The Expats Will Rule Singapore
I have a prediction. My prediction is that in a couple of years, the expatriates (from China, India, US etc…) will rule Singapore. They will increasing take on more leadership roles of CEOs, directors, heads of organizations, award winners etc… If you observe closely, it is already happening now. This year’s top PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) student is a China National. Most of the deans list students and first class honours students in the local universities are foreigners and more and more CEOs, even that of government link corporations are expats. The top players in our National teams are expats.
As a Singaporean, I am not complaining. I think that in a meritocratic society like Singapore, it is only fair that the very best get rewarded, no matter their race, religion or nationality. Like Lee Kwan Yew said, I rather these talented and driven people be on our team contributing to our nation than against us from their home country. The question I have been asking is, ‘why are the expats beating the crap out of Singaporeans?’ What I noticed is that these expats have a very important quality that many Singaporeans (especially the new Y generation lack). It is a quality that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers (who came from distant lands) had that turned Singapore from a fishing village to the third richest country in the world (according to GDP per capita). Unfortunately, I fear this quality is soon disappearing from the new generation of Singaporeans. This youth development quality is the HUNGER FOR SUCCESS and the FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!
Expats who come here today have the same tremendous HUNGER for success that our grandfathers had. They are willing to sacrifice, work hard and pay the price to succeed. They also believe that no one owes them a living and they have to work hard for themselves. They also bring with them the humility and willingness to learn. Take the case of Qui Biqing, the girl from Qifa Primary school who topped the whole of Singapore in last year’s PSLE with a score of 290. When she came to Singapore 3 years ago from China, she could hardly speak a word of English and didn’t even understand what a thermometer was. Although she was 10 years old, MOE recommended she start at Primary 2 because of her lack of English proficiency. After appealing, she managed to start in Primary 3. While most Singaporeans have a head start of learning English at pre-school at the age of 3-4 years old, she only started at age 10. Despite this handicapped, she had the drive to read continuously and practice her speaking and writing skills, eventually scoring an A-star in English!
This hunger and drive can also be seen in the workforce. I hate to say this but in a way, I sometimes think expats create more value than locals. Expats are willing to work long hours, go the extra mile, are fiercely loyal to you and don’t complain so much. They also come alot more qualified and do not ask the moon for the remuneration. Recently, I placed an ad for a marketing executive. Out of 100+ resumes, more than 60% came from expats. While locals fresh grads are asking for $2,500+ per month, I have expats with masters degrees from good universities willing to get less than $2,000! They know that if they can come in and learn and work hard, they will eventually climb up and earn alot more. They are willing to invest in themselves, pay the price for future rewards. Sometimes I wonder how some of the locals are going to compete with this. Of course, this is just a generalization. There ARE definitely some Singaporeans who create lots of value and show fighting spirit.
Unfortunately, I have found that more and more young Singaporeans lack this hunger for success. Instead, they like to complain, blame circumstances and wait for others to push them. Some hold on to the attitude that the world owes them a living. I shake my head when I see local kids nowadays complain that they don’t have the latest handphones, branded clothes and games. While I acknowledge that the kids of today are much smarter and well informed than I was at their age (my 4 year old daughter can use my Macbook computer and my iphone), I find that they lack the resilience and tenacity they need to survive in the new economy. Some kids nowadays tend to give up easily once they find that things get tough and demand instant gratification. When they have to work first to get rewards later, many tend to lack the patience to follow through.
So, how did this happen? Why is our nation of hardworking, hungry fighters slowly becoming a nation of complaining softies? I think the problem is that life in Singapore has been too good and comfortable. Kids today have never seen hunger, poverty, war and disasters. What makes it worse is that parents nowadays give kids everything they want and over protect them from hardship and failure. Parents often ask me why their kids lack the motivation to study and excel. My answer to them is because they already have everything! Giving someone everything they want is the best way to kill their motivation. What reason is there for them to fight to become the best when they are already given the best from their parents without having to earn it? It reminds me of the cartoon movie MADAGASCAR where Alex the Lion and his animal friends were born and raised in the Central Park Zoo. They were well taken care of and provided with processed food and an artificial jungle. When they escaped to Africa, they found that they could barely survive in the wild with the other animals because they had lots their instincts to fight and hunt for food. They could only dance and sing.
I see the same thing in the hundreds of youth activity, seminars, training programmes and youth programs I conduct. I see increasing more and more expats attending my Wealth Academy and Patterns of Excellence programme in Singapore. Not surprisingly, they are always the first to grab the microphone to answer and ask questions. While many of the locals come in late and sit at the back. The expats (especially those from India and China) always sit at the front, take notes ferociously and stay back way after the programme is over to ask questions. I feel ashamed sometimes when I ask for volunteers to ask questions, and the Singaporeans keep quiet, while the foreigners fight for the opportunity. For my “I Am Gifted, So Are You!’ programme for students, I have the privileged to travel and conduct it in seven countries (Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia etc…) and see all students from all over. Is there a big difference in their attitude and behaviour? You bet!
Again, I feel really sad that in Singapore, most students who come are usually forced by their parents to come and improve themselves, Some parents even bribe them with computer games and new handphones to attend. During the course, some adopt the ‘I know everything’ attitude and lack the interest to succeed until I kick their butts. It is so different when I go to Malaysia, Indonesia and once in India. The kids there ask their parents to send them to my programme. They clap and cheer enthusiastically when the teachers enter the room and participate so willingly when lessons are on. I still scratch my head and wonder what happened to my fellow Singaporeans to this day.
So mark my words, unless the new generation of Singaporeans wake up and get out of their happy over protected bubble and start fighting for their future, the expats (like our great grandfathers) will soon be the rulers of the country. At the rate at which talented and hungry expats are climbing up , our future prime minister may be an Indian or China PR or may even an Ang Moh!
Hi Adam,
I really hope this article will knock some senses into the minds of many Singaporeans. I know of many people who still think that their job is an iron rice bowl & their wages will increase yearly. I do know of people who have the mindsets that their parents should be the one paying for their wedding or providing captial for them to start a biz.
With regards to your point about wages, unfortunately its the circumstances that have caused Singaporeans to ask for stars or moons. As statistics showing fresh local grads are earning this amt of money, their peers joining civil sector, GLC or MNCs are being paid so well, indirectly it will influence their thinking.
For an expat who ask for $2000 per month, this amt is equivalent to about RM4000 or 9600yuan. After paying for food & lodging, they will still have a significant amt of savings to return back to their home country to buy a house or start a biz after working here for say 5years. But if a Singaporeans do not strive for higher wages, how is he/she going to survive in Singapore where cost is escalating tremendously, how is a Singaporean going to afford a $350k property (avg price for only a HDB 4-room unit, and is not even in a mature estate)?
Very sadly, circumstances, whether its material or reality have clouded many Singaporeans visions.
Hi Adam,
I agreed totally with you, our govt is moving towards a socialist state from the policies given out in recent years. I cant help but lament when some of the policies are taken advantage of or people expects govt. to give them jobs and money when they lose their jobs (think recent PMET and GST Credit Scheme). I see so many people in coffeeshop discussing when’s the next GST or new Singapore Shares (in short, Govt money)coming? I wonder what else could we do to kick our own ass to fire up & achieve more. Most of us are good hardworking workers, but not hardworking enough to create new wealth for Singapore. What could be done to instill fighting spirit to our people again?
All depends on your experience: as an expat in Malaysia I love to come over to Singapore to feel your country’s strive, which is lacking in the country of Malaysia (I say country and not Malaysians, as like you experience: the ones who want to succeed, do go the extra mile (overseas).
I am surprised to hear your experience that Singaporeans are taking it more easy as they used to. For sure: students that are bribed to go to a seminar are just there for the bribe and not for the seminar.
What I know is that in Singapore, you are rewarded for your merits and your country is investor friendly: if it was as cheap as Malaysia, I would be living on your end of the border long time ago already
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Er what about those Singaporeans who venture out who made a name for themselves outside Singapore?
Isn’t it sad they leave the country to then become competitor to their own country?
In any case, much of your so-call “success” is driven my academic success, which frankly counts for nothing in the real world.
I have known many so-called “Expat” to Singapore who don’t do well in their own country becoming successful in Singapore. My boss for example, who did not even finished his arts degree, became a relatively successful financial trader and was posted to Singapore to become boss of so many so-called academically successful people in Singapore. Likewise, I know of a few polytechnic so-so graduate in Singapore who ended up being relatively successful working in London!
Thanks for sharing your observations. However, I don’t really agree that Singaporeans lack fighting spirit or are not hungry for success.
Regarding your point that Singaporean kids do not ask questions or tend to be quiet, I believe this is more a result of their upbringing. Our past and current education system trains children to accept what their teachers, parents, etc tell them without questioning. This form of rote learning tends to produce kids who are like sponges; great for memorizing chunks of data but unable to analyze or articulate what they’ve learned.
You also mentioned that you’re starting to see more foreigners taking on leadership positions in local MNCs. Please read this article by Emmanuel Daniel @ http://www.emmanueldaniel.com/index.php?action=blog&bid=106. It’s a pretty lengthy post but the part which is of interest to you would be somewhere in the middle starting with: “The tragedy in leadership and succession in Singapore Inc …”
Many talented Singaporeans have gone overseas to take on bigger roles because they were not given the opportunity to take on such roles here. Ask yourself this question: Do you seriously believe there is no qualified Singaporean capable of running Temasek Holdings today?
But nevertheless, I think you raised very valid points regarding how our kids today are fed a diet of instant gratification. Study hard and you will make lots of money. Wean on a diet of PSPs and iPhones, I think our kids are certainly hungry enough to want success but instead of working hard for it, I think they are really only interested in taking short cuts if these can further their chances of success.
Hi Adam .. for what it’s worth I thought I’d ask .. how would an Indian or a PRC who has PR in Singapore become Prime Minister in Singapore!?
[...] in a Strange Land – Adam Khoo: The Expats Will Rule Singapore [via TOC] – TOC: Press Muse: Speaking “truth†for power – The Secret Political Blog: PRs to [...]
Hi,
Ever crossed your mind that you are what you are because of your lineage?
Not many, in fact the vast majority of Singaporeans did not have the sort of advantage you must have during the formative years – that is perhaps the single most important factor that made you what you are/becoming.
i think the word “expat” is used too loosely here, as with the misnomer foreign talent. expats are typically experienced professionals from a foreign country coming to work here to provide the company with some sort of expertise.
are you saying these 2000/mth people are people with such expertise?
the only thing talented and special about them is their willingness to suck it up and work, which brings me back to my good old rant of sweatshops.
why not go to china or vietnam, where you can set up shop with child labour, where there is lax laws in terms of safety and hygiene?
these things are there to safeguard the interests of people, if you take everything off, the costs of business is of course low. this in economics is known as external externalities.
of course, money grubbing pure capitalists like you are interested in exploiting the poor so that you can sip your cappuccino and red wine.
I want an ang moh PM! A good looking one from a peaceful country. A modest one, who cares about world peace and not his own personal wealth.
It is a fact that foreigners who venture out of their homeland to establish themselves in a foreign land work harder than the locals. I can testify that Singaporean students studying down-under get better results than the locals. Nationalities do not apply here.
It is a cycle of national development i reckon is the cause of our lack of pull to strive forward. Look at the once Great Britain. Not so great today. USA is also declining. India and China are emerging giants. Once they reach the the goal, it will also follow the trend. Can we do something about it?
