Does my country need expats in this quantity?

[red]

singaporean - luckily your daughter is singaporean so she , like you , wouldn't be able to think for herself - and just do what mama tells her is right. How about you do her a favour - raise her to be independent, to think for herself, follow her own instincts or heart? Who knows if every parent in Singapore did that, maybe one day singapore would be a net exporter of talent.

[wong]

i'm a local working for a usa company here in singapore that recently (last 2 years) had an influx of americans brought in to manage the business. big big difference that has made to the culture and thinking of all the local staff (ok maybe not all - but definitely many). we are now able to identify with the parent company in san fran and actually have a better understanding of what it is we go to work every day to achieve. the next couple years will see these guys finishing their secondments here and locals promoted to the higher jobs... due to the training we've been given by them.

so lets not resist...lets learn - really learn so we can be next in line.

[Scouser]

This may be slightly off the gist of the thread..

The best learning experience I have had is not what my parents taught me, not my Uni studies but the rich experience that I have gained, the enhancement of my personality and the way that I think from interacting with the diversity of people that I have worked with and being married to someone form a different culture. Having worked with Aussies, Americans, other europeans, Sing's and other Asians I now find myself much more open minded, able to think of things from different angles and I would like to think that this has all made me a better, more interesting person.

Why do so many people resist change and close there mind to the enrichment and learing opportunities out there.

[Sir Stamford]

A couple of points to note

1. If it was not for the British, Singapore would have the same international importance as Pulau Ubin.

2. There would be no chinese here as there would be no jobs

3. And to who ever thinks we are no longer needed please watch "who wants to be a millionaire" -its a good indicator of local capability

- looks like Singapore needs FT more than ever!

[Interested Local]

My god! I made this posting about a month ago and have been so swamped with work, I forgot to look it up until today!

I feel as if I've been at the dinner table at some family reunion where all my elders have been present and I asked, "Tell me what it was like during the war, uncle X" and I spent the next 15 hours listening to all sorts of accounts and tales. Don't get me wrong, I am very impressed, grateful and (admittedly) incredibly overwhelmed by the response. 3 pages - what have I wrought?

Nevertheless, the four of us will pore over these responses and come back to you (if you expect a reply from us). I must congratulate most of you on your measured, thoughtful responses. Just for your info, the 3 of us didn't just study and come back with degrees in hand, we well and truly immersed ourselves in the country we studied in, which makes us something of a rarity as far as locals go.

Anyway, we'll come back to you all over the next few weeks, I gather this is a site for expats so we won't take up the resources of this board too much. Peace be with all!

[Salman]

My dear,

Just get rid of your Poly system, you will not need them anymore, cause your boys and gals go for easy out (thats what Poly is). Another thing, try to see the working style of expats, you will findout that they work real hard for that money. You will not find it out untill you try to do the same amount of work in same time.

Its just something i foundout after careful research.

Cheers.