Thought of the Day - The Paradigm Shift Which PAP missed
When I read about how Singapore propaganda machine tried to justify Singapore's diplomatic stance by saying that Singapore "has not changed", I nearly choked.
The Global Power structure has gone through a critical Paradigm shift and the Diplomatic dynamics has also gone through a Paradigm shift but yet, PAP government still singing self-praise about "We have not changed"?
Didn't they realize this may be their Greatest Problem in Diplomacy?
Diplomacy is about getting the Best deal out of the Global situation for the welfare and benefits for our country. Najib knows this, so does Duterte but not our PM Lee and his bunch of inept colleagues.
Our Core Interests in the South China Sea saga is NOT about judging who is right or wrong, nor who should have what claims. All countries around the world will have their own territorial claims and nobody could really change their stance or mind, lest a Little Red Dot like Singapore! And this is not ordinary country we are dealing with but an economic as well as military giant in the making!
Our main Core Interest is only to keep SCS a safe passage way for our trading port to function effectively and it is about maintaining PEACE instead of escalating conflicts which may result in potential war. Besides, we are NOT even one of the claimants in this SCS saga!
PAP government has got it ALL Wrong. We may not like what China is doing but our aim is to maintain status quo of Peace at SCS, not about banging our heads against the evolving giant in this region.
And we have over 100 billions invested in China but yet, this silly bunch of White Ministers actually think they could get away with agitating China without getting hurt?
Someone keep pestering me to say what's my plan or how would I handle such situation. I would say that my only interest is to keep Singapore prosperous out of any situation. We should not take side but maintain our position that it is for EVERYONE's interest to keep Peace at SCS. No matter what happens, how the situation develops, we should always maintain PEACE within the region, especially at SCS.
To ask people to subject to some "international settlement" when one side didn't agree to bring it to International Court in the first place, is UTTERLY NAIVE and silly. International Law and judgement passed is one thing but could it be ENFORCED? The Americans have been ruled against in international court before but they just ignored them and what could the other countries do about it? An International judgement which is not enforceable is as good as toilet paper!
That's the reality of International politics and diplomacy.
Goh Meng Seng
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Sunday, May 28, 2017
TOTD - SAF Waste Basket of Talents
Thought of the Day - SAF Waste Basket of Talents
Have you noticed Singapore has produced quite a number of Generals every few years which will take up various positions in GLCs, Statutory Boards and such in the past?
For a small army which has NEVER fought a major war before to chunk out so many Paper Generals is rather amazing! If we were to count the "General - Army personnel" ratio, I bet we will be one of the HIGHEST in the world!
No wonder our Defence Budget is so high because we have to pay so many Generals as well as all other Colonels supporting them.
PAP government has followed its past traditions of giving out SAF scholarships and President Scholarships to the Top A Level students every year.
Yes, our Elitist PAP also select people based on A Level grades and you will be assured of good life ahead if your A Level results are one of the Best. PAP's flawed and extremely Elitist Meritocracy is determined solely by A Level grades which a 18 or 19 year old kids could get!
A friend of mine lamented in private chat over this.
In Economic theory, this is "crowding effect" of talents with bias tendency. And this is detrimental to the growth of our economy and private enterprises.
These Scholar-Paper-Generals (SPG) wasted more of their time in army for 20 over years before they were asked to leave and chuck into some GLCs or statutory boards. They have totally ZERO real life corporate experience but just helicopter into high position to lead any organizations assigned to them. Those who have been working in these organizations, amassing great amount of experience in the field, were passed from such promotions. I wonder how these people would feel, having a totally "Clueless Idiot" in the field to lead and tell them what to do! eg. The latest SPG former navy chief jumping into MOE to become Perm Sect.. Hey, he is totally clueless about Education!
The worst part is to have these SPGs to parachute into such important positions such as "Permanent Secretary" which has become rather "impermanent" nowadays! Every 2-3 years, Perm Sect will change. How could they have garnered enough experience and contribute to the Ministries adequately? In the past, we used to say, even if you put an idiot as a Minister or Minister of State, the Perm Sect will be able to run the show. But in the end, our Perm Sects are now totally lack of experience and "Half Barrel Filed"! it will be left to the mid-high level Directors of the Ministries to run the show! It will be extremely unstable and chaotic for these Ministries and definitely the sustainability of the whole system will be in question.
