From the website, Adam Khoo’s Philosophies And Investing Insights:
I have a prediction. My prediction is that in a couple of years, the expatriates (from China, India, US etc…) will rule Singapore. They will increasing take on more leadership roles of CEOs, directors, heads of organizations, award winners etc… If you observe closely, it is already happening now. This year’s top PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) student is a China National. Most of the deans list students and first class honours students in the local universities are foreigners and more and more CEOs, even that of government link corporations are expats. The top players in our National teams are expats.
As a Singaporean, I am not complaining. I think that in a meritocratic society like Singapore, it is only fair that the very best get rewarded, no matter their race, religion or nationality. Like Lee Kwan Yew said, I rather these talented and driven people be on our team contributing to our nation than against us from their home country. The question I have been asking is, ‘why are the expats beating the crap out of Singaporeans?’ What I noticed is that these expats have a very important quality that many Singaporeans (especially the new Y generation lack). It is a quality that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers (who came from distant lands) had that turned Singapore from a fishing village to the third richest country in the world (according to GDP per capita). Unfortunately, I fear this quality is soon disappearing from the new generation of Singaporeans. This quality is the HUNGER FOR SUCCESS and the FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!
The full article can be viewed here.
Come on, even the US is ruled by an expat now: Obama is an US-african
I am sorry, I don’t really follow Adam Khoo and his so-called ‘investment philosophies’. I believe him to be a blowhard at best. Yet I cannot fault him on the fact that Singapore needs the expats. But how many of them could have have been replaced now by local talent if our education system and general mindset was different 20-30 years ago?
Singaporeans have talent, but I fear that most of our talent is not varied. Hence the need for FTs and the like for ‘varying talents and persepectives’. I would like to come out and say that Singaporeans do not lack fighting spirit or the hunger for success. We have that in spades. The key issue to address is the ‘kiasee’ mindset of always reverting to tried-and-tested paths for success, in which most Singaporeans are guilty of.
From what I see as a general observation, Singaporeans tend to be happy to be managers and not leaders, further strengthed by the actions of our govt of the day. Efficiency always being the keyword, which leaves little room to explore other options.
Filling the ‘talent gap’ with just merely doing ‘external hiring’ is never enough.
The locals have their passion and fighting spirit doused out by the system. It took years of programming and it is now showing in the form of apathy towards most things except private pursuits of wealth and happiness. The locals are competiting with both hands tied behind their backs. Tie the foreigners the same way and review the above article.
Ken,
Conditioning of the minds, is what it is all about in Singapore’s early years. Every other job needs a licence. Besides collecting taxes, it also serve as a deterrent to disobedience of any kind. Then, earning a living was the main priority, and losing a job was disastrous. Just getting your licence renewal delayed, puts a death curse on your career. The outspoken ones were marginalised. Yesman were rewarded and trusted with greater responsibilities. So “species singaporese” evolved. The rest they say is history.
Singapore was never just a fishing village before the PAP…that is a myth…
I interview quite a few people from China with MOE scholarships… Some are good.. Some are nothing special… Even after 6 years of education in Singapore, one guy couldn’t even speak proper English… His result in NUS is nothing special too.. Cs and Ds…
I wonder what the criteria was for him to firstly get the scholarship.. secondly, there must be a minimum grades needed to keep the scholarship alive every year… If he is no performing better than locals, better give it to a local…
MM LKY actually encourages such fierce competition from abroad and almost sees it as the lifeline for modern Singapore.
Singapore’s amazing achievements have been the result of such cut-throat competition. Arguably the day the “indigenous” Singaporeans raise up the wall of protectionism is the day the city-state will start to dry out.
Unfortunately the local education system doesn’t help in building the competitive spirit in Singaporeans.
Competitive in studies is really useless (in my opinion) as compared to being competitive in society. It’s two different ball games with totally different rules.
I am shocked! After 44 years of nation building under a one-party rule, we are now uncompetitive, under-educated and lack initiative compared to many who come from 3rd world country.
So, who’s fault is it? Singaporeans? The society? PAP? The world?
What has our MOE, MOM, MFA been doing all these years? I thought we paid millions for geniuses to steer us ahead? So, now, we’re told we’re way behind. What happened to all the education policies, nation-building campaigns and mind-bonding NS system? A bloody wayang?
Adam Khoo sure has plenty of “philosophies” and “investment inisights” to pontificate. However, in stating how locals “lack” hunger for success and fighting spirit, his unsaid inference is that he and his business system, being successful and full of drive, deserves a potential customer’s look-in.
This piece has no substance, it is just the marketing writing of a man who knows how to promote his business and himself.
