="cjoyce"]Competition can be looked at from two main perspectives : qualitative and quantitative.
Cost factor is important to a certain extent. Global competition is there and every possible means should be utilised to gain the upperhand.
A persistent view held by the authorities is complacence. They think that Singapore has the best airport and port and shipping conglomerates are prepared to pay top dollar for quality service. The condescension towards Pelapas and other ports is like the fable of the hare and the tortoise race.
PSA has to be more vigorous in order not to lag behind its competitors. Once the advantage is lost, it would be doubly hard to regain the preeminent position Singapore has always boasted about.
Technology start-ups, innovation and practical broad-based knowledge application hold the key to a country's progress.
For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Singapore leaders wasted great opportunities to level up to Korea, Finland and Switzerland in such areas so it has somewhat stagnated due to over-confidence in conceptual intuitions and foresight of leaders which could not be implemented because they are too conceptual and full of bull and assumptions.
So Yeo Ning Hong had to swallow his word about Singapore having quality competitiveness. Reality does not agree with what he and all the old guards have been proposing.
Singapore need new leaders who are truly entrepreneurial, open and technology savvy. Do we have them?