My opinion on whether singapore will survive another 50 years

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

MY OPINION ON WHETHER SINGAPORE WILL SURVIVE ANOTHER 50 YEARS

Post date:
8 Aug 2014 - 7:04pm








I refer to the article: "CHAN CHUN SING: SINGAPORE MAY NOT EVEN SURVIVE ANOTHER 50 YEARS"
Here is my opinion on whether can we survive another 50 years.

Survival as a Country:

Since Singapore’s Independence in 1965, we hadn’t had any military fighting, as in civil wars, rebellion etc. None. Can we be invaded and annexed within the next 50 years? Unlikely, given the lack of resources, the small land size and a HUGE unhappy population. Can we defend Singapore if we are invaded? Unlikely, given the high resentment and small number of active personnel (abt 72k from wikipedia.)
I doubt anyone will want to invade Singapore, but if they decide to do it, I think they will succeed.

Minister Chan also said: “To overcome the challenges, Singapore will need people who are rooted to the country even as they seek their fortunes elsewhere, he said.”
The most contradicting thing about this phrase is that Singapore gives out citizenship and encourage people to ‘uproot’ from their country, yet encourages its own citizen to stay “rooted to the country”. People go for better opportunities and a better life if they can. Can’t be stopped. So if lots of foreigners come into Singapore and become citizens, and Singapore citizens leave for elsewhere, what will be the result? Singapore will still be around, with changes to the demographics, that’s all.
So Minister Chan can relax, with the exception of an invasion, Singapore will still be around as a country.

Economic Survival:

From the article, it seems Minister Chan is more concerned about Singapore’s economic survival.

What’s the worst that can happen? We revert back to a fishing/farming economy? Unlikely, cause reclamation, urbanisation and pollution would have wiped out most fishing/farming areas. We would probably revert back to the post world war 2 economy, (with many high rise buildings), doing what we had been doing pre-independence.
From Minister Chan, I gathered what I think is important.

“To stand out among regional and global cities, Singapore’s advantage lies in innovation and value-add, said Mr Chan, who stressed that Singapore has to compete against cities, not countries. “The challenge for us is to ensure we compete on the quality of ideas, not the quantity of input and, God help us, not on price,” he said. “We need to identify the part of a value chain where we have competitive advantages, be it production, services or sales.”

“advantage lies in innovation and value-add” – This we have a few, albeit from the wrong place. i.e ERP, COE etc.

“Singapore has to compete against cities, not countries.” – For a moment, I wondered: which city does not belong to a country? Why shouldn’t different cities in a big country work together and help each other to compete with other countries? The fact is we need to compete with countries, some with big hinterland and big domestic market. That’s our constraint.

“challenge for us is to ensure we compete on the quality of ideas, not the quantity of input, ~ not on price,” – Well, last I remembered, I thought all countries compete on Price, and that’s why Chinese Products and Japanese Cars have the advantage and are popular. The products that’s less dependent on price is High Quality and Branded goods, and maybe some nuclear weapons or drugs. But Singapore don’t really produce ‘goods’ for exportation. Do we produce ideas and export them? We could patent COEs or ERPs…… just a thought.

“need to identify the part of a value chain where we have competitive advantages” – value chain has this element of “To enhance efficiency and to optimize profits”. Simply put, its about cost. Even if a value chain is identified, does Singapore have the advantage of efficiency and low cost? I know that cost for rental and labour is high when coupled with the strong Singapore Dollar. We would likely be passed by even if there are opportunities.

Going by Minister Chan’s military background, it would indeed be challenging for him to come up with solutions for Singapore’s Economic Survival.

I have always wondered: with our infrastructure and access to technology, why are we not producing our own pharmaceutical companies? We could be exporting medicine, or at the very least, not be so worried about errant/dubious foreign pharmaceutical companies.






Political Survival:

“Singapore will have to continue managing the integration of immigrants, among other challenges. This will depend on whether it can forge a national identity as “a forward-looking and inclusive concept based on values, ideals and vision”

Bus driver strike, Little India Riot, public vandalism, Hong Lim Park protests, slipping vote share, high cost of living, train disruptions etc do not paint a rosy picture for the ruling party. A few bloggers have mentioned that they were once patriotic with a sense of belonging but no longer. I felt so too. I felt we used to have a national identity, but have since lost it. Besides, whose values, ideals and vision should we build on? Rather than ‘One People One Nation One Singapore’, we are so inclusive I think we now have ‘Many People Many Nations in Singapore’.

Given Minister Chan’s military background, it would indeed be challenging for him to rally people who are not soldiers. Citizens are not conscripts by the way.

My conclusion:

Singapore will survive, if enough concerned Singaporeans can find a reason to defend her and build her up again. Our forefathers did.

Singapore is home…… was home until it was changed to a sampan to ferry sojourners …..
Singapore should not be a sampan waiting to capsize because too many people are on it …

Ken
TRS contributor


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