My One Cent Worth of Thoughts

Once upon a time, in the village of Tiddlywinks, there lived a bunch of people, whose pastime was to drink beer and eat white sausages. The villagers produced beer and used it to barter for white sausages from the next village, Winkytill.

One fine day, as of any normal day, the villagers cheerfully loaded their little carts with barrels of fine TW beer, looking forward to having fresh white sausages for their dinners. They simply loved the white sausages, which was their only source of pleasure in a hard day’s work of beer making.

Whistling happily, they pushed their carts with vigour, on the winding path to Winkytill. Suddenly, the whole procession stopped. There was a great big giant tree, right smack in the middle of the vital path to Winkytill!! They just couldn’t believe their eyes. How could a humongous tree grow overnight?! (This is a fairy tale, ok?!) They rubbed their eyes in disbelief! What’s worse! It had cut them off from their precious supply of white sausages! This was atrocious, ridiculous and… UNTHINKABLE!!

The villages wrung their hands in despair and pulled their hairs out. They pushed their carts dejectedly back to their village and sat in a circle despondently. One of the villagers stood up and exclaimed,” We need a giant axe to cut down the giant tree!” At this statement, the fire returned to everyone’s eyes. “That’s a brilliant idea!!” They patted the smart aleck on his back.

“Now, where can we get this great big axe from?!”

“Hmm…..”

“I know! Ah Wei from the RoarRoar town nearby can do it! She can find ANYTHING!”

So, they contacted Ah Wei . She became an employee of the Tiddlywinks subsidiary located in the RoarRoar town and they entrusted upon her the important task of getting a giant axe, so that they could cut the tree down and get to their precious supply of white sausages.

Efficient as she always was, she managed to find someone who had this great big axe in an amazingly short time.

“Yo yo! I have a seller who’s willing to sell his great big axe for 1 dollar!! It’s such a good deal!”

The villagers of Tiddlywinks exclaimed,”1 dollar?! But we don’t have 1 dollar! We only have a lot of good TW beer! The best beer in the region!”

After much cajoling, persuading, even to the extent of begging, Ah Wei managed to get the seller to barter his great big axe for a barrel of good old TW beer. The seller reluctantly accepted the bargain, although he’s allergic to beer and would develop red ugly rashes from drinking it. Nevertheless, he’s no match for Ah Wei’s persuasive powers.

Now, the villagers sat around the great big axe. It’s so big that 30 people were needed to lift it up. What’s the best way to cut the tree down?

“We should do it the top-down method!”

“No no! It should be the left-right method!”

“No no no!! It should be ……”

The villagers spent 4 whole months, arguing over the best way to utilise the great big axe. After much fighting and debating, they finally agreed on a method. So they set off to conquer the great big tree.

When they reached the very spot where the great big tree rested, they discovered that, because they had spent so much time arguing, the entire landscape had changed! Instead of a great big tree, a great big river cut across the path!!!

They shouted, they lamented and they hopped around in anger, for 4 months without the white sausages had left them very miserable indeed. Furiously, they trudged back to the village.

“Ah Wei!! We don’t want the axe anymore!! We want a great big pail to bail the water out!”

“What.. what?! Then what should I do with the great big axe?!”

“We don’t care! Just barter it for a great big pail! By hook or by crook! We are your bosses so you must do what we say!”

“But but but…” Ah Wei had no choice.

She found a seller with a great big pail. After much effort, she managed to persuade him to exchange his pail for the axe. Wiping her sweat off her brows, she gave the pail to the villagers. Yet again, the villagers took another 4 months to decide on the best way to bail the water out with the pail. It’s pretty amazing to find so many indecisive people in one village. They should have made an entry in the Guinness book of Records.

So, off they go again, to the river, grumpily shoving each other along the way. They were suffering from the withdrawal syndrome, being deprived of the white sausages for 8 whole months. Yet again, the world waited for no one. While they were gone, due to forces of nature, the river was replaced with a mountain! “Our white sausages!!!” The villagers hollered in anguish.

