Living in JB 2 (Johore)

[butadesu]

Although I hate to vent my frustration in this forum.. but well.

Basically, our government is addicted to quick fix and easy solution.
We import rather than grow our own talents.
Importing foreign workers to quickly expand our GDP, solve birthrate issue, solve talent issue.
Face it, it is cheaper to import foreigners than to add incentives to increase birthrate.
To the govt, one Singaporean and one foreigner in Singapore has very little difference as long as they contribute equally to its economy.
What is most worrying is that many Singaporeans has been brainwashed by our govt thinking that it is a correct thing to do!
Many Singaporeans has been conditioned since young that if we can achieve the same objective at a lower monetary cost, then it is the right thing to do!
But what about the other non monetary cost?
In the end we lost our identity, we lost our pride and not sure what about Singapore are we proud of.
Maybe the only thing we can be proud of Singapore is that it is a rich nation?
Yes, it is rich because it has imported lots of rich foreigners.

The government themselves with their civil servants (no offense here) sits in their ivory tower while the commoners in the private sectors compete directly with lower cost foreigners.
I would like to see one day when minister position is open to foreign talents.
Then they will see the many PRC they brought in vote for their Chinese leaders (no offense here again)

Buying off the shelf. Look at how we grow our technology sector. There is a reason why Singapore did not create any major MNCs.
Casino is there because the government wants easy money. Eventually many Singaporeans who lacks self restrains suffers. For every gambler, a family is destroyed.

I'm not against foreigners. In the early days, Singapore takes in a lot of Malaysians who's culture and habits are very similar to us. And the growth rate was gradual and controlled. But for the past few years we are taking foreigners with very different cultures and backgrounds at an exponential rate. Worse is they took in so much people before building the necessary infrastructure. Now suddenly Singapore became a super congested country. And the government ask us to integrate well with them. Oh come on, we are already back to back, face to face with each other in the trains and buses, what more do u want? U want us to share the same time space? Is that what u call integration??

To me, in the past 5 years, Singapore has transformed itself from a nation to a company.
A company that goes all out for profit.
And Singaporeans are not its shareholders. Because shareholders are consulted on major policies and shareholders benefits from company success.
Singaporeans now are just employees of Sing Inc.

 

[summervale]

Very well said. Bravo Everyway you go, it is so crowded.

Although I hate to vent my frustration in this forum.. but well.

Basically, our government is addicted to quick fix and easy solution.
We import rather than grow our own talents.
Importing foreign workers to quickly expand our GDP, solve birthrate issue, solve talent issue.
Face it, it is cheaper to import foreigners than to add incentives to increase birthrate.
To the govt, one Singaporean and one foreigner in Singapore has very little difference as long as they contribute equally to its economy.
What is most worrying is that many Singaporeans has been brainwashed by our govt thinking that it is a correct thing to do!
Many Singaporeans has been conditioned since young that if we can achieve the same objective at a lower monetary cost, then it is the right thing to do!
But what about the other non monetary cost?
In the end we lost our identity, we lost our pride and not sure what about Singapore are we proud of.
Maybe the only thing we can be proud of Singapore is that it is a rich nation?
Yes, it is rich because it has imported lots of rich foreigners.

The government themselves with their civil servants (no offense here) sits in their ivory tower while the commoners in the private sectors compete directly with lower cost foreigners.
I would like to see one day when minister position is open to foreign talents.
Then they will see the many PRC they brought in vote for their Chinese leaders (no offense here again)

Buying off the shelf. Look at how we grow our technology sector. There is a reason why Singapore did not create any major MNCs.
Casino is there because the government wants easy money. Eventually many Singaporeans who lacks self restrains suffers. For every gambler, a family is destroyed.

