By Dr Wong Wee Nam, guest contributor
At a Post-Budget 2010 Feedback Session held at Marine Parade Community Club recently, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong revealed what it takes to be a productive worker. He used two cases to make his point.
First he used the example of a popiah skin maker who could only make 50 skins per hour. When his skill improves the next year he might make 100 skins per hour. This, as he explained, means the productivity has increased by 100 percent.
In another illustration he showed the difference between the typist who could only type with 1 finger and needing 20 minutes to type a page and one who could type with 10 fingers and could finish a page in half a minute.
In other words, if we could make a 70 year old toilet cleaner work twice as fast, our elderly hawker centre helper clean more tables in a given time and our taxi drivers double their speed, all of them would be very productive.
If working faster is basically what productivity means, then we are doomed for another period of the same economic malaise that has struck us. Though I am not an economist and have never studied economics in school, I do know that productivity does not simply mean doing a task faster. It would be, in the old industrial age prior to the advent of computers and the internet. It would be, if we still kept competing with third world countries using third world technologies to produce similar kinds of goods. But aren’t we in the First World now?
Though the government keeps talking about productivity, creativity and innovation, it looks as if our mentality is still stuck in the industrialized age.
The Meaning of Productivity
What then is productivity? French political economist, futurist and philosopher, Bertrand de Jouvenel, believed a man must be willing to change his way of working if he wants to increase wealth.
He said, “If he were always to proceed in the same way, he would always produce the same amount in the same time and thus fail to do his share to increase the flow of commodities.”
Furthermore he added, “An increase in the total flow of commodities is not, and cannot be, achieved by simply multiplying by a certain constant each of the specific currents of which the total flow is composed at a given moment.”
Finally he said, “Increasing production demands continual changes in the way the labour force is divided.”
Thus, to be productive, our workers must be mobile and adaptable. They must also have some independent thinking skills so that they will be able to identify and solve problems. However this does not mean just getting them better educated. This is because however educated a person may be, if he is conditioned to be passive and submissive he will always have this unconscious habit of waiting for instructions and cues from above in order to move.
Therefore, to produce creative and innovative workers, we need a nurturing climate. There must be the freedom to express without fear and the room to initiate action without psychological inhibitions. This is because a controlled environment will destroy peoples’ initiative, motivation, instinct and sense of purpose. It can only breed workers who can only be slotted into the various niches in society and just do the work required of them. This is the problem with Singapore. There is no culture of inquiry, debate and research that can make us become a nation of innovative and creative people.
A Better Example of Innovation and Productivity
The story of Ida Rosenthal should be an inspiration to the small person running a humble business. Ida Rosenthal was a dressmaker in a small shop in New York in the early 1920s. At that time women wore corsets and chemises as undergarments. To improve the fit for her customers, Mrs Rosenthal started to experiment with undergarments and finally came out with the first brassiere. Soon the brassiere became a permanent accessory to her dresses. It became so popular that she decided to devote herself to manufacturing brassieres. She later found a company called Maiden Form, the first bra-making company, and very soon all the women in the world were “dreaming in a Maidenform Bra” as an advertisement then went. This is real productivity.
It is not that Singapore does not have productive people. The very fact that our forefathers were prepared to uproot themselves and move to Singapore to start a new life from scratch shows we do have the productivity “genes” in us. It is just that these “genes” have been suppressed by the stifling climate and have not been allowed spontaneous expression.
This is one reason why our film industry has lagged behind the Korean film industry. All along I had thought that Korean serials only attract young girls until I had dinner with a university professor and a specialist doctor. During dinner, both of them were animatedly exchanging stories of the Korean videos they had watched. The university professor told me the Korean videos are watched all over the world including US, Europe, Japan and the whole of South-East Asia. The spin-off from the popularity of the serials is the increasing attraction of Korea as a tourist destination.
The university professor also told me that when she went to Korea for a visit, she insisted the guide brought her to all the Bay Yong-joon concerts and to the condo where he stays where she delighted herself taking photographs of his mailbox and all the fan mails in there (as the mailbox was not locked).
