English does help us to communicate more effectively with many business people and friends around the world since it is the most widely used language. It is a valuable asset.
However, there are many Asian countries whose mother tongue is not English yet they are also doing well. Japan is the most prominent example, so are South Korea and Taiwan.
Singapore is used to working under foreign bosses as we have long been a country for multinational companies. The latest addition is none other than Malaysia's Genting's Resorts World Sentosa. We learn from them and are thankful that they can provide jobs for our people and other nationals.
Of course you're right that if our womenfolk has to find jobs as maids in a foreign country in order to survive, then something is not quite right. Not that working as maids for an honest pay is wrong, but to see some of them with good qualifications being forced to do unsuitable work which pays little is painful. I hope our womenfolk will be able to continue to work at home and our government and business leaders can continue to provide jobs and other opportunities for them.
Yet, Singapore has to expand overseas and create its own MNCs if we want to have greater progress and prosperity. And in so doing, our young men and women will have to venture overseas and work under foreign bosses too.
However, having foreign bosses is quite different from being ruled and dominated by another country. If one is resourceful, one can change jobs and work for a more amenable organisation.
Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and even EC nations such as Belgium, Germany, France etc all have done well despite English not their 1st language. It is the education system actually. If you have the right foundation, the rest will take care of itself.
Malaysia on the other hand, lets just say we are still in the dark. Our standards have dropped ... drastically. For example, my uncle was a top student and he was offered a place in UM to do engineering decades ago. Back in those days, if you are offered a place in UM, it means you are a pretty smart cookie. Today, I had a friend who went to UM 5 years ago based on just 'above average' results. He too did his engineering degree there. And today, he is working for some government agency. If you put my friend and uncle in the same room today, within a minute you can tell the difference.
Its not only our universities, we have big problems in our primary and secondary schools too. Look at the quality of teachers there, it is very poor and substandard. It is no wonder why chinese schools are filled to the brim today than say a few decades ago. I have many chinese friends who studied at government schools and today as parents, they opt to send their children to chinese schools instead, despite they themselves not being able to read and write in chinese. Many have lost faith in our government school system. The teachers are poor, the facilities are substandard.
Malaysia has to be careful. Unlike Singapore, we are blessed with natural resources. Other than natural resources, we also have people as our primary assets. But sadly, we have been wasting both away shamelessly. Many of our bright minds are now working in Singapore, UK, Australia, NZ, England, US, Canada etc.
With a wishy washy education system, thousands of bright minds migrated abroad ... imagine what can happen when our natural resources runs out? As we stay under the comfort of our coconut shell, beat the minorities into submission and talk about our race supremacy while others have gone to the moon and back. Believe me the day will come when we really find ourselves being servants in our own land.
Its 2010, we are still taking about subsidies, freebies etc. We still need our crutches to compete. I wont be surprise if say in 20 years or so, Malaysian maids will be a common thing. And we may have to kow tow to Singapore or even Vietnam.
