A Singaporean In Australia

Erm. What happened? Sounds like a hype up over a picnic. Apparently there were more than one white Caucasian Australian man unhappy over this, according to reports flying all over the internet from different sources. So an event was organised in a public place. A big carnival-like party with plenty of delicious food but only Asian-looking faces were permitted to enter and seemingly all whites were turned away. Alarm bells went ringing loud and indignant locals were close to making their stale "Fuck off from my land" calls. Singaporeans are racist, so what's new? Only not this time - and the rejected men with bruised egos have to understand.

Let's make a guess who will turn up at a German gala. More white faces than any other colour. A Japanese Kimono Exhibition? More kawaii Japanese girls among the other Japanese wannabes other Asian countries. Anything amiss? If any minority of Australians were expecting something different from a Singaporean Day event and pick a bone out of it. they should calm down and assess the situation rationally.

"Yes," they said. "We understand that a German event will have more German attendees than any other nationalities but they would not turn anyone away like what the Singapore Day event did. That's discrimination!" Unfortunately in reality, most of us would not walk up to a random Saturday picnic group and ask to join in. If we do, we will be very likely to be invited to join in. That is because most people living in Australia, regardless of ethnicity, are nice people. But in such a situation if our request is politely turned down, we shrug and walk away. Why would we think of it as discrimination if there is no racism in a our minds? It takes a racist to recognise another, if you think about it.

Unfortunately, the community who screamed discrimination did not understand the event was a pre-registered one. That is regarded as a ticketed event. You don't expect to be let into a Mexican circus without a ticket and throw your toys out of the pram when you are denied of entry. Yes, one can cry discrimination just because the majority of the attendees munch on nachos and cry, "Tengo sed!" but that's just making a fool of oneself. Bear in mind, there were non-Singaporean Australian Caucasians among the big Singaporean crowd because they were pre-registered (they've got a damn ticket!) as a guest. That actually meant the same people who complained of being turned away would be admitted if they had gotten themselves registered. If they were genuinely interested in our Singapore food and culture as well as meeting Singaporean cuties in the event, it should be fair to expect them to do a simple registeration on the internet. I believe that isn't too much to ask for if they know how much did every Singaporean in Australia had to go through to get us invited to Australia just to work - not party, booze and feast that they relished from the Singapore Day event.

There might be an agenda behind Singapore Day, no doubt. The Singaporean in us know very well the government will not do anything without an agenda but let's not go into that today and focus on one of the main "official" mission of the Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU) for organising Singapore Day. With a core mission of attracting Singaporeans to return to the island to serve the nation once again, tell me, is it fair to say the event will lose its bearing if it admits a melting pot of nationalities into it?

Lastly, the successful Singapore Day was a day-out for overseas Singaporeans who have been yearning for an experience of a single day of the yester-years where Singaporeans made up the majority of the population in their homeland. It was a rare chance for them to congregate with the people, food and culture so close to their hearts. For some, it might even be a one-in-a-lifetime experience. Never again in our homeland. Perhaps never again in Sydney, because of this childish outcry.

With only 2 years in Perth, I know I am not qualified to educate the others but it should be adequate to iron out a few misconceptions. A common folly of a new migrant is to go to a new land with the mindset that people of your same skin colour will give you a helping hand when you need it. Sad to say, that is far from reality. In truth, most members of the yellow skin, even those of your own nationality, will not hesitate to take full advantage of you when you are most vulnerable. Surprisingly I get more leeway dealing with the whites.

I am not trying to put the racism ghost to rest but offering a different perspective about it. Racism exists everywhere, just take a good look at our own backyard. Many Singaporeans do not want to migrate to Australia because we think we will be subjected to racism. I've read similar remarks of different variations from Singaporeans on the net so many times. They all meant the same thing. We have a irrational fear of racism because we live in an environment where we abuse foreigners in our country on regularly basis, in the mind or in whispers if not in open. We call them names. I don't need to spell them out. Sentiments and stereotyping against nationalities used to be a covert hush-hushs because Singaporeans are naturally not used to expressing their real opinions, though we have taken spiteful racist battles to the internet. Perhaps in the near future we will evolve to become the same confrontational racism monsters that we are so afraid of.

