INTERVIEW: A Stayer Interviews a Quitter
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003
A Stayer talks cock with a Quitter, under the watchful eye of senior editor Lau Cheow.
STAYER: So I see you're settling into your new adopted country, why did you come back to Singapore?
QUITTER: Aiyah, you know, I still have fambly here, mah. Also, I miss my char kuay teow.
STAYER: So why did you leave if things are so much better here?
QUITTER: I never said it was better - I just miss my food, friends and family. Anyway, I'm happy where I live now - and it's not so hot, and I get views of mountains every day.
STAYER: You must pay a lot more to buy warm clothes and as for mountains and scenery, we can watch documentaries on Channel 12.
QUITTER: Where I live, got hundreds of TV channels including one dedicated to travel. What I save on the car and house, I can afford to spend on clothes. And speaking of cars and houses...
STAYER: Uh, let's not talk about car and house. What about your children? Are they going to school? I hear the schools there are not as good as ours.
QUITTER: Both my children are very happy going to their new school. There is less homework, and I don't have to send them for tuition, saving more money - they're already doing very well compared to the locals. Also, no examinations for them! So what's not so good?
STAYER: If there's no exams how can you be sure they will be able to go to university?
QUITTER: This country where I now live has dozens, if not hundreds, of universities, so there's a lot to choose from.
STAYER: Why do you need so many universities for? What I meant was, without studying hard they cannot go to a good world-class university!
QUITTER: You mean, like NUS?
STAYER: What I meant was, if they succeed in doing well in A-levels and SAT, they can go to any university they want. Besides, I'm sending my children abroad to study, of course, are you stupid or what?
QUITTER: Then what happens if your kids refuse to come back to Singapore?
STAYER: They have no choice, they have NS and reservist!
QUITTER: Oh, where I now live, there is no NS and reservist.
STAYER: NS is important. So what happens if your country gets invaded by an enemy, then you are in trouble!
QUITTER: Actually, where I now live, we ARE the invaders. Besides, isn't it true that if Singapore gets invaded, the Plan A is to ask for superpower help?
STAYER: True, but we have to show our neighbours we can deal with any aggressive threats. So a strong army is both important for self-defence and to act as a deterrent.
QUITTER: So the recent controversy over water with our neighbour to the north can be viewed as their aggression.
STAYER: Yes, if they cut off our water supply, then it is a cause for war.
QUITTER: Which means Singapore will have to attack its neighbour to ensure its water supply.
STAYER: If it comes to that, unfortunately, yes.
QUITTER: That means Singapore will be the invader and aggressor.
STAYER: No, you've got it all wrong. Self-defense and deterrence does not mean we passively sit back and let them walk all over us. As Sun Tzu said, the best defense is to attack.
QUITTER: So, you support a pre-emptive strike on Singapore's neighbours.
STAYER: I never said that, besides, pre-emptive strikes are legitimate in some cases, like the US invasion of Iraq.
QUITTER: But this US invasion never received UN support and also, much of the world was against the war.
STAYER: Still, you know, we supported the US because it is the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to launch a pre-emptive invasion. If you remember your history, Saddam is another Hitler in the making.
QUITTER: But wasn't it Hitler who launched a pre-emptive invasion of Poland, and later, France and Russia, thus starting World War II?
STAYER: You cannot just use history to be your guide. The world is different after 9/11. What about terrorist attacks where you live?
QUITTER: Like I said, I live in the countryside near the mountains, we are a small but sustainable community. And it's a very large country, we are much much larger than Singapore. We have a better chance than people who live in highly urbanised areas like Singapore.
STAYER: But what I really meant was, even if you escape the terrorists, being in the countryside, surely the quality of government, healthcare and so on can't be too good, why live in such a backward place?
QUITTER: I knew you'd call me a suaku. Well, it's true that we are in the countryside, but it's no more than 20 minutes from a hospital, and where we live, a small community government is better - they are more focused on local affairs and can give us more attention.
STAYER: Well, we have a good government that is responsible for the "Singapore miracle" and the government is always devoted to the best interests of her citizens. We have the best government that money can buy. Uh, let me rephrase that...
QUITTER: Yes, why do you pay them so much money? Where I live, government officials are mostly part-timers who have day jobs. The mayor of my town is a dentist! He doesn't get very much extra for being a politician. Isn't politics all about serving people?
