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金钱 柯币
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发表于 2011-11-8 14:35:55
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本帖最后由 Power 于 2011-11-8 15:36 编辑
贴过来你慢慢看撒~~~我先去小睡片刻
Friday, 4 November 2011
Kenapa Singapura? (Why Singapore?)
Now recently on Facebook, it was brought to Limeph's attention that a Singaporean had commented on my situation. The question was "who renounces Singapore citizenship to come back to work in Singapore? "
This question isn't hard to answer, but please let me talk about my situation first before talking about the Singaporean government's stance on the issue.
How did I come to work in Singapore? This time last year, I was happily working for a European fund manager in London and my boss asked me if I knew any IFAs in Singapore and I had good connections in the banking sector Singapore. I said no, I don't. I've been away an awfully long time and apart from immediate family and some old classmates, I don't know anyone. My boss then told me, "We're expanding into Asia and would like to use Singapore as our Asian hub. I would like you to spearhead this project."
I said no thanks - it's almost Christmas, let's talk in the new year. I didn't expect him to remember a thing by the time January 2011 came along, but he did - in January, he asked me if I knew of anyone suitable in Singapore to do this. I said no. He then offered me a raise, a bonus and a promotion. I looked at the figures and said yes fine, at that price I can help you out in the first instance to get you guys off the ground in that part of the world. Fast forward to the second half of 2011, when I spent a lot of time in Singapore - either in nice hotels or serviced apartments, a generous expenses account and flying a lot around Asia - Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi etc.
So that's my story. I came to Singapore because I was offered an assignment by the European company I was working for and they gave me a generous offer. I would have been a fool to say no the money and the opportunity. Thus I am in Singapore as long as I have a job - and the moment my company decides not to operate in Asia, then I will be gone to wherever the next job may be. It's not like I'm here permanently - heck, I've got Hakka blood from my father's side, 客家人 - "guest people" as the name suggests, we're perpetual guests no matter where we go. Hakka folk are nomads. We move around from place to place, city to city, country to country. But I don't pretend to be some kind of Bohemian hippie who wants to wander to the corners of the earth, drifting aimlessly around - I happen to like making a lot of money too and there's that saying: make hay whilst the sun shines. If someone offers you a chance to make a lot of money, you take it and say yes - you never know what tomorrow may bring, so make hay whilst the sun shines. I am a modern Hakka man, I travel around whilst making money.
Now some people have actually assumed that I chose the city (Singapore) first then found a job locally, but I have to inform you that it doesn't work that way. One normally finds a job first, then goes wherever that job takes you. I've worked in Dubai before and let me state for the record, I hate Dubai. But hey, I was in London and someone offered me a good contract to work in Dubai. The money was good so off I went to Dubai - I did it for the money and to have the experience. Dubai is a horrible, soulless city that bakes to a crazy temperature in the summer. I hate Dubai but would gladly work there if you offered Limpeh enough money.
I guess for some people, the thought of being headhunted and offered work - rather than sending off a job application form - is totally foreign. That is why they cannot understand how I came to Singapore on a contract, rather than having to apply for a job locally (they way they have).
OK, so that's my story. It's not that interesting - it boils down to the fact that I got an internal promotion within the same company I was working for.
You with me so far? Good.
Before I go on, I feel obliged to add a disclaimer: Limpeh does NOT live with his parents whilst in Singapore. (Oh please at my age?! Limpeh not young anymore leh.) Limpeh's company puts him up in either a nice serviced apartment or hotel downtown when Limpeh is working in Singapore. Limpeh has not lived with his parents since I ORDed years ago - though Limpeh enjoys visiting his parents on the weekends/days off and spending quality time with them. OK?
Now, Limpeh enjoys his time in Singapore - my parents still live in Ang Mo Kio and it's nice to spend quality time with them in the house where I grew up, though their maid now gets my old bed these days. There is this provision store - a 杂货店 - not far from my parents' house and I visited that shop a week ago. It was unreal - I felt like I was stepping back in time to the 90s. Little has changed since I was a teenager - the familiar sights and smells - Milo, Horlicks, Maggi Mee, packets of banana cake, bottles of chili sauce and Yeo's packet drinks. I remember how my mother used to send me to the store to get some Beehoon or eggs. The old lady at the till is still the same 'auntie' from when I was a kid - she's older of course and she no longer remembers me. I thought I saw a flicker of recognition so I asked her, "Auntie, do you remember me? I used to live here years ago."
She stared at me for a moment and then said, "Aiyah, very hard to remember lah, auntie very old already, sorry I cannot remember. You now stay where?"
I then told her that I had spent the last 14 years working abroad in various places and she said, "So now you come home at last? You got miss home or not?"
