A Singaporean In Australia

This is the third week running I've been working overtime every single day. The first week was 10 hours a day, the second we went a notch up and did 12 hours a day. After clearing the bulk, we are back to 10 hours a week. On a 12-hour shift, we were paid 1.5x for every extra hour of the 4 hours overtime that would translate to the worth of 14 normal hours, 2 hours short of being paid twice as much as what we have been bringing in on normal days. Fortunately we were compensated monetarily. I used the word compensated, not rewarded because that was what it was.

It was worth noting down how it felt. These weren't new to me. 12-hours were a common thing during my first job. I remembered we even stretched that to 14 hours before during the Christmas period. I even worked on 2-3 weekends before. The type of work I did back then was much physically demanding than the current one. Looking back, I wondered how and why I pulled through. It almost seemed like that wasn't me.

But it was and that could be anyone. During the first week, I realised I had forgotten how it felt to work beyond the normal 8 hours. The interesting thing was after the 3rd day of waking up around 4ish am, I found myself forgetting how it felt to work normal hours. By the start of the 3rd week, it almost felt strange at the thought of going back to the usual 7am - 3.30pm routine.

Human beings must be the most malleable material on earth. Or should I say, the human brain, the fleshy material that dictates between can or cannot, right or wrong, possible or impossible and it varies largely from person to person. The waves sent from the brain determines what we think, how we act and that makes who we are. That being said, the brain bases its work on whatever resources it had been fed. It can only work on whatever data that was provided to it. That is what we call the limit. That was why all 3 of us admitted to Ling that we thought she did the impossible. None of us believed it was possible to achieve what she did in the short 3 days. That is the box when we talk about thinking out of the box. To think out of the box is simply to let thoughts wander beyond the boundaries of where existing knowledge is confined. That applies to the thoughts of migration, and possibly anything else.

After the industrial revolution, the majority of the masses earn their living in a single income employment model. Most of us worked out that even if we work our asses off, the limit we can make is 24 hours. Since working long hours is not sustainable for our physical, mental and spiritual state, we look out to increase our hourly rate and hope one day we earn half as much in a year to what our Singapore Ministers in a month. Then somebody came out with the concept of passive income to help out seek the 25th hour. For a brain that was trained and conditioned for decades to think and act employee, it is very difficult to unlearn and relearn. Words that we use are very dangerous. When I said difficult, I am setting myself the limit. There must be something beyond even the 25th hour. There shouldn't be a limit.

We can only step out of the imaginary comfort zone if we allow our thoughts to go beyond limits often enough. Only if we do that, thoughts can be manifested into reality. Some folks will tell me that belongs to the spiritual realm rather than the mental state. Perhaps so. I should allow myself to explore freely in every realm so one day I may break myself out of the constriction to find that naggy voice within me that took me here, all the way from Singapore.

The voice is louder than before but it still remain distant. I must find it.

I caught Albany wailing outside the bathroom door last night. That was the way she waited patiently for Jen to complete her bath. After which she would see Jen behind the door and would walk as quickly as her little legs could carry her towards me, with a big grin and kiss me on the cheek. I would return the kiss on her chubby red cheeks. Then little Albany would run towards corridor leading to her bedroom, turn, wave at her dad and exclaim 'byeeeee'

It would take a while before the beautiful routine could take place. So I grabbed her outside the bathroom and took her to the living room, where our sofa bed was comfortably spread, and sat on it. Albany calmed down when she realised she was given her favourite seat. That would be her father's lap. Together we watched the television.

I wasn't the TV kind after my NS days. For some reason, I found the shows quite terrible after my NS days. I reckoned I grew out of the TV days gradually. So my fond memories of good old TV dramas remained in the SBC (and probably TCS) days. I remembered hearing similar remarks from friends along the lines of, "They don't make those good shows anymore." Maybe I didn't grow out of it after all. Perhaps the productions of Mediacorps simply suck and I wasn't the only one who feel so. Well you know, saying this would leave me at high risk of getting a "Mass media expert" who would argue about the validity of my blog post as well as my intelligence on the topic. Well, if I could feed the masses who rely of boosting their egos by winning meaningless internet battles to survive life, why not. Really, damn don't give an I.

They were showing Underbelly Squizzy on television. I watched for a few minutes before realising it was an Australia production actually based on a very old Australian setting in the 1910s. With Albany sitting contentedly on my lap, we watched it together. It was supposed to be a crime thriller but it looked like comedy to me. Overall I enjoyed the episode though I wouldn't go into the details. That point being made was that I thought I have grown out of TV series and wouldn't enjoy another one anymore. I was proven wrong.

I wasn't attracted to any genre in particular but I tend to appreciate a good story set in the past or future because these kind of shows require a great amount of imagination, creativity and even research to present itself properly. Sadly, even armed with the latest CGI technologies, the shows that Mediacorpse make these days are shit. I remembered the last show I watched was 九层糕 and that was it. I decided I would never watch another Mediacorpse TV series again. If I could remember correctly, the show was sponsored by NTUC and propaganda were heavily laced throughout the show. It was almost like an advertorial instead, terrible to watch, unless you were an Auntie perhaps. I noticed there were many shows which ran on similar concepts. Police, SCDF, whatever. Backed by government agencies, designed to relay government messages. Telling you:

I really missed the SBC days. Tucky told me once he liked 迷离夜, a series screened during the late 80s when we were small boys. Yeah, I thought I liked that too. Back then filming technologies were ... meh .. but did it matter? Not really. Even if we spotted the zip behind the dinosaur costume, the poorly concealed wire behind that flying swordsman or the fake moustache half peeling off an actor's face (believe me I saw that before), it didn't really matter.

My most memorable show was 金麒麟. It was yet another show during my primary school days. It was a simply plot but it really worked for me. I remembered being glued to the TV to follow the entire story line. It was about a mixed party who got together for a common cause, to find the treasure depicted by a coveted legendary treasure map. On the trail of the party was untold dangers, saboteurs, mercenaries and even government officials to rob them off their map. The show even have an interesting philosophical ending. The final quest that required the party members do perform was to plant a field of wheat on a vast land. According to the treasure map hint, that would reveal the path to the treasure. When the wheat field was bountiful, the party returned and got themselves to a high ground hoping to make out a path set out from the way the wheat grew and lead them to treasure. They saw nothing and main protagonist was disappointed. Then the old wise man in the party suddenly laughed and exclaimed, "I saw a field of gold!" upon realising they acquired themselves a vast plot of extremely fertile land.

