why do you think they migrated to Australia, not Singapore? Your husband needs to work hard, because working hard is how people survive anywhere in the world, even here in the US, auntie. It's a question of relativity.

What do you get after working hard in Singapore? And what do you get after working hard in Malaysia? Now, what do you get after working hard in the US/Australia? How are you semi-retired anyway? Who gave you the HDB flat that you live in?

The truth is, if you stay in Malaysia, you're stuck, because: 1) you don't know how to drive, 2) you don't know how to speak Malay and Cantonese, and 3) you're too spoilt safety-wise and don't know how to be situationally aware and take care of yourself after living in Singapore for decades. Malaysia is not a safe playground; it's a place that calls for a lot of street smarts.

Also, outpatient medical consultations cost RM1 in Malaysia. I've never had the misfortune of seeing the doctor in Singapore, but I heard your polyclinics cost $8. I remember Khaw Boon Wan saying that he had surgery for $8. In Malaysia, even surgery can cost as little as RM100. As much as I hate the Malaysian government, their universal healthcare is a thing of wonder.

Singaporeans always say we are so much better than our neighbouring countries bla bla, trying to boast, when in reality we are not. The truth is Malaysians can retire early despite being a third world country says a lot about the bS from these kind of Singaporeans ... Wake up, think why you can't retire early - expensive homes and caught up in debts - expensive healthcare. All these could hopefully be resolved with a new government, we've given LHL too many chances already still nothing gets resolved. Don't want to vote for the oppositions and give them a chance? No worries things like home, healthcare etc. might be too expensive for our kids in the future and will force a lot of them to migrate.

I, Alvin Tan, telling you the truth about Singapore. Not fantasy stories that you 'never been there' ungrateful minority that constantly complaint.

Singapore should stop calling itself "first world." First, real first-world countries don't call themselves first-world; it's one of those things that's for others to say, not yourself. Second, any country that's nudged between Iraq and Russia on the press freedom index just isn't part of the first world. Third, you're not even as rich as you claim -- many ordinary Singaporeans, despite the country's obscene GDP per capita, have lower standards of living than even Malaysians, who at least have real homes, cars, and arguably more disposable income. Malaysians don't need certificates to have a flat (marriage certificate), a car (COE), or even a spouse (university degree), nor do we have our CPF funds locked up indefinitely via outrageous withdrawal age and minimum sum regulations. We're also not the ones who have to suffer de facto prison sentences for 2.5 years during our prime years. As Singaporeans like to say, wake up your idea lah!

true to some extent.the pap import so many rich elite from over the world like china(they aim the passport) to replace singaporean.to some extreme ,one day you can recruit a toilet cleaner with double degree.u see what a waste keep upgrading their human resource pool.i maybe top student in singapore uni today but tomolo from somewhere they funding othet elite from maybe havard mit yele u name it,then i will fail the standard cope with outside.is this singaporean want?go malaysian to experience it.pap n umno have a myth in common , that umno to malay n pap to elite,thats not what a country with equalibrium

i agreed with you. We malaysians can own few cars per family and houses/apartments for passive incomes and easier to establish business in here. Actually i have many sporean fellas are so envious of us

And most Chinese-Malaysians claim that Malay-Singaporeans have it much easier and better than them since you guys are given fair treatment and equal opportunities. Discrimination against Malays and Indians in Singapore is very real but less obvious. Most of them can't land themselves a job because it requires some mandarin speakers. So they would rather hire mainland Chinese for the jobs. My aunt who is an Indian mixed Portuguese is faced with such problem

To those who brag how great Singapore is, I think they don't deserve to be Malaysians, they should immediately migrate to Singapore and throw Malaysia citizenship. Don't come back.

In return, they can only brag (read: rationalize) about:

1) Having clean streets (Who cares? What matters is that you live in clean homes, which is your personal responsibility.);

2) Having safe streets (sure, I agree);

3) Having a world-class education system (that you can't even gain access to, forcing many Singaporeans to study in Australia and England?);

4) Having an honest, efficient, and incorruptible government (Hahahahaha, good joke... The only one I can agree to is "efficient," and it's well-deserved.);

5) Having the strong Singapore dollar and greater spending power overseas (Yoohoo, you live overseas or what? You live in Singapore. You should be talking about the purchasing power of your currency, locally, not the absolute strength of it vis-a-vis other currencies! Zzz...); and

6) Having expensive Orchard Road malls and the fancy casinos that they can't even go into if they don't pay a S$100 cover fee or something (this only applies to Singaporeans).

I was offered Singaporean Permanent Residence in 2007. I tossed the letter into the rubbish bin. I had no intention of becoming a cog in the wheel to fund the CPF, Temasek Holdings, and your ministers' million-dollar salaries.

And I'm just getting started with these... You don't have to deal with these in Malaysia, at least not to such extreme extents. You can buy one of those condominiums in Rawang that cost even less than RM50,000 if you want. You can buy a secondhand car for RM10,000 and own it for 30 years if you want. No one foreign is going to steal your rice bowl in the private sector; we don't have an insane immigration policy like Singapore. Our National Service is a walk in the park (3 months? 6 months?), and many have fond memories of it instead of cursing it. Our day-to-day cost of living is high, but at least the biggest things -- transportation and housing -- is more affordable. Hell, you can rent a room for RM250 in Kuala Lumpur; what more do you want? And lastly, our EPF isn't a Ponzi scheme to fund god knows what. You retire, you get your money. No arguments. You die, even if you die intestate, your heirs get your money. No arguments.

6) Paying chunks of their income into a compulsory saving scam, I mean scheme, called CPF. CPF is very unlike your EPF, which you can withdraw as a lump sum upon reaching 55 years old. The CPF has a higher withdrawal age (65 now? Or 68?) and has a nonsensical "minimum sum" requirement that disallows Singaporeans from touching the money unless that arbitrary minimum sum is reached. By the way, when you finally CAN withdraw your CPF funds, it's done by installments. There are so many instances where even the heirs to dead people who failed to access their CPF funds during their lifetime also fail to access the funds of their parents, even after they died. Good jod, PAP -- what a Ponzi scheme you're running there.

5) Resigning to their corporate jobs because their monthly commitments, even as singles, are just so expensive. Rent for a single room even far away from the CBD costs S$700 a month. Here in Los Angeles, I can get a studio apartment with kitchen and bathroom for that price;

2) Begging for the government's permission just to own a car and are resigned to riding trains that break down so often yet keep increasing in price -- but it's a monopoly, so "boh bian;"

1) Funding S$500,000 flats smaller than even the upstairs area of your terrace house... that they don't even own or have full control over the flat (for 30 years, I might add);

The truth is that Singaporeans are stuck despite their strong Singapore dollar. They're STUCK:

I bet a lot of Malaysians who say they'd rather be Singaporeans have never ever lived in Singapore before. They have this utopian, idealistic view of the city-state, and they even think that the high GDP per capita actually trickles down to ordinary folks like them (har har har). Then they cite how many Malaysians become Singaporeans instead of the other way round