I REFER to Dr Tony Tan's recent speech at the annual Economic Society of Singapore dinner, in which he called on Singapore to look beyond exporting traditional goods and services, and develop an 'economy of ideas' instead.
In his speech, Dr Tan advocated an economy that would 'encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, research and development, and (provide) higher education for as many people as possible in employable disciplines...without lowering standards'.
To achieve this goal, Singaporeans must start thinking out of the box and rely less on multinational corporations to create jobs.
The shocking news of Seagate's plans to retrench up to 2,000 workers as it relocates its hard-disk manufacturing operations to cheaper locations is a sobering reminder that Singapore is yet to emerge fully from the downturn.
Poorly trained blue-collar workers need to consider alternative working options now and attend the many retraining courses available. Armed with a new set of skills, they can be more confident of being rehired should they be retrenched.
More can also be done to encourage local entrepreneurs to play a more prominent role in hiring the domestic workforce. Singaporeans should be encouraged to set up their own businesses upon graduating.
The Government can give out more incentives to develop local enterprises that have the potential to grow beyond our shores.
As funding is usually the first obstacle in transforming a great idea into reality, more can be done to give budding entrepreneurs access to much-needed loans.
At the same time, Singaporeans need to break out of their risk-averse mindset. We risk our country's survival by not doing so.
We have been conditioned from young to avoid anything that carries risk and uncertainty.
Our school curriculum needs to be revamped to encourage our youth to be more adventurous and to take an experimental approach to life.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained - this motto needs to be ingrained in our society.
This way, Singaporeans can do their part to add jobs to the economy.
