I got the lift going with a deft turn and a smart tap all in one movement. My parents' house looked way cleaner than ever in my memory. I could navigate through the house effortlessly in darkness and operate fittings, caches and appliances effortlessly. It felt like I never left.

Outside, my neighbourhood remained unchanged. It felt like it had been frozen in time, waiting for her son to return. I woke automatically at 0700hrs sharp on Sunday, after being totally spent the night before, retiring for the night with Jen and Albany at no later than 2100hrs. The living room was vividly quiet, despite all the sounds of life beyond our little 4 room flats outside. I walked towards the only window in the living room, left ajar for ventilation. The morning sun was rising at a placid pace. By now, Perth would be in full sunshine glory despite the same time zone.

I moved closer to the shoe rack to reach out for 1 of the 3 tiny urns placed on top of it. I held in with both hands, closed my eyes and brought it to my face. How I missed his furry flew pressing tightly on my face, while his claws dug into the back of my shoulders. A heartache inflicts not more physical damage that a tiny ant could do to a human being. Yet it can be so severely crippling that it leaves one in a state of desolation, temporary if fortunate.

It was evident we had climatised to Perth's weather. As we walked out of Changi Airport, I experienced difficulties in breathing for the first minute. The air was much denser and there was an accompanying tinge of pungent haze. Beads of perspiration began to form. It would take more than a mere few days to tune the body back to familiarity and we would be on Perth soil again before that could happen.

The road devils were in top form on our way home from the airport. To be honest, it was daunting even for a passenger. There were too many close shaves to my personal taste. A year back, I was a fully qualified Singapore road gladiator when I could take on the roads and these punks with a few eyes closed. That day, I couldn't be anymore happier to have my trusted guardians escorting us back home. I had lost the tenacity critical to survive on Singapore roads, for sure.

Perth Airport

The anniversary of a year worth of adventures was certainly worth mentioning. Ironically, I am writing this one away from Perth.

When I first began blogging, I could remember readers noting my refusal to let go of my Singaporean identity and embrace a new life in Australia. One reader commented about my counter, the one which marks how long I have been away from Singapore by the second. According to him, I shouldn't even be taking a count. for that represented a link to the past. Another reader advised that I should focus my mind entirely on Australia because that is my new life and future. To put it simply, I will be 'Aussified' as long as I do not talk, read, breathe and think about Singapore.

When it comes to 'Aussification', confusingly, on the other side of the balance, the last comment I remember Steph gave was something along the line of, "You are really suitable for Oz life, bro." Another was went like this, "You have been to more places in 6 months than my entire life in Perth."

I don't get it.

Well, to quote the judgmental anonymous chap, "You have a lot to learn." Yeah. Who has really learnt it all and has 'not much to learn' anymore anyway? Seriously, I can't see how brainwashing Singapore out of myself is critical in my assimilating efforts in Perth. It was as good as saying you need to forget how to speak Singlish to speak perfect English. In practice, it is not the case. There are so many people I've met who excel in both. The key to mastering a new way of life is to recognise the way, and have the willingness to follow it. Having said that, even if I don't think or blog about Singapore, give up my citizenship for a blue passport, forget my family and friends in Singapore, speak perfect Aussie slang, drives a yute with a girl in wet t-shirt in it and knows how to burn a sausage over a barbie, it doesn't make me a cultural converted hero.

Fundamentally, with an Australian passport, one can hope to be recognised as an Aussie. In reality, most wouldn't, be it the locals or foreigners. I will not be 'one of the mates' by a mere change of a nationality. It isn't determined by the amount of time I spend in Australia either, and definitely not how much I show interest in everything Australian than Singaporean.

It takes a lifetime to forge an identity and probably takes another to lose it. If you could read this, chances are that you are delusional to think it can be done. Our children will, but we don't stand a chance, not a chance in hell. It is futile to attempt to shed our identity tattoo, we will only be close enough at best. I hear of ex-Singaporeans declaring they are citizens of Australia, the UK or Canada once too often. Citizens, yeah sure. Australian, no way.

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Milestone: Breaking Even

Month 4

Month 5
Month 6
Month 7
Milestone: Renting a House

Milestone: Landing a Permanent Job
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11

Hi singaporeanson,

Thank you for reading this email. I chanced upon your blog like many readers and I would like to thank you for providing a thought platform for many of us. I have been pondering for months about some questions and I really hope you can provide some insights for me. Not to worry, you can take your time to reply because I am not in a rush :)

My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years now and we are more or less stable. We have been discussing about future and we both have intentions to migrate to Australia eventually. We understand and are fully aware of the pros and cons of living in Aust.

I am currently a 3rd year undergrad in nus studying real estate. On the other hand, he is a NSFmen and will finish army in Sept next year. He will be applying to study in University of Melbourne in 2014, which coincidentally falls in time with my graduation.

His mum would like me to go along with him, and is very supportive of us migrating in future. My parents do not object either. But the problem is,

How can I get a visa? I have heard that getting a work visa is tough and its only possible to get a study visa. But then again, I have finished my degree and certainly not looking at masters right now. I have looked at internships etc etc but its not possible to stay together with him. Another option is to study Graduate Certificate, the downside is that its only half a year. What should I do so that I can stay there for at least two years?

We hope that we can use this opportunity as a stepping stone to become PRs. We do not intend to come back.

Please advise so that I can make my preparations!

Regards,
Miss C

******

Hi Miss C,

Disclaimer first. I am not a qualified migration agent so use this information at your own risk.

