Tommy Koh
Ravi Menon
Ravi Menon

By Howard Lee

What would we do if the worst case scenario happens to Singapore’s economy – global warming opens up the Artic Route permanently, advances in air travel by-passes Singapore completely, and we lose all our advantages in manufacturing and services?

That was the question that Ambassador-at-Large Prof Tommy Koh posed to Mr Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the SG50+ Conference.

Mr Menon’s response: It happens to all economies, and we just have to figure out how to transform ours and stay ahead.

Jointly organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the National University of Singapore, the conference – themed “Singapore at 50: What lies ahead?” – featured speakers from America, China, UK and the United Nations to discuss geopolitics, technology in economy, liveable cities and governance for Singapore beyond its 50 years of nationhood.

Mr Menon also noted the need to increase productivity for sectors, and then further innovate to “project the frontier further”.

In that regard, he and fellow speaker Byron Auguste, managing director at Opportunity@Work, believed that the use of technology would better help societies tide through such transitions, but not just simply in taking over menial tasks or creating technology jobs.

Byron Auguste
Byron Auguste

“Human talent most underused resource in the world,” said Mr Auguste, and using technology to accelerate learning and optimise human capital potential will help us “race with the machines instead of against them”.

The current social reaction, however, towards technology is either rejection or view it as the exclusive rights of those who can afford or access it. But Mr Auguste believes that the best approach is to use technology to “unlock talent”.

Part of this effort needs to include an understanding of the value of work beyond GDP numbers. “Work is not just about income and purchasing power, but a source of meaning and personal pride,” said Mr Auguste.

For instance, he noted that there are currently more disengaged workers than engaged workers around the world, which means the happiness of workers determine productivity.

According to studies he cited, the statistics for Singapore says that we have 9% of workers who are engaged, 76% disengaged (disinterested in their work), and 15% actively disengaged (they would deliberately sabotage their employers if given a chance).

The solution is to put more effort into seeing the workforce in its potential rather than its current capability. “If you want to know if a person can code, you don’t look at their resume, you ask to see their code,” he said.

A more engaged workforce is not just about improving productivity, as human capital has more potential value than fixed financial capital, so long as we allow “the human mind to be flexed like a muscle”, suggesting that Singapore should invest more in encouraging organic creativity.

Mr Menon likewise agreed, noting that technology can do much to improve jobs in three aspects: replace routine and repetitive tasks; assist analytical and processing tasks; and encourage creative and empathy-based jobs.

Chart by Ravi Menon
Chart by Ravi Menon

He also added that a sustainable future economy need also sustain an opportunity society, which must consider four policy areas – early childhood education (upstream); lifelong learning (ongoing); transfers to low income households (downstream); taxation and voluntarism (community support).

Encouraging community support is an important aspect of the Singapore social compact, which he says has often been misunderstood as only a relationship between citizens and the government, when it should really be between those who have done well and those left behind.

He noted that economic progress would always lead to inequalities of outcome, and hence there is a need for policy makers to tackle every aspect of creating an opportunity society to compensate for different social circumstances.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Collective "punishment" for water wastage?

by Teo Soh Lung The NewPaper today has two interesting articles. The…

放宽条件真的为二手旧屋带来全新价值吗?

作者:国际地产顾问公司总裁邱瑞荣 今年5月,政府宣布放宽政策,让年长者能够使用更多公积金的存款购买二手房屋,目的为提高并维持旧屋的价值。 人力部以夫妻约翰(48岁)和贞(45岁)为例,他们按照新条例将可按照较年轻买家岁数,动用公积全额购买价值43万新元,屋契剩下50年的四房式组屋。按照以往的条例,若要购买旧屋,其可动用公积金比率最多八成,亦即只能动用34万4000新元。 对此,市场观察者很快给出回应,指出“新条款开放以往由公积金条款的限制,有利于提高旧屋价值。” 看来旧屋价值真的会被解放。但事实上真是如此吗? (在此,我们先将旧屋的定义为40年以上的旧屋,意味着其屋契年龄剩下59年,亦是融资限制的开始,如买家数量减少,而强加了转售价值的压力。) 让我们检视看看, 约翰和贞以公积金43万新元,购买约屋契49年的组屋是否是明智之举。 若计划赶不上变化? 首先,约翰和贞是否有想过他们可能会在退休时期,生活出现危机和问题的可能?如果当时他们急需卖掉已居住15年的组屋,是否会有买家想要购买这仅剩35年屋契的组屋? 其潜在买家会是60岁以上可以使用公积金买房的人 60岁以下的买家则需以现金补贴购买房子…

【选举】德士司机递200元支持工人党 佘雪玲:他的精神支撑我们前进

佘雪玲在走访选区后返家途中,获得德士司机含泪递上200元捐款,令她感动万分。 工人党东海岸集选区候选人佘雪玲昨日(7月6日)在其Instagram Stories分享到,在走访四美选区后回家的路上,载送她的德士司机收费后,从钱包拿出200元,“我希望工人党能接受我这笔小捐款”,然后就落泪了。 佘雪玲指出,她当时就没有接受这笔钱,因为相信在这段时间,德士司机的生计也不易。“但是,他精神上的支持足以让我们继续前进……然而,他眼中的泪水,真的让我很心痛。” 然而,佘雪玲在碰到这名令人感动的德士司机之前,已经有另一些当地居民的举动,令她感动不已。 追踪工人党拜票活动的本地摄影师邱加兴,昨日也在脸书上分享了感动的一幕。 他指出,佘雪玲在四美拜票时,和一名杨女士相遇。这名杨女士不禁感谢佘雪玲和义工们的努力、为人民发声,更理解他们“不是为造反而造反,是为了进步而反”,感动得佘雪玲和杨女士当场落泪。 他指出,佘雪玲自20余年前在新加坡定居、读书、结婚生子,甚至参政,令他对新公民的印象改观。“她说,实际上,有一群像她一样的妇女,将新加坡视为家乡,并希望这里拥有光明的未来。” 邱加兴指出,佘雪玲曾经和他分享一句话,令他深思了一下,即“德不配位,必有灾殃”。

Blogs, bloggers, blogging

By Raymond Deputy editor of The Straits Times, Felix Soh, once said,…