A Different World
A few days ago, my friend forwarded me an article link to channelnewsasia.com. Our Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo was giving a speech at the 15th anniversary celebrations of Damai Secondary School. He mentioned that the world will be a very different place when the crisis is over and countries like China, India, Brazil and Russia will have major roles in the new world.
He suggested to cope with the change is to learn new languages.
Honestly speaking when I read that sentence, it gave me "What the (sorry I don't swear :p)....?" moment! Really, to cope with the new and different world, we are to pick up more languages? Which one? Hindi? Russian? Portuguese? Or all of the above? If not for our country's language policy and social engineering, our Chinese language would not have languished at its current sad state.
As it is, the world has already been different without needing the crisis to be over. The world has long passed us over and the government reassures us everything is going to be ok? By learning more languages?
Just look at the recent result published by Skytrax, in the survey of 190 airports by the British-based consultancy, Changi Airport (one of the crown jewel, pride and joy of our government) scored its lowest ranking in eight years! That is even after the opening of our S$1.75 billion T3 on 9 Jan last year.
Since 2001 to 2009, Changi Airport has never been awarded the first position. We had always languished behind Hong Kong International Airport for 9 continuous years. But Incheon International Airport managed to leapfrog Singapore in 5 years and claim the first position this year. What has happened during the past 9 years? Why didn't our airport manage to clinch the first position?
In the past 9 years, the world has already been moving in a quickening pace and been a more competitive place. Have we become less competitive? I think the answer to the question is obvious. The world is already a different place. We don't have to wait for the crisis to be over.
Just take a look at the following countries: Japan has Sony. South Korean has Samsung. Finland (population of 5.34 million, slightly more than Singapore's 4.84 million) has Nokia. Each of these countries has their own language. Other than possibly English, did they need to learn other new languages before they build these companies? Most probably not.
We should start building our own company, if not companies, that can compete in the world arena. This is the only possible solution for the future of Singapore (definitely a better solution than learning new languages). Sometimes I wonder if the dearth of local world-class companies are linked to the proliferation of GLCs and Temasek invested companies in Singapore. The market size of Singapore is already small and if we have GLCs and Temasek invested companies giving projects to companies in the same ecosystem, where does this leave the independent and private companies? Picking up crumbs and leftovers?
Learn new languages to cope with the change? LMAO! Sheesh!
ChannelNewsAsia
4 July 2009
Current global economic crisis will test Singaporeans' moral character
By Cheryl Lim
SINGAPORE: Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo said the current crisis in the global economy will test the moral character of Singaporeans.
Speaking at the 15th anniversary celebrations of Damai Secondary School on Saturday, Mr Yeo said if there is a strong sense of mutual obligation, solidarity and affection, Singaporeans will not only pull through the crisis but will also emerge stronger and more united.
But he added the world will be a very different place when the crisis is over, with many centres of political, economic and cultural influence in the world.
He said he expects China and India will become big powers in the future, and Russia and Brazil will also play major roles.
Mr Yeo said Singaporeans will also have to prepare for a different world and safeguard their security.
One way to cope with the changes is to learn languages.
He also added that making the maximum use of technology will help ensure Singaporeans keep connected with the rest of the global network.
11 comments:
Honestly, I think that is to keep us busy while they try to find a better solution. :)
Er... that is scary, right? It means they don't have a solution! That's worse!
I guess I could work out what you're trying to say if I drew a flow chart but then again I am left wondering what point were you trying to make? Yet another cynical side of me ask 'what for'?!
Does it matter if Changi Airport isn't the best in the world? Does it mean we're suddenly that lousy?
Does not you have a very high proficiency of English though at the expense of Mandarin? If now you have a high proficiency of Mandarin at the expense of English then you would probably start another article writing about it.
Stop thinking about being spoonfed but take up full responsbility and accountability for yourself. You control your own life. Nobody tells you to stop learning Mandarin. The only way to stop your Mandarin from going south is so do something about it. Yet all you are prepared to do is to whine about it.
I wrote this article as they were my thoughts after reading the suggestion made by George Yeo during his speech on 4 July and it also triggered me into thinking about the latest Skytrax result of Changi Airport.
Minister George Yeo had said that it would be a different world when the crisis is over. But I think it has already been a different world even before the crisis is over. I was using Changi Airport as an illustration wondering if we have already lost our competitive edge.
We have seen social engineering by our government in the past. 2-child policy, English as the first language etc. I was just thinking out loud if we would have been better off if the government had just let nature takes its own course.
