Why “No.1” Singapore fails to get No.1 in highest global human achievements
October 13th, 2009 | 
Author: By Abdul Gafoor, Social Correspondent
The recent award of Nobel prize to a Hong Kong physics professor has invited some kiasu Singaporeans (who always have displayed an idiosyncratic attitude in not wanting to lose out to Hong Kong) to sit back and ask why has not Singapore created any Nobel Laureates so far.
Lack of No.1 global human achievements
Singapore also has not produced any Booker prize winners which is the highest literary award in the world. Despite engineering being a core area of Singapore, we have not produced any engineering marvel at the world level.
We also have not produced any poet, artist, filmmaker, dancer, song writer or singer that the world craves for. Singapore has yet to produce philosophers or intellectuals that the world recognises and cherishes.
Our 14% Muslim population has not won any global awards from Organization of Islamic Countries, which gives out some of the highest awards to the highest achieving Muslims in the world. What Singaporeans need to ask is why “No.1” Singapore has not made any No.1 global human achievements in the last 50 years?
Infinite opportunities and choices
What allows a human to achieve phenomenally at the global level are the availability of infinite opportunities and choices. The term infinite here is qualitative and not quantitative and basically means the multitude of opportunities and choices that he/she can even imagine.
In some systems such as Hong Kong which has produced human achievers at global stage, the level of opportunities and choices may not be infinite but still sufficient enough. What limits the infinite opportunities and choices in Singapore are a set of problematic political, economic and social conditions.
Political conditions
Singapore being a nanny state selects opportunities for its people which means it limits from the infinite opportunities that its people can potentially have.
Singapore also makes choices on the behalf of its people which again means the state limits the infinite possible choices the people can make. In all, with the limited opportunities and choices, one cannot expect Singaporeans to achieve phenomenally at the global level.
Every Nobel laureate or exceptionally high global human achiever has a human spirit that is free, bold and is determined to push beyond boundaries. However in Singapore that has been curtailed by PAP so as to preserve absolute control.
Humans have only one spirit. They do not have two spirits- one for political affairs and another for non-political affairs. Therefore when one tie up the free human spirit for political affairs, which other spirit is the human going to use to push boundaries in non-political affairs.
Economic conditions
Singapore is a country that has one of the highest per capita income in the world, higher than even Hong Kong. There are many more Singaporeans who claim that our education system is “the best in the world that even U.S. high schools copies us”.
We have at least a few generations of graduates from NUS since 1960 which form the highly educated class. Our National Education program has been around for at least a few decades and huge investment has gone into it.
In recent times our biomedical life-science initiatives have been using unthinkable amounts of our money. Basically huge efforts have been taken in education and R&D, yet why has that not produced any Nobel laureate or globally human achievers?
Using pragmatism as a chief mantra or guiding philosophy the state has limited opportunities and choices in the economy . Because of the odd way Singapore understands pragmatism and applies it, areas such as physics, chemistry, economics, literature and many other areas have never been given any due value.
Society itself also hence discourages its children from pursuing in these areas as there is little reward. Rather Singapore, because of its adamant insistence to follow pragmatism, till today largely values only a few areas such as accountancy, business administration and finance, some areas of engineering, some areas of medicine, law, some areas of IT and marketing (and maybe a few more). In fact Singaporean recruiters, employers etc tend to recognise someone as a professional only if they are in these few areas.
This pragmatic approach to only focus on a few areas has resulted in under-investment in human capital in the other areas.
The government may be right in this approach during 1960s and 1970s but by 1980s it should have started to diversify and it is really sad that till today the diversification is cosmetic and/or little. Only if diversification into the wider areas continued will the economy itself diversify over time.
When a government focuses only on some areas, employment creation in those other areas naturally will then grow at snail’s pace over decades that you can hardly find a labour market for those area. Skills accumulation therefore never happens.
In fact if someone is in those areas due to their acquired skills abroad, firstly he/she will find it really tough to find a good job, and secondly he/she will not see career prospects in a job should he/she land in one. R&D also suffers in those areas due to underinvestment and is often virtually little or none.