They went back to Ah Wei and demanded, “WE WANT YOU TO EXCHANGE THIS GREAT BIG PAIL FOR A GREAT BIG SPADE!!”

“What..what?! This is unreasonable! First you wanted a great big axe, then a great big pail and now a great big spade! Do you know what you want!?”

“We don’t care! The natural forces have changed, we now want a spade! We can’t use the pail on the mountain!!”

“If only you had observed the natural trends and taken less time to react to the changes, then all these would be unnecessary!!!”

“So what?! Do you question our actions!? You are our employee and you must follow instructions, no matter how stupid they are! We pay you to do what we want you to do!!”

Fed up with their unreasonable demands and tired of having to pacify the irked sellers, Ah Wei finally released her pent up frustrations! Conjuring up a handful of *fried cuttlefish (Reminder: This is a fairy tale.), she stuffed them into the villagers’ mouths! Taken aback by surprise, they were too shocked to move. She boxed them in the ears, punched them in the face and kicked them in their shins.

“I CHAO your YOU YU!! I have companies lining up to employ me and I will not sit here, wasting my time to follow the instructions of a bunch of procrastinating fools!”

With amazing strength, she turned the great big pail over the heads of the villagers, slapped the dust off herself and walked off.

She had not experienced such great satisfaction for a long long time….

*fried cuttlefish = Chao3 You2 Yu2 (in Chinese) = Sack the employer = resign = whatever = you get the idea!

Study finds that worker here gets 13.2% more for each extra year of schooling – higher than in Japan, Australia and US.

IT PAYS to stay in school, a joint study by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has found.

For every extra year of schooling, a Singaporean worker earns on average 13.2 per cent more, which is significantly higher compared with countries like the United States, Japan and Australia.

Broken down by educational qualifications, the return on every year of schooling rises as an individual goes up the education ladder.

A first-degree holder, for example, earned about six times more than that of a worker who did not even have primary-level education.

The study found that a university graduate with a first degree would earn on average 17 per cent more for every extra year that he spent in school.

In comparison, a worker with only primary school qualifications would only earn on average 1.5 per cent more for every year he stayed in school.

The paper, written by two MAS and two MOM economists, also found that the wages of more highly educated people in Singapore increased at a faster pace than those of less-educated workers.

The salaries of less-educated workers doing manual jobs also peaked earlier, in 31 to 40 years of working, while the wages of more highly skilled workers continued to rise with experience even after they reached 50.

The study used data from an MOM survey in 2000 on education qualifications.

At that time, 13.5 per cent of the workers here had a first degree or better, while 30.7 per cent had primary school education or none at all.

The average number of years of schooling for both males and females was 10.1 years, while the median monthly wage for a graduate with a first degree and 11 to 20 years’ experience, was $5,320.

The paper noted that the rate of return on education was higher in Singapore than in other countries.

Citing research conducted in other countries, the paper said that the returns for each additional year of schooling in Australia were 5.1 per cent for men and 5.2 per cent for women.

The figures were 12.7 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in Britain.

For Japan, they were 7.5 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively; while in the US, they were 7.4 per cent and 9.6 per cent.

Another study, a World Bank policy research paper, had reported that the average return on each additional year of schooling was 9.9 per cent in Asia, 11.7 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 12 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The authors concluded that the study showed that there was a substantial pay-off to education in Singapore.

‘As Singapore restructures itself and shifts from a technology-oriented society to a knowledge-based info hub, there will be increasing demand for high-skilled workers,’ they said.

‘The premium on investing in higher education should encourage and provide greater incentives for individuals to pursue such qualifications.’

I came across this particular article in our national newspapers, the Straits Times, this morning. For anyone who’s interested in the original e-copy of it, you may click on the link.

At first sight, I thought, “Hey! This is part of the government’s campaign to encourage the people to further their studies. Hmm.. And to tell the world that we have a whole crate of highly educated people aka workforce in the country!!”

However, upon second thoughts, this probably reflects the stereotyped thinking of our citizens. Why would such a phenomenom arise? Now, wait a minute, is this all part of the *whispers*government’s propaganda ?? *whispers* Ssshhh…!

