Let’s be kind to Swee Say

Swee Say said several things he wanted to do to correct the crimes against Singaporean talents in Parliament. These were quoted in a thread in TRE titled ‘Lim: FTs still needed to transfer knowledge to us’.  Here are a few paragraphs of this article.

“The MOM is also looking at how we can support those companies that are able to help us to transfer the know-how and the capabilities to our workforce, over the near term.”

“If we identify that certain areas of skills are in deficit and if we feel that those sources of expertise are available out there, somewhere in the world, we would like to work with companies to bring those expertise to Singapore and put in place a know-how transfer programme so that over time, this skills deficit can be narrowed,….

Mr Lim also revealed that his ministry is acting on concerns over firms with foreign HR directors, who may prefer to hire their own kinds.

“In fact, this is an area I’m looking into as well,” he said.

But he seems to have his doubts over such complaints from Singaporean PMEs.

“I’m not accusing them of being biased. But I would like to know if this concern by many PMEs is founded or unfounded.’

For saying the above, which was nothing new, many commentators took him to task with very stern remarks. I can’t blame them for I too wanted to say the same things. But on hindsight, I think the commentators are being too harsh on Swee Say. Though the concept of transfer of skills and knowledge were 30 years old, practiced 30 years ago but somewhere in time forgotten and lost, it is not fair to expect Swee Say to know these things. He was in NTUC and not in charge of productivity and the transfer of knowledge and knowhow to Singaporeans. He was not in charge of creating a Singaporean core of expertise in the banking and finance and IT industries. He was not in charge of hiring of foreigners to replace Singaporean PMETs. He did not know that Singaporeans were discriminated in the hiring process.  

He just took over this hot seat a couple of months ago and needs time to know what is going on. These problems have been there for years and not resolved, how to expect someone new to the job to know them and solve them immediately?

Let’s not blame him and be kinder to him. At least he is trying to understand the problems in his new job and he needs to know what went wrong and needs time to under concepts like transfer of skills and knowhow. You can’t expect him to know that this was the mantra of the day 30 years ago.

Let’s give him the chance to do the right thing and to correct the wrongs against Singaporeans in the industries. He has very little time to do so as the GE is around the corner.  He has to work very fast if he wants results to show that has indeed done something good for the PMETs and to build a Singaporean core.

And I think he is on the right track, tackle the HR heads and the companies with a lot of foreigners first. He has to be serious and any wayang will only expose his insincerity. All the eyes are on him now as the problems are serious and well known. If he cannot prove anything to his credit, the GE will be very harsh on him and his party.

Whatever you like, he is the best bet among all the MOM ministers in the past. He is the only one that appears to be serious in wanting to do something real. And he knows that time is against him and he cannot wayang anymore like past MOM ministers. The problem is going to hit his party very hard if not tackle immediately and seriously.

Ok, I have done my part to speak up for Swee Say. Now it is his part to produce the results.

PS。If only Swee Say has taken over the MOM 20 years ago, maybe things would not be so bad.