Even within biomedical lifescience, there are so many areas where we are not funding adequately. Even within the focused few areas, R&D is not a big phenomenon. Without sufficient R&D throughout the economy, one can totally forget about highest level of human achievements which if it should happen will be pure lottery.
The way Singapore applies meritocracy also curtails the maximisation of human potential. This is because in Singapore, one’s merit is assessed based on past results not future potential results or one’s true potential.
If one aces at his early stage in life, he/she can go far in the subsequent period even though during that period he/she fails miserably. That is the typical scholar story we all hear where they ace in school but fail miserably in real world.
If the system did not omit those who can ace in the real world but only achieve less than with distinction in school or who can only ace much later in school, there will be much more chances of seeing human achievers for many human achievers were not exceptionally great in early part of school or exams.
Social conditions
A champion is not born as much as some Singaporeans like to imagine. He/she is groomed by society. A system must also be safe for potential human achievers. Singapore is not one.
I have often seen the territorial and kiasu nature of Singaporeans which results in warding or killing off talent and human potential. You just need one kiasu Singaporean who wants to climb to the top. He/she will do everything possible to sabotage anyone in his/her path especially those better than him/her.
Each human achiever is created by the support of many ordinary people. When Singaporeans are so territorial and kiasu, what support do you see them lending to their peers at schools and workplaces? You hardly come across a Singaporean who wants to see the other, who has huge potential, go far and high. Often it is the opposite.
Many Singaporean bosses and teachers basically want puppets following their orders blindly. Global human achievers are never puppets in their lives. They are not anarchists or devils or troublemakers either. They are led by their curiosity, ingenuity and drive which will be curbed within the typical Singapore environment.
Singaporeans also have excessive ego and pride. You need a much more humble and harmonious environment to produce global achievers. For a potentially global human achiever to reach a highest outcome, what is required is many smaller outcomes and for each new outcome, one has to use the previous outcome/s which often was achieved by others. He needs the collaborative support of others.
Due to ego and pride, I have seen Singaporeans refusing to collaborate or use the successes of fellow Singaporeans. Instead they will destroy the successes of others and replicate it as theirs and continue from there. They destroy what is required for them to rise up and they destroy those who rise up.
When the territorial and kiasu nature combines with ego and pride, you get the “my way or the highway attitude” and the “you are with us or against us divide”. A Singaporean who has the potential to be the next Nobel Laureate will need to wage a huge political battle with those in position and office in the environments where he has to work, form coalitions, wrestle opposing factions off their seats and then only be able to independently work on his stuff. Most high human achievers do not have such skills and hence naturally will get “killed” by such a system.
In a system where the state nannies and the society is so combative, the average Singaporean is going to be hardly motivated to aspire to go beyond horizons. Rather he will simply want to preserve status quo. Singaporeans truly lack inspiration though they have huge egos.
Are global human achievers really necessary?
The cynical Singaporeans will dismiss the need for global human achievers and claim they are a luxury that Singapore do not need for its survival. On the contrary, it is precisely global human achievers that we need in the country.
For every Nobel Laureates, there are thousands of human achievers on the secondary level and we desperately need at least those in the hundreds. It is those achievers that will bring about economic, social and political sustainability in the country.
After thoughts
Let’s not go too far to think about this. Let’s just take Temasek Review as an example which is a micro example.
This website has a potential to become an asset for Singapore by being a highly sophisticated news and analysis medium for all politicians, government policy makers, lobby groups, external investors and Singapore citizens.
In any other country this will have been achieved. However it will never ever happen in Singapore for the same precise reasons stated earlier.
Other articles by Abdul Gafoor:
>> Why Singapore’s “meritocracy” isn’t meritocracy
>> The paradox of Singapore’s economic growth: housing component
>> The paradox of Singapore’s economic growth: time and income
About the Author:
Abdul Gafoor is a researcher based in the United Kingdom. He hopes to return to Singapore he once knew as a child.
Posted in 
Much of our national psyche is shaped by the PAP government. The fact that we feel small. The fact that we feel vulnerable. The fact that we are kiasu. The fact that we are kiasi. The fact that we are materialistic.
