::Homework Crapbox::
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Holy shiat...
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[Cool Toys] - AirSwimmers radio controlled floating toys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJINiK9azc -
Pianist George Winston (well known for his Variations on the Kanon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAeahb6ysto ) certainly has an impressively multi-cultural appreciation for music, including Chinese sources :
See his reply to the question, "Have you been inspired and influenced by Chinese classical and traditional music?"
http://www.georgewinston.com/us/qa#chineseAlso notable : for all his concerts around the country (USA), he will request that everyone attending to please bring a bit of food, clothing or other suitable item, to be donated to the local (ie. in the town or city he's holding the concert) charitable organizations he'll liase with.
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[Video] - Amazon jungle village alien caught on film
Notice that the alien's head rotates slightly to the left, and tilts upwards, during the footage.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/virals/3886155/Amazon-Alien-caught-on-film.htmlFull Article here :
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3886122/Alien-filmed-in-Brazil-rainforest.html -
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Chinese guy sings at India's Got Talent finals :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LbxPnq8OZqs
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posted elsewhere on the internet :
Last Friday day hor moi go this cafe to buy breakfast and kopi, usually ish got a short queue one, around 4~5 people and ish usually serve by an Ah Lian xmm, unless suay got some idiot ta bao a dozen packages for their colleagues or wat, if not 4~5 people ish very fast one mah. So moi just join in as usual and wait for moi turn. Then a group of AT come in and pretend to go see see look look got what food at the counter. But after they see finish they suddenly end up at the front of the queue liao and straight away tell the Ah lian their order.
Rest of the sinkie queuing behind including moi ish bo ji just llst bite the bullet and swallow the bitter medicine. What do to? Ish go no choice as we no want create problem mah.
But the Ah Lian xmm very the fierce, shout at them loud loud say you all never see got a queue behind ah, can go behind and queue like others or not. And she signal the auntie behind the AT to come forward and give her order. Then heard those AT like buay song said something in some kind of local dialect that moi don't understand, but sound like CCB that kind of words lah and left the place.
Ish suddenly feel very proud as sinkie and want to praise that Ah Lian xmm to dare stand out and doing the right thing while the rest of us just choose to bury our head in the sand and pretend nothing happen cause we no want any more trouble. Sinkapore need more people like this Ah Lian xmm.
But ish very sad, today go back this usual cafe to buy moi morning breakfast and kopi then find out the Ah Lian waitress no more there. Ask one of the auntie then realize she was fired for scolding the AT Customers last Friday.
But ish like WTF, she may raise her voice but she never actually 'scold' the AT ley.
Sinkapore really ish a hero and heroine die first place, only people like moi who choose to bury head in the sand can survive longer. -
An expose on how industries deliberately shorten the lifespan of their products (symbolically, the lightbulb) in order to maximize their own profits, and in so doing, contribute to the depletion of the planet's resources.
http://bonjourplanetearth.blogspot.com/2011/11/lightbulb-conspiracy-must-watch.html
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Young doctor complains about pay, wonders 'why no one has gone on strike'
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Girls Generation Dance instruction video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6micDPHN4os
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[HongKong] - ChannelNewsAsia's "Crimson" sex crimes documetary
From Singaporean actress Evalee Lin's website :
http://evalxn.multiply.com/journalProduced by Vertigo Pictures
Director : Mark Pestana
Producer: Adeline LouStarring :
Evalee (Eva) Lin Xinni - Ka Mui
Cherisse Foo - Mabel
Alvin Soe - Ting
Kevin Yap - Ting's Friend
Nelson Tan - Mabel's Client
Charlie Qiu - Ka Mui's Client
Tung Han - School Principal
Short Trailer :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=scRdDVCrzkwFull Documentary
http://vimeo.com/21448765 -
http://asingaporeanson.blogspot.com/2011/10/coveted-13th-month-bonus-in-singapore.html?spref=fb
There is only 12 months in a year. When you get paid a '13th month' of wages, you will feel delighted, no? No. Why do you think footballers in the English Premier League are paid weekly?
