Are you ready for 7 million people on tiny Singapore?
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Just relax:
Generally, a less open society where ideas are censored does results in less creativity. The case for Soviet Union may arguably support the point above. Even though, it is true that Soviet Union, a communist state is generally oppressive but Science and technology served as an important part of national politics, practices, and identity. Special priviledged enclaves were created for these areas where censorship
Having read your explanation, I have to still disagree with you. Let me deal with your 1st point. I still do not see any concrete basis or evidence that suggests an open social atmosphere results in greater creativity. The soviet union under the communists and Russia under the Tsars were not bastions of an open social atmosphere but produced great technological advances including sending the 1st man into space ahead of the much vaunted US democratic machinery. The subsequent supremacy of the US was due to the inherent inefficiencies of the Soviet era economy and its subsequent crumbling thus preventing the Soviets from capitalizing on their innovations due to the lack of financial resources.
were spared in contrast to arts and politics etc..Honors and special priviledges were showered on scientists and engineers. These may explained why science and technology in soviet union were relatively advance. However, tendency for oppressive regimes to censor inadvertently shows its ugly head even in areas such as scienc that they treasured much. there were several examples of suppression of ideas. In the most notorious, agronomist Trofim Lysenko refused to accept the chromosome theory of heredity usually accepted by modern genetics. Claiming his theories corresponded to Marxism, he managed to talk Joseph Stalin in 1948 into banning population genetics and several other related fields of biological research; this decision was only reversed in the 1960s.
The inherent inefficiencies of Soviet economy is die to its lack of openness of a market oriented economies and openess of a market oriented economies has its basis on individual rights which is included in Democracies but probably not the more purely political aspects. Creativity has to meet other criteria such as availability of resources for its success. There is a positive correlation between per capita income and democracies. It is believed that dictatorship can bring about economy development but only to a certain point. And this ecnomic development is necessary to bring about financial resources that is a consition but not the sole condition to support innovativeness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_the_Soviet_UnionJust relax:
Iranian received helps from the China and Russia till at least the 90s. Even their uranium is still imported from China. Still, I am hesitant to agree with you that 1-2 \"successes\" in focused national programs prove the existent of creativity of an enitre society. Creativity may be innate quality but it surely requires conducive circumstances for it to manifest.
You also already acknowledge that both N Korea and Iran relied on early Soviet technology but then fail to see that the N Koreans and Iranians taking the old Soviet technologies of the 70s and 80s much further. The Soviets would not have been foolish enough to give their most advanced technologies to the Iranians or N Koreans anyway. Yet both these countries with zero open social atmospheres have joined the exclusive nuclear club and exclusive ICBM club. It is a big deal to join these clubs since it requires innovation and expertise in the sciences that most countries including countries with open social atmospheres lack.Just relax:
I deny that I have suggested that Singaporeans are oppressed. In fact, I wrote plainly that we are not. Just read.I now take umbrage and issue with you suggesting that we Singaporeans are oppressed.
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To Quote from Weihan’s earlier post
"All advances in the west did not come about during the dark age when people and idea was oppressed. Note that I am saying that we are oppressed under PAP and need an opposition party."
I have just cut and pasted your post to show what you had written earlier, unless you are now saying that this was written down incorrectly. Perhaps you should relook at your post again and clear the air. I responded to what i read.
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions. The Opposition parties must step up to the plate and provide alternative and VIABLE solutions not rhetoric as i sincerely believe the majority of the opposition parties are thinking of how to do their part for Singapore. I think this must be welcomed as i am concerned that many of the Govt. MPs may have fallen to the scourge of "group think" and are not able to articulate policies that are out-of-the-box and revolutionary.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore’s future continues to shine brightly for generations to come. -
Just relax:
It was written incorrectly. the word \"NOT\" was mysteriously missing though I intend it to be there....It is certain that I have never written Singapore to be oppressive in any previous posts but \"repressive\" yes. I intended to say that most advances came after dark age but I am not saying that Singapore is dark age or any thing close but the word \"NOT\" was mysteriously missing.To Quote from Weihan's earlier post
\"All advances in the west did not come about during the dark age when people and idea was oppressed. Note that I am saying that we are oppressed under PAP and need an opposition party.\"
I have just cut and pasted your post to show what you had written earlier, unless you are now saying that this was written down incorrectly. Perhaps you should relook at your post again and clear the air. I responded to what i read.
