You should buy shares that you think are good investments. If they are on Bursa or on SGX, so be it. You buy them because they are good. If you buy shares because you simply want to buy 'shares' (any shares) and the deciding factor is broker's fees... then I think you're heading for trouble.

I buy on both sides.

If I knew for sure, I'd be a very, very rich man.

Of course. The whole purpose of having an application process is so that applications can be assessed and approved/rejected. If there's no chance an application is rejected, then why make people apply in the first place?

No idea. Fresh graduates usually get between 2K to 3K depending on how good your education is and the supply/demand balance in your industry.

Sure it's enough if you're thrifty enough. But bear in mind, thrift means very different things to different people. S$800 is barely enough to pay my taxi and airfares each month, and I already consider myself quite thrifty.

How likely? I don't know. I don't work at Sg Immigration. But if food handlers and cleaners at food courts seem to be able to get working permits, should be okay, no? As long as you have no criminal record, I think should be okay.

I'm not going anywhere fancy, just going home to see my family. Unless you don't plan to visit Malaysia, you should plan for those expenses.

It's really based on your lifestyle. If you want to specific answers, you need to ask some specific questions. If your lifestyle is exactly the same as mine, you need to budget about 2.5K a month.

They don't look down at me Malaysians, but they might look down at you Malaysians.

It is. It's to put some distance between you and me, since you use the phrase "us Malaysians". I try not to be associated with Malaysians who feel they are in a position where they might be discriminated against.

Why is what so?

You are generalising. You fear being looked down at, and you feel you might be looked down at because you are Malaysian.

What I'm saying is that if you're looked down at, it's not because you are Malaysian. It's because of you, and you alone.

Saying that someone looks down on you because you are Malaysian is an insult to other Malaysians who do not feel as insecure as you.

True enough you can't control what people think. But you can control how you act & react. And how you act will shape how they think.

If you come to Singapore with an expectation that Singaporeans will look down on you (you call it mental preparation), then I guarantee you that your behaviour and demeanour will reflect that expectation. And when it comes to stuff like this, the people around you can sense your insecurity and they will live up to your expectations.

If you are as confident as you say, then why do you need to be mentally prepared? Come to Singapore. Live up your end of the bargain in terms of work performance and social responsibilities. And if any Singaporean doesn't live up to the reasonable expectations of a civil society, then take him to task. Tell him off, scold him, tell him in no uncertain terms that he is mistaken and that you will not tolerate such behaviour.

It's extremely difficult , if not impossible, to look down on someone who does not agree with your assessment of him. For someone to effectively look down on you, they need your agreement. Implicitly or explicitly, they need you to confirm their suspicion that you are inferior to them.

There is a difference between racism & discrimination and being looked down on.

The former stems from the notion that you are born inferior, and the latter from you acting inferior.

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Added on October 18, 2009, 10:32 amThis is more a regard of the country's reputation & its achievements, rather than the individual citizens.

I agree that we are handicapped by our govt's reputation for a love of corruption, racial discrimination and worthless mega white elephants like Twin Towers, Putrajaya and KLIA - but while foreigners might poke fun at your country, they do not poke fun at you personally because of it. Not in my experience anyway.

This represents their lack of general knowledge about Malaysia rather than their evaluation of Malaysia's citizenry.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 18 2009, 10:32 AM

What do you mean cut off?

I understand that JPJ will blacklist your Malaysian licence after issuing the letter. Your Malaysian licence remains valid until it expires but you cannot renew it as it is blacklisted.

Assuming you drove to JPJ to get your declaration letter... how do you drive your car home afterwards if JPJ destroys your Malaysian driving licence?

If you're correct, you would have no licence at all and cannot drive anything between the time you get the declaration letter/Malaysian licence destroyed and the time Singapore Traffic Police issue you a new licence.

Assuming you have 1-4 years remaining on your licence, does JPJ refund you the fee for the unexpired period when they destroy your licence?