Ponder over these points.
Unless you are on commission or special bonus wage schemes, chances are you are paid a fixed amount of money monthly in Singapore.
Is there a possibility you get paid $10/hour on some days and $12/hour on some days in your course of work over the year? Of course not. You get paid the same rate year in year out, until you get a raise. If that's the case,
"Why are you paid the some amount of money in January and February?"
If you still don't get it. There are 31 days in January and there are 28 (normally) days in February. The question now - are you overpaid for February or underpaid in January? You choose what you want to believe in.
To me, February is the only month you get paid correctly in the whole year in Singapore. Employers in Singapore will never overpay you in February. Fat hope and you know it. There are four weeks in a month and we get paid for 28 days in a month. that's it. Straightforward.
In short we are underpaid in every other month other than February.
January - 3 days
March - 3 days
April - 2 days
May - 3 days
June - 2 days
July - 3 days
August - 3 days
September - 2 days
October - 3 days
November - 2 days
December - 3 days
3 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 29 days.
The shorter way to calculate this would be:
1 month 4 weeks.
You get paid 12 times a year = 12 x 4 = 48 weeks.
There are 52 weeks in a year. 52 - 48 = 4 weeks unpaid
The fact is that Singapore employers hold 29 days of your pay over the year and could refuse to pay you your rightful money if you did not 'perform'. Even if they do it, that meant many employees in Singapore did not get any bonuses from their companies at all. The 13th month is your rightful pay. It is NOT a bonus!
In reality, if they pay us back the '13th month bonus', they employer still owe us 1 day's wages (29 - 28) and get away with it year after year, decade after decade. If you leave the company before the year is up your '13th month bonus' is forfeited instead of pro-rated. That's robbery.
This is ridiculous. The manpower laws in Singapore are not stopping the businesses against such unfair practices and the NTUC is not doing their job fighting for the rights of workers.
The next time you receive your "13th month bonus", ask yourself why are you feeling so happy getting back what you deserve in the first place? -
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Whistle blowing project:- We are starting a project to pinpoint errant employers who have infringed on the foreign worker quota here. If you sense that your company is guilty of this infringement, email me at [email protected] and we will post the information on our blog. Your identity will be kept private but you need to provide your company name, number of foreign and local workers within the company and issues that have crop up in the work place. Singapore for Singaporeans. Cheers! Number of View: 122 Dear Gilbert Give me some time to ponder on your questions. Some answers given might be very complex and not so straight forward. For instance when I was granted an interview, on surface, it is a piece of good news but the interview itself could be a nightmare. Let me shared my experiences with interviewers while out looking for a job and amazingly a lot of the people who would decide whether I will work or not for the companies are foreigners. When I applied for an accountant job at a big real estate company, the interviewer was rude and threatened that she wouldn’t be easy to me if I work under her – even when the HR manager was beside her during the whole interview Then, she happily offered me a job of answering phone call saying that it suits me better as a RETIREE rather than an accountant! I took her sarcasm in stride but of course I didn’t accept her offer. PAP MP Josephine Teo or labour chief Lim Swee Say would have jumped on me for not wanting to accept work. Our labour chief might think I am choosy and not wanting to work. When I requested for lower salary at Singapore Federation of Chinese Association, the interviewer wondered why I asked for lower pay – 20% off my last drawn of $3800. Didn’t he know that we have to be faster, cheaper and better than our foreign counterparts? When I applied for a furniture firm who wanted me to assume higher responsibilty to help her run her business, she criticised my last drawn expectation and insisted that I do not have the caliber for such a salary. She was an Indian local boss and her backroom staff were mostly stuffed with Indians. Besides, she kept feeding me with her negative view of Singapore workers and wanted me to take necessary legal action against her staff who didn’t comply with her strict work ethic.. She trusted nobody apparently. I did not pass the interview – I guess the boss knew that I can’t accept her world view nor the stern working environment. It would be working in the prison. At a company in the chemical industry, I was interviewed by a junior sales staff who tried to test if I can take her boss authoritative atittude before she could shortlist me for 2nd and 3rd interview. The company has 4 replacements within a span of 2 years – all for the same reason – a boss that is too arrogant and