I'm not against foreigners. In the early days, Singapore takes in a lot of Malaysians who's culture and habits are very similar to us. And the growth rate was gradual and controlled. But for the past few years we are taking foreigners with very different cultures and backgrounds at an exponential rate. Worse is they took in so much people before building the necessary infrastructure. Now suddenly Singapore became a super congested country. And the government ask us to integrate well with them. Oh come on, we are already back to back, face to face with each other in the trains and buses, what more do u want? U want us to share the same time space? Is that what u call integration??

To me, in the past 5 years, Singapore has transformed itself from a nation to a company.
A company that goes all out for profit.
And Singaporeans are not its shareholders. Because shareholders are consulted on major policies and shareholders benefits from company success.
Singaporeans now are just employees of Sing Inc.

 

[ginfreely]

Sports are always under the development of the government and its policies, not just its people. To say that there was not a single Olympic medal points and for more than half a century points not just to the fault of the people.

The government has never focused enough on it and the people are mainly scraping by as it is, everyone wants to get a job, how many can survive as an athlete in Singapore in the past? Of course now they pay these talents hundreds of thousands or millions. Ask any true blue Singaporean mother/father, if they knew that being an athlete can net so much income, they would have asked them to skip Uni from the start and concentrate on this.

Yeah lor, just like the government freely sponsor foreigners to study university for free but not for locals who have to take study loans to study university or work part time. Without money worries, of course they can concentrate to study and should do better. The same applies for sports.

 

[ginfreely]

You have hit the nail on the head Investor!

This is particularly true for most Asian developing economies where there is a large gap in wealth and income between the rich and poor.
- Landed houses in central Delhi cost in excess of USD 5M, can an average Indian afford them?
- Some condos in South Mumbai are going for USD 3000 psf (believe it or not)
- Recent news that condos on Sukhumvit are now asking THB 200,000 per sqm (USD 700 psf), can the average Thai afford it?
- Ciputra group is selling luxury condos in Jakarta for USD 600 psf, can the average Indonesian afford it?
- I was in Vietnam last year on a work related project and found that sea view bungalows are selling for USD 1.5 M in Danang, we are are not even talking about HMC and Hanoi. So, can an average Vietnamese afford these?

In fact, looking at the high end property prices in the neighbouring countries mentioned above, high end prices in Malaysia has some ways to catch up with, despite the fact that the infrastructure and property ownership laws are far superior.

Let's face the reality, there are certain things in life just not meant for the 'average Joe'. Apologies if I have rubbed anyone the wrong way.

Coming back to Nusajaya, in addition to Singaporeans as mentioned by Investor, I was told by EL sales that several of the bungalows (started at RM 2M and at present going up to RM 4M) have been bought by Malaysians. There is a lot of wealth at the top of the Malaysian pyramid. The fact that Malaysians have now edged out the Chinese in terms of top foreign property buyers in Singapore is testimonial to their wealth. And btw, these high end developments are the most resilient to external factors, such as recession, since owners typically have some holding power, supply is limited, buyers are always on the lookout.

I hope there won't be a large gap between the rich and poor be it in MY or SG. In the past, SG used to be okay unlike many Asian countries like India, Philippines, Indonesia where the rich is very rich, poor is very poor. Unfortunately, this has changed in the last few years in SG where the divide is growing. This is not something good, especially can see from history places like Indonesia have shown riots will happen when the divide is very large and trigger by some crisis, although in places like India this may be accepted as the norm.

 

[Newbie2012]

Although I hate to vent my frustration in this forum.. but well.

Basically, our government is addicted to quick fix and easy solution.
We import rather than grow our own talents.
Importing foreign workers to quickly expand our GDP, solve birthrate issue, solve talent issue.
Face it, it is cheaper to import foreigners than to add incentives to increase birthrate.
To the govt, one Singaporean and one foreigner in Singapore has very little difference as long as they contribute equally to its economy.
What is most worrying is that many Singaporeans has been brainwashed by our govt thinking that it is a correct thing to do!
Many Singaporeans has been conditioned since young that if we can achieve the same objective at a lower monetary cost, then it is the right thing to do!
But what about the other non monetary cost?
In the end we lost our identity, we lost our pride and not sure what about Singapore are we proud of.
Maybe the only thing we can be proud of Singapore is that it is a rich nation?
Yes, it is rich because it has imported lots of rich foreigners.