As an entrepreneur, I also wondered why we don't have our own independent and home-bred world class company. If we talk about market size, Nokia came from a country whose population is similar. To give Singapore a chance in the changing world, I think we need a world class home bred company of our own.
I guess because my blog is in English, it led you to assume that I'm not proficient in Chinese. Fortunately for myself, I'm proficient in both.
I do take up full responsibility and accountability for myself. That's why I've ventured out on my own and become an entrepreneur.
This blog is just a journal of my thoughts and journey.
Regardless, thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my entry and leaving your comments. It was greatly appreciated. :)
Financial meltdown in America, big countries taking advantage of their big land and population to grow, these were not manipulated or invented by George Yeo. He merely gave his thoughts about what the world will become in the next phase and advise people to take up relevant skills.
Of course the world is always going to be different from the past as things always change but change to what? After the event everyone's an expert, why don't you spend some time writing about what the world is going to change to?
The best way to forget about bad policies is to remember the good ones. Infact in all political history of every countries, there are bound to have bad policies made in the past. Singapore made bad policies but Singapore also made good policies. From bad policies we learn and then we try to do things better.
As for 2 child and English language policy, what would you then if at that time population increasingly needs controlling and America are doing many things right, and I'm talking globally here?
He forgot to clarify that languages don't include dialects.
Why don't you try make your company world class? What is stopping you? Why everything you point fingers at the gahment? Sorry but Singaporean's mentality is very child like, they've been guided so much in their life that they think they have the divine rights to be guided as long they lived.
Hi Ian,
I agree that George Yeo was giving his thoughts and so am I here. My article were just my thoughts after reading his suggestion.
The world has already begun to change. It has become a place where it is a knowledge base economy. To compete in this new world, our fellow citizens need to be creative and bold. We can no longer compete just by price or cheap labour force. We need to work hard and be hungry. Be very hungry. We need to have a made in Singapore company and brand so we can compete with the world. Hence my examples of Sony, Samsung and Nokia which are technologically strong.
It is not sufficient to just learn new languages. Suggesting learning new languages only to cope with the new world seemed too careless to me.
I witnessed the transition of lowering our standard of Chinese and I never understood why. Till date, I still don't. The text books were bland and the standard watered down.
I don't disagree that English was important but it did not need to be done at the expense of our Chinese language or the mother tongue of our fellow citizens. When the government emphasize one language over the other, the standard of other languages will obviously suffer.
When the 2-child policy was introduced, it was obvious the policy makers already assumed that there will be a one parent to one child replacement. But not everyone will get married and not everyone will be able to bear 2 children. Also, they assumed both children will grow up healthy and mature into an adult. But not all children do. So after decades of the policy, there will definitely be a shortfall. Possibly, during the policy implementation, it should have allowed families to have up to 3 children and not just 2.
I agree that Singapore government has made good policies and I applaud them for it. It is because I care as a citizen who has a part and role in my country that's why I speak out and share my thoughts on policies that I don't disagree.
It will be a sad day for Singapore if we as the people of Singapore, we choose to be silent.
I would like to reiterate that my entry is just my thoughts and views. There is no absolute right or wrong but I choose to stand by my views as you choose to stand by your view.
Thanks again for sharing your comments here.
Hi Anonymous (3:33 PM),
Yes, I'm trying to make my company world class. I'm growing my company and I have the ambition that I'll be able to penetrate the world market one day.
If you don't learn new languages how are you going to bring your business to Russia, Sweden or France? How are you going to communicate with them when their national language is not English?
That's what George Yeo meant, you read too much into it when infact you don't even have to take his words seriously.
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to by mentioning Sony, Samsung or Nokia. But I would thought that citizens build companies and not the government. I would very unlikely to be giving credit to the Japanese government because I can buy a Toyota car.
I am neither a guru or an expert when come to national policy making but it is definitely easy to exaggerate the predictability fo an event after it has already happened. Anyone is free to say "I knew that was going to happen" but that is nothing more than a hindsight bias.
If learning a new language can help you penetrate a new market, may it be China or Russia, by all means, do it. However, that would be over-simplifying the situation. Overcoming a language is good but the real challenge one face in trying to penetrate a new market may it be China or Russia, is understanding the history,culture, gaining the trust of your local Suppliers or Buyers etc. That takes a lot more than just linguistic skills. In addition, Japanese brands like Sony and Toyota do have a lot of Government Help in terms of loans and other forms of support. So in a way, much more are needed to create a brand that has a global/regional demand and internationally recognized.
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