We were introduced to a Singaporean landlord sometime back when we were desperately looking for a new place to lease. You would have thought meeting a countryman was lucky because it would tilt their rough tide in your favour for once. You would have think a Singaporean couple with kids would be able to reasonate and be emphatic towards the struggles of a younger couple with a 1 year old baby. No. We didn't get win the lease despite displaying proof of employment and other what-nots. Perhaps we would, if we offered an unethical under-table higher offer than the advertised. Business is business.

When I was still struggling to cope with the culture shock in the earliest days, as evident in the posts at the start of this blog, I couldn't forget how my fears were melted piece by piece after meeting a stranger on the street for offering help in navigation (observing that we looked lost) and friendliness of the people here. If there were disdain towards yellow skinned foreigners like us, they hid their sentiments really well.

A week ago, I was at the packaging warehouse to replenish supplies for the factory. After placing my orders, I pointed at a box of nails and asked the old Aussie guy serving me if they were for sale as I needed some. He laughed and told me actually those were for their own consumption but asked me to help myself to handful. Naturally, I stood frozen like any paiseh Singaporean but he grabbed a generous handful and filled both my hands with nails. I thanked him and felt good. Mind you, I didn't feel happy because I got some freebies. I am no cheapo and my company was the beneficiary, not me. What made my day was the attitude and small talks we had throughout the buying experience. Perhaps you would account that to good customer service or even good luck. Fair enough. At least these are better experiences than patronising oriental stalls supposedly ran by Singaporeans or Malaysians, who don't even bother to greet you so long you flash the right notes and fuck off. 

My boss, who picked and sent me to work everyday after my car accident. He didn't have to, he's only my boss not my friend. You may think he did that because I was an important member of the company. No, he did that again this morning when one of our workers got into a nasty car accident. He also ferried the worker to medical appointments when he had a bad ankle sprain a few weeks before. You could attribute that to a good employer. But during our BBQ sessions, he was often on the pit and served us eggs he cooked personally. He even picked and sent me to work everyday after my car accident last year. He didn't have to, he's only my boss not my friend. I think even professionalism has its limits when it comes to racism.

How about white neighbours coming around the house of the yellow to look at her water pump that stopped working? It happened to a personal friend. Or my ex-supervisor who lent me his guitar unconditionally. Don't get me wrong. I am not sucking white dicks just because I had a few good stories to share. We met our fair share of nasty experiences. In my previous rental places, we got a good telling off a few times because our visitors parked their car right in front of their garage driveway. It was easy to scream racism because the person was white and was being nasty but we were in the wrong. She accepted our cakes as an apology a few days later.

It's not uncommon yellow get all kinds of comments during a shouting match with a white. "Go back to where you come from, yellow," will simply get a return like, "Go back to the hole you came from then, white." No hard feelings. In a dispute, both parties hate so the content of such discussions is  irrelevant and should not be taken too seriously.

What I was trying to convey was that there are good people and bad scums around, regardless of skin colour. The couple who took me in, provided me a hot bath and fed me when I got myself locked out, was Singaporean. So were my second landlord, who was kind enough to let me stay with my newborn until I found a better place. My first landlady was Malaysian and she was as kind as Spring. The Indonesian who taught me a few "life hacks", the Afghani who shares with me cooking tips. There are good yellows among the grouchy, money-faced, conceited, stuck ups and those who think you owe them a living. The same for the whites, really. We are just a pile of thrash in a common bin.

When we were young, some memories seemed to vanish mysterious into a black hole. some of us would hardly remember we even existed before a certain age, like as if the brain performed a system shut down on those particular blocks of memory. Then there would be segments of our lives we remembered every single vivid detail for or against our will. Up till today, scientists are unable to explain the mysteries of the human brain.

There was a particular party I would never forget. It was a gathering at a distant relative's house we called Auntie Chong. It was probably one of the very few landed properties I ever set foot on in Singapore. The gathering was for the grown ups. We had no business to be there but We were because we had to. Soon children roamed around the place, exploring it like a dungeon. Every corner was an inspiration, discovery and the curiosity.

Every adventurer gets thirsty. So when I found myself alone in the kitchen with a large mug of iced Sprite, I helped myself to it. After I downed the entire contents, I grinned idiotically and thought to myself, "Forbidden goods are always the best." Sneaky little bastard. I soon got busted because I began to go on a rampage of irrational rants, bugging my mum to take the taxi (was a luxury to our family back then) for a 200m outside when the group decided to head somewhere else. My face was as red as Brother Love of WWF in the olden days. It was then the adults realised I drank a cocktail with high alcohol content by mistake. Thus incident remained the only time I got drunk in my life. 

