Aaron Ng

I read this interesting entry from (presumably) a Malaysian who condemned the Malaysian education system. The blogger was talking about how Malaysia provides free primary and secondary education, only to have its top students then come over to Singapore universities for 4 years and then work in Singapore for the next 30 years. According to the blogger, for every 18 students with 8As and above, 6 come to Singapore for higher education.

I am not surprised that many bright Malaysian students are choosing to come to Singapore (especially Malaysian Chinese). Firstly, they are being systematically denied of life opportunities in their home country through the bumiputra system. Due to quotas being placed according to race, the Chinese would need 13 As to enter the top Malaysian universities, while a Malay could get in with Bs and Cs. I’m not making this up; I heard it from a Malaysian friend.

I asked a friend who just graduated from Universiti Sains Malaysia, one of the top universities in Malaysia how much would she be getting when she finds a job. She told me RM1,800, and I nearly fell off the chair. That’s about S$800. And, according another Malaysian friend of mine, RM1,800 is considered one of the best salaries for a graduate. The starting salary in Singapore for a graduate is around $2,200 to $2,400 on average, and this is a whopping 3 times more than what a graduate in Malaysia earns.

If I were a top student in Malaysia, of course I’ll choose to come to Singapore and work here for my entire working life. With proper savings and investment, most Malaysians who are graduates can go retire back to Malaysia with at least 1-2 million ringgit. It’s a no brainer whether Singapore or Malaysia offers a much better life opportunity.

Besides, Singapore is very much culturally similar with Malaysia. It’s not hard for Malaysians to assimilate into Singapore society. There is a discernible difference in terms of the accent, but the differences are very slight. Compared to other foreigners, Malaysians would be most able to integrate into Singapore society without much problems. And, compared to other foreigners, they are less likely to be viewed as “competitors” for jobs. It’s weird, but I see most of the anger towards foreign talent being directed at nationalities other than those from the region.

The brain drain is a big problem for Malaysia. If they don’t do something about it, Malaysia will continue to lag behind Singapore in terms of development because its talents are coming into Singapore and contributing to Singapore’s development instead! However, I bet that this brain drain will continue because no Malaysian politician will dare to do away with the bumiputra policy. The Malays in Malaysian have been spoiled by the policy and will never agree to the revoking of the policy. It’s a Catch-22 situation. So, Singapore will prosper at the expense of it’s larger neighbour for many years to come.

I am currently reading “Strategic Pragmatism: The culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board” by Edgar H. Schien, a prominent American academic. I’m not quite done yet, but I read something of interest, which were two quotes by MM Lee:

“one cannot deal with the communists by arguing ideology with them”

“the best way to fight communism was by providing people with jobs and housing”

I found these quotes interesting because it seems that we are still stuck in the 1960s mode of thinking today, i.e. the best way to deal with political problems is by providing people with jobs and housing. Fundamentally, this principle is not flawed. Of course people need to eat, have a roof over their head and be able to enjoy a life that satisfy their material wishes.

However, a cursory glance at a couple of need theories will reveal to us that things such as food, clothing, shelter and jobs are the lowest level kinds of needs. One of the most famous needs theories would be Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, which can be summed up by the image below (taken from Wikipedia):

Another needs theory would be the ERG theory proposed by Clayton Alderfer. Maslow had a 6 level categorization of needs, but Alderfer collapsed human needs into 3 categories, namely existence, relatedness and growth (hence the name ERG), with existence being the lowest level of need and growth the highest level.

What these needs theories tell us is that there exists somewhat a series of needs on a continuum. Once we have fulfilled a certain level of need, we will yearn for a higher order need. Being stuck at a lower level will result in people feeling inadequate or unhappy. I think this is what is happening to the Singapore population right now. Our GDP per capita shows that we are among the first world countries, and therefore, the existence needs of most Singaporeans are met. Based on MM Lee’s philosophy, Singaporeans should theoretically be satisfied politically.

Yet, Singaporeans do not appear to be satisfied. The recent events over GST increase, ministerial salary revisions and perennial issues such as the GRC system and tying of HDB upgrading to election results are some indicators of the dissatisfaction of Singaporeans. It might be a perplexing scenario to those who hold dear to the belief that people with a full stomach and a roof over their head are happy people. However, I think that Singaporeans in general are now clamouring to seek out higher order needs, such as to be able to effect change in public policy.

In the quest to satisfy higher-order needs, Singaporeans find themselves hitting a brick wall, thus being unhappy. There is a sense of lack of self-efficacy (the belief that one is capable of attaining certain goals). Some people would point institutional barriers, while others opine that Singaporeans have had too good life and are now weak in the knees from years of good life.

I don’t think that such chronic unhappiness is a good thing. A wound if left to fester can turn gangrenous, which might result in an amputation and thus reducing future capability to function. What then is the solution? I think that the average Singaporean need role models. They need to be able to see people whom they can identify with as an ordinary Singaporean folk who speaks up and attempts to create change in the system (and actually succeeding). I think this is the best way to address the lack of self-efficacy in Singapore.

If all we see are the treatment along the likes of Chee Soon Juan, it’s small wonder that Singaporeans feel a lack of self-efficacy. Every time Chee puts up his head, he gets clobbered until it’s bloody. And, there are other cases of less bloody clobbering, but still a clobber nonetheless, such as the Mr Brown case. I don’t believe that such examples are encouraging at all.

I am of the opinion that we need to move up the ladder of needs if we are to survive and prosper in future. We cannot let ourselves be done in by the philosophy of yesterday. Yes, it might have worked then, but circumstances are different now. We need re-evaluate whether the same principles that have served us well will continue to serve us well in the future. Baby shoes certainly do not fit an adolescent.