Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Go away PM Lee!

Can someone more competent please take over PM Lee's job? The current generation will never forget how lousy he is! Please get lost.

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Wednesday, August 03, 2011

It is not easy to be a Singapore-born male citizen in their own country!

I think Singapore-born male citizens are cursed in their homeland the moment they are born. Firstly, they will be liable for national service for 2 years (I did 2.5 years okay!!). Secondly, they will lose out to others (foreigner and Singaporean female) in terms of climbing up the career ladders. Thirdly, after finishing 2 years of national service, not only are they not recognized for the skills (mostly in private sector) acquired during national service, they are also liable for 10 cycles of reservist. Fourthly, employers (if your boss-to-be is a foreigner) tend not to like hiring Singaporean males because they may have to leave their work half-way for reservist.

Why did I suddenly write about this? Because I have a real life experience during a job interview. Well, the interviewer was a foreigner (I will not disclose the nationality) and most likely my boss should I be hired. The first question the interviewer asked was whether if I am liable for national service (I rephrase it in my own words) as the interviewer complained there is a Singaporean employee who is going for 2-3 weeks reservist! I will leave the story here and not continue the story for privacy purpose, though I feel the overall interview was a pleasant one.

On introspect, I really feel sad for Singaporean males who are "damned" in their homeland. Singapore is an international hub, open to international company doing business. It is inevitable that the bosses would be a foreigner. I understand where those foreign employers are coming from. I do not blame them for not favouring local male citizen to be their employee. If I were in their shoes, I might have made the same decision. Who wants to hire someone who will disrupt their work half way (probably annually) to serve the country to protect both the foreigner interests and the local interests?? Who will appreciate that huh?? Even the government shows "insincere" appreciation to our contributions - do our opportunity cost really worth so little??Then why would those foreigners want to show appreciation for our contributions to the security of Singapore? What incentive does the employer have to hire a Singaporean males over foreigner or Singaporean female?? To the best of my knowledge, I say none.

I think I would have to start thinking about my future. I need to start planning - What future would I want for myself and my children? All right, I admit it. Singapore is not a nice place to settle down for males. I do sometimes feel ashamed to be a Singaporean! I think it is better to be a new citizen or a PR than to be a Singapore-born male citizen. Time to strategize and plan ahead for my future; for goodness sake!

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