Coming on the heels of LKY’s recent National Geographic statement that Singaporeans are now less ambitious and that’s why importing more Chinese immigrants is a good spur to locals, Adam’s claim is hardly original and thus not worthy of comment.
Adam Khoo is another big mouth millionaire.
The words “Fishing Villiage” is just an intimidation. Since the British explore this land , they have already made it a trading port. In the early days people look for survivor going to the sea in other part of Malaysia or Indonesia to catch fish and trading in Singapore. Singapore is not a fishing villiage.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and a country can be judged on how they take care of those struggling in society. An ever-widening divide in society will only lead to more problems and if it is not rectified, don’t be surprised to see bloodshed.
And a nation is not a company. There is an obligation on the part of the state to take care of its citizens, regardless of whether they are slackers or go-getters. A company can brazenly retrench its employees but can a nation abandon its citizen without any consequences? Do we neglect those who are able to fend for themselves because they are not able to contribute to the economy? That is a question that Singaporeans should ask themselves.
What does it mean to be a citizen?
What are the responsibilites of being a citizen and the nation-state?
What is the social contract in Singapore and does the government possess any moral legitimacy?
Finally, what does it mean to be human?
On another note, Adam Khoo may be financially successful and very driven but when I look at him and his crass advertisements in Todays that scream “schools don’t teach you to be rich”, I see everything that PAP stands for -Materialism, Cupidity and Self-centreredness
And if you are reading this Adam, I’ve always wondered why secondary schools are wasting money on your motivational talks when they can clearly use the money more productively.
why not we encourage MORE COMPETITION by voting in more opposItion and make those MIWs work THEIR ASS in the parliament??
Hey having million dollar salary and not working is a big big disgrace u know! Why are they not facing any fierce battle while WE the people who paid them their salaries work like salaries and still earn peanuts!
oops i mean work like slaves.
Where can we find LKY’s interview with National Geographic? Can TOC post an article on that?
the rich often say that the poor remain poor because they are not hardworking, not smart, its their own fault.. etc etc….
has anyone watched the movie “Trading Places” ?
Well said, No.5 Ravi Philemon and No.12 Political Salesman. To prove that Singapore was a very busy Port and not just a Fishing Village, those times. We have all RISEN to bring you all the living, this evidence. Through this movie taken during our great-great grand fathers’ time. Please watch the below link……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvvhY6DtfZs&feature=player_embedded
Happy viewing, from tombs 1-12
This reads like an advertorial at best. The only thing he leaves out is “Join my expensive motivation courses and discover your inner competitive spirit again!!”
why are the expats beatin the craps out of the singapoor trained scholars includin hoching?
simple asked any foreign expats… would they throw in a few billion$ of OTHER peoples’ money without doin the homeworks/legworks?
even leeson walked from yishun to houghang just to make sured the public buses run on time before he TOPPED up his ezlink card
“What I noticed is that these expats have a very important quality that many Singaporeans (especially the new Y generation lack).”
that is y our generation must learn from those expats on how to sharpen their spurs nicely and learn how to kick the hide of those who bring in these expats.
This chap is just drumming up his own business thru his so called blog which is actually an advertorial in all its characteristics. What he is saying “is come here, I can make you very very rich woh! ”
But has Adam Khoo himself done a survey among all his attendees a year after to see how much wealth the attendees have created among themselves, which he boasts are so eager to hear his golden words of truth to wealth???
My gut feeling is even if he did the survey, it would be embarassing to even boast or even publish or publicize about it. The vast majority would probably have lost their money in the stock market or trying to make ends meet in Spore with a very high cost of living in white collar jobs.
If you can create wealth on your own, you would probably not bother with this type of seminars. You just need to at China millionaires to know that they know nothing about these type of seminars. Creating wealth is an innate ability.
“I rather these talented and driven people be on our team contributing to our nation than against us from their home country.”
then y r they not staying in their own country and contribute leh, and had to come out of their own country in the first place. say want to contribute, can just contribute meh. say want to compete, can just compete meh.
you need the right mix of conditions (be it social, cultural, economical & what-not) in order to shine.
if so easy, y not everyone come here drooling in order to hire our elites to be own ministars.
“which he boasts are so eager to hear his golden words of truth to wealth???”
much better koyok sellers better have already been left exposed & dry after the crisis.
