[lvlrsSTI]

Go and look at the map you posted upthread.

Big huge splash of red, but I could not even see Singapore on it.  When it's painted red, as it is, this little red dot becomes non-existent on the map.

From the way you wrote, you are fearful of competition, of FTs, FC (Foreign companies) coming in.....

Singapore is not a game setter, it is a taker, and certainly not a game changer.  We change when the rules are changed.  

Protectionism will get us no where.

Yes, workers will come in asking for lower wages.  Look at the Banglas...if not for them, you think we can still afford to build low cost HDB flats?  Try hiring 100% sinkies to do the job and see what happens.  Sinkie would rather do GRAB delivery earning $5000 a month than work as a construction worker, unless you pay them maybe $8K a month.

And you can forget about constructing the north-south corridor without cheap foreign workers.

On another level, there are the FTs...the engineers, IT experts, the doctors, etc.  You don't want them?  You want to pull an iron curtain around the island and stop FTs from coming in, so that we can enjoy super high wages?  It will not happen. Companies will leave.

RCEP means no more protectionism in these countries, RCEP countries will share natural resources and services in the region, they will also share cheap labour and technology. Competition will be tough as companies will hire best talents from other countries and cheap workers from less developed countries. More FTs from Australia, China, Korea and other ASEAN nations, more FWs will come to Spore from Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and the Philippines.