STAYER: Well, you see, Singapore is a global city, so we must pay top rates for our leaders, to be competitive with other MNCs and Fortune 1000 companies.
QUITTER: If that's the case, then how come, none of your Ministers have any experience as CEOs of global Fortune 1000 companies?
STAYER: Managing a country is different from a company. Also we are now encouraging top Western executives to head Singaporean GLCs as part of our foreign talent programme.
QUITTER: Then why is it that so many such foreign talent CEOs have been asked to resign from their jobs recently?
STAYER: Just because something doesn't work doesn't mean it's wrong. You see, the problem is that they don't quite understand our economy, our society, and our business culture.
QUITTER: You mean they have ideas of their own and were not willing to follow instructions.
STAYER: Don't be so cynical. Let's just say their ideas were not compatible with ours.
QUITTER: But I thought you said that we are a global city and we must therefore be open to the global economy, which implies being tolerant of other cultures and styles of management?
STAYER: Not strictly true, what I meant was we have to import the best from the west, and discard what does not work. In any case, we have to pay our politicians high salaries so they can be free from corruption.
QUITTER: If you pay people more, doesn't it mean that you're just raising the bar for corruption? I mean, if someone is paid a million dollars, then you just have to bribe them double that amount. Isn't it true that every man has a price? And once you set the price, then people will know what it is.
STAYER: How can you accuse our politicians of corruption? Besides, it's the principle. And they are good, honest men who believe in public service. Because they are free of corruption means our policy is working. They are already working very hard, drawing world-class salaries in order to be sure Singapore is under the best management in
these troubled times and bring our economy forward.
QUITTER: You mean, in order to work our way out of a recession, prevent loss of jobs and layoffs, avoid deficit spending and returning us to high GDP growth?
STAYER: Precisely.
QUITTER: But our economy's been in bad shape like this for nearly 3 years and the latest forecast is that this year will be just as bad if not worse. If our Ministers are so good, why haven't they solved Singapore's problems already?
STAYER: You're being very naive. Look at the global economy. It's in poor shape since 2000. Like it or not, we are closely tied to the world. The world is borderless now, so if the world suffers, we suffer too.
QUITTER: So Singapore's economy will get better when the world economy improves?
STAYER: Exactly.
QUITTER: So why are we paying these guys so much -- just to hang around until the world economy picks up?
STAYER: You don't understand. Singapore is dependent on the world, but that doesn't mean we are the same. We are an Asian miracle story after all.
QUITTER: OK, so Singapore's economy was supposed to be a 'miracle economy', and as one of Asia's "Tiger economies" shouldn't we be bucking world trends? And if the Western economy is suffering, surely this is an opportunity for Asia to lead the way?
STAYER: You forget that the last Asian economic crisis was in 1997, and we are still suffering from the effects of that.
QUITTER: But if Singapore's economy was tied in to the global economy and not Asia's, why did we suffer so much then?
STAYER: Well, it's mostly the fault of our neighbours. It was the Thai baht that started this whole thing, and then there was Indonesia. There you go. An example of corrupt government at work! When I meant global, what I meant was that everything in the world affects us, but since we are in Asia, Asian problems affect us more.
QUITTER: But if that's the case, why is China still posting strong economic growth? Why is Korea and Taiwan not in recession. and why is Malaysia's GDP growth nearly double ours?
STAYER: You cannot just use GDP growth to be a measure of success. Besides, since their GDP was so low compared to ours, of course they will grow faster in order to catch up.
QUITTER: But isn't that bad for Singapore? If they catch up with us, then what's so special and unique about Singapore? We started from a low GDP base too. Our neighbours are already stealing our electronics manufacturing business, and now, with the new port in Johor...
STAYER: I didn't mean Malaysia. I meant China. That's a huge market there. That's why we are encouraging a lot of Singaporeans to go and do business there. There are a lot of opportunities in China.
QUITTER: You mean like Suzhou?
STAYER: Suzhou was a bad example. China is a big country, there are other examples. Look at Hong Kong. They have many entrepreneurs there. We are encouraging our people to become entrepreneurs. That's why we are cutting corporate taxes to be more in line with Hong Kong.