Yes, most certainly. Especially for a small nation like Singapore. My take is, stay focused on one objective and expertise and build an empire out of it. Heard of ‘Swiss Made’. We are severely lacking in homegrown brands. What we lack is a national program to build and maintain the brand name and empire. I mean uniquely Singapore brand names. At the moment, we only want to work in big foreign named banks and brands. If this is the way forward, they will either leave Singapore one day due to costs or we suck in cheap labour with brains to reduce costs. Either way, Singaporeans will suffer.
just my view…
I don’t mind if our future leaders are Chinamen or Indian PR. I am already no longer feeling I am a Singaporean. You can stay. We’re getting out. We’re not hungry enough? Well, you can always go and be hungry. I just want to be human and my life is short enough. I don’t need to be wealthy. I just need to be rich. And you can stand on. There are better places in the world where humanity and human rights are respected. Singaporean? We’re a global citizen today. I think many in my generation at disenchanted and disillusioned at what it means to be a Singaporean today. You’re a business man. What do you know about philosophy? You’re merely philosophising part-time.
There is a difference between “bright” and “exam-smart”. “Hungry” may make one exam-smart but it does not make one wiser.
Children are smart to realise they may not want to be like their parents who work endlessly & yet not achieving peace & happiness despite the financial security money provides.
There’s nothing wrong with a foreign PM. Run SG with the best & brightest brains (paying big bucks right?). Let the competition be at all levels. Does it matter if brains are SG’s or expats? National security? If that is so, we shd not have THAT many foreigners in SG in the first place.
There is this negative interplay between the educational system and society – we study to get the grades to get the right schools/right courses to get a cushy well paid job. Even our parents “motivate” us in this way.
The truth is probably a good education is more like a key, to open more doors, a means, not a end in itself. A lot of youngsters, not all, work very hard at “opening doors” and just want to or rather hope to relax in the room beyond. After years of slogging, it’s human nature to expect a reward. But once you’re in, no one cares about what you’ve done, but what you can do and that means more hard work.
Indeed, the problem is that life in Singapore has been too good and comfortable to people of this generation. Those who adapt best will emerge as the ones who benefit.
@Contrarian – and why has life in Singapore become “too good and comfortable to people of this generation”? Aside from the fact that every generation since Pliny the Elder has been saying that of their juniors, the real problem is that the “educational” system here doesn’t educate people nearly as well as it prepares them to pass cookie-cutter exams and to be indoctrinated into unthinking acceptance of the political and economic Order.
When one is taught to not think about one area that the species as a whole has found vital to survival and prosperity, can all other areas be far behind?
And yes, I’m a PR but hardly an expat; I don’t work for a company that’s feathering the Connected people’s nests almost as much as it’s getting from using the ordinary people here…
You are over generalizing. I am a regular visitor to Chinese forums and my wife is Chinese. They have the usual complains e.g. lack of welfare in Singapore, being worked too hard, low pay, lack of prospects, etc. Perhaps you are not close enough to them, so they do not complain to you.
You cited foreign sportsmen and expats doing better, but have you considered the real reasons? Do you know how sportsmen are trained and supported in China? I assure you if Singapore government gives similar support to sports, we will not need to rely on foreign imports to win medals for us.
As for more expats becoming top management, most of them are hired by companies started by their fellow countrymen? E.g. Chinese company hiring Chinese CEO, German company hiring German CEO. If there is anything Singaporeans should learn from expats, it is this cohesiveness and trust among fellow countrymen. Adam, for starters, how about you giving your fellow Singaporean a chance instead of looking at bottom-line.
It is not so simple as Singaporeans being soft. At this time when so many Singaporeans are losing jobs to foreigners, you are not doing us a favour by further stereotyping Singaporeans.
Adam, you’re a local who hires cheap FTs and then keep the savings for yourself. One day, you will find yourself on the employee end of the stick, and you will moan your own lowered and devalued wages because employers such as yourself screw your fellow Singaporeans over just to save a bit more $$.
Your article shows that you have a very amateur understanding of the people of Singapore.
Your lack of research into understanding the causes and based on superficial views such as Masters degrees asking for 2000 dollars. Do you know what their motivations are for asking such a salary?
Please do not comment on Singaporeans as if you have done a extensive research and found out the true reasons.
I never expected such comments from someone who claims to be a great business leader.
Please do not write anymore such amateur articles.
Your reputation is at stake here with such crap.
Thank You.
Dear Friend, as a businessman, I don’t hire people based on whether they are cheap and how much money save me. I hire people based on how much value they can create for my customers and hence my business. This is regardless whether they are singaporeans or FTs, men or women, malay or chinese. If a Singaporean can create $50,000 worth of value for my business and he asks for a $20,000 salary, I would hire him compared to an expat who is asking for $3,000 a month and who cannot add value. By the way, out of the 90+ staff I have in Singapore, only 4 are expats.
I am not a researcher. I am not a masters degree holder myself. I am not a professional writer. I am an amateur. I am just really good at business and investing and love to write. This BLOG is where I express my personal opinions and observations from working with lots of people. If you have done extensive research yourself and know the true motivations of these people, then feel free to share it here. We are all here to learn from each other.
shame on you for projecting negativity on locals seeking employment…let’s be real, you are looking on the cheap…what’s $2.5k these days, that’s basically minimum wage for executives…
foreigners have fewer stake and cares here, they are fine with renting a room while locals need to save up for their first home…the 2k they earn here spreads quite well back where they come from…
if you were looking for work, would you settle for 2k? all this promise of great future may not turn out at all, can you promise anyone if he takes 2k for a start that he’ll end up taking a leadership role.
so before you open your trap, try looking from the other perspective…learn to be a better corporate citizen…
I am making no judgments here about what is right or wrong. I am merely stating a fact that their are many foreigners with masters degrees and PhDs who are willing to start off with the same starting pay of $2,000 as fresh grads here. It is a cold hard fact that locals are not competing with themselves anymore, but with the rest of the world. Am I saying that as a local, you lower what you are willing to accept in terms of pay? Of course not. I am saying that if you want to compete and emerge a winner, than you have to stop complaining and blaming others (e.g. employers, government etc..). Be a winner and build your capabilities and talents so that you can create so much value to the company that you CAN ask for more money and you will get it.
Yes, there is no guarantee that if you start with a lower pay, that you will eventually climb up the ladder and take on a leadership role. Nobody owes it to you. Its like when people ask me if my Wealth Academy programmes will guarantee them financial freedom. Of course not. Its all up to you. If you believe in yourself and apply the right strategies by constantly upgrading yourself, you can do it. When I started Adam Khoo Learning technologies Group, my NUS classmate Patrick saw the potential and quit his job in SPH as a management trainee (earning $3k+) to join me for a salary of $1,000 a month (as a startup, I could not pay much). He was getting married that year by the way. He slogged with me for 7 years and today, he is the CEO of my company, earning a six figure income, living in a landed property and with a net worth with over $1m. When you believe in yourself, you don’t feel threatened at all my anyone, foreign or domestic.
Hi Adam, I’ve recently hired a local guy who is waiting to go university for my own business and I totally agreed with what you have said.
When I asked him to write an article, he can take 2-3 hours to finish writing one article that is around 300-400 words. That costs me around $19.50 if you do the maths. but if I were to get my freelancers to do it for me, I’ll get it at $4 or 5 or even $7 with even better quality writings.
But then, i’m not hiring a writer so it isn’t really fair to pinpoint about this. But if a simple task like report writing and articles writing take even so long, it says something about a young Singaporean.
I finally decided that he has to go after he said that $6.50 is too little for him. He isn’t happy in the first place, and I’m not getting the work done enough.
You can see that the younger Singaporean are getting more choosy, can’t withstand hardship, lesser productivity, and still think that they deserve the pay. And the truth is due to globalization, the labor market is supplied with a lot of more productive workers and that Singaporeans don’t really deserve the salary they are getting unless they do something about it.
thank you for an inspiring tale but patrick’s case is not a universal fact, so you shouldn’t use the same yardstick with your applicants. who’s to say the 2.5k employee will slog less than the 2k one. gratitude can be a prime motivator.
you seem to measure one’s worth on monetary terms, while you are not wrong in this society, one’s worth begins from within too, do the words hope and believe agree with you?
for someone whose business is to sell hope, your callous dismissal of the hopes of the young local graduate is regrettable. all you have here is the mismatch of expectations, yours as an employer and the hopeful applicants.
as to whom is out of step with reality, i don’t know. perhaps the local grads are asking too much or maybe employers are trying to squeeze what they can get.
in asiaone today, it reported hdb is putting up new flats for sale, a 4 rm unit at choa chu kang is $250k and the report states to afford a unit like this without topping cash the household income should be $4.3k minimum. so do local grads need to turn to their retiring parents for a handout when they hope for their first home?
you are not asked to sponsor anyone’s house but perhaps you should re-evaluate what you deem as local grad’s unreasonable demand. they are only hoping to live a life here.
no one is owed a living but when the standards of a basic livelihood is such, certainly one has to believe that the society has a role to play in the natural balance of things….
stanman is a freaking idiot. The foreigner who settles for $2k pays the same expenses, if not higher than the local because not only is he or she based here, like I am, he and she does not have the luxury of staying in papamama hotel and have to pay rent. All this yakking on and on by these dumb Singaporeans make me convinced that Singaporeans are indeed foolish and their IQ is low.
Look at how jubilant these Singapore peasants feel in their speech, about how the $2K is a whole lot back in the third world countries where these foreigners come from. Its the only thing their silly minds have fixated on. What about the fact that many of these foreigners eventually settled here and purchase resale flats? All that talk about them running home to build their brick house in the rural areas of Guangdong.
Now I know why foreigners think Singaporeans are too dumb to govern themselves and need to be kept on a tight leash by the government.
Essentially, these “expats” comes over to work in Singapore and helps lower cost of business. In their home country where they are brought up, the cost of education and living is more lower and getting a master degree isn’t too difficult.
When they come over, they share a room in a HDB flat and can afford to work for a lower pay and having no families in Singapore (at least for the initial years) and thus they can afford to work long hours. Money they make can be saved and with the intention of going back home and buy a house over at their home. They can afford not to buy an expensive HDB if they chose not to.
These choices are not readily available to resident Singaporean, if you were to so analyse.
Does your friend Patrick make six figure monthly or annually?
I highly doubt the ability of any NUS grad making six figures monthly, no offence. LOL.
Hello. I am an NUS grad and I make mine monthly. Don’t look down on local university ok? ; )
Hey everyone. Its great to have multiple viewpoints and we can all agree to disagree. But let’s keep this civil. No name calling & cursing please. THis is not one of ‘those’ forums
[...] in a Strange Land – Adam Khoo: The Expats Will Rule Singapore [via TOC] – TOC: Press Muse: Speaking “truth†for power – The Secret Political Blog: PRs to [...]
Is a person’s worth measured by his grades?
In my opinion, a person’s worth is measured by his/her character that includes courage, tenacity, compassion, resilience etc… Grades, money, awards, the number of friends you have, love you receive from others etc… are just quantitative measures of how you are playing the game of life
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Dear Adam
I can echo what you have just said to some extent. Many Singaporeans really had their heads buried in the ground and still think that they are really that great. Many Singaporeans are losing or lacking in that motivation or hunger for success. Life is probably too comfortable for them.
My girlfriend is a PRC Chinese, and she had a good friend married to a local Singaporean guy. When asked about how are the people in Singapore, her girlfriend’s response is that the people here are not very motivated and not as hardworking as she thought we are before she came here.
As I heard about the news of the top PSLE student from Guangzhou, and the recent top ‘O’ level student is from Malaysia, I start to wonder why. My best guess is that they are so much more hardworking than the general local cohort of students.
