Uniquely Singapore – or another fiasco?

There are more than 2m foreigners in the island of 3.5m population. Several hundred thousands of these foreigners from half past six countries and half past six universities are gainfully employed, happily employed, replacing the supposedly better qualified Singaporeans in their jobs. And the Singaporeans, the experienced and well qualified, the young graduates, are crying for jobs. They are unemployable, underemployed, they are mismatched!

 

And all we heard of is that it is all because of mismatch. And these jobless
Singaporeans are told to go overseas to find their rainbows. Not in Singapore. They are mismatched, they are misfits in their own countries. Their hundreds of thousands dollar education and degrees are useless, cannot eat, cannot find a job. They are only good enough to compete overseas, forget about in the US and Europe if they can’t even find a job in home town, unable to compete with half past six degree foreigners. They should go to third world countries to sell their skills and earn cheap currencies. And don’t think of coming back, don’t think of earning and saving enough to be able to survive back home. The cheap currencies they earned will become cheaper when brought home to spend in the world’s most expensive city. They are failures in Singapore and how could they expect the third world countries to hire them and pay them well? Even if they wanted to, they could not afford to.

Singapore is not for Singaporeans. Singaporeans are only good enough to work in third world countries. And the govt knows that and are helping them with a lot of courses and training programmes to equip them to survive in third world countries. Probably they will teach them how to lower their expectations, how to live life in a third world countries, how to get use to third world standard of living, how to tighten their belts.

Singapore is good only for foreigners, especially those from third world countries. These are the highly skilled and trained talents Singapore needs, with half past six degrees. Though they came from half past six universities, they have no mismatch problems. They matched beautifully with the needs of this first world city. The proof, a few hundred thousands of them are already here, employed in jobs that mismatched Singaporeans cannot do.

Did anyone say Uniquely Singapore? With so many silly mismatched PMETs, what more proof is needed to confirm that Singaporeans are daft? The daft Singaporeans don’t even know why they are unemployable, why they became mismatched, misfits. The only thing they know, is that they are told that this is the reason. And everyone accepts this silly reason with no further question asked. Several hundred thousands of half past six foreigners are fit, not mismatched and taking over the jobs of the misfit Singaporeans. To laugh or to cry?

 

And we are boasting about having three of the world’s best universities run by foreigners, the bulk of the academic staff and administrative staff is foreigners. I am waiting for the Parliament to be taken over by foreigners and pronouncing that Singaporeans are misfits to be in Parliament and should go elsewhere to live. This is only a matter of time.

Where is the real mismatch?

My adventure into alien territory

It took me a long time to decide on this adventure, to venture into alien territory on a Saturday morning. I have never done this for decades and whatever memories of this place were from the time when I was a kid. Finally, with much reluctance, I bravely trotted into this corner of Singapore that I have never treaded for a long time.

I arrived just about a quarter to 10 in the morning. I was a bit lost with the geography of the land and had to ask to get to where I want to be. I was shown this queue machine and got my Q number.  There were quite a lot of people and also ample staff to guide the new visitors like me. I waited for 10 minutes before my Q number flashed on the big screens. I registered and the customer relations officer was all helpful and friendly. What a pleasant start on this adventure. She even explained to me the procedure to save waiting time. I could make an appointment from home by logging into the system. She apologetically said I would have to for an hour before my appointment for just walking in.
To me, recollecting on my childhood experience, an hour of waiting was fair game. I went for coffee and still had a lot to time to take a look at the waiting area and the Q numbers called. Wow, another 100 numbers ahead of me.  Now how to kill one hour of time doing nothing? Ok, visited the restroom. My, another big surprise, spanking clean, dry and odourless, as good as home. Because it was so comfortable, because I had one hour to spare, I took my time. I thought I had more than half an hour and strolled out casually only to find I just missed my turn. Spoke to the customer relations officer and she took up my case and yes, I was called immediately to see the doctor.

I have this blurring or clouding of vision on one eye for a couple of years.  After the preliminaries he asked which hospital would I want to get the cataract done. I told him to get me the cheapest. He broke into laughter. Ok, the most convenient is Ng Teng Fong Hospital. What about the fees? Not to worry, they charged the same rate. It was a quick appointment. And I also asked for some medicine for my flu and cough. All over in less than 5 minutes.

