"A" moved from Malaysia to continue his studies for the A-Levels. Got his degree at Nanyang University, married and had a son who completed national service, studied overseas and currently working over there.
"B", also from Malaysia originally, qualified for and obtained his citizenship from Australia, and took up residence here because of work commitments. His two sons have completed national service, one studying in the UK and another is at NUS.
Both "A" and "B" have been permanent residents (PRs) for decades, and never saw the need to take up citizenship. They live in private properties, paid their taxes and higher school fees for the kids. If the measures directed at PRs affect them, they are not significantly perturbed. Singaporeans aren't too upset either, after all, both did not compete for the limited supply of public housing, and took their proper place at the queue for schools.
What the xenophobic are really upset about are the new immigrants who are squeezing out the citizens at the work place, schools, public transportation and subsidized public housing. Immigrants who are brought in just to make up the 6.9 million.
The real divide is not about living harmoniously in Singapore, the real divide is between the planners and the people who are suffocated by the strained infrastructure. It is sad, but the newcomers seeking a better life here need not end up as scapegoats for a flawed government.
Posts
The tv show had its priorities wrong again. The question should be "Is the PR-citizen gap sufficient?".
ReplyDeleteSingapore is the only country to treat PRs so well. And offer them scholarships, jobs, HDB flats all at the expense of Singaporeans.
This PAP government should be replaced.
People are prepared to work and stay in HK for 7 years just to obtain PR.
ReplyDeleteThere is no priority line for Graduates or non-graduates..everyone is the same.
Singapore started it with NO gap, practically so liberal, like giving out tissue papers..and now, you have PRs asking why couldn't they get the same entitlement like citizens?!! Incredible.
PRs who come and work should just rent or flat-share like any residents all over the world, from private owners, be in HDB flat or condo/houses. They should NOT be an intrusion into the HDB space which should remain strictly for Singaporeans only.
Over the last six years, our population grew by over a million. No country in the world would have tolerated such a large increase in PRs, Citizens and Migratory Workers in so small a country, in so short a time. No infrastructure of any country in the world would have borne this strain without a breakdown - and let's not dwell on their 20/20 hindsight.
ReplyDeleteXenophobic my foot. It is a testimony to the stoic forbearance of the people of this country that the social fabric is still largely intact (?) despite the insidious erosion of it's core. Can we trust the leadership, the foresight and recklessness of those people who want to push the limits even higher?
Old fart is in hurry to kick bucket, how can the ministers and scholars be allowed to wait patiently for the Ps, Rs and Cs to turn into model As and Bs leh? So force feeding is the only way, time compression of population growth has to be applied to social policies to hit the KPI. Anyway, each minister or scholar has only 3 years for each rotation to implement his pet project, if the fast-forward button is not pushed, where got bonus every year leh? If you want to find out why people behave in certain ways, just look at their incentives.
ReplyDeleteYou think sale of champagne will hit a new high when the time is near.
ReplyDeleteChampagne?.. yeah! Lets make it an evening out at Hong Lim and revel away with lots of yum seng!
DeleteI think bars along the river opposite parliament should offer special prices throughout the mourning period. It will be a fantastic night out!
I agree that government has a lot to do about this great divide. They did not manage well causing the crack between Singaporeans and PRs. we are easy going people but please do not try to take away our right and entitlements. PRs should only take what we have left behind.
ReplyDeleteWe take away your citizen rights & entitlements ... so what?
DeleteYou going to vote Opposition is it?
You dare to change government meh?
No balls to change gahmen.
Don't talk so much lah!
Does it mean that once the strained infrastructure is fixed, that Singaporeans will happily accept the 7m or 10m population ?!
ReplyDeleteBe careful what/ how you wish for, especially with this govt, they won't blink an eye spending on those !
You're right. Then what? They already on plan to 5 airports to bring in another 135m passengers a year!! And propose an underground city..can't even fix the liquid flood for christ sake, how will they handle human flood?
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RVxZBqmAI
DeleteWhat happens to those panel of "experts" that we paid and hired earlier? If Vivian Bala is not busy mosquito or fire fighting, he is busy pond-fighting. Another 50 years come and go, might as well declare today is 2063. A peek into the leaky future !
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/gpgt-flood-everywhere-more-good-year-ahead-4364995.html
Some people are just not cut out to lead, but simply react.
DeleteWhen mozzies come, is expected. When haze come, is not within our control. When flood comes, is nature's fault too. Wow..no wonder he is put to run the NEA. And PAP says they tend to look 20/30 years ahead?
60% voters find this acceptable?! Beggars belief!
Civil war is coming. We must prepare for it.
ReplyDeleteBetween those backing MG and BG ? Or between the reformers and hardliners that make up the MIW ?
DeleteThis tiny island is barely enough for the 40% and 60%, now both groups have to contend with the new arrivals brought in by the MIW.
The biggest problem we see right now is that SG has lost it's identity and this I put down to the politicians. The island is too small to handle this amount of people. To then refuse to impose any rules/distinctions with the newcomers and to be told that SG could not continue without them is ignoble. Ask yourself, did SG become a 1st world country with 3m extra foreigners in the last 5 decades? Unless the PM knows something that we don't, that all the # 1 ranking numbers are all dodged and fake?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think?