Education. Education is the first criterion which the Singaporean employer goes by. This standard has been kindly set by our very own civil service. Therefore, if you are not a university graduate… Bah! You are out! Jeez… You have lousy grades… Boom! You are also out! They do not care if you have other redeemable qualities such as leadership, good communication skills etc. So what happens? They recruit people who top their classes, mug well and regurgitate the exact wordings of the textbook. Forgive me, but this is really how the Singapore educational system works. Not much room for creativity here. I do not deny that, among the smart alecks, there are some who excel in both IQ and EQ. However, by taking results and educational standard as prime criteria, many other talented people have been left out.

Not only that, the appraisal and promotional chances an individual has, in civil service depends not only the experience and contributions he has chalked up in his years of service but also on his O Levels, A Levels and what-have-yous. Therefore, if he acquired a D grade in either his ‘O’s or his ‘A’s, it may well plague him for the rest of his working life in the public sector!!*shiver*

Now you know why children commit suicide due to educational stress in this meritocratic system. Because, they know that if they make a bad grade in primary school, they will be haunted by it for the rest of their lives. How do they know?! Our national newspapers said so….

Creativity.. Creativity, an overused word touted by our modern educationists and frequently debated on in the national newspapers. Our children, our youths, the 4 million population of the country, Singapore, lack this omni-important ingredient – creativity!

What do we have?! A nation of robots, mass-produced by our ISO 9000 certified schools, only capable of following the book and walking in a straight line. This probably accounts for the lack of graffiti on our pristinely clean walls. Ta dah! Yet another blatant example of lack of creativity. (Ooops, should I think of a synonym for “creativity”?? Nah.. I don’t think I’m capable of it, being a true blue product of this uncreative society).

Parents lament over this and send their children to expensive, inefficient (from the looks of it) creativity classes all over the island. They even go to the extent of enrolling their children in schools at the other end of Singapore, bravely enduring the torment of traffic jams. (Well, since Singaporeans are even willing to trot across the island in search of gourmet dishes, this is a small price to pay, in exchange for children who will ooze creativity after attending the classes.)

Ahhh… BUT!!! Little do they know that, the best kept secret to funneling the essence of “creativity” is actually in this website. I present to you, the zenith of creativity (contributed by the God of Links, I totally worship him!!!) – Mr. Picassohead. Once you port over to this amazing website and start putting lines on the blank screen, you will positively feel the elixir of creativity gush into you…..

Finally, here is my very own masterpiece (For people who do not know how to open links, please click on the linked word-masterpiece to see my drawing. Sharon Law (she has kindly reminded me to put her surname in, since Sharon is such a common name), this remark is specially added for YOU!!). A new artist of the Impressionist era has been born….. *fireworks*

Psst… I have had my eye on this Picasso drawing for ages… Since it’s going to be Christmas soon… GET THE HINT?! Nah.. You don’t have to give me the original piece, just a nice decent printed copy will do. GET THE 2ND HINT?!

T’is the season to be jolly… Tra la… la la la….

Ho ho ho! Yes! It will be Christmas in 8 days.

Well, I must admit that I’m not a very Christmassy person. I was when I was little because Christmas equated to presents, many many presents. Right now, Christmas means that I have to trudge through masses of people just to buy necessities. Orchard Road is a madhouse nowadays. It seems that the whole of Singapore is there. SIgh….

Still, it’s a day to be celebrated, else I wouldn’t have a paid non-working day… Arhh.. That is bliss…. not having to go to the office and pretend that I’m working. Some information for people who simply love their jobs : Pretending to be busy is much more torturous than being really busy. *shrug*

Since it’s the Christmas season anyway, here are 2 links, contributed by Duma (See! I have the decency to acknowledge friends.. unlike SOMEONE… that SOMEONE knows whom I’m referring to! *folds arms*)

1. Snowfight!!

Somehow, it reminds me of SouthPark… Kenny in particular. The agonising shrieks emitted by the cute little fellows are rather disturbing… That goes for the unnatural cackles at the end of the game.

