Why? You reckon factory workers must earn more than 500 or less than 500?

Actually... what's your question again?

That's why I always chose the 18 seater coaches last time. All the seats are for passengers and the reserve driver sleeps in the little cubicle behind the last seat. Which is why I never take the last seat also.

Fly. Sooooo many flights from Subang and KLIA.

Lodge a report of what exactly?

Take from Subang.

Errrrr... What company is this? What assets are they managing?

Ahhh... Bank of New York - Mellon. We use them to administer our ESS (Employee Share Scheme)... typical American bank. Thinks that everyone is US-based and works on US-time.

They expect their outside-US clients to call them during US working hours to get things resolved. I have nothing good to say about them, in this regard as a service provider.

As an employer, I think they will be quite typical of any American merchant bank. Good salary & bonuses, long working hours and a very objective, if not inhumane way of dealing with retrenchment and layoffs.

The job description sounds like an account representative. Probably assigned to a number of clients to take care of the bank-client relationship. If their clients are anything like my colleagues... you can expect lots of wine, women and song.

I guess so. You take care of the customer like salesman lah.


Sound like customer development. Find out what other services the bank can offer them and then sell, sell, sell.

2K to 3K.

By the time you ''know'', all flights will be full or very expensive. It's only 62 bucks. If you really cannot make the flight, you only lose 62 bucks. On the other hand, if your work environment is reasonable, booking now means one less thing you need to worry about next year.

If Firefly can book now, I'll definitely book. I can always bring my comapny laptop and work from home if necessary.

How is earning RM1.5K in KL better than earning S$1.5K in Sg?

"Longer term promotion" better in KL? Unless it's for agricultural related or govt contract related industries, I don't see how KL provides better long term employment opportunities to non-bumi employees.

As for going to US or UK, I really, really doubt if they are issuing work permits or green cards to someone whose qualifications can only command a RM1.5K or S$1.5K salary.

If both salaries are the same, to me it's a no-brainer to work in SG as long as you don't bring in all the crybaby 'I miss my mummy and daddy or I miss my gf' arguments.

Just do simple math and compare the net savings. When you convert the S$ saved back to RM, you'll find it's at least double what you can save in KL.

And this ratio goes higher as the salary goes up. That's because, effective tax in Singapore is much lower than Malaysia, especially from 100,000 per year onwards. In addition, one person can only spend so much on food and household essentials, ~1000 per month. When you progress in your career, you find the food etc. becomes a smaller and smaller portion of your spending. Stuff like cars, HDTVs, mobile phones, clothes, entertainment etc becomes the main spending. This stuff is cheaper in Singapore due to the exchange rate.

All businesses try to minimise costs. Why would you think that a company will pay you something extra that they are not obliged to?

Anyway, my company is the same. I didn't get any CPF before I got my PR. And I think it's the same for most other companies. They won't volunteer to pay you something they don't need to as it's something you're not entitled to. It's different of course if the company specifically wants to hire you and they use this as an additional carrot.

Btw, it's also the thing that makes you 13% cheaper than hiring a Singaporean. So, think about it... why hire you if you price yourself the same as a Singaporean?

Like you said. You are from KL.

Most Malaysians who work in Sg are not from KL. I'm from Ipoh and I worked in KL for 6 years before moving to Sg. To me, I have no greater attachment to KL than to Sg. I had to buy a car in KL, had to look for a place to rent, had to cook my own meals... so to me, KL is just like Sg. The only difference is that it pays less than half the effective salary, has more crime and there were fewer opportunities for promotion.


I don't know how you do the sums, but if you're willing to spend the same amount of money (S$1 for RM1), you can buy the same category of housing (ie. std middle class housing unit: HDB flat in Sg or terrace house in KL) and same category of car. In fact, good cars are much cheaper in Sg vs KL, if you take it as a % of salary. For example, a S$70K Swift Sport costs RM110K in KL. That price difference will pay for any running cost differences for a very long time.

To me, it's just a mentality thing. The first priority for Malaysians who work in Sg is to save. So it's hard to bring yourself to buy anything - even though you can afford it just as much as if you were drawing the same RM salary in KL and buying the same thing. But in KL, people don't think so much about maximum savings and will take loans to buy houses and cars.