I am a Singaporean myself and I hate to say all this because it would seem like I am putting my fellow countrymen down, but I really hope that fellow Singaporeans can be more aware of the challenges these “foreigners” are bringing to us. We can do as good, if not better, than our fellow new residents in Singapore.
I used to think Singaporeans are very hardworking (which I believe many of us still are today) but in recent trips to China, I realised that the Chinese are no less hardworking than us, many of them even more so but they have lesser complains than us despite poorer working conditions/environments.
I am really glad you wrote this article. Hope it can create more awareness among fellow Singaporeans of their new challenges.
Regards
Donald
I don’t think so like that. Because it maybe just a predication only. Singapore is a independent country.
“While locals fresh grads are asking for $2,500 per month, I have expats with masters degrees from good universities willing to get less than $2,000!”
R u sure?
that people with masters degrees from good universities are willing to accept a pay of $2k.
most of them are working in NTU or NUS as researchers. U should go to NTU/NUS and take a look.
Elite exploit over the poor and weak are evil. It is natural law that strong lead the weak. But human should have soul where the privilege one should lead and help the weak one
This precisely why you need to become successful and wealthy yourself…so YOU can help the less fortunate and make a positive difference in the world. You do not help the world by being poor or mediocre.
I have the very same thought at very young age like you but I think I am wrong. Jet Li made some good comments that even billionaire like Bill Gate cannot help the world. If wealth is fixed and one become rich, naturally another one become poor. The human greed to earn money through capital gain LEGALLY in shares/property/loan is as evil as usury. The wealth creation counts by dollar is just a means for social and political control. Helping people need not be successful and wealthy. Check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society
The reason Singaporean couldn’t compete with foreigners in the real world is because Singaporeans Chinese have forgotten on how Singapore was built in the first place,Unity. Now known as the forgotten minorities, the Malays and Indians of Singapore.
The creativity in Malays and the Street-smart Indians which led the malays to excel in arts, music and design and the steet-smart Indians as lawyers, analyst and engineers.
In general,its something you can’t learn in Universities ….. its talent
Thats complete a Singaporean arm with determination,out of the box thinking and calculated risk to compete with others.
I own and run an online marketing company. I have my share of experience in hiring “foreign talents” / “expats” however you defined it, and I can identify with Adam’s observations.
Let me first make it clear that as a company, we do not hire foreign talents (hereafter referred as FTs) because they are “cheaper”. In fact, these people are often hired on Employment Pass terms (which means minimum salary of above $2500 as required by MOM). I’m quite sure for some of the positions we filled, we were able to find locals who would be willing to work for lower than $2500 but we ended up hiring a FT with higher salary for same reasons stated in Adam’s blog post : they are hungrier, willing to work harder, and for the same bucks they come with relevant experience and can hit the track running. In terms of ROI, they consistently deliver higher ROI than most of the local graduates we hire.
In contrast local graduates expect to be spoon fed, want to be constantly motivated and coaxed, produce little but expect alot.
For the same salary, you will get more bang for the bucks if you hire foreign talents.
Let me give you an example: we hired a marketing executive for $2600. She’s a foreigner. For $2600, she comes with 3 years of relevant experience, extremely smart and self-motivated, always pushing her own limits and doing more than expected, been with us for more than a year now.
We did try to hire lcoals for same salary, but for $2600 (and Adam probably can attest to this), it atmost fetch you a fresh graduate with hardly any experience and requires to be trained before she/he can deliver. The worst is if this is the first job for the local fresh graduate, he is not likely to stay for long. Often I see fresh grsduates leaving their first job within 6 months, when i ask them for the reason, this is the most commonly quoted “that was my first job. I didn’t know what i wanted and still exploring options, and finding myself…” So tell me, why should I pay $2600 for a fresh local graduate, train him up and only to lose him in 6 months because “he’s still finding himself”??
Now, I don’t wish to generalize, you may have a different experience or viewpoint which i respect but suffice to say this is our experience whether the readers agree with us or not.
As in the past, our grandparent worked hard and long to achieved their goals but during that time, opportunities are aplenty, competition among themselves are low. Prices then are affordable to the general public. Many things you can do if you worked for it. Not so now.
Nowadays, even if you want to fight to get a job, you might still bear the consequences in the end since locals have more commitments to satisfy than that of expats. Furthermore, the inflation is staggering but pay is constant. With competition, how can local grads compete with expat if expat is offering a better value?
I felt that the same predicament is happening in almost all developed countries.
Why?
Because in general, not mentioning the selected few talented expats, most “expats” just need a job to survive without worrying on any commitments where they are working in – they just work and leave the country after they gained enough experiences or saved enough. I would say they do not have any financial burden as compared to locals.
So what i see here is that the employers are generally the one benefiting from all these expats in the expenses of all those young locals.
I would say if the expats have the same financial burden as the local counterpart, situation will be totally the opposite and this article will not exist.
However, I do agreed that the younger generation do not have motivation or hunger for success. They just want to get a pay check at the end of the month. But given a opportunity, they will still succeed.
Not here but some other part of the work where we are the expat.
Haiyaa….. What are you trying to sell?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James Dutton and zenjewel, Sham Ong. Sham Ong said: Are we, GenY Singaporeans, really losing our hunger for success and fighting spirit to foreigners? – http://tinyurl.com/yays94c [...]
Agreed that some younger generation can be quite unrealistic on the pay when they do not have the experience at all. At the same time, there are lots of experienced people who is around middle 30s to 40s who are more realistic, but not given a chance by their own people. Somehow when people reach 40 here in Singapore, future becomes bleak.
However, I have also came across many cases thru friends and relatives that their company employ foreign talent with bombastic education like PHD, MBA.
But, the funny thing is that are such people with such high qualification really suitable for work that required experience? are we saying that the locals lack such experience? and most importantly some of these people are not cheap either..
A lot of companies went high and low looking for foreign talent from other places and at the same tIme, alot of singaporeans (real talented) ones went overseas for better opprotunities.
Sadly to say that Singaporeans have being taught to be obedient, follow laws and study 10 year series and pass exam. How to be creative when you are being streamed as early as primary school? that is why education is important..educate you to think…
who to blame?
singaporeans themselves ?
Now We are encouraged to be cheap to be competitive and we have to take care of ourselves and Not depend on people.
if Not, it is our fault if we become stupid.
how to be cheap with the rising living costs?
In the present situation, it is not what you know that get the jobs, it is who you know…
re your comment “I feel ashamed sometimes when I ask for volunteers to ask questions, and the Singaporeans keep quiet” – why should you ever be? it is ingrained in our(confusion?)culture to accept laid-down orders without question. there is also always the ever present kiasu mindset ‘better to keep your mouth shut and be considered a fool than open it and remove any doubt’. added to fear of possible repercussions
(real or imagined). the official policy is defined as ‘stand up and be identified’ to which one wag retorted ‘to be more easily shor down? – no way’.
doesn’t this go a long way to explain why singaporeans keep quiet?
also the official attitude
Hey Khoo, read this:
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/01/27/hey-sporean-would-you-do-these-jobs/comment-page-3/#comment-65577
read the comments. Wealthy people like you knows no shit. Those who agreed with you are blinded by greed and need serious enlightenment.
Khoo,
U are damned right that foreigners are hot, smart, hungry and greedy. They are. BUT, do you (and your mahjong takis here who are so damned sure abt FTs) stupidly really think that they will stay in that SGD2K job for long? They will learn your trick, mimic you, open shops to compete with you and overtake you. It is not surprising to me that any FTs can do better if they are bent on doing learning centers and marketing like you. That Chinese/Indian are PhDs and rocket scientist, how ABOUT you? As a matter of fact, I would hope these foreigners would overtake and weed out SG boring and un-enterprising SMEs and remake SG with our own Alibaba, Baidu … instead of going into some marketing company and learning centers again!
The responses are interesting because it tells me who are doing well and who are not
[...] I am surprised at how much attention and reactions I have gotten from my post on ‘The Expats Will Rule Singapore‘. I guess it must be a very sensitive topic to many people. I got over 50 comments from that [...]
Hi Adam,
Share the same sentiment with you.
I went to Taiwan back in 2006. Although their country infrastructure is not as new & advance like Singapore, but their people soft skills like customer service & attitude are so much better than singaporeans.
I went to Tokyo recently. Also notice that most ramen & sushi restaurants are run by young japanese who feel so proud & professional of their jobs.
Neither do I agree with you or disagree with you.. Fighting spirit for Singaporeans, long gone when we became a democratic society, taking and following everything that our govt does, whether right or wrong. Low Pay, but Expensive Bills we already stopped questioning long back.. and this We is all of us.
Kids nowadays are spoilt, I agree. But they are extremely smart, like you mentioned about your daughter. This is the generation which asks questions. Which is not worried about being wrong.. Lets not underestimate this brilliant bunch of kids..
I do agree the most of the Generation Y (*not all) do have a bit of attitude problem in job. Compare to previous generations, most of them are willing to put in more efforts and less calculative as well.
I like how people like you over-simplify and generalize at each given opportunity you get. So to cut this short, one grifter makes his money by selling rhetoric to simpletons.
Come on…Singaporeans are not that bad.
To be honest, Adam had over-emphasized the idea of getting rich and being the top-student. Is that how you measure success?
I am a typical Gen-Y example. I grad in 2006. Landed myself with a decent job. I have my own share of striving through the banking industry. I don’t think I fall into what you say as lack of the hunger for success.Compared to many other expats, I work longer hours…willing to go the extra mile etc etc. And I can see my peers doing the same thing too. I just don’t understand y you guys like to bring us down.
I can see people from P country who always leave the office on the dot. People from L city snatching other people’s work and calling it theirs. People from I country speaking loudly during presentation but actually talk only no actions. And the list goes on.
I perfectly support the govt in bringing the number of expats in Singapore down. And we manage our own companies. There surely to be some platform to train our leaders. Give us a chance and platform. It’s our land….
Thank you.
Adam Khoo for leader !
I am one locally born and bred Singaporean who has made the leap overseas and here’s what it looks like on the other side:
(1) The locals are laid back and does not seem to have a hunger for success. They study courses like arts, social sciences, business and management because the hard sciences takes too much effort for them. They rely on foreign immigrants like myself to fulfill their need for people of these professions.
(2) Their children follow their parents and avoid undertakings that are too hard for them. They grow up spending their time with drugs, booze and ermm socializing.
(3) A lot of the people in the company i work in avoid work whenever they can. And they take credit whenever they can, sometimes not wanting to mention those who helped them achieve their success.
(4) Furthermore, they side with their own countrymen and push the hard work to people they deemed as ‘inferior’ such as Asians, PRCs and Indians.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem so different how Singapore’s situation with unmotivated locals is from that of a certain rich country south of Singapore.
I believe that this is part of a cycle that every country goes through. This can be seen in the rise and fall of empires and dynasties in China and other parts of the world. The hungry rises to power and their descendants wastes it away. That’s how the adage “Wealth never gets past 3 generations” came about.
In the Singapore context, I think it is too much to ask Singaporeans to accept a wage that is too low. The costs of living is not as cheap as it is in countries that these hungry people came from.
Furthermore, many of these people do not intend Singapore as the place to retire, which is why they remit money back to buy land or whatever purpose. Because of the strong Singapore dollar against the currency these hungry people come from, they are earning like top level executives back in their own countries even if they are a lowly worker here. They can afford to ask for low wages and work hard because to them it’s worthed it. Ever wonder why Caucasians never work in in Singapore for low wages? Their currency is stronger than ours and it makes it smaller for them when they change back to their currency.
While they are here, they get involved in the property market both to stop paying rent and for value appreciation. The property prices gets jacked up phenomenally and when it is time to retire, they cash out and leave with a nice little fortune (further multiplied by their weaker currency) to see through their twilight years while locals are trapped with high prices that they have to live with for the rest of their lives.