2. Snow Globe

Watch the little ones fly in the air in agony as you shake the globe. *evil laugh*

The air was heavy with the smell of perspiration and stale odour of cigarette smoke. Clusters of people were congregated in the little Kopitiam. A Malay song, from a beaten radio, blared above the volume of the customers’ idle chatter.

In a little corner of the Kopitiam, a middle-aged man was recounting his son’s exploits with relish.

“When my son was in kindergarten arh, he asked me to give him money to buy sweets. So I told him, “Daddy is very poor, no money lar.” Then you know what he did?”

Prompted by his question, I replied (with a typical and standard answer), wearing a look of intense interest on my face, “No, what did he do?”

“Wa…. He went to the school the next day and asked his classmate to give him money!”

*Gasp* “Isn’t that extortion!?”

“Yalor! He told his classmate to give him money, or else he will beat him up!!!”

“Did his classmate hand his money over?”

“Yeah! He did! And he came home and gave me the money and said, “Papa, papa! You said you have no money. I give you money!”

“Then what did you do? Did you scold him?”

“Aiya. How can I have the heart to scold him? He didn’t extort money for himself leh. He did it for me! So smart! He’s thinking for me.” He chuckled happily, reliving the scene all over again.

“Oh…. Erm… “ Laughed uneasily. “Your son is…. So con..si..de…rate.”

Just to keep accounts straight. This middle-aged man is a manager with high earning power and he owns a 2l car and a private apartment. I can’t help but wonder, how many of these little monsters will be churned out in this century, by the senseless indulgence of parents.

3. TOILET!!!
Oh yeesss! I spend loads and loads of time in the toilet. Naturally the squeaky clean kind, with good ventilation, comfortable temperature, soothing level of lighting and the list goes on….. What? What can I do in the toilet?! Answer nature’s calls, what else?! *gasp* You do it in the flowerpot beside your desk?! How delightful! *giggle*

Besides the normal peeing and shitting business, toilets can be rather conducive for :

1. Day dreaming

2. Catching up on lost sleep

3. Eavesdropping on gossips (Statistics have shown that the toilet is the best source of information! Want to know who backstabbed you? Go shit! Want to know who stole the credit for your project?! Go Pee!!! )

4. Excuse for getting out of a sticky situation in a meeting

5. Folding cranes with the toilet paper

As you can see, toilets are of utmost importance!!! So far, lucky ME have spanking clean and friendly toilets, but ever since I moved into this building (I suspect that it is the oldest one in the company estate!), going to the toilet has been a nightmare! It is no longer a delight that I look forward to, everything is done in a hurry. Run in, push the door open (making sure that it is empty first. Oh yes… you will be surprised!), finish the business, wash hands, back to the sanctuary of the office — all in a 5 minutes dash. If there is some kind of toilet dash competition, I am sure I will secure the first place. Rushing in and out of the toilet can be really depressing and detrimental to productivity. Can you empathise with the agony of a worker who cannot enjoy her daily business in peace and serenity?!

Let me tell you the reason why a toilet lover like me has to stoop to such underground levels. A corridor leads from my office to the toilet. There is a door at the end of the corridor, it usually blocks the cold wind from entering and thus keeping the passageway reasonably warm. Once you go past the door, brrr… an instant change of 10 degrees, just in a matter of split seconds. Then you open the toilet door, thinking, oh great! A warm toilet to escape from the cold. Suddenly, the icy blast of air hit you. All negative 5 degrees Celsius of it. First you flick the switch on, (they practise energy saving here), the ‘cheery’ lights illuminate the sparse place and then sputter into oblivion, then you go by a weird sink with iron bars across it (I suspect that it is used by the cleaning lady) before entering an icy cubicle. Have you ever tried sitting on a frozen toilet seat!? It is so cold that it literally freeze up the pelvic muscles and nothing can be released, prima! As a result, you have to wait a few seconds more, while shivering in the cold, for the business to come. Then you wear your pants with the then numbed fingers and turn right for the sink. There you see it! The window is opened, letting in the sub zero air! There is a huge heater there, but the little dial is turned to the snowflake sign! The rationale totally escapes me. In a fury, I punch the window shut and turn the dial of the heater to full blast (all after I have washed my hands of course! What were you thinking of?!) Grinning in glee, I anticipate the next warm toilet excursion.

