Living in JB

[wuqi256]

Why should we give up citizenship when we think the govt is not good enough? We should give up the govt instead! Remember PAP is not Singapore!!

Unfortunately, many of us were not around (including myself) when SG existed without them. Lets not forget even certain ruling parties now used to be the opposition parties too.

Definitely, the party just represent certain groups of people, i always differentiate between the party and the country.

 

[avelc]

Meanwhile, possible boost for Johor properties...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1170002/1/.html

SINGAPORE: The government has imposed an Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) for private property of between 3 per cent and 10 per cent for Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners to moderate investment demand for private residential property and promote a more stable and sustainable market.

The changes take effect on December 8.

Foreigners will pay 10 per cent Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) for any residential property.

Permanent Residents owning one and buying second and subsequent properties will pay 3 per cent ABSD.

Singaporeans owning two and buying a third and subsequent residential properties will pay 3 per cent Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty.

The ABSD will be imposed over and above the current Buyer's Stamp Duty, which are 1 per cent on the first $180,000 of purchase consideration or market value of the property (whichever is higher), 2 per cent on the next $180,000 and 3 per cent for the remainder.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Finance and National Development ministries say the government's objective is to promote a sustainable residential property market where prices move in line with economic fundamentals.

They said prices of private residential properties have continued to rise, albeit more slowly in the last two quarters.

Prices are now 13 per cent above the peak in the second quarter of 1996, and 16 per cent above the more recent peak in the second quarter of 2008.

They said that even with the current economic uncertainties, the demand for private residential property remains firm.

 

[wuqi256]

Thanks for sharing about the crime Crystal, just heard from one of the shop keepers as i went to buy some double sided tape. They still don't know/don't believe the trio already got caught though. I joked with him that Satu Malaysia and racial integration must be working so well now that robbers are even carrying out the deed in a mixed racial manner.

 

[wuqi256]

On a lighter note, just got a small MPV for the wife and let her take my son around our place with sunroof opened. Promised her a car with a sun roof when i was still in my teens, though she has changed a couple of cars but never managed to find one that made her so happy. My son had a field time sticking himself up and enjoying the breeze (proper supervision was done and several layers of SAF strength black tape was firmly taped and an adult with him to ensure his safety.)

 

[Puteri harbour]

True but country a guys have a choice to go down two third and spend in country c. If country c is unhappy they will not have a choice.... In country a, nobody die in the street cause there is always bursary, social assistance for the poor while in many countries, the leaders are corrupted and cheat on the poor and the poor die in the street.

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of any political party but a proponent of good economic policies(sometime unpopular)

Cheers,
PH

PH, agree with some of your points but the issue is not just about contentment, for some its a bread and butter issue. This brings me to the question Mr V gave to others when asked to raised the handout given to the poor. Its not about restaurants or foodcourt but for some, they can't even afford coffeeshop let alone hawker centre. There are those who are drawn by the pull factor yet lots of others leave because of push factors. As what you say, globalisation is here and its here to stay, which is why whatever rules that use to hold true for country A is no longer as true. There are way more factors dictacting ones success than just hardwork and education. The easiest way to illustrate this is cost.

People from country A may need a minimum of $3k for a household for example. People from country C can subsist on $1k as their families and needs such as education, food are not in Singapore. What is going to happen when both compete for the same $3k job. Assuming all things being equal, country C can afford to go down 2/3 but can the country A guy match even half of that and still provide for the family?

 

[IskandarRocks]

Hi IskandarRocks,

Current rental rates for a terrace in East Ledang is RM3,xxx.
My friend rented out one of his terrace at RM3,600. I don't know the exact amount he got for his other unit.
There are various different sizes of terraces. Some are big corner units with land, so price varies.
Semi-d should be between RM6,000 - RM8,000.

Thanks Investor! This is much better.

 

[ginfreely]

Unfortunately, many of us were not around (including myself) when SG existed without them. Lets not forget even certain ruling parties now used to be the opposition parties too.

Definitely, the party just represent certain groups of people, i always differentiate between the party and the country.