But don’t get me wrong. This is not a racist post. I am putting myself in the exact same shoes as the hungry people in your posts are. I want to experience what it felt like to be in a country where I am seconded to a ‘lower’ caste of work, taking jobs the locals shun, subject myself to occasional racist slurs as well as earning an income that is significantly stronger than the SGD. I am just living life on the opposite side.
Adam,
A little late to this sharing, as I do not check out your blog regularly.
To others,
I am a graduate of Wealth Academy and his MBA program. I am a business owner and investor, also a trainer in the same industry.
In my interaction with Adam, I truly feel that he is giving his all in his sharing. What he has created is, in my opinion, astounding. It is not easy to be running a business, balancing all the various interests between shareholders, management, employees and customers.
I may be a “competitor” *in a certain sense* but I truly respect and salute Adam, not so much for what he has achieved but more for who he is and his contributions to society.
The cynics can say all they want, but my (and many others) opinion of him has skyrocketed upwards since I met him personally.
When there are authoritarian regimes in place , you find the same sort of mentality as in Singapore . These governments don’t want people to really think or be creative , they will contest the government , and this breeds population complacency . Those who refuse to accept this situation go abroad . Having talked to quite a few older Singaporeans , they agree the original Singapore spirit has gone , the quality of life is gone , efficiency is gone . Hard working does not mean long hours , but being efficient , today quality of life should be taken into account.
As far as expats go , who would go to Singapore to work , very little future prospects , mainly finance or sales based . The only reason to go , money , and that ties in nicely with the governments ideas , only really worry about GDP .
If you want an idea of the problems to come , look at European countries who had large numbers of immigrants and immigrant workers , and see the social and cultural problems these countries had and are having.
I am sorry to say , Singapore is not an example to follow , and cannot be used as an example as it is only a city state with none of the problems of big countries .
wow looking at the comments,people can really blame the whole world for who and what they are, blame the government, blame the family for not giving an advantage, blame the fairer skin people,etc. the original point of the message is to bring out the lack of fighting spirit. I was born real poor when food on the table was not a security, and today my family lives comfortable with three degree educated kids in the family. should we have blamed the destiny , blamed the government ,we would be still the poor singaporeans being taken advantage by other people. I am looking forward to learning from Adam, and finding out by MYSELF who and what he is, if he turns out to be insincere, blame only ourselves for not being much better than him to put him down. Don’t blame him.
Of course, the local grads will demand something equal to or higher that foreign grads – rememeber they wld have spend 24months inside an army camp doing NS. So age wise, there are the same (if not older) than the foreign grad holding a masters degree.
Also, if Khoo can make this observation (but do next to nothing to change it, or even offer any ideas to rectify this situation(besides attending his seminars, of course), I wonder if our administrators, top civil servants, ministers also actually subscribe to these same observations?
Parasites employ numerous strategies for getting from one host to another, a process sometimes referred to as parasite transmission or colonization.
Why China flag up in NTU?
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/3552/4124/200716
Yes! Foreign Talents in Government at last!
Two weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament that New Zealand and Australia are targeting Singaporeans “because we’re honest and hardworking”.
Professor Tan feels that countries could be attracted to the “Singaporean brand” because Singaporeans are thought of as “diligent”, “efficient”, “well-trained” and have a good command of English.
http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC100315-0000002/Sporeans-eyeing-New-Zealand
Singaporean-Expats, The Grass Is Greener in New Zealand and Australia!
People tend to discover a sense of purpose & direcion in life when they are uprooted form their comfort zone. They also need to work harder & smarter than the locals in order to survive.
Look at our ancestors who migrated to SE Asia from China & India. Many of them started as hard labour. Look at the Singaporeans who venture overseas. They were average students or school dropouts in Singapore. But many of them have found the hunger & passion to make the best of a second chance.
So, may be this is one solution. Go abroad and rebuild your life.
“They were average students or school dropouts in Singapore. But many of them have found the hunger & passion to make the best of a second chance.”
As average as they are as students, financially wise, i believe they aren’t as “average as you make them out to be, not for those whose parents are able to finance their overseas education.
hunger and passion are easy to achieve but second chances may not come by easily.
I don’t see the need to go abroad to rebuild “our” lives by competing with the locals there when they are coming to do so with us.
I think you cannot generalise about Singaporeans based on just your experience as an employer. How many capable, ambitious Singaporeans actually choose to work in local companies? The pay is lower and usually you don’t learn as much because of the enviroment is less fastpaced and less complex than an MNC.
Not sure what’s the profile of the foreigners you hire – would assume they are more ambitious than locals in local SMEs as they have ventured overseas for a better life. They have more to prove for themselves. It’s not fair to compare these foreigners to the strata of Singaporeans who can only find work in local SMEs – This is comparing apple to orange.
Just to share my personal experience — I drew nearly 3k as a fresh grad at my first job in the govt sector. Despite the high salary I didn’t feel challenged in the job, so I resigned shortly to do my masters. 2 years later, I joined an MNC with a starting salary of 2300. My point is – a person will be willing to take a job for less pay if there are lots of opportunities to earn and learn more in a short period. Today I work in another industy which offers higher pay for my skills – 90% of my colleagues are foreigners – they command and demand a higher salary than their foreign counterparts in local firms – and they are not more hardworking than their Singaporean colleagues. In fact, given equal productivity, the locals work harder, and longer hours more often than not. If I hit a ceiling where I am – I would either move to another MNC, work overseas or start my own company. If I didn’t have these options and can only find employment in a local SME, then I would also be like those Singaporeans you encounter – we have a duty to ourselves and our families to earn as much as we can given the circumstance of our lives. Why? Because there is no safety net to fall back on in old age, and we cannot afford a roof over our heads unless we are willing to go into long-term debt.
Hi Adam,
Well said and that’s the reality.
Well you should really look at the quality of expats you get in Singapore , and the real reason why they go there . If you are good at your job , whether its in finance , industry or research ( in all its forms) would you go to SIngapore for a career . There is little or no future there in any companies . SIngapore would be the last place I would even start a business , local population is too small , and its always dangerous to reply on export . The only way you gain , is less taxes , uncontrolled prices , and few laws for either ecology ,quality or salaries .
Take a good look at expats and big companies who go to South East Asia
Actually instead of saying the new generation of Singaporeans lack hunger to success, we need to understand why these foreign talents are different. Those foreign talents who ended up coming to Singapore are people who are ready to try their best to achieve what they could since they have already taken the bold step out of their country. When I was in Singapore, I worked among alot of foreigners myself. I can say that there is a large number who used here as a stepping stone to venture to their dream countries- USA, Canada, etc. Thus, they do not mind accepting low wages because they are trying to gain as much experience as possible. They also complained to me before that their pay is lower than ours and they are being exploited. But of course, in front of our bosses, they will do anything the bosses tell them to because they want to get their PR or they want to bide their time to get credentials to be able to relocate to USA or etc.
My husband is an expat posted to China by his company, an MNC which closed down their operation in Singapore. When we first decided to relocate, we were in dilemma because we had to leave our aged parents and siblings behind. However, we decided to move still and make the best out of it as the offer was really attractive. We had left for a couple of years now. But we are still not able to come back because many companies will not pay him as well as now. So we have to accept our fate of maybe staying here for good. Because we had to sacrifice being away from our loved ones, we strived to make our stay here worthwhile. My husband works very hard to proof his worth getting real expat’s pay. Under my husband’s supervision were many Chinese nationals from the various provinces, some highly educated Master degree holders. Some of his staff also expected alot of hand holding from my husband since many are from single child family used to being pampered by their parents. Also there is a common saying ‘ å¤šåš å¤šé”™ï¼Œä¸åšä¸é”™â€˜. Thus there are also people here who doesn’t have much initiative or don’t have fighting spirit here too.
One of my husband’s colleague decided not to relocate to China because he felt that being close to his parents is more important. Then in his 40s, he quit and got a job at much lower pay. With the increasing influx of foreign expats, his job is constantly been threatened. He is often questioned by his boss about his value as his boss can choose to hire younger foreigners at half his pay. He continues to work hard to achieve value for his company but I really pity him. Life in Singapore has never been so stressful for him. The fact is he is willing to work hard and he has the fighting spirit but how can you expect the same energy from an old bull as you would from a young one. I wonder how many more years will he be allowed to fight in his company before he will be finally displaced by foreign talent. To some brilliant entreprenuers, they would say this is fair competition and the job should be given to the person who deliver more value at the least possible cost. So old tools should be discarded to make way for new tools. But as a personal friend, it is really sad and sometimes I felt it might have been better for him to move off to China and leave his old parents behind as his fate would have been different now.
I used to be very proud to be a Singaporean and told my husband’s PRC friends that it is a place where people can live a quality life where people have ample job opportunities and don’t have to go hungry and people can have a good balance between work and family. Now I am not sure. But one thing I feel is that in the very least we should stop putting down our own people like the Japanese would never put down their own people. One day when we or our relatives reach an old age and somehow still need to work, then we will see how these foreign ‘expats’ will affect us.
Adam,
I do agree on that many singaporean youth are spoil and overly protected and many Singaporean are undermotivated. But have you seen the reason why?
First the damn system that overly emphasis on grades, because old man thinks like the olden days emperor selecting his courtiers from the imperial exams. So all the kiasu and kiasi parents only cares about their chilren’s results and we had a generation of spoil brats.
Look what had our systems of scholars produce? Just look at the number of scholars that jumps bonds.
I also know you are young and successful and may had never really suffer before. Please don’t tell me about those mini setbacks that you face if you had never walk 2 km to and fro for school, wear torn uniforms and shoes and do house chores as young as 7 years old, skip meals since childhood, only rice and soy sauce for dinner, study and work part-time jobs for 19-20 hrs a day and with no such thing as weekends since 14 years old.
You derived your wealth from many locals who attended your trainings or seminars, so please don’t bit the hand that feed you, just because you can squeeze money out by employing FTs. I know you teaches about wealth, but more money is not going to make you a better man, it will only make you a heartless man.
I have seen more than enough of local bosses squeezing money out of their employees to buy bigger more luxury cars, speculate in more properties and shares, keep more mistresses and spurge on a more lavish lifestyle. Some of them owes their employees salary to paid for their car instalment during hard times and they expect employees to be loyal?
If you need to maintain a certain lifestyle don’t complain that other should not.
Don’t forget Singaporeans cost of living is high and stressful and they had families to keep. FTs are different, they have no intention of staying long term and when the pasture is greener elsewhere they will also go, so only the dumb or self believing bosses will think that they are loyal to you. You think the FTs will stay for long with the kind of cost of living in Singapore and salary that they are drawing? You think that them do not know that these bosses will also squeeze like they squeeze the local employees in future?
Every FT from developing countries use Singapore as a springboard for greener pasture and only moronic bosses think that they will be loyal.
The biggest joke is that bosses who pay peanuts want absolute loyalty from their employees but will not hesitate to fire staffs when times are bad.
Don’t forget, there may be such a thing as karma in this world. One of my company’s supplier went bust last year. The boss of that company who is well know for being mean, a slave driver, heartless(fired his old staffs who had worked for him for 20 yrs, 3 yrs back to employ FTs) and a total hippocrite(he also said that he is a kind boss who does not retrench staff) was looking for job. He came to my company and ask my boss for a job. My boss offered a salary of $1,300/mth. He felt insulted and said he cannot survive with that pay. My boss told him that our FT driver is also drawing that amount. He finally worked for another mean boss like him in the industry. The other boss also squeeze him and make him work like hell and insulted him as and when he like it. So, now he is also among one of those 80% of ‘unmotivated’ Singaporeans in the recent report.
