Essay Draft 1

Brain drain is the movement of human talent from its origin to another country. Due to globalisation, the ease of mobility across different regions with increase of interconnectedness caused brain drain problem to further accelerate. We will look more into the reasons of this phenomenon, how this problem has been mitigate and its effectiveness particularly in Singapore in the rest of the essay. 

It is human’s instinct to pursue for opportunities which in turn provide something better in exchange in life. Such opportunities may come in form of better career prospects, higher salary or even appreciation in work. According to the “Preparing for Take-Off” study conducted by Hay Group and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the turnover rate is the highest in Singapore since it hit 15.4% in 2009. The emerging of developed economies in Asia-Pacific region, bring about employee departures due to better career advancement such as more attractive pay package. Also, as Singapore is a small country with no natural resources, there are several industries like archaeology, mining etc that Singapore is not specialised in. Thus, graduates with speciality in such areas are left with little choice but to thrive abroad where they could put their abilities to better use. According to Regus survey, 34 percent of Singaporean workers are losing sleep worrying about work.

With increasing rapid pace of lifestyle, there are more pressures on locals in both workforce and education. This has pressured Singaporeans to the extent that they might want to move away to somewhere with lesser expectations and pressure. 

In attempt to mitigate the brain drain issue, Singapore government have came out with several plans. One of which is scholarships offered to both foreigners and locals. Such scholarships come with bonds like working in Singapore for up to 3 years upon graduation. This help to prevent locals who are studying abroad to stay put there upon graduation and reverse the situation of brain drain by attracting more foreign talents into Singapore. While an alternative measure is Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU) which is an effort of the government to engage its citizens. They provide monthly newletter about updates of Singapore and are able to enjoy discounts on certain outlets. This help to constantly keep the connections between the locals who are abroad and Singapore, promoting a sense of belonging and identity despite the distance. 

However, none of these measures are perfect. The feasibility of scholarship is very much debatable as it is definitely not a favourable policy with Singaporeans as Singaporeans feel that the scholarships given to foreigners could have been put to better use by sponsoring more Singaporeans. This is inevitable as many foreigners have been seen leaving the country or using Singapore as a stepping board to cross over to other countries once their bond is up. While OSU is not a direct sign up for people who are currently abroad, yet it is not well known thus many Singaporeans who are abroad are not aware of this program. 

Therefore, the government could solve the tension between locals and foreign talents by introducing more programs that may allow more integration at a residential level. While, the OSU could gain more exposure by publicity on social media by publicising 

the benefits of its membership with lower membership fees. 

Reader Response draft 2

According to Kim (2013), in attempts to solve South Korea’s declining birth rate and to be more economically competitive, President Park proposed more lenient immigration rules. Such changes will make movement into Korea for foreigner talents more accessible. Korea’s immigrants have increased significantly over the years which includes not only foreign talents but also foreign brides. Foreign brides acts as a form of remedy to the delay in marriage and the declining birth rate. However, this has also pose social challenges. Koreans are less accepting towards foreigners where “89% of Korean adults responded that Korean blood ancestry was important to be recognised as a Korean” The descendants of a mixed marriage was viewed as not pure Koreans who received discriminations. Moreover, with the loophole in Korean law with regard to foreigners, they receive little or no protection. Such resistance towards foreigners may lead to a more serious ageing population just like japan and eventually economic contraction. 

I agree with Kim (2013) to a large extent. In the article, he mentioned that there is a 5 years immigration plan that allow more liberal immigration. Such policies will help in in easier accessibility for foreigners to come into Korea. Though such policy is definitely the fastest way to get foreigners into Korea but it is a short term solution. Quoted from Kim, “you can’t reap the full benefits of immigration if you don’t integrate immigrants effectively”. Foreigners are the potential solution to the decline in birthrate and bringing in revenue, job opportunities and transfer skill set through their investments in the country. In the long term, with Korean’s resistive attitude and little protection for foreigners this will make foreigners feel difficult to integrate into the Korean society due to their elite mindset. Foreigners are not able to feel a sense of belonging and will still eventually leave as long as there are better opportunities elsewhere. This may in turn create more economic instability as investments can be pulled out anytime due to global competition which may result in massive unemployment if that were to occur. Moreover, with doors closed against foreigners, it may act as a deference for potential investors to even start up their company there.

