Comment on Votes coming in… by James Seng’s Blog : Blog Archive : Go Obama Go! […] election on CNN and online and watching the votes come in. I hope I am not disappointed as I did in 2004 […] Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by Shaun We are people living in the same society, contributing to the same country, if u are a citizen of singapore(be it locally born or not), u are a citizen of singapore. If foreign talents do not want to become a citizen, maybe they have their reasons , but they are still contributing to our country!If they are more talented than other singaporeans, as an employer i will employ him.It all depends on each individual not the nationality Comment on My VoIP Phone number via Pfingo by Nee Choun Min I have the same issues here. I am trying to get my pap2 working. Comment on Nokia - The best is yet to be? by nolan nokia 3650, i really like that phone although most of friends thought the keyboard was weird. on the contrary, once you get the hang of it, it was most effective. same goes for the earlier UIs. well, i think the current e series is pretty good and handy. Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by jeff trent The issue is not natvive Singapore talent vs. imported talent. Talent can move where it decides it wants to be. Many talented Singaporeans decide to leave, every year. Some foreign talent does give Singapore a try, but I believe they are not those that are at the top of their game. Foreigners interested in a stint in Singapore are either interested in somehing interesting for a while, or they find it hard to get a job someplace else. The issue is, can Singapore retain talent. I dont believe so. The reason is that the standard of living in Singapore is very low. Sure, people can make a good wage, but what can they do with it? There is very little to do in Singapore besides shopping. The environment is also not one that allows for independent thought. Comment on Enzer E6068 by j hi i dont wan to spend $ on a new player. but wat did u mean abt “No more burning DivX onto CD before watching it anymore. Ho Ho Ho.”? does it mean i can burn my avi files onto a dvd disc n still watch it on my normal dvd player? pls advise. thks j Comment on More FON and giving them away by jeremy Hi: I am from Singapore. Do you still have FON routers to give away? Would like to give it a try. Thanks. Comment on Business Ideas by Lance Agreed. Ideas may be cheap but they are the basis of potential business opportunities. Good ideas do not necessarily represent good opportunity. However, you never really know the true potential of a good idea until you take action and implement it. If for any reasons, you are unable to implement your ideas, why not submit your business ideas to a pro-business online community and have it executed collectively by a community of aspiring entrepreneurs from all around the world? This is how it works. Entrepreneurs contribute business ideas and the best ideas are voted to be implemented through the online community. The online community makes collective decisions on business planning, marketing and other business activities through internet polls. Real life business staff will follow and carry out these decisions. Through business blogs and twitters (micro-blogging), the operation manager will update daily business activities and challenges faced. Progressively, entrepreneurs will know how their collective decisions shaped the businesses! For those who are keen to have their business ideas turned into real business ventures, you can find more information through http://www.gogme.biz/ Regards, Lance Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by azchng all these comments really bring things close to my heart…. as a Singaporean educated in Singapore & being treated as a talent only in another country… yes a FT elsewhere…. In NUS, i had lots of foreign students laughing at our system and coming here to study only when they did not really get a chance in their competitive universities …. it was quite demoralising then especially i have to pay my fees out my own pocket …. then on to the work world, always underpaid & overworked & not appreciated cos being a fellow singaporean, your same-nationality colleagues tries all means to kick u out of the game in politics while your FT boss feels that, “hey your pay is good for a singaporean” this sounds ridiculous, no matter how many times i rebutted that our pay should be based upon our capabilities and not nationalism or low cost of living in our dear Singapore…. And when i was hired by a foreign company to work in another country, they laughed at my pay, saying it’s pittance and gave a hefty raise. I went there, work as what i work in Singapore, getting a good cheq and giving family a better living back home. The locals had the same resentment against foreigners and the ratio was kept very much smaller… The irony begains while