The moral of the story is watch your actions, you may have a taste of the bitter medicine that you once gave to others.
As a trainer, I am surprise to see that your views are so SHALLOW. Your arguements are very one sided that did not mention about those who had contributed while little but truthful effort for their company and the country.
I am not fighting for those lazy, self-centred Singaporeans that they think they deserve the best and not working hard for it, but for those
who wants a decent life and dedicate to their jobs.
I put the cause squarely on our education system and teachers we produce.
I am a mother now 48. I remembered when I was in primary school, I had a remark on my report card for being too talkative in class. It made me self-conscious and kept me from being vocal for the rest of my life. I only broke out of this defeatist cycle after having experience studying and working overseas.
It is now happening to my son, Primary 5. He is inquisitive and vocal by nature and have many questions. When he put questions to his teacher, he was told to stop asking so many questions. He was told that his questions were stupid and disruptive. I had asked him for some examples of the questions he had been asking. I found that they were searching questions and very relevant.
It is so sad for me to know that my son is being subject to same “Singaporean conform” “, “dont be Smart Alec” syndrome.
I thought things have changed but it is still the same.
Take the best and brightest in the world and place them in schools,universities and jobs in Singapore and then ask the question – ‘ how come Singaporeans cannot compete ? ‘ That is nonsense ! if Singaporeans cannot compete it is because the system has failed them – the teachers have failed them – the Government has failed them. There is another possibility. If the world is your talent pool and you pick the high IQ kids from that talent pool then expect to be clobbered by such whiz kids. Then ask the question ‘ What does having the 3rd highest per capita income in the world mean to the average Singaporean if all the high income earners are new Singaporeans ?
Very True Adam!
Even now, I hear some of the locals complaining and literally cursing the expats for coming to Singapore and “Taking” away the jobs!
I have only one question to ask all those locals who despise expats – will you do the work they are doing!
Are you willing to stay back after office hours to complete your task. Are you willing to go the extra mile to help people and team mates excel, are you willing to stand under the heat and sun through out the day to guide construction workers? Are you willing to raise your voice against mediocrity??
I work in a manufacturing company as well and we have about 150 employees or so in Singapore. Locals form more than half of this force and it’s irony that after 5.30 only the better half of expats stay back. It’s the expats that have tremendous responsibility here. That’s the same with where my wife works as well.
The root cause is in one word – “Attitude”.
Hi Adam,
have been away from Singapore for the past 20 years and it is quite refreshing and troubling to read your blog and also the response to it.
Refreshing because Singaporeans never used to be so vocal when I was growing up there. We just accepted everything – good to see the younger generation questioning accepted norms and conventions.
Troubling because any government that controls the Union movement is doing a great disservice to its own people. In Western countries , trade unions exist for the very reason that most of the bloggers in this site cite, namely: to protect the rights and privileges of hard fought rights and financial remuneration in the work place.
Until Singapore adopts at least a basic Union structure for all employees, it is doomed to remain camping out on the world stage.
Reply to the “Angry Old Timer”
Bro, I agree that the education system here needs a revamp. The future of a child gets decided at a very young age. The system is very good for the good and hurts a lot for the mediocre and “unsmart” kids.
I disagree to your statement – “You derived your wealth from many locals who attended your trainings or seminars, so please don’t bite the hand that feed you, just because you can squeeze money out by employing FTs”.
Let me tell you this. I had just started work when I took up Adam’s POE course. I attended the preview session and when I got to know the cost, I was stunned. I could have spent that on so many things I wanted. I could have made several trips back to India. I could have got myself a laptop, pda and what not. But no – this was a personal choice and an investment I was making. I come from a middle class family as well bro. And the problem with middle class families is that you don’t have a choice. You have to stick to tried and tested methods because if you take a risk and lose, then you are doomed. So, I was sh*t scared putting that money in this course.
I finally decided to take up the course as at that moment, my guts told me that if there was someone who could help me – It was Adam and Stuart.
I took up the course on my own just as the several people who took it up with me. No one forced the other to take this up and this is how it happens for other courses as well.
Today, I am not a millionaire, I am not financially independent, BUT, Today, I have the confidence to stand up to the occasion, The course helped me earn respect in a company where I was a spec of dust. The change in attitude that this course brought about was phenomenal. They didn’t teach me how to behave, they didn’t teach me what I have to do in office… They made me “AWARE” of where I went wrong!
Now, senior managers consult me! I have driven several process changes against the will of several people – “all locals”. I spent nights awake thinking of making the system better. Now, every single person using the system finds it useful! At one stage, I was seen a one who only makes noise, now, when I speak, people Listen…
I am surprised that you – as a trainer – don’t find Adam’s courses helpful. You probably have your own problems with him, but there are several out there who can benefit from his courses.
I convinced my Vice President to take up his course. I eventually want some specific people in my company to take up this course.
To cut the long story short
- you could have given your name on the comment – instead of “Angry Old Timer”. That kind of shows you are scared and fear comes from the fact that you are doing something wrong
- not all of them come only for money. There are other factors to it as well
- I have been a volunteer for Adam’s programmes and I can tell you one thing for sure, he doesn’t make much money in his courses. The way he takes care of his volunteers is phenomenal. All expenses of the volunteers are taken care of. He makes his money with his books and internet businesses etc. Courses are just to share his success secrets
- If you take a look at the attitude changes he brings out in Children – It’s phenomenal. I had a coach who had a PSLE exam coming up in 10 days and she was volunteering with me. 80% of his coaches are ex-students who come back to ‘offer’ some gratitude
- If you play with stocks/ forex etc. you should have realized that you don’t “create” money there. Someone’s pain is someone’s gain. Adam may have become a millionaire by playing with stocks etc. he could have simply kept quiet like several other millionaires. Why should he come out and share his secrets? There is nothing wrong in him charging more for his courses. End of the day I still feel that his POE course was the best investment I have made in my life so far…
Personal commitments prevent me from going back as a coach/ asst coach. But I will definitely knock the doors of AKLTG again.
Thanks Adam for changing my course of life!
Thanks Stuart for breaking my shackles!
you sound like you’ve been paid to blame the singaporeans for their plight. sure our forefathers worked hard to make singapore what she is today. sure our kids today are increasingly lazy. but the reason for resting on our laurels lies with what the society has provided with us.
look around you. people born in the 80′s enjoy the fruits of the labour of those born in the 70′s. people born in the 90′s enjoy those of the 80′s and 70′s and so on. it happens to be a cycle. we continuously elect the stable political parties to uphold the standard of living in our city. we are USED to having things on a platter in front of us. we were born with it.
then you have the audacity to call us spoilt? that singaporean kids have never suffered? when not given the chance to suffer, who will? you have a bus stop every 200m. there’re MRT stations everywhere. you can walk around the streets at night safely. we have a political party that never fails to use the taxpayer’s money to good use. corruption is rarely visible.
academic education is provided from a young age to all at subsidized prices. almost everyone can afford to go to primary schools thanks to bursaries and therefore benefit from basic learning.
these have become somewhat standard in the city state of singapore. and we were born into a world where having a school to go to is normal, being able to travel anywhere due to good connectivity is normal. no, you, adam khoo – you have not suffered as you expect kids today to. what you might have suffered is a minute fraction compared to those who did sweat and toil to make singapore what it is today.
so please don’t come out like a hypocrite and blame singaporeans for not having the hunger for success and fighting spirit. when i was 10, my friend, i could read the newspaper and get angry about this “foreign talent” that we so hold at high regard. why? look at our own education system. we used to have streaming right from the 4th grade! even now, apparently, this continues in many primary schools. 3 possible paths can unfold.
primary 4 EM1 – secondary school express – JC
primary 4 EM1 – secondary school express/normal – JC/poly
primary 4 EM3 – secondary school technical – poly/ITE
the system doesnt even give the chance for late bloomers for succeed, the given reason being that in today’s world only those who are immediately smart survive. right?
when a child is doomed to EM3 what more can you expect of him but to grow up out of ITE, serve the army(if a boy) and then begin to work at a pizerria or a mcdonalds at a mediocre pay? what success is that?
when the system doesnt even give you the chance to bloom?
kudos to the chinese girl who made 290 in PSLE. i always respect hard work. but she had something to prove. she proved that her journey to singapore was not futile. as a singaporean primary school kid, im happy with my PSP, my neighbourhood mall and my soccer at the void deck. i don’t have anything to prove. because everything is in front of me. it’s all there. i’m safe now, the society will keep me steady, i need not learn anything outside this litle well i live in. and i will not bother to get out because im happy and comfortable here in my air conditioned nation.
mate. if i sent you to another country and asked you to work there you would work as hard as any expat who comes to work here. don’t kid yourself. you would want to make your visit as fruitful as it could be. and thats what any foreigner does in our city with great aplomb. and what with our society making it so easy for them?
what does a male singaporean have to look forward to when all he can expect is conscription after 12 years of education in singapore – only to come out distracted, confused, and resting on his high class singapore laurels to not care about studying any further and settling to be mediocre? you dare blame the kids for their situation? when every other kid is just a brick in the wall, you have the guts to say we’re absolutely useless because we lack fighting spirit?
and you, mr khoo, you who tells parents what they want to hear – so that you can continue to make your own capital and sprout the nonsense that you do everyday! you think there are people who can’t see through what you say? i most definintely can! think back to your own life and tell me if you had it hard – yes i know you dropped out of school, but thats hardly a tragedy when it coems to being streetsmart. most people who are in school arent as successful as you are – so kudos to that as well.
but times are changing. singaporean children have had enough of their silver spoon society. the youth, at least, are learning very slowly that their air conditioned nation is not all its cracked up to be. and when that happens, the shit’s gonna hit the ceiling, and those narrowminded adults who like to blame singaporeans for being lazy and silly will take back their words. because if theres one thing singaporeans are, we’re resilient. even if we’re kiasu and lazy, we will come out through the fog that blinds us. i have confidence in my people. i refuse to stand down and let others dictate my life. i refuse to believe that we are any less better than those taking our jobs. because no matter what the system decides for us, one day, someone will be tired of putting up with the actual system where kids are being streamed all the way into national service.
and when that happens i guarantee you, mr khoo, these so called fighting-spirit less singaporeans will have the last laugh.
now i can expect you to say im in denial. why? because you’re easy to figure out. you’re just like the other adults out there who believe they had it hard.
but you tell me who has it hard – the kid who studied in the 80′s with lesser expats who had something to prove or the kids of today who have to compete with other children of all countries to even be above average.
you’re way out of your league, mr khoo. i suggest you revise your facts again before you jump to conclusions. and i leave that message with everyone who agrees with mr khoo here. review your own system before you blame its people.
regards
crux
To all the cynics, old timers, and all who have posted here.
Please listen. I am a student, an undergraduate student from the Singapore Management University and as much as all you old timers, working professionals come from a viewpoint of a working professional contributing to society, to your families, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, you are not part of the younger generation of Singaporeans, the very people involved in the crux of this article by Adam.
You can go on and on and on about your observations about what goes on at your level. but you are forgetting that it is the future of Singapore you can talking about. Have you felt it as a student in this era? Have you gone through what students have gone through? Being a parent here does not entirely count. Please face it.
I will give my side of the story, an unbiased account, as a student, soon to join the workforce in a few years. And I have no doubt about what Adam mentioned; majority of our younger generation has no fighting spirit wad-so-ever.
Yes, it is true that this comes as every nation moves along the development cycle, from third world to first. I don’t deny that. It is a phase in national development. But think about it, should we left history repeat itself? Or continue to stress the importance to the next generation the values of honesty, hard work, a drive to push oneself to greater heights?
