Immigration Forum / Australia and NZ / June 2007

It is very easy to get Singapore citizenship for anyone. It is one of
the easiest countries to get citizenship especially for a white man.
All one has to do is to serve in the Singapore slavery system called
the National Service or promise to get his or her second generation to
do so and he or she can become a citizen. Of course, the person would
have to give up his/her country's citizenship to get a Singapore one
as Singapore does not allow dual citizenship. Anyone who is a US, UK,
Australian or Canadian (if you're talking specifically about white man
countries) and who gives up his country citizenship for a Singapore
one has got to be a real oxymoron. Just compare the price of a car in
Australia and Singapore and that should tell you tons.

You are right in saying that every country has got its own strengths
and weaknesses. No politician is a saint; every politician will think
more about his benefit more than those of the people. This is basic
human behavior. If someone is a saint, he'll not be a politician. At
least in Australia, you get to work and your pay will be a lot higher
than other so called first world country like Singapore. You don't
have a job, you've got welfare from the government. Working people
will get taxed to subsidize people who don't work. When you retire,
you get welfare. Cars are cheap. Houses are expensive but you could
get by.

Just compare this scenario with Singapore. You'll have to compulsorily
serve in the military for 2 years  (used to be 2.5) if you are a
citizen on reaching 18 and after which at least 2 weeks to one month
in a typical year for 13 years or till you reach 40 whichever the
earlier.  If you refuse, you'll be thrown in jail. As such, you'll
waste 2 years of a critical point in time in your life when you should
be heading to the Uni and pursuing your studies  and career. The
foreigners, who come over, could come and happily get into good jobs
even with substandard degrees. You'll study very hard and get a degree
but you'll have to compete with cheap foreigners with sub standard
degrees whom the government brings over in huge numbers from China and
India. That really depresses salaries. A person who draws about A
$80,000 a year in Australia could draw probably only about S$48,000- S
$60,000 in Singapore. Whereas $80,000 in Australia could be viewed as
a decent income, $48-60K in Singapore will just allow you to live from
hand to mouth. The foreigners whereas will enjoy a good standard of
living after staying there for a couple of years. At the age of 40,
you'll be regarded as too old and get retrenched. The government
advises taking on any job that you can get, which mostly involves a
person driving a taxi or doing other blue collar jobs to the extent of
even washing public toilets. The government than brings in younger and
cheaper foreigners to take over their decent jobs, so it would not be
surprising if the taxi driver on the next taxi that you take in
Singapore happens to be a HR manager before. At least 6 out of 10 jobs
will require a person to know mandarin even when this is not required.
As such, if you are a non Chinese, your job opportunities will get
heavily discounted. This is very true and I am not exaggerating
anything here. The government does not provide you with any welfare if
you're out of a job. You contribute something called the CPF, much
like the superannuation that we have here. An amount equal to about
20% of your salary will be deducted, your employer contributes 10%
(this varies depending on the economy).You use this to purchase your
house, mostly "government subsidized "houses called HDB (as private
condos and houses are far too expensive for the ordinary Singaporean),
which cost anywhere between $180,000 to S$500,000 depending on the
number of rooms. As such, a huge portion of your retirement fund goes
into paying for your apartment that is only on a lease for 99 years.
You could withdraw whatever remaining amount when reaching 55 but
you'll have to leave at least S$120,000 in the account before
withdrawing the rest. I'll leave it to you to have a good guess as to
what might remain after paying for an inflated pigeon hole (that's
what the government subsidized houses are called) and after leaving
the minimum required by the government for an average person. It would
not also be surprising to see so many retirees working in food courts
cleaning tables, as security guards and taxi drivers in their twilight
years when others in most parts of the world including Australia would
be enjoying their retired lives. The senior minister in Singapore, the
imbecile Goh Chok Tong has said not long ago that a retired person in
Singapore requires at least S$2 million dollars to retire comfortably.
Just tell me how many normal guys will have this sum with them?

The politicians on the other hand there are the highest paid in the
world, with a normal minister drawing anywhere like $150,000 a month
to the Mentor minister Lee Kwan Yew who has passed 80 (when he has
implanted the concept that people above 40 are over the hill) drawing
about S$2.4 million a year. (A$1= S$1.28). Cars are also extremely
expensive with a new car costing anywhere from S$100,000 for a small
car. The cheapest car about 8 years old would be costing something
like S$40,000. Out of every individual that becomes a Singapore
citizen, 19 individuals leave Singapore. This is because people in
Singapore are overworked and underpaid and have less opportunities to
enjoy their golden years.

Here, our friend has been cursing John Howard with all sorts of funny
pictures and rubbish happily without any worries. That's because of
the freedom that we have here in Australia. You think any Singaporean
would dare do this to Lee Kwan Yew or his current Prime Minister son
Lee Hsien Loong? Just ask this guy who condemns John Howard to try
doing it in Singapore if he dares. He would probably get locked up
indefinitely (or anything more serious, who knows) under the act
called ISD while being branded as Marxist and being a threat to the
society or as part of a Muslim terrorist group and no one would know
what the hell happened to him. People in Singapore are even afraid to
mention the name of Lee Kwan Yew and just mention LKY. Son became
Prime Minister after father, typical case of nepotism. There is no
credible opposition to check on the government as most of the people
do not dare vote against the government, as each voting slip has a
serial number that is noted behind each of the voter's name (only
happens in Singapore). The government threatens people saying that
those who do not vote for the government would not get any upgrading
for their constituencies or other benefits. As such, the PAP
government has been in power since 1963, more than 40 years. As there
is no credible opposition, the government just goes on doing what it
wants. Do you know how many billions were wasted in failed ventures in
China by the government? All these were the people's retirement
savings. No accountability by the government. They just mentioned
these as honest mistakes and just move on. Which other country has
this?

Just look at this and tell me about Australia. Would you rather be in
a country like Singapore rather than Australia? Please learn to count
your blessings. Every country has its flaws. At the end of the day, it
is up to each individual to come up in life. No country or politician
will do anything for you. You have to strive and succeed by yourself.
People who strive hard will be successful whereas losers are those who
just sit down and expect freebies and goodies from the government and
will find flaws and excuses to condemn the government.