Global citizenry and globalisation is not a new concept by any means. Afterall, America was founded by immigrants.

The world is a globalised one. People move and relocate to find new jobs in countries they have never been to. They go where the jobs are.

Singapore is a place where people are willing to settle down. The population demographics of Singapore are predominantly Chinese majority, with a Malay and Indian minority. This promotes a society which is very tolerant and in fact welcoming to migrants.

The reputation and the actual situation of Singapore is that of a very safe and very clean city that also is not geopolitically compromised or constrained unlike Taiwan or Hong Kong. Investors, businesses, and employees are attracted to this sense of stability.

With globalisation comes the threat that economies may suffer from wealth flight and brain drain. China anticipated this by wooing back graduates of foreign universities and cultivating universities strong in research and branding for their domestic students. Reports about international students being detained or interrogated by the TSA (the airport immigration staff) are rife. There have been instances where students of Columbia and Harvard university were singled out or detained at immigration and all these spell out bad news for the USA, the de-facto top destination for international university students looking to pursue a top quality university education.

Singapore has not laid back and rested on her laurels in the global competition to grab a share of talent. Our universities, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), are highly ranked and viewed as prestigious institutions by foreigners.

We are one of the best places for international finance and we attract many family offices to set up here in Singapore. But what does it mean for the average Singaporean? An average Singaporean lives in the heartlands, well away from the hurly burly of Orchard road and Marina Bay Sands. The average Singaporean and the affluent immigrants do not cross paths. Singapore is effectively geographically stratified. Although condominiums(private housing) are housed within HDB estates, there is very little social mixing. There is a prevailing attitude of ‘mind your own business’ in Singapore, especially with Gen Z and millennials. Many private home dwellers also own cars and do not travel via public transport.

What we are trying to do is to usher in a new age of pioneers as explained in Mr Lim Siong Guan’s book “Will Singapore Fall?” which is unprecedented. The kampung spirit that was prevailing in the age of pioneers might have been a necessary ingredient for a new age of pioneering generation, however, due to pressures of living in a metropolis like Singapore, this spirit is increasingly elusive. Merely trying to replicate it would be fruitless given the already much changed landscape.

Culture is free to form in all empires, and government trying to influence culture by way of behavourial science like nudges and intentional storytelling is new. Yes, Singapore has a ministry dedicated to crafting a Singapore story.

We need storytellers to spread the word about Singapore exceptionalism. We need more Singaporean role models, Singaporean voices in the media we consume. We need national heroes, people who have exhibited extraordinary spirit or passion and we need more efforts to lionise them so that we can reward those who exerted much effort and window of opportunity in the prime of their youth towards a passion they work so hard to beat their personal bests. Most importantly, we need to feel pride in ourselves and our achievements and celebrate our personal bests.

The battle with yourself should not be of constant self comparison but ought to be one where you are constantly self iterative and work towards actualising a better version of yourself.

More than a physical space, a hypercity is a real city overlaid with information networks that document the past, catalyze the present, and project future possibilities. Hypercities are always under construction, always improving as its residents compete with innovative ideas. Singapore fits every criteria. While the book delves into literal geographical mapping, we choose to focus on what this means in the context of the struggle for competition of global talent.

Other potential hypercities in the making are in countries with large populations like China, India, Indonesia who have a natural advantage over Singapore as they are supported by hinterlands. During the Malaysia-Singapore merger, Singapore was described as the New York of Malaysia with Kuala Lumpur the Washington DC of Malaysia.

Singapore’s position as a hypercity can be overtaken by another country in the same region the same way as how Singapore came to become successful: If a neighbouring country(which enjoys a literal hinterland), which is in their age of pioneers stage, is governed by an Exceptionalist such as Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew was an exceptional talent.

In countries like China and India, it is statistically possible to produce a prodigy like Mr Lee. However, managing a huge country like China and India is arguably of magnitudes several times more difficulty that even a political prodigy cannot mitigate such challenge. Thus, China and India are unlikely to produce a city which would compete with Singapore unless under extraordinary circumstances.

Our neighbouring countries with smaller populations and which are currently still developing economies are much more likely to undergo a spectacular transformation if a political prodigy comes to power.

Thus, so far, Singapore has done well to attract skilled migrants from South East Asia and beyond to provide them with economic opportunities because it reduces the chances of a political prodigy having the vision and sheer guts to pilot a country.

In marketing Singapore as a place to be for employment opportunities in the region, we are safeguarding our status as a hypercity as we are absorbing the populace to contribute talent to Singapore.

Given Singapore’s low birth rate of below 1 per capita, it is only wise to absorb global talent to our shores. Geographical boundaries become irrelevant as air flights become commonplace. In the past, the young people would go to the big cities within their country to study and work.

Now, the young people are willing to go anywhere in the world for better opportunities. Singapore has to provide a calibrated approach to attracting foreign talent as well as a hot potato political issue as a vocal minority in Singapore are against immigration.

There are 3.6 million Singaporeans in Singapore compared to the 6.04 million residents. Would Singaporeans enjoy the prosperity it currently enjoys if we did not attract foreign talent?

Someone remarked that it was lucky for America that Lee Kuan Yew wasn’t born in China and instead in a small southeast asian country like Singapore. We will never know that outcome. They say a leader’s impact on an organisation lasts for 80 years. It has been 50 years. We should be situated at the age of intellect according to Sir John Glubb’s analysis by now.

We need to rationally recognise that in light of our failing birthrates that immigrants are a net positive on the economy of the country they settle in.

AI is changing the nature of work. According to a Harvard study on career navigation, a new field of study, “Career navigation is both uniquely personal and inherently structural. It involves managing internal factors (i.e., one’s values, goals, and skills) and external elements (i.e., education and career opportunities) to negotiate one’s career within our society.”

Skills like negotation and playing up one’s own strengths are more important now than ever before. Employers look more towards porfolios rather than just credentials alone.

Would you rather hire a teenager that single-handly designed, wrote, and e-published a professional looking magazine or a fresh graduate familiar with adobe photoshop and writing who has only collaborated on publishing magazine projects?

Demonstrated ability is powerful and both candidates are persuasive. Hiring now hinges on the impact the candidate can bring to the table. It is in the candidate’s best interest to stand out head and shoulders above the crowd, leverage that Singapore citizenship, and demostrate fluency in English and competency in spoken Mandarin. We must flaunt our strengths to rise above the rest. Only by striving to become the better versions of ourselves daily will we not be reduced as a footnote in a future history book.