According to a Mindshare survey [link] carried out early this year, 56% of 2000-odd poll strongly agreed or agreed that "given a choice, I would like to migrate." If you are panicking, [link] relax. Take a seat, a sip of the coffee and hear me out.
Migration is a familiar topic, so allow me to have a little word. First things first, there are simply too much room to misrepresent and misinterpret in any survey and probably isn't really the best way of finding out truths. For a start, how well is that 2000 Singaporeans sampled from the rest of the population? We do not know. Thus, sleep well tonight and every night. You will not wake up one morning to see half of the Singaporean population departed. You'll have a higher chance striking that CNY multi-million toto draw.
Ok, let's not be mean and chuck someone's hard work into the bin. Let's just assume the survey was done objectively and flawlessly, thus data collected are accurate. So, take a glance at the summary of that survey see what it tells me. These are supposedly to be some key reasons why Singaporeans are unhappy enough to consider an emigration out of Singapore.
1 in 4 Singaporeans are idiots
How do I define an idiot? Well I define one who thinks "he should be spending his entire working life paying off housing loans." Happens that the survey gave me data how many idiots are among us. Coincidental.
Push Factor from Outer Space
Alright, 62% of Singaporeans think political leaders are paid too much. So? Why would Mindshare assume these Singaporeans are unhappy enough to contemplate migration because some jokers earn big bucks? Does it makes any sense at all? Nuts. No doubt if these folks get to swap salary with their ministers, I bet they will be very happy people indeed. But tell me if it is because their ministers now earn 2000 bucks a month that makes them happy or their new multi-million annual salary?
Retirement?
Retire comfortably in Singapore? I'm surprised we are talking about being comfortable here while retiring is a big question alone. Ah gong didn't say you can retire ok? Don't despair though, there are plenty of vocation sectors to choose from: Transportation, Security, F&B and Recycling to name some.
Sense of entitlement
"Singaporeans should be granted priority in employment". Yes, the majority of us think so. We think we are superior, we are special. Once in a while, I'll look through the traffic source of this blog. Often, blog hits came from google searches results. Look at these examples:
I often wondered what does "Australia jobs for Singaporeans" means and what the searcher really hope to find. Do we really think there are red carpets rolled out for us, Singaporeans, all over the world to invite us to take up jobs? I think some of us think too highly of ourselves. I even heard Singaporeans saying, "I'll apply for Australian PR when I feel like it." One of my ex-colleague told me, "I will never move to Australia, unless they give me a job of minimum $5k." Trust me, I've heard and seen more and I don't make things up.
Let me tell you none of these 2000 people will leave Singapore. None. Zero. I can confidently assure Jentrified Citizen not worry about it. If I were to poll 2000 married men, ask them just one question, "Given a choice, would you like to have sex with Scarlett Johansson?" and get 75% of the men answering, "Yes," is it conclusive to declare 75% of Singaporean men are unfaithful to their partners? Remember, liking and wanting something is entirely different from doing it. We are talking about migration here, not eating dinner.
Over the past 2 years, I've came across so many forumers in the migration thread asking how to get a job in Australia despite me sharing the hard truth told by job agents here themselves that their clients will not grant interviews to candidates who are not physically residing in Australia unless it is a special skill set that is exclusive. An internal job transfer seems like much higher possibility. Yet we still see new people coming up and ask, "Are there jobs for someone like me?" or "I'll move if I could land a job."
The Singaporean mum, M, who has gotten her Australia PR, purchased her car and house in Perth while she is still physically in Singapore last month, is still having the nerves and hesitation about moving over despite leaving herself almost no other choice but to move. Jen and I also gave up the thought of migration a few times before finally deciding we wanted it done. It wasn't easy. That was why when I set up a "migration section" in this blog, I stressed a lot to migrants wannabes on spending a lot of time sorting out the mental part of this before even anything else. The agonies and mental dilemmas one has to go through during migration are very hard to imagine and probably very much underestimated by most.
Enough said about Mindshare's nonsensical poll. It is as bad as asking Singaporeans, "Given a choice would you like to be the sole winner of the CNY multi-million toto draw?" and then reporting,
95% of Singaporeans want to strike toto!
Big fucking deal.
Those who want to will just do it.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did the Singaporean mum know how much $$$ to bring in the end?
hi ck. Her answer is : lots of it
DeleteYES.. TRUCK LOADS! ;)
Deletehttp://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/831799385-media-kept-at-arm-s-length-of-singapore-pm
ReplyDeleteBecause real journalists will ask him questions that are not officially sanctioned. It will be a grilling, not a CONversation.
even taiwanese youths r flocking to australian mining industry cos taiwanese firms unwilling to increase their salaries
ReplyDeleteI guess many are migrating that is why the gov keeps on getting in foreigners as they know much more will migrate.
ReplyDeleteI think I belong to the minority. I KNOW I want to migrate, and if the only job I can find in Aust is as a night coolie at supermarket, then I will gladly take it!
ReplyDeleteThis letter really resonates with me http://sg.news.yahoo.com/letter-about-leaving-s%E2%80%99pore-strikes-chord-with-readers.html
blinkywink
And with that kind of mentality and attitude you will succeed.
DeleteMake it happen! You only have 1 life, and it's a short one at that.
Of course it would be ideal to scrutinise all surveys in detail if possible but most don't disclose their methodology. But think it's a tad unfair to dismiss this survey as nonsensical. Mindshare is a reputable organisation which is probably why Business Times reported on the survey findings. Agree though some of their questions could have been phrased better.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, this survey's findings are so starkly different from the usual whitewashed surveys by the Govt-related bodies that it is worth pondering over when we discuss what's troubling this nation.
Doubt anyone is panicking over the 56% desire to emigrate since it is afterall just a sampling of 2,000.
But as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire and the truth probably lies somewhere in between.