unreasonable. I did not pass the interview because I told the interviewer it might be a little challenging working under a very difficult superior in a cash-strapped company – double stress for accounts people. I was also interviewed by a pinoy HR manager Ms Elizabeth Aryani in a Japanese firm Kanken Techno Pte Ltd, her first question to me was whether I am able to bring in many foreigners using the S Passes or EP into the company! Amazingly, they still advertised for the same position sometime in May this year – I applied and went for the interview in 2009! It looks like they have problem filling that sales managerial position. The whole interview process was about what she wanted me to do to help foreigners get into the company! She wasn’t keen in my specialty skills at all. I felt insulted when she giggled with the Japanese boss during the interview and tried to pick bones in my resume to joke about because the pinoy was technically incompetent about my past jobscope and certain terms she could not understand. My impression thus far was that foreign hiring manger has the tendency to conspire with foreign boss to make Singaporeans cheaper, better and faster? Many things can happen behind closed door that the interviewees were not aware of. The interviewer will ask me about Singapore tax matters, local statutory requirements that they were not familiar with. Their intention was not to shortlist you but learned stuff off you through the interview process and then treated it as their own practical knowledge. I also had two very bad experienced with Indian PR accountant whom they wanted me to replace. Being an inquisitive person during the interview, I reaised that the Indian screwed up the company and wanted to migrate to UK. So the locals will come in to clean up their mess or even help to close down the company for good. Finally, I found a job last December but worked for one day before I left The local boss chided me twice on my first day at work while I was busy setting up my work station and email. Before I could even began to work, he criticised me for been slow in taking over other people responsibility. I was replacing another manager who only lasted two days in the company! She did not have proper handover procedure despite the fact that she has very complicated jobscope and kept many sophisticated info in her PC which she was reluctant to share. When I complained to the boss about the shoddy handover procedure, he told me that they don’t believe in such proper handover – it was either I take it or leave it. The stress was intense and my father was ready for his chemo treatment on that day. I left on the same day I joined the company. It was unreasonable to be treated with such undeserved sarcasm and given unnecessary on my first day at work. I threw in the towel and followed my father journey until he fully recovered early this year. Having gone through all these shits, will people still be wondering why am I so picky? When I saw all these repetitive vacancies appeared throughout the year, I was demoralised. Are these companies so terrible that nobody wants these jobs or are our employers’ attitude so bad that no one wants to work in the company? I developed job search phobia over time and lost hope of the Singapore job landscape. I believe all the good jobs in Singapore are already taken by foreigners, those less ideal and not so appealing ones are left over for Singaporeans to fight among ourselves. If our government tightened up the EP work passes, it may just force the MNC to consider employing Singaporeans and create more job opportunities for aspiring Singaporeans. I have to be very frank that I calibrated my resume to survive. I extended the period of my last permanent job which I left earlier so that that it looked good on my resume. However, I kept very frank about my last drawn salary. Otherwise, I would not be granted a single interview whether I like the job or not. I can easily write an encylopedia about my job hunting experiences and how harsh the work environment is right now. Personally, I kept my problem to myself. I don’t share them with my parents for fear of giving them additional worry that may affect their health. I am still very optimistic about myself and I stayed alone in my 3-room flat near my parents. I spend time in my hobbies – aquarium, art and writings to get things off my mind. I read a lot on the internet. I also visit temple to simply enjoy the quiet ambience. Time really flies even when I am not working. I tried to upgrade my study by taking up ACCA II, I am a 3-diploma holder with very strong working experience. My lecturer told me not to bother with upgrading due to my age and mainly because Singapore is saturated with accountant from pinoy, China and India who are much cheaper. Even professinonal teachers felt Singapore has very limited room for qualified accountant, thus many resort to teaching in order to survive. Thanks for reading. Lawrence
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[Malaysia] - A Malaysian laments about Malaysia
Posted by Hussein abdul Hamid at Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Takkan Melayu Hilang Di Dunia? ...dream on !
