By: Reform_Now
Surely something must be wrong. Lee Kuan Yew says Singapore has become first world country. Surely that must be good news, since it was not first world before. The state controlled papers are full of good economic news. That so and so multinational has set up shop in Singapore, that Singapore has bought so and so company overseas, that all the world have admiration for Singapore, that Singapore's overseas trade has increased to unprecedented levels and not to forget, Formula I, world circuit has come to Singapore. Surely if all this is true, Singapore has never had it so good. Should we not rejoice?
That Singapore is now the Zurich of Asia!
But wait a minute. The signs appear to be going the other way round. That is backward, not forward.
It appears that the majority of young people in Singapore wish to emigrate! People are refusing to have children! Australian High Commission in Singapore have lines of people waiting to fill up migration papers! They all wish to leave! Singaporean engineers, Singaporean hairdressers, Singaporean teachers, Singaporean diesel mechanics and so on and so forth, almost the entire native Singapore population, except card carrying Lee Kuan Yew supporters, all wish to leave permanently!
In order to try to stem the unstoppable tide of emigration of Singaporeans en mass, Wong Kan Seng, Lee Kuan Yew and the Rear Admiral Liu, Minister of Education have all come to the US to persuade Singaporeans to go home to Singapore, with lavish dinners and shows, but Singaporeans continue to boycott these government organised dinners, leaving the hosts to eat the dinners themselves! And most importantly, Singaporeans flatly refuse to go back!
As we speak, the original population of Singapore continue to decline with people leaving that country for good, never to return and compounded by the fact that women refuse to have any children in that island!
Singapore is therefore suffering a net loss of population, no matter how much good news is purveyed daily in the state controlled press and media. The fact is, no one believes any of the stuff being put out.
Lee attempts to lure talented foreigners to Singapore has failed miserably and continues to fail. To say that there are there are any "talented" foreigners living permanently in Singapore is itself a lie. A contradiction in terms. In fact a total oxymoron! There are none. There are no talented people living permanently in Singapore, period! It is quite obvious that anyone with any talent, need not live in a sterile authoritarian society where basic freedoms are lacking. Why should any person with any talent even pretend to tolerate the dictates of Lee Kuan Yew everyday through his state controlled press and media when he very well can have a much better living for him his family and children in the respected nations of the world such as Europe Canada Australia or the US? I say "respected" because Singapore has lost all respect among the nations of the world!
The foreign talent that Lee speaks about in his state controlled press is that which cannot find admission to the better countries of the world, such as Australia and Canada. Therefore Singapore being better than living in economically backward India, China or the Philippines, they are forced to accept the 2nd best by coming to Singapore, temporarily. I say temporarily because even while they are in Singapore, they are constantly looking out for Australia to which they will emigrate the moment they have opportunity.
Of course there are the thousands of workers from 3rd world countries who work in Singapore, but for them, all that matters is the better standard of living in Singapore than their home in Burma. These cannot be "talent", no matter how much you bend that word.
In the meantime, you have people who come in to work in Singapore. These again are those who either are unable to go to the better parts of the world, or who are not aware of the real repressive regime in Singapore. Once they find out the truth, they again will begin to leave.
It is not entirely inaccurate to compare Singapore with say Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi too has a majority foreign population that work and man the industry there, mostly Indian and Pakistani workers. But none of them have their families with them in Abu Dhabi. This is because they really do not treat Abu Dhabi as home. They are there just for the money, temporarily. When they have enough of it, they will go home to India. Singapore is in a way, no different. The fact that Singapore is not a democracy, that it denies fundamental freedoms for it's people is already well known throughout the world, thanks to Dr. Chee and others who have managed to expose the true Singapore. This knowledge therefore impedes all the efforts of Lee and his son to tell the world otherwise. The fact that Singapore is nothing more than a dictatorship which Lee runs with the help of his corrupt millionaire Ministers and Judges is well known. The cat is out of the bag.
But please remember the one big difference between Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Abu Dhabi has oil. The sheiks can continue to keep paying good wages to their foreign workers. Singapore does not have any oil. They only have their investment portfolio in Tumasek Holdings and other state owned companies which they created from Singaporeans hard earned wages in CPF and HDB charges. This investment portfolio without any additional input from Singaporeans cannot last much longer.
I understand most recently in utter desperation, because of the unstoppable tide of emigration from Singapore, it has adopted a new law which permits foreigners on holiday to work in Singapore in the hope that at least some of them might decide to stay. This is the height of their desperation! My advice to Lee is that he will not succeed, because nobody wishes to live in his country, this day and age as a slave, because that is all what Singaporeans are. A few Indians and Nigerians may decide to work at McDonalds at Scotts Road and they will go home when they have had enough. My dear Lee Kuan Yew, it will not work!
