The 1st theme I wanted to talk about is often a hot button topic in Singapore: Foreign Talent and the “Superior” Western Expat.
Because of its size and lack of natural resources, Singapore’s economy is heavily reliant on attracting the best minds around the world, which has led to resentment from some locals as many of the best jobs are taken by foreigners, sometimes without merit.
This has led to an inferiority complex among some of the local population, where foreigners are looked up to as the best and brightest. This is highlighted in a scene from the film where an American foreigner is brought in as a Director at an advertising agency, despite him not knowing anything about the local culture, only being a junior-level employee back in the States, and having to steal ideas to survive.
I can draw parallels from this scene to the Bamboo Ceiling in the West, where many East Asian workers are overlooked for management roles because they don’t fit the company culture or lack the “leadership potential” as decided by the management team, which is typically an all-white boys club.
Although foreigners make up around 30% of Singapore’s population, there now seems to be a concerted effort by the government to prioritise jobs for locals as COVID & political pressure ramps up.