Yeah don't know why people are so afraid of changing the party running a government? The party running can become opposition and opposition can become govt. People seem to forget how much and how quickly the present govt has lost money through those investments.

 

[Bluereeff]

Agree. Especially for assets in country A, how easy is it to liquidate the assets if one still wants to live in country A? You sell your flat and downgrade but hey there are rules to stop you downgrading. Even if you do, then what, to to find a very rural new HDB that somehow did not appreciate with market forces and buy? Then go through the same circle and hope for the best? Asset growth may have grown in Country A but seriously income growth has not changed much and certainly not enough to account for inflation.

If one can grow old undisturbed by mounting medical and daily bills, who would want to leave ones own land and leave the things that they were familiar with? Its really not just the pull but the guys in charge should take a long hard look at the push factors. When one or two staff is unhappy, you can blame it on them being choosy or discontented, but when many are unhappy, one should quickly get a mirror and start looking at oneself.

Dont be too happy. One day country B will become like country A. Never say never!

 

[Whathefish]

True but country a guys have a choice to go down two third and spend in country c. If country c is unhappy they will not have a choice.... In country a, nobody die in the street cause there is always bursary, social assistance for the poor while in many countries, the leaders are corrupted and cheat on the poor and the poor die in the street.

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of any political party but a proponent of good economic policies(sometime unpopular)

Cheers,
PH

Bro, not everyone in country A can choose to go down and spend in less expensive country. (of coz i agree country C cannot go to A). Assets appreciation only benefits certain groups of the society, and depends on Timing(years). You guys benefited more (i.e. able to buy more properties), i've got only 3. But, have we spared a thought for those who are not, and cannot benefit from any assets appreciation? Worst still, what if assets depreciates like other countries? (leasehold depreciation curve, value = zero at end of lease)

I'm a investor, if the yield is good, i'll continue to invest in shares, properties as such. If buying more properties prevents another home stayer from owning a house, or have to buy at higher rates because i contributed to the appreciation (demand), will i be morally upright and say, i think i should stop??

Humans are greedy in nature. Individuals are greedy. It takes a morally upright govt to do the right thing, and not the popular thing.

And i'm glad Khaw B W made his point now.

 

[Puteri harbour]

The wealth to do need to redistribute and be a kind person. Let hope Singaporean will become more generous and gracious especially those that benefit a lot from the economic growth.

http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/pp-s17.pdf

Look at page 7, and you'll see which tier has benefited from the past decade.

I am ok, i've got pretty good basket of investments, properties, savings. However, how about the poorer 20 percentile of our citizens? How about our next generation?

 

[Whathefish]

http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/pp-s17.pdf

Look at page 7, and you'll see which tier has benefited from the past decade.

I am ok, i've got pretty good basket of investments, properties, savings. However, how about the poorer 20 percentile of our citizens? How about our next generation?

Sry, wrong page, Page 5, table 5, clearer on the disparity of income.

 

[wuqi256]

True but country a guys have a choice to go down two third and spend in country c. If country c is unhappy they will not have a choice.... In country a, nobody die in the street cause there is always bursary, social assistance for the poor while in many countries, the leaders are corrupted and cheat on the poor and the poor die in the street.Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of any political party but a proponent of good economic policies(sometime unpopular)

Cheers,
PH

There are also people in Country A who can't even afford to go to Country C. If we keep comparing Country A to only countries that are "3rd" world, its not being fair to Country A as country A is a 1st world country.

Neither am i a supporter of any party but while you may not see many dying in the streets, there are definitely homeless, people who go hungry constantly or sick who don't go to seek medical help in Country A. There are still people who go hungry and people in power refused them help.

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/04/parliamentary-exchange-between-lily-neo-and-mcys-minister/

As for medical, whenever one mention medical to many elders, they are always saying "One can afford to die but not get sick in Country A", this is reality. If they were just discontented, they would have said, "One can only afford Class C ward in Country A"

Just because they are in Country A does not mean that they are not living in 3rd world conditions. If one truly believes that there is no corruption in Country A, please do a search online for SLA corruption.