All these are created by decades of propaganda and brainwashing by the government through mainstream government mouthpieces : you must do this, you must do that.
Any dissenting voices are immediately shouted down, ridiculed or silenced.
Fortunately for us, this is not our inherent character. We have the capacity to be more than what we are without just concentrating on materialism and the superficial.
However, this means the PAP government has to have its power severely curtailed or removed altogether and replaced by a government that is more focus on a more holistic development of our country which does not depend entirely on economic development only.
Once the government is no longer a nanny, the babies will start growing up to have their own mind and soul.
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Technically, we’ve produced nothing. Because the gems are all hiding everywhere in this country, usually living no dreams, and hindered by being a slave to money.
And to add, I had a very interesting conversation with a cabby this morning. Nearly candid, because he was entertaining me with his thoughts of Singapore. He was the most interesting example of a propaganda filled person if I ever met any more.
He’s around 40+, male…and single. I found this out near the end of our conversation.
It’d take too long to do a recap of my entire conversation with him, but here’s abit of how it went:
I told him it’s hard to survive in Singapore, and we both agreed that if you’re hardworking, you can lead a happy life.
And then we went on and started talking about singapore as a whole, and here’s what I gathered from him…
1. Singapore is a great place because we have great Ministers!
2. Singapore is a great place because our neighbouring countries are all jealous of us!
3. Singapore is a great place because he lives a carefree life! (And if I’m not wrong he believes everyone else does too.)
He told me, that in Singapore, he has everything he needs, a HDB, 3 meals on the table and clothes to wear, and he’s very happy with what he has. This is due to our great peaceful environments, and our great ministers. Our Ministers work hard everyday, they’re all so thin and skinny, running all over the place, unlike the Ministers from neighboring countries, all plump and nice looking.
Look at it! Everyone has jobs! We have so many jobs that even Foreigners are coming over to Singapore to seek jobs! (I burst out laughing, and he looked puzzled, but I couldn’t bear to tell him why.) “It’s true!” He said, and he went on to tell me that we should all be content with whatever jobs we have, and enjoy life like him, not ask for too much, we’re much better off than our neighbors. As a saying goes “The Boat will go straight once it reaches it’s destination” (I can’t really type in Mandarin right now, so yea….)
After that we went on to talk about where he live, and I told him “It’s really hard to get a HDB these days, and especially for me now that I’m still young with little savings.”
His reply was this, “That’s not true! I only bought my Bedok HDB 3 years back, and I paid for it in full in just 3 years, I just finished paying off my loans. And I got it at a steal of 175k and it is selling at 250k these days! I’ve got nearly 60k of ground Asset!” So I told him these money, he’ll never be able to touch because that’d mean he’d have to sell his property, so he went on to say…”I will sell my property when I’m older, just buy myself a retirement slot (I’m not really sure what those are) and live the rest of my life with my savings.”
His response made me question him if he was still single, and he, as a seemingly happy man, asked if I was psychic. And I went on to tell him that if I were to have a family, I don’t think life would be so simple. He told me this, “This is exactly why I don’t have a wife, I don’t have to worry about too many stuffs.” We cut the subject on family, and went on about his savings.
I asked him if he still have much savings left after using it to buy his flat. He said, not really, but he’s fine with it because he spend every bit of his money to enjoy himself these days. He never liked thinking too much, and is able to go overseas often just by driving his taxi. He’s been to Thailand twice, and Shen Zhen and Guang Zhou this year alone, and he’s happy with it. He works 6 days a week like everyone else, and has nothing else to care about, besides his father.
“There’s no need for savings.” he said, “I intend, and my wish, is to pass away peacefully at the age of sixty. No need to spend on health care, think about family, I’ll be alone by then, after all.”
After that we went on to talk about singapore females, and a bunch of other stuffs. The trip took around 40 mins with a jam. And he made me laugh many a time, but think about it, come elections, it’s people like him that’ll probably allow a 66%, it’s so entertaining to know how people think and feel in singapore.
We really live in a country, where as long as you’re single, and ask for little, you can be a happy man. Think about it. It’s funny.