I was in Singapore the last few days for work. Have not been to Singapore for over 20 years. The driver of the taxi that drove me from the airport to my hotel was Malay. On the ride to the hotel he pointed out that all the land along the coast that was now fully developed was reclaimed land. He said that Singapore could no longer buy sand from Indonesia or Malaysia – so Singapore now buys its sand from Vietnam. He suggested that maybe the Malaysian government should consider letting Singapore mine all the sand it needed from the Pahang and Perak river so that floods would not occur as frequently as they do now – this way Singapore would have their sand and Malaysia gets two strikes against Singapore: Payment for the sand and flood prevention! I quietly smiled at his logic. If only our politicians could think that clearly!
At night I would watch TV as I ate dinner and what I saw on Singapore TV gave me some explanation as to why Malaysia is so far behind Singapore. No I am not just talking about the physical aspect of development where a comparison between the two countries would be an exercise in futility: Where would you begin? From Changi airport, the taxis I took, the buses and trains that I used to the presence of a city confident in its growth and secure of its place globally, Singapore is everything that Malaysia is not!
Singapore TV is filled with programs that provides you with information of world events, knowledge about anything that you would care to know and learn about and many programs that tells Singaporeans that life out there is to be lived and enjoyed responsible. No politicians in sight on their TV. Nothing that would allow any sensible, intelligent Singapore TV viewer to be upset at any attempt by the Singapore government to try and influence them on matters political.
Malaysian TV is pathetic and an embarrassment to watch. Talk show hosts that are so condescending to their guests that it makes me cringe! We have crowds of people being told about the latest government projects that will benefit them and the nation. What passes for Television programs is in reality government propaganda - pure and simply drivel and unmitigated spew of useless information that benefits no one – not even the government because all it does is to turn the thinking viewer against such blatant propaganda of a BN government desperate to win a coming general election. I remember one episode where this Malay politician was opening a show or seminar of some sort by unfurling a banner with a giant size portrait of himself! It makes me want to spew!
What was more disturbing to me is thinking how all this rubbish on Malaysian Television will affect those Malaysian watching Malaysian TV. If that is the only TV they watch then what chance do these people have of developing into a better human being? We have been told that we are what we eat…well I think what our government allow our people to watch on TV and read in the media is what we will be: a people blinkered and oblivious to the world outside.
But as a Malay what saddens me is that the politics within UMNO defines us Malays as we have never been defined before. Before this the Malays saw themselves as a people who went about their life with a quiet dignity secure in the knowledge that as a people, they had the respect of the other races and felt themselves worthy of being Malays – son of the soils. More important we had a sense of self worth.
Today the ugliness of the Malay persona is now no longer a matter than can be kept within the confines of family and the Malay community. How can it be kept from the public domain when Malays are ridicule and laughed at as they try to walk along the path where others have walked – and in trying to do so they have failed miserably. Failed because they are ill equipped to compete on a level playing field with the other races.
This is not something that UMNO can sweep under the carpet anymore.
Today it is the Malays themselves who have realized the dire situation that they are in. This is what the Malays now know of themselves.
There are no great Malay leaders in this country of ours any more. All our leaders, without exception, has in one-way or another, failed us – and yet having failed they still insists that their right to remain a Malay leader is unaffected. The Malay leaders of today are a joke!
The education of our young has not prepared or equipped them to compete on a level playing field against non-Malays in Malaysia and against others when they go overseas. They have failed miserably from their ability to master the English Language to their ability to interact and handle the intricacies of living amongst non-Malays.
