If the only son doesn't take care of his parents, who will?

Mommy and daddy are not going to be there forever, and if luck is not with you, they'll be gone before you knew they were already going. When that happens, no amount of money & opportunity is going to lessen the regret of not being there.

When I started working in KL, I drove back every fortnight. Sometimes 3 times a month. Even way back then, I knew parents won't be there forever.

My dad took ill after I came to Singapore. I went back every fortnight to see him. When his illness took a turn for the worse, I went back every weekend on Thursday night and back here work to on Monday morning. He's gone for a couple of years already but my mum's still at home. So, I fly back at least once a month. Some months, I fly back every fortnight if I can make my schedule work. I went home 20 times last year. The Firefly staff at Ipoh airport and Budget Terminal know me so well they don't even look at my passport when I check in.

tyj82, I think you're doing the right thing if you can't convince your parents to come to Sg. If you can't bring Mohd to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohd.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jan 25 2010, 12:56 PM

Ride a cow to find a horse. Good plan... but much better to ride a workhorse to find a racehorse. Cows are not nice to ride and you can waste years on them.

What is prompting you to ask this question? What have you heard?

Why would you suddenly have a concern on this, so much so that it stopped your plan.

I mean, what happened to change your thinking, giving rise to this concern?

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Added on January 27, 2010, 11:00 am
I won't be riding it, but I began picking up SMRT shares since the current stock market dip started last week.


This post has been edited by seantang: Jan 27 2010, 11:00 AM

Of course safety comes first.

But again, my question is why did you suddenly think that Singapore has bad public security?

Or are you saying that you've always thought that Singapore had bad public security?

And more incidents of crime compared to where?

Also competitors

Maybe not now, if you're early in your careers. But maybe later when you're on the same multi-functional team, or leadership team. Workplace politics is not a great respecter of departmental boundaries.

Stay away? Is that how you deal with your competitors?

Something tells me if you and I compete, I won't be the one who needs to stay away.

Well, since you want to get personal,.. you sound like someone who will never win, dirty way or otherwise.

I don't think I am wrong.

What for? It's too one sided to be interesting.

What's the decision points? ie. what's the pros and cons for you if you complete/don't complete the PR acceptance?

If you contribute to CPF, so does your employer. So you do gain something in return for getting your money stuck till you're 55.

CPF is capped at 4500 max salary ie. max 900 per month. Assuming you will eventually earn more than that, 900 isn't much as a % of salary. And if you buy property in Sg, you can use it to pay your instalments.

I also like to keep a backup permanent residency... in case the ''wannabe tuans'' and ''ayatollahs'' in Malaysia get out of control.

Meaning exactly what I just said.

You have to come to your own conclusions.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 3:44 pm
There's a govt dept called Singstat. They have a lot of useful statistics available publicly on their website.


This post has been edited by seantang: Jan 30 2010, 03:44 PM

Degrees are of course recognised.

However, whether anyone wants to employ an ex-con is a totally different matter.

When I was staying at St 11, I was a regular at the corner makan shop near the intersection of St 11 and St 13. Next to the wet market, with a mamak stall behind it. It's owned by a Singaporean Cantonese family. Good for me as I like to place fairly complicated orders and my Mandarin's not so hot. Chicken rice, duck rice, siew yuk char siew, economy rice, wantan mee, porridge and they brew kopi and teh. They are open for breakfast and lunch.

But since moving to AMK, it's a 30 minute bus ride to get there... so I've rarely been back.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jan 31 2010, 11:15 AM

Not really. I applied before getting my first paycheck. The section completed by the employer will already include all the necessary salary info.

Definitely lower than before. The govt is under a LOT of pressure to show Singaporeans that there are advantages to be Singaporean, and that includes jobs. The heady days of high growth are behind us for the next 2-3 years at least, so the govt simply cannot maintain unchanged the rate of new PRs and EP/WPs seen in the last 5 years.

Having said that, I always believe the Sg govt works on a case-by-case basis. If you are Malaysian or HK Chinese, between 20-40 years old, have a job earning 9-10K+ especially in areas like research, design, senior finance, banking, management etc... I reckon send your application in by all means. I don't think this category is affected by the current situation.

It should be the same as the bank's definition of 'income' when they assess you for a loan. But I was actually thinking basic, AWP plus contractual bonuses. The income definition for HDB loans, grants and eligibility to purchase doesn't include incidentals like OT and travel claims.

Shipping and shipbuilding has hit its worst slump in decades. One of the reasons why Singapore is scrambling for other industries like medical tourism for instance, where the demand is more constant.

Anyway, I don't know if you stand a good chance. You'll have to figure out... assume that Singapore is halving it's number of PR approvals. Are you, your qualifications, experience, age etc. enough to put you in the top 50% compared to all the other applicants, and are there are a lot of people just like you already PRs, on EP/WP or citizens?

Download the rail system map from the website. Easily found on Google.

Best if can afford a car... with a driver... who is female... and she's hot... also your bodyguard... and masseuse.