QUITTER: But that's just a 24.5% to 20% reduction over 5 years. Hong Kong's corporate tax rate is still lower at 16%. Besides, Hong Kong is in a bad recession now, due to competition and political interference from China!
STAYER: You have to look beyond Hong Kong. Let's focus on the mainland. Once China's population increases its spending power, then there will be more demand for exports, and we can sell to their markets.
QUITTER: But I thought that almost all goods are now already made in China, what else can we sell them?
STAYER: You are thinking of consumer durables and hard goods. That's all so 20th century. We are talking of IT and life sciences.
QUITTER: If IT is our strength, then why is Japan, Taiwan and even Korea moving its electronics, computer and semiconductor manufacturing to China, why are hard drive manufacturers leaving Singapore for China?
STAYER: IT is just one component of our global economy. Also, with the dot-com and tech crash, maybe IT is also obsolete. Don't forget that we are also concentrating on life sciences as well, where we will take a lead over Asia. Look at what's happening with SARS. There will be a demand for medicine in China with more outbreaks like that.
QUITTER: Speaking of SARS, why is it that Hong Kong doctors, not Singaporeans, were the first to isolate and identify the virus behind it? And why is it that Thai and Canadian researchers are already working on a vaccine?
STAYER: Well, that's because they have many more cases than us because they are more backward, and since their research programmes are independently managed, they are more flexible and can react faster. Uh, that's not the point. The thing is, SARS will damage the Asian economy, and China and Hong Kong will suffer.
QUITTER: So is that good for Singapore? I thought you said that we are tied in with the Asian economy? If their fortunes suffer, so will ours?
STAYER: Not strictly true. We are competitors for foreign investment. If people avoid China and Hong Kong because of SARS, foreign investors will invest in Singapore instead.
QUITTER: But like you said, Singapore's domestic market is small compared to China's and our cost structure is not competitive as our cost of living is so high. So why invest here when you can invest there.
STAYER: Because there is no corruption here. That's why even though we want foreign investors to set up businesses in Singapore, China and India are the real target markets, and we can be an effective gateway for these emerging economies.
QUITTER: Isn't it better to have a gateway within that country itself? China has Shanghai and India already has Mumbai and Bangalore where things are really happening. Aren't we too far away?
STAYER: These days we have Internet, so distance is not a problem. Four hours by air is nothing - one meal and a movie and you're there. Besides, in Singapore we have people who speak English as well as Mandarin and Hindi, allowing us to be effective intermediaries for Western countries doing business in China and India.
QUITTER: So if you are encouraging Singaporeans to go to China or India, aren't you asking Singaporeans to be quitters? And also, why is Singapore opening its doors to mainland Chinese? Aren't they quitters from China?
STAYER: Not true. Remember what I said about a borderless world. We welcome people from other parts of the world to come here and become contributors to our economy.
QUITTER: Isn't it true that many of these foreign talents just view Singapore as a stepping stone? There isn't much loyalty in many of them. Like Singaporeans doing business in China, foreign talents simply want to do business here, make some money and then head off elsewhere where there are better opportunities.
STAYER: You are missing the big picture. As long as we have people wanting to come to work here, we will accommodate them. This talk about stayers and quitters is a gross exaggeration. Things are not so clear-cut. The PM did not mean to belittle Singaporeans by calling them quitters.
QUITTER: So even if local citizens complain and get demoralised because foreign talents are treated better than locals? And they don't have NS on top of that! Isn't resentment dangerous and bad for the morale of the citizens? So what's the benefit of being a stayer?
STAYER: If people like you complain so much, you should just leave Singapore and be done with it.
QUITTER: But I've already just done that.
STAYER: What about your family and your char kuay teow then?
QUITTER: I'm moving my parents over as soon as I get my PR - we have a house that's big enough for them. And I'm trying to be an entrepreneur by starting up a Singaporean restaurant using the CPF money I'm taking out.
STAYER: I give up!
QUITTER: Don't give up - quit!
Editor’s Note: the contents of this interview do not necessarily represent the views of www.TalkingCock.com, whose staff would never even think of quitting the country, unless of course they are offered some tok kong job overseas or if the Gahmen decides to crack down on them or if they are damn scared of SARS or if Singapore kena terrorist attack or… or see how-see how, lah.
