Thanks to the fact that Singapore has much more opportunities, I actually reached my original target last year (after 5 years in SG). But staying on because like all people, you get greedier. Now eyeing something around KLCC instead of PJ. Also want to get a condo in Singapore.

You make it sound as if you have that option... on both counts. Speaking proper English and going to another country.

Malaysians will be getting a much better deal. We're going to have some unknown, nearly bankrupt "IT" company owned by some Datuk Kroni get a RM50 million deal to "create" email accounts for all adult Malaysians, and thereafter charge the govt 50sen for every email they send on behalf of the govt. Imagine, a Hari Raya greeting from Jibby to all 16 million adult Malaysians via email means RM8 million in the pocket of Datuk Kroni for just pressing "send to all".

And you just know what this will lead to. At some point, some very 'smart' person will say that because we have 1Emel, we will need 1Komputer for all adult Malaysians resulting in a contract for 16 million overpriced laptops. Then some other very smart person will realise that most of these people don't have internet access. We'll need 1JalurLebar.

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Added on April 23, 2011, 5:18 pm
You can check easily by looking at the prices at the online Apple store for SG vs the Apple store for MY.

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 23 2011, 05:20 PM

Sometimes if you find a place that is convenient and you are really comfortable with it, you might need to sacrifice a month or two of rental just to secure it.

Sounds like the guy in mgt who needs to approve your hiring is not as keen as the guy who is very keen to hire you.

IMHO, no point calling again. The guy who wants to hire you obviously hit a road block (best case) or got shot down (worst case). All you can do is wait and hope that the guy who wants you is powerful or persuasive enough to overcome the road block. They need time to work it to a conclusion.

In the meantime, keep looking for another opportunity.

I did a tax clearance before I left Malaysia and closed my tax file with LHDN.

Anyway, income is only taxable in Malaysia only if it is earned in Malaysia.

Your friends have got it right, imho. By entering anything besides zero, you are declaring that you have earned income in Malaysia (which if you are working in Singapore, your income is earned outside Malaysia). That's the simple truth.

If you declare you have income earned in Malaysia and tick "individu tidak bermastautin" - all you've done is say that you're not a tax resident (ie. was not in Malaysia for >182 days) but still managed to earn income in Malaysia. You will get taxed.

Tax clearance is simply to pay all the tax you owe or the tax dept pays you all the refunds you're entitled to. You need to get to tell LHDN that you're leaving Malaysia (I had a transfer letter signed by my company's KL office, SG office and myself accepting the transfer). My KL office also gave them a calculation of all the income, bonuses etc that would accrue to me up till the last day of my employment in Malaysia (since the last EA form). LHDN then calculated the final tax payable and I paid that amount on the spot.


That's what I would input if I was still filing Malaysian tax returns.

My personal data mining exercise yielded 4.5 months, 13 days and 6.2 hours. Less than 3 hours difference, but still significant. Mainly due to the fact that male job changers who were born before June 30th were waiting until after lunch hour to hand in their resignations, the exception being vegetarians who handed in their resignations before leaving for lunch. My preliminary conclusion of this phenomenon is that this was due to their blood glucose levels dropping below 34.2 parts per million by 11.34am:30s, affecting their short term right brain memory. In short they would forget to hand in their resignations altogether if they didn't do it before lunch.

Actually both our replies are for feifei777's very specific question.

Surfing, definitely surfing the same wave.

It's not something you ''fight for". It's a perk that employers give to you.

When you know things that other people don't know or know how to do things that other people don't, then you can "fight" for benefits that other people don't get.

Every company offers it, and more.

Just that they don't offer it to everybody.

Do you know anything about Gabon?

Read this: Gabon. There are good reasons why people are paid so much to work there.

Just call MOM or ICA or both.

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 30 2011, 01:03 PM

Get your university's registrar to issue a letter of completion.

If this is just an internship, why would it be employment pass? You won't be getting S$2500 salary and you don't have the required qualification, namely a degree.

They should be applying for a work permit for you if your salary is <1800, and S pass if it's >1800 but <2500.

Seriously, it's all in the MOM website. Just read through lah.

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 30 2011, 08:18 PM

You have a honours degree from a well-known uni?

Won't matter too much for the audit firms, but important for banking and commercial.

I think that Singaporeans are enjoying the novelty of it all ie. getting to vote, for instance (I have 40 year old colleagues who are first time voters), the fact that the opposition is much more structured and viable this time around, and the media is giving them significant airplay. A lot of the crowd at opposition rallies are not supporters per se, but there to hear what the opposition have to say. They've never had a chance to do so in the past. A lot of my colleagues are treating the opposition rallies like concerts for the family, and many of them are heading to other constituencies to hear the "star" speakers, like Low Thia Kang, Slyvia Lim and Nicole Seah. So the attendance might not translate into votes.

Attendees of PAP rallies however, are all supporters... card carrying white shirts and pants. That attributes to the lower numbers.

Actually, it's not an escape clause. It's more a statement of fact, for the candidate's information.

You cannot legally enforce a contract for something that is illegal. In this case, if you do not get a work permit, you cannot work legally in Singapore. Therefore, regardless of how the LO is worded, you cannot enforce it as you cannot force the company to act illegally and hire you without EP.

The LO works as a contingent or conditional/provisional contract, where the contract is only becomes valid upon the successful performance or occurrence of a specific trigger event. In this case, the EP approval. Conditional offers like jobs for undergraduates who have not graduated, scholarships for scholars who have not obtained their final results, sales of goods on COD etc. all work in the same manner.

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Added on May 4, 2011, 10:59 pm
IMHO, it doesn't matter whether you get the LO before or after you get your EP. If you don't get your EP, nothing is going to happen for you, whether or not you have the LO in hand.

In your shoes however, I would definitely prefer to get a LO first, so that I can lock down the terms of employment ie. salary, benefits, conditions of work, notice period etc. before the EP application. Otherwise, if the EP is approved, you're in a less advantaged position if the company pretends you misheard or misunderstood the terms and issue a LO that doesn't meet your expectations.

I reckon a professional and ethical company will have no problems issuing the LO first.

This post has been edited by seantang: May 4 2011, 11:02 PM

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