I went to the Pharmacy and collected my medicine in less than 5 minutes and happily wanted to leave the place. Then I remembered her saying to go to the counter behind. Oops, I got to pay for my medicine. I could have just gone home without knowing that I got to pay for it.

At the payment counter the cashier said three eightty five. I said, uh, so expensive. She was apologetic and explained that I had two kinds of medicine. Ok, gave her $10 and got my change of $6.15. There was GST but absorbed by the govt, ie not GST.

My next stop was for an appointment for my ops. The cashier said go to counter 10 and press 3 on the machine. A bit puzzled but just did as told. Found the counter, found the machine, and yes there was a button for 3. Press it and was wondering what’s next. Oh, a Q number.  That was wbat the button 3 was for. Took the Q number and wait. This time waited for 15 minutes, the longest wait in the whole process.

When my turn came, the customer relations officer entered my particulars and said Ng Teng Fong Hospital would contact me for the appointment. And that’s it, all over in less than an hour, without making an appointment in advance.

This was my adventure to a Polyclinic on a Saturday morning. It was simply not the same as decades ago when waiting time was long and waiting unnecessarily was the norm.  Everything was so organized and befitting for a first world experience. I could not find any fault with the organization, the set up and the staff. It was clockwork precision, too efficient that I almost missed my appointment when I thought I would have an hour to wait but actually half an hour.

Every staff was professional and courteous, and, you don’t believe this… I thought I was entering alien land, at least that was what I was told. If I am not mistaken, all the staff, including the doctor, was Singaporean. At least their names and the way they sounded when they spoke. No aliens!
Whoever reinvented the Polyclinics, the organization, the processes and procedures, and the staff operating them, one could not ask for better. This is the standard to be copied by all the ministries.  My adventure was in a way a very pleasant experience and a very comfortable one, for $3.85, inclusive of consultation and medicine.

This is my Singapore, the Singapore Singaporeans are proud to call home, the efficiency and quality of service that made Singapore a hallmark and model for the rest of the world.

Please keep Singapore this way. I must say I was happily surprised that the Polyclinics are still Singaporean territory and in tip top condition.

Asean – The Obama foul up

Asean was originally an organization built by its founding fathers to be a neutral and independent regional organization free of big power interference. Over the years, willingly or otherwise, some members started to lean closer with the Americans, even signing military alliances to be part of the American Empire. Though Asean still maintained its neutrality, and the American allies played their American card close to their chest, gradually the mask came off, and they openly took sides with the Americans and fronting up for American interests. On the Chinese camp, a couple of new Asean countries joined the organization wearing their historical ties with China on their chests.

The expansion of Asean also led to the transformation of Asean with two opposing camps and allies strutting around with pride that they are allies of big powers. The veneer thin Asean neutrality was history and no longer touted as the key principle of what Asean stood for. The myth of a neutral Asean, built on the cardinal principle of neutrality has become bullshit.

As recently as the beginning of the year, the Americans were boasting about their pivot to Asia, a veiled expansionist move to stay in Asia by relocating their military hardware into the region. This move was generally supported by some Asean countries, namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore and to a certain extent Thailand. The rest of the Asean states were neutral except for Laos and Cambodia that were traditionally China’s close neigbours. Asean totally ignored the interest of Indonesia as the big brother and brought in a monster to rule the region, making Indonesia looking like a part of the Empire.

Obama was riding high and American projection of military power in Southeast Asia was as good as done with the Philippines and a few hardcore Asean states openly and covertly egging the Americans to stay in the region. Obama had 5 aces in his hand in Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. And the Americans agitated the SCS dispute to its full advantage, encouraging these countries to confront China and to make counter claims on Chinese islands.

All this is history. The aces in Obama’s hand have turned to 2s. The Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have switched sides. They refused to provoke China on the SCS claims, choosing to court China for economic development and trade and opting to talk and negotiate with China for a peaceful solution. The tension and threats of war in the South China Sea fizzled out. Obama is now left with only Vietnam and Singapore as the two aces in his hand.

