gems of wisdom

I realized I have to post these words of wisdom from my dearest and favorite prof ever and imprint it onto my blog for eternity. Courtesy of Meiling's blog(as my favorite prof only sent this e-mail to the students taking his module-which I took in yr 3)-

Dear students

As most of you will be switching gears from study desks and library hideouts to corporate responsibilities and civil service appointments, I feel it necessary to share this nugget of revelation with you concerning globalization and the pending demands of the borderless workplace in Singapore. It also ties in with the NTUC Chief’s comments on May Day.

The occasion was the launch of a new Asia-Europe Foundation publication ‘EU- Looking through the Eyes of Asia’ on 18 April. A panel discussion was held and the speakers included an important editor from Reuters, a representative from NUS’ EU Studies programme, and the chair of the European Chamber of Commerce of Singapore who turned out to be a German national overseeing a particular European MNC’s operations throughout East Asia. I posed a question about whether the EU’s image deficit could have been usefully addressed by picking lessons from Bollywood’s soft power; the export of Japanese Anime and K-pop; Chinese cultural soft power in music and dramas etc.; and the hiring of more Asian journalists in Reuters’ Asia operations. Both the Reuters representative and the EU Studies academic responded positively to say that yes there were lessons to be shared between the two regions on building constructive images. The Chair of the European Chamber of Commerce, seized the opportunity to draw attention to the fact that Singaporean graduates were becoming more uncompetitive when it comes to hiring for senior management in European MNCs expanding into Asia because of two reasons. First, Singaporeans were losing their drive and hunger for experience, and innovation. Second, Singaporean workers were becoming inadequate bridges into the Chinese corporate world: Singaporeans spoke ‘kitchen Mandarin’ and shied away from aggressively networking through Guanxi. Instead mainland Chinese professionals were willing to learn and better themselves, and were striving to improve their English proficiency.

As a Singaporean, I was hurt by his dire depiction. As an appraiser of knowledge striving to be objective, as far as it is reasonably possible, I believe lessons can be drawn on the challenges and pitfalls of globalization. On the positive side, one does not need to resort to defensive nationalism to respond to the European mercantile elite. I hope this revelation of an elite view will spur all of you on to reverse this image. ‘Singapore Inc’ as a world leader in skills and proficiency still remains to be consolidated. I hope that the intangible skills you have picked up at NUS will inspire you to become larger human beings and knowledge analysts than merely being a possessor of an Honours degree. Furthermore, the potential of globalization to help or damage the fortunes of a ‘weak state’ depends so much on the initiative of human endeavour.

I hope that the next time I meet all of you, you will have found your watermark in your diverse career paths.

Very best wishes for a great start to the working world,

ALAN CHONG
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Thanks, Prof. Your words struck a chord in the minds and hearts of us who were privileged to be taught by you. I will always remember your words of advice which you shared selflessly on issues that you taught and precious life lessons. You are one of the main reasons why I will never regret making political science my major.

The time to leave the sanctuary of school is near. Its time to embark on an enriching career and make a mark on society. The sky is the limit! and...of cos, a yuppies' life awaits. :p