Living in JB

[cockcansing]

Agree with you on this one. This is one area where its really hard to beat Singapore. It would be a huge challenge for any government in the world to challenge Singapores primary school education system at the fee charged by the sg govt.

I beg to differ, most countries do not pay school fees. A friend of mine was taking a course in new Zealand for a year and told me his children was at that time primary 1 & 2, went to the public school there and he told me that he didnt pay for their school fees. I might be wrong but this was what I was told. Not sure of the public school in Malaysia though.

 

[wuqi256]

Once it obtains bumi release, it bears the same status as international lot. You can sell to foreigners hence that's not a concern.

Agreed, once converted, it is no different than others. The only ones that can't be converted would be those on Bumi land in which case for those, don't touch with a 100 foot pole UNLESS a miracle happens and you are able to become a Bumi.

 

[wuqi256]

Agreed with Cockcansing, quite a lot of countries don't require parents to cough up money as long as its public school. Taiwan has compulsory education and so does Japan i believe up to a certain age (normally up to end of high/Sec school)

 

[wuqi256]

Thanks Lemans2011, i am definitely not concerned about any possible riots in Johore anytime soon, contrary to what some people would like us to believe, the riots never happened here during that time on the infamous date of May 13th and on a whim, your estate will be surrounded by screaming, rioting mobs.

 

[wuqi256]

Hey Prof, thanks for your inputs, they are very welcomed here. Its always good to have something for discussion especially since what you said were fair comment.

Thanks for sharing Contra, i would still stand by this place being a good place to retire but i have seen an uptick in prices. I asked for a fellow neighbour as well as family members recently about a few properties here, either the guys won't sell or looking to rent only.

A learned friend once enlightened me, the Johoreans themselves are the ones most pessimistic about their property, not Singaporeans.

Its like eskimos not typically seen eating ice or even wanting ice cream, the time to act is when you see the eskimos themselves starting to queue and buying ice cream.

Btw, being here for 2 lunar new year now has made me appreciate the people here much more. Although they may do things slower, most have more patience with others and tolerance too (driving wise, maybe not) but on the whole, most of the people i have met here are real nice.

 

[Analytical Professor]

True most countries offer Primary Education for free.

In Spore it costs a measly $10.50. You and i would agree that its a small sum to pay.

Now even if that $10.50 seems large i would like to let you know the school is prepared to wave it off.

I think the standard of education offered in Spore is pretty much unmatched elsewhere including in the USA. I have my nephews studying in public schools there. The education system with specific reference to the USA and its public schools leaves a lot to be desired.

I am not sure about Japan and in anycase Japan is a far more developed country than Spore and has a huge GDP. It is one of the biggest economies in the world. So from that perspective it should be a given for them. Right?

Now its possible that public schools in Malaysia have an inexpensive system as well. But i wanna ask are the schools conveniently located in every Taman? Are there buses to charter your kids to school in MY if there are no schools in your Taman? Are there Dental clinics within the schools? Assuming there are no buses to take your kids to school are there atleast footpaths for your kids to walk in Malaysia? Apart from Lebuhraya here and lebuhraya there do you find any smaller lanes with footpaths designated to bring your kids to school and back safely?

And the list goes on...

BTW i am not challenging or arguing with anyone here. Just having a discussion. Please feel free to throw your ideas at me as well.

I beg to differ, most countries do not pay school fees. A friend of mine was taking a course in new Zealand for a year and told me his children was at that time primary 1 & 2, went to the public school there and he told me that he didnt pay for their school fees. I might be wrong but this was what I was told. Not sure of the public school in Malaysia though.

 

[Analytical Professor]

All ideas welcome mate. Please contribute.

I beg to differ, QUOTE]

 

[Analytical Professor]

Very well written. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Nicely argued and well written.

Cheers.

The Malaysian govt is not about to make rules to kill your investments anytime soon. The Iskandar project is not going to unfold at the break-neck pace of Marina Baysands... slowly but surely the area will develop and your investment values will grow steadily.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Thats right Wuqi. The riots will possibly never happen in all certainty. I think Lemans2011 is trying to state that political compulsions require the govt to behave in certain ways at certain times with regards to the racial issues and riots.

Thanks Lemans2011, i am definitely not concerned about any possible riots in Johore anytime soon, contrary to what some people would like us to believe, the riots never happened here during that time on the infamous date of May 13th and on a whim, your estate will be surrounded by screaming, rioting mobs.

