blogs on singapore
I am one of those relatively contented and unquestioning singaporeans who live my life on a day to day basis. I was completely ignorant and uninterested in the politics here out of helplessness. It seems like an established fact ingrained in me since young that the ruling party will always be PAP. With each successive elections and with surrounding controversies of how some of these elections are won, I figured I have better things to concern myself with.A few years ago, I participated in an overseas exchange program and it was here that I was first faced with supposedly disturbing questions regarding Singapore. There was this Finnish guy who relentlessly asked me about the style of governance, the human rights issue, all the way to the ban on chewing gum. And of course like any law-abiding country-loving citizen, i gave him all the typical answers.. like you know, caning is fine, so is capital punishment, marijuana is evil, its ok if we don really have freedom of speech i mean after all, look how well Singapore is doing?? In my heart i knew that these were rather superficial answers and answers that I personally don't believe in anyway. (right, he must have been thinking what a dimwit i was. i mean, one of those brainwashed citizens i suppose). But those talks with him got me thinking hard, reading and searching a lot. Reading on what people write about Singapore. I ventured beyond mrbrown -- who was, i felt more of a harmless writer, sometimes funny to the point that i never took him that seriously. I subscribed to various newsgroup which told me more than the government-controlled-media will ever report on. Then, blogs became the next rage on the internet. There are so many blogs around these days that its almost impossible to read them all. Some of these are really well written, well thought out articles about recent/on-going issues in singapore here, here, and here). Even Philip Yeo is participating in some of them! here and here
Brain drain: sighs, i guess there are always those who want to leave, and some who will want to stay or return someday. Regardless of "rootedness" or whatever. Singapore is a fast changing place, all i did was leave for a mere 6 months and when i came back, many places looked different. On leaving, when i was in my 1st year as an undergraduate, i was shocked to learn that some of my friends were soo keen to leave singapore! Maybe i was the young starry eyed kid back then, thinking that singapore is the perfect place to be in, but anyway, hearing what my friends (older guys who have been to NS) had to say about
Singapore really should treat its own people better. Like appreciate them more. I'd been brought up by my mum telling me of the huge amounts of money i'll earn when i get a degree... which obviously, i'd found out the hard way, isn't true. Entry level pays little, despite how specialize skills are required. Despite the life science boom, i was truly underpaid for over a year. Thats very depressing -- i think thats a phase that many graduates go through. I feel that many of my friends are not happy with their earnings/take-home (take paying off tuition loans into account and other watever) and somehow disillusioned We go through that.
At the end of the day, maybe i am just not one of those talented individuals who deserved more.
me leaving singapore isn't going to be a significant lose anyway. i am glad i'm leaving. Not because of how under-appreciated i feel here, but rather, life here just isn't comfortable enough to make me stay. You know, if life here is all cushy and comfortable, people won't really want to leave. After all, this is a clean and safe place to live in -- if you can afford it of course!
posted by eline @ 4:02 PM
Comments: 1
