Soul_rage
I disagree but no hard feeling, please. This is an old thinking.
Since late 1990s till now, we have a steady stream of
top talent flowing into Singapore.
I’ve met PhDs from US, Europe working, studying etc here. I asked
them why here - they gave all sort of reasons, from wanting
to experiencing new culture, to marrying local, to liking certain
aspect of Sg that is not found in Europe. (Like Warren Buffet
preparing his children strategically for a rising China.)
We cannot use our Singaporean's preference or judgement to gauge
why they come. The world is in a flux state. The old thinking about
permanent residency is obsolete. Ask the young on how they see
themselves living and working in the future and you will get a
shift in thinking that is very diff from a generation ago.
Can we agree that not all top talent are Whites from the US and
Europe but Asia, with its youthful population, is a growing source
of top talent? The reality of walking our streets is that they are
flooded with Asians and not Whites.
As LKY said, Singapore has something for these Asians – an Asian
society, top infrastructure, hour flight from home country etc.
Singapore has been attracting these professional and they are
taking up PR here, not heading for greener pasture of US or
Europe.
I agree with your previous posting on our public service being
headed by highly paid executives, and as a result, they are afraid
of sticking their necks and initiate change when change is
needed.
But my take on creativity is in the context of the
man-on-the-street. By creativity, I was referring to our people
vis-a –vis the top talent coming Asia - Philippines, Myanmar,
India, Vietnam, not in the context of the bureaucracy, the firm or
the govt.
Well, I disagree with you, no offence too.
And if you read my posting, I was referring more to the youth
talent programme, that of attempting to lure top youths from
countries like India, Indonesia, China to here to study and then
bond them to Singapore in the hopes that they would settle down in
Singapore. (I wasn't referring to mature talents like the overaged
or past-prime expats :p)
My understanding (and it's not just one or two that I encounter
with, my friendship circle is very globalized) is that especially
China youths attracted here, are not the top tiers. The top tier
youths go direct to USA. The 2nd-tier ones come here, with the hope
to apply for a USA university from here. Many of them succeed,
henceforth, the term, "Singapore is a stepping stone"
As for Indonesians, they truly treat Singapore as a good place
to come to, so perhaps we indeed attract the top-tier.
Any my take on creativity, is not because you or I am stupid or
lousy. It's our education system and our society. We are trained to
think in one direction. Most of us would just think of things in
one perspective, and we are well-known good workers (but not well
known in creating leaders). I know our govt is selling the
propaganda that Singapore is becoming more creative, but I feel we
are still miles away.
So long as they continue to restrict press freedom, political
freedom (I am not talking about 110% freedom, but they should
really start to LISTEN to opposition views, and not dismiss them as
irritating bugs making a lot of noise), societal freedom, etc, we
will never open up and become a more creative society.
After studying in a global environment (I had schoolmates from
Singapore, China, Indonesia, India, Mauritius, Vietnam), and
working in global environments interacting with people from
Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, I realized that our views are too
restricted due to the country we are in. Only after interacting
with all of them, did my creativity start to improve.