I do not expect a Perm Sect to stay in that position for more than 2 decades but definitely not this type of "touch and go" situation!
Short tenure for Perm Sect will create a serious problem. These people will only aim for SHORT TERM VISIBLE results but ignore LONG TERM beneficial planning! Just like the NOL saga! Selling assets off will of course create "huge value" for the government in the short term but what is the long term strategic implications?
Worse of all, the new Ministers may not even be well verse in their own Ministries as many of them have been "Merry Go Round" rotating among the Ministries... how could they possibly be contributing to the LONG TERM planning for the Ministries and Singapore as a whole with such short term tenure? It is seriously a situation of "the clueless leading the blind".
SAF has become a Waste Basket for "Talents". The current practice of SPG Elitism should be reviewed because it has proven to be detrimental to the development and growth of a Nation's economy by crowding out talents from private sectors as well as making them invalid to the corporate world after decades of "Yes Man" molding. We are starting to see the great harm that such system is doing to us now.
Have you noticed Singapore has produced quite a number of Generals every few years which will take up various positions in GLCs, Statutory Boards and such in the past?
For a small army which has NEVER fought a major war before to chunk out so many Paper Generals is rather amazing! If we were to count the "General - Army personnel" ratio, I bet we will be one of the HIGHEST in the world!
No wonder our Defence Budget is so high because we have to pay so many Generals as well as all other Colonels supporting them.
PAP government has followed its past traditions of giving out SAF scholarships and President Scholarships to the Top A Level students every year.
Yes, our Elitist PAP also select people based on A Level grades and you will be assured of good life ahead if your A Level results are one of the Best. PAP's flawed and extremely Elitist Meritocracy is determined solely by A Level grades which a 18 or 19 year old kids could get!
A friend of mine lamented in private chat over this.
In Economic theory, this is "crowding effect" of talents with bias tendency. And this is detrimental to the growth of our economy and private enterprises.
These Scholar-Paper-Generals (SPG) wasted more of their time in army for 20 over years before they were asked to leave and chuck into some GLCs or statutory boards. They have totally ZERO real life corporate experience but just helicopter into high position to lead any organizations assigned to them. Those who have been working in these organizations, amassing great amount of experience in the field, were passed from such promotions. I wonder how these people would feel, having a totally "Clueless Idiot" in the field to lead and tell them what to do! eg. The latest SPG former navy chief jumping into MOE to become Perm Sect.. Hey, he is totally clueless about Education!
The worst part is to have these SPGs to parachute into such important positions such as "Permanent Secretary" which has become rather "impermanent" nowadays! Every 2-3 years, Perm Sect will change. How could they have garnered enough experience and contribute to the Ministries adequately? In the past, we used to say, even if you put an idiot as a Minister or Minister of State, the Perm Sect will be able to run the show. But in the end, our Perm Sects are now totally lack of experience and "Half Barrel Filed"! it will be left to the mid-high level Directors of the Ministries to run the show! It will be extremely unstable and chaotic for these Ministries and definitely the sustainability of the whole system will be in question.
I do not expect a Perm Sect to stay in that position for more than 2 decades but definitely not this type of "touch and go" situation!
Short tenure for Perm Sect will create a serious problem. These people will only aim for SHORT TERM VISIBLE results but ignore LONG TERM beneficial planning! Just like the NOL saga! Selling assets off will of course create "huge value" for the government in the short term but what is the long term strategic implications?
Worse of all, the new Ministers may not even be well verse in their own Ministries as many of them have been "Merry Go Round" rotating among the Ministries... how could they possibly be contributing to the LONG TERM planning for the Ministries and Singapore as a whole with such short term tenure? It is seriously a situation of "the clueless leading the blind".
SAF has become a Waste Basket for "Talents". The current practice of SPG Elitism should be reviewed because it has proven to be detrimental to the development and growth of a Nation's economy by crowding out talents from private sectors as well as making them invalid to the corporate world after decades of "Yes Man" molding. We are starting to see the great harm that such system is doing to us now.
