His level of animosity to anything Singaporean really does raise the question – why is he here in the first place and for an extended period of time? While criticism is fine and healthy doses of it are great, a little bit of graciousness towards your host country is also sometimes in order. I never find Kubes expressing even a tiny bit of that, it’s a constant tiresome stream of negativity from him. Below is an extract of what was posted by him early last year:-

“Imagine a place where the Govt protects the simpleton populace from the realities of natural capitalist markets; where untold tens of billions are spent to protect jobs; where individuals’ financial decisions are not made based on macro economic principles, ability to pay or needs, but on what friends and families say; where nearly everyone is KIASU and live everyday in abject terror of missing out; where “herd mentality” and “group think” dominates nearly all elements of society to the extent people can’t make their own decisions resulting in hundreds of thousands of foreign business managers and leaders (talents) brought in to lead nearly all serious business activities in the country; where 80% of the people can’t understand why their housing is barely above 3rd-world standards yet is the most expensive in the world at that quality level; where citizens and economists can’t understand how per capita GDP is 400% higher than median income; where 65% of citizens declare they would emigrate if given the chance; where no one ever questions or challenges the benevolent leadership told for fear of massive retribution; where people are sheltered from bad news but a bombarded with limitless good news; where the citizens are wrapped in cotton-wool and believe they will be looked after no matter want happens.

Imagine a country where nothing is real; where irrational things are normal; where gross incompetence and negligence is ignored or denied; where face is more important that respect, honor or integrity; where rampant greed, fear of losing and stupidity are in limitless supply.

Imagine all these things, and you should not be surprised that property prices could rise at the early stage of deepest recession (near depression) in the country’s history, when GDP could decline nearly 10%; while its global markets have completely collapsed with no obvious upside on the 1 or 2 year horizon.

When you imagine all these things, you have reached of end of the rainbow and the end of yellow brick road: Uniquely Singapore – the World’s only Reality Free Zone.”

However, I’m not sure if there is any feasible way to screen employment pass applicants based on their actual “talent” or “skill” level.

Also, you have to remember that there are two reasons why companies here hire foreigners: a) because they have skills that locals here don’t have, and b) because they are cheaper than comparable local talents.

It is possible that the foreign colleague that you mentioned above falls in the latter category instead of the former…

I agree that there really isn’t much that separates an expat from a local today, if you only consider raw ability. What difference there may be, is entirely psychological or stereotypical.

And while it’s convenient to blame the government for everything, this expat vs. local thing really in my opinion is the doing of poor government social policies over the years.

It’s the government that tailors our education and social policies to groom a generation of obedient, risk-adverse workers. It’s the government which miscalculated population projections a decade ago. It’s the government which decided that it was a good idea to give university scholarships to foreign students over local students.

I also agree that if discontent towards expats did exist in heartlanders today, it’s not entirely reasonable. However, years of sweetening the deal for foreigners to come over with special perks perhaps helped contribute towards this phenomenon. The government “defense” is purely trying to address the symptoms way after the fact.

Personally, I think the comments by Mr. Kubes are off, esp on the second reply (yes, I read the forum thread), it’s not an uncommon one by any immature and probably young person, regardless heartlander or expat.