 

[wuqi256]

Hey Prof, Japan definitely a given even though they have not really left recession since the 80s, US side may not be as ideal but what about Taiwan then? It had the same military conscription, etc. The economies were also about the same.

To be fair, South Korea doesn't have free education. Singapore doesn't have free schoolbuses either, the last i checked. As a student, i had to walk very far to the school and went through muddy and flooded paths. If by the definition of convenience, it means you get dedicated and enabled students, then i rest my case but i find that a little bit of hardship for kids is sometimes a good thing.

The students in JB get by with adaptation and sometimes i find they have a bit more grit and fire in their bellies then their peers in Singapore. The scenario you have described is inconvenient and dangerous to walk alone but does this then stop the students from getting educated? No. Their parent are either sending them in their car or having paid school buses take them there, much like what people do in Singapore. For primary school kids, sometimes to get to the best schools, they have to get up very early as the school of THEIR PARENTS choice may often be far from their residence. This is by choice but what does the system achieve at the end of the day?

Study very very hard, compete with each other and put each other down to RISE ABOVE so as to work with or report to someone who didn't have to go through the same stringent requirements?

Don't get me wrong, Singapore definitely has a lot of things going for it, but primary education for its citizens at the rate of $10.50 a month seems to me as relevant as the $100 plus yearly for the tv license. It should go the way of the dodo and be waived across the board.

It already is compulsory to attend school in Singapore so the argument that the $10.50 will spur the parents or students to attend is a bit.....

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/primary-one-registration/#compulsory-education

A learned friend once told me this:

Your kids can study hard, they can study smart, they upgrade themselves till "jialat" (in this context = going even to extremes) but when FTs come in, all "wan tan" (wan tan = the end)

 

[wuqi256]

Yes Prof, i am definitely not concerned about that. I believe that things are happening now because of the fear, fear of losing seats, fear of losing what they have, etc.

Btw, for the potholes, i do find that along Nusa Bestari they are patching up quite well but not for the Perling side where probably because of the new highway, they are ignoring parts of it. They do still seem to be filled up quickly though but Pasir Gudang side is still quite bad.

 

[house]

Once it obtains bumi release, it bears the same status as international lot. You can sell to foreigners hence that's not a concern.

not really same....
yes - no problem to sell to foreigner.
No - once the lot resale back to a so called bumi buyer.... the lot will automatically revert back to bumi lot.. the bumi will have to convert again if wana sell to non-bumi.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Thats really nice to hear.

Cause some of the potholes along Nusa Bestari are quite bad. In fact quite close to SCB there is a huge one which we try to avoid as we drive along that road.

But its really nice to note that they are patching up quickly.

Btw, for the potholes, i do find that along Nusa Bestari they are patching up quite well but not for the Perling side where probably because of the new highway, they are ignoring parts of it. They do still seem to be filled up quickly though but Pasir Gudang side is still quite bad.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Exactly. No one would wanna stay for 30 days one shot in Malaysia.

But there is one issue i would like to highlight here. The Immigration officers are supposed to scan the MACS data into the computer system everytime you enter and exit.

But for the longest time i have observed them, i have never noticed them doing this ever.

But who the heck will stay one shot 30 days in Malaysia without even returning to Singapore for half a day or so to retrieve letters, work, visit relatives, medical check-up etc?

 

[Analytical Professor]

Spending time with kids is invaluable, precious and priceless.

My dad used to tell me this "When the kids are young, they will come to you. When they get into their teens, they wont"

A friend of mine said " Based on the above statement its better that children never grow up"

But the ways of the world are that life is a cycle and growing up is a part of that cycle.

I have business dealings in both side of the causeway. But I am going into semi-retirement soon as I need extra time to repay my kids for what I have lost when they were younger.

 

[cathylmg]

True most countries offer Primary Education for free.

In Spore it costs a measly $10.50. You and i would agree that its a small sum to pay.

Now even if that $10.50 seems large i would like to let you know the school is prepared to wave it off.

I think the standard of education offered in Spore is pretty much unmatched elsewhere including in the USA. I have my nephews studying in public schools there. The education system with specific reference to the USA and its public schools leaves a lot to be desired.