I have been shamed countless times when in conversation with Malay students in Australia – not only by their woefully inadequate ability to speak decent English but more worrying in the blinkered approach to education with the ‘them’ and ‘us’ approach to everything – from social interactions to having no understanding that we must celebrate diversity – not treat it as a threat to our Malay ethnicity, to our religion and to our way of life. That they have failed to do so is painfully obvious to me as a Malay – what more to the people they meet. But ignorance is bliss and these students are unable to comprehend that they are looked upon as an object to be pitied rather then laughed at. And so these students go about their education oblivious to their failings. Katak di bawah tempurong!
The Malays can no longer ignored the reality that the non-Malays are way ahead by leaps and bounds in all things Malaysians: Business, Education, civil society and even respect and dignity of their own race.
How is this possible when the Malays have complete control of government since Merdeka and should and did have control over all aspects of life in Malaysia?
How is this possible when the Malays have 9 Sultans and numerous Governors as the constitutional head of state?
How is this possible when the Malays numerically overwhelmed all the other races put together?
And yet all this advantages have made the Malays into a people that can no longer hold their head nobly whatever their circumstances simply because the Malay dominated Barisan Nasional government has failed in their much stated purpose of Ketuanan Melayu.
Failed not in the getting of the Ketuanan Melayu but failed in the manner in which Ketuanan Melayu is used to further NOT The Malay interest but to further UMNO’s interest.
And therein lies the tragedy of the Malays! AN UMNO that takes for themselves what should really be for the Malays.
And it is in the leaders of UMNO that we see the worst of the Malays acting out what the Malays have now become! These UMNO leaders are the epitome of greed, corruption and thievery of the nations wealth for their own pockets.
That the Malays have now lost their sense of pride and dignity because of the misdeeds and abuse by UMNOI politicians of the public office they hold is of no concern to these UMNO Malays. The behavior of these UMNO leaders now mirrors that of the Sultans who have long ago surrendered any dignity they might still have and any claims to being Malay leaders by their decadent lifestyle that they lead on the money they get from the Rakyat.
Are they Malays powerless to stop their leaders from taking them further down the road of lost respect and lost dignity. How not to lose respect for a Malay leader like Najib? In fact look at the families of all the Prime Ministers of Malaysia bar Tunku : Malays all of them: And all of them in one way or the other have profited hideously from the office of Prime Minister.
And with Najib he goes a step further. The emergence of a wife that thinks that being the wife of the Prime Minister entitles her to be styled First Lady of Malaysia!
What these Malays leaders are doing are being aped by other Malays in position of trust and power – where the getting of wealth by any means possible have brought into existence of at least two generations of Malays that have been brought to believe that Malaysia owes them a living: ask not what you can do for your country but ask what your country can do for you!
Two generations of Malays totally spoiled and weaken to expect something for nothing by a UMNO totally devoid of any interest in furthering the interest of any Malay what more other Malaysian, other then of themselves!
I am ashamed of being Malay. Ashamed because of the deeds and actions taken by UMNO in the name of the Malays. How can I not be ashamed that a Malay Minister of Defense have seen it fit to allow a good friend of his to profit RM$500 million merely by arranging for the Malaysian government to buy French Submarines?
How can I not be ashamed of these Malay leaders when a Malay Prime Minister – well almost a Malay Prime Minister! – saw it fit to use the people’s money - to the tune of RM$1 billion - to bail out the shipping company of his son!
How can I not be ashamed when a Minister, no less, is sent as our Ambassador in Washington after being caught out for outraging the modesty of a waitress serving him!
These Malays do more damage to the Malays at large then to themselves.
The Malays had Dato Onn, Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Ismail Ali, Ghazali Shafie …all great Malay leaders whose duty was to the Malays and to Malaysia and all Malaysians!
Who do we have now? Malay leaders whose idea of being great is having the latest model Mercedes and living in mansions paid for by their thieving of the people's money and taking actresses or singers for their wives and mistresses! And the Malay singers and actresses who thinks that these ageing lotharios is a good catch probably defines the materialistic mind frame that permeates too many Malays everywhere.
