Hi there.. I am glad that people like you exist.. Seriously, I
don't mind arguing with a sensible person and losing or what. At
the end of the day, both gain some knowledge in any case..
To take your first case, about using tax paid by locals to fund
scholarships for foreigners. First and foremost, the public had
decided to appoint a particular party to rule the country. Which
means the majority of the decisions taken by the ruling party are
supported by the citizens and hence they had put the party in
power. The citizens had decided that the party had a level head and
is capable of taking decisions on their behalf. Which means that
they are indirect supporters of the majority of the decisions taken
by the ruling party.
In this case, fact is, I pay GST as well. Means I am in a way
funding your children's studies fully knowing that you are a
foreigner. Yes, there will be people (including myself) displeased
with that. Who made the decision to use tax to fund scholarships?
The ruling party. Who put the ruling party in power? The people.
Who can change this? The people. So I will have to take action to
make any changes to this. The public has to do something.
As for the second scenario, I would like to get some facts
cleared first. I am referring to the real life situations and
experiences in my working life so far. I have clearly noticed that
(mostly) foreigners tend to stay longer in their jobs rather than
their local counterparts. I have also clearly noticed that (mostly)
foreigners deliver same level of performance as their local
counterparts, if not they are sometimes many times better than
their local counterparts.
In any case, I will use your hypothetical conditions for this.
Just go back to your para again and remove the word Singaporean and
replace the word HDB by the word housing. Notice my point? It is
the same situation worldwide. Every single country, to some extent,
is facing a similar issue. Take States, Canada, Europe, Australia
and many others. All are having same issue. Singapore, in fact is
better.
Take GST/VAT for example. Singapore is 7%. Australia is 10%.
China is 17%, Europe ranges from 17% to 25%. Canada is 5%.
I wouldn't go into income tax, but rest assured, Singapore is
again one of the lowest You can get more information from this
site: http://www.worldwide-tax.com/
You have to constantly improve yourself. You have to give the
boss a strong reason for him to keep you. Foreigners are not "God"
like. They have limitations too. You can take up extra
certifications and language skills. Of which, I am doing both. It
takes hard work and effort of course. I have to sacrifice my
personal time and study. But its for my survival and also for my
struggle to get higher in the ladder. If I feel sad and depressed
then there is nothing wrong with the Government. Its my own doing.
The only person who can truly make you happy is yourself.
Look at the bright side, who says you are restricted to only
this country? With the current age, the whole world is a playground
for you. If you have so many bills, cut down on them. There is free
internet with [email protected] and there is free to air tv channels. Cut
those down. There is ample of cheap food available, especially in
Singapore. Reduce your eat outs. There are so many sales and
discounts, utilise them. Ok maybe I am diverting a bit. lolz..
:p
As for your last part, again, who chose the ruling party? The
public. Who can change the ruling party? The public. Who can
form better options to replace the ruling party? The public. Thats
why it is called democracy. To the people, for the people, by the
people.
Anyway, I am just stating my opinions here and I do not,
absolutely do not, support any particular party and neither do I
denounce any other party. These are my plain opinions. To those who
want to reply back with a proper factual arguement, please go
ahead, but to those who wanna make stupid and worthless flame
inducing comments, please keep them to yourselves.
Then again, walkovers are aplenty. Ever since mega-GRCs was
implemented, no opposition has won a GRC, and that's a fact. And
that's what make many people unhappy, because it seems like this is
stifling the opposition in our 'democracy'.
The original purpose of the GRC is good, to have representation
for the minorities race. But do we really need mega 5-men 6-men
GRCs for that? With GRCs, many entered base on merits of their
mentors, and not themselves.
The other reason why people are unhappy is because the guys
spend 2 years in army. Put yourself in the shoes of a Singaporean
male, and you can see that during uni studies, your foreign
classmate peers or 1 year junior is now your senior... 2 years of
youth sacrificed while your non-singaporean peers advanced ahead in
society?
Other than that, I'm not too bothered... Because
1) I have made long-lasting valuable friendships in army
2) I sacrifice lots of personal time to catch up for the 2 years
lost by working a 2nd full-time job (working 7 days a week, 8am to
10+ pm)
