Thanks. Gardening is a rewarding hobby indeed. I'm no expert nor a green thumb, but glad to share my experiences to those who are interested.
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Living in JB 2 (Johore)
- Thread starter wuqi256
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Thanks. Gardening is a rewarding hobby indeed. I'm no expert nor a green thumb, but glad to share my experiences to those who are interested.
I second that ! Install Summer solar heater and never regretted. My cousin had a wedding in SG and all our relatives bunked at my home. If I did the head count correctly, we had over 15 adults staying overnight and never ran out of cold water.
Even if it's a rainy season, you will still have a decent amount of hot water. In any case, you have the option to turn the electric heater if needed. I've never used it though.
Foreigner living in JB. When I look around the globe it is hard for me to think of a country with a government doing a better job than Singapore's the last 30 years. And I like to learn more about what they can do better and where people see problems.
Health care nearly everywhere people are unsatisfied. The measures that make sense are 1) outcome measures of health - life expectancy, time to get treatment... 2) costs 3) how unhappy people are with it. USA seems to be at about the bottom of the list for rich countries. Europe has lots of problems but health care might be where they are pretty good (comparatively). People are generally happier with health care as the country is becoming richer (people are happy for more good health care) then as they become used to being rich they get tired of long waits, think things could be beter and cheaper... It does seem to me health care is an area Singapore is less good at than many other areas - as I see it from outside.
Someone mentioned "safety" and security: basically it seemed to be about being able to retire. This seems like a reasonable thing to want. I am not sure what policies though, people want. Require more government payments to retirees? That means more taxes (which is fine, just people have to remember things are not free). I can also see it related to the cost of health care. And rising costs in general. And perhaps in wages not being high enough to save more (with the belief wages would be higher if fewer others were let into Singapore)? This also is a huge issue in most rich countries today. USA and Europe are probably in much worse shape than most of Asia in this regard (partially due to social interests with closer inter-generational ties in Asia). And in Japan those in retirement and near retirement actually saved reasonable amounts of money (unlike the majority in the USA and Europe). I don't know about Korea, Singapore or Australia as far as how well people have saved for retirement. I am pretty confident Singapore is today (say for people who are 30 and 40) is much better off than the USA. I know China has a big issue with this now (as the vast majority of those in retirement or close never had high earnings to allow savings). If their relatives didn't help it would be a huge problem.
I just find it interesting to see what changes people would like to see.
I wonder are there other countries governments that people in Singapore wish Singapore's government would copy? What other governments and what policies do you think?
So are you working in SG or JB or where? And which country are you from since you mentioned health and retirement issues in so many countries?
How about job security? Do you think SG govt has done well in ths respect? How does it compare to your country of origin? Did you enjoy job protection from govt policies in your home country or are foreigners allowed freely to take away jobs in your country?
Anyway, to answer your question, some policies that SG government can and should copy from countries like Australia are:
a) strict policy to ensure companies have tried all ways before hiring foreigners. Not just some quota that is easily manipulated.
b) annual wage increment to follow annual CPI increase
c) CPF funds can choose other fund manager or even self managed like Australia superannuation fund, instead of compulsory managed by CPF giving 2.5% return
d) return the CPF lumpsum at age 55 and not delayed to 65 and only payout few hundred, this is people's own money
e) learn from Malaysia or any countries where public housing means for citizens only, not any PR can buy and take advantage to rent out while they retire in their home country
f) learn from China where car COE is based on ballot and free, not something to generate revenue for themselves
g) learn from China, Australia or etc that pays senior citizens a few hundred so that elderly no need to work as cleaners to earn the few hundred and be bullied for being slow
This is what i can think of offhand, perhaps other learned bros/sis can contribute more to educate you.
1) Public Housing - failed. Tried too much to rip off citizens
2) Healthcare - failed. Have you ever had an operation in SG?