It pains me to see the Malays like this. It pains me even more when the most concerned of people are not the Malay leaders but the other races who are witness to the Malay fall from grace. The non Malays worry for the Malays more then the Malay leaders because they know that until the Malays are energized to do something for themselves by getting rid of these useless Malay leaders, then they too would have to bear the brunt of the corruption and the rape and pillage of their country by these UMNO leaders.
Let us all realize that we are all in this together. What the Malays are now enduring the other races are also enduring and we can only get out of this impasse by working together.
The irony that I as a Malay is mocking and putting down my own race is not lost on me. Cutting off my nose to spite my face! For me UMNO has cut of the Malay nose a long time ago. PKR is not far behind because here again is a Malay dominated political entity that is run by Malays who presumes it is their right to do as they please in PKR because they are the leaders of PKR. If UMNO has cut of the nose of the Malay face then PKR is working on the ear!
I say all this because it needs to be said. It cannot be ignored that the Malays have now lost their way in a country they call their own. If they cannot see themselves being so then I will point that out to them. If you want to assail me for being a turncoat to my own race by living in Australia – let me tell you this. A Malay is still a Malay wherever he or she is.
Open your eyes, engage your brains. Think and ask yourself if you are proud to be a Malay in Malaysia today. I am not. I no longer wish to refer to myself as a Bumiputra because being a Bumiputra does not make me any more a Malay as a Chinese would be more a Chinese if he lives in China or an Indian in India!
Being a bumiputra is an embarrassment to anyone today because it denotes an unfairness within a society that tells you that birth, race and religion entitles you to being someone else other then what you are not – a first amongst equal. Today privileges of birth no longer hold any sway over civilized societies - be you a Sultan or the son of a Prime Minister. Everything that you want to be must be earned through hard work and decent labor. And this is why the position of the Malays in Malaysia have long ago been compromised by an UMNO government that sees the Malays only as a tool to further their hold on power in this country.
But having had power for the last 53 years UMNO has not discarded the Malays - no they still have need of the Malays to win the next general elections and the next and the next! The question now is whether we Malays will let them use us anymore!
My fellow Malays look around you and ask yourself why we now like this? We allow our leaders to engage in gutter politics! They no longer talk about extra marital sex as being against Islam – today it is sodomy! Today it is Malay leaders who take second wives without the knowledge of their first wives. Today it is about using religion to threaten and cowered the other races into threading softly in their own country on pain of being branded anti Islam and anti Malays.
Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia!
Let me tell you Malays this. We Malays were never on the world stage! The Chinese were. The Indians were. Not the Malays. So please wake up from the UMNO induced slumber that our people have been in for so long. Fifty-three years to be exact! Our Malay Prime Minister today does not have half the respect the Malay Penghulu used to have in the days when the Penghulus in the kampongs were leaders of the Malays in the rural areas.
But this I know. As a human being we are responsible for who we are and who we want to become. Against all odds the Chinese and other races have survived in Malaysia. Survived better then the Malays. It is time we Malays cast aside these useless Malay leaders that lives off our ethnicity to only further their own vested interests not the Malays.
They are Malay leaders amongst us now that can provide us with an enlighten leadership to take not only the Malays but also all Malaysians towards a better Malaysia. Nurrul for one. But only because she has not had the time to be what her father and so many Malay leaders have now become : UMNO in their thinking, UMNO in their actions and UMNO in the promotion of no other interest but their own. The worry is that given time Nurrul would be what her father is today – a man who held so much promise for the future of our race and our country and yet delivered so little. Let us make sure that Nurrul will not fail. The Malays will not survive another Najib or another Anwar!