I was 4 years old. Never again.

That lesson probably saved me from any remote chance I would turn alcoholic in later life but at the cost of a partially fried brain for me to live the rest of the life. I might be a genius if that didn't happen but look at me now. Let this be a lesson to your kids. Feel free to forward this to educate people what not to do with bad drinks. I went on and on didn't it? I was actually meant to share the other one of the two vivid memories of that event.

Ok the dog.

Auntie Chong had a big dog. I know everything looks big for a 4-year old but that was a big dog by all standards. I didn't remember how my sisters and the other children (if any) were scared. I was terrified with the sight of it approaching me. He could probably bite off my miserable head (both) if he wanted to. Auntie Chong quickly stepped in and taught us the secret. The great beast could be resisted if the magical words were called out. "Friend" and "Out".

The sorceress was right. The spell worked like a charm. Since I didn't regard big beast as a friend, I began to bark around like a dog myself, "Out! Out!" to fend off his licky attacks. I was afraid of dogs and if I could remember correctly, most children were during those days. Dare challenges related to patting a dog was common among the kids in school. How we broke into mad laughter at the sight of a failed challenger turning tails at the last minute to run for his life.

Who can imagine we would have an affinity with dogs later on? When I was 7 years old, our first dog joined the family in our small 3 room flat. Our family would have been owners to 3 dogs in the next 25 years. The last dog who left us, our gutsy JRT, died a few months shortly after I came to Perth. It remained one of my haunting regrets of leaving Singapore at the back of my mind, a memory valve that my brain will never close to remind me I left behind my closest friend in pursuit of my selfish goals. Till today, whenever I thought about the crazy memories with the Chocolate, I would shed a quiet tear.

Is favour or prejudice hereditary? I believe it may be possible. For I noticed little Albany, who has not turned 2 yet, has no fear towards dogs be it big or small dogs, plain or patchy whereas her self declared dog lover father fled for his balls when he saw a dog at twice Albany's age.  She wouldn't have known Jen and I love dogs nor there was any possibility she had been emulating her parents because we had no interactions with dogs since we came here.

I want a dog. I need land.

My friend TT sent me a photograph of Singaporean parents burning books with their kids to celebrate the end of their painful PSLE exams, which marked the end of their excruciating quest for certification.

It sparked a debate on and offline, as fiery as the impressive bonfire the folks managed with mere assessment books as shown on the picture above.

The me in Perth is as slow to comment as usual, only when everyone has left the hall, leaving their used tissue paper and mineral water bottles on the floor. The case of the moral high grounders will be for the sacredness of knowledge, books being the temple. So it seems really disrespectful to use them as campfire fuel. There is the rational camp which noted the symbolic nature of our educational system, which is to study for the paper and not to learn. Then we have the "chill" yuppies who "cool" stuff like YOLO who'll dismiss such antics as simply acts of fun. Chill bro. Yeah. Cool is not cool enough for chill bandwagoners. What's next? Freeze? Yo bro, you need a freezie, yo.  tmd. Damn irritating.

I see some wrong in burning books but for practical reasons such fueling the already bad air quality in Singapore and that books can be recycled for better use, for we know that Singaporean folks turns up to fairs in Mercedes to grab second hand books meant for the poor. So we can conclude that books are precious commodities indeed. So why burn?

Face it. Children want to burn books all the time. I was one of them. More about that later. Parents should know if their children want to burn books, they will do so with or without their permissions. It is difficult for a parent to coax their children in keeping books stained with their drool during their midnight oil burning sessions. Space is one realistic constraints for those who live in HDB flats. It is impossible to convince children to keep anyway. All the kids have to do is to ask the parents if they have seen any kungfu master fighting and referring to their kungfu manual at the same time. By right, kids should have accumulated enough knowledge to graduate from Primary so much as they don't need the books anymore. 

By right. By left, they burn books and cannot apply their masterful exam performance to the harsh realities of life. So if we can't stop them from keeping books, then throw or donate, why burn? Again, you can never be sure if the books land in correct hands even if the kids leave the house with innocent watery eyes. They can still very well burn them with their friends. If you think it is appropriate for parents to accompany kids of that age to every single task, you might not be minority by now and that depicts why one of the columns of the nation is falling. So these parents are probably resigned to the flaming end of the faithful books and decided that it was better to join them if they couldn't stop them. 