The government themselves with their civil servants (no offense here) sits in their ivory tower while the commoners in the private sectors compete directly with lower cost foreigners.
I would like to see one day when minister position is open to foreign talents.
Then they will see the many PRC they brought in vote for their Chinese leaders (no offense here again)

Buying off the shelf. Look at how we grow our technology sector. There is a reason why Singapore did not create any major MNCs.
Casino is there because the government wants easy money. Eventually many Singaporeans who lacks self restrains suffers. For every gambler, a family is destroyed.

I'm not against foreigners. In the early days, Singapore takes in a lot of Malaysians who's culture and habits are very similar to us. And the growth rate was gradual and controlled. But for the past few years we are taking foreigners with very different cultures and backgrounds at an exponential rate. Worse is they took in so much people before building the necessary infrastructure. Now suddenly Singapore became a super congested country. And the government ask us to integrate well with them. Oh come on, we are already back to back, face to face with each other in the trains and buses, what more do u want? U want us to share the same time space? Is that what u call integration??

To me, in the past 5 years, Singapore has transformed itself from a nation to a company.
A company that goes all out for profit.
And Singaporeans are not its shareholders. Because shareholders are consulted on major policies and shareholders benefits from company success.
Singaporeans now are just employees of Sing Inc.

I can totally understand your sentiments but our opposition parties standards and sincerity are way too below standards to lead us into a new future.

We would need a man of substance like LKY in his younger days to appear in our opposition parties from out of our very frustrated Singaporeans, to be able to win the majority hearts of our voters inorder to clamp down on the wrong doing of PM Lee and his cabinets of ministers. That's is the only way to save the souls of true blue Singaporeans.

The political policy developments of the last decade in SG was beseech with the self-betrayal of the trust of all true blue Singaporeans and is totally off the patriotic mark from the LKY era. Hope your post is able to invoke the nostalgic feelings in the old man so that he can summon his last burst of energy and give his son an awakening slap in the face.

 

[Newbie2012]

Have you seen the straits view residences?

I have yet to see it. Does it comes with imported marble flooring for the living area, marble top furnishing for bathroom wash basin with imported taps, toilet bowl, bathtub from Europe? Does it has solid parquet flooring for the stairs and bedroom floors? Does it comes with designer doors for all the bedrooms? Is the window glass frames and sliding glass doors made of more solid material other than soft aluminium?

The above would be the minimum to appeal to the rich who knows how to really enjoy life; the kind that will be most willing to pay any asking price of property developers.

 

[Newbie2012]

Just for the record, I think Iskandar equivalent of Sentosa cove is Danga Island's good class bungalow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vfhw6vuf7Q

That's what the marketing video wants to convey to the buyers but personally I think it pales in comparison because it does not have a Sentosa Resort in the vicinity and it is near a city that's is badly awaiting its time to be spruced up to an acceptable standard.

 

[marineblue911]

I agree with your observations. Its a classic one dimension solution that is somewhat analogous to typical Western medicine. Treat the symptoms, pain and aches. But usually do not treat holistically or cure the disease.

Each scholar has his own turf, KPIs, agenda and career plan that incents him to perform and solve his direct concerns (much like medical symptoms). He cannot or will not consider the big picture or long term implications of his policy solutions as he would not be there when things implode or explode. Some else would and that someone then again solves the issues that are urgent and pressing without again considering long term implications and the cycle continues and continues.

Not sure how things can be fixed as the slide down the slippery slope is already way advanced. Stopping is not possible, U turn is totally impossible, hence slowing is the only likely scenario. So more of the same, just slower. Still cancer but slow growing type..... just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers

Although I hate to vent my frustration in this forum.. but well.