2 hours later, with visions of warm toilets, I go to my 3rd favourite room. Brrr… cold! Isn’t the bloody heater working! Stomping to the heater, I glared at it, preparing to give it a few of my famous Weeeii kicks to get its ass moving. Argh! The dial has been turned back to snowflake! AND the blasted window is opened AGAIN! %$@@^ Who is the fricking idiot who has done this! With a vengence, I slam the window shut and again turn the heater up to max! I WILL PERSERVERE! WE SHALL SEE WHO HAS MORE PATIENCE!

This morning, after 1 week of intense battle, cursing and swearing, the toilet was warm and it was my FIRST toilet expedition of the day. *triumph*

 

 

 

 

Ok ok. I have seen this riddle some donkey years ago, but have just received it again by email. I love puzzles and this is a personal favourite of mine, so people, start your heads cracking!

This is supposedly a puzzle set by Einstein! You know the brilliant guy who dreamed up the relativity theory? Here goes…

There are 5 houses located in a row, in 5 different colours. In every house, lives a person with a different nationality from the rest. The 5 of them, each drinks a certain type of beverage, smokes a unique brand of cigar and has a different pet. No 2 owners have the same pet, smoke the same kind of cigar or drink the same beverage.

The mind boggling question… ssshh… *whispers * Who owns a fish????

Here comes the clues!

1. The Brit lives in the red house.

2. The Swede keeps a dog as pet.

3. The Dane drinks tea.

4. The green house is on the left of the white house.

5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.

6. The person who smokes the Pall Mall rears a bird.

7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.

8. The guy who stays in the house, in the middle, is a Mommy’s boy, he drinks milk.

9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

10. The man who smokes blends lives next door to the one who has a cat.

11. The guy who owns a horse lives next to the Dunhill guy.

12. The Bluemasters smoker also drinks beer.

13. The German smokes Prince.

14. The Norwegian lives next door to the blue house.

15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water. (Personal opinion : anyone in the world who doesn’t drink water?? Duh!)

According to Einy, 98% of the world can’t solve this riddle. Well, apparently the world has changed. Anyway, I belong to the 2% of the old world! Not bragging here, but I have to solve it before I can verify the answers that you will send to me, right? I wouldn’t have the audacity of posting an unsolved riddle and risk physical violence from all of you out there, although I hardly think that you will be able to find me. The world is big!

Don’t people know that it is impolite to stare, with 2 eyes (oh yeah, luckily humans have only 2) unblinkingly at others?!

I can understand that I am some sort of a novelty when I visit little rural villages in Europe and probably, most Japanese tourists (Oh yes, I am sick of the ‘moshi moshi’ that locals smartly throw at me! Let me clarify, I am definitely not a Japanese!) do not trek through these dirt tracks. They do stare, very briefly at me before looking away. Well, at least they have the decency to shift their line of sight and manage to look guilty for it.

As for my reaction, that really depends on my mood, whether it is a joyous day or a bad hair day (which is more often the case, figuratively and literally, when they defiantly persist in unruly curls and haphazard spikes, which tonnes of water, gel, brushing can never discipline.) On a smiley day, I will ignore them, IF, it doesn’t reach an excessive level. On the days when I get off the wrong side of the bed (you see, my bed is against the wall, so there can only be one correct side and to get off by the other way will produce disastrous results.), they will receive a double (or is it triple? I can never be sure.) dosage of rude stares back, with raised eyebrows and insolent tilt of my eyes (Believe me, I have had years of practise with it. Ask Nick.) Right there and then, a glorious battle of stares will take place. (Lethal staring is a high possibility for fist fights) I will stare till the other party drop their eyes and scuttle away in defeat. The triumph simply makes my day. Ah! The little joys in life!