That was my kind of quest. One day. Eventually. Soon.

 I like nurses. Not in the fetish kind of way. We first learnt about nurses from our Primary School Chinese Textbook in an essay titled, "白衣天使" （Angels in White). On top of that, when we were asked to read about great people of the past and write a journal of thoughts about them, many pupils used Mother Teresa as their topic character. I chose Helen Keller. Alright, Mother Teresa wasn't technically a nurse, she was more that and there was a lot of association with care giving and nursing in our young minds. 

So the impression of nurse was pretty good right from the childhood. The first nurse I met in person was cold and told me she would, "press on the wound even harder" if she had to nurse an injured boyfriend. She was Jen's best friend, Samantha. Faith in nurses were restored after the first hospitalisation in my life this year being well taken care of by an Eastern European nurse who looked like Celia Pavey and a suspected Singaporean student-nurse.

Back in harder nights when Ling contacted me during the harder times when I was grinding metal for living at night, there was only three people who had conversations with me regularly during the 2330hrs break, Gintai, the Duchess of the Brook (then known as Singaporeanson Mum, M - before she took over the brook) and Ling. She contacted me around the same time as the Brookstress. Both had the same agenda. I wanna come to Perth, how how how?

I didn't have a damn idea so I introduced her someone who did. That would be our close family friend in Perth, Grace. Two things I would never forget about Grace was how she described Perth to me when I met her in 2007 during a holiday. Back then she was almost a stranger (friend of friend of friend of Jen that kind). What she told me planted the first seed of the idea of moving out of Singapore. The second thing was Grace insisting to give Jen (with Albany in her tummy) and I a treat on one of the first cold Spring nights after we arrived to Perth. We went to Fremantle and I went through the motion still in that "What-the-fuck-am-I-doing-here?!" mode. Along with Joanna, my first landlady, Grace provided the first warmth for us during the most fearful stage of our Perth adventure.

So I introduced Ling to Grace. I reckoned she would be in safe hands and I was right. She would sort out her skills assessments, the nursing requirements whatever crap for her. I finally met Ling for the first time last night. She was the luckiest woman around at this time so sit up and read on because her story will not be anything that you have read here so far.

As a person seeking migration, I thought Ling went through sacrifices. She went through a big mid career change by switching to nurse through the SPURS scheme back then and worked as a nurse for a few years subsequently. She did clarify last night though, migration wasn't the only bird she could kill with that stone. At this stage, she was ready to apply for her Australian PR, having done her IELTS and sorted her Skills Assessment. 

But Ling had other plans. She told me she prayed hard before coming to Perth for a week. She told her God she must share the story of her success with her mates this Sunday. She wanted to find a job here within her 1 week stay - without a PR in hand. Just like what MJ wanted to do. She landed on late Monday night and quipped through whatsapp, "I am here!"

Okay.

On late Tuesday morning I received a message, "I got the job!"

WTF!

How did she do it? That was my first question. No replies. I found out over dinner that she did cold callings to hospitals. None of the hospitals advertised any vacancies on websites, whatsoever. She was just trying her luck, trying to hit the bulls eye blindfolded. What do we know, she achieved exactly that. If you read the previously incredible story of my friend [link] who found his permanent job through a chain of unlikely events, Ling's story would be just as incredible.

None of the hospital responded, which was the expected case. One week is just too short to do much. Then the miracle happened. She got the call, attended the interview and got the offer on the same day. The hospital even agreed to adjust her date of commencement if she has difficulties migrating over within a short time frame. They happened to have a staff resigned, leaving a post open and it just happened that Ling's experience in her specific department matches what they required. Now the icing on the cake - Ling didn't even have to apply for the Australia PR now. The hospital would apply the 457 Work Visa for her and she would be allowed to bring her family as dependents along with that.

3 days.

That was how long Ling took to nail her target before the dust even settled. Swift, deadly Ninja Nurse. She was in great spirits last night. She told me it was alright for me to over-eat. She brought along red wine and insisted we must toast and celebrate with her because her family wasn't around to do that with her.

And so we did.

No one survives life. Everybody dies from it. People have lived and died through all kinds of Dark Ages. The Great Depression, the World Wars and countless of financial crisis, economic meltdowns. We are a very lucky generation. No one in our blessed age would understand the kind of life that people from the past had gone through. Life during the Dark Ages was very tough but still, some ordinary people flourished, some perished. Even with economic uncertainties looming globally, especially so in Australia, life doesn't get a shutdown. It goes on.

And because life is short, everyone wants to make the best out of it and live their lives to the maximum in the most comfortable way possible. Instability unsettles most people. To be comfortable is to be stable, that's the nature of human beings. That explains part of your fear and mine and why we cried. That may not be a bad thing if we consider it from another perspective of living life. Living a life straight out from a prediction book, with every detail neatly laid out, is that the meaning of life? Money, stability, enjoyment, luxuries. Are these all we seek in life?

Should it be done as a purpose of discovery instead of sorely accumulation? There isn't a best answer. But it appears a better way because discovery need not to be exclusive from accumulation and could be done at the same time. I wrote this to remind myself I have gone far too comfortable again, at the same time, to share my opinion about what you are doing with you. I need to get to the stage you are at again. Quickly. There must be a way out. Believe me, it isn't a bad thing for us. Hope these are useful to you in some ways.

"Many restaurants give you toothpicks, but the toothpick is so big it can never go through, but this one is so fine that whatever is inside sure can come out," he said on Monday.

In fact, he revealed with a laugh, the Din Tai Fung toothpicks are so good, he "can never resist" - he always takes half a box of them during each visit.

