So this is the new normal. If an academic fails to sing the correct tune, he faces the terror of denied tenure. On the other hand, if you toe the official line, you may just end up with the Albert Winsemius Chair. Albert Winsemius (1910–1996) was the Dutch economist who led the United Nations Survey Mission to Singapore (1961 to 1984), and generally credited with the economic development strategies that transformed a quiet fishing village into an roaring industrial powerhouse. The ka-ching of the casinos' cash registers came about years later.
Winsemius would surely roll in his grave to hear the professor associated with his namesake utter crap like it is a common fallacy to assert foreign labour is bad for locals as it reduces per-capita resources, reduces per-capita incomes. Confronted by data evidencing wages for the bottom 20 percent of Singaporean workers had fallen 10 percent in real terms from 1997 to 2010, he had to beat a hasty retreat and admit that "it was possible that the influx of unskilled workers may press down wages".
Not only the livelihoods of unskilled workers were at put to risk. The malaise spread up the food chain, and even the PMET (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) were not spared. What happened was that the "transients", who were supposed to go home after the infrastructure was built, soon morphed into "foreign talents" that started to displace Singaporeans at the work place.
Professor Ng Yew-Kang justified the influx by arguing that " ..had we not increased (the population), then we won't have so many MRT routes and high bus frequencies." That's like saying obesity is great, because you get to wear clothing several sizes larger.
No, the professor is not so dumb. This guy knows enough about the art of tai-ji to publish a kungfu novel in Chinese. He's got his knickers in a twist because he tried too hard jumping in to defend a White Paper which is more soiled than a used douchebag. It's not a career breaking move, whatever nonsense he spouted, and got quickly shot down for, will all too soon be obliviated so long as he continues to move with the flow.
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Whilst poor George Gerian was put through the hoops not once but twice and told to go in a year`s time at the latest this professor who is well past the use-by date gets a 5 year contract at NTU! He dishes out his resume and you will notice that the work he built his reputation on is at least 20 years old! What else do you expect from him? Readers are advised to watch the children`s programme called Curious George. It chronicles the antics of a highly intelligent monkey (apologies to Cherian)eager to help but causes offence.
ReplyDeleteIn 1961 there were almost no fishing villages in Singapore. Villages maybe. Quiet definitely not.
ReplyDeleteSir Raffles Lee Kuan Yew founded modern Singapore in 1819.
ReplyDeleteBefore that, Sang Nila Utama Lee Kuan Yew founded ancient Singapore.
Don't forget, Albert Winsemius Lee Kuan Yew helped Singapore to draw up a successful economic development strategy in the early 1960s.
DeleteThe honourable professor's model is predicated on the simple logic of the more the merrier. 'Optimal' is not in his lexicon.
ReplyDelete" ..had we not increased (the population), then we won't have so many MRT routes and high bus frequencies."
ReplyDeleteLOL. He might as well as say "had we maintain the population, then we would not need to built so many MRT routes, high bus frequencies, pay out $1.1b to a profitable SMRT, 1m HDB price, record breaking COE price, highest cost of living etc.." !
//That's like saying obesity is great, because you get to wear clothing several sizes larger.//
ReplyDeleteAdd to that -- foreign fast food outlets can dish up more junk foods, and hospitals can fill up with arteries choking and cancer patients!!!
The Professor is right. He's already 70 and on last 5-year contract. He has nothing to gain, and he has nothing to lose either at this stage of his end-game. But before he goes around and assert what he thinks is "truth" and "good for Singapore", maybe he can square his own circle by telling and evidencing to us how exactly a large population benefit from "economies of scale" as he claimed in one sentence, then in another "..Higher immigration may push up prices of land and flats".
ReplyDeleteDo we see a drop in HDB building prices and benefit from "economies of scale" & "cheap labour"? The answer is one frigging NO!
They allowed PRC construction companies to come & build our HDB flats to bring the construction costs of HDB flats down. However the prices kept going up in tandem with the market value of resale flats as confirmed by our Minister that he has instructed HDB to delink them.
DeleteEssentially is not blatant profiteering by HDB and why is our Authorities allowing them to be so greedy ?
I like your link of the "good" professor's tai-chi skills to his publication of "kung-fu" novels.
ReplyDeleteThat explains it very well.
The beauty of social "sciences" such as economics is that you can neither prove its correct or wrong - and there are as many schools of economics as there are indians. When it suits the politicians' agenda, they promote one school, bottom line: most can be bought, and kiss academic intellectual honesty good bye. Bernanke and greenspan were bought with bankers' money, politicians too are bought, Obama's and Clinton's people are full of bankers footprint on their faces, German politicians and Eurocrats' pockets are stuffed full of Deutsche and Goldman's crumbs respectively, and Bush and GoP's suck from the tits of big oil, arms merchants and doctors/healthcare/pharmas. Red dot is no different, alas.
ReplyDelete