As you specifically pointed out you guys are stable and are very much in love enough to discuss about the long term. My advice is this: Get married. Hey, I am not trying to be nosy and poke into your personal affairs. There is logic in my suggestion.

1) So your boyfriend would not beo xmm in school. I'm lying of course. He will still do it. Having said that, a wedding ring on the finger does help repel things a bit.

2) It strengthen your resolves to make this work. Being together as one, you are more united, less likely to give up (both on the relationship and your migration) I'm sure there will be people who disagree, but you are asking for my view so here is it.

3) The side effects of this is that, it actually makes you legal to come along with your husband.

Stay in Singapore lah. We need young, driven people like you to stand up for Singapore, not go to Melbourne and never come back! If you are persistent, ok, how about being an illegal immigrant - Hide well, don't get caught. Good luck. I don't know you. This conversation did not take place. Just joking. We Singaporeans are abide rules, except when it comes to hair cutting.

Actually I don't know the answer. If you cannot guess by now.

But I thought you could go along the lines of this:

Student Visa Definitions

De facto partner

A person is the de facto partner of another person (whether of the same sex or a different sex) if:

they have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others
the relationship between them is genuine and continuing
they live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis and they are not related by family.

For an application for a Student visa the de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months immediately preceding the date of application. [source]

Bear in mind, proving the de facto relationship may be similar(ly hard) to the spouse visa requirements. Please read this. [Spouse Visa]. I hope I helped in some ways.

This hasn't been covered before. So I hereby summon the wise men and women from the skies to give this lady a helping hand. Please.

Thank you very much,

asingaporeanson

On the $60 haircut saga,

Mr Heng said: "The simple fact is that the son was reminded over and over again to trim his hair. And when that failed, the school sent a letter. And the mother's response was that her son was dyslexic, and therefore forgetful.

"As one writer puts it in one of our media commentaries, by raising such a hullabaloo, 'the mother did herself and her son no favours'. Now, if parents do not show graciousness to others and respect for rules, our young will not do so either. Soon, discipline will be eroded. The tone in our schools will deteriorate, and the tone in our society too."

You know what? I've been waiting for a public statement by an MIW that I could agree with, these are rare commodities and should be celebrated. Mr Heng Swee Keat gets my thumbs up for this one. I'm sorry parents, there is no way I can agree with the errant parent-and-son in this episode. I don't believe in calling the parent to ask for permission to cut his son's hair either. What is the school going to do if the every parent says no? Come on, it's hair. Not fingers.

The school's principal, Mrs Jasmail Singh Gill, agreed with Madam Ong that the teacher had no business cutting the boy's hair. The school principal in fact, don't have any business to be the school principal. I know we are really suckers for good customer service, our country is run like a company, commonly known as Singapore Inc. Look, we are not running a business in school. Students and parents are not customers of the school. Schools are not providing a service to students and parents. They are there to be educated, and the main part of education is to make mistakes, accept punishments and learn from it. The principal-student-teacher is a holy trinity that shouldn't be broken. Parents are there to send lunch boxes and support the cause, not interfere with it.

Some of us spoke about psychological repercussion. Please, it is cutting a student's hair in one corner. Then students enter an examination hall. Whoever was going to look at the new hair cut? After the exam, the student would go back, kick up a fuss with legs in the air and get his mum to make a police report. If you ask me, the parent's decision to make herself an asshole in public will instill more undesirable elements in her son than any psychological repercussions a simple unprofessional haircut could make. I still keep in contact with a friend who received a public caning in school for stealing. If you ask me, I'll tell you truthfully. He became a better person after that, not worse and he is "doing well" in life by Singaporean definition.

Singapore is a unique country. So long as we have conscription, and believe in it, we cannot relax on discipline right from school level. My sister, who was a young girl back then, kept reminding me since I was a young boy, "It is worse when you do your National Service." She was right all along. Though I grew up not believing in worshiping rules and laws, I have learnt to give the respect. Even a young girl decades ago would take her brother in hand and was wiser than a grown old adult parent today. At this rate, this little boy would have a hard time during his National Service. Let's hope he wouldn't join the ghosts of men who couldn't take it and jumped.

I'm glad Mr Heng Swee Keat came out to publicly to set things right. It would be another stab in my heart and another round of "What's Singapore becoming" if he would to support Principal Mrs Jasmail Singh Gill's stance. We need to support our teachers and help them help our kids. Let's wait for more sparkles of hope yet.

The airport is the sacred temple of tears. I couldn't help being afflicted by the aura of emotion as we approached the heart of the temple. I could feel the quiet excitement of my buddy, the man I was sending off.

Within seconds of dismounting the monster, Edmund unloaded his luggage swiftly. He returned a short wave, gave the trademark grin and vanished into the radiance.

His escort glided back to darkness, lost in thoughts. Reunion. A week ago, Thusara had his. This week, it was Edmund's turn. When Thusara made the comment about a young child not recognising his father after being away for months, he could had heard Edmund's heart clattered on the cold hard Winter ground. As a father of a young baby, I could accurately empathise how Edmund felt at that point.

Edmund was in an upbeat mood tonight and treated Steph, Joni and myself dinner. Dinner was excellent at Oriental Wok, it never failed to deliver delicious food at great value. Behind Edmund's wide grin throughout the evening, we could feel his enthusiasm. He had done excellently in 7 months, coming over to Perth alone without friends or job. Quietly he did his things without fuss, making mistakes and learning along the way. On the hindsight, we would have claim it was okay to do so, a lot of people had done so and it was 'nothing' but if we ask ourselves if any of us were to do that again, say moving to the eastern cities, New Zealand or even back to Singapore, most of us would break out in cold sweat. Edmund did it all alone, while having to cope with being separated with his wife and young toddler. It wasn't easy.

