Foreign Talent-Dilemma in Singapore. as we shall explain, illustrate and seek to convince in this report, foreign talent help to make Singapore more competitive, and create more opportunities than we can generate on our own. This will be crucial in enabl

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"Attracting Talent vs Looking After Singaporeans"

INTRODUCTION: A VISION FOR SINGAPORE

1.        In the 21st century, Singapore will be even better than it is today: an exciting city in which to work, live and play; a global hub pulsating with energy and ideas.  The Singapore economy will be vibrant, our culture brimming with diversity, and our society strong and united.

2.        To achieve our vision, we must make Singapore a centre of opportunity.  Singapore will be a hub in Asia where people can advance their economic lifestyles, pursue their interests and find happiness in their lives.  We will be a society where everyone matters, where everyone is valued, and recognised for his or her myriad contributions.

3.        Singapore’s continued prosperity and success depends on our ability to maximise the talents of all Singaporeans, as well as to develop a deep-seated sense of belonging — or rootedness — to Singapore.  Singaporeans must be allowed to become the best they can be.  We should develop a more encompassing definition of success. People must be encouraged to try the road less taken, to explore what lies off the beaten track.  We must recognise success even in the single penny picked up at the end of the rainbow, and respect, applaud and celebrate the diverse accomplishments of fellow citizens. Locals have to feel that Singapore is our best home, best hope. Singaporeans must believe in our country, identify with its destiny and stand ready to contribute to, suffer for and defend our society, values and nation.

4.        Our continued success also depends on our ability to attract and retain talent. In the new millennium, talent is not something “nice” to have; it is the essential ingredient for sustained success.  We should not see foreign talent as queue-jumpers in the race for j        obs in Singapore; nor as opportunists competing unfairly.  Rather, as we shall explain, illustrate and seek to convince in this report, foreign talent help to make Singapore more competitive, and create more opportunities than we can generate on our own.  This will be crucial in enabling Singaporeans to find fulfilment and achieve “the good life”.  Singaporeans have expressed concerns.  However, after much discussion and deliberation, our committee feels strongly that there is no contradiction between making Singapore our best home and a talent capital.  These two goals are mutually self-reinforcing and synergistic.

Why Do We Need Foreign Talent?

5.        Talent is crucial to Singapore’s survival and success. To maintain our long-term competitiveness, Singapore must transit into a Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE). What is a KBE?  In the 20th century, production of wealth was through the use of raw materials, labour and capital.  But, in the 21st century, talented people and the services, ideas and innovations they generate will be the critical factors.  We need talent to deal with forces of globalisation and the challenges wrought by advances in technology, especially Information Technology (IT). We need talent to stay ahead.

6.        Major cities around the world have thrived because of talent and their ability to absorb the best and brightest.  Even a country of abundant resources like the US needs talent. In 1998, the US Congress approved an increase in the number of visas for foreign talent that allows the US to continue absorbing the brightest minds from around the world.  In Silicon Valley, a small town has been transformed into a vibrant home for start-ups and ventures because of the ability to draw top IT talent from all over the world, especially Asia.  In the US, the immigrant ethos is still very much alive and this enables the country to continue to welcome talent from abroad and to benefit from their contribution.

The sea welcomes a hundred brooks,

Only those with big hearts can accommodate others

- Chinese saying

7.        Singapore, too, must be the sea that continually welcomes a hundred brooks.  Being big-hearted and accommodating enable Singapore to be plugged into the global network.  We will benefit from the cross-fertilisation of ideas and thinking that comes from the convergence of a hundred sources.

What Do Talent Bring To Singapore?

In a knowledge-based era, the scarce strategic resources that will allow one company to surpass its competitors is the quality of the people working for it…companies that seek people with a passion that makes real the oft-repeated rhetoric that `people are our greatest assets’ can gain enormous returns on that scarce asset.  As one manager told us: `We must think of our company less in product-market terms and more as collectors of great people.’

-        Christopher A Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal, “Play the Right Card to Get the Aces in the Pack”, Financial Times 

8.        Besides bringing valuable skills, knowledge and ideas, the foreign talent’s vigour provides powerful motivation for us to continually strive for higher standards. They also strengthen our society by keeping alive the migrant spirit and instincts that give Singapore a critical advantage.  Their example can make us aware of the dangers of becoming complacent.

9.        Foreign talent does not just help to enlarge our economic pie but also make our pie tastier and more diverse in flavour. They introduce the croissant to supplement our roti prata. Foreign talent brings variety and diversity to Singapore, adding colour, richness and spice to our cultural life.  We not only need top economic people but top-class artistes and musicians as well.  To compete in the World Cup, we too must, like France, absorb international sports talent.  This will add a cosmopolitan flavour to Singapore and enable us to compete in the big league.

10.        Singapore is a small country with no natural resources and a small population. In welcoming foreign talent, we benefit from global education and training resources and use it to supplement and complement our own.  Attracting top specialists in their fields to Singapore raises our country’s profile: talent attracts talent.  This helps to make Singapore a world-class talent capital as well as to establish a network with international specialists.  To become a truly globally competitive city, Singapore must forge links with every major dynamic economy and incorporate talent from all regions of the world.

Who Are Foreign Talent?

