Anon on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:21 am 

bravo! thank you for echoing our sentiments. it’s good to know that ex-singaporeans like you still care for us.

Time for Change on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:26 am 

I believe we need more ex-Singaporeans to speak up. They have to tell the world what shitty leader we have and how they have made our lives miserable.

Anyway, this will all change after the next elections.

luke on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:38 am 

What to do dude, every Singaporean is happy shopping and eating. Who cares about politics. Those difficult jobs leave it to the FTs – oh wait, FTs are here to make money not play politics.

XiSd Tay on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:45 am 

HOPEFULLY Sinkaporeans have woken up and changes is forthcoming in the coming Election or there will no longer be a 2nd Chance for changes, considering the massive influx of New Citizens being ‘bought’ by the PaPies at an alarming rate.

Give the PaPies another 4 years and New Citizens will outnumber True Blue Sinkaporeans by a mile.

gargle on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:49 am 

Mr Cheong,

You have my full support. Those who critisized you don’t realised how brave your are to go against PAP. Think about itm if a s’porean were to critisze PAP, he would be thrown in jail!!!

Adrianc on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 9:08 am 

I sympathise with Cheong’s friend and if all is true then government should be made responsible and accountable to look into the matter, perhaps to learn from other countrie’s model as we previously have, I agree a strong and firm message must be carry across, however, to vote off PAPies in the next election come across to me as a penalty rather then a real attempt to the problem, and I am sure many other pending issues….
I am in total agreement that the recent influx of Chinese and Indian have not been properly intergrated into the community, the root cause I believe does not lie only with ICA, but the demand for cheaper workforce… as a whole.
As a result of being Pro Business?

Alan Wong on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:03 am 

“Singapore, on the other hand, took in more than one million PRs in the last few years mainly from China and India.”

Presumably, I assume the majority being Chinese and Indians.

But I just wonder how many Malays from Indonesia or Malaysia are being offered PR in Singapore. If it is negligible, is it fair to expand the other races at the expense of the Malay race in Singapore or is it a taboo question that should not be questioned in the first place.

Our Singapore govt, which takes pride in being a fair champion of all the major races in Singapore, should present the hard statistics to allear the fears of the Malay population that they are and will not be sidelined in any of our immigration policies in attracting foreign talent from other countries.

Alan Wong on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:16 am 

Just to add :

Since they already have a racial quota for residents in our public housing, should they also not be consistent in having a similar quota for our immigration policies so as not to upset our current racial harmony ?

Or otherwise the Malay HDB residents end up having difficulty in finding the enough immigrants to buy over their existing HDB flat because of the racial quota and be left out of the money making cycle in the resale of HDB flats ?

Or that our PAP Govt did not take proper care of our Malay residents ? Some food for thought.

How Can ?? on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:41 am 

Dear Mr Cheong.

You wrote an excellent, fair, well-balanced article on the way things are happening in Singapore today and I, for one, couldn’t agree more with all the points / problems / issues you raised in your article on Singapore.

For clarification, I am not one of those die hard opposition supporters and had voted PAP all my life. I admired LKY and what the PAP had done for Singapore… but, sad to say it, not anymore. Sites like TR and TOC have opened my eyes to the facade that is Singapore, and quite frankly, I don’t like what I see of it anymore.

Every point you made in your article hits the nail on the head and expresses exactly the way I feel about Singapore and the PAP Government today.

I don’t think I am alone in feeling that it is time to give the opposition party a chance in the next parliament because the trust / mandate we so blindly gave to the PAP have been misplaced and abused.

wat? on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 11:33 am 

to those said that you cannot speak up because you have become a citizen of another country..think about it. the old man says the exact same thing as you.

wat? on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 11:35 am 

on top of that.. he also says you cannot speak up since you are not in politics. you also cannot speak up since you are not running the country. and also cannot speak up since you don’t know anything.

get the gist?

cy on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:13 pm 

老舍《茶馆》
我爱我们的国家，可是谁来爱我呢?

reader on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:21 pm 

Dear Alan Wong:

You mentioned the issue of HDB racial quotas vs immigration quotas.