Recently, I visited a trade fair in Munich, an international one. A weird phenomenon – I received stares from the Asians and not from the rest of the world. Is it because Asians simply have an insatisfiable sense of curiosity that extends to the looks of their fellow ethnic group members? Don’t I have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, one mouth, the same slanting eyes and black hair (ok ok it is a little reddish, but that can’t account for the total number of stares). I hate it when people stare at me, have I grown horns on my head or mushrooms on my face? Hardly not, since I am a regular humanoid and I do bathe everyday.

Therefore, I can only conclude that Asians can be so very rude and the best thing is, they do not seem to feel any remorse in this impolite act! As you can imagine, 8 hours of walking through the halls (and still unable to cover all grounds), 40% of the people were Asians (be it exhibitors or visitors), I had the time of my life practising my piercing stares (I am sure, by now, I have mastered a module in the art of ESP – Eye power, and be able to drill a hole in steel with a flick of an eye. Now, let me find a sheet to practise…). It sort of relieved the weariness from the endless trek through the uncountable halls. There! I derive joys from the pains of others. A perfect definition of a sadist. But, I LOVE IT!

Due to the much talked about topic of uncommitted employees in Singapore, there has been a survey conducted on this issue. “What makes a Singapore Boss ticks?” Interesting, interesting. The article pointed out that this syndrome was caused by bosses with poor people management.

Well, to a certain extent, I agree with this statement, for I have seen too many an example. Brilliant technical people come to a fork in their career paths. In foreign companies, there will be usually 2 options, to become a technical specialist and move up in that aspect, the other, to move in a resource (usually people) management post. Perhaps, due to the limits of the small offices in Singapore, these choices are not usually available. Therefore, you have the scenario of superb engineers thrust into the uncomfortable positions. “Either you become a manager or else, too bad, you will just remain in your current position til you are 60!!” Not much of a choice here, any sane person will pick the former. Therefore, you have on your hands, a very unhappy manager who is a square in a circular hole, with totally undesirable people management, a whole village of dissatisfied employees which results in an unproductive department. That doesn’t sound much like a win-win situation to me. There you have it, a troupe of grasshoppers, jumping to any available, attractive field. I can really empathize with them, for I, myself, have been a scrapegoat of this system as well.

Another great reason, in my opinion, has to do with the culture and environment that we have grown up in. Singapore is a meritocratic society. When you have straight As, you are Mommy’s blue eyed boy, just one F, you will be dropped from grace. The society is just so pragmatic. We have been encouraged to strive for good results, because that is equivalent to good job opportunities, high salary and a promising career. The “I want to be on top and have the best!” mentality has been cultivated since young. This applies to the expectations of a job too. People go from job to job, searching for the best one, chasing after the pot at the end of the rainbow, a fantasy. Employees no longer take crap as they used to, for they think that there is a better job out there. Besides, one day this industry may booming, the next day, totally gone.

“Why should we live for tomorrow? Live for today! Grab the best! Be the best!”

Therefore, once they smell the scent of a greener pasture, they move on.

Society has made us so, why push the total blame onto the bosses? Besides, most of these bosses are Made In Singapore products, nurtured by this very society. Think again!

China is the biggest and most popular ground for investment, right now. In all the foreign companies, little committees have been specially set up, to look into the working culture and the value of investment in the country. However, whether it is feasible or not, companies from all over the world clamour for a piece of the pie. There is a fierce competition going on, on which company has the most number of subsidiaries and has stepped onto the Chinese soil first.

Short interview with a foreigner from a prominent MNC spearheading the operations in China :

AhWei : Good morning! I am reporter Ah Wei calling from the Daily Blab. I have read from the newspapers that your company is transfering key personnels from parts of Asia to your newly established office in Shanghai. Is this true?

Mr. X : Yes, you are very right. We are building up the headquarters, which will overlook all the operations in the China. Our key managers have already moved up to this office and all our functional units will be consolidated here.

AhWei : If it is convenient, can you give me a brief note on the reason of this relocation?

Mr. X : Well, right now, China has the biggest domestic market and its labour cost is one of the cheapest in the world. Besides this, our competitors have already established their Asia office there. We plan to move the labour intensive operations from other parts of Asia and consolidate them in one country. Since everyone is there, we have to be there in time for a slice of the pie.