Goh Meng Seng
Friday, May 05, 2017
TOTD: May Day Lunch Box Economics
Thought of the Day - Lunch Box Economics
The Prime Minister's Stealing Advice
It is shocking to hear our Prime Minister trying to lecture our workers on how we should “steal other people's lunch boxes” in this year May Day celebration.
There are a few issues here:
1) To many Singaporeans who have lost their jobs to some cheap foreign substitutes, all thanks to PAP’s FT policy which encourages and allows millions of foreign labour to come to Singapore and work under the guise of job creation for Singaporeans, this is a totally ironic statement that needs cynical mocking! PAP government is the one who helps Foreigners to “Steal” our lunch boxes right at our doorstep and yet the PM has the cheek to tell us go and steal othet people's lunch boxes? That's basically shameless!
2) PAP government has basically stolen part of our workers’ lunch boxes recently, practically reducing the size of our lunch boxes by increasing Water Fee by 30%, Electricity tarriff, cooking gas and we expect more to come。。。 maybe GST or public transport fares. Can PAP stop stealing our luncheon meat from our lunch boxes?
3) In all international free trade agreement negotiation, all countries will try very hard to protect their own citizens’ lunch boxes but only PAP would sell our workers out by agreeing UNLIMITED foreign labour to come to this tiny red dot to steal Singaporeans’ lunch boxes! Oh while talking about this, I wonder how PAP and PM are going to negotiate more favorable FTA terms when other countries will now be extremely wary about PAP‘s intention of stealing their citizens’ jobs!?
4) Most probably our PM has run out of ideas in ensuring our own citizens can have meaningful well paying jobs insteas of facing rising unemployment rate. Lim Swee Say could actually say that jobs are not lacking but it is Singaporeans who do not have the skils! Hey, Singapore is a First World Country with best universities, tertiary institutions and education system in this part of the world! Many people from surrounding third world developing countries yearn to study in our schools! How could our education system unable to provide the necessary knowledge and skills for Singaporeans to get decent paying jobs while foreigners from third world countries could have those skills instead? He is basically insulting our intelligence!
5) The economic theory of Free Trade and Globalization isn't based n stealing other people's lunch boxes. If that is the case, no country would want to open up trade. The fundamental Free Trade is not based on competitive advantage but rather comparative advantage. It strives to provide win win situation instead of cannibalism if lunch boxes from others. Maybe our PM and the whole cabinet of million dollar ministers should go back to school learn basic economics fundamental
The Incoherent Excuses
First, it was Minister Lim Swee Say who said there is no lack of jobs in Singapore but it is Singaporeans "lack of skills" to take up these jobs.
Then we have Minister Ong Ye Kang who said Singapore capped the number of Singaporeans studying in local universities at 30%!
Now, it seems that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing! If PAP is to cap the number of Singaporeans from obtaining the highest learning of knowledge and skills at 30%, no wonder we are lack of "skills" while we have to import so many Degree Holders (some with dubious certificates) from Third World Countries!
Job Reality on the Ground
We seemingly have a bunch of ministers who have totally lost touch of the ground. On one hand the Ministers think by capping the number of Singaporeans going to local Universities could prevent more Singaporeans from being unemployed graduates, thinking that by having more poly and ITE graduates with skills training, will make them more employable while the other Minister thinks that there are jobs but Singaporeans lack the skills...
If 70% of Singaporeans are already sent to poly and ITE, why are Singaporeans still lacking of skills?
The truth is, everyone who have education in Singapore should have acquired a certain skill sets and definitely so for university graduates.
The truth is, most of the time Singaporeans without a university degree will be scorned and salaries suppressed because employers will say "at this salary of xxx I can employ a FT with degree or even a master degree blah blah blah"....All thanks to PAP's extremely lax FT policy!
The Major Irony
Ironic... while PAP keeps talking about continuous Life long learning and upgrading, but in the end they want to restrict the number of people going to local Universities at 30%!
And PAP always lament Singapore does not have even "Talents" thus needs Foreign Talents from Third World countries but now we know it is PAP itself which deliberately restricts Singaporeans from grooming into Talents by depriving them a place in Universities via setting this limited quota!
