2/16/2007
Would Singapore become another IBM?
Would Singapore become another IBM? We are number one in many fields. So was IBM before. But IBM is now Lenovo. Would Singapore become something else?
The path taken by IBM is quite similar to what we are taking now. From private ownership to international company. Singaporeans become International citizens. IBM started as a privately owned company. But as it grew, it started to give shares to all its employees. Every employee becomes a shareholder. Eventually when ownership was so diluted that no one thinks about the company but about themselves and their pockets. IBM is just a commodity, a product for the highest bidder.
Singapore can end up as a product for sale if no one wants to take ownership of the island or thinks passionately that this island belongs to him/her. If everyone just thinks that this is just a corporation, then it is only a matter of price. It can be sold en bloc or in bits and pieces over time. We have sold Raffles Hotel, SIA building, what's next? PSA, Keppel, SIA, PUB, LTA, HDB, Parliament House, the Istana? It can be done. Just think commercial or profits.
Another way of selling Singapore away is by giving away citizenship freely. This is more deceptive and less obvious. Imagine with 6 million new citizens and 2 million original stocks, Singapore is as good as being sold. The ownership is passed to new citizens who were actually foreigners but given the pink ICs. And they can do whatever they want with the island if they assumed political control and see this as a piece of real estate without any loyalty or emotional attachment to it.
Then people may ask, what's wrong with that? It is the continuity and existence of Singapore as a nation that is more important than its people. The people will come and go, born and die. But Singapore will go on. So if this is the logic to abide by, then Singapore's existence and survival is more important than its people.
Forget about the people or citizenship.
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6 comments:
Redbean, only the PC division was sold to Legend and became Lenovo. The server and professinal services divisions are still IBM.
Redbean, once someone takes the oath of citizenship and is presented with a pink ID card, he or she ceases to be a foreigner, but a full-fledged citizen having the same rights and privileges as a born-citizen like you, so the question of dilution does not arise. Please also substantiate your allegation that citizenship is given away freely. Talk is cheap, almost free on the Net. Spouting irrational, unsubstantiated emotional rhetoric does not do you credit to be taken as a serious and credible voice in the blogosphere.
be fair,
under normal circumstances where people come in and out of the country, the number is not frightening and time will take care of the sharp corners. but when we have a concerted effort just to raise the numbers as if it is a life and death situation, the numbers are frightening.
our main sources of new citizens are going to come mainly from 3 countries, malaysia, india and china. our population is about 3.5 mil, citizens and prs. to bring this number to 6.5 million, assuming we are just replacing ourselves, it means 3 million more new citizens. no dilution? 1 million from each country?
this is not irrational or emotional thought. no country will do a silly thing like that. the french and brits were more liberal to their former colonial subjects and allowed quite a number to get in, but not in these volumes or percentages. and they are going to pay dearly for it.
what problems can we forsee with this kind of percentages? we would not know fully until it hits us in the face. how would the brits and french ever thought that religious/racial terrorism can reach such a proportion 40 or 50 years ago?
are our people wise enough to see the problems that can hit us with these kind of numbers?
the population of a country is not simply a number game and neither is it simply economics. there are social and political considerations, religious and racial implications.
better don't pray pray with things that cannot be unwound that easily. the people making the decision will not see what mess they will be creating in the future. our forefathers have built trees to provide us the shade today. we do not want to create a social environment that will raze everything to the ground in the future.
the population should be allowed to grow gradually at a normal pace. not the peking duck way.
As I"ve said time and again: Singapore is a cuntry which is built on immigration.
I support the idea of VOLUNTARY citizenship. Why? Because that leads to (over time, given a free-market) true private ownership of the territory.
The only hope for mankind is if the WHOLE PLANET is eventually privatised. Christians BTW (especially the wealthy ones) have no problem accepting this as FACT because they have been told "the earth is God's gift and every human has dominion over the entire planet".
However the God-less wankers of the "progressive" political masturbators, social engineers of all political stripes tell us that "We belong to the Earth". What crap!
Excuse me whilst I fire up my fuel-guzzling V8, eat my whale burger and chop down a few forests...
Freedom rocks, even if some people don't agree with you!
forget about the unthinking singaporeans. but for those who think and care, what are their views about giving up their share of this little island? do they have a say? to they agree?
hi anonymous,
the ibm example is just an illustration. what is important is whether we are for sale? is the adulteration of our population at such an unprecedented rate, self directed, good for us?
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