11.        Talent refers to both foreigners and locals. Local talent is valuable but with a population of three million, the Singapore pool is not large enough when the competition we face is the world. Our local pool must be augmented with the best skills and talents that can be tapped globally. Just as the brooks enrich the sea, foreign talent enlarges our human resource pool, strengthens our competitiveness and increases our social vitality.  We think of foreign talent to be people who have certain internationally marketable experiences and skills, and who can do the jobs that Singaporeans cannot do, or where there are just not enough Singaporeans to do the work. They include foreigners who work in our industrial and commercial sectors as well as those in our universities and research institutes. The foreign talent may be an entrepreneur, IT specialist, artiste or sportsman in our “S” league.  They can also be foreigners in our education system who strengthen schools through greater competitiveness and diversity.

12.        What we want is to complement our local talent with talent from overseas.

How We Have Benefited and Continue to Do So?

13.        How have we benefited from foreign talent? We need only to remind ourselves that foreign talent is not new to Singapore but has been an integral part of the Singapore story. Historically, Temasek has been an oasis for immigrants.  People from afar, be they Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Eurasians, Jews or Armenians sailed here seeking a better life.  Some fled famine and chaos while others brought new businesses and ideas. But all were determined to succeed in a foreign land. All but one of our first Cabinet were foreign-born and, without them, Singapore would not be where we are today.  In the private sector, contributions to Singapore’s economic development by foreign CEOs and business leaders, as well as their MNCs, are also well-documented.

14.        We continue to benefit from foreign talent. The benefits that foreign talent bring are not just economic but are spread out across many sectors.  Let us explore some specific examples.

15.        Higher Education: As our economy matures and moves towards high value-added industry, the government has increased the opportunities for tertiary education. The number of full-time tertiary places (university and polytechnic) has increased from about 14,900 in 1988 to about 66,200 in 1998. This increase was made possible by recruiting quality foreign lecturers to supplement our local talent pool, especially in areas where locals are lacking or difficult to recruit like in animation, digital media design, etc.  In the past 10 years, the number of full-time foreign academic staff in our tertiary institutions have increased by about 840 in absolute numbers. The proportion of foreign academic staff with respect to the total academic staff strength, however, has remained at about 26%.

16.        Attracting foreign lecturers, researchers, technical specialists and postgraduate students to Singapore, either into our tertiary institutions or through the setting up of joint institutions, also helped in the transfer of expertise from other countries to Singapore.  For example, at the early stages when the German-Singapore Institute, French-Singapore Institute and the former Japan-Singapore Institute of Software Technology were set up, foreign technical specialists from these countries were attached to our tertiary institutions and had helped in the development of course curricula and training of staff. In addition, they have also helped to raise the standard of the research work.

17.        Overall, the presence of foreign expertise not only supplements our local talent pool but also helps to raise our standard of intellect diversity through regular interaction and sharing of knowledge and experiences. This has not only helped to raise the standard of our education but enriched our campus life.

18.        Research & Development: Foreign talent have similarly contributed to Singapore’s research and development (R&D) scene. In 1990, we had about 3,600 local Research Scientists and Engineers (RSEs) and 700 RSEs from overseas. We recognised that the R&D field is an area that can give Singapore a technological leading edge in regional and global competition. We strived for a more highly-educated population which would create conditions ideal for R & D work to be brought to Singapore. We attracted foreign RSEs to work in Singapore. By 1997, we had expanded the total number of RSEs in Singapore to 11,300. Foreign RSEs contributed 2,300 or 21% of this number. With the greater number of more highly qualified RSEs, our Research Institutes (RIs) were able to make greater strides and contribution.

19.        For instance, the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA) had conducted many agricultural technology research projects which led to commercialisation of new products like rice with better resistance to diseases and yields, and cotton with improved traits. In 1996, the IMA collaborated with China to access upstream technologies developed in research institutes there and transfer them to Singapore for further development work and product commercialisation.

20.        Another example is the Institute of Molecular Cell Biology (IMBC) which was able to establish its name. In November 98, IMBC entered into a bilateral partnership with the Medical Research Council of Canada to support R&D activities in both countries, geared towards the creation of intellectual properties in the biomedical field. The long term objective is to utilise this intellectual property pipeline to spin off and support Singapore-Canada biomedical ventures and to create opportunities for corporate partnerships with major global drug companies.

21.        Another example is the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). CRISP developed a computer-modelling system linked to powerful satellites which can help monitor land or sea pollution, forest fires, seaport congestion as well as track lost ships. This computer system is used by the Ministry of Environment and the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) to monitor forest fires in the region, and track pollution at sea. It was immensely useful during the 1997 Haze episode and was deployed to assist Indonesia to monitor hot spots in her battle to curtail forest fires from starting and spreading. The system was also successfully employed to help MPA clean up the major oil spill in Singapore waters in 1997.

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22.        Some of the most exciting technologies in the IT world are being developed at the Kent Ridge Digital Laboratories (KRDL). One product enables surgeons to rehearse their operations in 3-dimensional computer models – making surgery safer. Another product creates an invisible digital watermark on digital products (eg. digital music, books, photos) which brings added security to electronic trade and services. A third product can recognise spoken Mandarin and reproduce it on screen, removing the need for slow and cumbersome keyboard input.

23.        As we develop the calibre and increase the number of RSEs in our R&D industry, overseas Research ...

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