Creating our greatest asset

Bring in the casinos! Build new hotels! Build new roads! Construct more homes and condos! Increase our tourist market! Yes, let’s do all these exciting things to improve our economy. But who will do the work in all these exciting activities? Who will earn decent wages with the available jobs? Our answer should shout out: “We, the local people!” But…

Are we capable? Are we willing to do the work? Are we trained to take over? Or are we going to insist that foreign workers do the work for us while we sit and wait for the tax revenues to flow in? We did this when the garment industry was in full bloom. We sat on the sidelines and let the nonresident workers flood into our workforce.

Now that the garment industry is only a memory, the nonresident workers are still doing our work and remitting our U.S. grant money back to their home country. And amidst all this we sit in deepening poverty. What is wrong with us and our thinking? Let’s look at what some other countries have learned about having a well-educated and skilled workforce.

From 1958 to 1974, I lived in Japan and watched her rebuild her war-devastated economy to become one of the world’s highest. Japan led in technology and exports for many years. Yes, Japan has had her ups and downs, but she has managed to still remain a formidable power in the world. Yet she has no natural resources, but she has a well-educated and skilled labor force not afraid to work.

However, Japan also had very determined leaders at that time that motivated the people to improve themselves and the country. I know because I met several of the prime ministers and had the opportunity to speak with them.

Across from Japan is Korea. Many times during the same period from 1958 to 1974, I visited Korea and watched her build her war-devastated economy. Today Korea is a powerhouse of economic strength. Yet she too has no natural resources. And despite that North and South Korea are still on a collision course, South Korea maintains a strong economy. How? Her people! They are industrious and not afraid of taking risks and determined to succeed.

But again Korea’s leaders prodded the people to take up their shovels and work hard to restore their country. This I personally witnessed on my many trips there. This is what strong leadership has done and can do for us.

During the years I lived and worked there, I watched as both Japanese and Koreans became shopkeepers and businesspeople. There was no food stamp program. One either worked or did not eat. Up to today this is still the norm. I also saw this when I visited Mexico. Our guide remarked how fortunate we Americans are to have food stamps. “Here,” he told me, “we either work or we don’t eat!”

Today we are amazed at the great economic strides China is making. China is the world’s fastest growing economy. Who deserves the credit for this? It is the Chinese government that motivates workers to become skilled labors. It is the Chinese workers who leave their homes, and often their families, to find work in the factories of China’s booming coastal cities. All have their thoughts on the present and their eyes on the future. They have learned the meaning of work and its ethic.

One of the worst programs ever fostered on people is welfare! Welfare encourages failure and robs the recipient of the will to help himself. Either the recipients failed to do enough to help themselves or society failed to provide enough opportunities. Welfare doesn’t try to decide why people are poor; it only guarantees a minimal income. However if the welfare program were slightly altered, it could become one of the best social programs.

Consider the benefits if the government were to mandate that all welfare recipients attend regular educational training courses of their choice for as long as they receive a handout. For example, a mother without training and with children too young for her to work can attend classes in nutrition, cooking, literacy and many other self-improvement courses several times a week. The men or women can attend vocational or management skills courses so that eventually they too will be eligible for good paying positions.

A step like this is called a “human investment” measure. Instead of reaching out with guilt for having to “beg” for a living, the recipient strives to better himself/herself. Endless research has proven that education is the surest route out of poverty. Thus while the individual receives economic support, he/she will be building skills needed to meet the challenges of the labor market.

Yearly our government spends millions of dollars for public school education. The government feels that it has accomplished its task of educating the populace while they are children. Yet prisons are filled with adult failures, drug addicts and alcoholics. Unskilled potential good workers roam the streets seeking work. Meanwhile poverty flourishes. At times I want to cry when I see this waste of potential pool of workers.

Compare the huge amount of money we spend on building prisons, maintaining them, and the amount of money we spend many times on totally non-essential projects. It is obvious that these are more important than people. When will our leaders wake up and motivate our citizens to become our labor pool? We have acres of diamonds under our feet and don’t see them.

I can go on and on about the need to train our own citizens to become the skilled trained workers we need. But unless our government leaders earnestly take a sincere and determined effort to correct this problem, we will continue to sink into poverty and hopelessness.

Poverty means not having a voice and hence no influence on important decisions which have an impact on our lives. Poverty means hunger. Poverty means suffering from disease. Poverty means the lack of educational opportunities. The path out of poverty? Better education coupled with training!

Knowledge is the prerequisite for self-determination and self-realization. Well-trained workers increase productivity and improve the quality of work. Education is a prerequisite for development.

I dream that someday our leaders will understand the importance of solving this problem. With their encouragement, we can become great again. There is no other way. All the handouts, all the casinos, all the increase in tourism, all the other projects we hope for will not bring prosperity to our community until we, the citizens, become a vital part of all this activity. Join in my plea to them, We need their motivation and assistance.

The only way to improve our community and ourselves is to roll up our sleeves and go to work. We must do the work ourselves. We must educate ourselves to become a trained and motivated workforce. We must demand that our government make human investments and human resources a national priority.

The former Prime Minster of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, once stated that Singapore’s success was due to “ the ability and industry of our young people, willing and eager to learn, prepared to work hard and pay their way in the world, finding pride and pleasure in constructive endeavor….There is no law in nature which provides that life will get better next year. We have to work to make it better.”

I have repeatedly stated that Singapore is a prime example of what a country can do when its people are encouraged by its leaders. Today it stands as one of the most economically successful countries in the world. Yet it has no natural resources except a determined and a trained population.

Please take the time out to read From Third World to First:The Singapore Story: 1965—2000 by Lee Kuan Yew. It is a fascinating history of rags to riches as told by the man who made it happen. I suggest it be mandatory reading for all leaders.

Do we leave our citizens in the abyss of poverty or do we create a second chance for them? Do we accept the loss of faith in ourselves as inevitable? Have we lost our dreams? We can become prosperous again. It is within our grasp! Let’s get off our buts (excuses) and do it!