It's difficult to judge if that is setting a bad example or parents putting in an effort to communicate with their kids. You know the times where you'll die if your parents turn up at your gaming session with friends because they'll start asking stupid questions like, "What does leet means?" or "What do you mean by ebay zerg inc to briar?" Some parents want to be relevant to their kids, to be involved with their thinking (even if they are bad) so that they can understand and try to find other means to explain the morality of issues to their kids. I am only assuming these as intentions of those parents involved. It beats leaving their kids to surrogate mothers. ("Maria! Dashiel wants to burn books! Bring him down and burn with him!)

I always wanted to burn books as a kid and that thought followed me to my teenage. Alas, no friends wanted to join me. We might very well be arrested by burning down the Parliament House by mistake in a burn-books-outside-the-Parliament-House escapade gone wrong so fortunately I was surrounded by law-abiding nice buddies who helped me dodge the bullet. I understand that mentality perfectly because I was one of the unintended bad products of our educational system. I didn't pay attention in school, skip my entire third year in University but even escaped with a second class honors where many of my comrades died in battle. I spotted questions like how my dad shades his toto ticket and got my calculated gambles right. I passed the exams but failed in education and hated the physical subjects that put me through the ordeal.

So I grew up with little knowledge and I am not street smart enough to apply whatever bits left to good use. Hey, presto, the failed Singaporean!  I only realise my folly in later life but the real precious commodity time, not books nor knowledge, is lost forever. What methods can my parents help by instilling the right mindset into the mind of a child too dense to understand back then? That is one question parents should be asking themselves today.

Thankfully, Singapore does not have a childbirth problem in the opposite direction. Else, we can expect genius MP Lee Bee Wah to regulate the problem by enforcing a licence must be obtained before anyone can have sex. Before that, she'll ensure every cyclist to get a licence before they can cycle on Singapore roads. [link]

Mind you, that is not a bad idea but that depends on which side you are standing on. Her colleagues will love her, for they are struggling with revenue raising ideas after the casino. "What else, what else ah?" Everyone has been walking in circles during their PAP meetings, except for PM Lee of course, who bumps his head into walls before he can complete a circle. So when Lee Bee Wah came out with this idea, she received her rightful adulation from her colleagues and went home with a equivalence to the Man of the Match (MOTM) or  Most Valuable Player (MVP) that soccer and basketball players receive respectively for their outstanding performances. That is of course, the Creative Unison Notion Trophy (CUNT). Oh she'll relish such prestige.

Really, if anyone is concerned about safety enough to invoke the ridiculous, one will wonder why our traffic police does not install a speed camera at every single lamp post in Singapore. When every drivers knows there is no way to get away with speeding, they stop speeding altogether or risk a imminent revoke. With speeding totally eliminated, it will prove what they advocate: "Regulate speeding for everyone's safety" is right. Or not. So why won't our government do it? Well if they do that, the number of speeding offenders will be drastically reduced and that translates to a dive in revenue collection. Challenge this.

So what is stronger underlying purpose of implementing cycling licensing other that revenue raising? The government can show Singaporeans the rising statistics of cycling accidents if they want to but that doesn't take away the fact that more accidents will happen when there are more cyclist and our population density has spiked. Common sense. Recently my neighbour got a big bruise after an unprecedented  incident of being knocked to the floor by a stranger on the street. As far as I know, she has never been floored during a stroll in her entire life thus far. Wonder if that warrant a call to implement a licence for safe walking?

Lee Bee Wah's genius opens up an wide array of possibilities for the PAP government.

- COE for bicycle. Different categories for children BMX, adult Mountain bike and Road bicycles and elderly Wheel chairs and parent baby strollers. NTUC trolleys are exempted.

- All vehicles must be installed with a IU and ERP is payable when any cyclist puffed pass the new cycling path abutt all roads with an adjacent ERP gantry. No ERP for cyclist after 12am

- All cyclist must go through 30 cycling lessons before they can take the practical test. Lessons will include a circuit training where cyclist learners will go through daily difficulties such as how not to roll back on a slope and perform parallel parking with or without striped poles.

- All cyclist will be receive a complimentary cycling water bottle that cost the Tax Funded Government Cycling School $100 bucks each, supplied by a mysterious company called HIT because no other vendors bid for the tender.

- The school will be headed by an ex-military general of course, because no one can ride a bicycle better than an army general.