#13) Heckcare
Totally agree with you. He seems to equate success with money – he does trumpet much his triumph of being a millionaire by 26. he is the product of PAP’s creation.
money & wealth matters – it is what the country has built itself upon by prostituting itself for foreign investments, and opening the floodgates to “foreign talent” with the rationale of remaining competitive.
if our ministers were so talented, they would think of other means of improving the economic competitiveness of our country instead of turning to the “cheaper, better, faster” (nice going, lim swee say) solutions.
for a country that prides itself on its efficient government and “talented” ministers (who have to be paid shitloads of money to lure them out from the private sectors and so they wont turn to corruption – oh what a laugh) where is the long-term vision?
if we so practice meritocracy, shape up or ship out, ministers. we don’t pay you peanuts only to get monkeys doing the job.
This type of insidious claim with its subtext must be debunked.
If Singaporeans are “hungry for success” and possess the “fighting spirit”, then by extension we should be able to welcome FTs, and have the stomach to fight with them in the race to be cheaper.
This isn’t not new nor original. We have seen it all before. What it all boils down to, what the elites want us to believe is : It’s all our fault, don’t blame them if our lives don’t improve, because we don’t have the fighting spirit, and we didn’t produce enough babies !
I’ve said it before and I’ll said it again, Singaporeans are not hungry enough. If they are hungry, they would have voted out PAP.
This “eat not full, starve not dead” state is why *many* Singaporeans continue to slog like modern day slave and still continue to vote for PAP. Others have already woken up and saw the dud that PAP is.
Perhaps Singaporeans going hungry is a good thing. Then many will wake up and vote PAP out and usher in a new golden age. Not an age of illusion that we had for the past 40 years.
The critical comments made against Mr Khoo’s comments shows just one thing: when truthful but harsh criticism is made, it is often not well-received.
E.g. expats are indeed beating the crap out of us because AS A WHOLE, they are more driven than us. Just look at our universities as Mr Khoo points out. They are the top students. And do not complain about how the places they occupy should be given to Singaporeans. Denying them entry is not going to make the Singaporeans that take those places any smarter wrt these expat students who would just be getting their tertiary education in another country.
So long as we compete globally, there is little point in shutting them out. The correct solution is to rise to the challenge, something, I’m afraid, most Singaporeans are just unable to do.
arnt u tired competing but getting no where?
I don’t understand why Singaporeans such as Adam Khoo like to berate, chastise and lecture others? Is this a uniquely Singaporean-MM-LKY syndrome? Instead of trying to understand and collaborate, Singaporeans seem capable of only dominating – why liddat?
walau
post #29 on December 30th, 2009 11.20 pm
let me guess, some people who were constantly berated or belittled in their youth will grow up to see the world as a war zone, hence Mr Khoo’s: “‘why are the expats BEATing the crap out of Singaporeans?”
when people feel inferior, they will go to great lengths to prove their worth (or prove that others are wrong), those who achieve success will repeat the vicious cycle they themselves went through?
sounds like victims (children) of family violence, how to break such cycle leh?
i can see that y’all’re havin’ some fun time shootin’ mr khoo over this presumed advert piece.
well, advert or not, i do believe that there’s some truth to be found in his words. c’mon, surely you do see a problem with these gen y chaps? they’re walking ’round in AX shirts and levis 501s, with crumplers slung over their shoulders, lookin’ at the world through a pair of oakley shades… and you see nothin’ wrong?
flame me if you will, but i find mr khoo quite right.
XP
post #31 on December 30th, 2009 11.53 pm
yes, i too agree there is some truth in what Mr Khoo has said. but again this some truth is as a good as the debate on the “open door” policy to the influx of FTs/FWs.
govt always say cannot close, but more accurately, its how wide it should open, so similiarly there are young & affluent youths that are more outgoing. hence more visible than those who may not share the party, hang out in malls & always meeting friends type of social life.
of course, what you see may also be a matter of where you normally go yourself. :)
Does anyone know whether Adam Khoo was a student from the Gifted Education Programme?
If he was in the GEP program, why does he claim that he is gifted. Students from the GEP program are the top 1% students in a given cohort.
guess this guy has been invited for tea…..he’s starting to speak in the same way as our MIW.
i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s one of the new faces introduced at the next GE.
To Adam Khoo:
So do you think we can become millionaires by paying a few thousand dollars to attend you wealth seminars?
The naive Singaporeans who attended your seminar and dream of becoming rich have to take risk to punt in the Stock Market whereas you just reap your profit at NO Risk by sucking their hard earn money though your Overpriced seminars …
Oops…
I mean “If he was NOT in the GEP program, why does he claim that he is gifted?”
Please explain what you are gifted in, Adam Khoo … and stop overcharging the gullible students.
It sounds to me as if just because local participants (in his eyes) at his seminars are not furiously taking notes and eagerly asking questions that he thinks they are lacking in an ‘hunger’ and ‘fighting spirit’.