Crux, yes there are young Singaporeans who are fighting their way out of the silver spoon society of today. But it’s not substantial. I can tell you, that I have seen the world wake up to a rising China. The old continent of Europe in fact, not just foreign talent from India, ASEAN, etc. Europe!
If my friend from Belgian, recognizes that the time of London as a global financial hub is over, then why not a Singaporean? He desperately wants to come to Asia to start his career. Same for another fine young man of North African descent that I know from Paris. He is actively seeking an internship with global banks located in Singapore and he calls the HR department in Singapore himself, and perhaps more banks than most of my peers in school have bothered to do.
Competition is no longer just from our Asian neighbors. Wake up! Even the younger generation on the old continent has seen the light. When will we Singaporeans do so?
Tell me, how many students cold call firms on the street, employers, seeking for job opportunities? Or rather, they just sit and wait for opportunities to come to them! I have seen many people do just that in Singapore universities.
It has nothing to do with proving oneself, it is about being motivated to improve oneself, to not settle for second best when you know you can be the best.
Conscription in National Service was what I resented when I did my national service a few years back. But looking back, on hindsight, I realized that I learnt much more than what an education in university could ever give. The ability to connect with people of various backgrounds, to understand people, to work as teams, and most importantly, to defend what’s my home and my family.
Be ashamed, because I have met people in NS, who resemble the true Singapore spirit. I met a Malay guy in the medical centre, and we just talked. He was a nice chap and he spoke perfect English, not Singlish. But you know what? He did not even complete his PSLE, because his family had no money to put him through school. But did he give up? HE DID NOT! He put in the effort to learn English himself, through reading and writing, learning from his other friends, and i am ashamed, as a Special Stream Student myself, because he speaks much better English than I do, in fact better than most university students do. He wasn’t given the opportunity, but he went out to grab whatever opportunity available. And that to me, embodies the same fighting spirit our forefathers had.
If you were in EM3 as a kid, would you fight to prove yourself like the Malay guy did? Ask yourself this questions, before you give your useless talk about blaming this and that, systems and all.
If I learnt from education, the important thing to learn and to impart is not about systems, not about facts, but rather the values of being a person. For more often than not, it is the people who bring down the system, and not an implosion of the system. EG: Great Depression, Financial Crisis of 2008, etc.
Tell me, which system in the world allows a person from a middle class family to meet someone like that guy I met during my NS days. NS is not a waste of time, it is the people who attend it that make it a waste of time, because of your attitude. And that carries to your attitude in life.
It is a great pity the education system rewards those who have money for tuition to improve themselves, and not those who truly have the drive and determination to improve themselves. But you can’t blame the system. You can only blame yourself for accepting that this is the best you can do, when you know you can do much more.
People will go on and on and on about having a plate they are used to. Used to the comfortable life. Used to the education system. To me, that’s not an excuse.
I always tell my friends, shoot for the stars. It’s all or nothing. I have friends around me who are complacent about their lives. To just have a job that provides enough to maintain their lifestyles. Or to inherit their parents’ wealth. To be frank, there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone is entitled to their own choices, but as long as they are people with the right values, they will still succeed in life.
But to those, who take life as it is, not because they really considered, but rather because that is the most convenient road to take for them. Remember, there is more than one road that leads to Rome, but which road will you take? Or worse still, are you going to simply sit by the roadside and pitch a tent and give up that dream of reaching Rome?
And of course, grades. Oh Singaporean students love grades. Everyone is grade oriented. Society is grade oriented. It is a fact that is hard and cold and here to stay. We are stuck in an endless paper chase from the day we were born, fortunately or unfortunately, as a Singapore citizen. But I don’t believe that the paper chase should be a sticking point for us. It’s a fact, face it, suck it up, and if you don’t have the grades, find another route to Rome.
But it’s not the only thing people look out for in hiring employees. And wait, so are all Singaporeans only aiming to be aspiring employees of some SME, MNC, GLC?
Everyone here talks on and on about working for someone else. So we’re not going to develop any thinkers? Innovators? Entrepreneurs? Face it, we will never have a middle class as large as India or China. Singapore has to innovate, move ahead of the competition – or face the risk of being left behind.
From what I see, Singapore can remain successful, but it is the attitude that Singaporeans need to change. To realize that life is more than what it seems on the surface. To remember, money funds development, but the spirit of people was the foundation of great civilizations. Grades get you to the door, but it doesn’t keep you in the door.
I urge more young Singaporeans, especially undergraduates to speak up, because this concerns our future, and not that our the older generation. While they continue to have the right to express their views, they are not the ones who are facing these challenges directly.
Give enough for your children, but squeeze them and make them work for their own keep. Comfort is important, but imparting the right attitude in the next generation is what parenting is truly about. I appreciate what my parents have done for me, and truth be told, it was my parents who showed me Adam’s article. Yet, they did not come online and air their viewpoints here with other grown-ups.
And you know what, if you believe that Singaporeans are really starting to lose that fighting spirit, then do the younger generation a favor, tell us, enlighten us, and teach us to take responsibility for our own actions, instead of blaming everything else but oneself. If you are a parent, quit babbling here online, cos most likely, your child’s not going to come here and read all the discussions. But he/she is going to appreciate you for sharing with him/her your concerns and the importance of developing a right attitude to life.
And remember, before your finger the blame on anyone, remember that you still have 4 fingers pointing back at yourself.
Regards
Edwin
@Edwin
Well said Bro!
This article is very truthful.
I am an Expat (late Gen X or early Gen Y) and manage a business of about 40 staff. All local and all Gen Y. I have worked all over the world and aisa but have never seen such a poor work ethic in my life.
Most of them complain about everything, turn up late every day but cant handle being told they are doing a poor job.
I have actually started firing people and now have a turn over/replace staff policy….’hire 5, keep 2 and let the other 3 go’
By the way, this a fairly decent sales job. Easy sell and people can make $5k without too much effort.
I really worry for this great country. I am looking to fill some mid management positions at the moment but the sad truth is, I have to import from Australia, UK or USA. I simply cant find anyone local who wants to work more than 9.05 – 6pm monday to friday….There is roof for you…I am willing to pay double to import.
Most of Gen Y in Singapore are only ever competitive when they are trying to get on the MRT or lining up for free food….sad but true.
tell you something:
if you submitted this as a GP essay you would FAIL. it’s full of generalisations and you see things ever so simplistically to label youths of today as “lazy”. Oh get a life.
What makes you think that academic success is the final destination for everyone? Besides, you don’t know how many youths today suffer tremendously from academic stress. That isn’t the point but just to let you know…….
It’s “a lot”, not “alot”
Vl, people usually start sentences with capital letters too….just a point there.
[...] Expats Will Rule Singapore I found this blog post mentioned on a blog of a friend. It’s really quite interesting, but not [...]
Hi Adam,
I agree that your post do have a point to some extent, however it is full of generalizations and are not substantiated properly with proper sources/ facts.
I have extremely high respect for what you do to empower the lives of so many people through your work. And i think you are an outstanding role model whom the rest of us have much (and i mean MUCH) to learn from, whether it’s in the aspects of wealth management or striving to become a better individual.
However, and i hope you don’t take any offence with this, this post has almost made me wonder if you just want some recognition from our state leaders during the National Day Rally or something. It does not sound as sincere as what you normally write in your other blog posts/ books.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards,
Alan
[...] http://www.adam-khoo.com/304/the-expats-will-rule-singapore/ December 18, 2009 lontongtaokaenoi Categories: 03. News Updates [...]
I am a Singaporean, but also a student from Malaysia. Seeing the life of both sides, I find the pressure of living higher in Sg, and more complacency in Msia. The article written, is for most of the new generation in a MEDC – most of us are forgetting the toughness our parents went through to get us here; we’re Not maintaining the strive to keep our comfort secure.
The generalisation of this article is a little overboard I’d say – the typical ‘we are getting soft, we’re going to fall; we had better push to be so ahead that we’ll never fall behind again.’ Everyone is trying to stand on one side of the fence while nobody tries to find an equal balance. Why must one country be above another? I see why you have to fight to float above, the whole economy snowball. I get it. But to be so afraid of ‘expats’ getting more ‘leading’ jobs in Sg is almost equivalent to racism against blacks back in the American days. “oh no, blacks are starting to step up, us whites will die.” Whatever happened to Make Love, Not War?
While I am going to try be as unbiased as possible. There seem to be 2 worries here – (1) our new generation being too complacent and annoyingly whiny about what they don’t have, And (2) our country losing it to the ‘expats’.
Problem 1) You seem to be very taken by the new gen wanting more and taking things for granted – living like they deserve everything good. I understand that they’ve got to see things as privilege and work harder for seemingly less – like the expats coming in. My personal take on this is (A) How they grew up, what they learnt making them who they are and how they think. I’m no psychology expert, but I do know that we are all born the same, only taught differently, live differently. Don’t we all know this? Everything we are aside from genes come from our environment, our parents’ educating us, our school teaching us, our peers influencing us, last but not least our media telling us what Normal is. I’m not trying to point fingers, but I am saying we are never alone when something goes wrong. (B) Our very economy and government DOES play a part whether we like it or not – the rise and fall of others will affect how everyone look at our country thus fleeting in for opportunities. The fact that others are coming in and making a better stand is not because we are getting lousy, every human is the same, every country has their better ones – maybe thats how they got here in the first place. Be not afraid of someone else doing better, be afraid you’re not doing your part.
Our problem here, is looking at things differently. See opportunity not threats. Live well not live above. Be satisfied not complacent.
2) Our country may seem to be losing the ‘better’ jobs to the expats while they start to ask for less and seep right in with their competitive salary requests. Simple business strategies no? Don’t expect every country to remain in their current position, everyone has a brain; don’t be amused the China can turn things around, could’ve been planned from long ago. Surprises are imminent just be ready to make your next step. While you start to see the ‘expats’ come in taking up opportunities here, I’m sorry, but don’t be absurd to assume they’ll rule Sg in a few years time. We aren’t stupid. Everyone acts in reaction, much like the supply and demand curve, while everyone preserves an ideal way of life in their mind, they’ll try to equal up when one end starts falling out of place – likewise, when foreigners start to step up, our locals will do so too.
Competition is good, but be careful what you’re competing for – to better your living standard or just to be better than others? Success isn’t always measured in stats the way you’ve put things, it’s about getting to our optimum level of efficiency where everyone is working their part and happy. (please don’t tell me some ppl are happy with nothing etc etc, you know what i mean. work hard and happy with life)So in the end, what’s wrong if these expats come in? Does that mean our people will die because they hold iPhones? Our country only has to control the release of privileges and regulate ever-growing pattern to maintain healthy living.
Lastly, more taken by Edwin’s writing, I like what he’s said, however also again, don’t be upset our neighbors are starting to speak perfect English, just learn from them – we were never the best so lets not act like it. Live hand in hand and grow together; start by teaching our children that.
Joseph
p.s.
–adjective
expatriated; exiled.
Please don’t use this word on foreigners. They’re humans who have a right to anywhere on this planet, they didn’t chose where to be born, just like you.
Adam, I am an expat, (NO PR), and self employed living in Singapore for the last 20 years.
This is one of the best posts on this subject that I have ever read.
Hard hitting, true and insightful. It is easy to see why you excel in life.
When I see old grandmothers who can barely walk doing 8 – 10 shifts in coffee shops and compare this to the pathetic whining of the Singapore Y generation complaining about their hand phone or some other trivia I find it quite sickening.
There is no question that the incredible spirit and hard work ethic of past generations is, to a great extent, not apparent in today’s Singapore.
