You summed it up well. And it's true... sadly, there's no
other way for Singapore. The minute the costs of conducting
business here go up, watch how fast the regional HQ's will uproot
themselves from here and move elsewhere.
I know everyone's talking about China and India but consider
Korea. I see more and more Koreans coming over here to study
/ work and quite a few of them are getting good at their grasp of
the English language. Once they have a sizeable young working
population who is Westernised and fluent in English, they will
become a force to be reckoned with. Labour costs and
infrastructural costs are low there (biangz... cheapest broadband
in the world, I think!), and they are innovative and constantly
upgrading and using 'the latest' gadgets, and they are populous
plus their work culture is quite like the Japanese, work till they
almost drop dead. 
You heard it here first... Korea will rise in stature in the
years to come. 
you know the koreans are among the most hated tourists in third
world asia ? .....
i remember boiling when this thai lady friend of mine told me
this story .... a korean farker actually used his golf club to
whack his female caddy till she's down on the ground .... he's some
hotshot exec on holiday here .... tried to pull lots of stunts,
claiming privileges as a farang and all that shit .....
my friend, she's the HR head at the resort there, called the
police and have him arrested, of course ....
even in toon town, the korean exchange students are famous for
getting into fights at the clubs there .... in BC, they rove around
in packs just to look for trouble .....