Basically, our government is addicted to quick fix and easy solution.
We import rather than grow our own talents.
Importing foreign workers to quickly expand our GDP, solve birthrate issue, solve talent issue.
Face it, it is cheaper to import foreigners than to add incentives to increase birthrate.
To the govt, one Singaporean and one foreigner in Singapore has very little difference as long as they contribute equally to its economy.
What is most worrying is that many Singaporeans has been brainwashed by our govt thinking that it is a correct thing to do!
Many Singaporeans has been conditioned since young that if we can achieve the same objective at a lower monetary cost, then it is the right thing to do!
But what about the other non monetary cost?
In the end we lost our identity, we lost our pride and not sure what about Singapore are we proud of.
Maybe the only thing we can be proud of Singapore is that it is a rich nation?
Yes, it is rich because it has imported lots of rich foreigners.

The government themselves with their civil servants (no offense here) sits in their ivory tower while the commoners in the private sectors compete directly with lower cost foreigners.
I would like to see one day when minister position is open to foreign talents.
Then they will see the many PRC they brought in vote for their Chinese leaders (no offense here again)

Buying off the shelf. Look at how we grow our technology sector. There is a reason why Singapore did not create any major MNCs.
Casino is there because the government wants easy money. Eventually many Singaporeans who lacks self restrains suffers. For every gambler, a family is destroyed.

I'm not against foreigners. In the early days, Singapore takes in a lot of Malaysians who's culture and habits are very similar to us. And the growth rate was gradual and controlled. But for the past few years we are taking foreigners with very different cultures and backgrounds at an exponential rate. Worse is they took in so much people before building the necessary infrastructure. Now suddenly Singapore became a super congested country. And the government ask us to integrate well with them. Oh come on, we are already back to back, face to face with each other in the trains and buses, what more do u want? U want us to share the same time space? Is that what u call integration??

To me, in the past 5 years, Singapore has transformed itself from a nation to a company.
A company that goes all out for profit.
And Singaporeans are not its shareholders. Because shareholders are consulted on major policies and shareholders benefits from company success.
Singaporeans now are just employees of Sing Inc.

 

[Lord Aragorn]

I have yet to see it. Does it comes with imported marble flooring for the living area, marble top furnishing for bathroom wash basin with imported taps, toilet bowl, bathtub from Europe? Does it has solid parquet flooring for the stairs and bedroom floors? Does it comes with designer doors for all the bedrooms? Is the window glass frames and sliding glass doors made of more solid material other than soft aluminium?

The above would be the minimum to appeal to the rich who knows how to really enjoy life; the kind that will be most willing to pay any asking price of property developers.

Do checkout the showhouse if you've the time.

 

[Lord Aragorn]

I can totally understand your sentiments but our opposition parties standards and sincerity are way too below standards to lead us into a new future.

We would need a man of substance like LKY in his younger days to appear in our opposition parties from out of our very frustrated Singaporeans, to be able to win the majority hearts of our voters inorder to clamp down on the wrong doing of PM Lee and his cabinets of ministers. That's is the only way to save the souls of true blue Singaporeans.

The political policy developments of the last decade in SG was beseech with the self-betrayal of the trust of all true blue Singaporeans and is totally off the patriotic mark from the LKY era. Hope your post is able to invoke the nostalgic feelings in the old man so that he can summon his last burst of energy and give his son an awakening slap in the face.

We can all understand the frustration of poor infrastructure planning coupled with an influx of unqualified foreigners that has taken a toll on its citizen. But after the GE, the government is making quite some drastic tweaks to the work permit to address these issues. And also taken steps to resolve the infra problem. It will take at least a few years to feel the difference.

What else do you think the government should do today to resolve these issues?

 

[Funds Transfer]

We can all understand the frustration of poor infrastructure planning coupled with an influx of unqualified foreigners that has taken a toll on its citizen. But after the GE, the government is making quite some drastic tweaks to the work permit to address these issues. And also taken steps to resolve the infra problem. It will take at least a few years to feel the difference.

What else do you think the government should do today to resolve these issues?