I have a suspicion that all that is being reported in the state controlled press is not necessarily correct. If not, why should Singaporeans themselves hate Singapore so much by not wanting to have families in Singapore, boycotting governments functions abroad and desperately wanting to escape from that island.
Hey fellow Singaporeans, don't think of retirement in Australia or Canada...that is retirement! You can't afford their medical! Be their PR and enjoy free medical and quality low cost education for your children now! For Canada immigration, visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/ to assess your passing points.
ReplyDeleteHigh tax in these countries???? Every month 33% of wage go to CPF and what makes you think you can get those money out? Buying a house at $300k, you are paying another $300k in interest rate and additional $300k in financing your own CPF interest.
I am leaving for Vancouver! Support your PAP if you likes!
Dont jump on a bang wagon and uproot to AbuDhabi.Consider these issues below:
ReplyDelete1) Foreigners/expats can only get a 4 years residents permit.When terms expires can renew or move on. No such permit as "PR" and citizenship is UAE national only.
2) Cannot buy properties in Abu Dhabi (Starting to allow foreigners to buy some in Dubai)
3) Expat kids can only go to private colleges.UAE Universities only allow admission for UAE national.
4) The author correctly pointed out you are mainly in Abu Dhabi/UAE to work and leave when you have enough but in Singapore you can have the options to "stay" permanently if you chose to do so.
you forgot to mention that for those who are unable to leave - about 80% according to the old man - they may not want to contribute positively to the nation because their perception of its arrogance and self rigtheousness. for instance, how many actually participate or support their party organised activities and programs? how many would respond to their call to provide ideas to improve the country? sometimes i walked into community centers, they are like - ghost town. many i know care less of what's going on in the country. even if they have great ideas, they would keep it to themselves. they will not help in anyway to improve the country except do enough to get by. for these people, they are bound here, and yet it is not home to them. you may say they have been physically retain, but the country has no hold over their soul and lives. they exist but do not actively contribute to its progress. they are prisoners of the state. many come from the 80% who can't leave this country. so how can they even call this home? how can they even say they have succeeded in building a home for the people?
ReplyDeletejust an observation.
Just free up the media.
ReplyDeleteStop monopoly.
And for god's sake stop the ridiculous pro-USA propaganda!
All sorts of nonsense.
Future not so rosy for working-class S'poreans
ReplyDeleteJun 04, 2007
The Straits Times
MANY Singaporeans must be celebrating at the moment, with the buoyant economy, high employment, higher salaries and, for private home owners, skyrocketing property prices and 'en bloc' frenzy.
However, is the current state of the economy and future as rosy as it appears for most working-class Singaporeans?
According to data published in a report on the wealthiest cities in the world by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on March 11, Singapore ranks 36th out of 70 cities based on gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005.
A look at the rankings will reveal that, apart from Singapore, all the cities in the bottom half are in Second and Third World countries.
Singapore's GDP of US$129 million (S$197 million) pales beside other Asian cities such as Tokyo (US$1.19 billion), Hong Kong (US$244 million), Seoul (US$218 million) and Shanghai (US$139 million). In fact, we are only slightly ahead of Mumbai (US$123 million).
These?rankings are arrived at by using purchasing-power- parity exchange rates.
However, unlike Singapore, our Asian counterparts in Hong Kong seem to have more to look forward to. The projections for city wealth in the year 2020 show that Hong Kong is likely to rise to 14th position, while Singapore is likely to decline to 40th.
The study (taking into consideration deduction of taxes and social-security contributions) reveals that net salaries in Asian cities such as Tokyo, Dubai, Seoul?and Taipei will surpass Singapore.
However, these sobering statistics apply only to the average Singaporean citizen. The top bracket of earners in professions such as medicine, law, banking and, of course, within the ranks of the Government, will earn as much, if not more, than some of their counterparts worldwide.
What do these figures tell Singaporeans? We can conclude that even though we pay a relatively low rate of?personal income tax, the net amount of wages we take home leaves us in the bottom half of the 70 cities in the PWC report.
Edmund Khoo Kim Hock
> "And for god's sake stop the ridiculous pro-USA propaganda!"
ReplyDeleteAh, how true but me see a pact with the US not to 'hamtam' PAP via the American media for being undemocratic - something that they used to with gusto during the 70's & 80's.
Based on the evidences, the conditions on the part of Singapore were clearly to support the US all the way.
So by now any American paper had better know that with every personal defamation against the PAP politicians they have to pay damages even before going to court. And this I perceive by an order from their own govt.
Democratic values of the US also can be overridden in the name of "national security".