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Which CAT that The People United Alliance Party will contest
A) Post Retire Minister GRC
1) GOH Chok Tong
Prime Minister’s Office
2) LEE Kuan Yew
Prime Minister’s Office
3) S JAYAKUMAR
PMO – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
4) WONG Kan Seng
PMO – Ministry of Home Affairs
5) MAH Bow Tan
Ministry of National Development
6) LIM Boon Heng
PMO – NTUC Centre
B) New Minister GRC
1) LUI Tuck Yew
Ministry of Information,
Communications and the Arts
2) LIM Hwee Hua
PMO – Ministry of Finance
3) GAN Kim Yong
Ministry of Manpower
4) K SHANMUGAM
Ministry of Law
5) Raymond LIM Siang Keat
Ministry of Transport
C) Standard Minister GRC
1) Dr Vivian BALAKRISHNAN
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
2) Dr YAACOB Ibrahim
Ministry of the Environment
and Water Resources
3) Tharman SHANMUGARATNAM
Ministry of Finance
4) KHAW Boon Wan
Ministry of Health
5) LIM Swee Say
PMO – NTUC Centre
6) LIM Hng Kiang
Ministry of Trade and Industry
D) Top Minister GRC
1) Dr NG Eng Hen
Ministry of Education
2) George Yong-Boon YEO
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3) TEO Chee Hean
PMO – Ministry of Defence
MINDEF Building
4) LEE Hsien Loong
Prime Minister’s Office
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excellent article…
well done abdul gafoor.
elites suppress the middle and the working class meanwhile we take their bait and suppress ourselves as well.
The article describes the society we live in very well. The meritocratic system that this city(we are not a nation untill we can love a place more than ourselves)practices is essentially the way the elite keep their status and suppress individual or collective talent from rising from the middle class and poor.
Get rid of the status quo… vote this government out. To the people standing for elections- do what ghandi did and work your butts off to reach out to the community. Be ready to empathise, because this government has refused to do so.
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I was rushing that a little due to work, and now that I’m sitting down for lunch, I just remembered something more.
I asked him how was he going to retire with such little savings. And he said: “No! I’m not going to retire. You’ve got it all wrong, nobody should retire. See when we retire, it’s the time for us to hand in our IC (That means to pass away). When you’ve been doing work everyday almost all your life, and you suddenly stop and retire you’ll just pass away. Look at Lee Kuan Yew, he still alive, why? Because he’s not retired, he constantly does stuffs and keep himself healthy.”
“Then now you look at his friends, the president of Philipines, and Suharto, they’re both retired, and they’re now gone. They were both good friends to LKY, but you wouldn’t know about them, because that was a long time ago.”
I was giggling again, as usual, from the backseat.
Think about it, we’re all gonna work till we die, because it’s a good thing. According to this taxi Driver, that is.
Oh yea, and about the people who might think this is made up. No, it isn’t, but it’s your call to trust me or not. It happened this morning, and it’s entertaining, so I thought I’d share.
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Why don’t Singaporeans ever consider the possibility that maybe they just aren’t good enough? Singapore society is at the core, mediocre. Why search high and low for reasons that explain the lack of achievers? Why not accept the fact that the people of Singapore are not worldbeating quality?
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@nogoodlah:
Simple, because there’s no such thing as people of a country having absolutely no world beating qualities. People, are just people. We’re trying to say it’s a country’s job to cultivate people, especially Singapore, but we’re doing a horrible job at that. The smart ones are mostly in hiding, minding their own businesses, or already flown off somewhere else.
This article states how good people of Singapore getting little or no opportunity. I don’t see why anyone will beat themselves and say they can’t do anything right, that include Singaporeans.
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NO… we are number 1
:)
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@nogoodlah:
its not that singaporeans are no good. its the system that is no good. how many global human achievers were no good or even hopeless at their early stages of life? their countries believes in turning any dust into gold. they treat every dust as potential gold. in singapore, once you are dust, you are actually classified and ostracised as dust. the system wants to pre-select what is gold and what is not and promote the former. it also wants to determine the process for anything to become gold. a dust cannot choose to be what it wants to be.
the system is also vicious and flawed in several context that some dust stops gold from being gold.
that is why in singapore not everything that glitters is gold
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@nogoodlah
If a situation shapes a man, you’re the classic example.