I could remember Jang Jung, the handsome South Korean ex colleague, crying out in jest, "Take me home!" when we saw an overhead plane during our smoko one evening. I remembered laughing along but quietly thinking of home seconds later. All of us have family and friends. And emotions. We are all the same, every of us. It had been painful just to think about how my mum was deprived of holding the baby of her only son. Fortunately, my young cute nieces were around to regulate the want. I gathered that mum miss me as much as I do, although we spoke nothing of that during our weekly conversations.

I could imagine how Edmund feel when he woke yesterday morning, with his daughter within seconds away and his wife by the side. It could have felt like awakening from a long dream. Belong long, all of them will be joining him in Perth. In his own words, "Rebuilding has begun."

Two pictures that illustrate a nation

I received links to the above picture from two friends a few hours ago. One came from an email with a subject titled, "Just for laughs." The other was sent via Facebook with a comment, "You will like this. Lol." Apart of these sources, the picture went viral and was everywhere in cyberspace. I didn't have to take a close look at the picture to understand the message. Being a Singaporean son, I knew very well the underlying story. My friends were wrong. I didn't find it funny and I didn't like it. I do have a sense of humor, albeit a rather dark one but I couldn't muster a even a forced smile, my expression as grim as the dark secrets embedded within the picture. My heart sank, encumbered with grief.

There is a famous saying in Singapore that goes this way, "Do anything you want, but don't get caught." With total regulation of the internet yet to be implemented in Singapore, "doing a North Korea" would bound to yield some red faces amongst the organising committee responsible to make the visiting royalty feel right at home, in Queenstown no less. There were so much wrong in the pictures that I didn't know where to begin with. It was a profound web of deceit, a deed of multifarious incongruity that depicts the cardinal despondency of the Singapore society.

An eye witness described the scenes before the actual time Prince William and Kate were designated to stroll past. The children and elderly were sitting down, bored, minutes before their well rehearsed flash mob. Upon indication at 1545hrs, under the fervent afternoon sun, they sprang up and performed each of their assigned roles. An elderly in full traditional costume practicing taichi with friends. Little girls started to skip wildly. Some boys couldn't stop grinding their bottoms down the slide, while their friends nearby took on the chin-up bars and the monkey ladder. A middle aged woman began her aggressive workout on the press. The crowd, fanning themselves tirelessly under their umbrellas a minute before was released like the kraken and oozed enthusiasm. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge strolled past, clearly impressed with the Singaporean effort. The royalty has probably seen it all but this one undoubtedly took the cake.

At best, it was a very bad performance displaying Singapore life in natural settings. William and Kate should take a day off from hospitality and take the MRT train with the peak hour morning crowd. There, they would rub shoulders and armpits with our foreigners, which makes up 40% of our population, but nowhere to be seen in today's performance at Queenstown. The prince should take his princess for a stroll in the heartlands at 0400hrs to see how clean our HDB blocks really are. With some luck, they could catch some elderly appointed as our national recyclers.

Anything else, it was a farce. How do you explain what happened to the participating children, all prefects from a nearby school, my Alma Mater in fact? That it was ok to be hypocritical if it was an important occasion? That it was ok to lie? How were the elderly convinced to join the children in the act? What moral values did the participating elderly instill in the young today? That we should be something we weren't? That putting on a mask was necessary if what beneath wasn't attractive enough? Who was the organiser? Is that the way they have been treating the people all along, by putting on skits? Is that the way so many eyes were blinded for many years too long?

Why are we shy about telling the world who we really are, under our intricate facade mask a reality of social suppression and draconic government control? Freedom of speech and expression in the country is severely truncated with mainstream media manipulated by the government. The retirement funds of the people were withheld increasingly tightly with new policies. Questions regarding our sovereign funds are consistently circumvented. A gathering of five or more people requires an official permit. The government put people into detention without trail, laws to silence its critics and bringing criminal defamation cases against them.

No, I couldn't laugh, my ladies. Not through this miasma of deceit, artifice and outright fakery. Not funny at all.

"Dirt cheap leh. (You) can buy onions to throw (at) ppl to death"
- Fellow Singaporean sister in Perth, offering sound advice

From time to time, we encounter things like that in Perth. I felt compelled to drop by Jandakot tomorrow to look at how things are done here in circumstances like that. Do they drop by in Mercedes Benz, shove around, be a rude a little and then found struggling at the car park to fit that last sack of onions in the boot?

What can you do with so much onions on hand, Angel asked. Well, a quick search showed that onions can remove rust from knives, protect plants from insects, dye Easter eggs, clean your BBQ, soothe a bee sting, act as smelling salt, remove new pain smell, repel mosquitoes, remove warts and acne and the best use of it is of course, cook and eat it.

At 5 cents per kg, it is worth a go at each of the above uses just for the fun of it. They say Perth is boring. No, it is just that we have a different way of having fun. Just over the weekend, I was invited to a stranger's backyard to pick lemons fresh from a tree. I think I have an odd idea of having fun. I did have fun. All the owner requested for payment was labour in exchange. I picked up fallen lemons on the ground for her because she was heavily pregnant with twins and shouldn't do this sort of manual work. All I took was 5 minutes to clear the patch of rotten lemons and got 3 bags full of lemons in return.