"They always serve in a pack," he told reporters at BreadTalk Group's new headquarters in Tai Seng. "And because I go there very early - 10.30 in the morning - always full right. And guess what? By the time I left, normally right, it's half left. The other half is in my pocket." - Labour Chief Lim Swee Say, July 2013

Maybe it isn't quite right thing to tell Singaporeans that snitching accessories from eateries is a good thing to do, even if they are of an irresistible world class standard. I'm not sure about that bro. So. What did Amelia Tan tell Singaporeans what her article was all about?

Sure, Mr Lim Swee Say. We can see that. Very clearly.

Singaporean Petroleum Company (SPC) should be a familiar name to most Singaporeans. The company was founded in 1969 and was the part owner of Singapore Refining Company Pte Ltd, founded in 1979. Its core business was the oil and gas industry and its roles included exploration, production, refining, supplying and trading. It took this Singapore firm many decades to acquire their assets, establish their distribution intermediaries and create a half decent Singapore brand that Singaporeans could be proud of. SPC was delisted from the Singapore Exchange on Oct 2009 when Chinese oil giant PetroChina completed its takeover of the Singapore firm. Everything gone. -Poof-

I knew because I who bought SPC in the high $3 range. As far as my memory could recall, SPC were trading high at $6.80 not long after the 2008 financial crisis that brought most, if not all, stocks on the SGX to their knees. SPC stood out from the rest with resilient, recovered and their stock price went up gradually in the right direction (at least for me). A lot of investors of SPC even commented online that they swore to hold their investments in SPC until retirement, because the rich dividends that SPC was handing out year by year had increased a few folds for these lao jiaos who bought their shares at a much lower price to a stage where a year's worth of dividends was as high as 20% of the original sum of money they invested. Most of them have already collected back their initial investment sum from the dividends paid by SPC over the years and their capital gain was 2-3 folds if they chose to sell up. Of course they wouldn't!

In the end all small time retail investors were forced to sell our tiny stakes in SPC in the $6 range when the China company took over and made SPC private once again. The little income stream for retirement for these Singaporeans went up in smoke. Yes, we should be glad we didn't make a loss and in fact, made a decent capital gain on our money down. We could always move on to investing in another company for the same purpose. Investors or traders should never put in emotions on their investments. These were mere paper and numbers and emotions would send us right to the door. I know all that and I was happy to grab the money and move on. But that is not the point I am trying to put across.

I considered a painstakingly set up local company like SPC a national asset. Singapore took decades to build that up, have anyone thought about that at all? What does anything that Singapore took decades to build up mean to each and every of you? Our security, goodwill and ... our home. How much of these is worth anything in Singaporeans' eyes if we look at everything as a business transaction? Are you able to recall the reaction of Australians when SGX threatened a hostile takeover of the Australian Security Exchange (ASX). Aussies gave their middle fingers and said,"Balls, mate." It was not Singapore's first brush in this nature. Temasek Holdings got into trouble with Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha (KPPU) of Indonesia. Who could forget the ugly takeover of Shin Corp of Thailand where Temasek Holdings sent our money to ashes and lost everything, including faces.


"What's the problem? If we have more foreign investments, these countries will have a lot to lose and will come to Singapore's defence during a war." - Believe me, I heard this crap more than once from fellow Singaporeans. Will a pimp defend his prostitute, technically his money making asset, in times of trouble? Some brains gotta be fried and eaten fresh. At least they are more useful in that sense.

Nobody bat an eyelid when SPC was sold. We didn't give a damn when PowerSereya, the entity which generate about 30% of Singapore's energy needs, was sold to a subsidiary of the YTL Corporation Berhad of Malaysia. Then we whine when our power bill goes up. What other assets were sold behind our backs? Not being an investor is not a valid excuse to be blind. Have you heard of Singapore's Free Trade Agreement with India, with our dear leaders putting down providing jobs for Indians as part of the conditions to coax India to sign up? Jobs can be sold too. I'm sure that is relevant to you now.


Open up the eyes, look around.

Good morning. Most of you would probably read this on Monday. It is an honour to share this story with all of you to brighten your dull Mondays. It is a real-life true story of one of my close friends that I knew in Perth. He came a few months after me but struggled much longer before finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Like me, he wasted no time taking on any job that he could find to keep the income stream coming first before landing a permanent job elsewhere. Unlike me, his dream job was a lot harder to find as compared to me as I would take on any permanent job for a living.

I don't have many loyal readers who followed the story from Day 1. Many visitors are here via search engines just to take a glance at my Permanent Resident guide and leave. For few who followed through all these months, you might have noticed several stories of real people I knew who went through what they felt was a miracle of their lives. It might not seemed so to you when you read such stories because many of you might not be able to empathize how these amazing experiences felt. I went through my own myself after I landed in Perth in complete confusion. Thus, I understood. I could feel the kind of elation that make people jump up and celebrate when someone else had their stars finally aligned.

Here I present the account of my friend, who asked not to be named because he felt shy. He probably knew he could embarrass me being a better writer than I am. Nice bloke, love this guy. With that, I like to end my post, reminding everyone never to give up believing in themselves because more often than not, it takes awhile before the rain stops. If you find the story of my friend inspiring, feel free to share it with your own friends who are going through their own patches to restore their flickering flame of hope. Please enjoy.

Ever felt like how some days the world is lined up against you and nothing seems to go right? Well, this was not one of those days. In fact, it was almost the complete opposite... it seemed as if the stars had lined up for me that day. I think of the coincidences, and cannot help but be amazed.

To begin, I must admit I have been quite fortunate since the beginning of my entire adventure Down Under. Since getting the Visa approved for migration; and having relatives kindly allowing me to stay with them whilst job and house hunting; and meeting up with so many people who were so helpful to me and who became close friends, I must really consider myself a very fortunate guy indeed in journeying to a new land.

Compared to these, the initial disappointments of not getting a job or finding a home immediately after my arrival would seem insignificant. After all, I finally did manage to rent an apartment and find a decent, if not ideal, job relatively soon. But, I was still hankering for the ideal job, and could not rest till I had secured it, in order to ensure that the move to Australia could finally pay off with financial security.