It’s because of this whole stagnant situation in Singapore which causes people to be dull, lazy and slack. When was the last time when people did pursue their passions and excelled in it? When was the last time you didn’t hear someone cheating their way around just to get “another” paper in “hopes” of a better job. It is simply because of this nanny state mentality which has beaten down the passion in many people. Those that can leave have left and those that can’t stay and try to make do with it. Have you ever thought why people migrate? Surely it’s not because they can’t succeed here and everywhere else but perhaps, it is the situation here that refuses to let one grow, learn and expand.
This government has bought and hammered in the ideals of, “We’re the best and the very best. Without us, you are nothing! If you don’t worship the ground we walk on, your estates will turn into slums, your women will become maids and your kids will become slaves in other countries!” into the people. Really, are they the very best that we can field?
Have we not heard success stories of Singaporeans that have migrated overseas? (You know, the kind that the government loves to do a song and dance about) Are they different from you and me? If they can succeed out there, why not in Singapore? Like it or not, the environment here, starting right from the days in primary school all the way to university, when was it not a paper chase and if so, how can one learn about the world around them?
If someone tells you that you aren’t good enough, do you take their word for it or do you improve and break away from the constrains? I leave it up to you.
To those that have broken away and succeeded in what they’ve set out to do, I salute you for doing so and perhaps, a precedence can be set for other Singaporeans to step out of the comfort zones, reject the constrains that bind them and do what they’ve always wanted to do but lack the chance to.
- Anonymous Coward
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i am not so pessismistic,there are still a few global achievers e.g. 陈瑞献Tan Swie Hian , 郭宝崑 kuo paokun. but, we need more.
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cy
lets not even debate those you named. lets just assume they have achieved the highest awards they can achieve as being who they are. but how many is that? you are even struggling to name them. lets not be naive…
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this is one of the most ridiculous piece of shit i have read in a long long time, and i doubt Abdul is from SG so it is really a joke to see so many “we” in his article about SG. To turn a nobel prize article into one which again targets the system, people and government of SG is treating all the readers as an idiot.
I am a singaporean and although i admit our system is not perfect, and there are really some good issues which TR has highlighted which I agreed…HDB pricing is one..but the standpoint of all your articles are just too plain bias and you guys tried too hard to be anti PAP..as can be seen from that piece of shit above. Same for all the comments below teh article which have been filtered to show only negative stuff.
We don’t need someone who has no credentials to start criticizing our achievements as they are there are all to see. To self justify and glorify your publication to win sympanthy and support is too low a way to achieve success.
I trust this article will not be published at all but I really hope to see the hatred and biasness being tone down as I truely believe TR can become an alternative to SPH material.
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Well, i have another view.
The best thinkers are, very early on, earmarked and recruited by the govt. Of which, they end up working with the govt or GLCs or what-have-you. Which, unfortunately, tend to be mind-numbing careers. Of course we end up not producing thinkers.
1. look at the bond breakers. When they realise of the life they have to lead when they come back, they all want to stay overseas.
2. All our ministers and leaders who are thinkers, end up being technocrats, or those who come up with ERP and COE and the most complex taxi fee system in the world.
3. our artists, poets, creative folks – are made to be be subservient very early on.
4. In the universities, students are made to study hard, with a heavy syllabus. Why? because the govt dont want these students too think too hard about other stuff. Because students are the ones who can most likely think and challenge the status quo.
In the latest top universities ratings, 4 of Hong Kong’s universities score in the top 10. NUS made it as #10. What does that say?
the ones who succeed internationally – unfortunately – are not those from the meritocracy-based govt. Look at Sim Wong Hoo. He was not from the meritocracy-based system the govt has placed. He was a late bloomer who went through Ngee Ann Poly, before he got a degree.
He created a product in the PC world that no other company has been able to compete. Was he a govt scholar??
Look at some of our creative playwrights and actors. Were they govt-scholarship backed?