Deletehttp://www.sovereignman.com/trends/singapores-central-bank-lost-87-of-gdp-growth-fighting-bernanke-12665/
It is reported in the News that Lee Kuan Yew have had 40 years of good relation with Communist China.
ReplyDeleteYet, we have Singaporeans charged for Marxist Plot.
How was it so?
Anyone remember our passports in the seventies? They were explicitly stamped with the warning about not being valid for travel to Communist China. Sorry to those folks born after the seventies who may not care to know.
DeleteI just had an x-ray & diagnosed having kidney stones. The waiting period for the 1st appointment to see the specialist doctor at our restructured hospital is almost 1.5 months. By the time I am completely treated, I guess it will take another 3~6 months. No wonder they say if one is poor, it's better to die than to be sick.
ReplyDeleteIf they can't even solve this type of problem now, how are they going to solve it when the population increased to 6.9m & how long will they treat someone with kidney stones ... 12 months ?
There is no waiting period if you go see a private doctor.
DeleteI feel so rich.
You not happy, you dare to vote Opposition?
You dare to change government?
Now you know why property prices are so high.
So arse holes like you will know how to vote "correctly".
Waiting period to see a specialist is normal. But, I called last week (end Aug) to see a Polyclinic GP (any GP) for a cholesterol level check follow-up. I was told that the earliest possible date is in late October!
DeleteYou think waiting for cholesterol tests for a few months is bad?
DeleteMy brother-in-law needed a heart by-pass a few years ago.
He had to wait for a few days before he was given the surgery.
6.9 million population.
Are You Nuts?
when i went school in the 70,s and 80's my friends were Tan Chye Peng, Ravi, Mohd Rosli and Clifford Nonis..........fast forward to day 2000 my daughter's school mates are Aung Ye Lin, Elvie Evanelista, Sachin Patel and Li Jiawei...........am I missing something.....TGIF
ReplyDeleteI was told by a relative who works as social worker that its a well-known fact that the local "shadow population" of old sick is actually in the hundreds of thousands. They are "shadow" because they are never accounted for in population census since they have no phones, live together under 1 roof, and they never replied to population census or social workers' visits. This group are "happily" left out by the authorities to rot, imagined not to exist, they never vote, never visit garmen outpatient clinics because its futile - their illnesses cannot be treated by the indian doctor at outpatients' and they have no money to see the specialists. The garmen is happy not to account for this group in the population, and presto, just like Yunnan's latest faked economic statistics, the red dot's healthcare numbers are also mumbo jumbo voodoo magic. And oh, the usual waiting time for gramen specialits from my 2 experiences is 3 months, not 1.5mth, so you were lucky.
ReplyDelete..imagined not to exist, they never vote,"//
Deleteif this is real, this is a true concern and crime.
these group of people should be scouted out by opposition parties or volunteers and made public.
the same reason why our income/gdp is high because the hundred thousands of cheap foreign workers that are disposable are not factored in the median wage calculation. if added, the real numbers are not what it seems, so someone can go on tv and say 'by international standards, we are not bad."!!
Soylent Green 2013, when life imitates art in glitter land aka THE Paved Paradise.
ReplyDeletePR in Singapore given too easily, taken away too easily (only valid for 5 years). Many xenophobic commenters who are very vocal against PR are themselves PR in other countries like Australia. So they enjoy the privilege of being PR in another country yet want to deny others to have the same than them... no wonder they are called "one eye dragons". Sadly the government seems to be pandering to the most extreme views so more measures against PR and foreigners coming. The talented will leave and the ones less talented will stay in Singapore. Will Singaporeans benefit?
ReplyDeleteNot correct, so long PRs renew their re-entry permits they can stay as long as they want. Come across many who are here for donkey years. Right now foreigners account for 40% of total population. If we exclude naturalised citizens, born in Singapore citizens are already a minority. So how many more foreigners do you think we need?
DeleteAll of us are victims of this regime's insatiable appetite for growth at any cost. The question of how many more foreigners do we need should be posed to looney Loong. Maybe he already answered through his silence on the 6.9 million target.
DeleteThe problems go beyond social friction, high cost of living, congestion, quality of life, competition for opportunities, blah blah blah. Our landscape, landmarks and heritage have been totally devastated, and counting. Not to mention our democratic rights of free association, speech and fair elections, and the draconian ISA. We need reforms, not tweaks.
The real divide is not between the peoples here, who are all bearing the cross of this government's flawed policies. It is between the Planners/PAP and the People as posed by Tattler, and by Catherine Lim, who called it the "Affective Divide".
“Progress just means bad things happen faster.” - Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad
We have a MP elected by the citizen to serve the citizen. Yet this MP is also in charge of Migrant Workers welfare being a Chairman of Migrant Workers Centre and is seen to be keen to serve the migrant workers than citizens who elected him into power.
ReplyDeleteThe big difference is we was a developing country many years back, now everything is expensive and opportunities are limited.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore to substitute working adult to cover low birth rate is flaw.