So I sent out dozens of job applications month after month, to no avail. Just a handful of call backs, and a couple of sporadic interviews, but no job offer. I had to tone down my resume and apply for lower end jobs after I realised that it was not going to be easy to get a well-paying job in management position.

Fast forward to this week. On Monday, I suddenly received a call to make an appointment on Wednesday morning. The stars had begun aligning themselves...

The MD of a civic organisation was so taken by the cover letter in my job application that she wanted to meet for an unofficial chat before the shortlisting for the role began. It was for the position as a IT consultant for the organisation. She gave me an overview of the scope for the role and explained the plans for the organisation and how the consultant would fit in. She told me that she was impressed by my skills and experience listed in the CV, and hoped I would be interested in the role. There were already several good CVs submitted, and she would be shortlisting those who she would want to interview in a couple of weeks. I was quite interested in the job, of course, and was hoping that I would get a call for a formal interview soon; and hoped this informal chat and meet up was sufficient to get my foot in the door.

On the same day, in the afternoon, I got a phone call from another organisation. They called about a CV I had sent for an IT Admin role, but wondered if I would be interested in trying out for another role, as a short-term contract project consultant, based on my previous experience in ERP projects. Another star suddenly rolled into the queue...

I explained that whilst the role sounded interesting, I was not looking for a very short contract, as I already had a full-time job. I was keen on a permanent position. They, however, were very keen on me, and asked if I could come in for an informal chat, about half an hour, to discuss. No need to dress up, just come casually for a chat. Since I had already taken a day off for the morning interview, I said sure, I could be there in a couple of hours. They were happy that I could oblige to come over so soon, as they expected me to meet them on another day. 

So I drove over to Perth city (trains were not running due to railworks by Transperth), and I parked along the street near their office. I bought a parking coupon for an hour, since they had said it would only take about 1/2 hour for the interview. I saw the parking attendants walking about checking the other cars, and hoped I would not exceed the time. I had previously been fined $100 for exceeding the time when parking in the city, so did not want to take another risk.

When I got into the building and got on the elevator, met a bloke who got off at the same floor. He asked me if I was there for an interview, and I said yes, surprised that a random dude would know this. He told me his name, and went off into the office. I entered the office and informed the receptionist who asked me to take a seat whilst she informed the interviewers I had arrived. 

I was shown into the boardroom and introduced to 3 people, the Director of Finance, the Operations Manager, and the Accountant. They started by saying they were very impressed with my experience in ERP Projects, and wanted to discuss about what I written in my CV. They questioned me in great detail about the projects I had previously managed and how I would handle a big ERP based project. They then gave me a complete rundown on a big project they were working on and how they needed a consultant to scope the project. It would be a short term contract for the consultant. Whilst this was an informal chat, the actual recruitment process would take a couple of interviews, and I would have to meet with the Director of Operations as well.

At about this time, the dude I met earlier in the elevator came into the boardroom. He told the rest of the interview panel that he had already made my acquaintance in the elevator! I then found out he was the Director of Operations that I would have to later meet again during the formal interview process.

But then they said, based on the discussion we had so far, they felt that I was underselling myself in my CV, as I was presenting myself much more than a normal consultant. I was advising them how I would run their planned project if I was the project manager. I explained that my CV had been toned down as I had initially applied for a junior IT Admin role. In actual fact, I am an experienced project manager having led various project teams in delivering large projects. They then commiserated how being overqualified sometimes made it difficult to land a job. They totally understood!

By then it was one and half hours after the interview began. I was worried that I would have been fined for exceeding my parking time limit. The interview panel then asked me to excuse them for a while whilst they discussed privately.

A while later, they called me back into the boardroom; and they had a surprise for me. After deliberating, they had decided to create a new role of Project Manager to manage this major task, and offered me the job on the spot! The stars had aligned in a major way!! I was thunderstruck. I had come to the meeting in a jeans and shirt, wearing a casual jersey, definitely not expecting a job offer, especially after all these months of futilely applying for jobs. Now out of the blue, I was offered this dream job, and with a substantial pay package, to manage something I loved to do! 

They hoped that I would accept immediately, but they understood if I needed to think it over. They hoped I would take on the role and start as soon as possible. I asked them to give me a day to think it over, and also I had to see about my present job – I could not just suddenly leave, I needed to give notice. They said they understood my concern, and were very pleased that I was thinking of my present employer as well, in not just leaving the job suddenly.

They told me to try and get back to them as soon as I could, because they wanted to kick off this project immediately as they had a tight deadline to meet. In the meantime, they would do routine reference checks with the police and my previous employers as a formality.

I said goodbye and walked back to my car in a daze. The stars continued to stay in alignment as there was no infringement notice on my car after exceeding the limit by more than an hour! 

That night, the final star fell into place. I got a call from a friend. This friend of mine is a very old friend, someone I had known since we were both kids. About 4 years ago I had lost contact with him when he migrated to Australia. I only recently bumped into him at a shopping mall with his family a few weeks ago, where we were reacquainted. I found out that he had joined the WA police and was happily living with his family here in Perth.

He called me out of the blue that night, and wished me congratulations. I was flabbergasted. I thanked him and asked how he knew I had gotten a new job; after all it was only a couple of hours before that I was offered the job, and I had only discussed with my wife so far. He told me that one of the interview panel members was a friend of his, and had called him up to see if he might know anyone from Singapore with my name! 

What a small world, and what an amazing coincidence!! What are the odds that of all the companies in WA I get a job interview with, after all these months, it would be the very company which had someone who had a friend, who of all the police officers in WA, would also be my friend. I think this ranks up there with the coincidence of winning the Big Sweep by buying a single ticket. Needless to say, my friend, the cop, gave a glowing reference to the company. 

And I shall be starting in my new job in 2 weeks.

We are in the stage where a growing number of Singaporeans minds are slowly accepting that an infailable PAP is a possible myth. Every National Day, millions of dollars are spent to bring back the feel good factor that last for approximately the full month of August. All doubts will be erased and we will be together as one again, to charge ahead and forge a better future together.