To my knowledge, the HDB quotas exist to prevent minorities from forming their little enclaves in only 1 or 2 estates. This will help in racial integration, and of course, in controlling the Malay community from a political point of view.

The HDB quotas are not there to maintain the relative proportions of the races. Hence using the same line of reasoning, PAP will not enforce immigration quotas.

However interestingly, the new immigrants are starting to form their own little enclaves, and nothing has been done to address this yet. However, our beloved govt already has a solution to this problem.

Simply keep pumping in immigrants until they outnumber the local population. When more than half of the island is populated by immigrants, how can we describe their residences as “little enclaves” anymore? Simply brilliant. Long live PAP!

Roy on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:35 pm 

While we are grateful to the PAP for what they have done so far for the country’s development, it is still very important to evaluate the party’s performance carefully; because past results are usually not indicative of future performance.

Unfortunately, many people hold a romanticised view of this relationship. They believe that the PAP will always come through and do good for the country, because “they have done so in the past”. These same people turn a blind eye to bad decisions, such as the one to dump money to re-brand Marina Bay to “Marina Bay”.

As a country, we need to wake up our ideas, and keep a closer eye on the government. For when they make bad decisions, our country, and our people are the ones who have to pick up the pieces. Why not minimise that with a good dose of active citizenry?

John on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:46 pm 

“In Canada new immigrants are given free lessons in English or French to assimilate into the Canadian society.” Didn’t I read an article on Temasek Review condemning the government for doing exactly the same thing in Singapore? So is that good or not? Basically you want to be well treated as an immigrant in Canada but you don’t want immigrants to be well treated in Singapore…

btan on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:47 pm 

I believe anyone here should they decide to emigrate, will still have Singapore in their heart.

You just can’t buy that kind of loyalty or sentimentality with foreigners and imported citizens.

Anonymous on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 3:29 pm 

Ex-Singaporeans are likely to have siblings and relatives in Singapore, so the residual loyalty is there. They have nothing to gain if this place disintegrated and nothing to lose if this place progress wonderfully. THERE ARE ALREADY FOREIGNERS AND NO MEANS OF COMING BACK.

Foreign PRs and visitors have loyalty elsewhere ( you see that from recent experience of foreign humiliation of our national identity recently) – their credibility of words needs closer scrutiny for substance and vested interest.

Ex-Singaporeans are NOT contrained by the need for political correctness nor intimidated by oppression of political thoughts, so you can count on them for objectivity and a perspective of COMPARATIVE real life overseas experience locals would NOT have.

Neil Bishop on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 4:09 pm 

Singaporeans should be open to advice from anyone. The country is going backwards thanks to a sclerotic ruling party that is more interested in making and perpetuating the Great Leader/Dear Leader myth than it is about preparing the country for the 21st century and which simply refuses to be accountable for its performance (and, as a result, people still think it is doing a good job).

Listen to those who escaped. They’ve got the freedom now to say the things other Singaporeans need to hear.

Sg Observer on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 5:44 pm 

Uncle Cheong:

Though u are in canada, have lived and still living a great an exciting life breathing in free air, feel touched that u are still concern about those who are still stuck here in this paradise for the rich and elites..

U took great length to write all these because u still care, otherwise u could have just kept mum and live your own life ..

Am i not right ? Thank you for all the wake up calls !!!!

Charles Stewart Lee on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 6:44 pm 

Canada sounds a lot fairer than Western Australia.

Charles Stewart Lee on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 6:53 pm 

Representation in Australia of non-Caucasians in top positions………just above 0%
Free English lessons for new citizens………you must be dreaming!

Canada sounds like a meritocracy unlike this place down under.
Apparently WA has the largest Singaporean Diaspora in the world. Apparently, 30 000 in a population of 2.2 mil, but in 25 yrs, I’ve hardly seen many at all.

Thanks for writing this in Mr. Cheong.
Its opened a new page of possibilities for me.

