Related: Chan Chun Sing: Singapore may not even survive another 50 years
Singapore is growing every day and is a big country. And the bigger it grows, the bigger the island, Australia is also an island, and the bigger the population, the more complex will be its problems and ability to survive. There may not be a Singapore in 50 years. Actually I think it will be sooner, maybe 20 years, when Singapore could be renamed as something else.
When we were small, it was so easy to govern. We only need a few tertiary educated ministers, and paid them peanuts, to run the country. The rest of the cabinet and MPs were workers, no worry, everything was fine. The problems were small and easily managed. No need for the talents of scholars.
Today our problems are huge and very complicated because we are a big country. So, despite having so many scholars in the cabinet, despite paying them top dollars, practically everyone in the cabinet is paid more than the President of the USA, we may not see a Singapore in 50 years time. In fact several MPs could be getting paid more than Obama if their other directorship fees are added into their salary.
Come to think of it, we could be paying $50m annually to our cabinet of super talents and top scholars. The same amount of money could be good enough to hire 50 Obamas at the same time. Should be hearing them saying with full confidence, everything is in good hands, everything has been thought out, Singapore will go on and on, Singapore will exist forever? Why are we paying so much for so many top talents that have no confidence of Singapore still being around in 50 years? Are we paying for top or super talents, better than anyone money can buy?
There are two simple solutions to the existence of Singapore beyond 50 years. The easier one is to pay the ministers double their current salaries. This should guarantee Singapore to be still around in 100 years time. You want quality ministers, you just have to pay for it. If the current pay can only possibly see Singapore surviving for 50 years, doubling the pay should do the work for another 50 years.
Another easier solution is to openly seek talents from all over the world to replace our inept talents. If our talents are not even sure of keeping Singapore alive for 50 years, then Singapore should import real foreign talents to replace our not so talented talents for Singapore to be around for more than 50 years. Logical right?
And this can be applied across the board, from the top in govt to the top positions in the private sectors. Then the govt and private institutions would stand a chance to be around. Not sure if the Singaporeans would still be around. But that is a non issue as the new Singaporeans from everywhere are still Singaporeans.
Wow, I so clever, can solve the problem of Singapore being around in 100 years by two simple solutions and doing it all in a Sunday morning, and feeling so good and positive.
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/