The Management of Globalization in Singapore: Twentieth Century ...

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Marystella Amaldas., Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan)libraries are digitizing their collections to create virtual booksthat could be accessed anywhere, anytime. All these seem toadd to the children's ability to learn independently, to thinkinnovatively, and even to cooperate constructively. These areattributes that any Intelligent Island would considerprerequisites.Beyond the formal education sector and schools,worker upgrading and the learning of new skills, includingthe smaller and medium-sized enterprises, have receivedmore emphasis. Schemes to help achieve this include theManpower Development Assistance Scheme to help those inthe work-force to upgrade their skills and knowledgecontinuously; and the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fundannounced by Prime Minister Goh in August 2000, with abudget of $1 billion, to help equip workers with the skills totake on existing and new jobs, create new products andservices, and capture new markets in this stage of economicdevelopment.Managing income inequality need not mean reducingincome inequality. It can be also about making “transparentattempts to reduce the real and imagined frustrations arisingout of growing or high inequality. Managing may takevarious forms: national public discussions, ensuring equalityin education and other opportunities, use of targeted andgeneral subsides and various other forms of assetredistribution, the extent of redistribution being a function ofpolitical will, economic imperatives and stage ofdevelopment” (Bhanoji Rao, 1996 : 360). However, Fields(1993 Cited in Shandre, 2009: 232) notes that for the effectsof economic growth to be broad-based, there must bemechanisms for transmitting gains throughout the economyand especially to the poor. Since the poor have only theirlabour to sell, economic growth can only reach the poor if itincreases the demand for their labour or providecomplementary inputs that make their labour moreproductive. Singapore government followed the twin solutionof maintaining a sustainable economic growth whilecomplementing it with a sound policy to manage inequality.Education policy and the public housing upgradingprogramme were used to improve the earning capacity of thepopulation and enhance their wealth holdings in the form of995
The Management of Globalization in Singapore: Twentieth Century Lessons for theEarly Decades of the New Centuryassets. These were targeted at the middle and lower incomegroups of the population living in public housing, as thehigher income group living in private apartments andbungalows were perceived as having done well on their ownability. The housing upgrading programme were targeted atthe older HDB flats that represent the greater proportion ofthe lower income population.In January 2001, Singaporeans received a firstpayment of the CPF Top-up promised in August 2000. TheCPF Top-up is a tangible way of sharing the nation's successwith Singaporeans and, for the first time, was structured togive more to those in the lower income groups. Other rebateson taxation and government charges were also given, againtargeting the poorer households and lower income taxpayers.Efforts to help pensioners, to some degree, and for themedical care of the elderly and poor were also strengthened.The Minister for Finance, Dr Richard Hu, set thecontext in his Budget Speech 2001 (Tay, 2001: 218).While we make these adjustments toanticipate and embrace global trendsand changes, we must continue to bemindful of our local context: those whocan run faster should pave the way forthe rest; however, those who may beunwittingly left behind must not be leftwith no help.There has been a growing realization in Singapore thatthe imperatives of trying to enter the new economy and totransform Singapore -- with a more creative and criticallyaware work-force and citizenry, considerable socioeconomicchange and adjustment, and a widening income gap -- havesocial and political implications. Immigration, education,and social assistance policies have therefore becomeimperatives, setting new directions, and receiving morefunding.The government also set up the Work ForceDevelopment Agency (WDA) in 2003 to facilitate and increasethe employability of vulnerable workers in the economy. Theobjective of WDA is to promote the employability and996
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