It wasn't free stuff that made me happy. That came as a bonus. I enjoyed picking the fruits straight from the tree. It was those sort of things that I always wanted to do as a small boy but didn't have the chance to. What made me really happy was that though life here is as structured as any developed country, there is still room for bartering and community trust. I mean, if you consider where I came from, who lets a complete stranger of a different race into the house, let him raid her fruit tree, chat with his wife and gush a little over his baby?

With so many lemons in my stock again (I seriously don't mind that), I guess I'll give the 5 cents onions a miss, though I don't mind watching Mercedes people doing their ugly stuff. I suspect it will be a wasted trip, to be honest.

The Oracle often met up for coffee dated back to the early 1990s. The range of conversation topics were wide. One of my favourite was predicting the future of our country. We did not have a strict genre. We foresaw the emergence of LAN gaming shops before it happened, the death of extra small home based SMEs. A few days ago, our 1 Million Dollars HDB Flat prediction was fulfilled. Hopefully what we spoke about regarding our CPF will never come true.

In hindsight, it was easy for anyone to say, "We saw this coming, everyone can see that." Note that, the 1 Million Dollars HDB forecast was casted when new HDB flats was $120,000 per 5-room flat. If you told anyone back then about a million-dollar HDB flat, they would look at you worriedly.

Never mind that the HDB was an executive maisonette. Nevermind that it was in a prime location with a 'fantastic view', like what Mr Khaw Boon Wan raved. Unlike 15-20 years ago when the Brotherhood of the Oracle met up, by now even ordinary Singaporeans who do not dabble in predictions can see how a simple 4 room flat in any location will be able to fetch a million bucks in resale, with a 6 figure cash over valuation (COV). What a difference the last 10 years make. Sentiments changed from, "Impossible," to "Maybe," to "Yes but when?" to "It'll happen to any other HDB flats soon, I'm waiting to be a millionaire!"

Dangerous optimism engulfed Singapore yet again and a painful repeat of 1997 looks imminent. Some folks who bought their properties (public & private) in 1996 had to wait 15-20 years before they broke even. Of course, the majority of the people would not stop to see, like the Brotherhood of the Oracle. If they do, their sentiments on the biggest private property crash in Singapore history will be aligned. It isn't difficult to see, all the signs are staring at us angrily. This time round though, the public housing market has been made to be well supported. HDB has opened more schemes [link] for buyers since. It looks like we will be relaxing the buying restrictions for singles to buy HDB flats. In the upcoming property crash, private home owners will be scampering for HDB flats after they offload their expensive property investments at a loss. This group will not be allowed to buy a HDB flat immediately after selling their property but they can do so after half a year. Thus it will not be long before the temporary dive in HDB prices will be well supported and eventually head north again sluggishly.

The big question mark lies in what happens after our population hits the targeted 6.5 million, when demand will be somewhat capped. Soon, people. Watch on.

This post is to be filed under a new section I will be opening up in the next couple of weeks to direct migrants wannabe straight to the dynamics instead of having them wading them through the miasma here. I'll call the new section A Singaporean Son's Rogue Immigration Methods (ASSRIM). I will be covering all aspects of my migration experience in detail. Some of the relevant past postings will be linked to the ASSRIM archive.

One aspect that our Singaporean friends seem to ignore is the mental management of their own migration projects. I will take this opportunity to stress that mental management is crucial and should take up a large chunk of your preparatory time. There are many areas in mental management that you should have covered even before you figure out how to lodge a proper application to migrate to your respective destinations. To list some (I'll elaborate in future posts), family ties, the pressure your family may face from relatives, friends relationships, pets, neighbours, colleagues, bosses and even your nosy government.

In this post, I'll just brief you on some possible titles you may be granted by people who love you when you step out of your home soil, if you are lucky enough. Presenting, Top Ten Bestowable Titles for Overseas Singaporeans, not in chronological order, and accompanying brief notes.

Quitter

Let's just start off with something we are most familiar with, bestowed by Emeritus Goh Chok Tong some years ago. Here, it meant that you have given up on your country, which is undesirable. You are not a worthy Singaporean, whether you still hold a red passport or not.

Deserter

You left when the country needs you most. You slipped away while your brothers are fighting. You have no honor, no fighting spirit and you deserve to be shamed, humiliated before execution. In any case, don't come back, we don't want to waste resources hanging you.

Abandoner

You are unfilial. You abandon your parents, your church and your teachers. You should be struck by lightning.

Failure

In Singaporean context, you cannot make it (CMI). That's why you chose to leave. Because you CMI, that's why. Which means you are a failure, because you CMI and that is why you left Singapore. I think you get the point.

Weakling

It is one thing that you CMI. The reason why you CMI is because you are weak. You can not compete with locals and foreigners. You can't win any competition. You can't survive. You're weak. That is why you left.

Coward

Not staying and fighting the odds not only mean you are weak, it means you are a coward as well. You're scared. You cannot muster courage to rally on. We don't need a coward like you.

Ingrate

Your country of birth has given you so much and made you the person you are. But you left. You are an ingrate and an asshole. Get out and good riddance.

Escapist

You cannot face reality. You are impractical, irrelevant and impatient. The grass is not greener on the other side. You will be unhappy wherever you go because the problem is you, not your environment.

Traitor

You betrayed your country. You put self interests above the country's. You committed treason.