My decision to move to Sg was simple. I wanted to buy the double story terrace I was renting in SS4. My landlady wanted RM450K for that. I did the sums and I would have to take a RM400K loan which at my salary then, I would have to service for 20-25 years. In Sg, assuming I have a family and can buy HDB, I would theoretically be able to pay cash for it after working for 5-8 years. And if my company were to send me back to KL after 5-8 years, I wouldn't mind. Using the same amount I have theoretically saved to buy that HDB, I can buy the SS4 house in cash, and have enough left over to buy a Honda Civic... Type R some more.


Like I said it's a mentality thing. You have a HDB in Sg. That's the same category of middle class housing as a terrace house in KL. In effect, you have your terrace house. As for the Honda Civic, you can buy it in Singapore - if you choose to save in Sg, the same lesser amount that you would have saved in KL... assuming you get the same salary lah in both places.

In my view, any advantages KL has over Sg are emotional or preference factors. There are no monetary benefits that I can see, longer term (you can't stay in your dad's house, drive his car and smooch off your mum's cooking forever). And in my personal case, I saw a huge difference in terms of career opportunities... namely because my company's office in Sg was much bigger and had many more regional and global jobs compared to KL.

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 25 2010, 04:30 PM

Lester1987's right. You have nothing to lose. And the fact is that you're in a very niche field. If they need you, they'll 'accommodate' you. If they don't or if they really want citizens and PRs only, all you lose is your time... or a ringgit or two for postage if you're mailing in hardcopy.

To be frank, I have only heard of a few cases. And those guys were senior enough or niche enough to negotiate for a higher basic "to compensate" for CPF. But the fact is that those guys simply got themselves higher pay because of their favourable negotiating position - not because the company had a policy to pay extra 'in lieu of CPF". My feel is that the examples that you've heard are simply CPF 10% + Basic 90%, instead of Basic 100% - the overall package doesn't change but is simply being communicated as such so that the employee feels better that he wasn't cheated. It's a zero sum game at the end of the day.

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 25 2010, 08:01 PM

There are no laws disallowing banks from loaning money to anyone for any purpose. Banks are free to loan to whoever they wish to buy whatever that person wishes.

So the real issue is whether the bank is comfortable giving a loan to you. Doesn't matter what your residential status is. As long as the bank feels that the combination of your credit worthiness (ie. credit history, income and assets+liabilities) plus the collateral (usually the asset the loan will be funding or some other asset you can put up) or guarantor - is sufficient for them, they will give you a loan. It's really a matter of you convincing the bank's credit officer that you are in a position to repay the loan, or if you don't - the bank can easily recoup the loan by selling the collateral or pursuing the guarantor.

Hmmm, now that you mention it, that does sound like what bunny means.

If that's the case, I think it'll be difficult to get a Singapore bank to extend the loan for a Malaysian property. If you default, it will be difficult for the Sg bank to get control of the property and dispose of it. Unless you're willing to offer an asset located in Singapore as collateral, I think it will be difficult.

Unsecured loan is a possibility... but how will you convince the bank to hand you a few hundred K without security or collateral?

I usually bring back 2 or 3 bottles of supplements each time. The normal size bottles of 60tabs or so. Never had a problem going through the xray at Woodlands/Tuas. Now I always fly in, and always use the green lane. They've never stopped me for inspection before.

I think as long as the supplements are vitamins, minerals or over-the-counter drugs like Panadol etc... and not prescription drugs ie. painkillers, anti-depressants - it should be okay as long as you don't bring in the jumbo sized bottles like 1000tabs etc..

No it's not, and HELL YES you should.

Otherwise tell HR that you would like to add the following clause into the contract.

"Working hours will be 9am to 5pm each day. I, -SaSa-, reserve the right to vary these working hours and the company will be informed accordingly."

That's the paradox.

The more professional the company, the less you need to worry about one-sided clauses like these being used against you.

However, the more professional the company is, the less probability of them insisting these clauses be included in your contract.

So... when you find these clauses, it probably means that the company is not that professional and will screw you with it IF they get a chance.

As for the fussiness you mentioned... if I'm the boss, I'll sack that manager right away. I insist that all my people be fussy. I want them to be fussy when it comes to defending my interests and the interests of the company. And the only way I can insist on that is if I respect their right to be fussy about their own interests. If this guy doesn't make sure he protects himself, how can I depend on him to protect the company and me, his boss?

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 28 2010, 11:43 PM

Should have just gone to IRB and do a tax clearance before you came to Singapore.