In praise of non grads – What’s the agenda?

University degrees not necessary have been trumped around for a while with ministers talking about better prospects as hawkers and crane drivers and being more desirable. What’s the point of a degree when you cannot eat it or cannot get a job? After what was spoken at the NDR, the praising for non uni grads, particularly poly grads, took on more steam. It is like everything about university education is wrong and the future is in poly grads and non grads. There is no doubt that poly grads have an important role in the economy and some could do very well. They were the stars during the semi conductor era when Singapore was a manufacturing hub and many rose to become CEOs of multinationals.
 
Things have changed, jobs have changed, the employers have changed, govt policies have changed, and the new animal, foreigners, have dominated the employment scene as employers, recruitment agents and as the preferred sources of talents. We have seen many PMEs being booted out of their jobs in their primes and unable to find another job as the foreigners took over. Our local university grads are found to be either dumb, not smart enough or trained to unemployment or with unsuitable marketable skills.
 
And we have something like 6 universities and more joint universities instead of just the Singapore University and NTU. This could be just one of the reasons, over production of graduates. Like Douglas Chua said in the ST forum, education policy needs a rethink, ‘it has either been overdone, resulting in an oversupply of graduates, or its current benefits are not as relevant to our open, pragmatic economy’. This is a most surprising statement from a forumer.
 
What the hell is going on? The govt does not know what it was doing and messing up education again? On one hand, so many universities were set up and on the other hand saying there is an oversupply and we don’t really need graduates from the universities but poly grads or non grads?
 
I can think of another reason. Since our local graduates are not marketable or employable, and our citizens are good only in technical and lower management jobs, and only foreigners are good and preferred for top jobs, yes, it is only pragmatic to cut down on university education. We don’t need so many local graduates and universities. We only need to import all the talents that we need. I think this is a good policy. We can then either close down a few of the universities and save some money and land. Or perhaps these universities can be turned strictly into commercial enterprises, be self funding and self sustaining, with the highly paid foreign lecturers and professors being paid by the fees from foreign students. The scaling back is good and natural. We would be self sufficient in having local hawkers too, not dependent on PRC hawkers. And we can go back to the days of SU and NTU to provide the few grads we need.
 
Do I make any sense? Are we really going to go the non uni road, to produce more non uni grads and be dependent on foreign uni grads for our top jobs, management jobs?
 
What do you think? What is the new education policy? What are the employment opportunities for our average local talents, the Ah Bengs, Ahmads and Aruns?

Kopi Level - Green

Singaporean First Party - A new party is formed

PRESS RELEASE

Dear fellow Singaporeans, friends and supporters,

I am pleased to announce that SINGAPOREANS FIRST has been successfully registered as a society by the Registry of Societies. Following the registration, we submitted our proposed party symbol for approval. We expect the process to take a few weeks. Until it is approved, we cannot make use of the party logo.

We can now conduct activities of an approved political party. We need members to help us. If you share our beliefs and values (as stated in our Manifesto here), please join us by filling up this SINGAPOREANS FIRST MEMBERSHIP FORM

In the months ahead, we will be planning a series of activities leading up to the next General Election. We welcome ideas from all Singaporeans. You can approach any of the members of the protem committee listed below:

Chairman : Dr Ang Yong Guan,
Vice chairman : Tan Peng Ann,
Secretary-General : Tan Jee Say,
Assistant-Secretary General : Loke Pak Hoe,
Treasurer : Dr David Foo Ming Jin,
Assistant Treasurer : Fatimah Akhtar,
Members : Michael Chia, Fahmi Rais, Winston Lim, David Tan.

We look forward to your support.

Tan Jee Say
Singaporeans First Party

Kopi Level - Green

The Singapore Dream

I am not calling this the Singaporean Dream for good reason. Some Singaporeans have their dreams fulfilled and living very very well indeed. For the majority of the Singaporeans, the Singapore Dream is beginning to turn into a bad dream. For a start, many would need govt assistance in order to make life bearable. Their life savings will not be enough to sustain them to their last days. Their dreams of car ownership, private properties are as good as day dreaming. Their dreams of happily retired with little worries to watch the sunset would not happen as they would need to work to have money to live after retirement age. And their dreams of dying in their own homes could also be in jeopardy.
 
The Singapore Dream is meant for foreigners. Many foreigners are here to live their Singapore Dreams, from the rich westerners to the workers of the 3rd World countries. Many have their Singapore Dreams fulfilled. Many came here poor and returned home rich. Many could not find employment at home but got good jobs here to live a life they could never dream of in their home countries.
 
At the rate it is going, millions of foreigners will be thankful for the opportunities to live out the Singapore Dream. Unfortunately many Singaporeans would have their Singapore Dream dashed, or made so much difficult to become true. To every foreigner stepping foot on this island there is hope, and many will succeed in varying degrees, to better their lives. Many Singaporeans will live their lives disappointed and full of regrets at the end of the day. Many will come nothing and leave nothing, not even have a HDB flat to bequeath to their children after all the downgradings. They need to trade the HDB flat for some stipends for their last days.
 