Unfortunately, the damage is already done and whatever rectification is merely cosmetic in nature.

The immediate focus, IMHO, should be on mending the social fabric of Singapore. In short, the country has turned soul-less and devoid of any nationalistic spirit because everything is about dollars and cents. You can tell that the MSM is making a big meal out of the first Olympic individual medal when most are not.

It has come to the point that Singapore stands for showcasing wealth and success only. Efforts count for nothing.

We all know that there is a groundswell of discontent with the influx of foreigners and that has the immediate danger of turning things into a racist divide. The menacing policies of introducing mainland Chinese, north Indians, Filipinos, etc into our workforce have made us more narrow-minded because of the job displacement that has befallen on many Singaporeans.

Today, a Singaporean Chinese may not think twice about leveling out at a PRC for being uncouth and likewise, an local Indian may do the same to the North Indian for bringing in their caste values. But these may take escalate tensions if a Singaporean Chinese may start saying the same about an Indian national and vice-versa.

When that happens the Singaporean Chinese may not be against Indians in general and likewise, for the other side.

We are taking a potential conflict too lightly and this is a spark that may turn into a fire or inferno. Already, the stress on living space, transportation woes and workplace pressures have pushed many to the edge. Petty conflicts, squabbles and fights are increasing. Some are reported, others are not.

Let's hope that it will not erupt into something unmanageable!

We want our original Singapore back!

 

[Funds Transfer]

I wish school to impart human values such as moral, respect for elders and emphasize more on character building .. I wish the teachers will not outsource the standard education to the parents assuming everyone is rich enough to have tutors.. I wish the teachers are like what we have in the older times.. Those that really love teaching and make a difference.. I wish all those who want to strike rich in teaching better in joining grassroots or pap instead..

Unfortunately, if you look a the curriculum in school these days, the emphasis on moral education and ethics are not there.

The shift in the emphasis of an important element of education took place because we were more interested in focusing on the sciences and mathematics.

If you look at the education investment over the years, it has not changed. We need a major transformation.

Nearly 50 years ago, we have 40 students to 1 teacher in a primary school class. We still do.
Our malls probably have better facilities than the schools in Singapore.

 

[Funds Transfer]

In SG, btw they were P1 employment pass holders i.e pay above $8k.

So do you deduct the costs of rectification from their rental deposit?

 

[jasonjst]

We can all understand the frustration of poor infrastructure planning coupled with an influx of unqualified foreigners that has taken a toll on its citizen. But after the GE, the government is making quite some drastic tweaks to the work permit to address these issues. And also taken steps to resolve the infra problem. It will take at least a few years to feel the difference.

What else do you think the government should do today to resolve these issues?

Come on , they are barking at the wrong tree again . Singaporean are OK with work permit holders , mostly in construction , heavy industries sectors . People are piss off with those S pass , fake talent , some low end mamasan PR , dependent Pass , etc .

 

[arsenal]

Mr brown is a funny but learned guy. Should ask him to join us to live in malaysia..

Some ft folks now think they are here because our govt beg them to come.. They deserve everything better than locals.. Sound so familiar.. Just make sure we don't do the same when living in JB..

What our govt can do now? If they run out of idea, better let go and new and capable persons will appear.. They pat on each others back and say well done.. They also oppose for the sake of opposing whenever opposition speak..

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2012/08...ed-out-singapore-will-be-poor-and-lonely.html

 

[whoami]

Come on , they are barking at the wrong tree again . Singaporean are OK with work permit holders , mostly in construction , heavy industries sectors . People are piss off with those S pass , fake talent , some low end mamasan PR , dependent Pass , etc .

Yes. W/P holders no problem with most Sporeans. Its those S and E/P tat hinders qualified Sporeans fm holding such jobs! I have seen US, French, Korean, Japanese, etc E/P holders working with their respective companies. So how does foreign companies investing here benefits the man in the street? I have seen GRO (non sporeans) working with our local hotels. So they have more knowledge of Spore than our locals?