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 18 2009, 08:12 PM

It was a rhetorical question. Which is why I don't think JPJ destroys your licence.

I have colleagues who have both SG and MY licences. Their MY licences can be renewed no problem. But all of them converted more than 4 years ago.

I have obtained the JPJ extract twice. 4 and 3 years ago. Both times JPJ blacklisted my MY licence but return it to me unmolested. I returned the extract to JPJ both times to get my MY licence de-blacklisted because I didn't go through with the conversion.

That's why I'm a little bit surprised to hear that JPJ now destroys your Malaysian licence when they issue you the extract. Anyway, I'll be visiting JPJ in Ipoh the next time I'm back to get yet another extract (I can't resist buying a car anymore), so I'll update you guys then.

Till then though, I really don't think that I'll be forced to walk home and leave my car behind at JPJ after getting the extract.

Sg traffic police will only accept JPJ transcripts that are less than 6 months old. If I don't surrender the old one, I couldn't get a new one. And they really did blacklist my MY licence, I couldn't renew it until I handed the transcript back and convinced them to take take my licence off their blacklist.

Btw, did you bf convert his licence within 12 months of getting his PR or after 12 months?

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 18 2009, 09:30 PM

MY licence:
1. No if PR, No after 12 mths if not PR.
2. No if PR, No after 12 mths if not PR.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.

SG licence:
1. Yes.
2. No if PR, Yes if not PR AND do not reside in Singapore. Your car must leave Singapore for 6 hours each day.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 18 2009, 10:21 PM

I haven't converted my MY licence to a SG licence yet.

But even after I do, I want to keep my MY licence and renew it . You can lose your SG licence much easier than MY. They take their demerit points very seriously, unlike our Kejora points. You only have 14 demerit points at the start and something as simple as running a red light or speeding is already 2 points deduction. If I lose my SG licence (and therefore SG traffic police will not issue me a letter to convert it back to MY licence), I still want to be able to drive in MY as normal.

Good... a recent conversion and first hand account some more Reliable info indeed.

One more question, have you had your PR more than 12 months before you converted? I'm not sure if there's an issue if you convert more than 12 months after becoming a PR.

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Added on October 19, 2009, 12:21 amYou can if you're a tourist. Only if you're a PR or other type of SG resident, then the limitations start.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 19 2009, 12:22 AM

You can drive any non-commercial vehicle in Malaysia if you have a Malaysian licence (same class as your licence class of course) - assuming that the vehicle is legal to drive in Malaysia in the first place.

That won't happen lah. Your tax payable is calculated on the salary that you actually receive,.. not the salary quoted in your WP/EP application.

Tax records in Singapore are all so integrated electronically within IRAS, with the banks and CPF that there's virtually no way for you to be taxed on anything besides what you actually receive. When your tax return is sent to you, IRAS already knows exactly how much the company transferred out of/into their/your bank account, how much was paid to CPF and how much the company has claimed as salary expense.

Does the MOM follow up to make sure that the salaries paid are the same as the salaries declared in the applications?

This is called accounting and tax fraud. I would be very surprised if the auditors of their financial reports don't pick up the discrepancies between salary expense and cash flow.

However it's easily legalised. I think those people you know kena the trick employers usually use on Banglas. A part of their salaries is deducted to cover 'services' that the employer provides to their foreign employees. For the Banglas, it's usually transport, accomodation, food and medical. For EP holders, I don't know... but I doubt any employer playing such a trick will leave their backsides exposed. There are probably some fees or commissions in the employment contract where your friends have to pay their employer.

I do but I am hugely surprised that your friends don't complain to the authorities when their salary slip says 2500 but they only receive 1500-1800.

Let's say your objective of working is to buy a RM500,000 house in PJ.

Which option (earning >RM3K) or (earning S$2.5-2.8K) will allow you to save more money to buy that house sooner (or pay off the loan faster)?

To me... from a financial point of view, this is the only question that matters when deciding between working in 2 places that have a different currency and different standard/cost of living.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 23 2009, 06:07 PM