2nd Class Citizen

This one means you are now a 2nd Class Citizen somewhere in the world. You will be discriminated and marginalised in your adopted country. You will not enjoy First Class Citizen status like you did in Singapore anymore. You deserve it and you should be feeling miserable.

Other popular ones which can't make the Top 10 Chart yet: Lap Dog, Selfish, Foreign Talent etc.

The current generation will probably not understand. I belonged to the last group of fanatics who followed our local heroes in the Malaysia Cup. I could still name the First XI of the team who won the double in 1994, and the Dream Team before that. Back then, sports matter to us. We celebrated our never-ending winning streaks of the Singapore water polo team in the SEA Games. We were proud of "Jaws-lin" Yeo and lapped up every medal winning feat she represented Singapore in.

When Singapore was booted (or opted out, depending on which story you buy) out of the Malaysian League and started the S-league, it went downhill from there. S-league was pathetic. In my opinion, even the Semi-pro league way before that was much more exciting than the S-league. It didn't help matters than our local newspaper chose to shift their sports coverage drastically to the English Premier League. The damage was permanent. Today, the young of Singapore cheers for sportsman thousands of kilometres away and felt extremely proud if their supported club wins something to give them bragging rights. Bragging rights against who? Their fellow Singaporeans. I feel sad for the current young who didn't have a chance to experience being part of a fiery, passionate 50k crowd, backing our team in unison, against Malaysian, Thais, Viets and anyone who came to our Colosseum.

Sometime back, our ping pong team won some bronze medals for Singapore in the Olympics. Our media covered it for days. I will not go into the controversies about this, we had enough of that. My take on this is very simple. It didn't matter which side was right because the whole point of it was wrong. Sports are meant to unite, not divide.

Sadly, from what I read, the local media isn't very interested in Laurentia Tan. Now, that makes me feel bad. I should have tried much harder earlier to make my blog popular so that I can give a local female hero a well deserved coverage when it matters most. I feel sad for Laurentia Tan but I know she wouldn't feel bad about it. No, I don't know her personally, never met her and probably never will. I just know.

By now, Laurentia has won 4 medals for Singapore in 2 Paralympics, the latest medal was a silver medal. The last silver medal was won by weightlifter Mr Tan Howe Liang in 1960 in Rome. It was just written in the stars that our next silver medal was to be won by another "Tan". A true blue Singaporean through and through. This time, there isn't any division among Singaporeans. We celebrate as one. That is the true spirit of sports, to unite and not divide. That is something we badly need for Singapore in this uncertain era. Singaporeans should be inspired by Laurentia's feats and renew our faith that each of us has a chance to do very, very well if do not give up. Laurentia hasn't received the same support from the authorities and the media but went on to do her thing quietly without a fuss - and outperformed any Singaporean in history at the highest level she could participate in.

When Sergio Augero scored the goal which won his club the English League title in the dying seconds of their final game, I have no doubt Manchester City fans in Singapore went delirious. I wonder any of the fans was truly inspired by the drama and learnt never to give up in their daily challenges. I'm not sure about that, I hope so. For me Laurentia Tan means something to me in that effect, in fact much better. Being Asian, we have physical limits in certain sports, more so being Singaporean as compared with bigger, stronger and faster Asians in the Middle East and East Asia. I am not saying that we don't stand a chance if we work hard enough, but we cannot deny we have a lot of odds to overcome in the process. Laurentia Tan proved that it can be done. She was one of us, like any of us, not some physically gifted European or African. In the Paralympic sporting world, she remains the only Asian equestrian rider to have won a Games medal. Never mind that the Paralympic is not the Olympics. It is the spirit which counts, and we Singaporeans should be very proud of her.

Instead of putting foreigners that wow the crowds in the latest Getais in the main headlines, I hope that the Singapore media will give Laurentia Tan the media coverage that she truly deserves. At the same time, every Singaporean also deserves to be inspired by the feats of Laurentia. Better late than never.

When I read that Georgina Rinehart told Australians that they need to cut labor costs in order to compete with Africans who are "willing to work for less than $2 a day," my first thought was Gina and our PAP ministers are so alike - filthy rich, out of touch with humans beings and have fantastic PR skills. It is a match-make in heaven indeed. Not surprisingly, the billionaire heiress casually dropped S$57 million of loose change from her bulging pockets onto the streets of sunny Singapore and got herself property in Sentosa Cove as her littering fine.

It is no secret that our government love these super rich, and they know what tugs the heartstrings of the likes of Gina Rinehart. Individuals are taxed on income earned directly in Singapore, capped at 20%. It is obvious Gina Rinehart is not going to operate a Ya Kun franchise or work in McDonald's. There are 0% capital gain tax imposed on foreigners, so should Gina changes her mind and decided to move to Africa, where she could hire workers for $2, Singapore will gain zero from her in tax. There are only so much hand bags and coconut juice to sell to Gina on her occasional visits. I'm not sure what Singaporean peasants really gain from these. There are so many things I do not know, there is so much to learn here.

Fat bitch aside, it was interesting to read how the leaders of Australia responded to that "less than $2 a day" statement. The Australian Greens Party leader Sen. Christine Milne call Rinehart the "epitome of the greed and the abuse of the environment that has become such a characteristic of the mining industry in Australia." Well okay, the Greens are not the power party over here, though they could pack a decent punch. In Singapore, it isn't uncommon to see leaders of lesser parties speaking out for their countrymen. When you see Dr Chee of SDP standing up for Singaporeans, did you applaud him or called him a lunatic?

Ok, that was nothing. How about this?