Do you see the True Color of PAP yet?
Goh Meng Seng
The Prime Minister's Stealing Advice
It is shocking to hear our Prime Minister trying to lecture our workers on how we should “steal other people's lunch boxes” in this year May Day celebration.
There are a few issues here:
1) To many Singaporeans who have lost their jobs to some cheap foreign substitutes, all thanks to PAP’s FT policy which encourages and allows millions of foreign labour to come to Singapore and work under the guise of job creation for Singaporeans, this is a totally ironic statement that needs cynical mocking! PAP government is the one who helps Foreigners to “Steal” our lunch boxes right at our doorstep and yet the PM has the cheek to tell us go and steal othet people's lunch boxes? That's basically shameless!
2) PAP government has basically stolen part of our workers’ lunch boxes recently, practically reducing the size of our lunch boxes by increasing Water Fee by 30%, Electricity tarriff, cooking gas and we expect more to come。。。 maybe GST or public transport fares. Can PAP stop stealing our luncheon meat from our lunch boxes?
3) In all international free trade agreement negotiation, all countries will try very hard to protect their own citizens’ lunch boxes but only PAP would sell our workers out by agreeing UNLIMITED foreign labour to come to this tiny red dot to steal Singaporeans’ lunch boxes! Oh while talking about this, I wonder how PAP and PM are going to negotiate more favorable FTA terms when other countries will now be extremely wary about PAP‘s intention of stealing their citizens’ jobs!?
4) Most probably our PM has run out of ideas in ensuring our own citizens can have meaningful well paying jobs insteas of facing rising unemployment rate. Lim Swee Say could actually say that jobs are not lacking but it is Singaporeans who do not have the skils! Hey, Singapore is a First World Country with best universities, tertiary institutions and education system in this part of the world! Many people from surrounding third world developing countries yearn to study in our schools! How could our education system unable to provide the necessary knowledge and skills for Singaporeans to get decent paying jobs while foreigners from third world countries could have those skills instead? He is basically insulting our intelligence!
5) The economic theory of Free Trade and Globalization isn't based n stealing other people's lunch boxes. If that is the case, no country would want to open up trade. The fundamental Free Trade is not based on competitive advantage but rather comparative advantage. It strives to provide win win situation instead of cannibalism if lunch boxes from others. Maybe our PM and the whole cabinet of million dollar ministers should go back to school learn basic economics fundamental
The Incoherent Excuses
First, it was Minister Lim Swee Say who said there is no lack of jobs in Singapore but it is Singaporeans "lack of skills" to take up these jobs.
Then we have Minister Ong Ye Kang who said Singapore capped the number of Singaporeans studying in local universities at 30%!
Now, it seems that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing! If PAP is to cap the number of Singaporeans from obtaining the highest learning of knowledge and skills at 30%, no wonder we are lack of "skills" while we have to import so many Degree Holders (some with dubious certificates) from Third World Countries!
Job Reality on the Ground
We seemingly have a bunch of ministers who have totally lost touch of the ground. On one hand the Ministers think by capping the number of Singaporeans going to local Universities could prevent more Singaporeans from being unemployed graduates, thinking that by having more poly and ITE graduates with skills training, will make them more employable while the other Minister thinks that there are jobs but Singaporeans lack the skills...
If 70% of Singaporeans are already sent to poly and ITE, why are Singaporeans still lacking of skills?
The truth is, everyone who have education in Singapore should have acquired a certain skill sets and definitely so for university graduates.
The truth is, most of the time Singaporeans without a university degree will be scorned and salaries suppressed because employers will say "at this salary of xxx I can employ a FT with degree or even a master degree blah blah blah"....All thanks to PAP's extremely lax FT policy!
The Major Irony
Ironic... while PAP keeps talking about continuous Life long learning and upgrading, but in the end they want to restrict the number of people going to local Universities at 30%!
And PAP always lament Singapore does not have even "Talents" thus needs Foreign Talents from Third World countries but now we know it is PAP itself which deliberately restricts Singaporeans from grooming into Talents by depriving them a place in Universities via setting this limited quota!
Do you see the True Color of PAP yet?
Goh Meng Seng
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