 

[arsenal]

Another master piece from Mr Brown..

People complain that Singaporeans are not good at sports and that we have to import our talent. I say we should compete in sports we will excel in. We should have our own #SingaporeanOlympics:

1. @mrbrown: MRT Rush Hour Squeeze

2. @mrbrown: Lunch Hour Tissue Chope Toss

3. @mrbrown: NParks Brompton Bicycle Gebiz Tender Sprint

4. @mrbrown: Cabinet Reshuffle Musical Chairs

5. @alfpang: Condo Launch Queue Marathon

6. @goldfishhysays: First to Morning Queue for Free Newspaper Race

7. @mrbrown: MRT Escalator Never Keep Left Buggers Hurdles

8. @ShunfuMart: Ear-Coin Weightlifting

9. @muhammadmutasim: Reserved Seat Speed Sleeping

10. @ShunfuMart: Ladies Slow Walk

11. @mrbrown: SAF Golden Arrow Archery

12. @thesahadevan: Complain Marathon

13. @lammified: SAF White Horse Racing

14. @longadin: Uncle Phelgm Spitting

15. @prodigalgeek: Primary School Synchronised Balloting

16. @levraitaz: Nomination Day Form Filling

17. @ShunfuMart: Hokkien Obscenities Marathon (Taxi Driver Invitational)

18. @boifirdhaus: #SingaporeanOlympics : Press Traffic Light button Till Shiok.

19. @byliwei: See Who Can Get @mrbrown To Retweet First

20. @mrbrown: McDonald's Curry Sauce Drinking

 

[Newbie2012]

We can all understand the frustration of poor infrastructure planning coupled with an influx of unqualified foreigners that has taken a toll on its citizen. But after the GE, the government is making quite some drastic tweaks to the work permit to address these issues. And also taken steps to resolve the infra problem. It will take at least a few years to feel the difference.

What else do you think the government should do today to resolve these issues?

The effort and resolve taken by the govt to solve the problems are not even near the half-hearted mark. How to you grade such performance by the govt below?

1. Decrease the annual INCREASE in number of foreign workers in SG. Half-Hearted (H-H ) effort would be to stop the absolute increase in number of foreign workers in SG, not decrease its annual increase in numbers!

2. Telling Singaporeans to tolerate and accept the inconsiderate and bolder behaviour of Pinoys and PRCs enclaves in SG. H-H effort is to gently berate and tell the foreign enclaves to know where their stand should be.

3. Limit the number of years that PRs can rent out their HDB flats to max 5 years. H-H effort will be to give them 3 years to sell off their HDB flats in the market when they are not staying in it anymore. HDB flats should never have been held by non-Singaporeans for rental or investment purposes especially at times when supplies are very limited.

And where is the long term policy change to stop the decrease of pure-bred Singaporean population. Shouldn't this be the least patriotic effort expected of any governments in the world to prevent its own people from decimation? Instead the govt is doing a "productive" job by focusing on cosmetically increasing the population percentage of Singaporeans in SG by converting unmistakenably PRCs, Pinoys, Caucasians into Singaporeans. Statistically, its a job well done in boosting the Singaporean population and justify for the minister promotion or pay increase but would you take a chinese medicine containing western paracetamol for your arthritis problem?

 

[ginfreely]

So do you deduct the costs of rectification from their rental deposit?

Some yes some no, depends whether spot the damage in time and the tough part is get tenants to agree to the deduction.

 

[ginfreely]

Yes. W/P holders no problem with most Sporeans. Its those S and E/P tat hinders qualified Sporeans fm holding such jobs! I have seen US, French, Korean, Japanese, etc E/P holders working with their respective companies. So how does foreign companies investing here benefits the man in the street? I have seen GRO (non sporeans) working with our local hotels. So they have more knowledge of Spore than our locals?

There is no restriction on the number of employment pass holders a company can employ. It is not unheard of companies hiring only only or two Singaporeans and the rest are employment pass holders.