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions. The Opposition parties must step up to the plate and provide alternative and VIABLE solutions not rhetoric as i sincerely believe the majority of the opposition parties are thinking of how to do their part for Singapore. I think this must be welcomed as i am concerned that many of the Govt. MPs may have fallen to the scourge of \"group think\" and are not able to articulate policies that are out-of-the-box and revolutionary.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore's future continues to shine brightly for generations to come. -
Irrelevant:
MNCs is not a problem. How can direct investment in Singapore a problem? But over relying on them such that they know our weakness to the point that they can bargain with EDB to bring along all their professionals in high paying positions and to allow them access to high quota foreign workers is bad.
Hi WeiHanWeiHan:
I'll say that if we we have many creative people that invent and create competitive products that sell to the whole world, many of the problems can be solved. Our problem is partly that we are so beholden to the MNCs, more than Taiwan, Korea etc...
Personally, I do not see any problem with these MNCs. Take Taiwan for example. Their economy is being hollowed out by China. Youth unemployment is at 14%. PPP GDP at <$40,000 is significantly less than Singapore's ($60,000). TFR is lower. Corruption / Bribery highly prevalent in Taiwanese business culture. Singaporeans are angelic in comparison.
Are there more prominent Taiwanese personalities and companies in the world arena than Singapore? Yes
Are Taiwanese more creative than Singaporeans? Looks like it if the quality of TV programs are an appropriate yardstick.
Is Taiwan more democratic than Singapore? I believe so, depending on the kind of benchmarks we use.
Would I want to trade our circumstances for theirs? No.
An absolute comparison with Taiwan will show that they are worse off than us. They do not have a vibrant finance industry like us. They do not have the world highest traffic port like us. No oil refinery industries like us. But they have more creativity and a huge proportion of the world semi-con outsourcing are done by Taiwanese companies. They would have been worse off without this. Does the point negates that creativity will helps us more?
Taiwan has a high percentage of degree graduates. -
Just relax:
Happy CNY....
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore's future continues to shine brightly for generations to come.
And I disagree with your opinion. Sometimes INERTIA is better than takIng too strong a position. Especially in an \"very efficient society like Singapore\" where KPI is the sole metric of performance in the civil service and things get into the extreme.
A good robust system must be responsive to feedback. In history, there are numerous examples- failure of the communist regimes and excesses of the capitalist system during the industrial revolution. It is not good if the pendulum is swung to the extreme end.
Coming back to the point, what makes the policy makers so sure about their stand when there are some many dissenting voices even from learned pple like yeoh lam keong, ngiam tong dow, lim chong yah, tan cheng bok.
Immigration may be good to drive GDP growth, but we know that this will also drive up social inequality unless there is sufficient wealth redistribution measures through appropriate tax policies. Foreign talents intake can cut both ways, hurting income and employment of locals unless it is done properly to ensure that there is complementarity with the local employment and this requires detailed planning. I dont see these safeguards in the current white paper so how can we be sure that the balance does not get tipped too far. To think that we cannot even get the minimum wage law passed when countries all around us including HongKong has it implemented.
Closer to triviality, IP programme is good but not when there are so limited places and every thing hinges on PSLE. Teach less learn more is good but not when testing gets too far outside of the content that tuition is becomes essential and places the poor at a disadvantage. DSA is good because there are some kids with other talents but not when the poorer students are disadvantaged because their parents cannot sponsor swimming programmes and piano/violin lessons and are not given the options. Aren't these cases of good intention but require tweaking and responsiveness to feedback/
We are too far behind other countries in political development that we will suffer if nothing is done about it through our naivety.
And HAPPY CNY again!!! Lets hope we are more politically developed by 2016. -
Just relax:
Maybe he meant \"NOT that...\", instead of \"note that\"....To Quote from Weihan's earlier post
\"All advances in the west did not come about during the dark age when people and idea was oppressed. Note that I am saying that we are oppressed under PAP and need an opposition party.\"
An extra \"e\" instead of missing \"Not\"..? -
AWSP:
I don't think there is anything to disagree with what I have said. I have merely stated that the Govt. must continue to be robust and not pander to populist policies based on the people's feedback as that is the slippery road to partisan politics that currently has made many democracies less than efficient. For these other democracies such deficiencies and inefficiencies will not cripple the country. Singapore does not have the luxury of allowing for these inefficiencies or deficiencies as another country or large Chinese, Indian or neighboring ASEAN city could come in to take over the position that Singapore occupies in a certain sector.
