Ah so desu ne. That's means it's a problem with you lah, not a problem with Sg or its public transport system.

Btw, you only stand for 24-28 minutes. That's not bad, but coming from Malaysia - of course you'll obviously self destruct if forced to stand instead of sit

For me, 60 bucks for an hour or two more sleep each morning is a damn good deal.

Bed vs bus... no fight, man

And it's $60 for 40 hours... 2 hours per working day leh.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 18 2008, 11:03 PM

Do a search of this topic, but lots of links to websites have been posted for finding jobs, finding accomodation, finding girlfriends...


You can actually apply for PR anytime you want. That's because even people who don't work in Singapore can apply for PR. They can just walk into a Singapore embassy to get a form and send it in. Whether they give you PR or not is a totally different issue, but there's nothing to stop you from applying.

As for employment pass and work permit, I think you can't apply for one if you haven't found a job in Singapore. They won't issue you a pass or permit so that you can go looking for work.

The normal route is to find a job first with a company operating in Singapore, that is willing to go to the trouble of helping you get a work permit or employment pass. Most companies in Singapore already do that on a regular basis anyway. If they give you the excuse that they only hire Singaporeans and PR, it's most probably not because they don't want to hire Malaysians or foreigners... but just that they don't want to hire you.

If banking's your field, Singapore's the place for you. It's the biggest banking center in Asia outside HK and Tokyo.

It also depends on your field of expertise as well. Foreign investment banks tends to be in wealth mgt, corporate finance, structured finance, back room etc. And the ads for these jobs that I've seen are usually at the AVP level and above ($120,000-160,000 p.a. and above), but I guess there's always a need for soldiers.

Go to the careers sections on their websites and apply from there. All banks have very well developed career sites.

My feeling is that there are very few quotas, if any, for professional services (PMET), and almost none for labour intensive industries like manufacturing and electronics.

And regardless of any quotas, the bureaucrats always deal with applications on a case by case basis.

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Added on June 19, 2008, 2:47 pm
Have you done any wealth mgt at all in Malaysia? Years of experience? Portfolio size?


This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 19 2008, 02:47 PM

I received my Employment Pass in late January 2005.

Official start date at the Singapore company was 1 Feb. I flew into Singapore and reported for work after CNY mid-Feb. I applied for PR a week later. I dated my PR application form 17 Feb. I probably posted it a few days later.

My PR approval letter is dated 30 March 05.

So, like I said, it's on a case by case basis.

No harm applying early. What's the worse that can happen except wasting some stamps?

Anyway, the Sg govt is known to exercise... a lot of discretion when it comes to such matters. Young, productive (economically and biologically) people who are culturally very similar to native Singaporeans... that's exactly what Singapore needs the most for its continued survival.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 19 2008, 03:57 PM

I didn't pay anything to apply. Forms can be downloaded from their website or photocopied.

As for that crack about junk mail, why would you assume that? Just because they don't charge you a fee for applying, then you'd think there'd be millions of people sending blank forms or forms filled with nonsense etc to immigration?

Even if there was a fee for applying, how will that make a difference with 'junk mail'? Do these 'senders' of junk mail obediently attach a bank draft or cashier's order with their junk mail, when requested by the recipient? And therefore if there happens to be an application fee, enclosing the fee will increase the cost of junk mailing?

And no, I'm not a banker, although I'm in finance.

The difference is that Australia doesn't encourage more people to migrate to Australia. That's why they set up all sorts of pre-conditions like the points system, high priority professions, minimum stay period, application fees etc.

Singapore however, needs as many people as it can get.

Finance in MNC. Banking is one of my possible next jobs, but judging from the present climate at the banks, I'm not too keen.

Maybe, maybe not. But heck, why do I care? I'll be off to another place, another job or retired back to Malaysia long before anything like that happens.


That's the general route now. But I heard on the tv that they will be introducing a new employment pass that is not tied to any individual employer soon. ie. you can keep that EP even if you quit your first/original employer and look for a job / go to a new job.

Well, it definitely won't be Singapore. It takes S$2000-3000 a month just to live a decent but decidedly average lifestyle here (including HDB rental). And you can't spend on any luxuries. Singapore's really a crap place if you've got no income.

The same amount would be RM5000-8000 in Malaysia. In a place like Ipoh, Kuantan, Seremban or something, that'll go a long, long, long way.

Could be. In any case, it's much too soon to make any final decisions.

Plan is to earn as much as possible as early as possible and then invest that as wisely as possible... hopefully the bank account ends up with 7, maybe long shot 8 figures. The more net worth you have, the more retirement options magically make themselves available.

Don't take this the wrong way, but all your questions are way too generic and open ended.

