuan Yew to beg tottering old men and women with a foot in the grave to please continue working. This doesn't say much for Singapore's success.
SS Nair, also in his 60s, works in Singapore's UOB Bank in Battery Road as a Security Manager, one of the few Indians in a sea of Chinese faces there, on a yearly renewal contract at the pleasure of the Bank. In any other country, he would be doing something else at his age, such as having fun in the beach, but not in Singapore for 2 reasons. First, he has to continue working because in the Singapore of today, with no public support or pensions whatsoever, it is impossible for him to retire. Second, with the population declining and the real repression of the rulers now public knowledge, no one wants to work in Singapore preferring to emigrate instead to Australia, the only ones remaining being those half witted characters who have no idea what is happening to them, or those simply incapable of leaving.
The Army barracks I heard are half empty, with insufficient babies being born.
True, you would have the island trudging along for a bit with the help of foreigners, but real progress, I doubt very much. As I see it the rot consequent upon the powers at the top denying human rights, the corruption and nepotism, the lack of transparency at all levels, the neglect of the Singapore Malays and Tamils is beginning to eat into the very foundations of society.
With an ignorant population unable to understand what is happening to them, and an imported temporary workforce at all levels, Singapore is not going to go very far, even if some report claims that it is competitive. This simply cannot last.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
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6 comments:
It is definitely a myth and the reality is that Singapore has passed the Golden Age and is going downhill with Ministers paid in the millions only making retirees poorer by using their hard earned CPF monies to pluck the millions lost in Temasek and GIC a poorly conceived policies.
Mr. Gopalan pls take a look at my blog
http://exposingsingapore.wordpress.com
SPF have been reading it too.
Beware of clickjacking attempt when commenting on this blog which is ever watched by the dogs of the republic of singapore.
Renaldi
Hello,
Recently I've read the local paper and the most awesome but predictable news is that the Government will not decrease the no. of immigrants coming into Singapore and also mentioned some ridiculous nonsense to back up their decision. Singapore is already SO small and Singaporeans need a place to stay or we are forced to leave. I hope you would do a critical blog update specifically on the housing condition in Singapore; What it was, supposed to be and what has actually happened.
ISK
hello, i thought i simply must applaud you for this blog entry and let you know that there are young singaporeans (like myself and friends) who are thinking exactly what you have written. the bad writing of ST (being the political mouthpiece of the Party aside, the language and reporting of it all is uninspired and uninspiring), the fact that singaporeans have no success in anything and that our college grads carry themselves not like an educated lot. of course i hear the voice in my head saying, "be the reason for change!". but it is extremely difficult to be motivated in an unmotivating environment. we are all waiting for the first opportunity to catch that flight out. and perhaps change can then come from outside..
hello, i thought i simply must applaud you on this entry and let you know that there are young singaporeans (like myself and friends) who are thinking exactly what you have written. the poor writing of the ST (being the political mouthpiece of the Party aside, the reporting is uninspired and uninspiring), the fact that singaporeans find no success and live from hand to mouth and that our college grads carry themselves not like an educated lot. of course i hear the voice telling me, "be the reason for change!". but it is extremely difficult to be motivated in an unmotivating environment. we are all waiting for that first opportunity to catch the flight out. and perhaps change can then come from the outside...
Unfortunately all that was written is true , Singapore has not kept up with the times , its outdated .
Even the design of Singapore is showing flaws . By building up the island , concreting and tarmacing more and more , water runoff is now instantanious , not absorbed as before with soil absorbing and slowly releasing water , now there are floods , and its not even the 100 yr floods .
Having large numbers of foreign workers with low wages will create problems , look at other countries , and the quality and efficiency is not there with these people.
They want people to work longer, they forget a few things . Older people should transmit their knowledge to younger ones , who have the energy to learn and improve , not making the same mistakes .Also this could also mean that the Singapore education system has failed , they don't have the people they need
And the list goes on , Singapore is only a small city , imagine the havoc if the government had to deal with a real and large country with a large diversity of people .
Sorry Singapore is run by PAP , Publicity and Publicty , with nothing to back it up , except dubious GDP figures .
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