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan said Rinehart's words were an "insult to the millions of Australian workers who go to work and slog it out to feed the kids and pay the bills."

Wow. Imagine Teo Chee Hean telling the Straits Times something similar instead of his, "What do you think?" I'll vote for him. Seriously. I promise. But oh wait... If that is not good enough for you, how about this one?

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said "it's not the Australian way to toss people $2, to toss them a gold coin, and then ask them to work for a day. We support proper Australian wages and decent working conditions."

Wow. Can you imagine PM Lee in his pink shirt declaring something like that loudly in his National Day Rally? I just jizzed my pants. Alright, let's just take it that Australian politicians are better politicians. Perhaps they could lie through their noses with a poker face. Maybe they are too good in performing vote-buying antics. Let's just take it that our PAP ministers are too honest, they love their people too much and they don't want to tell them anything but the truth. I'll be happy to vote for honest people if so. But how then can you explain statements like, "HDB flats are affordable", "HDB flats size remained unchanged for the past 15 years" and "Foreigners create jobs for Singaporeans." Not totally honest doesn't equate to truthful.

Not a single Singaporean will realistically expect their leaders stand in front of their people to keep their dignity intact, against a wealthy investor in a similar situation. We do not even expect our top government officials to stand up for Singaporeans when a foreign student insulted us, we know it was asking for too much. We should be happy to be asked to "reflect" in cyberspace and told we were "self-centred" on national TV. We should be grateful. That was the way we show affection - Singaporean style.

Come, sit around me and let me share a story with you. I will not take up much of your time for I have a business to run later. As you can imagine, even recycling business has became very competitive these days. In this trade, we are only as good as our previous day, so there is no time to rest our laurels.

I'm glad you came along. Nobody listens to an old lady these days. Nobody likes old things in our society. I know because I was young once. I was part of the generation they termed 'nation builders'. Just yesterday as I pushed my rusty trolley along the streets, I felt a sense of pride. The Singapore today was built the brothers and sisters of my time. We were the pillars behind the success story, the economic miracle, of Singapore.

We were told that Singapore had no natural resources. The only resource was our people. That would be us, in our time and prime. We believed in the common vision and that Singapore could count on us. We did not disappoint our country. The pseudo motivational discourse inspired so enormously such that we were able to punch way above our weight. We were young, boosted and felt invincible. Each year, we saw how Singapore progress and celebrated with gusto on National Day as one people. We toiled but we were happy, because we knew we were building a place we and our children could all call home.

I overheard a short conversation between two office ladies the other day. They were peering at me over their teacups held by their dainty hands, displaying exquisitely manicured nails.

"Fortunately I have a degree, I don't need to do that when I'm old," quipped one.

"I'll rather die than do that when I'm old loh," the other lady concurred.

I perdured pushing my trolley along, dragging my slippers to rhythm of etiolated wheels against tar. Like any precious resource, each of us has a sell-by date. A human resource is no exception. The luckier ones were sold or claimed before our expiry date. The rest of us were left at the back of the shelf, out of visibility in the best possible arrangement. We were no longer fawned over anymore. No matter, we still have a brittle bone at our backs and would not beg for adulation or assistance from the new society. We were the Nation Builders, the legendary ones.

Last week, my grandson Isaac asked me to pick a tourist attraction of the past or present to write about in his school work. I selected the Musical Fountain of Sentosa. A child being a child, he had to ask why. I gently explained to Isaac that the Musical Fountain was a symbol of our generation. His grandpa and I shared many fond memories at this tourist attraction with his father, who was a child just like him back then. It was a warm feeling to have your grandson presenting something that meant a lot to his grandmother and father.

Little did little Isaac knew that the Musical Fountain cost Singapore $3.2 million to build, as compared with other attractions such as Fantasy Island, Tang Dynasty and Gardens by the Bay which cost $54 million, $100 million and $1 billion respectively. Fantasy Island operated for 8 years and the Tang Dynasty for 15 years before they were demolished for better projects. It is anyone's guess how long Gardens by the Bay will be around. If it is anything as long as our humble Musical Fountain, which was still drawing in the crowds before it had to finally make way for the construction of Resort World, I would not be alive to witness it. The Musical Fountain operated for 25 years.

Like the Musical Fountain, the people of my generation contributed at least 25 years of our prime serving Singapore. We were cheap and good. Like the Musical Fountain, there is a time to go, a time to be forgotten. At the darkest corner of the bottom shelf, conveniently out of visibility, we are all waiting.

Someday, the ladies with nice nails will realise that they are the same as the likes of myself in my time. They are not special in their own generation. They will understand, because someday, they will be wearing this pair of shoes. I'll be leaving them behind when it is my time to leave.

by asingaporeanson.blogspot.com

I can't help but laugh when I read Lucky Tan's latest blog post [link] on the "Reasons for anonymity on the Internet." Don't get me wrong - Every reason was rational and reasonably sound. I don't disagree with anything Lucky Tan listed in the post. What forced a sad grin was the comments that followed in response to that post. We can gather that most Singaporeans still reckon that anonymity is still an option, that there is still room for discussion.

While netizens debate till the cows come home about the merits of anonymity in cyberspace, our government might have moved steps ahead of us. It is not whether it is good or bad for us, the question is whether we already lost it ages ago. To me, cyber freedom is a myth in Singapore. If you believe in online anonymity, you may be better off robbing a bank wearing a cape of invisibility magicked by the Ama Keng witch doctor.

