Editor,

"INSANITY is doing the same thing over, and over again and expecting different results," - Albert Einstein.

None of the candidates for People's Representatives interviewed at your weekly "Meet the Press" forum had any idea what job-creating industry could Tonga develop to solve the economic problem: The growing unemployed young people.

Please, no more talk of the "good-old-days" of copra and other failed cash crops. They sound like politician-wannabes with no vision for the future. Some of them are busy designing ways to locate more "handouts" from other countries.

New Leaders Needed to Create Jobs

A "welfare state" does not produce wealth; it produces dependents on government aids and expatriates' remittances. Our Tongan Pride in feeding our families from our own hard work has diminished because there is no meaningful work available.

New ideas and visionary leaders are needed to find jobs-creating industries for our young people. But Parliamentary candidates are not going to lead us with the same "insanity" that Albert Einstein spoke of: "Doing the same thing over, and over again, and expecting different results."

Tonga's land and sea natural resources have sustained the domestic needs well. However, we have not seen Tonga's natural resources provide large-scale investment opportunities for a sustainable job market that can drive a modern economy.

Isn't it time to think outside the "rock" (island)?

Outsourcing Jobs a $-Billion Industry

Is Tonga "missing the boat" on the billion-dollar Outsourcing Industry? Giant corporations are looking for global locations for their global expansions where they can save money on labor and operating costs. The competition has been going on for 30 years, and companies seeking ways to save money will never end, a true low-cost, highly sustainable, and clean environment industry.

China and India are the world leaders, but smaller players like South Africa, Ireland, Brazil, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Singapore are getting their fair share (Farrell, 2006).

Where can Tonga fit in? How about emulating a winner such as the Republic of Singapore, which is smaller (697 sq. km) than Tonga (747 sq. km), a former British colony, and has adopted the British political system, British education system, and English as their national business language?

Singapore Example for Tonga

And Singapore is a fierce competitor in the Outsourcing Industry, ranking highest in the world with the US, UK, France, Australia, etc., in their high standards of living. From a Third World country to an Industrious Giant, Singapore is unmatched by a country of its size.

Singapore made commitments to educating her young people to become employable in the most modern technological factories of the largest companies in the world. Former PM Lee Kuan Yew (1965-1990) helped design Singapore's economic rise by capitalizing on the legacy of their former masters, the British.

The Key is Educational Mindset

What are these giant corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Google, General Electric looking for? "Locations with first-rate universities that offered plentiful supplies of first-rate talents at low wages," (Farrell, 2006). Upgrading the business infrastructure to follow, but first the educational system to have first-rate mathematics, science, technology, and English-sharp graduates.

Can Tonga do it? Why not? Government needs to address the unemployment problem just like it did with the copra industry of the past. It became a national mandate: Everyone had to plant coconuts, because it would build the economy.

Manual labor is good, hard, physical work, but it's not for everyone. Our young people are capable of work using their brains instead of breaking their backs. It is time to adopt different methods of work where the majority of our young people can be productive citizens of a modern economy.

References: Farrell, D. (June, 2006). Smarter Offshoring. Harvard Business Review, retrieved December 15, 2009, from the Harvard Business School database.

Sione Akemeihakau Mokofisi, MBA