Singapore is for the elite. There is another side of Singapore which our Canadian friend is probably not aware of ie the Toa Payon one-roomers who just don't fit into the Singapore that our ministers and top civil servants live in.
Canada 1.) High taxes 2.) Free or Cheap education 3.) Free or Cheap medical treatment 4.) Cheap and Large housing 5.) Caring society 6.) Jobs maybe hard to find but if you're willing to work probably you'll find one. 7.) Kids have subsidies for growth 8.) Minimum wage enforced
Singapore 1.) Low taxes 2.) Affordable education if you are smart enough 3.) You need to pay your own medical treatment. Supplemented by shield and medisafe. 4.) Very expensive and small housing 5.) Apathetic and uncaring (you can debate this with me but i would say 70% are selfish and 30% (probably canadians and foreigners in singapore) are ok) 6.) Jobs maybe hard to find but if you're willing to work probably you'll find one. 7.) Kids have subsidies for growth 8.) No minimum salary
The above are facts and i'm comparing based on mid to low income earners. As we all know, if you are rich and financially independent, anywhere in the world is the same for you. So if you fall in the rich category then please dont comment. If you are rich and feel you fall into one of the category above, that means you are in dillusion that you are rich.
Ok, that aside, I've been living in Singapore for the past 10 years or so....i'm one of the so called 'talent' who came here due to the currency exchange rate and lack of opportunities in my homeland. I must compliment Singapore for it's excellent planning and design. Coming here as a young 20 year old and staring work was really a great time for me. Now i'm in my early 30s and i can say that 'Boy, things have really changed'. First of all, this country looks more like a refugee camp. I cant really feel or identify where i am nowadays. As we grow older, somethings in life matter more than others. For me when i was young, i didnt care if housing, education or healthcare was expensive or cheap or free. I also didnt care if people were selfish and wouldnt give me a seat in the mrt or bus. All this things change as one ages and starts a family. I worry about my kids future education, how i can afford to pay for my million dollar hdb (using Bishan DBSS as an example after inclusion of interests), what if i fall sick and get cancer. Sure, sure, Singapore has all the answers, work hard until you are 67 and more so that you can pay all your debts and then some more to make sure you have enough money in your OA so that you can receive an annuity of 500-600bucks a month (come on! whats 500 dollars a month mean in 50 years time). Make sure your kids study really really really hard and then some more, so that they can enter the university (not to be a jerk, but seriously, polytechnic is not a great education paper to have in the real world - you really need a degree, try taking your poly cert and work in United States and see what they offer you. And dont reply this if you dont have a large pool of statistic, as i'm not interested to hear about 1 special story like Creative's boss.). If you fall sick, Medishield and Medisave will help you. Yeah right! Of course if you get like denggi fever its ok...you pay minimum. What if you get cancer? Heart attack? kidney failure? Medishield pays for you hospitalization, medisave pays for some things....but who pays for chemo? your transplant? and worse, what if you actually survive and have 30-40 years life ahead? who pays for you continuous treatment?
Points to ponder here are this: 1.) If you are in Singapore, you better not get any critical illness. 2.) Housing? Good luck to all of you. I think Singaporeans are dillusionise about what housing really is. HDB is suppose to be afforadble housing for all. I agree that the homeless here will only increase in numbers as time goes on as there is no low cost housing in Singapore. 3.) Education? Its for the elite.
So if you can fulfill the 3 points above you are pretty much set here.
End of the day, it really depends on what you seek for in life. Some countries offer what you are looking for, some don't.
I am quite shock that a Canadian smeared his home country image in another country. We, Singaporeans may detest our Govt, but we are in another country, we always say good things about Singapore, keeping all the negatives under wraps. This is why we have a good image overseas. What will Mr Eric Broks says about Singapore after he have had enough of Singapore and decided to migrate to another country? Hope that he will not do that to Singapore on what has done to his home country
I agree totally with Wee's letter. I know of a friend who was kicked out of VITB, now ITE because of a disagreement with her instructor. She is now an associate professor in the United States. For myself, I was deem good enough only for VITB NTC qualification, but went on to successfully achieve a Masters Degree in the UK, at my expense of course. The lack of opportunities in Singapore is due to the social engineering of the government, who decides what you should be based on their own manpower projections. This include the errorneous Stop at two policy two decades ago when they decided that Singapore is too small for us to have more than two children.
After reading the 1st comment, Like to say that even a FT who came here a few years ago is complaining that there are too many "FTs". If this isn't poof enough, i don't kknow what is.