Now I thought I could either tell her what she wanted to hear, or I could be honest. I told her, "Yes, I missed home." But the fact was, as much as a part of me did miss Singapore at some level, a much bigger part of me was seeking the next adventure, the next foreign country, the next foreign language to learn, the next foreign city to explore. As much as I enjoy the nostalgia when I visited her 杂货店, the thought that crept into my mind as I left with my ice cream was this: how could you bear to work in the same shop for all your life? To wake up every morning for the rest of your life and go through exactly the same routine every day? For her, the closest thing to adventure would be watching an action movie on TV late at night after she shuts her store - but I don't even think she gets to do that, given how she store shuts at 11 pm and is open at 7 am.
I suppose some people do seek comfort in familiarity and I say, as long as they're happy in what they do, good for them. They do however, find it hard to understand why people like me would rather seek adventure in far away places rather than stick to the familiar. That's why some people find it hard to understand why I have returned to Singapore - a question that I was asked was, "have you not found what you were looking for, so you have returned to where you've started?" And I answered, "Simply, I was offered a lot of money to work in Singapore. Who knows how long I will be in Singapore this time?"
I did speak to some other local Singaporean friends recently and I asked them what life was like in Singapore for them and they all agreed that it was pretty tough - given the influx of foreign talents from places like China, Philippines and India competing with locals for the same jobs. The foreigners have an edge over the locals because:
1. Employers don't need to pay CPF (the local compulsory pension scheme) for the foreign workers
2. The local males are obliged to serve military reservist duty - which means they can be called away from the company at any time; foreigners don't have this obligation.
This means that employers can pay foreigners less and get more out of them - that is why the locals are very unhappy about the presence of all these foreign workers in Singapore. Now the Singapore government has done little to stem the flood of these foreigners - rather, they welcome them and has done little to give locals any help when it comes to competing with these foreigners in the job market. Now those Singaporeans who are very well educated and highly skilled will have no problems finding a job in Singapore (or anywhere else for that matter) but it is those who are lower down the food chain who are feeling the squeeze the most. The ones who are worst hit are those over 40 who are retrenched and trying to find a new job once one turns 40 in Singapore is very, very difficult. That's why there's so much anti-foreigner resentment at the moment and yeah - I get hate mail here simply on the basis of the title of this blog, but I was courting controversy from the start.
It's far easier for a frustrated Singaporean to send me anonymous hate mail than for them to pluck up the courage, go and see their PAP MP and challenge them about foreign workers (not unless they live in Aljunied, but I digress). Like what's the point of sending me hate mail in Singlish lah? You really that bueh song, go talk to your MP lah, challenge the PAP's policy directly lah, come to Limpeh and kao beh for wat?
Now what does confounds me is this: instead of directing all their angst at foreigners, why don't Singaporeans direct this anger towards their government? After all, if the Singapore government didn't welcome these foreign workers into Singapore in the first place by giving them such preferential treatment in the job market, would they have arrived in Singapore in such numbers? My company could have been forced to hire a local Singaporean rather than use me (I hold a British passport today) - but no, and that's why the financial services sector in Singapore is full of foreigners (namely Brits, Swiss, Americans and Malaysians amongst others).
In my case, given that I have the right skills - holding a British passport is no impediment to me working in Singapore. I simply join the thousands of 'foreign talent' already in Singapore. It's not like the Singaporean government has any measure (or desire) to stop foreigners from working in Singapore - au contraire, there are benefits attached with being a foreigner in Singapore (no CPF, no reservist). Oh and on top of that, I can work in any EU country (all 27 of them). However, if I had a Singaporean passport, yeah I can work in Singapore (and be saddled with CPF and reservist burdens for that privilege) but would need a work permit for every other country and many of these countries have protectionist policies in their job market to safe guard their locals against foreign workers (something strangely absent in Singapore).
I suppose if you were a little old lady who worked in a provision store, then fair enough - stay in Singapore and let the government take care of you. I know the PAP aren't perfect, but they have done plenty of good things for older Singaporeans and compared to Greece, well, it's perhaps best to appreciate them for the good things the PAP has done! But if you are a wandering soul with Hakka blood, destined to be 'guest people' - then I guess the passport you hold is far less important, after all, as you move from country to country, city to city, with each foreign language you learn and embrace, your notion of nationality and identity changes and evolves. You become the sum of your experiences - and in my case, that's a mosaic of experiences around the world.
But I guess that's still going to be hard to understand for Singaporeans who'd rather spend the rest of their lives in the same, small, familiar corner of Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Pasir Ris or Jurong. Oh well. To each his own. Maybe the auntie at the Ang Mo Kio 杂货店 can hire some Filipinos or Chinese foreign workers to run her 杂货店 whilst she takes it easy, retire and have some fun at last?
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发表于 2011-11-8 14:19:11
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屁！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！.GIF)
我现在为了钱在你国家当外劳呢
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其实我今年18岁。。。。。。。多希望我这么说.GIF)
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我一直觉得这么做是天经地义的.gif)
爱妃你欠我10000CB.gif)
PAP isn't perfect, UMNO is incapable.GIF)
骂一句罢了也扣我的钱