What an irony. Singaporeans could work for a whole life, save for a whole life, but ended up with nothing. Foreigners could be here for a few years and return home rich. Look at the queue of fortune hunters outside the door. And some of these foreigners are threatening to go elsewhere, to give up their Singapore Dream if the govt introduces more favourable policies for the citizens to make the Singapore Dream bearable.

Kopi Level - Green

CPF – Still didn’t get it

After two protests and a third last week, and a fourth in September, the Govt does not seem to get the message that the CPF is the people’s money and they want it back, not another miserable 20%. The Govt is still thinking that it has the right to take over the management of the people’s life savings, and can do as it pleases.
 
Why is the Govt adopting this deaf frog attitude and ignoring the people’s cry and risking losing the support of the people? Let me guess. It really does not think there is anything wrong with taking over the people’s life savings. The Govt has the right to do so. Another possible reason is the arrogance that the people cannot do anything about it no matter how wronged and how angry they were. We are the Govt and the people have to live with it, at least until it is booted in the next GE. Of course the Govt does not think so and must believe that the majority of the people would not mind at all.
 
The third reason is that it is desperate and in need of money despite the claim of having hundreds of billions in the reserve. The persistence to hold on to the people’s money is wrong, but the Govt has no choice. Returning the money to the people at 55 is no go, not an option. Die die it must grab hold to the money. It can ‘no hew’ the people and even alienating a big number of voters. So be it. The situation is dire if the CPF money is returned to the people. It is a case of no choice, no way out.
 
What could be the real reason behind this aloof and arrogant decision to hold on to the people’s money despite the growing anger is puzzling. Politically it is unsound and unwise, and suicidal. The party cannot afford to take such a high risk at this moment and pretends that it is alright to do so.
 
What about the stand of the various ministers and MPs? Do they agree that this is an acceptable thing to do, a right thing to do, or an expediency that is a do or die option? Several ex MPs and top civil servants have this habit of saying that they did not agree to some policies when they were in office but only saying it out after leaving office. With the CPF issue a hot potato now, the ministers and MPs do not have the luxury to remain reticent and thinking that they could say their piece when out of office. They are in it, agree to the policy and supporting it, or they are not. By keeping quiet, they are telling the people they are for the policy. They support the withholding of the people’s life savings without the consent of the people, and saying yes when the people are protesting and saying no. This violation of a fundamental principle, that the Govt can unilaterally take hold of the people’s money and do as it likes, under whatever flimsy excuse, is indefensible. There is no good reason, no justifiable reason, to take the people’s money from them.
 
The next GE would see this principle being put to the test. It would be the main issue in the election with the people voting for or against it. It would be the deciding factor.

Kopi Level - Green

SMRT traffic lights – What a bright idea!

‘SMRT will be throwing money at another ‘solution’ with the installation of “traffic lights” inside an MRT station. (even if they are outside, it still doesn’t make sense) link The reason to cow pei cow bu again is because the SMRT did not consult the public and stupid ideas will eventually translate into fare hikes for me.
What the lights mean for ordinary Singaporean commuters:
 
$MRT: Green (platform not crowded)
 
Commuter: Is this supposed to make my day?
 
$MRT: Amber (platform slightly crowded)
 
Commuter: Pointless to tell me this as I will still have to take the train. Am I expected to be happier knowing this in advance?
 
$MRT: Red (platform crowded, expect to wait longer. Consider taking the train at a later time)
 
Commuter: You stupid or what? Why don’t you inform all our employers that we will be late for work, admit it’s your bloody fault so they will not tell us to be at the station earlier in future? Even if it means waiting for 10 trains, do we have any choice when taking a taxi will cost tens of dollars? Don’t assume we always have a choice.
 
$MRT: Flashing Red (seek alternative transport and refer to station announcements for updates)….’
The above is part of an article posted by Phillip Ang and appearing in TRS. Though Phillip Ang did not quite agree with SMRT throwing money away for such a ‘silly idea’ and with the commuters likely to pay for it later, I think it is really innovative. I really like the Red light explanation.
 
I would even suggest having electronic boards indicating how many empty seats are available and in the cabins of the next train, like electronic car park signs. Information could also be available on the noise level of the cabins, the temperature and whatever that one desires as well. Oh, this one very important, how many reserves seats is available and in which cabin.
 
We are now in an electronic age and technology is good. So let’s put technology to good use. I am going to sell a satellite global positioning system for the rich so that the owners would not be lost in their homes. They will know exactly where they are inside their palatial houses, or how to find the nearest toilet.
 
Come to think of it this gadget can also be installed in MRT stations so that commuters would not be lost in the station. I am still looking forward to enjoy my 5 seconds of busking in the station but so far don’t have any luck. It is something I am looking forward to.
 
Please give more feedbacks to SMRT to improve their services with more suggestions. Oh, with the Ebola or future disease epidemic, another traffic light sign to indicate the risk level of infection will be good, to make the commuters feel safe while travelling in the trains.

Kopi Level - Green