Syed on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 7:35 pm 

well said…we’r 2nd class no doubt

Damon Yeo on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 7:53 pm 

Good reply.
I have never been to Canada but from what I heard I am very sure you are correct.

Exposer on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 8:36 pm 

Uncle Cheong,

seem like you manage to bring some gullible Singaporeans here down to earth again …

Keep up the good comment and insight. Canada will be proud of citizen like you, and so are awakened-Singaporeans.

Cheong Wing Lee on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:19 pm 

The big difference between raising your kids in Singapore and in Canada is that in Canada children are simply free to be children. They play, they study and work according to their natural abilities. The brightness, the normal and the mentally challenged children are all in the same class.

Yes, the mentally challenged kids get retained if they do not perform well but the important thing is the children get exposed to the real world that there are people who are less fortunate and needed help. They do not grow up to despise the physically or mentally handicapped or the slow learners. They are brought up to accept that there are varieties and differences in our world. They do not draw a battle line once they encountered difference. Differences in opinions are to be debated fairly and gentlemanly and not tearing at each others throats or be thrown in jails.

Most of the children take a year or two off their university studies to travel the world. All my three children took a year off to backpack around the world. My daughter spent a
year backpacking in Australia two years ago. She bought a used car and drove from north to south, west to east. My relatives in Singapore thought I was mad to allow her to waste a year and she may be judged as a slow learner. That is the big difference – the parents selfish ego over their kids’ well being. In doing so, robbed the children of one of the happiest
time of their life – the childhood days.

The above was written to show the importance in sharing of experience. Is it fair to deny me the rights to inform my friends and relatives in Singapore just because
I am an ex-Singaporean living in Canada? It is sad to see so many Singaporeans are just frogs in a well and living in denials.

x12831 on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:23 pm 

Cheong’s article hit the nail on its head! There is a greater respect for human dignity in Australia than in Singapore. And one can witness ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom of speech’ in action; and not just some abstract concepts written into the constitution. Singapore is ruled like someone’s personal fiefdom.

poorsg on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 11:55 pm 

bro how u emigrated to canada bro?

Aiden Lang on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 11:56 pm 

I’m a first-gen Chinese-Canadian who’s proud of my country and planning to expand my horizons and see the world and planning to land in Singapore soon.

I’d like to make a second home for myself here to stay and work here for a while and I’ve been reading up everywhere to get a sense on the local news and issues.

From these comments here my plan sounds bleak and I know I must sound like the enemy here, but I would like to weigh in on my view.

I admit I don’t have a great grasp of Singapore’s issue of the influx of foreign talents. but I feel I’ve read enough to feel that while there are some very charged opinions here, it’s that it’s not that foreigners aren’t welcome by native Singaporeans, but that their home is changing very quickly, perhaps too quickly, and threatening a balance to their society.

I’m excited to experience Singapore because I view it in some ways a parallel to my home city of Toronto. Like Toronto, Singapore strikes me as a vibrant multicultural city of many cultures and communities, something Torontonians value as one of our strengths.

Geographically Singapore is in a much more eclectic part of the world, in a perfect place to be exposed to a wide range of cultures with a rich histories.

Perhaps the PAP’s approach needs to refine its immigration policies to target exactly the kind of talent and people Singapore needs to grow but I think Singaporeans should be proud that their city is such a desirable place for people to live in.

I sense a lot of passion about this issue and I hope Singaporeans will find an effective outlet for this energy to find solutions to this problem and bring about positive change working with their government and the political system.

No matter what, Singapore looks to be going through a time of immense change, and I believe many great things can happen its people embrace and seek a role in shaping it.

fpc on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 6:33 am 

//Aiden Lang

//Perhaps the PAP’s approach needs to refine its immigration policies to target exactly the kind of talent and people Singapore needs to grow but I think Singaporeans should be proud that their city is such a desirable place for people to live in.

The fact is S’pore is only good to foreigners like yourself.

That is why many s’poreans are not happy.

The govt policies are not faire nor effective.

You can read the comments here to know why.