Then there will people who don't buy that. They see the NDP in a very different light to the way they were brought up to see. Every of these tormented minds can only scoff when they watch the parade without a veil over their eyes where tens of thousands of their own people celebrated their country's independence with self serving enemies of the state. In every General Election, they call for voting for the oppositions. They think that voting for the opposition is radical when in fact the system that the incumbent had created to maintain itself in perpetual power whether they win or lose a General Election. Before the new government could do any real change for Singapore, they would have messed up so badly that the PAP would be back in power before long. In the end, virtually nothing will have changed. What then?

Fuck you NDP committee, for coming out with this shit. [click here to get cancer]. I felt like stabbing my my ears with welding rods when I took in this crap. Guinness should grant me an endurance award for making through this new song of death. This supposed to be an NDP song, not a fucking hymn. I can't believe they even brought in teletubbies to do a rap, or whatever you call that crap shit. 

Did Lim Swee Say write this song? It sounded strangely like his golden classics such as O Cheaper, Better, Faster [click here to get AIDS] and Upturn the Downturn [click here to get leprosy]. The people behind this who called themselves music directors or creative directors can jolly well go jump down Little Guilin at Bukit Gombak. The annual PAP parade is bad enough. At least there were nice songs as saving grace in the past. Now you have totally destroyed any goodness left for National Day.

You guys cannot produce decent stuff like Stand Up For Singapore, One People One Nation One Singapore, Count on me Singapore, anymore?

If I want to listen to cheesy nonsense, I'll tune in to Barney and Friends. Perhaps you have mistaken this as a theme song to promote Singapore tourism in other countries. Not National Day, idiots, with this type of bile that will spark the global zombie apocalypse. Kit Chan must be crying blood after she heard this. And we thought the Dance of Eradication [click here to get blindness] by JJ Lin was bad. We thought fun pack pack song [click here to get schizophrenia] was hideous.


This one takes the icing.

The unusual sound from the wiper made me look up while I was putting on the seat belt. It sounded like the wiper was rubbed against a sheet of coarse sandpaper. The windscreen was still completed blurred, unfit for driving. I winded down the side windows and reached out to touch the external windscreen.

Ice.

Sua ku asingaporeanson had to deal with it. I had became better in driving since I came to Perth but driving almost blindfolded was still not my level yet. My mind was functioning in the cold winter morning at 4.30 am. I knew pouring boiling water over it would solve the problem. The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I remained steadfast in the driver's seat and chose to annoy my neighbours with a running engine. It took a few minutes but the defogger did the job. It didn't look like a thick layer of ice. So Perth's temperature last night probably dropped to 0 only not too long ago, around 2am perhaps.

While waiting for the defogging to do its magic, I checked the weather. The below screenshot was taken after I reached my destination.

It would be a lovely cold week. The Duchess of the Brook would have screamed and hated it if she was not basking in her factory in the great Singapore heat. I love it. The weather here the moment, I mean. I wish that Perth has 2 Winters, 1 Autumn and 1 Spring. Summer can migrate to Singapore to join his brother for all I care.

I noted whenever my parents returned to Singapore, the weather would change. The last time they went back, Autumn was extended and it started to turn cold only into the mid of June. This time, after a few comfortable cool weeks, it dropped to 1 degrees Celsius the following morning. Such an interesting coincidence.

We are alone again in the cold Winter. For better and worse in different senses. It looked like part of my plans was not going to be feasible. I have to think harder.

While I am not surprised TRS receives lots of threats and warnings on regular basis, MP Zagy's choice to use the state media to give TRS an ultimatum of removing an "inaccurate" online article if they do not produce proof to back up their claims, surprised me. The government has never like online publication websites and they have made no secret about it. Only not too long ago, they seem to refuse to accept the existence of these websites and wish they will go away. So, their mode change from "They-must-not-be-named" to attacking them directly, amused me.

Unfortunately, the government again did not learn an important lesson from online dissent. Every Singaporean can see the government spending a lot of manpower, time and (now) valuable resources to "regulate" these online media with the tax monies that came from the people. They fail to understand that these alternative sources of Singapore tabloids are operating on a simple demand/supply model and will never be completely eliminated. It's not much different to piracy in this sense. Every Singaporean is technically a criminal by being a consumer. Will the government come out with a new policy one day to criminalise anyone who is caught reading "wrong news"? With their directionless scatters these days, expect the incredulous.

MP Zaqy's move peeved me off for some reason. It has nothing to do with TRS or clamping down on online media whatever. I feel really pissed whenever the government demands things from the people. Why did the people of Singapore give them the audacity to do things like that? Whatever that isn't within their own spectrum of truth, they demand for proofs or apologies or retraction. Does this mean truths automatically become lies without evidence? I understand where the government is coming from. It must be frustrating to deal with fabrications, pranks and hoaxes. But that is how the internet has been since day 1 and the government should learn to leave things they way they are and accept the good and bad of the internet. If anything, these disgruntled online chatter serves as a valuable resource to find out how they can dangle the "right carrots" to win back the electoral in a few years' time. Time is running out. Spending time on meaningless battles will only lead them to their demise.

Lastly, I would like to invite Singaporeans to think along the lines of Zaqy Mohamed's demands and apply it for more important issues. For example, we have long demand from the HDB to release the figures of building a HDB flat but we were denied for years. Without proof, how can the government claim our HDB flat pricing is not unfairly manipulated. The details of contract awards to HDB contractors should be made public as well. Without evidence, how can the government claim that none of these transactions are fraudulent? These are public money and we have full rights as citizens of Singapore to know how it is spent right down to the last cent. That goes the same for Temasek & GIC investments, CPF, our reserves and so on.

If history is anything to learn from, the lack of transparency NEVER fail to lead to corruption and frauds. Many years back, when Dr Chee Soon Juan raised the issue of Singapore's secretive US$5 billion loan pledge to Suharto just before the corrupted Indonesia dictator was toppled in May 1998, the PAP took the opportunity  and used the same state media to make Dr Chee look like a lunatic. Till today, many still believe he is one. The most important fact here was nobody asked about that US$5 billion dollars anymore. Our attention had been successfully diverted somewhere else and a political opponent was vanquished with a permanent scar as a 'mad man'. Killing two birds with one stone.

