Do you feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for Singapore's future?
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loldude333
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Its all about personal preference, and what concerns you most in the country you live in. If a stress-free environment is important to you, Singapore and Japan are big no-nos and you'd be better off in NZ or Aus. Tax rates? All the big developed countries have pretty high indirect and personal income taxes (UK's personal income taxes go up to 47% for the highest tax bracket). Safety, security, stability and food (for me at least) are probably the best qualities of our citystate, i for one do not care about free speech and all that as long as i get to live my life in peace, without too many restrictions. Sometimes rules are bothersome, but they do serve a purpose. I'm 18 and about to enter NS so that's my biggest bugbear for now but then again, i recognize it as compulsory if i want to continue to enjoy the things i value about this country. No country in the world is perfect, and no country is more perfect than the other, so i think unless we have money to migrate and concrete plans for our future, we should just shut up and live our lives, or help to make this country better. However, whether your definition of better is consistent with the general public is another thing altogether.
Me, i don't feel any particular attachment to this country, but i recognize our strong suits and our weak ones. I guess i'm just lucky that our weak points don't bother me much. I do however, detest the implorable attempts at what can be charitably described as 'national education' like social studies. I resent trying to be forced to study something that tries to subtly point out that we are better than most other developed countries (side-by-side comparison of ours and Britain's healthcare systems as an example), or at least that's how i saw it. Our education system isn't the most relaxing BUT it is probably the most effective for majority of our schoolgoing children, and having studied economics for 2 years in JC, i finally (albeit grudgingly) understand the need for such a comprehensive system that is unfortunately stressful. What i don't like is the openness of our country to foreigners, we could use less foreign students distorting our bellcurves (or maybe that's just me being a selfish bastard who wants the As that he doesn't deserve).
My 2 cents, all in my own opinion. Hope this gives some insight into the uniqueness of our country,
Me, i don't feel any particular attachment to this country, but i recognize our strong suits and our weak ones. I guess i'm just lucky that our weak points don't bother me much. I do however, detest the implorable attempts at what can be charitably described as 'national education' like social studies. I resent trying to be forced to study something that tries to subtly point out that we are better than most other developed countries (side-by-side comparison of ours and Britain's healthcare systems as an example), or at least that's how i saw it. Our education system isn't the most relaxing BUT it is probably the most effective for majority of our schoolgoing children, and having studied economics for 2 years in JC, i finally (albeit grudgingly) understand the need for such a comprehensive system that is unfortunately stressful. What i don't like is the openness of our country to foreigners, we could use less foreign students distorting our bellcurves (or maybe that's just me being a selfish bastard who wants the As that he doesn't deserve).
My 2 cents, all in my own opinion. Hope this gives some insight into the uniqueness of our country,
lol lol lol
You need people who post in topics, quotation marks indeed.
Jumpin'Jellybean
New member
Malaysia has foreign schools which keep it's education level high? If so, then i suppose you are planning to send your child to a foreign school in Malaysia? Then what is the use? You might be better off moving to Australia or America, where the foreign school originates from. Furthermore, i FEEL that placing a child in a foreign school does isolate him/her from society. Public schools expose kids to society better imo.
America has a different culture. That is, they are allowed to carry weapons such as guns, which raise the homicide rate. And their nightlife scene is definitely much more vibrant. Both leads to higher homicide rates. Avoid and you'll be fine.
DeathCubeK
New member
I never said Malaysia's education levels are higher than Singapore's. But let's be honest, if a person has an interest to know more and be more knowledgeable, the country that they are in won't matter(unless their media gets censored like north korea). I'm currently taking a degree, and yeah I'm learning a lot, but I might not be better than people overseas who actually study because they want to be good at their field, rather than just doing your best so that you can get As or Bs so that I can secure a good job. Like I said, in the end public or private schools, I believe that it's up to the individual to decide whether they want to be good students or not. I know there's probably a lot of flak because I mentioned Malaysia, but I'd rather live a simple life in a 3 storey bungalow that has security guarding it for the same price of a HDB 5 room flat here. Huge compound, being able to live a simpler life. I'd rather my future children have a better childhood than one that is filled with textbooks, tuition and computer games.
hahaha restrictions? like wat? If u are really an entrepeunuer, you would have find ways around system, and come out with creative solutions to problems..
Anyway, i am dead sure singapore is ranked FIRST as the best country to do/start up business.
go check out http://www.spring.gov.sg/Pages/Homepage.aspx Its jsut one the MANY government bodies that helps start ups. Look at the many initiatives they got to promote start ups. They even have this program that offers $4 for every $1 u chip in, if they see potential in ur business plan
Anyway, i feel a great sense of ownership and responsibility for singaproe's future simply because i know there's a good and fair law and order in singapore, i have proper accomodation and i know i will not die of hunger or need to feel fear when going out in the streets at night. Its quite sad to see that many pple do not feel a sense of belonging here simply bcoz they jsut see the the negative sides of Singapore(we are too spoilt in my opinion).
