Much has been talked about Indian prowess in IT and how these immigrant workforce have taken strong leadership roles in various international corporations. There is a public perception that Singapore Inc has a strong deference to foreign Indian exceptionalism, so enamoured of them that the government calls them FT or 'foreign talent'. The big head scratcher is a preferred government reliance on foreign talents churned out by universities that are hundreds of notches below our local universities in international rankings.
Yes it is true, talent is a rare commodity. All countries want talented people. Hot cross buns are one or two a penny, but real talents are rare. Open door policy of CECA without quality control gets us hot cross buns. For real talents, it requires of the government to have an agency to seek them out and entice them to come to Singapore. Wait a minute, we used to have such an agency under the 1st gen leaders.
Phillip Yeo :
"In the last 10 years, we imported too fast and too many. The tap was turned on. The key is who do you bring in and how do you manage and assimilate them. A persistent complaint is that our young fresh graduate has to compete with a fresh IT professional from India. What value can this new Indian guy bring to Singapore? If he is a senior person, okay, that is fine because he is bringing his experience and knowledge and contacts.
When I brought in scientists, they were all top guys who could help our guppies. But a fresh foreign guy is just going to depress the Singapore wages. We should bring in foreign talent at the higher level and always to supplement, not to replace"
From a small country that exported Singapore talent to the regional countries and beyond during the 1st and 2nd generation leaders, we have slipped into the rabbit hole of self-deprecating journey where we are now told foreign talents from one specific country is needed for new tech industries, but instead many came to head low tech management functions of administration, facility management, human resource, etc. The governrment surrenders to the vicissitudes of global market economy and accepts local wage suppression by cheaper foreign imports whilst ignoring the structural damage to earning power and social consequences of increased poverty. The vibes of a groundswell of public discontent is being ignored by the government for far too long.
Lately, there appears to be some reaction by the government to placate the rising discontent. This can only happen when the ruling party has internalised the situation and sees some political risks. They obviously have their own surveys and are reacting to it. The Machiavellian hand has been shown in 2 suggestions being propagated. First is the downplaying of the importance on degrees. One can get ahead in life without degrees. Less graduates leads to less unemployed graduates. Good for the charts. Second is to persuade employability based on talents, experience over paper qualifications. There are of course side shows -- special task force to ensure Singaporeans have priority over foreigners, increasing salaries of foreign workers, etc. Street smart people knows all these mean nothing as the art of circumvention comes naturally to businessmen and as long as CECA remains in its present form.
Indian exceptionalism is not a bed of roses. There have also been stories of failures that tend to be pushed under the rug. Often we find the feelings on the ground based on anecdotal readings, are at odds with ivory tower studied reports of Singapore policy makers.
My blog series will highlight the many whose employment has not turned out well for their employers. This is not a blanket wide condemnation of foreign Indians. Of course there are certainly many brilliant Indians working in high places all over the world. Take it as a reality check to balance the ga ga of the troops coming in from CECA.
The spotlight on today's episode is Mr Subramanian "Sundi" Sundaresh.
Academic achievements :
B'Tech in EE, Indian Inst of Technology, Madras; Master of Science in EE, Cornell University; MBA, Uni Pennsylvania.
Highlighted Appointments:
Jetstream Communications - CEO, Director 1998-2002 - Closed down.
Jetstream, formerly of San Jose, Calif., was a leading player in making equipment for voice-over-DSL service. It was once a hot tech company. After the dotcom bubble, the company closed shop. assets were sold off for US$3 million.
Candera Inc (previously Confluence Networks) - CEO, Director 2002-2004 - Closed down.
This was an appliance maker of SATA (Serial AT Attachment) which is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Despite fundings, it closed in 2004 due to inability to build customer base.
Adaptec - VP & GM 1993-1998. Break. CEO (2005-2010).
Removed by shareholders in 2010. Company was sold off.
In seeking his outster, Warren Lichtenstein of Steel Partners wrote : “Stockholders have suffered mightily under the watch of the legacy directors who have failed time and time again to enhance stockholder value. While they appear to be more concerned with entrenching themselves and protecting their own positions and compensation as directors, we are solely focused on maximizing value for all stockholders. That is why we are asking you to remove Messrs. Loarie and Sundaresh, the two directors whom we believe to be most responsible for the failures at Adaptec,”
Xangati - President, CEO, Director 2013-2016
Xangati was a start-up company. It develops hybrid cloud and virtualization performance management. In 2016 is was sold of in a cashless deal to Virtana (formerly Virtual Instruments).The founder and many engineers were taken over by Virtana. Sundaresh was let go.
Sundaresh is no innovator. He was mostly brought in by fellow Indian start-up founders to handle the operations side. Companies were run down or sold.
Other related blogs :
Government Thinks Singaporeans Are Too Stupid For Lots Of Jobs