3) Transport - failed. Be it private or public transport, the less said the better
4) Immigration - failed. This has been well documented. The PRC, Pinoys, Indians, Myanmars, Viets and what-have-you are genuine talents?
5) Economy - failed. We have just about the worst paid service workers among the first world countries. The foreign worker policy set the economy back by 20 years.
6) CPF scheme - failed. 2.5% return after 30 years lock-up? Does it cover inflation?
In Malaysia, is not so easy can see Gov specialist. Need go through the process of
Out patient clinic (gov) --> Wait for 1 to 3 month for appointment as transfer to specialist --> meet specialist after long time of waiting.
Some people who able to paid for private will prefer to go private specialist as do not need to wait months.
I can say that MY gov hospital medicine is very good quality. They purchase the best quality medicine pill.
But is up to the doc to give you which medicine only.
Last time i do have sinus and the gov specialist give me 3 month of Clarinase supply that cost around Rm2 perpill (total pill = 180, RM360). as i just need to paid rm5.
But i do have friend get those cheap pills from gov clinic as well.
Hi Reds, i got to know a new friend yesterday, from the states, he married a local SG lass and stayed in Singapore from '98 until now. From the discussion we had yesterday, he too agrees with most of your points. He also sees CPF as an indirect taxation especially when its way below inflation.
Hi Bro Wuqi, yes unfortunately there are many things wrong with the current sys. Luckily GE 2011 provided a wake-up call to our ministars, esp on overcrowding. I believe the SG Govt will now focus on Iskandar & land reclamation, as their way to grow SG's working population & economy.
In the coming years ahead, transport with JB will be greatly improved so that more Malaysian workers can work in SG but live in JB. This will ease Singapore's overcrowding. Small SMEs (like F&B and light industries) will be forced to relocate their factories to JB, while retaining higher value activities in SG. More state-of-the-arts hospitals will be built in Iskandar, jointly owned by SG & Malaysia, so that SG Govt will allow the use of CPF for treatment.
The CPF min sums will continue to rise beyond recognition and SG housing prices will continue to rise, with the "foreign talents" floodgates open after the completion of the various MRT projects in 2022. As a result, more & more SG citizens and Malaysians look to stay in JB and work in SG, as housing prices soar.
From the SG govt's pt of view, hopefully these SG citizens will retire in JB then, and we can expect more JB nursing homes to be built for our old to retire there. SG will continue to be a young, vibrant economy, while the lower-value jobs, industries and sinkie retirement villages will be based in Iskandar.
These are my crystal ball predictions.........haha
Would owning a Singapore property remain inevitable as they climb to the stratosphere?
But the move of SMEs to Malaysia is already happening as evidenced by the newspaper report in ST today on the rising costs and lack of labour.
Land intensification is growing rapidly in Singapore. Only hi-tech or clean-tech type of factories will be welcome here in the island.
If you are a printer or furniture maker, sayonara!
Agree totally that CPF is an indirect tax.
With contribution of up to 36% of our wages, these contributions will no longer be of use apart from buying overpriced property in Singapore.
If we accept that CPF is a tax, then it places us higher than the taxes paid by some of the Nordic countries that has constantly been used as a comparison of late.
They get affordable housing, medical care and free education.
There's nothing here for us.
My crystal ball shows the same things... Singapore need a vibrance and young economy. Since the locals are too stressed to produce sufficient babies, the import strategies will continue.. Whether they leave after living here to USA doesn't matter.. The govt need cheap and hardworking work force and best those with no family luggage.. So the rich will continue to be richer and served by cheap labours, the old will be asked to live in JB.. and in doing so, Singapore will be a country that is forever young.. Also, the elites might be asked to have multiple babies with selected beauty as part of national service.. and govt will take care of their upbringing..into another beast.. or probably whoever that is rich and "big" will have a road name after them..
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Hi Red/Arsenal,
Mine was the same too, hence back then when the writing started appearing, felt i had no choice but to start planning for Plan B.