She also told me about another retired professor who not only owned all of Bay’s videos but who would also wait patiently at a hotel to catch a glimpse of him when he was in Singapore. Talk about the fanatic Filipinas and Japanese fans of Bay.
The love for Korean dramas is not confined to the lay person. I once asked an ex-TV actress why she preferred to watch Korean dramas. She said the Koreans are very good storytellers. When I commented that the local dramas are not as good because the acting is not on par, she said that we cannot blame the actors because sometimes the scripts do not allow them to act. I asked if that was because the scripts needed to be politically correct and she answered the question with a laugh which said it all.
No wonder the baddies and gangsters in our local productions do not look or behave like crooks and all the characters look and behave like one another.
Goebbels, the Reichsminister of Propaganda who adored the film Gone With The Wind, had these words for his filmmakers. He said, “If I saw a film made with conviction, then I’ll reward its maker. What I do not want to see are films that begin and end with National Socialist Parades.” To him, if you want to make films, make them entertaining.
What Needs To Be Done?
We are living in an era of vast information and knowledge where rapid changes can make demands on the individual’s ability to change and adapt. The need for the personal development of our students, therefore, becomes even greater. Where difficult decisions need to be made between unclear alternatives, the need for personal integrity and moral courage becomes even more important. This must be the basis of educating our young. Not only will such a person adapt well, he will also likely to have better work ethics.
We are now facing the problems of a developed country and the high costs will affect our competitiveness in many ways. What we really need to continue growing is to have people who can create new goods and services. Only innovating economies can expand and develop. We can no longer keep on churning out economic digits fit for an industrialized society.
However, we can only create new goods and services if we have creative and innovative people. We cannot have creative and innovative people if the climate continues to stifle us. We cannot have creative and innovative people if a lot of our people are just waiting for the government to dispense wealth in the form of upgrading and pre-election shares and rebates.
Our economy can no longer just depend on the few large corporations. In a city economy, it is vital that we have plenty of small and medium size businesses with a possibility of coming out with new ideas to create innovative work and services.
There may be other views on how to turn Singapore into a home of creative and innovative people. However it is hard to imagine that an innovative and creative population can be created by just making all the motherhood statements of higher skills, higher productivity and higher wages without giving people more mental space to dream and allowing more alternative voices to be heard.
For the policy makers and the people who run this country, it would be good for them to watch this video featuring an excellent talk by Sir Ken Robinson, who is an internationally recognized leader in the development of innovation and human resources, to get an idea of what we are facing and what needs to be done.
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PeterC
Thanks for the pointer. Its not just Redhill but many other estates, Toa Payoh, McPherson… I have often walked past one-rm flats in Toa Payoh and personally know of a disabled woman SUPPORTING her aged mum without a single cent of help from the Govt.
Yes, we should all give a helping hand where we can but the Govt should not discharge their responsibility to us and put priority in collecting trophies. So what if SG has the best economy in the world? Do commoners get to share the wealth? Yes it provides jobs, try telling slaves they are lucky they have a job which provides for a roof over their heads, food to eat and clothes to wear (aristocrats do provide their slave servants with these in the old times).
Perhaps the height of their ivory tower is making them so dizzy, they miss the whole forest for the wood.
Liz XT
TOC is actually the type of medium that Spore, the ‘great, modern, first world” country (sarcasticsm intended) is lacking.
Call it lamenting or whatever you like, I call it educating. Real education is reading up and lots of discussions. Its not about regurgitating what the ‘experts’ tell you!
Taneug
I forgot to add, the overseas students who band together to compile their past ten year exams for practice do not share this out with other nationality of students. They see the others as rivals. So much for educational prowess. If you put them on the spot, to come up with something creative and clever, I can bet you to my last dollar, they will come first from the bottom. This is not to blame them or laugh at them, this is to highlight the flaw in our eudcational system. I am still struggling with creativity myself, if anything this is what I am severly lacking, I can do many things except being creative.
