An entire nation
"I want to leave this Matrix Island,
but i don't have the means to"!
but i don't have the means to"!
How many times have you heard of the above whining?
This Matrix Island is full of such whiners.
In fact, a recent survey revealed that 50% of our youth would like to emigrate if given a chance!
Unbelievable!
Even in matters of emigration, they want someone, presumably the government, to "give [them] a chance"!
Just what is so difficult about emigrating?
You don't have to be highly educated - literally thousands of men, women and children from Hong Kong emigrated to Europe, United States, and Australia pre-1997.
Just visit their Chinatown if you ever go on a business trip. Enjoy your Dim Sum, sip your tea and observe those women who are pushing the dim sum carts. Do they sound educated at all to you?
Why, many of them cannot even speak English! And don't tell me all hundreds of thousands of them are illegal immigrants - that just defy logic. Talk to them and you will discover that education is a myth. Skill is the answer. And sometimes, the skill can be as "simple" as knowing how to make/sell dim sum.
You don't have to be below a certain age - Australia may have an age restriction - below 45 years old. But not so, for many European countries and United States; Many of these countries do not discriminate in age, even in immigration matters.
So what do you need to have?
Answer: you need to have guts, and this is what many human batteries lack!
If you still need to be convinced, chat with your typical Indian or Chinese colleagues from India/China. How did they end up in Singapore? What about their peers who went to the west? Their revelation will be enlightening:
Many of them, upon university graduation, stayed on to do a Masters degree in their own country. They then used their masters result to gain entry to our NUS/NTU.
While here, they suffered discriminatory remarks from Singaporeans in their everyday lives. After enduring and getting a second master degree here, they applied to 1st-rated universities in the West, effectively using the highly-trusted NUS/NTU degree as a stepping stone.
Finally, after getting yet another masters degree, from the 1st-rated universities, they ended up with top-paying job, and get their PR and later citizenship!
So you see how much hardship and repeated studying at the same level they went through to get their new citizenship? Many don't even make it, and they return back to their own country having wasted both time and finance.
But no, our young local students will have nothing of this sort.
We have A-levels and poly diploma holders, who having been deprived of state-subsidised university education (because our matrix masters limited university entry ,and hence subsidy, to only 10+% of each cohort - a figure grossly below other developed countries' standard), and who having forked out their own money to study in Australia...
...choose to return back to this matrix Island to work at a fraction of the salary that they would have gotten if they had stayed on in Australia!
We also have local university graduates who would never go further their studies in the West unless fed monthly salaries while studying. (Well, according to Philip Yeo, that's the reason why A*Star has to pay its scholars salaried postgraduate scholarships).
And yet, 50% of our youth - of which these people are part of - would not hesitate to emigrate "if given a chance"!
Just what chance are they waiting for?
And to be given by whom?
What is preventing these unhappy young people from doing what their Indians and Chinese counterpart did?
To give another example, when Taiwan was a highly repressed society back in the 1970s, thousands of taiwanese university graduates emigrated to USA each year, and became the "model immigrants" of that country.
Later, when Taiwan opened up, they returned back to help fuel the high-tech economy -- which means it is neither disloyal nor shameful to be temporary "quitters", when the country is hoarded by despots.
Just what is preventing our disgruntled "young English-educated radicals" (to borrow MM's words) from doing the same, instead of just waiting for "a chance"?
Well, in a way, I am not surprised. If these human batteries have no guts to even vote against status quo, despite being highly displeased with their Matrix Masters (MM), what can you expect from them when it comes to something that involve considerable financial sacrifice, time commitment, and uncertainty on their part?
Lucky Matrix Masters - you have:
Human Battery: An entire nation of whiners!
posted by The Human Battery @ 5/11/2007
8 comments
8 Comments:
Dear Human Battery,
Finding a job in other countries is not easy as they have strict rules favouring their own citizens. Unlike Singapore where we often can find foreigners who are not better but hold higher positions here. For example, in England, the potential employer need to really prove that they have tried to find someone local and to justify their position.
You are absolutely correct about the strict law which these countries have. The law is especially strict when it comes to applying for permanent residency based on employment. This bar is somewhat lowered when it concerns applying for a non-immigrant temporary work visa - in some countries, the employer may not have to prove that they cannot find a local to do the job. But even then, a prospective employer would prefer a local, since a minimum wage policy means that foreigners are not cheaper. So which employer would prefer someone with an unfamiliar foreign educational qualification, and who is ignorant of local culture/business norms and who has a foreign accent that makes interaction with clients difficult?