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What this guy says about Asian women dumping Asian men who care about them, to go with White men who treat them like dirt... many would recognize an element of truth about this unfortunate phenomenon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh8X1kTcfxw&feature=player_embedded
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Aaron Tan vs German Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoVisuM_8Nc
Aaron Tan vs Hitler (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4r7R9-nqDw
Aaron Tan vs Hitler (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEFV0205DE
Aaron Tan vs Hitler (alternate version)
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A jealous husband is facing life in prison after chopping off his wife's fingers because she began studying for a University degree.
Rafiqul Islam, 30, blindfolded his wife Hawa Akhter, 21, and taped her mouth, telling her he was going to give her a surprise present. Instead he made her hold out her hand and cut off all five fingers. One of his relatives present then immediately threw Ms Akhter's fingers away to ensure doctors could not reattach them.
In June, an unemployed man gouged out the eyes of his wife, an assistant professor at Dhaka University, apparently because he could not stand her pursuing higher studies at a Canadian University.
Full article here :
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[Egypt] - YouTube video shows atrocious violence committed against unarmed protesters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFVYewkWEY -
Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOvBOTyX00&feature=player_embedded
Unfortunately, Amazon.com doesn't sell mp3 downloads outside the US. Fortunately, there's music.starhub.com which sells this beautiful mp3 download for approx Sg$2.
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i am back! i am doing some changes to the forum. Dun worry guys! no big changes, i will ask u all to vote thru pm if there are any big changes. You guys are doing a super job in moderating! While i was inactive these two years, u guys keep the forum up! really appreciating all the hardwork that you all put in!
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Originally posted by hiphop2009:
i am back! i am doing some changes to the forum. Dun worry guys! no big changes, i will ask u all to vote thru pm if there are any big changes. You guys are doing a super job in moderating! While i was inactive these two years, u guys keep the forum up! really appreciating all the hardwork that you all put in!
Welcome back, HipHop!
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December 28th, 2011
Hi TR Emeritus,I’m writing in to share my experience on trying to work in Hong Kong. I decided to share this because I felt that this whole ‘Foreigners working in Singapore’ saga is not only unfair, but heart-wrenching.
Firstly, let me provide a clearer picture of my circumstances. I got a Diploma with Merit from one of the reputable polytechnics in SG in 2005. With that, I won myself a bond-less full Scholarship given out by University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), together with a 2-year exemption from a 4-year Bachelor course. And in 2006, our Prime
Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, visited Sydney, and he was invited by UNSW to attend the award-giving ceremony (they created the ceremony just so he could give certificates out) to all the recipients of the Golden Jubilee Scholarship in UNSW, myself included. I was full in awe at that time. We (Singaporeans who won the Scholarship) all had the chance of taking a photo with him.Reality dawned in when I graduated with my Bachelor’s, and realised that I couldn’t stay in Australia because the locals weren’t too happy about foreigners(i.e. me) snatching their jobs from them, and their government understood that. So it was extremely tough to end up with an employment pass there unless I was a PR. Even getting a PR was
tough and I was missing 5-10 points to be able to qualify for PR application. I heard that in some cases during the interview (whether it was for PR or citizenship), they ask applicants what local products they know of and some were even asked if they knew the national anthem just so they can know if these new citizens were able to integrate into the Australian society, something I do not think Singapore’s Immigration office would bother asking potential citizens.So anyway after my studies, I tried to look for work in Hong Kong, as my then-boyfriend was a Hongkonger and I thought it would be great if I could work there as well. I sent 3 resumes out, and immediately got a call from one HK company asking me for an interview. They agreed to hire me straight at the interview and agreed to apply an employment visa for me. I was so happy to be able to start at my first full time job – in Hong Kong. We submitted the relevant docs to the HK authorities dealing with employment visas and waited. Some of the docs required included proof of the company’s job ads (newspapers, jobsdb, classified etc) trying to hire locals, failed interviews of locals’
applications and how many interviews with locals they have had, they even had to write a passage on why they think a foreigner would be more suitable than a local on the job. Everything in every way, was done so as to protect the well-being of the locals.We, the company and I, waited for 3.5 months for the news from the HK immigration office. At the end of the 4th month of waiting, I received a letter, saying that my visa application was rejected. That was after all we’ve went through.