Once the plan was in place, next step was to get everyone i cared about to at least come and see for themselves to see if its suitable for them.
It was hard to convince everyone i cared about, even now but its starting to become easier these days.
Mine was the same too, hence back then when the writing started appearing, felt i had no choice but to start planning for Plan B.
Once the plan was in place, next step was to get everyone i cared about to at least come and see for themselves to see if its suitable for them.
It was hard to convince everyone i cared about, even now but its starting to become easier these days.
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This is so true, once we are used up, we will get disposed of like so many used batteries. Not even worth a second look or even a word of thanks.
But has anyone of you considered giving up your citizenship?
I think not easy to become Malaysia citizen too.
I think not easy to become Malaysia citizen too.
Served NS already, and still want to give up SG passport? Why not have the best of both worlds?
Foreigner living in JB. When I look around the globe it is hard for me to think of a country with a government doing a better job than Singapore's the last 30 years.
-The existing government is claiming the credits of all hardworking citizens working hard for the past 30 years or so. Without us, the hardworking people since independent, do you think Singapore can achieve what it has now?
And I like to learn more about what they can do better and where people see problems.
-I guess they are running out of stream and up in the “I” tower, they can’t see what the common people see. In other words, not only they are stubborn, they have also lost touch with the common people.
Health care nearly everywhere people are unsatisfied. The measures that make sense are 1) outcome measures of health - life expectancy, time to get treatment... 2) costs 3) how unhappy people are with it. USA seems to be at about the bottom of the list for rich countries. Europe has lots of problems but health care might be where they are pretty good (comparatively). People are generally happier with health care as the country is becoming richer (people are happy for more good health care) then as they become used to being rich they get tired of long waits, think things could be beter and cheaper... It does seem to me health care is an area Singapore is less good at than many other areas - as I see it from outside.
-Everywhere, people complained about this and that (healthcare, cannot find cheap labor and etc), how about those that have benefits from the system , did they complained too?
Someone mentioned "safety" and security: basically it seemed to be about being able to retire. This seems like a reasonable thing to want. I am not sure what policies though, people want. Require more government payments to retirees? That means more taxes (which is fine, just people have to remember things are not free). I can also see it related to the cost of health care. And rising costs in general. And perhaps in wages not being high enough to save more (with the belief wages would be higher if fewer others were let into Singapore)? This also is a huge issue in most rich countries today. USA and Europe are probably in much worse shape than most of Asia in this regard (partially due to social interests with closer inter-generational ties in Asia). And in Japan those in retirement and near retirement actually saved reasonable amounts of money (unlike the majority in the USA and Europe). I don't know about Korea, Singapore or Australia as far as how well people have saved for retirement.
I am pretty confident Singapore is today (say for people who are 30 and 40) is much better off than the USA. I know China has a big issue with this now (as the vast majority of those in retirement or close never had high earnings to allow savings). If their relatives didn't help it would be a huge problem.
-I don’t know why you thought this way, probably you see many of them staying in big houses and driving big S-plate cars, but many of them are not Singaporean. Personally, I know quite a lot that are living within their mean and cannot afford to be sick.
I just find it interesting to see what changes people would like to see.
It would be nice that you joined us in this one big family. Then, I would be interested to see your comments on that.
I wonder are there other countries governments that people in Singapore wish Singapore's government would copy? What other governments and what policies do you think?[/QUOTE]
-I believe many of them want a change.
-The existing government is claiming the credits of all hardworking citizens working hard for the past 30 years or so. Without us, the hardworking people since independent, do you think Singapore can achieve what it has now?
And I like to learn more about what they can do better and where people see problems.
-I guess they are running out of stream and up in the “I” tower, they can’t see what the common people see. In other words, not only they are stubborn, they have also lost touch with the common people.
