WITH regard to Mr Ooi Teck Chau's letter last Friday, 'Singapore needs home- grown entrepreneurs', I would like to make the following points for clarification of my seminar remarks:
In today's globalised world, economic and social benefits to a host country are (unfortunately) not captive. For example, hundreds of Taiwanese home-grown entrepreneurs would not hesitate to relocate to China when opportunities beckon there.
Similarly, American multinational corporations (for example, General Motors or General Electric) will not hesitate to retrench in the United States but expand in China as they are doing now. Why would Singapore entrepreneurs be different?
For Singapore, while we will do our utmost to encourage home-grown enterprises, we cannot depend exclusively on such local enterprises to deliver social benefits for Singaporeans. We should nurture and reward the providers of social benefit, irrespective of size, ownership or country of domicile.
We welcome social contributions from multinational corporations, government-linked companies or home-grown enterprises alike. Globalisation is an economic fact of life in the 21st century. Singapore just has to learn to play by its rules.
By doing so, we are not exceptional. New Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has just announced the repeal of a 40-year-old policy to encourage bumiputera entrepreneurship.
This is my personal view. It may not necessarily be an Economic Development Board view.
Chan Chin Bock
(The writer is a former chairman of the Economic Development Board.)