- License will be renewed annually but only after the cyclist pays their cycling track tax

- Bicycles are only allowed to be parked at home or at designated parking post for a low charge of $10 a month. Sheltered parking is available for $20 a month. No parking in HDB corridor or void deck or other unauthorized area because if it is a fire hazard or it does not promote integration with foreigners. Or whatever they can think of.

- Insurance for cycling is mandatory. Only preferred vendors allowed to offer.

- All bicycles must go through an annual vehicle inspection for safety. Only preferred vendors are allowed to certify.

The possibilities are limitless for the PAP. Can you help them think of more?

So do I have to write about mundane stuff? Yes. This will be one of those boring time wasters Jan the nurse honestly told me about. Life in Perth may be incredibly boring to many Singaporeans. (She actually said this blog is boring, not Perth, but I am conveniently pushing the blame as you can see)

Every Singaporean brought up in a city environment so it is common to find many turning their nose to the idea Perth living. One of the reasons is convenience. We have the convenience in so many aspects of life that you can only imagine in Perth. In Singapore, we can get what we want in easily and quickly. Food, clothes, tools, sex, entertainment, amenities and covered linkways, you name it. If we are given most if not all basic material wants that a human being can ask for, is there even a right for a Singaporean to feel unhappy? Probably not but it isn't difficult to understand why if you buy into the concept of the law of diminishing marginal utility.

One of the benefits of living a life out of the country after decades of societal conformity is that you get a 'utility reset'. So when ducks waddled into a workshop where they have no business to be, it was delightful for a city-bumpkin from Singapore. But if they do that often enough, especially when they start to stealing his lunch during his toils, you can be sure he will soon be throwing a crowbar towards them to convert them into lunch instead.

If you have a sense of humor and a easy-going personality to be able to grin it out with your spouse through bad experiences that you will never experience in Singapore, such as train breakdowns, you will find the flip sides easy to tide over. If you hug each other like frightened monkeys when you experienced your first storm or play hide and seek when there is a blackout in the evening, those will be part of your fond memories when you look back one day. It's fun to reminisce and laugh about it. On the other hand, it is hard to explain why most of us will feel extremely pissed off when stuff like that happen in Singapore. 

Flip sides aside, the nice part comes when you experience the delightful nuggets of life there. I can't understand why it is so easy to feel relaxed or happy at the slightest things there while a shower of blessings in Singapore couldn't keep the grouch away. Perhaps it makes a difference being in an environment where there is a wide diversity of what people want in life. It feels like a parallel world, at least for the first 5 years maybe until the law of diminishing marginal utility catches up or the environment regress to a similar state where you came from.


It needn't to be a so call "First World" country. I believe we'll find happiness, probably even much so in "Third World" countries. It is very difficult to resonate with this. Trust me, I know because if I will not recognise myself if someone time-travel backwards and show the old me what I wrote 5 years into the future.

The most highly paid Prime Minister has a warning to the world. Make sure you alert all your friends because that must be really important.

According to the Prime Minister, addressing reporters in Bali, financial markets could head into uncharted waters if the US defaults on its debts.

Good warning hor? US$16.7 trillion debt. An impending unprecedented debt default. So global financial markets will head into uncharted waters. In local terms, if Ah Kow have been borrowing from loan shark Teck Huat for the past 30 years without missing a payment until Teck Huat can even lend Ah Kow via GIRO or SMS, then if Ah Kow decide to default on his loans, Teck Huat jialat liao. Wisdom of a genius. Prime Minister Lee should get a nomination for the Economics Nobel Prize Award. Heck, screw the nominations, just give it to the man.

I wonder who didn't see it coming. The US debts hit US$16.7 trillion back in May. That's US$16,000,000,000,000. If the US is charged just 1% (which we know it's way higher) interest on their debt, that will be US$160 billion per annum for interests alone. The last US President that saw a budget surplus in a single work year was Bill Clinton in 2001, who saw the US to a US$128 billion surplus. Every single year since then, the US chalked up amounts in billions of deficits each year.

To put it in simpler terms, the answer could be found in a your primary school problem sums. A man earns $1000, spends $1200 each year and has a current debt of $10,000 on an interest rate of 3%, how many years will he take to repay his debts?

Sadly, reverse compounding is a bitch. With that against you, no one can bite off more than they can chew, not even a big mouth like the US of A. With a US$8 trillion debt in 2003, they managed to double it within 10 years. 

It also took them 10 years to double their debt from US$4 trillion in 1993 to US$8 trillion in 2003.