Singapore is for the elite. There is another side of Singapore which our Canadian friend is probably not aware of ie the Toa Payon one-roomers who just don't fit into the Singapore that our ministers and top civil servants live in.
ReplyDeleteHere's my comparison sheet.
ReplyDeleteCanada
1.) High taxes
2.) Free or Cheap education
3.) Free or Cheap medical treatment
4.) Cheap and Large housing
5.) Caring society
6.) Jobs maybe hard to find but if you're willing to work probably you'll find one.
7.) Kids have subsidies for growth
8.) Minimum wage enforced
Singapore
1.) Low taxes
2.) Affordable education if you are smart enough
3.) You need to pay your own medical treatment. Supplemented by shield and medisafe.
4.) Very expensive and small housing
5.) Apathetic and uncaring (you can debate this with me but i would say 70% are selfish and 30% (probably canadians and foreigners in singapore) are ok)
6.) Jobs maybe hard to find but if you're willing to work probably you'll find one.
7.) Kids have subsidies for growth
8.) No minimum salary
The above are facts and i'm comparing based on mid to low income earners. As we all know, if you are rich and financially independent, anywhere in the world is the same for you. So if you fall in the rich category then please dont comment. If you are rich and feel you fall into one of the category above, that means you are in dillusion that you are rich.
Ok, that aside, I've been living in Singapore for the past 10 years or so....i'm one of the so called 'talent' who came here due to the currency exchange rate and lack of opportunities in my homeland. I must compliment Singapore for it's excellent planning and design. Coming here as a young 20 year old and staring work was really a great time for me. Now i'm in my early 30s and i can say that 'Boy, things have really changed'. First of all, this country looks more like a refugee camp. I cant really feel or identify where i am nowadays. As we grow older, somethings in life matter more than others. For me when i was young, i didnt care if housing, education or healthcare was expensive or cheap or free. I also didnt care if people were selfish and wouldnt give me a seat in the mrt or bus. All this things change as one ages and starts a family. I worry about my kids future education, how i can afford to pay for my million dollar hdb (using Bishan DBSS as an example after inclusion of interests), what if i fall sick and get cancer. Sure, sure, Singapore has all the answers, work hard until you are 67 and more so that you can pay all your debts and then some more to make sure you have enough money in your OA so that you can receive an annuity of 500-600bucks a month (come on! whats 500 dollars a month mean in 50 years time). Make sure your kids study really really really hard and then some more, so that they can enter the university (not to be a jerk, but seriously, polytechnic is not a great education paper to have in the real world - you really need a degree, try taking your poly cert and work in United States and see what they offer you. And dont reply this if you dont have a large pool of statistic, as i'm not interested to hear about 1 special story like Creative's boss.). If you fall sick, Medishield and Medisave will help you. Yeah right! Of course if you get like denggi fever its ok...you pay minimum. What if you get cancer? Heart attack? kidney failure? Medishield pays for you hospitalization, medisave pays for some things....but who pays for chemo? your transplant? and worse, what if you actually survive and have 30-40 years life ahead? who pays for you continuous treatment?
Points to ponder here are this:
1.) If you are in Singapore, you better not get any critical illness.
2.) Housing? Good luck to all of you. I think Singaporeans are dillusionise about what housing really is. HDB is suppose to be afforadble housing for all. I agree that the homeless here will only increase in numbers as time goes on as there is no low cost housing in Singapore.
3.) Education? Its for the elite.
So if you can fulfill the 3 points above you are pretty much set here.
End of the day, it really depends on what you seek for in life. Some countries offer what you are looking for, some don't.
I am quite shock that a Canadian smeared his home country image in another country. We, Singaporeans may detest our Govt, but we are in another country, we always say good things about Singapore, keeping all the negatives under wraps. This is why we have a good image overseas. What will Mr Eric Broks says about Singapore after he have had enough of Singapore and decided to migrate to another country? Hope that he will not do that to Singapore on what has done to his home country
ReplyDeleteI agree totally with Wee's letter. I know of a friend who was kicked out of VITB, now ITE because of a disagreement with her instructor. She is now an associate professor in the United States. For myself, I was deem good enough only for VITB NTC qualification, but went on to successfully achieve a Masters Degree in the UK, at my expense of course. The lack of opportunities in Singapore is due to the social engineering of the government, who decides what you should be based on their own manpower projections. This include the errorneous Stop at two policy two decades ago when they decided that Singapore is too small for us to have more than two children.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the 1st comment, Like to say that even a FT who came here a few years ago is complaining that there are too many "FTs". If this isn't poof enough, i don't kknow what is.
ReplyDelete