Health care nearly everywhere people are unsatisfied. The measures that make sense are 1) outcome measures of health - life expectancy, time to get treatment... 2) costs 3) how unhappy people are with it. USA seems to be at about the bottom of the list for rich countries. Europe has lots of problems but health care might be where they are pretty good (comparatively). People are generally happier with health care as the country is becoming richer (people are happy for more good health care) then as they become used to being rich they get tired of long waits, think things could be beter and cheaper... It does seem to me health care is an area Singapore is less good at than many other areas - as I see it from outside.
-Everywhere, people complained about this and that (healthcare, cannot find cheap labor and etc), how about those that have benefits from the system , did they complained too?
Someone mentioned "safety" and security: basically it seemed to be about being able to retire. This seems like a reasonable thing to want. I am not sure what policies though, people want. Require more government payments to retirees? That means more taxes (which is fine, just people have to remember things are not free). I can also see it related to the cost of health care. And rising costs in general. And perhaps in wages not being high enough to save more (with the belief wages would be higher if fewer others were let into Singapore)? This also is a huge issue in most rich countries today. USA and Europe are probably in much worse shape than most of Asia in this regard (partially due to social interests with closer inter-generational ties in Asia). And in Japan those in retirement and near retirement actually saved reasonable amounts of money (unlike the majority in the USA and Europe). I don't know about Korea, Singapore or Australia as far as how well people have saved for retirement.
I am pretty confident Singapore is today (say for people who are 30 and 40) is much better off than the USA. I know China has a big issue with this now (as the vast majority of those in retirement or close never had high earnings to allow savings). If their relatives didn't help it would be a huge problem.
-I don’t know why you thought this way, probably you see many of them staying in big houses and driving big S-plate cars, but many of them are not Singaporean. Personally, I know quite a lot that are living within their mean and cannot afford to be sick.
I just find it interesting to see what changes people would like to see.
It would be nice that you joined us in this one big family. Then, I would be interested to see your comments on that.
I wonder are there other countries governments that people in Singapore wish Singapore's government would copy? What other governments and what policies do you think?[/QUOTE]
-I believe many of them want a change.
Do u have access to Adderall? I need them as I tend to lose focus very easily.
ginfreely said:
Although the government can tweak some of the policies, one must always remember that Singapore is a small city state with neither hinterland nor natural resources. And we must pay for our own defenses, unlike other similar cities like HK.
Why should companies setup shop in SG and provide jobs for us? Can we afford the extravagance of Oz without the gift of natural resources?
Perhaps, the govt can be abit more transparent on our reserves, but ultimately every surplus goes into savings for a rainy day. And rainy days will come one day - not a question of if but when. And when it does, can we depend on others if we dont have enough ourselves to tie through the period? What will happen to us then?
Hi Aragorn,
Singapore has its own draw to MNCs as it still has a number of advantages as compared to that of others. Job creation is also dependent on the skillsets of the locals. Not just import en masse. We are all very welcoming the good ones but if what Bloomberg has reported is true, then its likely that certain jobs were specifically created not for locals. Don't get me wrong, these are not just menial jobs but across the board. No one owes Singapore a living but Singapore owes the people who built it up and protected it in its infancy.
The issue is that there is no one exactly who knows what we have and if its still there. The numbers don't add up and keeping silent just makes it worse. Reserves are only good if its known to be adequate without just a blanket statement saying its adequate.
Someone very learned once said:
Its like being on a sky diving trip, eventually you know you have to take the plunge somewhere but you do not have the benefit of that knowledge. You ask the jump instructor how many parachutes are on board but he doesn't know, the pilot and co pilot doesn't know either.
The ground controller knows but decided that no one needs to know, only that it is just enough. More people enter the plane, you get the same reply its enough. Yet more come onboard, there seems to be a thunderstorm ahead and yet the reply is, its more than enough. The parachutes are at first handed off early to those in the queue yet somehow towards the end, the handing out of parachutes are pushed back until the plane is almost at the place to jump.
Holes appearing in the parachute are appearing faster then can be patched.
The last few people jumping off will know for sure.
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