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Dear Members and Friends
The
topic of local versus global
talent always seems to be
bubbling under the surface and
flares up every now and then. It
is illogical in our small,
manpower-constrained, open
economy with one of the world’s
lowest total fertility rates.
Responses to global talent can
be emotive because they are
driven by feelings of insecurity
and fear of job competition. For
the last 13 years the topic has
been thoroughly flogged to
death. It is now time to bury
it.
Local versus global talent is
illogical in the Singapore
context because our country and
its economy have always needed
local and global talent.
Global talent fills gaps in our
expertise and knowledge. That is
why our government talks about
complementary global talent. The
key question is how do we make
more Singaporeans feel more
secure about their capabilities
and prospects?
We
can all start by reflecting on
the facts. Singaporeans have
more advantages in education, in
employment and in continuous
learning opportunities than most
people in this world all funded
by every taxpayer. All global
talent pay tax. Singaporeans
have no reason to be insecure or
fear job competition: quite the
opposite. They have every reason
to be confident of their
abilities to apply their skills,
learn new ones and maximize
their prospects. What we should
all focus on is integrating
local and global talent as
successfully as we have
integrated our multiracial
society. What does that take?
First, there needs to be a
welcome extended to global
talent from everyone already
living here. Most people do this
already. Second, a willingness
on the part of newly arrived
global talent to assimilate and
integrate. Most people do this
already because it is how they
get the most enjoyment out of
their time here and increase
their effectiveness at work.
So,
let’s move on and focus more on
integrating local and global
talent for everyone’s sake and
for the sake of our economy. God
knows we all have much more
important existential issues to
think about and plan for. Things
like evolving impacts of climate
change and of the technological
revolution, for example.
Yours faithfully
Victor Mills
Advisor to the Board & Interim
Chief Executive
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