Puzzle of migrating S'poreans posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?
Letter from Lim Boon Hee
It has been a new spring that left me with mixed feelings about what it really means to be a native-born Singaporean.
I realised that two of my cousins' families have migrated without saying a word or leaving any contacts.
Whether it means leaving Singapore for good or not I don't know. One has gone to the United States and the other to Australia after living in Hong Kong for two years.
Another first cousin is suffering in silence the heartache of her eldest son not returning home after completing his university studies overseas.
Had she not been rich and able to send him overseas, she would still have had her eldest son beside her to see her to a ripe old age.
This set me thinking.
Why are so many middle-aged university-educated professional Singaporeans leaving?
Is it the National Service, our education system or the changes in our society that are pushing them away?
Has the influx of foreign "talents" from India and China made them feel that being citizens count for very little nowadays or is it the pull of greener pastures where life is less pressurised and less stressful?
Friends tell me that in Canada, you are very well taken care of by the state insofar as education, medical and welfare are concerned.
The children there do not have to be dragged to school before the sun is up and "forced" to stay in school till 6pm or even later for co-curricular activities.
That my cousins left quietly the soil where they were born and educated without any fanfare or leaving any form of contacts can only mean one thing — they are cutting all ties with their motherland for good.
Are our policies inadvertently driving our own talents away while taking in foreigners as new citizens?
This vicious cycle cannot be good for Singapore. Yes, we welcome foreign talent but not at the expense of our own sons and daughters born and educated here.
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?
Letter from Lim Boon Hee
- extracted from http://www.todayonline.com/articles/98739.asp
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Puzzle of migrating S'poreans
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?
Letter from Lim Boon Hee
It has been a new spring that left me with mixed feelings about what it really means to be a native-born Singaporean.
I realised that two of my cousins' families have migrated without saying a word or leaving any contacts.
Whether it means leaving Singapore for good or not I don't know. One has gone to the United States and the other to Australia after living in Hong Kong for two years.
Another first cousin is suffering in silence the heartache of her eldest son not returning home after completing his university studies overseas.
Had she not been rich and able to send him overseas, she would still have had her eldest son beside her to see her to a ripe old age.
This set me thinking.
Why are so many middle-aged university-educated professional Singaporeans leaving?
Is it the National Service, our education system or the changes in our society that are pushing them away?
Has the influx of foreign "talents" from India and China made them feel that being citizens count for very little nowadays or is it the pull of greener pastures where life is less pressurised and less stressful?
Friends tell me that in Canada, you are very well taken care of by the state insofar as education, medical and welfare are concerned.
The children there do not have to be dragged to school before the sun is up and "forced" to stay in school till 6pm or even later for co-curricular activities.
That my cousins left quietly the soil where they were born and educated without any fanfare or leaving any form of contacts can only mean one thing — they are cutting all ties with their motherland for good.
Are our policies inadvertently driving our own talents away while taking in foreigners as new citizens?
This vicious cycle cannot be good for Singapore. Yes, we welcome foreign talent but not at the expense of our own sons and daughters born and educated here.
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?
Letter from Lim Boon Hee
- extracted from http://www.todayonline.com/articles/98739.asp
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