I believe that we as the people will have the power to influnece for whatever changes that we want, but in most of the time, we are jsut complaining without any real or effective actions. We should have an idea in mind and understand the underline issues more before following the crowd and start complaining about stuff like e.g one party system, high HDB prices...etc.. We cant simply jsut complain for the sake of complaining without knowing the conditions of our country and the pros and cons of each policy, and then the next step is, to complain with an idea in mind. ( what i meant here is that, like when complaining about a particular issues, you should EXPLAIN what so good in the alternative policy and how it could be better than the current policy, instead of jsut complaining for the sake of complaining)
I believe most of the people out there are complaining WITHOUT even understanding what they are fighting or complaining for, and the CONSEQUENCES for the things they are asking for...... e.g a mroe democratic society like US. ( haha in my own opinion i think a controlled democracy such as singapore is a better system, becoz unpopular but vital policies can be passed more easily unlike US which took ages to finally pass a bill on the insurance for healthcare)
so yep, i believe in any aspects of life, you can't jsut choose to escape from the problem ( such as migrating in this case), the more meaningful and matured way should be to face it, and fight for it. Such as joining an opposition party? or joining the government and have the power to draft and mend policies...etc...i believe there are many mroe avenues to effect for change.
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are you confusing bungalow with condo?
Jumpin'Jellybean
New member
1)it's nothing personal. Really. Even though it sounds so, i'm against your reasoning for moving to malaysia, that's all. Forgive me if it sounds personal. It is not.
2)if you said malaysia or timbucktoo it doesn't matter to me.
I just felt that your points (TO ME) are somehat invalid? Because Singaporean graduates have a better chance of finding a job (i.e. Singapore universities are more recognized worldwide, agreed?) etc. And Singapore is convenient and is also pretty safe. I agree that Malaysia may enable your child to ahve a more 'carefree' childhood, and a more balanced lifestyle as opposed to cramming 24/7 like here. But i feel safety, convenience and your child's future are essential conditions.
Not being discriminative, but say a foreign company wants to hire, and one is a grad of NUS/SMU/NTU, against a grad of maybe, University of Johor Bahru, who will they pick, assuming grades are the same etc.? Singapore Us have a prestige in their own right. It's also well known that gahmen reserve some place for Singaporeans=makes it easier for a Singaporean to get into a Singaporean U.
Business of advocating "just" as "jsut".
companies nowadays don't hire based on how "prestigious" your degree is. they hire based on how cheap your salary is.
when you say reserve "some" place for singaporeans it's saying not all places are for singaporeans, which means there are singaporeans who can't get into local U because the places are taken up by non-singaporeans.
hifi_killer
New member
thats only half true, they might as well hire mainland chinese. Well actually they do hire mainland chinese, but not all the time. Some jobs can never be taken by foreigners.
And in some areas, Singaporeans, Singapore students will always own the foreigners, thats how its is in the arts and social sciences , in the past, in the present and in the future.
Your degree - from what university, honors or not, it matters alot. You ask local uni grads, the difference between a 2nd upper honors and a 2nd lower honors has tremendous implications on your employability, salary and promotion.
And in some areas, Singaporeans, Singapore students will always own the foreigners, thats how its is in the arts and social sciences , in the past, in the present and in the future.
Your degree - from what university, honors or not, it matters alot. You ask local uni grads, the difference between a 2nd upper honors and a 2nd lower honors has tremendous implications on your employability, salary and promotion.
Jumpin'Jellybean
New member
You'll notice that i said IF all other factors remain equal, that is, qualifications etc and even salary, would they hire someone from Harvard U or from Pyongyang U? That's what i'm trying to put across. Of course, if you hire someone from a more 'prestigious' U, expect fo fork out more moeny to retain their services.
Let's say 50% is reserved for Singappore students, Rest of World (ROW) students make up the other 50%. If you are a malaysian (or any other nationality for that matter), you have to compete with the rest of the world to be in that 50%, which is, for example, 2000 slots. But if you're singaporean you only 'fight' with your cohort to be in that 2000. Furthermore, if we score better, we can take up some of the ROW places but they cannot take ours.
Benefits of being singaporean...
DeathCubeK
New member
That is true, but in Malaysia majority of the employees would be Malaysian and look for Malaysian qualifications. Maybe I could even send my children overseas for a degree in Australia and UK, like many people do over there. I guess I don't see a future for Muslims/Malays over here in Singapore. The number of Indian and Chinese foreigners are flooding in to replace the reducing number of mainland Singaporeans who aren't reproducing enough, but the Malays are also producing at a low rate and in 50 years or so I doubt there will be any left in Singapore, they will be an even smaller minority.
you only said "assuming grades are the same etc" you DIDN'T say "IF all other factors remain equal". anyway, saying "IF all other factors remain equal" is just like saying "IF TGM is as good as Gibson".
why should x% of uni places be given to non-singaporeans?
Jumpin,
you're making your decision based on what you think will make your child happy. Which in your own words, is being hired by a foreign company.
But it may not be what really makes your child happy.
I'm sure he/she would be equally happy growing up and working in JB. With a less stressed and more carefree lifestyle. Closer-knit family circle, wider social network etc.
Remember, it's all about Happiness in the end. Not the size of your paycheck.
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loldude333
New member
Unfortunately, for most money-minded Singaporeans (not shooting anyone here, i'm just as guilty of this), more money=more happiness.