being there, our overseas government links try to meet us up thinking that we are Talents and persuaded us to return home…. and i did. Guess i didn’t measure up to a high IQ ha ha onhindsight to predict this… i returned home, thinking that i should contribute to my country, took a lower pay as the local employer thinks that there should be some cost of living adjustments - which was OK i felt - and then …. i’m just a normal staff again back home, just to face the pay stagnancy & also pass-overs for promotion…. guess what, the name that was branded on me by our overseas ministries - an Overseas Talent - was gone the minute i stepped home to dear SG, after surrendering my overseas working permit. Life is so dammm interesting mannn… Comment on My VoIP Phone number via Pfingo by william Hi James, can pfingo work with any ATA or IP phone (as i have an old one), some how cannot get it going. thanks. Comment on Sailing to Tioman by Marc’s Voice » Blog Archive » End of May blogging.... '08 […] James Seng trying to not get lost  […] Comment on Evening with Vint by jseng Vint, I am back from my sailing safely and was surprised to see your comments in the moderation queue! Thanks for your comment. From the corridor talks, everyone really enjoy your talk and your presence. Thanks for making time for the evening. I am glad to see you in Singapore for once (finally!! :-) Comment on Evening with Vint by An Evening with Vinton Cerf « A L V I N O L O G Y […] James Seng: An evening with Vint […] Comment on More about Google Talk by ninad @VoIP user, You said: “STUN I can live with - it’s a couple of bytes and a one-off exhange.” Can u just elaborate on this?? Comment on Evening with Vint by An evening with Vinton Cerf […] James Seng: An evening with Vint […] Comment on Evening with Vint by vint cerf James did a fine job - he made me very comfortable and I thought the Q&A session brought a lot of interesting points into the discussion. Thanks James! Hope you have a great vacation! Please let us know you got back ok. vint Comment on Evening with Vint by A Geek’s Take I - This week’s tech news in review […] TheDigitalMovement (TDM) - Vint Cerf, the ‘father of the internet’ After a rather long silence, TDM burst back into the scene with a well-organised event with Google and IDA for Vint Cert, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist. Personally I thought the event was great but a little disappointed with Vint’s speech coz his predictions were not new, most of what he predicted for 2035 I’ve already seen/touched in one way or another. Given the rapid rate of technological growth, if these technologies don’t proliferate within the next 10-15 years, they probably never will. So what’s with the 2035? But all in all, he’s definitely a great communicator and thought leader and IMHO, he definitely hit the nail on the head with many of his predictions. I just don’t understand why 2035? Almost 30 years down the road of technology is a LONG LONG time to make any predictions and I’d dare say his predictions are not bold or big enough. Just my 2 cents, but great event anyways kudos to the new team at TDM! DISCLAIMER : I am a member of TDM Ian on the red dot - A very special evening with Vinton Cerf from Google James Seng - Evening with Vint […] Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by Simon I refer to Ann Says: March 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm. She is fully correct. Sometimes when I attended interview, 3 out of 5 times, there’s bound to have interviewers asking about my reservists and how many years I still need to fulful. I too agreed that Foreigners have really posed a critical issue. Very Serious!! but a lot of Singaporean may still not wake up. Likes what Ann had mentioned I had encountered many , so called, China’s scholars who came to Singapore under some kind of scholarship to study Master of Art & eventually PhD in Chineses Linguistic. Of course, they could make it and later called themselves DR. XXX. It is just likes asking a Englishman to study a degree in English in maybe Thailand or Mymar’s University….sure able to collect their PhD at the end of the day. However, Singaporean who has good interest to expose Chinese language will never stand the same chance if compared with this Chinese citizen. I believe the same will go to others aspects when we talk about Singaporean has not well taken care by our government. Since James has been in SGP since 20 years ago, I reckon that you should become a citizen of Singapore but till today, you are still a foreigner or PR. So what making you reluctant to be part of Singapore? In fact, your answer will be more or less similar to other foreigners who take Singapore as a stepping stone. Everyone comes to Singapore just to have good pay and retire comfortably at their homeland. I am sure no foreigner will bother to protect Singapore if, touch-wood, there is war or mishap