Perhaps the extremely rapid rise in the fortunes of Singapore is not a good thing if it’s producing “silver spoon” generations.
I read somewhere that Singapore has the highest %age of bloggers per capita than anywhere else in the world. Is this indicative of the “everybody’s a manager” mindset?
Anyhow, an excellent, thought provoking post, which will not sit well with many young Singaporeans I fear.
Well Done Sir.
I am from Singapore and now staying and working in Hong Kong. I graduated from NTU few years ago and have working experience in both Government and private sector. I was born in a middle class family but bankruptcy almost tore my family apart. So I do understand what suffering is like and I never ever wanted to be poor ever again.
I was NEVER a fan of Adam, I have seen a lot of his training courses but never felt it was suitable for me. I always believed knocks from real-life experience is the best way to learn. However, not everyone has this opportunity, so kudos to those who spent your hard-earned money to learn from him.
Although I never like Adam, he still deserved my respect because he is willing to share his knowledge with others. And I am surprised by myself how I actually agreed with what he has written here. Of course he has to generalize, how do you expect him to write out every example and show us statistics.
I am also amused how so many people misunderstood of his intention of his blog. I believe his true intention is to “warn” us about being competition in order to stay relevant in the race of life. As the world becomes global now, we must definitely expect many “players” to come in from everywhere. The playing field is now more level than before. There are more foreign students here and no way there will less of them in the future. Same for expat and foreign workers.
Singapore government knows that they are already facing a crisis. Talented Singapore are leaving. My roomie in NTU has taken up a role in Shanghai. Many of my friends are already working abroad. Many has chose to go oversea, because they are choosing not to “complain” about the situation they are in- they took action instead.
There are so many people saying that fresh grads have no choice but to look for only jobs that pays well because the living standard is so high. Remember, no one points a gun at you saying you must have PSP, iPhone or stay in Condo. When I graduate, I took up a job that pays me only a mere $1,700. I have a Computer Engineering degree mind you, I was offered almost twice the salary to work in the Government firm, but I chose to work in a private investment bank as a “contract” intern because I know the opportunity is valuable. Now that opportunity has opened so many doors for me.
I urged everyone not to blame the Government for allowing FT to be here, not to blame high housing cost (wait till you come to HK, Shanghai and NY), not to blame other people, especially FT because you are not willing to sacrifice your movie or dinner date just to finish your project one day before deadline.
Open your eyes, and see what the world is coming to right now.
Well Adam I agree to what you said, but you are looking at it at a single angle. Though we Singaporeans may lose our ‘fighting spirit’ but we have gained our ‘ethics’ over the years. I have worked with the expat for years and I have noticed that the are willing to do anything to climb the ladder. They are willing betray their colleagues and friends in order to gain trust from their superiors. Take note that they are willing to step over other people heads, even other expats just to climb higher.
They even framed others in order to be ahead. Well we can’t blame them, this is their way back in their country because they cannot rely on their Government to help them.
Point to note : If you are too high up, you may not be able to see whats happening under your feet.
Well I think that the myth of the Singapore workers being among the best in the world is just that, nothing more. And the media’s past misconception about our workers being highly productive and dead hardworking are understandably misplaced; how else could a country have grown so fast otherwise. Should Chinese workers be better and more hardworking than the Japanese in this era? Being exploited cheaply in the relative world as the Chinese workers obviously are, is not the same as better or working hard.
Our government claims that it was becos of their efforts alone that our miracle was born was misplaced too. Self praise is no praise. (Whatever happened to modesty?) For in every society, there is the elite class which represents the top 20% of the population. And it is this group of people, not a single party, let alone an individual, that really makes Singapore what it is today. This also holds true for the Tiger economies, Taiwan, SKorea, HK. Unlike in Singapore however, no political parties in those countries took credits for the huge successes of their countries. The Chinese leaders too were modest.
I think any organisation can continue to glow with outperformance even if 80% of the workers were bored or lazy as long as the elites are steering the company well. That is how senior managers and CEOs in the organisations are paid much more than clerks and receptionists.
The author’s observations about the new generation locals is dead accurate in my opinion. I fully agree that Singaporeans today are lacking in resilience and tenacity. They want instant gratification. At the same time they are complaining and blaming too often. Well if they feel that the world owes them a living and that they should have exclusive privileges, it is their prerogative indeed. Let the expats rule, I wouldnt lose sleep as long as the country is ruled well. Where the problem lies with young Singaporeans? I think if you could imagine where the average kids (ie again 80%) got their role modelling from, a bunch of third world coolies or mostly under educated average working class parents, you would have known the source of the problem.
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2010/01/singapores-declining-birth-rate.html
Our economy has transformed to knowledge economy. Maybe we should reverse back to the old days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1721584909067928384#
Let us introduce new courses to polytechnic
1. Clean Energy
2. New Media E-Business
3. Organic Agriculture
4. Health Care Services
5. Homeland Security
6. Nanotechnology
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=earth 2100
Contains Part 1 to 9, we should focus more on organic agriculture and clean energy as education instead of competition and climbing corporate ladders
Thx Captain Obvious!
The many criticism that you have put out on Younger Singaporean is true.
The reason behind all this is our education system.
You do business in Singapore should know better.If your upbringing is like them, you would be one of them too.
Its not that easy as you think to change for the Y generation.To carry more weight,a person can train to carry more by training his muscle.To take on more pressure on the mind, its a lot more complicated.
Talking about it when you had done it,is very simple.Because you are better off,dun come telling ppl they can do it or not.Its always up to themselves to succeed.
interesting things to read about a variety of subjects, but I manage to include your blog among my reads every day because you have interesting
Yup I totally agree with what you said, it is really quite disappointing to see many of my 20s friends complaining about high cost of living and why Singapore is no good etc.
I really afraid that our nation as a whole is adopting the entitlement mindset and in addition, opposition parties feed our weakness and promise to give lots of entitlement to us which will definitely take a toll on our nation. May I know what is your personal view on the effects of implementing policies like dropping HDB flat price, slashing/removing GST (those sound nice in short term but don’t know what it will cause in long term) etc effects on our nation? If it is too sensitive don’t mind to email me your view? Lol
Hi Adam, in any society, there are the hardworking and the lazy ones. Basically, you have chosen to compare the hardworking foreigners who have chosen to come to Singapore against Singaporeans who you deem to be lazy.
It is easy to make sweeping statements like this.
I dont read any offer of suggestions from you in your article. Therefore, i feel that your article lacks depth.
I want the president of USA to be our talented leader because he is more capable and is also drawing lower salary.
I guess it’s convenient for those who place all the blame on the “younger generation” because they are supposedly wiser, more experienced, and thus somehow able to understand this world better.
They understand the world so thoroughly that it’s completely unnecessary to ask themselves why this “younger generation” might yearn so much for “instant gratification” or lack the “HUNGER FOR SUCCESS”. I assume that is because the “younger generation” is either simply born this way, or that they have this innate desire to tend towards laziness or aversion to hard work. Nope, never because the world that they are born into, the very world constructed by these wise men and women, idolizes and enshrines such materialistic desires. It is their fault for the world to be in such a sad predicament.
And oh the terrible, terrible students who cannot stand strenuous mental activities and break at the most tenuous push. Indeed, blame the kids for studying every hour and minute of their life so as to pursue this so called success as constructed by those before. Blame the kids for not understanding the value of success because the very nature of their education system teaches them that the fastest route to succeed is to imitate a sponge in some internationally acclaimed examination. Blame it all on them because they know that even scoring a perfect score of straight As does not place them much ahead of anyone else, and working their guts out to achieve a university degree (which in theory is a recognition of your high mental capabilities) only translates into a job that is supposedly worth less than 2k a month; not that much more than someone with a much lower education level.
I guess nobody else is ever at fault.
Dear Adam, for someone who’s running a multi-million dollar business, I would have hoped for more depth in your case.
While I do agree that Singaporeans are more passive in nature, I do not think that being “kiasu” is an indicator of success and should ever be mistaken for the terms “hunger for success” & “fighting spirit”. From my understanding, most successful Singaporean businessmen are firm & quiet leaders who have been resilient and resourceful in their entrepreneurship journey.
With regards to your less than stellar Singaporean students and their overzealous foreign counterparts..
I wouldn’t discount the possibility that your marketing team may have failed to make an impression on your Singaporean students. I also wouldn’t discount the possibility where the mentioning of ‘Singapore’ and ‘multi-millionaire’ in developing nations tend to drive people euphoric. Try ‘Switzerland’ and ‘Forbes Top 50 billionaire’.
Nice to know you’re kicking the butt of young boys before they enter army and young girls before they get married. Go for it.
A few weeks ago, one of my clients asked me to find them a part time telemarketeer. The only takers for the job came from the Phillipines. Not only did they submit their resume, they actually thanked me for introducing them to the opportunity.
The client couldn’t believe me when I told him that he would never get a college student willing to sit in an office making phone calls for about $8 an hour. His main reaction was,”Are Singaporean students really SO rich?”
He’s got a point. Singaporean students seem well protected from the harsh realities for the chase for the almighty dollar. As such, we have people who are unprepared for a fast paced modern economy.
Most of us want safe and secure jobs in the government or an MNC. We expect to be well paid and have lots of perks. This situation is supposed to last forever. In a way, Singaporeans expect “big government” or “big corporate” to take care of them.
This simply isn’t the case anymore. You have to be flexible and willing to be multiskilled to suit the changing demands of the market place. This is an area where we creamed by foreigners.
I have two examples. One is a 21-year old PAP cadre from Pasir Ris GRC. This guy keeps asking me if it’s possible for him to get $5,000 as a starting salary. I told him – get your prospective employer $15,000 worth of business. He was upset and said,”But I am going to be a graduate.”
The second example is more disturbing. I have a friend who was a high powered salesman at Citibank. He got retrenched and has remained unemployed for the last decade.
He’s stopped looking for employment and quite often does not have money to top up his own MRT card. He’s not willing to take part-time work or even “decoy jobs” like show up at an event, get a meal and $50. It’s apparently too demeaning for him – though he’s quite happy for me to pay for his travel card and meals and have another friend pay for his cloths (his shoes had holes in them).
What’s more disturbing is that despite being unemployed, he refused to let his daughter find part-time work or do internships while she was at university.
You would think that in a household that is struggling for money, he’d be desparate to get as many people in the house bringing home some money.
I think of these examples and worry. It seems that we, Singaporeans are not willing to be flexible in the way we make a living.
Yes, foreigners mean more competition for jobs in MNC and the government. However, more foreigners also means more customers for Singaporeans who have goods to sell……Why aren’t we willing to try new things when the old ways no longer work?
“This precisely why you need to become successful and wealthy yourself…so YOU can help the less fortunate and make a positive difference in the world. You do not help the world by being poor or mediocre.”
Perhaps you can jet over to Somalia and give them one of your $1000/h talks for free. I’m sure they’ll really really appreaciate it.
as taxpaying citizens, do you feel our lives as a collective has improved in the past years? If you think we are not tough foreign dragons, are we not well-educated and creative in our own ways?
fellow singaporeans are tough, we are smart, but when Lee passes away, the whole society’s multicultural, immigrant-friendly veneer will tear away and you will see an upheaval of long-seated mistrust and misgivings which have clogged our sordid minds. This will be the collapse of singapore as we know it and you will wonder who let this place become a gigantic rojak of cultures.
Just came across this article and all the comments…very interesting.
We can broadly classify the foreign colleagues in 2:-
1) The one who occupy the top level positions and I must state are simply brilliant leaders
2) The middle to low executives who are normally from the lower developing countries. These are usually graduates from their home countries and
who are prepared to work for lower wages and enjoy the safe and pleasant living environment as compared to back home.
