2011 - a year of awakening

Read this article by Lucky Tan:  http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-year-of-awakening.html

I agree with all of his views, as they are quite close to my own views. Lucky Tan also said that there is a need to raise productivity in Singapore, rather than depend on cheap imported labor. I wish to give my own perspective on this issue, based on my past three years experience in running a small company in Singapore.

Our government agencies have added unnecessary costs to businesses from their impractical measures. Their websites are complicated and their online processes are painful to use. By trying to save a few minutes of their staff's time, they add several hours to the time of the public. We still make a lot of payments using physical checks and send a lot of mails and notification using physical mail. We are quite backward in these areas, compared to many first world countries. These inefficiencies increase the cost of running a business in Singapore! 

Singapore has a lot of challenges ahead. They cannot be solved if our leaders continue to act in the old ways.  Only best hope is that the leaders realize the extent of the problem and are prepared to face them.