Perhaps you should be reading about this. [link]

I'll summarise. There is One Software which can do the following:

Grab images of your computer screens
Record Skype chats and possibly every chat medium worth recording
Turn on your camera without you realising
Microphones as well
It logs your keystrokes
It even have a mobile version customised for all major mobile phones
It avoids detection, including antivirus software such as Kaspersky Lab, Symantec, F Secure and others

Well, the better news is, Singapore uses it.

"Servers in Singapore, Indonesia, Mongolia and Brunei went dark, while one in Bahrain briefly shut down before reincarnating elsewhere."

If you are someone that some government agencies are interested in and unless you live under the expressway with no internet access and use a Nokia 3310, you can be sure they know who is your favourite porn star, what you had for dinner last Wednesday, which finger you have been using to dig your nose and how many times you fapped to Doraemon, if this report is to be accurate. So, the next time you look at your mobile phone or lap top, remember to stare at the camera and wave. Since you will never know when you are watched, you might as well display your sweetest smile while you can.

One report is not enough to convince you, how about another? [link] Summary again:

100 surveillance cameras will be set up around Singapore
Each one has a video analytic software, have proven effective to "nab high-rise litterbugs"
The equipment can pick up items as small as cigarette butts being thrown from windows, even in low light conditions at night.

Impressive isn't it? If these equipment can pick up a cigarette butt, pretty sure there are plenty of things that you don't wish to be picked up. Does anyone stop to question the rationale of installing high tech gadgets to nab litterbugs? I guess not. You can't question something that doesn't exist. A lighter way to look at it would be some form of Electronic Litter Pricing (ELP), obviously ERP has almost reached its full potential and some new promising ideas are always welcomed. On the serious note, our freedom is compromised, if it hasn't been done to death already. Before you go, "It doesn't concern me because I don't litter," do stop and think about it for a while.

This example was given not to prove that there isn't anonymity on the internet like the way we prefer but to allow you to ask yourself this question. If our government has no qualms of invading the privacy of their citizens to "nab high-rise litterbugs", what will they do if they have the technological means to collate a detailed timeline of your activities, be it the virtual world or reality?

I remembered the smell of the Spring Breeze. I remembered writing about it not long after I came to Perth [link]. I experienced it again, so quickly, just 3 days into Spring. Winter was truly over and done. It was still cold today when I reported for work but it was just ... different. I could feel Spring even without the evidence of the calendar. Spring is my friend.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to say this again, time really flies. In another fortnight, I would be here for a complete year. How my life has changed in the last 12 months. I never had a single monotonous season to help me settle down faster.

I could still remember my tears slipping down quietly as I bid my mother goodbye over the phone just before I board the plane. Before I could come to terms with my crazy migration decision, I began on the most physically taxing job of my life so far, where I had to go through 2 minor eye surgeries a small but serious burn on my thigh which still hurts today and multiple minor metal shards into the skin or nails agonies. Just when I was getting used to the job, Albany arrived in slight dramatic style. Summer brought my worst memories so far with his inferno and flies friends, Barry White went through a streak of non-starting days, as well as 1 month living with my mother-in-law, Jen and Albany all in one small room no bigger than any HDB flat room. When the mother-in-law returned home, we thought life would finally come to a flat line but we had to move to another house. Though that deranged us a bit, it was a good decision because we really enjoyed the following 5 months even though I had to endure a car accident in Autumn. There were the up and downs in Winter which I did not feel like penning the experiences here.

So Spring is here. My 6 months lease in the current place will expire in mid Spring. An increase in rental seems imminent. We are not sure if we will stay or move and it looks like my adventures will go on and go on for a while more but still, doing a repeat commentary of my Perth life through 4 seasons seem like a boring preposition. Theng was suggesting something along of the line of writing fictional stuff in a brand new blog. Well, writing stories for little kids may not be a bad idea for a change. After all my forte was writing fictional tales. (I bet you can tell by now). Besides, I cannot be writing about ugly politicians all my life. Nobody wants to read negative shit.

Good morning.

Sometime back, I received emails regularly for migration advice. Coincidentally, so many of them were from teachers or ex-teachers. One of them has already gotten her PR visa approved. (nothing to my credit). From past experiences, I think it is a good idea to share some of these questions because I alone have no answer to every single of them. Many insights actually came from others who happened to be reading one of these posts.

I grew to like these emails because I do get an unexpected sense of satisfaction becoming a bridge between many Singaporeans with the same mindset. Recently C, a young Singaporean lady met up with J in New Zealand at her arrival. According to J, C was a spunky young girl who hardly need his help. I guess she just wanted to see how yan dao Mr J is. Well no matter, it is heartwarming to be able to delude myself that I have been doing something useful for people. C has the same intention like MJ and J, to find a job during their temporary visa in Australia and New Zealand respectively. Young punks these days... ha.

Lately another young Singaporean couple arrived in New Zealand. They have their NZ PR and are there to settle down like Jen and I did almost a year back. When I received her messages, I coudn't help but be reminded of my own fears when I first arrived. Fortunately, her husband has found a job already. They would be alright. I have introduced her to spunky girl C, perhaps they might meet up somewhere in beautiful New Zealand. Good luck ladies.

The emails stopped coming in for a while. Guess most questions were generally answered, except for one area which I have been refusing to discuss. Maybe, maybe in the near future, but for now I would like some assistance from the public to address some questions from members of the healthcare industry. Hopefully Ling, a nurse working in Singapore who had launched her Visa 175 application, is still reading the blog and can provide some information. Ok. I know nursing is not exactly the same field as dentistry or pharmaceutical but it's still healthcare so maybe there is some relevancy here.