AhWei : Mr. X, have you ever considered the possiblity that this pie may not be as ideal as everyone thinks it is?

Mr. X: I understand what you mean, but even if the pie is not ideal, we need to be there to monitor the market, in any case. A bad slice is better than no pie at all.

AhWei: China is currently benefiting from the huge amount of investment poured in by the foreign investors. The Chinese are intelligent people and their technology has increased by leaps and bounds within the last few years. Are you not afraid that once your techonology is transferred to China, the Chinese would improved it and claim it as their own?

Mr. X: There is always a danger that they will do that and I am 90% sure about that. But these are the little sacrifices that you have to make to penetrate its market. They are the biggest domestic market in the world and is edged on getting larger everyday as the spending power of the people increases.

AhWei : Some of the companies commented that China’s technology is still far behind Europe and USA. What is your opinion on this comment?

Mr. X: I think these foreigners are underestimating the Chinese. I have just returned from Shanghai. A few years ago, there were only a few high rise buildings around and now, there are skyscrapers everywhere. Many local companies have been set up, with links to the research institutes all over China. Not only that, the Chinese government is actively funding these institutes. 5 years ago, their technology was 15 years behind the western countries‘. But now, they have caught up with an alarming speed and it is only 5 years behind us right now. At the rate it is going and the investment injected by the government and the investors, they pose a very big threat to the foreign companies and other Asian countries. Therefore I would like to urge my fellow countrymen not to underestimate them. I think that is all I have to comment about growth of China.

AhWei: That was a great interview. Thank you very much for taking time off your work and sharing your insight with us.

With the growth of China, many companies have shifted their Asia regional headquarters from countries lke Singapore to Hong Kong or Shanghai. The local people in the offices only draw one-third the amount of what their Singaporean counterpart earns. Not only that, they understand their own local market very well.

The South East Asian countries which were riding on the wave of the electronics industry are now trailing behind the wake of China, after the crash of the Asian market in 1997. The largest country in SE Asia is Indonesia. Although the labour cost there is way lower than in China, the political unstablity frightens investors away. All the SE Asia countries depend on this giant to wake up and cease its internal turmoils. However, looking at this country, everything does not look very promising. Within a span of 2 years, 3 presidents have stepped up and down the Parliament. The present one has a difficult task to pacify the dissatisfied people, fight off the opposition parties, which jumped at every possible opportunity to dethrone her, restore law and order in her country.

After clearing the smog, which was created by the combination of the unusually dry spell and the clearing of land using fire, the country has pledged to solve this problem if it ever happened again. The smog is hazardous to the health of the people and it not only affects Indonesia, but also the neighbouring countries. Tourism was badly affected, billions of dollars was spent trying to get rid of it and on the medical services. People collapsed from respiratory problems and the tourism industry simply fell apart. However, with this freak weather across the world (USA is having the worst drought of all times and Europe and Asia are experiencing life threatening floods.), this smog problem arises again. Today, the government of Indonesia issued an apology to its neighbours, for the environmental issue that it was unable to solve. Reasons cited were :

1. Lack of funds

2. Lack of manpower

3. Lack of education for the small farmers.

4. Oppositions from the farmers and many other problems.

According to the experts, this smog will be as terrible as the one in 1997 and countries are expected to spend a comparable amount of money to solve this problem. Tell me, if the government is unable to even combat the smog and its source, how is it going to attract the investors to settle in the country again? This is not only Indonesia‘s own problem, but the headache of the region, for while the Indonesians are indulging in their inefficient firefighting, China is pulling the investments and market away from SE Asia. With the upward trek of China, the 5 tigers, so called tigers, of SE Asia will find that it is a tremendous efforts to rule the region again, or probably never.

Although it will make the ethnic Chinese people (e.g. my father) proud that China will rule the world one day, but it also means that business is getting scarcer in Singapore by that time. The foreign companies will shift their offices and investments to China, people will be retrenched, jobs will be scarce. Is it worth to exchange that for pride? Besides being an ethnic Chinese in Singapore, does not entail special provisions in business making in China, so what is the whole lot of point?