Singaporeans are better... not!

Somehow, living in this little red dot, we have been taught to think that we are better than others, that even though we don't have natural resources, we can make up for it using better technology and with better-trained people.

We think that with technology and better training, we will be able to counter problems that others are unable to solve. We think that we are better than them, that we can come up with solutions to problems that others are unable to tackle.

Others learnt their lessons through painful experience. They put 3 persons on the job, not because they are inefficient, not because they are not proficient, not because they are incompetent, and definitely not because they are stupid. They put 3 persons there because that is what works, and that is the number that is required, and with 3 persons, they know that should something unexpected happen, that is the number of people required to deal with the problem.

We Singaporeans think that with technology, better training, and because "we are better than them", we just need to put 1 person on the same job. Yes, a machine may be able to assist to cut down the manpower actually required to perform the job. But when something unexpected happens, the machine is not going to be there to help you come up with a contingency plan. If you need to do something outside the norm to solve the problem, the machine cannot help you if it was not designed to do those functions.

So we have "teach less, learn more". We want to expand our job scopes, yet at the same time downsize the organisation. We think we can do more with less, because our people are better. And we are always successful, because we define the criteria for success. It is hard for me to fail a test, in which the exam questions are set by me, and the test paper is marked by me. Sometimes I wonder if we are just lying to ourselves.