Actually, whilst I was waiting for the visa, I’ve tried looking for jobs in Singapore too, and there were very few openings for my profession, and even if there were, most were asking for at least 2 years experience which I do not have. Most were through word-of-mouth, but since I was away from Singapore for almost 3 years, I lost touch with the circle, so it was online job portals that I was looking at, plus some recruitment agencies. I even received a survey call from the MOM, asking if I felt any injustice or racism or discrimination. My answer to all was yes. And surprisingly, I’ve received no follow ups at all after that. So… what’s the point for that survey? Wasted 15 minutes of my expensive Singtel bills and time.
I could not find a job in Singapore for a year. I wasn’t even asking for big pay cheques, looking at how much I agreed to receive from the HK company (SGD1.6K). So the ‘Degree-holder Singaporeans expect big pay cheques that is why we rather hire foreigners’ is a big BULL.
So I decided to try again in HK, this time my then-boyfriend’s uncle who owns a company in HK, tried to apply for the employment visa for me. We went through the whole process again, this time reiterating the fact that I’m multi-lingual (English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and 3 other chinese dialects), and would be useful for liaising with their foreign clients, with my many academic awards, and providing all the advertisement & failed local interview proof. After another 4 months, my application was once again denied.
I found out later, that there were 5 categories that need to be fulfilled, on top of the LOCALS-FIRST policies, before an application is deemed successful.
1- Education (I passed this).
2- Experience (I have only some DFS sales experience. Yup SMRT CEO had this too)
3- High enough Position (I was hired as an assistant something, so I guess I failed this)
4- High enough Salary (I was offered HKD9500 (SGD1.6K) so I guess I failed this too)
5- In a sought-after industry eg. accounting/banking/finance (I am not in any of these industries so I failed this too).At that time, we decided that we should just sign the papers at the HK ROM first, just so that I could work and live in HK legally, instead of trying so hard to find a job in SG competing with so many FTs, and just being an FT myself to get an employment pass in HK which will never get approved because the HK immigration authorities love their people too much to randomly approve foreign FRESH grads to work in HK.
And looking back at how difficult it was for me to get a job there, and comparing how easy breezy it is for foreigners to flood Singapore, made me wonder if the whole plan, was to get true blue Singaporeans out of the country, and replace them with foreigners.
P.S. No offense to our foreign workers in Singapore who aren’t like that, but whenever I go back to Singapore, it doesn’t really feel like home anymore. Whenever I’m on the trains in SG, I feel that I’m still in Hong Kong (HK is just right south of the Bigger China btw), just that the train speed is much slower, and that the waiting time was about 3-4 times more. I hear people(I think they are from beijing from their accents) speaking so loudly in the cabins that I find out what their 3rd-granduncle’s nephew did last month, and when their relatives are going to visit them coming CNY. I was even asked to speak mandarin to one of the Starbucks waitress in City Hall because she couldn’t understand what I was talking about (I asked for serviettes). Central Mall was kinda new to me even after it was opened for a year, and I got lost there, so I tried asking one of the salesgirls in a boutique for directions, and she replied me in a machine-gun speed of Mainland Chinese, which I didn’t expect because I asked her in English. I thought Singapore’s main language is English, no? At least that was what I thought when I left for my studies then.
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X. Seah (Miss) -
We welcome Summer hill (strongly recommended by darkness_hacker) as our moderator!
Summer, i hope u will enjoy moderating this forum and work together with the othermoderators to make this forum a pleasant place! =)
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Originally posted by hiphop2009:
We welcome Summer hill (strongly recommended by darkness_hacker) as our moderator!
Summer, i hope u will enjoy moderating this forum and work together with the othermoderators to make this forum a pleasant place! =)
thank you so much! XD