2 decades later, the PAP is still using state media to discredit any voice that questions loud enough. If the PAP believes in telling the truths, producing evidence for every claim and coming clean when a mistake is made, they have a mountain load of work to do to account for Singaporeans who were denied truths for many decades without knowing so. They should be the one taking a step forward to be truthful instead of pointing their fingers at others.

All along I have been hearing statements from Singaporeans along the lines of, "I rather stay in Singapore and be a first class citizen," or "I rather go to X country and be a 2nd class citizen." What the hell is this shit? Who gave us the idea that there are different tiers of citizenship in Singapore? What do you really mean when you declare yourself as a 'first class citizen'? How does it work? Like a caste system?

Tell me, what makes you feel first class as a Singaporean in Singapore? Is it the work environment created by the government? Equal work opportunities, non existing glass ceiling? Preferential treatment by employers? Investment by the government to nurture Singaporeans into top talents? Is it is about living standards? Free open space for citizens to enjoy? A reasonable model of work/life balance? Affordable homes for you and your next generation?

Or is it a combination of both?

Tell me honestly. If you are a Singaporean Chinese, would you mind being a minority race? If you do, why is that so? Deep down we know minority races are marginalized in Singapore but no one will ever admit that. Racial equality is taboo in Singapore. No one is supposed to discuss it. That has been how racial harmony has been achieved, the equilibrium is set by eliminating the matter altogether at the perpetual expense minority groups whenever necessary. Perhaps there isn't a cheaper , better and faster way to do it differently so we simply left it at that. Having said that, our racism issues isn't anywhere near the level in some countries where minority races are being severely ostracized.

The way things are run back home left us ingrained with this perception that is how the rest of the world works. From my personal experience, the people that brought up class concerns to me are dominantly Chinese. Minority folks, from my observation, spend their time worrying about the every other typical issue except being a '2nd class citizen' in the new lands. Perhaps the minority thought that they have nothing to lose. Or simply things couldn't be worse. What made things worse was sterotyping and of course, reading too much Right News. When Singaporeans finally gather enough courage to leap out from the little well, little did they know most of them will find themselves surprised that things are not as bad as they think and the minority realise things are better than they dare hope for.

So we heard phrases like, "I'm sick of running the rat race in Singapore. I'm off to Australia." In case folks that think this way didn't realise, I'll tell you the truth you don't want to hear. You may leave the rat race in Singapore, but you will just end up running the rat race in Australia. On the similar front, you import your so call class level as well. If you think you are being treated as a third class turd in Singapore, you will be treated as a third class turd in Australia.


Just imagine if the fucker Minister decide that his ceiling cleaning days are over and move to Australia, do you think he will be that same 2nd class citizen that you thought you will be here? With the right contacts in the same league of fucker friends here, you can be sure you will not be sitting opposite him drinking cappuccino in your regular Sunday cafe anytime at all. If you have plans for that, I warn you that puking into rivers in WA is illegal. Please bring along bags.

In every society since the history of mankind, there has been a class structure regardless of whichever model of governance it runs on. I am not implying that there isn't a class structure in other countries such as Australia or Canada or the UK, just not the way you think it is. The class barrier in our minds can be easily explained by the overused cliche of "It isn't what you know but who you know." Your so-call class status is correlated with how fast you get around. Anybody will require a great deal of time to learn the new rules of the new land. It is similar to joining a new company. If you could recall the last time you did that, you would remember you struggled a while before (hopefully) establishing yourself as a contributing unit of the company. If you were unable to connect well with your own people in Singapore, you will struggle even more to do so with a different set of people with different lingo, beliefs and culture. That explains why Mr Ceiling Cleaner will do better than you in Australia, even though he has that same Asian skin as you. Many of us would love to think that our fucked up Ministers will never make it elsewhere if they try their luck somewhere else because only the Singapore brand of meritocracy made it possible for them to excel the way they did, career wise. Unfortunately, we would be wrong. These people would still encounter the hard bums, no doubt about it, but they would still get there faster than you would on a faster vehicle.

With that in mind, you will realise that 'class' isn't permanent. It is still well within your hands to reach where you want to be, albeit with a higher level of difficulty as compared to the locals because of their advantage of knowing the rules and building their network way before you came. It just takes longer and it depends on your attitude at the end of the day. If you think it can be done, you are right. If you think it can't, you're right too.

Unless you are moving to a region where praying for rain by performing complex tribal ritual is the only occupation in demand, things still run generally in within a meritocracy framework in most of the countries that Singaporeans want to migrate to. One thing to note, business owners are business owners. While there are some who start business to troll stakeholders, the figures are low. Profit is still the main purpose of any business at the end of the day. Will business owners hire their own kind for the sake of patriotism or mateship? Ask yourself this question and answer that truthfully what you will do if you are Tow Kay in Singapore. Chances are you will end up shedding a few dramatic tears and tell people on government television that you are unable to hire local dishwishers for $3,000 a month to make yourself feel better hire cheap new migrants who can do the job as well, if not better, for $800 a month.

These examples are well and plenty in Australia. Simply do a search and find out how much information you can find about locals being annoyed with both big corporate and small business owners for insisting on employing workers on 457 (work) visa rather than giving them the jobs.

One friendly bro tip for you. If you are still unable to smash this "class" mentality within your thick skull, by all means bring that along with you. But bear in mind, you are not judged on your wealth or what car you drive here. There might be Singaporeans like your ilk who may be impressed but most wouldn't. For all you know, the haul pack driver staying next door may be earning twice as much as you but all he does is to push his lawnmower around his garden during Saturday mornings while you try to grab everyone's attention driving around the neighborhood in your well detailed Porsche. If you are genuinely nice, friendly and helpful to the people around, you will be accepted as part of the community. If you are capable and willing to contribute at work, you will be appreciated. What is the missing "first class" you are asking for?

It was no secret that we made too little preparation before we came to Perth. It was almost like we did it in a fit of indignation or childishness. I received a lot of salutes and paper respect from people of all walks of life via email. Never would I expect foolishness would be respected any day.

