A Singaporean In Australia

I don't like cars - all my friends know that.

"But you need a car for your work!"

It was true. One of the requirement of my last job in Singapore was that I had to buy a car or I would not get that job. Being jobless back then, I had no choice but to accept. "Better than having no income," I reckon. Well, everyone knows that owning a car is big deal in Singapore. You would be bringing good dough back home or living on a shoestring budget to be a car owner. I belonged to the latter.

So let's see. I wanted a job so that I would not be a pauper. That job required me to own a car which would make me a pauper. So I upgraded being a jobless pauper to a employed pauper. I don't know if that makes sense.

Just kidding. It was slightly better as an employed pauper of course. At least there were some bread crumbs at the end of the month. Better than vying for food with my dog. (and I still miss him so much..)

Back to the topic, I don't like cars. So my view about car ownership is skewed but it makes sense to me. A car is just a tool, a form of transportation. Most commoners in Singapore have to take up a car loan to own a car but does it makes sense to slog 10 years to pay up a car?

How many decades are there in our lives?

Today I got my 2nd full week's pay. I had earned enough (after tax and a lot of OT) to recoup for my financial losses through the purchase of Barry White. I felt sore that I wasted 2 weeks of my life for a car (remember: I'm skewed) but okay, maybe 2 weeks aren't that bad. That is probably how insignificant a car should be worth to one's life.

Financial en-slavery is very real. How many of us are unable to do anything but work because of our mortgage loans? Would the situation be more dire if you have student loans, wedding loans, renovation loans, home appliances on hire purchase, luxury items on hire purchase and your hefty 'free iphone' mobile plan to service for 2 years? Add that car loan to the list, you'll pretty much working till your death.

Nobody has found the meaning of life yet. But I'm pretty sure the above mentioned are not part of it.

Now the better news, nobody is going to take Barry White away from me as long as I want to keep him, even if it is no longer running. I can turn it into a children's playground if I want to.

COE? Ki si lah!