Email no.1

Ok, I'll get to the point of my email. Well, I applied to get my qualifications as a Pharmacist assessed by the Australian Pharmacy Council 3 weeks ago since Pharmacist is one of the occupations listed under the skilled occupation list. I don't dislike my life here but I would like to live in a nice house with lots of things to do in the surrounding areas, other than shopping and eating, and also would like to live in another country just for the heck of it. I'd like to move to Australia and I think now will be the best time since I'm young, without any commitments and probably at the most adaptable stage of my life.

I'm intending to apply for the general skilled migration (independent) and maybe regional scheme. Do you have any advise for me with regards to applying through these schemes? The pluses and the minuses perhaps? Or the success rate?

Also, one more burning question.. I'll be taking the Australian exam for pharmacy soon, if all works out as planned, and will lodge my application for visa after that. Just wondering..How long did your visa take to be approved?

Thanks for reading my email! I'd really appreciate any help or advice you'll be able to give me. Hope things are still kicking well on your side!

The writer of Email no. 1 declined to be named, I also edited some parts of the email to protect the writer from "risk of any council members or employers learning about his/her intention". There are so many questions here that I don't know where to begin with. I'll start off with the last question and this is my advice.

Wander off by yourself during the off-days and think over the migration intention carefully. Do it alone, go to a quiet place, set your mobile on silent and do this as regularly as possible. After all this is a life changing decision unless your intention is similar to MJ's [link] or J [link][his blog], or C as mentioned earlier which is to embark on an adventure of your life.

Forgive me for being blunt. If you cannot convince yourself that migration is good for you, drop the idea. Migration is nothing disgraceful, dodgy or shady. Instead of hiding your intentions, I will advise to you discuss it openly with relatives and friends. From the discussions, you will come to understand how you feel towards the whole issue better. From there, you will see where is the next path for you. Don't do it with colleagues or employers. They are not your friends and have no business to interfere in this. Even if they come to know about it, there isn't anything to hide. If you cannot come to terms with this perspective, don't migrate. Trust me, your journey will be a painful one unless there is a mindset change. Perhaps I can introduce you to Amy, who have gotten her Australian PR and has been in a miserable mental state fighting with herself if she should leave Singapore or give up the visa. You may learn much from a chat with her over dinner. Let me know if you are interested and I'll do an interest check with Amy.

The last question I can offer my view is the success rate of application. Most Singaporeans have a misconception of the Australian immigration system. It doesn't work the same way as the Singapore immigration system, where many cases of PR applications are approved on a case-by-case basic. I'm not saying there isn't some backdoor activities for the Australian system but the main system is very straightforward. I'll summarise. If you:

1) Are qualified

2) have chosen the right visa to apply

3) have provided the correct documents

4) have paid up in the right currency

Your success rate is 100%. It is as simple as that. Under the new migration guidelines [read here], the big question will be how long? Without data from successful applicants under the new system, it is impossible to answer this one. However, I have reasons to believe healthcare professionals still have a special priority among other vocations. [read this]

Email no.2

Hi Singaporeanson!

Nice to meet you and I hope you're doing fine in Australia! I chanced upon your website recently and it was very insightful! (esp when I have tons of questions back in my head about working in Aus). I guess it would be better for me to e-mail you instead of commenting on your blog.

Anyway, me and my sister(a nurse) are actually very keen to work in Australia. Do you have any idea on how well the prospects are for these two professions in oz? I understand they're listed in SOL but then, like what you've said, it's not easy to get a visa to work there now. Is there a serious shortage of dental professionals and nurses there now? will the chances of us applying be higher (other than meeting all the necessary requirements)?

So far what have you heard about these industries there in Australia? I guess racial prejudice is always there but how bout in healthcare itself? will they want to hire Asians or even Singaporeans?

Don't mind me for bombarding you with so many burning questions!

Hello, I am doing alright here. Thank you for asking and reading this. The answers to your first questions is here [read this].

Regarding racial prejudice, it is worth a post on itself already. I have so much to say about this but I am afraid I'll be hurting some's feelings again if I get started so I have been holding myself back. Unless you are prepared to bear full responsibilities if/when I get backlash from my friends, public and anonymous Choked-on-cokes lurking here.

But I won't let you down and leave in disappointment. I'll share with you my personal experience instead. My daughter Albany was born in Perth. My wife was 5 months pregnant when we first came. We were referred to King Edward Hospital, arguably the best public maternal hospital in Perth. Over the months, we were attended by an Indian doctor, a Chinese (suspected to be Singaporean or Malaysian) who later went on to be the doctor delivering my baby and of course locally born Australian doctors.

My wife was also attended well by a midwife from Hong Kong, another from Korea other than the local midwives. We have absolutely nothing to say about the entire team except for nice things. I am not implying that any sort of racial discrimination does not exist here, though I haven't experienced any myself. Very importantly, we should not approach Australia with the same perspectives about racial discrimination like we have in Singapore. We Singaporeans ARE racists and that is why we are AFRAID of racism on the wrong receiving end. Please.... don't get me started. We'll just end here, I hope you get something useful out of here. Stay in contact.

I'll like to invite the public to share their knowledge and insights healthcare applicants as well as job prospect in not just Perth but the other parts of Australia as well. Please feel free to share whatever you know so we are all benefit from it.

A Singaporean In Australia

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