I am not sure about Japan and in anycase Japan is a far more developed country than Spore and has a huge GDP. It is one of the biggest economies in the world. So from that perspective it should be a given for them. Right?

Now its possible that public schools in Malaysia have an inexpensive system as well. But i wanna ask are the schools conveniently located in every Taman? Are there buses to charter your kids to school in MY if there are no schools in your Taman? Are there Dental clinics within the schools? Assuming there are no buses to take your kids to school are there atleast footpaths for your kids to walk in Malaysia? Apart from Lebuhraya here and lebuhraya there do you find any smaller lanes with footpaths designated to bring your kids to school and back safely?

And the list goes on...

BTW i am not challenging or arguing with anyone here. Just having a discussion. Please feel free to throw your ideas at me as well.

I have to clarify the on the $10.50 school fee. I actually paid $5.50. You can say that its almost free. The other $5 is paid by edusave. Contrary to most believes, we do have a 10 years compulsary education requirement for all the children starting from Primary 1 onwards.

Edusave is a sum of money($200 annually for primary school children, higher for secondary schools and above) contributed by the government to each child's edusave account starting for 6 years old. It is very useful in the sense that it can be used even in tertiary educations in Singapore. I use it to pay for the subsidiced enrichment programs which are arranged by the school. Any balance will be credited into their CPF account for the use of property purchases once they reach 30 years of age.

We cannot compare our education system with that of other countries giving free educations unless we are ready to give up citiizenship here in ordered to qualify for free education for our children as a local citizen. Then we will have to uproot the whole family completely and move ourselve to a different territory altogether.

 

[iamapseudoneem]

Exactly. No one would wanna stay for 30 days one shot in Malaysia.

But there is one issue i would like to highlight here. The Immigration officers are supposed to scan the MACS data into the computer system everytime you enter and exit.

But for the longest time i have observed them, i have never noticed them doing this ever.

This I found strange as well. We assumed it would be a similar system like Singapore where they scan the passport through the reader, but we saw the officer flip to the MACs pages, read a bit then hand the passports back to us. Done. Looks like this mean that they don't officially have a record of us entering Malaysia?

 

[LeMans2011]

not really same....
yes - no problem to sell to foreigner.
No - once the lot resale back to a so called bumi buyer.... the lot will automatically revert back to bumi lot.. the bumi will have to convert again if wana sell to non-bumi.

Hello Mr House
Yes agreed, but i guess the possibility is rather remote unless the market gets so hot that bumis can't find units from other bumis or developer direct, eg. perhaps a few years down the road the Iskandar Project gets so successsful that property price doubles and you can't find non-bumi buyers whereas bumi buyers are willing to pay... i understand your concern... true that bumi-release lots are not "identical" and there might be worries if rule changes carry retrospective impact

 

[Grago]

Hello Mr House
Yes agreed, but i guess the possibility is rather remote unless the market gets so hot that bumis can't find units from other bumis or developer direct, eg. perhaps a few years down the road the Iskandar Project gets so successsful that property price doubles and you can't find non-bumi buyers whereas bumi buyers are willing to pay... i understand your concern... true that bumi-release lots are not "identical" and there might be worries if rule changes carry retrospective impact

Hello LeMans2011

Your explanation is interesting BUT I'm confused, if the property price doubles, wouldn't prices of Bumi lots also "double" but still cost less than Non-Bumi lots, so if can't find a non-bumi /Inetrnational/others buyer, I would think the Bumi would rather buy Bumi Lots that is discounted!
By the way could you clarify ".... bumi-release lots are not "identical"...." I believe Horizon Hills has a number of Bumi lots that if there are no Bumi buyers they will apply for release. Will those be different from the others that have been sold!!!! Appreciate your clarification.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Yes mate i found this strange too. Initially i thought they were supposed to scan the sticker into their Data System so that the details would be recorded (of our entry and exit). The only thing i thought was that we were supposed to remember when we entered and therefore the last date by which we have to exit.

However for the longest time i have observed that they just flip the pages, look at the sticker and return the passports to us.

So they do not have a record of our entry/exit.

Which means they can trouble us if they want to although i believe they wont do such a thing.

This I found strange as well. We assumed it would be a similar system like Singapore where they scan the passport through the reader, but we saw the officer flip to the MACs pages, read a bit then hand the passports back to us. Done. Looks like this mean that they don't officially have a record of us entering Malaysia?