MTI Dialogue Session (all posts)

Question (from a NOC person): 1/3 of NOC (NUS Overseas Colleges) people were foreigners, and once they arrived in the foreign country they just went to get the jobs there. They weren't interested in networking sessions. The money spent on them was not worth it.

We select people for such programs based on capabilities, but ultimately we want to get value for the money we spent.

Answer: We shouldn't take the attitude: 'You studied here, so you must be beholden to us for the rest of your life'. It's a free world - if you offer a good job, good, smart people will come. Good, smart people don't like to be dictated to. You must win their hearts and minds.

Don't look at it in a negative way. Some will choose to stay in Singapore, others will work here for a while and move on, adding value while they're here. It rankles to know that there're those who use Singapore as a stepping stone, but if they study here for 4 years, they'll have a small part of Singapore in them always. If you network with them, hopefully they will have good feelings for Singapore.

Interjection: We don't want to tie them down, but we give them the money and opportunities and they just hide in their room surfing the Internet and studying, and don't get involved.

Answer: It depends on their personality and character: some local students also just hide in their room surfing the Internet and studying, and don't get involved.

Point of information: Re: the previous point, the NOC director said that most NOC people who become entrepreneurs are foreigners.

Question (from a NOC person): I'm not Singaporean. I've mixed experiences: some of my foreigner friends feel for Singapore. I feel strongly for Singapore because I interact with locals. If I didn't mix with them, I wouldn't feel for Singapore. You need to pull them in.

[Ed: If you import foreigners from specific countries by the truckload, they can form their own ecosystems and won't interact with locals.]

Answer: Merging tensions (?). You should make an effort to interact with foreign students. What may appear to be aloofness/arrogance may be lack of confidence or language facility.

If you go overseas you'll be in a small minority so it's hard to reach out. The best entrepreneurial adventures are cross-cultural, eg YouTube.

Question: 80% of Music is made of foreigners, mostly from the PRC. We've many patrons and sponsors and most students are on scholarships. We have amazing facilities.

Many students want to go overseas to study. There aren't many music job opportunities in Singapore. I'm not sure I'd want to stay here. What is Singapore doing to try to support art?

Answer: The Arts are a vital component in a vibrant city. But you've to attract all the people. We don't have a long tradition of the Arts, because we've only recently come into affluence. Now we have the institutions - music and art schools.

The demand for the Arts is increasing, but I'm not sure if we can offer an environment for world-class pianists to stay here. It takes time to evolve. Top pianists like Lang Lang are based in Boston. Some centres in the world are huge arts magnets - we're far behind, unless world class people choose to come here.

Our culture is improving but we've not punctured through to a world class event yet. We need to take time to grow. We need to get Asian and ASEAN talent to become, at least, a regional centre.

Question: Are we becoming a global city of borrowed art, bringing in famous world culture? What happened to the local brand? Few Singaporeans appreciate local art.

Answer: The London arts scene is not just the West End, and New York not just Broadway. There're many community theatre clubs. The local scene here is pretty good. The Dim Sum Dollies are very good.

We always need some global productions. If we produce something Uniquely Singapore, it may not travel globally. But if it's Singaporean but with a universal theme, it will fly (that's how world famous acts succeed - they have universal appeal).

Our older writers like Catherine Lim and Gopal Baratham write with Singaporean themes, local contexts and local subtexts, but the younger ones have universal appeal. Even if the stories are in HDB estates, people overseas will be able to relate to them. The Necessary Stage is doing a lot today.

There may not be formal learning in the arts scene, but there's passion.