But well, talk is cheap. In writing I could give anyone respect. In fact, I could give 5.3 million people on an island respect if I could accumulate enough email addresses in the address book. The same goes for big talkers who tell everyone they pointed their middle fingers at the MP at the coffeeshop the other day but end up throwing their voting slip into the lightning box when the time comes.

There is a very thin line that divides stupidity and bravery. People tend to give respect for both, anyway. There are many slices of secrets that I have never shared in the blog. Perhaps there will be a time to share them, nuggets by nuggets. Like harvesting a fruit, the right time is the key. I might reveal some important details in the years to come but right now they must be kept in the strictest secrecy. But we can talk about trivial things today. Let me share with you a side of the story that you never knew.

When the first thoughts of moving to Perth came about, our mentality was totally different. It was a combination of burnout at work and the increasing discomfort the growing population inflicted on me. There wasn't any real weighing of push/pull factors. Perhaps Jen had her mind set to settle in Australia back then already, if I could remember correctly. My intentions were a lot simpler or even willful, if you prefer.

I was sick of work. That was not the same as being sick of working. I didn't mind work or even hard work any day. Just sick of the way we work, the way we think how work should be done, the way our government think how we should work and why we shouldn't stop. I have been saying a lot on the blog that I am an average Singaporean guy. Perhaps I was never right. The average guy of my age will be mature enough to think of their families and to sacrifice for them by going on and on turning the wheel of life. And there I was, ready to do the opposite.

Even in my thirties, I couldn't give a damn. All I wanted was to take 2 years off and stay in Australia. The plan was just to get by. Pick up any job, picking fruits or whatever, make enough to pay the bills. Doesn't matter if I don't have savings. Then head back to Singapore after 2 years, fulfilling the PR visa extension requirements. Slog three more years in Singapore thereafter and repeat it all over. I didn't think about how many cycles I wanted to do. I never thought that far. I reckoned that by doing so, at the very least, could keep my sanity in order so I could continue to work in Singapore. I thought that perhaps I could even improve my English, or learn to be more at ease interacting with different people all over the world. That couldn't do me any harm in my career pursuit in Singapore, I thought.

Let me confess that there was no lofty dreams like any of the real migrant stories from real people I met here. They are the real heroes that you should be respecting. Any Singaporeans I knew was dead serious in this, with concrete plans and time frame all laid out, when to buy a house etc. Not me. My plan was to pick fruits and nua in Perth. There wasn't an intention to commit, to settle or burn bridges whatsoever. An escapist, as an old friend called me. He wasn't wrong. 

Let me confess that I would definitely have given up on Perth, after hitting enough walls and return to Singapore and tell my friends that Australia is racist, the tax is high and there is bush fire, floods and hailstorm everywhere. I will leave out the shops closing at 5pm of course, because they will never believe I mind that. Have to make it sound convincing at least. I confess I would have given up. I could see that clearly in my crystal ball. I was a through and trough quitter in all sense of the word. Throughout my life, I gave up on all my meaningful pursuits in life, including trying my hand in setting up businesses. I gave up on pursuing meaning relationships at the first sight of failure. I gave up on pursuing a career that I think I deserved and hope that one will land magically at my feet. I knew I would have given up on Perth. It was all in the books. It was written in the stars. It was engraved in my DNA. Just the blog alone, I have quit writing in a scoff three times in the period of 1.5 years. The latest one saw me out of action for around 3 months. That was typically I can give up anything in my life in a split second.

My friends and family would have been puzzled why my stubbornness outlast my little adventure stay in Perth at one stage. "He can't be serious, or is he?" They must have been thinking. Perhaps this is the longest project I have committed myself to in my whole life.

So what went "wrong" with the crystal ball? Please pay your tickets for the next installment (that may never come)

Back in the 1990s, we were very hungry secondary school boys experiencing our mega grow spurts. The problem was we had very little money in the pocket. When one is hungry, the only thing on the mind is filling the stomach and kick the hunger pangs off for a while. Nutrition was the last thing on our minds.

It wasn't that we could get very nutritious food in the hawker centres anyway. That was pretty much what we could afford at best. Those days, I could eat a cheeseburger in two big bites so having a meal in one of those fast food centres was a luxurious thing. Hmm, come to think of it, it still is. Shows how much progress Singapore has brought an average citizen like me after all these decades.

Well back to the hungry boys. We reckoned that instead of grabbing a plate of chicken rice that cost $2.00 back then and ended up half hungry, we should pool all our money to buy steamed buns for $0.30 each. And so we did. We totally cleaned out the entire lot of Char Siew Baos in the Clementi kopi tiam we hang around sometimes. The auntie who served us the massive hill of buns in a tray (no plates fit 'em) gave us the look but did we care? We dug in to our buns buffet cheerily. There was even enough change for drinks.

Since the 1990s, for some reasons, Char Siew Baos in Singapore hawker centres and kopi tiam tasted like crap. Some genius decided to change the meat fillings from pork to chicken. Another lot of assholes switched from proper pork fillings to inferior .... whatever crap is that - a mixture of pure lard and whatever nonsense. It was bad enough that meat fillings was changed. They couldn't even be bothered to maintain the colour and taste of the sauce. These days, I would rather eat combat rations than buying a Char Siew Bao from the steam cabinets of kopitiams. Heck, I would rather eat the Char Siew Baos made from cardboard fillings in China. At least they taste and look right. I wish the greedy merchants behind the fall of great tasting affordable Char Siew Baos for the common folks go to hell.

I had to resort to higher end channels such as Tiong Bahru Baos or Dim Sum places to get a taste of half decent Char Siew Baos. To be honest, even some of these disappointed.

Last night Jen decided to make me some Char Siew Baos on first attempt. Do not be deceived by the very amateurish look (above pic) of the buns. For the average bun skin covered the most divine Char Siew fillings I never had in decades. Before I knew it, I emptied half the tray and 4 of these Char Siew Baos fit for the Gods ended in my stomach.

I went to bed rubbing my tummy with a big smile. Life is going to be great.