Pls forgive me, its me again in yet another nick trying to be creative you see.
I think we all agree that the topic has veered off the original subject. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing if more readers knew as a consquence the extent of the aged poverty in Singapore. So my thanks to all who took time to comment seriously on my views.
The government has several schemes, MUIS has schemes, NGOS, temples, mosques, churches have schemes. In fact, I think we have too much confusion in administering to the poor. And I have worked with them long enough to know that PA on its own is not enough and the criteria too restrictive. So we should meet our MPs during the ‘meet the people’ sessions and press them to do more. I totally disagree with Shakehead that having the schemes in place, the government intentionally gives insuffiient publicity to save a few bucks. This is a hard headed government but not a heartless one. And finally we can all help our fellow citizens by giving up a few EPL games and educating ourselves and extending our hand.
Now i truly believe SM is a fool lol.
Productivity means, if u have a dip or A level, you will be given an opportunity to study , hence getting a better dip, improves ur abilities. But Sg put an age limit of 25 to apply for university. Where got productivity?
The popiah example are a bad example. Nowadays, ppl uses machine. If everyone uses machines and u use hand….where got productivity?
Dear Taneug ,
When Sg got booted from M’sia, we are in the same condition as HK and Tw. It becos those colonial masters have been draining the region resources through corruption. But look at HK and Tw. Sg also have the advantages of leeching from the wealth of Penang and the Indonesia Chinese, as well as from Hongkong in the 90s to become what is now, due to the political situations in their homelands.
I dont want to compare oranges with apples. But the point is, what can stop a Chinese State from becoming a poor state in times of peace when the mentality is to prosper? It is not just a chinese mentality, it is also the mentality of the other countries to prosper too irregardless of race but Sg have always been competing against the others, and this sort of competition keeps Sg in the race for wealth irregardless of who is in charge. Can you say Sg is not a prosperous settlement before the PAP takes charge. It still is, the port makes great money except for the colonial masters that takes the wealth thru corruption and taxes.
No, Teol, Singapore was defintely not a prosperous country before the PAP took over. Just ask your parents or better, your grand parents. But HK was already a prosperous society before the British left in ’97.
The issue is whether wealth here is sufficently distributed so that no one is left behind -in my view those who are lazy do not deserve help. I admire people like PeterC who takes every opportunity to hit home the message hard and ask tough questions. And the key question is – how does a society strike a balance such that schemes to help the poor do not encourage a dependency mentality and without wealth creation, there is only a distribution of suffering .
There will be fall-outs in any scheme. How can we search every corner so that those deserving of help are literally pulled out. If an educated person like Shakehead does not even know the schemes available, something is wrong with the communication channels. Tell your MP. Get them to work.
Sorry, I have to close the correspondance on this matter. Thanks for sharing.
No, Teol, Singapore was defintely not a prosperous country before the PAP took over. Just ask your parents or better, your grand parents. But HK was already a prosperous society before the British left in ‘97.
so taneug..before the british left..even without leekuanyew..hongkong already propered…
what is pap today? 1 who spent $31.17 billion4 on expenses thru temasek inc usin the peasants’ cpf savin$? so where is my grandparents share?
unless you want to boost sharin in payin for all the billion$ lo$$e$…
Dear Taneug,
It is a bad case of quoting from my grandfather and fathers who own lands in hougang before the PAP drives us away with cheap HDB. That is why we are voting against the PAP for being land stealers.
If Sg is prosperous now, why then, have the number of poor increased by so much and the HDB prices so suffocating. How many people are now in debts? 70%? If Singapore is this properous, we wouldnt have this discussion now, am i right?
I studied Malaya History before the introduction of the world history, Singapore is prosperous before the PAP and after as all. Unless you may wish to rewrite the history.
The fact is no one can prove if another person was PM instead of LKY, would singapore be what it is now or even more prosperous.
Absolutely no one can prove this .
So, we cannot say either way.