7/29/2009
Of Mavericks and supertalents
Either our education is a fake, a failure, or our selection process for govt scholars and top talents is missing something. We talked openly about identifying and selecting mavericks for the civil service but did we see any? Philip Yeo and then who else? Oh, one who ran his ministry so well that he could go on leave to pursue his passion, knowing that without him, the ministry will do just as well. Where are the mavericks?
Then we look at Temasek, presumably with so many local talents, they could not find one to fit the shoe and went around looking for something cheap and good. I think Liew Mun Leong should comfortably fit in with the wealth of experience that he has been exposed to, if none internally is good enough.
We should not keep on telling the world that we have no local talents and dismiss our local talents as furnitures. Look at all the actors and actresses in MediaCorp! If we don't give them a chance, would they be what they are today? Would Hongkong and Taiwan entertainment industries give them the same chance?
Lim Goh Tong was never a supertalent. But he built an empire that stretches through several continents. So were some of our not so talented entrepreneurs like Wee Cho Yaw and the Queks.
So, what is the truth, system failure, no talent, or what?
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19 comments:
inherent flaw of past still exists... everything foreign is good, unwilling to take the best out of local talents(even average ah pek) and make them superstars least they rebel. maverick no!
"Look at all the actors and actresses in MediaCorp! If we don't give them a chance, would they be what they are today? Would Hongkong and Taiwan entertainment industries give them the same chance?"
A couple of slapstick clowns with half baked acting prowess and that's talent? I don't watch the local shows anymore. Not worth my time. And what chances were they given by the much more developed Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment industries?
Since we intend to be a global village, a sprinkling of Ang Mohs here and there and a noticeable presence of mamaks will lend credence to the aim although I must say that a certain bank has so many of them as to make me uncomfortable enough to withdraw every penny I have there.
Talent isn't everything. Every other person you passed on the streets is intelligent, smart and talented.
You don't get to be super rich without solid connections. Lots of it!
Plus some arse luck.
Redbean, Can I say its the system failure. This local friend of mine went overseas to worked for many years and came back only to join this govt body. He said he's no local talent at that time. hah! I got another friend from India and he said he's the top student there, therefore this govt body recruited him from India and relocated him here.
Yap, Wally Buffet, I agreed with you - Plus lots of luck.
Local super talents left after seeing important position at Temaseek & new CAAAS been filled by people like HC & LHY. It is really fustrating to work under and listen to incapable CEO, so no point staying.
look at our education system, our youths are harvested very early in life that is by 12 years old. they used the PSLE result to stream them into good or bad secondary school. Apart from PSLE which is created locally, the GCE 'O' and 'A' level are from foreign country. We may not be able to used the criteria created in other land for streaming purposes. Most of the late developers in the primary school are therefore discarded. JUst look at the A star scholars in today Newspaper, most of them are early developers, come from elite primary schools and suprisingly few of them are from other races. We need to really look in our backyard again instead of imports.
The govt can say what it likes, and hire anyone it chooses using whatever criteria or standards it creates, 'sythesises', borrows or steals from other sources.
You want a Utopia? With 'transparency' and 'honesty'? Perhaps you -- being the 'perfect and selfless' el-supremo; the absolute finest example of humankind which ever walked the earth -- would stress the importance of having a govt as 'perfect' as you yourself are.
Good luck. You are dealing with human beings -- everyone behaves in what their self interest dictates. And not everyone is as perfect and flawless as you.
A few local acting talents tried their luck overseas but with limited success and mostly failures.
One even tried breaking into the South American acting market and did not even make it to the South American shore. What a joke!
One well known local comedian and director was even snubbed by the Hong Kong film industry people not long ago. Really shameful.
Anon 4:37
Have you noticed that the local production are always along the same themes of:
Loan sharks looking for unfortunate debtors.
Gambling and heroes associated with it.
Money or the lack of it with plenty of Hokkien Ah Ter lingo to spice it up.
Poor people living in HDB highrise (sounds like me!)
This is talent?
Dear God,
Anyone that walks on two legs is flawed, greedy, lustful, avaricious, innately violent. In short, absolutely imperfect. Contrary to one's beliefs or perceptions of oneself.
Amen.
ojection. you are referring to the mortals. but there are immortals that are more perfect than others.
The reason why the leaders are not respected though the citizens love the country run by them is simply because they have been selling 'koyok'(folk medicine) too frequently. Since the day they formed the government, the leaders have been exaggerating and boasting too much about their own super duper talents.
But now, the people refuse to be duped.
But, the people have believed them for over 40 yrs.
And the leaders are definitely better and more convincing than actor and actress in their actings.
kong kum gia
hi kong kum gia, welcome to the blog.
eddie teo said is true. people must learn to be discerning, critical and questioning. don't simply accept what the media said or what people said.
unfortunately the masses are too busy trying to make a living and got no time to think, or just don't bother to do so.
Hey guys, from all your comments, somehow I managed to understand this:
"Actors & Politician are similar except that when you are an actor, you act and fake your expressions when it is needed by a role.
When you are a politician, you act and fake your expression all the time?"
Are you saying that?
Politicians act to make-believe(convincing)for the citizenry and make You pay them your whole life.
Actor and actress act to entertain. You don't have to pay if You do not want to be entertained.
and we pay politicians for life.
Put simply,
actor entertains you while politician screws you.
See the radical difference now ?
To Janice:
The relationship between the media and political career success in more important now than it ever was. IF you are a politician, the light-speed media is the most effective conduit to the (mostly gullible and uncritical) consciousness of the people you are trying to bluff... err... I mean influence.
That being said, I don't know of any career politician who hasn't spent thousands, if not tens of thousands on "coaching" in the dark arts of presenting oneself to the public. For e.g. many of them go for "video" courses — how to look great on TV, and to look like they really believe heart and soul in the rubbish that they are trying to flog off to the public at premium prices.
You can split hairs if you choose over "presentation" (as in TV personalities on talk shows) and "actors" (the people who fake other people). I won't. There are more similarities than there are differences. The ideas of presentation and pure acting is to convince the audience that you and your ideas are sincere and genuine.
...and as I have alluded to before, the human mind is just ripe for being conned — and well suited for implanting ideas or to stimulate it to create its own ideas. Ideas can be "good" or "bad" — that is what makes humankind and the human experiences very interesting!
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