Suggestions such as monitoring of and transparency in marriage-broker market are propose as solutions for falsehood among marriage for which brokers failed to absolutely authenticate. This helps in solving problematic marriages due to fraud right at the beginning. However, I feel that though this may help to minimise the impact it doesn’t solve the root of the problem. The reason why foreigners are vulnerable is ultimately due to the lack of protection by Korea’s law which result in issues like domestic violence and deportation.

Yet again, I understand there is difficulties to impose such laws in Korea. The resistance against foreigners are deeply rooted in the Koreans due to their idea of foreigners being more inferior compared to the locals. As such, I feel that the government should first start to bridge the gaps between the local and foreigners by language. As Koreans are proud of their culture and heritage, government could offers start up courses to new immigrants to teach them about Korea’s culture and heritage. At the same time, they could also offer Korean lessons to immigrants and english lessons to Koreans at a highly subsidised price so that this could minimise the language barrier between the two. Once they are able to at least communicate, through day to day interactions, any prejudice could at least be lessen. With prejudice reduced, there will be a better chance that the government could come up some sort of law that at least give foreigners some form of protection at the minimum even though it may receive discontentment among the locals. 

Also, perhaps Korea government could learn some tips from Singapore which is a multi-racial community yet with such diverse culture we are all able to live in peace and harmony. Korea could adapt how Singapore make sure there are strict laws impose on racial insensitive comments made. This will help to reduce hatred, discontentment remarks made towards foreigners be less well-spreaded and make Koreans be more mindful of their words used against foreigners. The government could also make documentary about how foreigners are beneficial to the country such as taking up jobs that locals are not keen in and how they have contributed to Korea’s economy to make the locals more appreciative of them.

Of course, I understand that such strong prejudge against foreigners are not able to be completely eliminated within a day or two. In fact, it might take up a really long time, to even make locals be accepting of them. However, I feel that it is through the government’s conscious effort to kick start the acceptance, and after on passing on to the local level. If government does’t even care about the integration of the foreigners, who will be? 

Reader Response

According to Yin (2013), in response to the decrease in birth rate, Singapore's ruling party promotes an open immigration policy. However, as the immigrants arrival aligned with the times of rising costs and widening income gap, the policy received a negative reception. The polls was indicative of the citizens’ dissatisfaction against the policy. As such, the government has came out with counter strategy that controls the arrival of migrants. However, there are concerns on how this restriction might have destructive impacts on restrictions placed on immigrants. His interviewee, Roger believes that Singapore has today’s achievement was mainly due to immigrants in the early days. Along with factors such as low taxes, low unemployment rate and good governance, Singapore has become a popular destination for renown celebrities. Moreover, immigrants have help to provide our market with sufficient labour which helped us in eliminating problems like wage inflation.

I agree to a large extent with Yin (2013). As his interviewee Roger has mentioned, Singapore success today was largely contributed by the migrants. Our forefathers were migrants from Southeast Asia and China who were here for both economically and due to colonial powers. They contributed tremendously in shaping Singapore in the early days. For instance, they were traders and workers along the Singapore River which gave rise to our budding economy. They built the roads, buildings and landscapes we see today that are still in use or conserved as heritage that are tourist attractions which still bring in revenue for the country. This has proved how Singapore has been dependent on migrants even in the early days and how we are all ultimately somewhat part of the migrants crowd even though our attitude towards them are less welcoming now that are we are the descendent of migrants.

Though some may argue that migrants who are here today are no longer of comparable context with the past due to their upbringing in their hometown which may cause an influence on our local culture and lifestyle. For instance, the recent Little India Riot caused by the Indian migrant workers. But Singapore has always been a salad bowl of different culture which is what that makes us unique and is our selling point. If we look beyond the point of them as a competitor, they actually act as a motivator for the locals to constantly upgrade themselves even after graduation due to the fear of getting eliminated in the midst of such stiff competition. They impart skills set from their own country to locals through jobs interactions and help to keep our country attractive for foreign investors.  Moreover, they are the solution to our smaller working population and help to take up jobs that are not attractive to the locals. 

Therefore, even though there are negative feelings towards migrants, Singaporeans ought to still appreciate the help we receive from them since nothing is perfect. It is ultimately still up to ourselves on how we want to appreciate it.