i been very very very happy here that i never been in sg.

there’s really a greener grass out there!

cheers!

There are also many jobless migrants nowadays with teh economic recession.

My efar is that many may return to their home countries due to a lack of opportunities for them here.

You mean to say au does hire PR in her armed forces?

I thought SAF also hire till age 55, and I heard it’s extending the age. No?

Aussie armed forces will still take me, up to 55.

How is it like to be a 2nd class citizen in perth? Must be better than being a 3rd class citizen in sg?

I am a true blue Singaporean, PES A (never keng in combat engineers), NUS Degree in Mech Engineering, worked as semicon engineer but had to join MOE as teacher. Left for Perth last year and now happily working with house, and buying next house.

Australia gave me a fair go and recognised my previous experience. You have to adapt here. I left cos no place to stand in SG.

Majullah Singapura! Happy NDP 09!

I have read it and noted some interesting excerpts below which could explan why Singaporeans are facing the problems we are discussing about.

Lee on Singapore immigrants and migration of Singaporeans

Mr Lee: “Yeah. I mean, you take Singapore. When I was born, this island had probably 450,000 people. By the time of Second World War, nearly one million, it grew with trade and so on. Three-and-a-half years of Japanese Occupation cut off from all sea routes, no food, no medicines, no textiles, no nothing, the population dispersed into all the surrounding areas to grow tapioca in order to survive. It went down to about half-a-million. British came back, restored the system, trade grew, went back to one million. By the time we became independent in1965, we were about two million.

“So, long stretches of rubber estates, pineapple plantations, mangrove swamps I used to cycle down to town from the countryside, it’s now just highway upon highway, tall buildings. We now have four-and-a-half million people, 3.2 million our citizens, the rest foreigners working here and our planners are projecting for growth to 6.5. I said, look, go slow. Do we want to hit 6.5? Maybe we should… My demographers tell me 5.5 is the more likely target unless we ramp up the immigration. Even 5.5, already at 4.5, we have complaints from our people who say, look, will you keep those permit holders, those strange Chinese and Indians who don’t look like us far away because if we have them nearby, at night in the weekends, they come near our places
because we’ve got bright lights and they stay around and leave the place littered and make a terrible noise. If we don’t have them, who’s going to climb up all these scaffoldings and bend these steel bars?”

Q: “So, how serious is the brain drain, sir?”

Mr Lee: “The brain drain is pretty serious, our brain drain, losing them…”

Q: “To China?”

Mr Lee: “No, losing them to America. No, we’re not losing to China.”

Q: “Not China?”

Mr Lee: “China, they’ll come back. You want to be Chinese or do you want to be Singaporean. You go to China, you’re going to compete against 1,300 million very bright fellows, hardworking, starving. Do you stand a chance to be on top of that pole? No, but if you go there as Singaporean with a different base, speaking English which they can’t, with connections to the world, then you’ve got a different platform. What happens is they go to America, Americans then collect them, the bright ones. You stay for two, three years in their companies, acclimatize them to the company culture and take them to China, if they speak Chinese.

So, they’re part of the American team. Now, if they are working in China, I think they’ll come back because they don’t want their children to compete against Chinese. But if they decide to take the Green Card and settle in America, then I think we’ve lost them and they are going to America and those who don’t want the hard competition here go to Australia and Canada.”

Q: “You have percentages on that, sir?”

Mr Lee: “We’re losing about… According to the people who give up their citizenship and take out their savings, their pension funds, we’re losing about, at the top end, 1,000 a year, which is about, if you take the top 30 per cent of the population, thereabout four or five per cent. It will grow because I think the numbers are growing. Every year, there are more people going abroad for their either first degree or second degree or whatever. But we’re making up by getting many bright Chinese and Indians coming here because of better prospects, learn English, you can learn Chinese at the same time and so on and the Indians are near home, First-World standards as against Indian infrastructure. The trouble is many of the Chinese then use us as a stepping stone to go to America where the grass is greener. But even if we only keep 30 to 40 per cent and we lose 60 to 70 per cent, we’re a net gainer. But the day will come, maybe 20 years, maybe 30 years, when Chinese say, look, my life is better than yours or as good.”

The website you mentioned seems to be meant for migrated Singaporeans in Australia, right?

According to “Job slump hits migrants most” at http://www.transitioning.org/?p=2007 :

“AUSTRALIAN-BORN workers have been shielded from the worst of the global recession, as employers have mainly restricted the economy-wide job losses to migrant workers.

Although unemployment is rising across the board as opportunities vanish, there is a clear divide emerging between the treatment of local and overseas-born workers.”

If the above report is correct then wouldn’t Singaporeans who have migrated to Australia, like yourself, are facing employment problems?

There is a full article there for migrating singaporeans.

The rest of the struggling population, unfortunately, will have to be bottom feeders. If you can’t own a car, you just have to take MRT and buses all your life. And if want to save a bit of money, walk in 33C-35C humid heat. When you arrive to your office you perspire and smell and have to take a shower.

The elites move around in chaffeur-driven cars, never take a bus or MRT their lives so never having the risk to be infected by H1N1 virus. Their car seats are never heated up in the sun and they are always park in a shaded place. They don’t even need to look and fight for a parking lot.

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS MAN??!!

Anyone with a copy?

I don’t consider migrating a “brave” act, nor would I want to call it the contrary act of cowardice and selfishness. The choice of migration is only for those who firstly, have the means or opportunities to do so, and then secondly, choose to do so. Majority of the s’poreans would have already failed on the first instance.

…………………………..

181) Gilbert Goh
“The ranking frankly does not benefit the local people but more for international prestige.”

Agree fully with your statement.

“Much needs to be done before people are convinced to return home.”

We all know this. However, who is going to make sg govt do the “much need to be done” if everybody were to leave sg in bad times? If the rest who stayed behind managed to make sg govt do the “much need to be done”, is it fair that those who have left sg in bad times only come back to sg to enjoy the fruits in good times?

…………………………..

186) loyaldog,

I like your post, a good summary of how i feel. But maybe, please have proper paragraph so that my eyes won’t get hurt reading. :P

…………………………..

187) Singapore PR,

You have made the right final choice. Thank you for making sg less crowded.

…………………………..

189) borderless,

“The priviledged class get the best of everything whilst the ordinary get the worst of everything. They are the first to die in a war cos the priviledged class either leave the country first or give orders for the low rank soldiers to die first.”

You have spoken my mind.

We are starting to see that the rich are getting richer… they can either stay or migrate. The poor are getting poorer…. with not much help for them. The middle class got stuck in between, working till the day they die (assuming they still can find jobs with the influx of foreigners)… they can’t see retirement. :(

In conclusion, all our lamentation here will be in vain unless there is a strong Leader who can take them up and address the issues with sg govt.

You cannot decide where you were born but you can decide where you want to live.

The priviledged class get the best of everything whilst the ordinary get the worst of everything. They are the first to die in a war cos the priviledged class either leave the country first or give orders for the low rank soldiers to die first.

It’s the same everyway so crave out a niche for yourself in a foreign country you wish to move to – NZ, OZ, China, India wherever, and build your own empire.

Someone who family roots were chinese built his empire in S’pore, you build yours elsewhere since you cannot compete. It may not necessarily be an empire like the tiny island state but even a bigger plot of land when you can garden, tend to you chooks would be better isn’t it?

Nationalisms is pure BS. Just live your own life and shut your ears to what others may say.

Since the priviledged class secret philosophy is : “Save themselves first”, the ordinary masses motto, too, should be : “Each man for himself.”