Sink-A-Poor on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 7:09 am 

@John on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 2:46 pm:

You still don’t get it, do you?

In Canada, don’t the citizens get more benefits than foreigners? Can you say the same for Singapore? Why are taxpayers’ money being used to help foreigners while needy Singaporeans are being told to fend for themselves?

When you are old & poor, the govt suggests you move to Malaysia & die there. But don’t you worry, it’s just a suggestion.

x12831 on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 8:03 am 

Aiden Lang – Singapore multicultural – perhaps; democractic – no. An one-party state with a ‘first world’ facade. You will be treated better than locals as a ‘foreign talent’. Singaporeans are strangers in their own land. Good luck!

Anonymous on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 8:53 am 

Aiden Lang, Read your post. You are first generation Chinese Canadian. Your thought process is strikingly resembling first generation ABCs (Australian born Chinese). Words that came to your mind like “expanding your horizon”……”a vibrant multicultural city of many cultures and communities”….”to be exposed to a wide range of cultures with a rich histories”…..” Singaporeans will find an effective outlet for this energy to find solutions to this problem and bring about positive change working with their government and the political system”….”many great things can happen its people embrace and seek a role in shaping it.” REFLECT THE MINDSET OF INCLUSIVE AND OPEN SOCIETY WITH ENORMOUS PHYSICAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SPACE you were born in and growing up in.

But the reality in Singapore is VERY DIFFERENT to put it mildly.You should come and experience the cultural shock. You probably have read in TR here that people have been criminally charged for walking in group of 5 or more from one public place to another to “commemorate” (whatever the vaguely that means) any event (which could be a wedding dinner or a funeral). This is true happening of modern highly congested living in “democractic” Singapore but which DOES NOT HAPPENED EVEN IN SELF-CONFESSED COMMUNIST CHINA!! The contradictions in political space must be obvious to the point of diabolical logic of your life experience in Canada which shaped your all encompassing and embracing thoughts of community conciousness, openness of society,the mutual embrace of citizenry and Government in shaping tumultous change. There is very deep and almost unshakable mindset in some portions of Singaporeans of what one foreigner called “herd mentality” which he called “frustratingly stupid” of new questioning of what is happening around (not necessarily of political space) but of social, physical and public life space and behaviour. For someone with intensive and extensive overseas experience, it is frustratingly true as I illustrate of the simple case of documented ciminal charge of “walking in procession” when “procession” is undefined in our statutory law. With such deep, profound and trapped mindset of cultural and political conditioning, it is almost diabolical of logic that we expect to be the innovation centre of universe. The power to be seems to be living in the mythological world that educated men and women should walk on the street unthinking and unconscious of his physical,social and political space and yet when he or she steps into his research laboratory or work setting to be superadded of creative thinking – the way you would walked into an office and switch on the lights and computers to start working on inventions.

IT IS INCOMPRHENSIBLE TO ME OF POSSIBILITY. But having been exposed to western societies, I can see the enormous distance of cultural gaps your mindset has and the reality here in Singapore. I made no judgement that yours is superior or inferior – just the strange contradictions that I find in here.We seems to be stuck in search of conceptual ghosts of truth in democracy, innovation, adapation to change in oblivious displacement of substance of reality. Economic, tehcnology and social change that is going through in this cyberspace is sweeping our societal landscape but the politics remained nailed to the coffin of burial cemetery belonging to the last century of dark oppression of political space pre-dating the cold war era. If you disagree with the the enshrined thoughts of “establishment”, you are left wing, undesirable, dangerous and enemy of the state. The detachment of politics and change in soceity gets wider and wider by the day because technology and globalisation waits for nobody including us. Concepts like Freedom of Information and Charter of Rights in Canada is dangerous things to talk about here.

Welcome to Singapore. You must come live and work here for your own enriched experience to come. You will value Canada a lot more after this. It is not the resume thing but life experience that will make you a very much broaden, culturally aware and globally aware person which must equip you to much greater height of success in your life.