On the 2 and category…we simply cannot compete. Our cost of living is simply too high (as explained in one of comments above)
On item (1), why we cannot generate strong business leaders to lead our own companies that we need to rely on foreigners? We need to look into our education system.
Our young ones have enjoyed the 20 years of continued strong growth. Many never really faced hardships that our fellow foreign friends have been through. That is the outcome of growing up in a very stable and safe environment. I feel that we have never learnt from what is happening in the developed countries.
While we have grown to the extent of being like a developed country, we still have systems like developing nations.
Our education system has simply not caught on. We are still basing our entire education system on an pure academic approach… The new age will not be about gaining academic knowledge…we should be focusing on teaching our kids skills that can give them the edge over those from China and India.
Adam Khoo, you have been riding on this track and at these rates, we will never generate leaders or be able to bring out the best in our kids.
We struggle through the academic route only to be beaten in jobs by graduates who are accepting lower wages….
We cannot reminiscince about the hardships in the past and contemplate boot camps for the young disillusioned youths…We are so focus on 290 on PSLEs and straight 9A1s…I mean I find it extremely amusing that while we generate such academicians where are the talents?
To give some perspective…The no of graduates from China each year exceeds the population of Singapore. By sheer volumes, taking the top 0.1%, that’s over 40k top notch academics…How do we compete?
We need to differentiate…our education cannot simply be about gaining academic knowledge…Knowledge is worthless if we do not know how to use it. This entire knowledge based economy will be plase in the next 20 years. Other countries will have a much larger pool of knowledgeable people…we should instead focus on developing and shaping skills for our kids to survive in next 15 – 20 years. Let them dream…create an environment that they can take risks…better to take risk than not do anything…challenge them…and I tell you we will see a new strong group of individuals who will be outstanding contributors to our society.
The next 20 years…we will have developed processes that does not require the same numbers of people doing the same kind of job…so what then? How will our kids survive? Hard truths of the future…so lets not still stick on the same path as I have gone thru PSLES grades, O-Level, A-Levels, University etc.
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Dear Adam
I was just introduced to this article. Sad that two years on, the “entitlement” attitude has deepened and most Singaporeans are still not aware that globalization has changed the economic landscape. We are now competing with the whole world. Business everywhere is dictated by the bottom line in a flat world. Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat” (2005) served as a warning to young Americans that they are competing with the whole world, unless they adapt and stay competitive, they will be overwhelmed by the Indians and the Chinese.
Ironically, while many in Singapore deride our education system, some American schools are using Singapore Maths textbooks as they are worried about the declining Maths literacy (and Science too). Without a literate workforce in the 3Rs, the economy will not be well served.
Articles like this one that you have written generates healthy discussion. We can always agree to disagree with respect and decorum. I hope you keep this site a respectable one and reject disrespectful comments.
I understand the frustrations and difficulties of some Singaporeans, but even the most beloved and respected entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates agreed that, “Life is not fair. Get used to it” but
“…While we can accept this, it shouldn’t stop us from dreaming big, working hard and doing what is right.” (Corey Wells, Entrepreneur and Coach)
hi adam khoo
thank u for expressing your honest opinion. I am sure u mean well for the locals.
Hope u allow me to express my own opinion on your blog. It is going to be a confusing hotpotch of ideas but that is because it is a complex issue.
Our leaders always say they should be paid well in order to attract the best talents into govt and into the cabinet. Yet they expect the best talents from around the world to come to sg and make them serve NS. How fake and self serving and tratorious is that ?
As a enterprener yourself , I am sure u know well the burning desire of a human ( and especially a budding enterpreneur) to be free. To put a 18 year old male into doing something against his will for 2 years is beyond torture.
Sg future as a successful nation is very much in doubt. It is build on a false hood that if you pay peanuts you get gorrillas. ON A NATIONAL SCALE !
A company would go bankrupt run that way. Is it very surprising that beneath the glittering surface of Sg society , there is a deep rot and decay hidden ?
NS is killing Sg.
@Adam,
I totally disagree. The root cause is the PAP-led government and LKY’s ideology. If young Singaporeans were freed from PAP’s imposed propoganda and went through a true democratic education system, there would have been a high possibility of a Singaporean Nobel prize winner. Singapore has produced a lot of great men who were educated in a system prior to PAP rule.
Don’t blame the younger generation for having stupidity, laziness, passivity, forced on them by the tyranny of one man’s vision.
Fact: Highly democratic nations with less than 10% of China, India’s populations have produced more Nobel laureates than China, India
Fact: China and India have been relied on sheer population numbers to bridge their technological gap
Fact: Singapore’s fascist government has more in common with China’s communist government
Fact: A society’s cultural and intellectual maturity will always be constrained by a repressive government. I am sure you know of those sickening stories of power abuse in China, India.
Of course it is true that the recent crisis of Western nations have been a result of their own democratic impercfections… but history has shown that the path to democracy has always won over the path of tyranny,
“our future prime minister may be an Indian or China PR or may even an Ang Moh!”
China PR? You mean a Chinaman from China! What is an Ang Moh? Any white bloke or are you referring to Anglo Saxons only? Also an expatriate is any body leaving their home country to live and work in a foreign land. It does not mean someone holding an executive job. A construction worker is also an expatriate.
Sorry your English is not up to scratch. The meanings no matter how well intended convey something different from its intended aim.
I see you are an ardent supporter of social darwinism, and you rather see Singaporeans get tramped by foreigners than to help them.
To add salt to wound, in a more direct manner, you are actually saying Singaporeans who fall behind actually deserves it.
Of course foreigners can afford to get a lower pay because they have a lower standard of living when they go back to their homeland.
You are championing for them because it BENEFITS YOU, increasing your profit margin so that you can buy your extra ferrari, or another luxurious condominuim.
And please, do not look down on your own countrymen, just by listing out ONE example of a foreigner who has done well academically. Majority of them are just cheap labour here to pump up GDP artificially and of no talent.
Why not just throw your 4 year old daughter with a family in a two room flat, who has an ailing grandmother to take care of, a bedridden father, and a mother who earns $500 dollars a month working as a toilet cleaner.
I am sure shes in the perfect environment where she can be HUNGRY FOR SUCCESS and have FIGHTING SPIRIT.
With your simplistic analogy, she should not be in a “Central Park Zoo” environment that you are providing her for, but should be in “Wild Africa” fending for herself with no help watsoever from anyone.
Lets us see then if she can rise up the food chain or be slaughtered by lions.
Adjust the costs of living down accordingly and I am sure Singaporeans will be more than glad to reduce their initial asking pay. For the average Singaporean out there who have completed a university education, we are burdened with a 30K debt. Factor in the costs of living, we are forced to ask for a pay much higher than the foreigners in order to survive in Singapore.
In fact, in other countries, engineering is a much more highly paid job than in Singapore. I work in the IT industry and I know for a fact that an IT engineer with relevant certification is paid much more than a person in Singapore.
Reduce the costs of living in Singapore, Singaporeans will gladly ask for a reduced pay and you will reduce the company’s overhead with more Singaporeans working for you.
What this country needs is a nice war. Then the 5th columnists like Adam will be the first to be lined up against the wall.
Adam,
Don’t demean Singaporean youngsters who you deem lack fighting spirit.
You do not personally know their family background and the daily struggles they may be facing. People who are successful often forget that poverty exists in Singapore. We often say hardship fuels fighting spirit and burning desire. But it is also true that hardship breaks and destroys human spirit. Life can be cruel. To you, $2,500 asking pay for a local graduate may be “unrealistic” or “expensive” as compared to a foreigner asking for only $2,000 or less. Hello, this is Singapore. New 4-room HDB costs on average S$300,000 not 300,000 Indian Rupees and study loans are typically S$30,000 – S$40,000 not Renminbi. Maybe if you ask the government to lower the cost of living, housing, education and transport back to 1970s or 1980s level, the local graduates may even gladly accept $800 monthly pay!
Just because foreigners are willing to accept a lower pay than local graduates, you stereotype them “softies”? Then do you expect local graduates to keep lowering their asking pay regardless of their capabilities and contributions just so that they appear perpetually more “competitive” than foreigners? Please, the playing field is already so heavily skewed in favor of foreigners – we as Singaporeans should help our own people, to grow and prosper as a collective soul, not put them down!
Unless you were one of those kids from the lowest social
strata, please do not generalize. It’s just really unfair.
Adam, you are successful, rich and globe-trotting, if not jet-set. You don’t get it. The issue is OWNERSHIP of what we like to think is our own country. The question is ARE WE THE MASTERS OF SINGAPORE? Or will we all work as slaves to foreign conquerors?
Read this article:- ”Singapore Lost” http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Can you imagine if England which has a population of 60 million has a dwindling population. Imagine it has a government which completely ignores what Englishmen want. Imagine if they brought in 30 million Romanians to settle in England, and one could not tell the difference since they are both European. Imagine if the English language use in the country continues to decline. Imagine if almost everyone in England today speaks Romanian instead of English. Imagine if Romanians in the country have no clue whatsoever of the long history, culture or democratic traditions of England. Do you think Englishmen would accept this lying down?
Imagine if Germany invited 40 million Cubans to populate Germany so that the proud native Germans with their long history and achievement is completely lost to the Cuban culture and Spanish language. Imagine if today you only see Cubans in every big German city and finding a native German is a rarity. Do you think the Germans would take this lying down? Imagine if unlike the cultured Germans, these recent Cuban imports go around spitting and gesticulating in public indiscriminately, destroying the image that Germans had as a cultured people.
Yet this is exactly what has already happened to Singapore. In 2 more years Singapore would have completely lost their native citizens, their unique character and way of life to recently arrived second rate foreigners who have no idea what Singapore was or even is. English language in the island is destroyed and in it’s place there is Mandarin Chinese. The few local Singaporeans remaining have nothing in common with these Mandarin Chinese from China who do not mingle with the locals. The few local Singaporeans remaining seek solace in other local Singaporeans while the Mandarin Chinese imports socialize among themselves. Afterall these 2 have nothing in common. .. etc etc
THIS is the issue, not competition, not excellence, not drive, not ”hunger”.
If you don’t get it, pls go away to your chalet in Geneva or Monte Carlo and stop bothering us.
We know you can afford to.
Dear Adam,
If I had millions like you, and could afford a private estate, I would have agreed with you. Bit sadly, I do not. So please, try to put yourself in the footsteps of an ordinary Singaporean Citizen, one who is earning barely enough to cover his bills and mortgage, and think before you speak/write.
Thank you. Terima Kasih. ??????????????Danke Schön.
P.S. Please check a legitimate dictionary for the legitimate definition of the word “EXPATRIATE”
Cost of living, poverty, unemployment, social inequalities, class differences, etc… it’s everywhere… since time memorial
Look out of the well, dear Singaporeans.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/number-u-poor-hit-record-46-mln-2010-011914758.html
I see that my previous comment has yet to be posted. Regardless, if I have not made myself clear, then I shall.
Let’s say that money can be planted and grown (through, say, investments). In this scenario, the average Singaporean would just be a subsistence farmer, and with stagnant wages, it would become more difficult for them to survive.
Thus, it is not us Singaporeans who are being choosy, but rather, it is the circumstances of the environment that we are in which are forcing us to be choosy and demanding.
Hope you understand.
Thanks.
Regards,
Concerned
[...] Adam Khoo, read hereI too have had the opportunity to compare local students with foreign ones, specifically in my case, [...]
[...] Adam Khoo, read hereI too have had the opportunity to compare local students with foreign ones, specifically in my case, [...]