The issue is not foreign talent but transparency in the process

DBS was last week named world's best bank - the third consecutive year it has received such accolade. It was thus more than a little ironic that in the same week, its chief executive Piyush Gupta was cited by a Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) as a disappointing example of a non "home-grown" CEO.

Mr Gupta has been a Singapore citizen since 2009 and has helmed DBS for more than a decade. On his watch, the bank hit new highs, including being named by Harvard Business Review in 2019 as one of the top 10 global companies to have made successful strategic transformations, rubbing shoulders with disruptors such as Netflix, Amazon and Alibaba. It is illogical that we cannot count the sterling achievements of our naturalised citizens as our own. Lest the NCMP forget - we (or our forefathers) are all naturalised citizens. My family came from China and Guyana, where my great-great-grandfather had been shipped off as indentured labour. Singapore is a nation built on the backs of sturdy immigrants.

This discussion goes to the heart of our nation's current self-examination regarding employment of foreign talent in Singapore, which - like the rest of the world - is facing an unprecedented economic meltdown and an unemployment rate not seen since the global financial crisis.