We can only claim country A is cleaner but just like a toilet, we need to take a real pragmatic look at reality. No matter how clean, there will always be some germs. No place is 100% clean.

Its not about taking a populist stance, its to face up to the hard reality that is facing much of the local people in Country A today. Despite being (perceived) in a better country, much of them may not have as much in reality especially when they grow old and like what other forummers mentioned, for the next generation.

I was told that folks at operational level needs to look past the day to day, at senior level, they have to get past the tactical and look to strategic, 5 years and beyond. Country A has done lots of things seriously well, just some of the policies need to be tweaked.

Just like you may win a battle but you lose a war. Certain policies can be easily tweaked and more efficiencies gather to serve the people better.

A straightforward one, such as merging those different departments for different races. Instead of a specific race development fund, it could be a Country A development fund. There are people of diverse races already working in these departments (as it should be as this is Country A after all and racial harmony should always be maintained), so its no longer a question of, "Oh this person is of the same race, so he will give me more assistance" We should be way past that now given that Country A is "first world"

Better efficiency,lesser manpower and costs could be realised if these departments were to be merged. They can still keep all their means testing but this will ensure that more resources can be properly allocated.

 

[wuqi256]

Dont be too happy. One day country B will become like country A. Never say never!

Yes never say never.

Still for those on top now, there will never be one who will be on top forever, change is the only permanence in life. There were the Ottoman empire and countless other superpowers through the ages. Where are they now? Unlike a lot of these, Country A has no resources and easy fallback plan. Ok correction, now they have in some ways.

Still, a small country is always at the mercy of bigger countries. That will never change though there are steps one can circumvent that but at what cost?
If there is global famine and price of rice goes up to $500 USD a kilogram, even if its subsidized, many would have to switch to alternative staples (assuming its even available) since Country A (as we all know) has nothing much in the way of natural resources.

Its going to just take a regional war to wipe out certain economies as they are fragile, Countries like country B or C will likely still survive. Someone once asked me this years ago, an interesting question to ponder: "When people were starving to death in Country A during the Japanese occupation, how did people in Country B fare even though they were also occupied?

Were the common folks (not talking about POWs) starving just like those in Country A?"

 

[wuqi256]

The wealth to do need to redistribute and be a kind person. Let hope Singaporean will become more generous and gracious especially those that benefit a lot from the economic growth.

Some definitely will but most won't unfortunately as they think most people from Country A is just "complaining" and being discontented. Instead of trying to help those in genuine need, they rather spend more time and effort disparaging them for being choosy/discontented. GDP does not necessarily translate to overall economic benefits for the man in the street.

My time spent in a fast food chain (factory worker on weekends and security guard at night, yes really thanks to them, i have great jobs like that) when i was young trying to feed the family and study at the same time was quite useful.

They taught me that "Customers who complain are the best customers, it shows that they have still residual faith and goodwill in the organisation hence we should sift out those frivolous complains from those genuine ones that need our urgent attention" These are people who we can and should do a lot for as a complaining customer still has a very high chance of becoming a "returning" customer.

The customers that we fear for the most are those that either have voiced out or not heard or those who have given up and moved on to another organisation. Those we can no longer do much for as they no longer give us a chance. Discontentment is one thing but find the root cause, remove the straw from the cauldron and the water will stop boiling.

Why does one need to go overseas to attract your own people back when you can make easier decisions for them while they are still here? Isn't prevention better than cure?

 

[wuqi256]

Yeah don't know why people are so afraid of changing the party running a government? The party running can become opposition and opposition can become govt. People seem to forget how much and how quickly the present govt has lost money through those investments.

I believe that they have grown to used to the system that they cannot be living without it so they don't even want to think about it.
Ignorance is bliss. I still believe that things haven't gone so bad that they cannot fix it.

http://youtu.be/Z7BuQFUhsRM

 

[Whathefish]

Some definitely will but most won't unfortunately as they think most people from Country A is just "complaining" and being discontented. Instead of trying to help those in genuine need, they rather spend more time and effort disparaging them for being choosy/discontented. GDP does not necessarily translate to overall economic benefits for the man in the street.