Happy CNY....Just relax:
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore's future continues to shine brightly for generations to come.
And I disagree with your opinion. Sometimes INERTIA is better than takIng too strong a position. Especially in an \"very efficient society like Singapore\" where KPI is the sole metric of performance in the civil service and things get into the extreme.
A good robust system must be responsive to feedback. In history, there are numerous examples- failure of the communist regimes and excesses of the capitalist system during the industrial revolution. It is not good if the pendulum is swung to the extreme end.
Coming back to the point, what makes the policy makers so sure about their stand when there are some many dissenting voices even from learned pple like yeoh lam keong, ngiam tong dow, lim chong yah, tan cheng bok.
Immigration may be good to drive GDP growth, but we know that this will also drive up social inequality unless there is sufficient wealth redistribution measures through appropriate tax policies. Foreign talents intake can cut both ways, hurting income and employment of locals unless it is done properly to ensure that there is complementarity with the local employment and this requires detailed planning. I dont see these safeguards in the current white paper so how can we be sure that the balance does not get tipped too far. To think that we cannot even get the minimum wage law passed when countries all around us including HongKong has it implemented.
Closer to triviality, IP programme is good but not when there are so limited places and every thing hinges on PSLE. Teach less learn more is good but not when testing gets too far outside of the content that tuition is becomes essential and places the poor at a disadvantage. DSA is good because there are some kids with other talents but not when the poorer students are disadvantaged because their parents cannot sponsor swimming programmes and piano/violin lessons and are not given the options. Aren't these cases of good intention but require tweaking and responsiveness to feedback/
We are too far behind other countries in political development that we will suffer if nothing is done about it through our naivety.
And HAPPY CNY again!!! Lets hope we are more politically developed by 2016.
Let us look no further than Johor which is attempting to build a petrochemical hub to directly compete with Jurong Island. M'sia has the advantage of having a petroleum giant like Petronas to co-fund and partner other petrochemical companies. For Singapore to not act or to remain INERT invites disaster.
That is just one example. Let me give another. Iskandar is developing an education hub that will rival Singapore and universities from the UK have already set up campuses or have plans to do so. Logically Iskandar will be competing for the same Indian and Chinese international students that now head to Singapore to study. The difference is that Iskandar has space to grow and can build many university towns and the ringgit is far cheaper. For Singapore to remain INERT invites disaster.
I have only cited 2 obvious examples, there are others because Iskandar dwarfs Singapore yet is aiming for the same level of efficiencies as Singapore yet with a more abundant and cheaper labour force.
Yet here in Singapore we nitpick about issues which matter little in the big picture about Singapore's economic competitiveness. The IP prog and the DSA processes probably can be better improved butto me we still have to look at beyond our borders and realize everybody is gearing up and becoming more efficient.
Even an exclusively Catholic country like the Philippines has seen the benefits of having a casino, having observed Singapore and are building a casino to rival Singapore's. And this in a country which has abundant resources and people. Yet it picks up on an aspect that has nothing to do with its inherent advantages of low cost, abundant people but because Singapore has succeeded, it will do it as well in direct competition.
It is the reality of Singapore's situation that because it does not have any of the resource advantages of its neighbours (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia - oil; Philippines - mineral resources; Thailand and Vietnam - large population and low costs) it will always have to do better and more efficiently and cannot ever be INERT. -
3Boys:
Yeah man and I thought I gave enough clues for the answer.
Crazy isn't it.
Imagine such opposition supporters driving future government policies and bringing ruin.
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JannettLee:
Self-serving guy who is talking his book (to borrow an investment jargon). Need I say more?Below is an article about the ineffectiveness of ABSD..........
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The writer is the CEO of real estate agency International Property Advisor Pte Ltd
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Enjoy reading your post, Just relax.
You sound very familiar.....
:celebrate:
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