Did Adam ever consider the possibility that some folks behave in such an unenthusiastic manner at his seminars cause they feel it’s a load of manure?
People please calm down and go through the broad thought which Adam pointed out. While it may be true that he is trying to get more business via this article or whatever, we cannot dispute there are indeed some facts in there.
Hunger is one of the most important factor in building anything in life, and alot of the kids brought up by the maids and pampered at home truly possess not much of hunger as their families have given them the thinking that it is ok if you do not make it on your own.
Sorry mishit the submit button earlier.
For the many people who believe that money does not equate success, I agree with you. But I think we need to stop this hero-villian type relationship with money, i.e. if you make a lot of money then you must be corrupt, evil, sell your soul etc, while if you do not then you are pure and of high morals…this line of thought is very strange to me.
Money does not equate success-true, but money gives you freedom….to choose, to experience, to assist other people etc. Adam made his money via whatever his methods but it is something which he has built and while I do not agree with him on some of his methods and marketing, I am not going to knock him down.
Sometimes we need to hear harsh words to wake ourselves from our slumber and self created indignation. I had an experience whereby I was previously languishing in my job meaningless, mindless etc….my manager pulled me aside and asked me point blank do you respect your job, your clients, your co-workers? If yes then you have to step up, if not then please resign and find something else to do….those were the best words I have heard in my professional life. It was a big turning point for me and I learnt that when you change your outlook, the world changes….
Not trying to defend and side with anyone but seriously, the macro system we may be able to change with our votes or whatever, but the next question is once the macro environment changes, will you then find something else to be angry about or will your life be truely better?
Happy new year to everyone….
“I have a prediction. My prediction is that in a couple of years, the expatriates (from China, India, US etc…) will rule Singapore.”
Can Adam Khoo or foreign talent, please upturn the downturn.
The chinese ain expats, they are just fifth column in our country or city depending on whose perspective. I did not know now any foreigner in our country is also called an expat.
we might as well be an expat city with the increasing hordes of ‘expats’
S’pore has a falling birth rate (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore#Population). As such, we need to be welcoming of talented expats. Adam Khoo’s article does not mention the fact that the foreign scholars often have to serve a bond in S’pore (see http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/scholarships-financialaid/scholarships/freshmen/nsg/scholarship-nsg-aus.html), and that some expats do become eventually PRs or even citizens. In addition, from what I know, only “naturalised citizens” play for our national teams (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_national_football_team).
Guess who the next PAP MP will be…..
Singaporeans are only 3 million – the rest of the world are 3.5 billion. How to compete when the best from the rest of the world are courted to come to Singapore? I agree we need them and only the cream. But please stop comparing guavas to durians. My point is – are the locals being given any special help besides scolding and even the threat of putting spurs on the behinds?
Actually what if we got more freedom fun loving foreigners like aussies or americans to rule Singapore =) ?
I do not like the first 2 paras, and am not inclined the read the rest.
My key gripe: It rides on the preposition that foreigners and locals shall compete on an equal footing for most things, if not all things, in Sg.
Yes, makes you wonder what it means to be a Sgan, but I feel that the bigger problem is that this mindset has permeated the national discourse for way too long, such that we no longer see a NEED to make the distinction.
While I am totally for talent trading and the global citizenship concept, it is quite another thing for Khoo argue like this by looking at the Sg context only. It begs a review, but I guess his suspected business imperatives have already drawn the curtain on that…
You guys are political commentators, Khoo is a businessmen. Business and politics don’t mix. Businessmen will never have a kopi session with politicians; they are natural loggedheads.
So… it’s not surprising to see a huge variation in the opinions expressed by Khoo and you guys. :)
#39 Ace…we gotta ask why is this Singaporean lack or deficit described as “hunger”? Hunger for what – success, achievement, rewards, recognition? I think “hunger” serves a thoroughly materialist and consumption-driven imperative.
Can this deficit/lack be understood differently such as lack of passion? And how can we understand the root of the problem – is it systemic? Is there a history behind this (dis)passion?
@48 Triple Threat…its people like Khoo who may have a little talent but are the biggest beneficiaries of a value system that perhaps rewards hungry opportunists and compliant followers. These are the kind of guys who think of themselves as deserving winners and fail to recognize themselves as beneficiaries(of the system); who see it as their given right to condemn, berate and chastise others unlike them. And I don’t know enough whether are these the kind of people who fill the ranks of political leadership but I have a feeling that they do. That said, I believe there are more enlightened businessmen & entrepreneurs e.g. Ho Kwan Ping(?) who have a much better and nuanced understanding of the socio-economic, political complexity.