My time spent in a fast food chain (factory worker on weekends and security guard at night, yes really thanks to them, i have great jobs like that) when i was young trying to feed the family and study at the same time was quite useful.

They taught me that "Customers who complain are the best customers, it shows that they have still residual faith and goodwill in the organisation hence we should sift out those frivolous complains from those genuine ones that need our urgent attention" These are people who we can and should do a lot for as a complaining customer still has a very high chance of becoming a "returning" customer.

The customers that we fear for the most are those that either have voiced out or not heard or those who have given up and moved on to another organisation. Those we can no longer do much for as they no longer give us a chance. Discontentment is one thing but find the root cause, remove the straw from the cauldron and the water will stop boiling.

Why does one need to go overseas to attract your own people back when you can make easier decisions for them while they are still here? Isn't prevention better than cure?

Totally agree. Complains are just voices from the people, some valid, some nonsensical. It takes wise leaders to discern which is which. It takes lazy leaders to ignore all. It takes morally corrupted leaders to sleeve out those which serves their own purposes. It takes stupid leaders to work on all complains.

 

[wuqi256]

Sry, wrong page, Page 5, table 5, clearer on the disparity of income.

Nothing to be sorry about as this thread has grown pretty long, sometimes i forget what is where sometimes.
Thanks for sharing this back then.

 

[euphony]

Totally agree. Complains are just voices from the people, some valid, some nonsensical. It takes wise leaders to discern which is which. It takes lazy leaders to ignore all. It takes morally corrupted leaders to sleeve out those which serves their own purposes. It takes stupid leaders to work on all complains.

wow very short, sweet and amply astute observation!

 

[wuqi256]

One observation i have is that, most of country A people are smart enough, at least book smart and some to a lesser degree, streetsmart.
Unfortunately, just like my family members (dads generation), most of them are crabs in a bucket. The infighting and non cooperation in the family doomed most of them to obscurity and a very mundance existance. Its as if they are still fighting one another in their mothers (my grandma's) womb. Things have changed slightly now, probably because unlike the crabs, i was born a lobster (hehehe). Hence instead of fighting, i believe in sharing. Now my sisters and some of my aunts (the nice ones and non crabs) have houses here too, things have changed 180 degrees at least with some members of my family. There is way more trust and sharing than in the past.

No one would ever have thought we would progress to this new level. Johore has been a boost to the flagging family relations that have plagued the generation before me. Having tried more than 2 years of bringing my grandmother out every weekend (and failing) to still boost family relations made me finally stop and realise it was not going anywhere. Sometimes all some people need is a listening ear, they may not even need a helping hand. If even we don't help each other, who will?
We need to succeed together, not get each other into trouble. For animal lovers who care enough to stick a sticker on their car to say "Be kind to animals", please realise that sometimes there are helpless people too and humans are also animals. Please be kind to them too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality
Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket, describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither can you." The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless "king of the hill" competition (or sabotage) which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to "pull down" (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.

This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality. It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to "escape" a so-called "underprivileged life," but kept from doing so by others attempting to ride upon their coat-tails or those who simply resent their success.[1]

 

[johnny333]

As for medical, whenever one mention medical to many elders, they are always saying "One can afford to die but not get sick in Country A", this is reality. If they were just discontented, they would have said, "One can only afford Class C ward in Country A"

.

I live in Country A & a few years ago I had a heart attack & even though I had more than enough $$$ in my medisave account, I still had to pay thousands because the gov't limits the amount I can use. In fact I ended paying more out of pocket than I could claim from medisave

One of the medical options recommended by my doctor was open heart surgery. I have enough $$$ in my medisave account to pay for the procedure, but the problem is that the PAP won't let me touch my own money to cover the costs

If I had decided to go through with the open heart surgery, I could have done it cheaper in Bangkok at one of the private hospitals