So with a debt of US$16.7 trillion in 2013, how much will they owe the world in 2023?

It's not going to be pretty but the USA is bankrupt, as far as I'm concern and they are going to be owned by their creditors once everyone loses their patience in their ponzi scheme. How ironic, considering how often the USA conquer peace keep the other countries. that happen to have oil in their backyard. Poetic justice perhaps.

So our dear leader is still pondering if the US will default or not. Thanks for the insight man, PM Lee. It looks like Singapore is going to into uncharted waters on his wife's mahjong table in near future. Singaporeans are so lucky.

Waaaah. So Australia has a new breed of rich people and they are the "blue collar" workers aka tradies, according to this article [link]

Hold it, hold it, Singaporeans, if you are thinking of packing your bags and head south to clear someone's toilet or prune gardens to get rich, stay put and stand up for Singapore.

First, if money is your sole reason for moving to Australia, you should shelf your plans because Australia can offer you much a higher level in other aspects of life but not money. You will probably be better off doing what you are doing in Singapore.

Second, you can actually get rich in both Singapore or Australia but you will never get rich working for others. Fact. 

It looks like it isn't a disease exceptional to Singapore journalists only. Our friend here started his article with a bold headline suggesting that tradies in Australia are the new rich. Lower down the article, he stated that according to a report (wow he has a report), blue collar workers earn an average of A$1229 a week. Ok, so if that is the new definition of rich, I hereby announce proudly that I am really close to being rich. Wow, it feels good to achieve something most of us wanted to do. Only that the taxman takes away money each week, leaving rich men like us about A$1,000 to pay the mortgage or rental, which ranges from A$300 to the limits of the sky, A$50 or so on fuel if we are not driving under-utilized powerful petroloilic, A$100-$200 on groceries and entertainment if we are not alcoholics or druggies. So what does that leave us? Rich? Fucking shit journalist.

I am working towards being ultra rich then.

I met the young and pretty nurse who came around the same time as me to Perth last night over dinner. It's interesting to note I knew all but one nurse in my entire Singapore life but since I left, I got to know 5 more somewhere out there. Grace . WD . CK . Ling . Jan. What do they have in common? They are Singaporeans, working overseas and doing nursing as their profession.

What profession? Our Population White Paper blatantly stated nursing as a low skilled job. After the dismay cries of our indignant angels in white, Teo "What do you think?" Chee Hean apologized and informed the public that was an error and had been since amended. 

I wonder how many Singaporean nurses actually felt better for that. They can call them Angels of Love if you want to, but that meant nothing if the general sentiments and vibes towards the profession is at a noxious state where nurses are regarded as our domestic foreign maids - but in uniform. 

I supposed enlightened nurses should know by now, the amending of a word does nothing for them. If I insist on any of the 5 nurses to get back working in Singapore as a "highly skilled" nurse, I would have two syringes shoved up my nose and its mysterious content shot up to fry my brains in seconds. I suppose you can ask Winking Doll [link] our hot Singapore nurse blogger working in Canada how she compares the working conditions in a Singapore hospital to a Canadian one. As it seemed, it was dire enough in Singapore to motivate our family friend, Grace, to leave Singapore at a young age all alone to pursue her passion in Perth. CK described leaving Singapore nursing as crawling out of a human discharge sewage.

I am not sure how many Singapore nurses have smashed their oximeters on the ground and tell Singapore to shove it. I'll not be surprised if the figures are high as compared to other professions. They will because they can and because we make them. Printing out the truth (not that they are low skilled but how lowly Singapore regards nursing) probably snapped plenty of last straws among the nurses who have been motivating themselves with delusions till then.

So Singaporeans should be contented to be nursed by Pinoys. If we are not happy about it, always remind ourselves that it's our own bloody fault that the young does not take up the profession anymore and many established left the industry or continue in another country that respect them. As far as I know, our Pinoy friends are silently plotting an escape route using nursing experience in Singapore as a platform. It is sad the situation in Singapore has reduced to such a sorry state, devoid of passion, loyalty and a sense of belonging.

Meanwhile CK has put it appropriately. Nursing is the passport to the world. That was why people such as Ling and himself initiated a mid-career change, got themselves through the baptism of fire before earning their angel wings to fly them to a place where they will be happy to serve their noble cause. Singapore's loss, really - no matter how many foreigners you can import to replace them.

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Hello J******,