Leong Sze Hian /
I refer to the articles “GE:
“I didn’t propose closing factories “, says Tan Jee Say”
(Channel News Asia, Apr 28) and ”SM: Ex- aide’s proposals
easier said than done” (ST, Apr 25).
Looking at the onslaught that is being thrown at my Rafflesian
schoolmate Tan Jee Say, from no less than more than half a dozen or
so Ministers – Goh Chok Tong, Lim Boon Heng, Lim Hng Kiang, Grace
Fu, Lee Yi Shyan, etc, I think it may be an understatement to say
that to my living memory, I don’t think any opposition candidate
has ever garnered such a rare honour of attention by the ruling
Government.
Why?
Because I think Jee Say is arguably the most qualified and
experienced candidate ever fielded by the opposition in the history
of Singapore.
In particular, his experience as Principal Private Secretary to
former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, heading economic strategy at
the Economic Development Board and Secretary to Dr Albert
Winsemius, the Dutch economist who has been credited with being the
architect of Singapore’s economic development in our early years
following independance, in my view, throws to the wind what the
ruling
Government has always been saying – that the opposition do not have
the experience to form the Government.
The ruling Government has also always said that the opposition
is abundant in rhetoric, but lacking in concrete policy solutions
and detailed plans.
Well, Jee Say has published a 45-page plan for the future of
Singapore, with a focus on the urgent need to change our economic
strategies and policies.
Has any ruling Government candidate ever come out with even a
20-page paper?
The fact of the matter is that the ruling Government’s new batch
of candidates pales in comparison to the likes of Tan Jee Say and
Chen Show Mao.
Jee Say is also perhaps uniquely qualified in diversity, as he
has been in Government as well as the private sector, something
which few of the ruling Government’s new candidates can boast
of.
More significantly, Jee Say is one of their own – a ‘member of
the club’, so to speak.
One does not need to be the ruling Government to see the danger
of the precedence – that Jee Say may be the catalyst that we have
all been waiting for all these years – one who would encourage
other scholars, civil servants, Members of Parliament, etc, to
stand on the side of the opposition.
This is in my view, a crucial moment in Singapore’s history, as
we may be on the verge of taking the first steps towards being a
real democracy.
After all, as Singaporeans, aren’t we all on the same side,
whichever party we belong to or support?
In my view, all this talk of a ‘freak election’ is utter
nonsense, as no democracy can function without allowing the
fundamental free vote of the people.
Statistical analysis
At this juncture, some of you who are reading this may be
thinking – this is quite unlike my writing style – no ‘statistical’
analysis?
So, her goes …
The attacks on Jee Say’s proposal to gradually shift the focus
more to services from manufacturing, may best be described as a
“cheap shot in the dark”, as Jee Say does not advocate in his
paper, the abandonment of the manufacturing sector or for that
matter manufacturing jobs.
In fact, the statistics show that in recent years, the rate of
growth of change in contribution to the economy, has come from the
services sector, relative to the manufacturing sector.
For example, according to the report “Services sector expected
to drive Singapore’s GDP in 2011″ (Channel News Asia, Dec 22):
“Economists have said that next year, the services sector is
expected to drive growth in Singapore’s gross domestic
product (GDP). Economists said the growth baton is expected to pass
from manufacturing to services next year”.
The rate of change of growth for jobs growth has also made the
services sector the top performer.
According to the MOM’s Labour Market report 2010′ “For the whole
of 2010, services contributed the bulk of employment gains
(111,000), almost double that in 2009 (55,600). Manufacturing
employment declined
by 1,100, but this was much lower than the losses of 43,700 in
2009.
Hence, with reference to Goh Chok Tong’s remarks that
“implementation would not be such a breeze” – isn’t Singapore
already now implementing the gradual shift to services – thus,
confirming Jee Say’s thesis?
Mr Goh says: “There are 420,000 blue collar workers. Change the
collar colour to white and put them in education, health, IT,
financial sectors? Move to IRs (integrated resorts) perhaps?”
Perhaps Mr Goh does not know, but aren’t the bulk of training and
re-training under SPUR and CET programmes already now more so in
such services sectors, relative to manufacturing?
How many of these 420,000 blue collar workers are amongst the
500,000 workers earning not more than $1,500, according to the 2010
Census?
I am not an expert in economics like Jee Say, but I believe one
of the issues he raised in his paper, was that manufacturing’s
reliance on low-wage low- skilled foreign labour may have
contributed to the low
wage of Singaporeans.
The above should address Minister Lim Boon Heng’s remarks,
“Likewise, Mr Lim slammed Mr Tan’s suggestion to drastically reduce
foreign workers, noting that their presence in manufacturing has
allowed
Singaporeans to get better-paid jobs”.
How does the Minister then explain the declining real wages of
the approximately bottom 25 per cent of workers in the last 11
years or so?
Read Tan Jee Say’s economic paper
here.