China on the contrary have turned around and now holding 5 aces in Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia with the rest of Asean states remaining neutral other than Vietnam and Singapore.  Vietnam is looking like making a U turn as well with China waving the carrots of more trade and economic development, with no interference in their domestic affairs.

Obama’s hand is now weak, as weak as his last few days in Office. There is an Asean Revolution against the Americans. The stoking of tension and probability of war in the region failed. What Ash Carter said about isolating China has backfired. It is the USA being isolated and the last nail onto this coffin would be the killing of the TPP, the futile American attempt to isolate China.

Bye bye America. Or as Duterte has said, America, you lost. Southeast Asia would not be dragged into a war and turmoil at the will of the Americans. The Asean leaders are not that stupid (there are exceptions) to be at the becks and calls of the Americans to destroy their countries and the lives of their people. They want peace and progress for their people, not war, not death and destruction.

The American nightmare is just beginning.

PS. Happy Deepavali to all our Indian brothers and sisters.

The Asean Revolution

The Duterte Revolution in the Philippines has set about a rethinking of the Philippines history, the colonization and massacres of Pinoys and the pathetic state of the economy under so called American aid, and the unending rebellion in the South the Americans claimed to be quelling but instead fuelling and financing. The Pinoys have woken up to their sorry state of affair after more 100 years of American domination. The Philippines are one of the poorest and least developed Asean countries and still dependent on foreign aid, ie American junks and crumbs and expected to be grateful.

Look at Indonesia and Malaysia and Thailand, all three economies have surged past the Philippines in economic growth and have higher quality of lives for their people. But the Revolution in Asean did not start in the Philippines. The Asean Revolution started a few months prior to Duterte’s ascendency as the President of Philippines, right in the heart of Malaysia!

Unbelieveable, but the Chinese are moving into Malaysia in a very big way. Duterte was successful to clinch $24 billion of contracts for the Philippines in 4 days, a very good result. The Malaysians have an earlier start. 4 major projects in Malaysia, some started a few years earlier, are worth at least $100b, from the Forest City in South West Johore, the Greenland development in Johore Bahru, the megacity in KL that would be the new transportation hub for high speed trains linking to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar and onwards to China and Europe, and the newly commissioned Malaysia China Kelatan Industrial Park. 

Malaysia is getting an economic boost from the Chinese investment and would take off way ahead of Indonesia and the Philippines.  If you have not heard about it, the Chinese have started production of high speed trains from their factory in KL in preparation for the building of the high speed trains in Malaysia.  Najib is visiting China to raise Malaysia China relations to a new height.

What is happening in Malaysia could be the things that the Philippines could also be expecting in the Duterte Revolution. Philippines could go the same path as Malaysia, for economic growth and development and not be made the quarrelsome barking dog of the Americans, everyday dying to fight a war, raising and provoking tensions in a conflict that it can never win except to drain its limited resources, the lost of more Pinoy lives and forever be dependent on the Americans to dole them with junks and crumbs. What are the Americans offering, more military training to fight a green monster, selling of weapons and stoking rebel activities in the South.

With Malaysia taking the lead, showing the way, the Thais and the Philippines tagging along, Asean is going to see rapid economic development and growth while the world economy goes on a downward swing. Singapore got to be very careful not to lose out in this Chinese stimulus and miss the train, literary and otherwise. Yes, if the high speed train linking to China and Europe just ends in KL, KL will be the new transportation hub, replacing Singapore or at least taking away half of the transportation and logistic business.  With all the goods between Europe and China travelling by train, by passing Singapore, you can expect a drop of 50% of sea traffic calling at Tuas. Oh, before I forget, Thailand would be the biggest land transportion hub in Southeast Asia with high speed trains linking to China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

The Asean Revolution has started and hundreds of billions will be injected into the Asean economies to drive the needed growth to keep Asean countries afloat in a world economy shrouded by dark clouds and uncertainties. The poor Americans did not have the money to finance such huge projects at an international scale. Worst, they could not think of it, unable to conceptualise such an intercontinental idea and lost the initiative to the Chinese. They forgot that money can be made in other economic enterprises other than inciting wars and selling weapons.

Duterte making the Americans in panic mode

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