You ask simple one sentence questions but all require long essays if to cover the reasonable or applicable possibilities and variables.

What do you like to cook, what's average, what raw ingredients, how much do you eat...

Umm... you do know that Malaysia's military can't actually win any wars against any of it's neighbours right? In terms of numbers, armaments and training.

And you do know that Singapore's military is based on the Israeli Armed Forces and is tailored to blitz larger enemy numbers with overwhelming firepower, technology and tactics, right? Which is why Israel won a war in 7 days against the most powerful militaries (at that time) in the Middle East despite being vastly outnumbered and surrounded?

eRiCCa

I think it's safe to say that the cost of living in Singapore is the same or lower than KL (S$ for RM).

I work in Orchard Road (ie. the most expensive food courts and lunch spots in Sg), and I can manage quite well with S$5 per meal at the food courts. A Subway or Starbucks grande is about S$4.50. A curry chicken bun at Breadtalk is S$1.20.

In terms of supermkts, groceries in Sg, except for stuff that is from Malaysia, is generally cheaper S$ for RM because it's mostly imported.

Another example of a Malaysian doing very well in Singapore is Olivia Lum, who's the CEO and founder of Hyflux, a large listed water purification company. She's from Kampar, studied on a Sg govt scholarship after being refused locally. Her CFO is from Ipoh. Without looking at high profile folks like ministers or CEOs, there are seriously a lot of Malaysians in Sg in positions that would not be possible in Malaysia without plenty of cables.

ctjune

Perhaps it's better to read my reply exactly as it was written rather than assuming what my motives were for posting that comment.

Olivia Lum's a really good example of a Malaysian making good in Singapore. A true, homegrown rags to riches story. This connection to whether academic success guarantees career success wasn't part of my reply. If it was, I would have explicitly mentioned it. No need for you to add context to my posts.

My motivation for that comment is that there are lots of opportunities outside Malaysia for Malaysians who want to work hard. It was an adder to SPS' list of successful high profile Malaysians in Singapore.

Comparing mobile plans in Malaysia and Singapore is pointless.

Singapore telcos will always charge for 'value added' services which Malaysians take for-granted, like caller ID and itemised billing.

On the other hand, Malaysia telcos will never give you the handset bargains you get here. And if you stay with a Sg telco, they'll send you new handset and other vouchers when your contract expires, or on your birthday etc. I got a voucher for a tub of Hagen Daz last year from Starhub for my birthday.

Sg telcos also bundle much more than Malaysia. Like Starhub's Hubber or Singtel's Mio. But then again, you're probably paying for a lot of ununsed 'value added' services.

Me, I'm on Starhub, never had any problems on the MRT or lifts that don't affect Singtel & M1 equally. Anyway, I'm not a MRT driver or lift operator. So even if I had those problems, not a big issue.

My Starhub bill is usually $30 a month. Basic corp subscription (corp means you simply give them a business card) $18 + $5 caller id and $5 roaming. Subscription comes with 160 free minutes (local or IDD) and 100 local SMS. Nowadays, all postpaid packages have free incoming calls.

For broadband, I'm on the cheapest 1mbps Singtel mobile bb. $22 a month, free 2 months a year, free Huawei modem and SIM card. Now, there's a promotion for 2mbps for only $17 a month. Same free stuff but no free 2 months. For backup if I've got some heavy downloading to do, I've got Starhub Flexisurf at $7.50 for 3 days. No monthly fees, connection fees, installation fees etc. Pay as you use. Just buy the cable modem from Starhub, go home and plug in. Pay online using cr card. Btw, Yahoo and MSN is free on Flexisurf even if you don't buy any online time.

Disconnect and reconnect. It works for me 50% of the time, because sometimes Singtel is damn sneaky and drops you off HSDPA into WCDMA without you realising it.

The cheapest 24/7 broadband is around $20/mth for lowest bandwidth bb on mobile from any of the telcos.

For mobile phone, cheapest postpaid is around $22/mth if you don't want roaming, caller id etc (add $5/mth for each). That includes some free airtime and free SMS. So, if you don't call or message alot, that's about all you need to pay.

That leaves $58 for transport. If you go to work/school 20 days a month (assume you sit at home during weekends), that's $2.90 a day or $1.45 per trip (assuming 2 trips a day ie. to & fro). $1.45's enough for one reasonably long train trip (eg. Orchard to Yishun etc or around 30minutes), or one long bus trip from one end of the route to the other, or 1 short bus trip + a short train ride.

It really depends on where you're staying. If you're staying close to where you need to go, you obviously pay less for transport (or nothing at all if you can walk it). But assuming that place where you need to go is also where everybody else needs to go, the accomodation near that place will be more expensive also.