There is an Australian name James Strong, a former CEO of Qantas. He climbed Mt Vinson in Antartica (nobody has done that before or after him) and trekked the dangerous jungle in Papua New Guinea alone (who else has done that?) and now the chairperson-designate of Kathmandu (soon to be listed). The world you live in Canada is open, exploring and discovering. The world you will live in (if you come to Singapore) is a prism of imprisonment of artificiality BUT IS A VERY GOOD LIFE LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

welcome to Singapore!!!! Aiden Lang.

randomnessinmind on Fri, 9th Oct 2009 9:10 am 

Aye, welcome to Singapore. See for yourself what this place is, and hear for yourself what this place is like 10, 20 years ago.

Oh, and if you observe long enough, you might gradually feel and see propaganda on the streets everyday. It’s quite entertaining, really. Cultural mix? Perhaps, perhaps not, simply because everyone of different cultures are more busy surviving and have less time to be bothered with others. I hope you make more friends here, then you might see what Singaporean Culture is.

“Uniquely Singapore”

Aiden Lang on Sat, 10th Oct 2009 12:12 am 

Thanks for your responses and providing me with some clarity. I appreciate it.

I know the online media landscape in Singapore leaves a lot to be desired, and I’m finding only very polarized views. It’s either pro-government media and a kind of reactionary commentary in new media without much range of views in between.

//”Concepts like Freedom of Information and Charter of //Rights in Canada is dangerous things to talk about here.”

Okay, I admit that is a very scary sentence. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been the basis for a lot of social change we’ve experienced in Canada in the past few decades.

To to sum up, I’m hearing that the gov’t has no transparency, no accountability and that there’s no separation of the judicial, legislative and executive branches of the government.

well, I know I’m fortunate to live in Canada. I know there’s a lot of frustration there. But I believe that a lot of creative output comes from times of struggle. I’d like to listen and learn from your stories.

As I said, I hope to find the means to remain in Singapore for a while and I hope to immerse myself with Singaporeans and make some new friends over there.

Thanks for encouraging me to come to Singapore and see the place for myself. I do hope to enjoy myself while I’m there.

sokool on Sun, 11th Oct 2009 7:51 pm 

Kudos to you for writing. Excellent analysis from a former Singaporean. Be contented in Canada & be glad that you have renounced Spore citizenship which is worthless nowadays that goes on lelong sale to unskilled workforce. I know for a fact that Canada requires a rigorous standard of accreditation for skills. No skills, no Canadian PR.

Do write in more often.

ROBERT on Mon, 12th Oct 2009 6:58 pm 

of course, LKY can commment, he built a nation.
Who is Wing to comment?
What has he done? He can only talk and complain only!! We need people with solutions, not criticism. Who cannot talk? But to do, visualize, and bring to fuit ideas etc, that is real greatness!

Doggie on Tue, 13th Oct 2009 12:09 am 

See, the PAP dog mentality again: Everyone else should just shut up and listen to the Great leader! Please come out with something more original, Robert!

BTW, I am not the author of this piece but my name happen to be Wing and live in BC too! Just checked with a few Angmo Canadian and was surprised that the 4 that I asked do not know LKY, The closest was ’sounds familier but can’t reclled who he is’!

qussl3 on Wed, 14th Oct 2009 11:41 pm 

@ROBERT

Truer words were never spoken, we need solutions not just talk.

BUT what if the current leadership seems bereft of ideas?

It is clear we need new solutions, solutions that need an open airing of opinions, a fair debate of those views and ultimately a consensus.

The climate for that simply does not exist here.

It very well may be that the PAP govt now truly does want to have feedback and an open discussion, but can you blame the average singaporean for being skeptical?

It is just like the boy who cried wolf, only that in this case the boy was the wolf and ate the men that came to help him.

jayes on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 7:26 pm 

You’ve migrated to Canada. Leave your emotional baggage about Singapore behind. Live your present and future. Singapore is your past. Do not dwell in the past and be bitter and twisted.
But if you want to, of course you have the right to. As we all know Canada is a free country.

fpc on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 9:38 pm 

//jayes

He doesn’t need you to tell him that.