Hey Vivian. I am talking to you as a countryman to another. Not a citizen supposedly under your care, or rather the lack of. I don't like to remind myself of your, "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant? retort towards the other Member of Parliament.

I was recommended to watch your recent performance in Parliament and I did. I expected to see a smooth swashbuckling display by Vivian Balakrishnan the slick debater, the David Beckham of Singaporean Politics. You wore a nice suit, unfortunately the slickness ended there. You knew what you did. As a Singaporean, I am sick of your gutter politics. Only an impotent dishonorable man hit below the belt. That is what you are, Vivian. As one of the dirtiest player in the Singapore political scene who specialise in character assasination, it was nauseating to see your hypocrisy in Parliament urging for "clean politics".

Instead of clean politics, I saw a boy scout leader giving a lecture to his freshmen scouts. The Parliament was not your personal camp Vivian. All of us will make mistakes, you said. But when a mistake is made, just come clean and say so... don't cover up, you said. Every dubious act of the PAP such as AIM had been declared legitimate. There was no known mistake committed by the PAP to date. Tell me, has the PAP been covering up every of their mistakes or do you have a different definition of "all of us"?

Walk the talk, Vivian Balakrishnan. Show us your balls.

I met this gentleman some weeks back. As a mountain tortise all my life in Singapore, every individual I met here had been very interesting to me. Jason was exceptionally interesting. He reminded me of an ex polytechnic school mate whom I knew and even worked with throughout the three years but we never talked anything personal before. To put it bluntly, we were never friends. Just like the guy back then, what struck me was the kind of indomitable confidence that he wore as his aura, minus the arrogance. That was the kind of guy who could have nothing but everything.

When he told me he was playing semi professional soccer in Perth, I didn't bat an eyelid. I did when he told me he played as a goalkeeper. When boys were boys, everyone wanted to be the striker. Or at least a scoring midfielder. At worst, a defender who could contribute somewhere, if he was not good enough to be anywhere near the attack. A goalkeeper was NEVER an option.

I didn't tell Jason I began my soccer adventure playing as a goalkeeper. I didn't have the skills with my feet initially so that was the only way I could get involved, rather than not getting a chance to get a look-in at all. I wouldn't say I knew all about goalkeeping but I certainly knew the agonies behind the lonely figure behind the last line of defence. Later on, I moved on to playing as a sweeper in a surprise turn of events which I wouldn't elaborate here and my outfield adventures began there. I ended up playing a striker in my poly days after my teammates found me useful being able to strike impact shots with both feet.

Hmm, sorry for the blabber. My point was, I would expect Jason to be different. Someone created elsewhere, out of the Singapore printing machine. He didn't disappoint me. Every of his worldly views were unconventional (from the typical S) and I lapped up whatever bits of it my goldfish memory could take in. He also shared that he left for Perth 10 days after his wedding. That was certainly a bit worse than myself, returning to work 2 days after my own wedding. A different league really. Throughout the conversation he mentioned his lovely wife [see it for yourself] a lot. It was apparent this couple had a strong relationship. 

They should make very good parents too, since they studied in Nordic parenting style and had first hand experience how things were being ran in places like Finland. Jason took some time elaborating other finer points than what I read here [link] sometime back. I told Jason if Jen and I were never parents, we would never have met in metropolitan Perth as who would know where we wandered to by now. He cited a Swedish couple he met as an example who went nomadic with their little baby, almost nonchalantly. The barrier, in his opinion, was in the mind.

I found myself agreeing with him. After all, I already did that once. I moved to Perth with my wife in her third trimester without a job and knowing a single person here. I couldn't even understand a single word in the conversations on radio though I was supposed to understand English. Such was how unfamiliar I was with Perth and Australia. Since, we moved thrice. Albany adapted to each new place like fish to water. Most, if not all, of the time we parents were the ones resistant to changes, not the little ones we assumed. We thought we were standing within Albany's comfort zone, not realising that it was the other way round.

Where would we be today if we had chosen to give birth to Albany in Singapore? As for Jason, he taught us a very important lesson. 

Nice to "meet" you and thank you for setting up such blog about migration to Australia. A lot of people like me, a lost soul at the moment, really need to refer to experienced migrants like you. Your informative blog is definitely a good reference. Thanks very much for sharing. And I am really glad that I came across your blog while searching for stories of Malaysian or Singaporean residing in Australia.

Let me introduce myself, I am a 40 yr old Malaysian Chinese in the IT line. My family and I was granted the Subclass 175 visa in September 2012. I guess we should be one of those last batches who have been blessed with this visa.

Coincidentally we were expecting our 2nd child at the same time. That made our situation more complicated where we had to decide whether to move to down under to deliver our baby or stay put in KL to deliver the baby and apply for the child migration. 

We made our first entry to Perth in November 2012 and stayed with my aunt for a week to check out for more details such as getting getting information from medicare, DIAC, etc. 

After months of seeking advice from many people young and old, we decided to have the baby born in KL and apply for a child migration later given that we will definitely be under a lot of stress especially for my wife where everything is DIY in Australia. We need time to adapt with such lifestyle hence having a newborn there will further complicate the situation.

Now that our 2nd precious is born, it is time for me to plan the move. But the job market seems to be not promising at the moment. I have been applying for jobs online since last year but so far only ONE pathetic phone interview and ended up unfruitful. I have also used my aunt's address in the CV it does not help in getting the response from the employer or recruitment agent. Out of desperation I have also tried applying jobs in Melbourne and even Adelaide but no good signs so far.

Friends in Australia has also mentioned that job market is rather at the down side given the uncertain economy situation. Hence it is going to be very tough.

I was told that it will be better if I am physically to seek for jobs. But I can not afford to go over without a job secured. I am really caught and really worried as I hope to move over there so that my 5 years old eldest boy can start his primary school there. 

I really salute you our wife for being so brave by moving there without securing a job and you were expecting too!

Really need advice and guidance to brighten the path that I need to take for the sake of my boys' future.

******

Hi M******,

You need to move to Australia in a stipulated time frame. 

You need a job before you can move.  

You were told you have to be here to maximise your chances of finding a job. 

You cannot afford to come but time is running out.