happened. Not to mention to root in Singapore. Bottlom line, Singaporean MUST be able to survive with a good job before we talk about how we want to attract foreigner’s talent. For example, all parent in this world will want their children well taken off before thinking of adopting kids or making donation. It will be no meaning to donate a huge sum to others whilst your own children are in starving stage. Comment on Singapore National Broadband Network by smun Whatever the results of the tender may be, works on infrastructure had started. I wasn’t surprise but just didnt expect it to be so soon. Company had already invested $$$. Hmm……… wonder what is the effect on the reults of the tender. Comment on Executive Golf Course by Hermann Hi James. I think you fared pretty well for a beginner. Its a short course but its never easy. I especially hate the 2nd hole as you have to be pretty accurate to get the ball to land on the left of the fairway, failing which you have to lift the ball over the trees onto the green. The par 3s are by no means any easier because you right to select the right iron to get the right distance. I have only been onto that course 3 times and my scores were 51, 50 and 45 and I’m a beginner as well so I guess your score’s pretty good. :-) Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by JTan Actually it depends on what industry you are talking about. In professions that are highly regulated and protected like medicine and law, these jobs are protected. But in the engineering and IT industry for example, these wages are suppressed artificially; and there are a lot of white collar jobs in Singapore that are unregulated. The wages for engineers in France and the United States is relatively high. However this may change. In the US for example, there are complaints of people abusing the H1-B visa program and there was a study that showed it actually depresses wages. [1] I guess this situation is similar to Singapore. The only difference to Singapore is that it is much smaller so the effects felt are amplified. Furthermore, I do not know whether an actual cap in numbers exists for the case of Singapore. Global competition does bring wages down if your economic model rests on costs alone and not on other areas like innovation. Whatever real innovation that Singapore has ‘done’ is superficial at best and non-existent at worst. It still relies heavily on the same tactics it had when it was a developing nation-low cost labour. It is unable to shift its paradigm to real innovation despite being a so called ‘first world’. And that I think is why it is more susceptible to labour costs and the practice of depressing its own wages; since they can ‘think’ of no other ways to fight globalisation. Strangely, I do not blame foreigners who come in to take the jobs. It is a natural desire for individuals to look for opportunities wherever they are. I do blame the government for failing to take care of its citizens. They failed in their jobs. In the absence of political choice, a lot of Singaporeans are going to vote with their feet. As for the logical choice, it is logical from an economic point of view. But from the point of view of social cohesion and nation building, the logic is more flawed. http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_10_26/us/us_h1b_visa_holders_earn_less.htm PS: I think FT is a strange word because it automatically assumes any foreigner is talented. The two concepts are mutually exclusive. Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by jseng I am not making assumption that FT are more talented then locals. As I repeated before, there will be locals who will be better than FT and there are FTs who are less then average locals. The assumption I made is that Singapore government is consciously trying to bring more talented people into Singapore; And while there some who falls thru the cracks, foreigners who don’t deserve the to be called FT, in general Singapore FT policy is doing well. There are a lot professionals FT in high paying jobs and on the whole, my assumptions stands. I do not agree with your assumption that foreigners are brought in to artificially depress wages. A more likely explanation is that global competition forces the wages down, and that if Singapore does not bring down wages that in those sectors, it will lose it. For example, a lot of manufacturings are leaving Singapore mainly because of global competitions in wages, that even importing Malaysian workers from Johor to work in Woodlands factories is no longer competitive. However, I agree with you that Singaporeans in general is disadvantaged in Singapore, which is one of the reasons I wrote this article. As I noted in one of the comments above, it is logical that Singapore government don’t provide incentives to Singaporeans. Since Singaporeans are already here , no incentives is needed to be bring you here. But that logical approach is perhaps also the wrong one since it missed the point that Singaporeans sacrifice a lot more for the country. With the FT bringing more highly paid professionals, average Singaporeans are falling behind and without some sort of balancing, Singaporeans resentment for FTs will only increase. I am not just asking for equal treatment; I am asking for better treatment for Singaporeans. Even tho I am an taxpayer like any other Singaporeans, I think it is reasonable that Singaporeans should get more than I do. Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by JTan The assumption you make is that the foreigners are more talented than the locals. But what if the locals are just as talented as the foreigners (if not more) and the only reason to bring them in is not because of talent but cost (to artificially depress wages)? What’s worse, what if the locals are disadvantaged in their own country. We can’t compete on cost because ultimately we have to live in this country while the foreigners can leave and enjoy their retirement (either because of third world cost of living or first world welfarism). We have more obligations such as NS and reservist liabilities. We do not have access to the same scholarships as foreigners. We are asking not for better treatment than foreigners but EQUAL treatment. A level playing field is not an unreasonable request. We are treated as a second class citizen in our own country not because of abilities but strangely because of our nationality. That is why a lot of Singaporeans are leaving the island and finding jobs in better countries. They rather be a second class citizen in another country than their own. Comment on Home Sweet Home (with iPhones) by Sam EDGE services is chargable….. so better control otherwise it may be very costly…. Anyway, James do you have any tips on installing other applications on the iPhone???? Comment on Paint for OSX by Ed Sanville Master Steve Jobs says that you don’t need Mac Paint. You must see the error of your ways, Human. Comment on Notes from Beijing Day 3 by James Seng’s Blog : Blog Archive : The law is whatever the Chinese government say it is […] law in China is constantly changing. The story on Regulation 59 is an example, where one day the government decided that all IP/Mobile TV needs to be state-owned […] Comment on Notes from Beijing Day 4 by Gen Kanai James, thank you for all your help recently. I thought you might find this valuable: http://www.chinavortex.com/2008/03/why-many-chinese-entrepreneurs-dont-like-lawyers/ also http://www.chinalawblog.com/ Comment on The Power of China by CHKing It sounds like theres a massive social gap over there. Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by CHKing “I have many foreigner friends who are respectful and I get along with them well. It is your attitude and narrow-mindness that cause me to resent you. It is foreigners like you who let foreigners have a bad name and cause Singaporeans to resent foreigners. If you will just change I-am-a-godsend attitude, it would help lots of other foreigners who do want to settle down in Singapore.” PS: You seem to have some sort of holier than thou attitude, I would be more willing to believe that it is the Singaporeans who are being discriminatory to the FT’s, as I can see from your response to the post. If anyone is to be accused of being narrow-minded, it would have to be you, and like you, I resent that. Comment on Foreign Talents in Singapore by CHKing @Ann One of the reasons Singapore was able to grow at such a spectacular speed was because of it’s people, and like it or not, most of these people did not come from Singapore. Although Singapore does* have it’s own pool of talents to draw from, this pool is very small, and 10~20 years ago there were probably only a handful of people in Singapore holding any sort of certificate. Bringing in all the Chinese from Malaysia and giving them PR’s and sponsoring them is the smartest thing Singapore did. They grew their own talent pool without having to spend money for a good 15 years educating these “imported” talents. Just by providing citizenship and a little bit of sponsorship money. You can discriminate and hate all you want, but these are facts. Nobody is being ungrateful. After so many years of independence people tend to forget, Singapore started out with nothing, no resources, barely any infrastructure, what they relied on was on their human capital and the majority of these human capital came from Malaysia. I’m saying this as a Malaysian, who has never been to Singapore, and I can’t seem to understand all this discrimination directed to Malaysians who live over there. LKY wants foreign talents because* they are equally or more talented than the Singaporeans, and they come at very little cost, especially from Malaysia, where the chinese that are extremely qualified have a system that is designed to push them down.