Most are held ransoms by the education and security their children have to unjustifiably experience.
This is in today's The Star newspaper. Nothing that we do not know...Happy reading.
The Star Newspaper Malaysia - The grass is greener across the CausewayOn paper, the island republic may seem better off than Malaysia but life in the ‘little red dot’ is far from being a paradise.
ON Friday, I tweeted: “Today is the day (in 1965) Malaysia kicked out Singapore from the federation.” And I received tweets from Malaysians who made it sound as if life in the island republic was better than their own country.
“Spend time in Jurong and listen to what the original Singaporeans are complaining,” I replied.
Some Malaysians have an idyllic impression of Singapore. Some think that just because S$1 is equivalent to RM2.50 is reason enough to proclaim that Singaporeans are better off than Malaysians.
Some have a false impression of Singaporean life from their Orchard Road experience. However, Orchard Road is not Singapore. I’ll give you an example.
“Singapore has so many hot chicks,” a male friend told me.
“Those hot chicks you see in Orchard Road might not even be Singaporeans,” I said. “They may be from Jakarta, Manila or Cheras.”
Don’t believe me? Then try this experiment when you’re in our southern neighbour.
Take a 40-minute MRT ride from Orchard station to Boon Lay station.
You will be surrounded by hot chicks as the MRT passes the stations of Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut and Clarke Quay (located at tourist destinations). But as the MRT travels to Tiong Bahru and Clementi (further west of the city centre), you will notice that the women are less hot and they wear less make-up.
That’s the real Singapore.
At Boon Lay station, walk to a hawker centre at one of the HDB flats. Sit down, order a drink and listen to the chatter. It is in Mandarin and spoken by “new” Singaporeans who were born in mainland China.
One of the top complaints from my “original Singaporean” friends – those who were born and bred in the city state – when I visit the island republic is the behaviour of “PRC Singaporeans” – naturalised citizens born in the People’s Republic of China.
I find “PRC Singaporeans” irritating. They don’t speak English so it is difficult for me to communicate with them. And they have a certain harshness in their mannerism.
“To some locals, newcomers – particularly the ubiquitous Mainland Chinese – are commonly seen as uncouth and prone to objectionable behaviours such as littering, eating on public transit and talking loudly on the phone,” wrote Brenda S.A. Yeoh and Weiqiang Lin of National University of Singapore in their April 2012 research paper “Rapid Growth in Singapore’s Immigrant Population Brings Policy Challenges”.
“But Singapore has one of the world’s highest levels of GDP per person,” some Malaysians told me on Twitter on Friday.
Middle-class Singapore may have two of the 4Cs of Singapore — cash and credit card. But nowadays some can’t afford a car or a condominium.
My “original Singaporean” friends, whom I use to visit once every two months since 2010, are envious that in that duration I managed to buy a brand new car twice (recently I traded in my three-year-old car).
They are stuck with a nine-year-old car because they can’t afford to buy a Certificate of Entitlement (a permit to own a car).
On Wednesday, the premium for COE for small cars went up by S$1,567 (RM4,000) to S$75,556 (RM195,481.77). That means you have to pay RM195,481.77 before you can even buy a car.
“But Singapore has the best transport system in the world. They don’t need a car,” some Malaysians would argue.
“Imagine,” I told them, “you are a middle-class Singaporean who used to own a car. To go to Cold Storage in Holland Village from your Jurong condominium, you have to take a bus with your wife and two kids to the MRT station. Do you think that is fun? Imagine your return trip – you will be carrying heavy bags filled with groceries.”
The dream of owning a condominium (and not a HDB flat) is also fading for the middle-class Singaporeans.
“Only the super-rich can buy condominiums,” my “original Singaporean” friend exaggerated, as he complained about how the income gap between the super-rich and middle-class has become wider.
Singapore’s foreign minister K. Shanmugam, in a Financial Times report, said: “The middle-class in Singapore has found costs rising because of energy, food and so on. At the same time they don’t get the (government) subsidies and support that the 20th percentile downwards gets, so they have found themselves squeezed.”
On paper, Singapore seems better off than Malaysians but life in the “little red dot” is not a paradise.
Jun 2 2013, 01:42 AM
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