This may be a sweeping statement, and i stand to be corrected – But i think our govt has been taking the best of the best that Singapore can offer, and made them mediocre technocrats. the ones who truly succeed are those who fell through the govt’s watch.
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oh…and interestingly enough, it was Sim Wong Hoo who coined the phrase “No U-Turn Syndrome”, explaining why Singaporeans lack creativity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_U-turn_syndrome
How ironic!
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jedimaster
i know you disagreed with the article, but try not to use such strong words. I also disagreed some part of the article for example, blame the gov for no Singaporean getting nobel prize (plain bias).
Any one can be successful even in the toughest environment, only if you willing to try. And success doesn’t mean you need to get a Nobel prize; it should be something useful or help to the society.
I hope TR is a place where ones can post issues and give suggestions (no bias) that help to the society, and the gov will listen to us (normal citizen that live in this country).
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Why would I wand to be a Nobel prize winner?I have my multi
million dollar pay. Every time I see my CPF statement with
so many zeros I feel so rich. I don’t have to be accounted
for to anybody for any mistakes I make. I don’t have to open up my books to show that I have lost millions.Now you tell me why the hack I need the Nobel prize for.
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That also explained why we have not produced a well known industrial designer in the mould of James Dyson. The closest we have to an entrepreneur is Sim Wong Hoo.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/13/AR2009101300466.html
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Frankly, the truth is we can only blame ourselves.
If you know the system is producing sheep and you found out you are one of the sheep, and you choose to stay as a sheep, then don’t blame anyone else.
If you know and choose to do something, i.e. you don’t want to be a sheep anymore, good for you.
If you are a sheep and believe the shepherders (govt), and choose not to believe anything else, then we can end the conversation here.
Ultimately, blaming the system or blaming the govt isn’t going to help much, if you don’t DO anything about it and continue living your life as before.
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@randomessinmind
Your experience with the cabby is a wonderful summary of how the older generation views singapore, her achievements and by extension the PAP govt.
When they’ve been told not to expect more all their lives, what other expectations could we expect?
In a perverse irony it will be our governments obsession with education and the corresponding expanding of horizons that will ultimately break the current system.
@nogoodlah
If we were all so mediocre then it surely must be a wonderful privilege that we have multi million dollar salary demanding ministers to provide us with 1300sqft flats and a mandatory wait till 65+ to touch 1/3 of our own money isnt it? (true for 80% of our population)
Wait – if we were ALL so mediocre where did our world beating ministers come from?
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dream on
thanks for the reminder…
credit to TR for publishing my “strong words” which I believe I have picked up as a habit unconsciously since I started following this site a month ago. Everyday I have been reading “strong words” aiming at PAP, Singaporeans, our system etc from people outside SG which I felt is discounting some of the great work being done by part of the TR team.
TR’s motto is news and opinions from a different perceptive…but some articles just sound plain like some rally speech from the opposition party or some ex-SDP propaganda which is aimed at brainwashing the aunties and uncles in the coffee shop…
The bottom line is I still follow TR everyday..because of the occasional great thought provoking articles…which I hope will wake up some MPs who are really sleeping in their job….
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@jedimaster
Agreed, sometimes the articles here do seem to spill over into rhetoric, TR should just report it as it is and let the comments flow, people who comment will reflect their view of singaporean reality – if it happens that most comments are unflattering to the incumbents then so be it.
What we DO NOT NEED is for the TR to turn into an opposition mouthpiece.
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This cabby is obviously not looking.
All our ministers NOW look like pigs.
They are VERY fat even LHL.
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Summary: Pragmatism kills idealism and inspiration.
That’s why Singapore will never get anywhere or achieve anything big. The best you will get is ‘GDP growth forecast revised upwards!’ or ‘World’s first F1 night race!’ or ‘CIMO multi-racial harmony!’. Inane stuff.
I mean, just look at the local sports scene. It is because of pragmatism that certain sports have little or no funcing because they don’t bring in medals. It is also becauseof pragmatism that foreign imports/mercenaries are hired to boost the chances of winning medals. To hell with shame, only what is practical counts.
Or the local universities. Study whatever that can bring in the best returns for the country’s GDP: IT, life science, nursing, hospitality etc. Want to be an archaelogist? Too bad for you.
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>>The recent award of Nobel prize to a Hong Kong physics professor has invited some kiasu Singaporeans (who always have displayed an idiosyncratic attitude in not wanting to lose out to Hong Kong) to sit back and ask why has not Singapore created any Nobel Laureates so far.<<
One reason why Singapore has never produced any is because you guys are so bloody ignorant. Charles Kao is not even the first Hong Konger to win a Nobel prize. Daniel Tsui won a Nobel prize in Physics more than 10 years. He grew up in Hong Kong, was educated there all through secondary school, and only came to the US for his college education.
The relative incompetence of Singaporeans has been evident for a long time, you don't even need to count Nobel prize winners. Professors of Hong Kong origins can be found in substantial numbers in every top American universities — Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech. On the other hand Singaporeans are few and far between at such places; there are lots of PSC scholars no doubt, but they are only here because the Singapore government bought them a place.
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“i am not so pessismistic,there are still a few global achievers e.g. 陈瑞献Tan Swie Hian , 郭宝崑 kuo paokun. but, we need more.”
If these are the best names Singapore can come up with, then Singapore is really hopeless. Tan Swie Hian is a charlatan who peddles his revolting crap to stupid bureaucrats who don’t know anything about art but have plenty of taxpayers’s money to squander. Kuo Pao Kun is slightly better but his works are just crude slapstick that appeals mostly to school dropouts with a taste for hokkien sexual humour. In short, Kuo Pao Kun is just a theatrical version of Jack Neo while Tan Swie Hian is just a human version of pond scum.
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Napoleon once said ‘there are no such things as lousy soldiers, only lousy generals’.
There are many countries in Europe with a population size similar to singapore, but all of them have great achievers that are disproportionate to their sizes. Look no further than europe for the ideal system that people would love to stay in.
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I’m northern European and it’s been many years since I lived and studied in Singapore (the very best time of my life, hopefully I’ll be able to make a return visit in the future but my life is in shambles) and I think many of you here are much too hard on Singaporeans and Singapore. In fact I understand the sentiments of the taxi driver as portrayed in some of the comments perfectly well. Of course one doesn’t need to share his aims or sentiments but neither do they deserve any kind of ridicule, the man has attained his happiness so congratulate him if anything.
However what I really want to add is a different perspective than the article, most of you probably know about the concept called “normal distribution” sometimes called the bell curve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution). Without too much further complication and with a whole lot of simplification one could say that the red curve in the first illustration (top right on the page) represents the likelihood of prize achievements for many countries with the rightmost reach of the curve signifying the likelihood of winning such prizes.
Singapore not only strives for but has also been very successful at achieving what could be described as more egalitarian academic results, that is: a better education for more people. Thus Singapore on this topic is not represented by the standard normal distribution (red graph) but by the blue graph (a normal distribution but not a “standard” normal distribution). The rightmost reach of the blue graph (representing the best of the best) falls far short of that of the red graph (for values other than zero).
In other words and with all other things being equal one should expect Singapore’s educational achievements to result in less prize achievements or none at all.
As said this argument of mine is extremely simplified (and thus somewhat wrong at the outset), however it is possible (but of course very hard) to shift or skew the normal distribution. If the aim is to achieve both all-round academic excellence (as you already have attained to a larger degree than just about anyone –no easy feat on its own and why many would love to emulate you) as well as superior quality and achievements of the best of the best (the rightmost reach of the graph) then moving the (non-standard) normal distribution rightwards is the (extremely challenging) answer. I would like to say that you already have done this to a certain degree but it gets increasingly harder the closer one gets to the rightmost outliers of the red graph.
Anyway this is just one foreigners outside perspective on Singapore’s situation, one can take it or leave it as one pleases
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The nobel prize winner from HK…
Do you know that when he took over as Vchancellor in the University, he adopted an open and transparent policy and exposed himself to DIRECT criticism from his students?
The students grill and humuliate him about his actions in the front of him and he use the occasion to explain himself afterwards.
Can our leaders do that?
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