That's why those Indians and Chinese that I mentioned in the post have to go for multi-masters degree in multi-countries (our island being a stepping stone!), instead of applying for a job using their indian/chinese qualification. And even then, they often have to start out in a non-immigrant work visa status, before their employer will consider sponsoring them for a PR several years later. And even then, the government may not approve it if there is a local who is qualified to do the job, as you said.
Along the way, there would be lots of hazards, ranging from lack of school/personal fund to complete the multi-masters degree, inability to find job even after graduation and so on. BUT THEY STILL PERSEVERED! Meanwhile, 50% of our young men and women claimed, according to the recent survey, that they are dying to get out of the Matrix, but only if "given a chance"!!!!???
The chance is there all the time: O-level -> poly/A-level -> university degree -> masters degree -> non-immigrant work visa -> PR. I am not being elitist here. Already right now, tens of thousands of human batteries, armed with only O-levels, upgrade themselves by studying part-time at private schools for their diploma/degree courses each year. And then, mysteriously, they stopped, contented to remain human batteries. They just simply do not have the guts to take the extra step to save up, pack up, and invest everything right up to the very last bit of tneir money to do a 1-year masters program overseas in the country that they want to emigrate to. If they had done that, they could have succeeded in leaving this matrix island, just as hundreds of thousands of young people from Indian and China succeed every year!
So you tell me lah, is this not a case of "an entire nation of whiners"?
Human Battery,
I do not consider it "an entire nation of whiners" because these people do not know of the path to emigration that you highlighted in bold in your comment. So it is a case of ignorance, rather than lack of guts.
Dear Human Battery,
As you have said, the road is fraught with obstacles. However, it seems pretty easy for foreigners to come to Singapore as we adopt an open arms policy with them. Conditions here, like you said, no minimum wage, hence employers prefer to hire them because of lower cost.
You mentioned that taking a master degree in the country one wants to migrate to is the first step. I have done that but as I have said, the conditions do not facilitate finding a job as they favour the locals. Even if one gets a job, like you said, it does not favour getting PR. The fact is also the conditions here are not that bad to the extent that people risk everything to get out of. Our ancestors risk their lives to get out from their country because their survival is at stake. When push comes to shove, then people move. Our youngsters after whining probably get back to their Nintendo or playstation and fantasize their time away.
Dear Human Battery,
I used to like your sarcasm on the issues you had brought up. But nowadays you just keep scolding and insulting even to your "fellow human batteries".
One can't expect everyone to think like you do. I agree to most of your points made, I'm very frustrated with the local systems too. But like what the above anons mentioned, I'm not very sure how to emigrate, but even IF I do, should I? My aged parents, friends are here.
I believe starting anew is a very different thing.
"The fact is also the conditions here are not that bad to the extent that people risk everything to get out of. Our ancestors risk their lives to get out from their country because their survival is at stake".
Conditions are not that bad now in India or China either. Neither was it bad in Taiwan back in the 1970s-80s. In fact, as far as material conditions are concerned, those who emigrated from these places are fairly well-educated and living very comfortably compared to the majority of their countrymen. But they emigrated for reasons of liberty, free speech and also to achieve first-world salary (as opposed to "merely" earning more than their countrymen). Thus my point is: Young people from these countries talk the talk and walk the walk. But sadly, on this Matrix Island, we have 50% of our youth also talking the talk (about dying to get out of this Matrix Island, "if given a chance"), but not walking the walk (when the chance (and its inherent risk) is there all the time)! Hence my conclusion.
"When push comes to shove, then people move."
By then, the move will be an unglamorous refugee-type of move, just like how our ancestors moved here. Clearly, people should start moving when push has NOT come to shove yet, when they are in their prime and marketable. They should make a decision by asking themselves: "Do I see a future for myself at 80 years old on this Matrix Island"?. They can have a glimpse of the answer by looking around them to see what current 80 years old ah gong and ah ma are doing - enjoying golden age or cleaning tables at hawker centres? Then they should make a decision now while they still can, BEFORE push comes to shove.
"I believe starting anew is a very different thing."
I think you mean " difficult thing". Actually, emigration should not be looked upon as a difficult/ daunting/ agonising/ sudden quantum leap. It should be a natural decision that comes about gradually over time and here's how it should go, ideally:
Firstly, nowadays, a bachelor degree is no longer sufficient - more than 40% of each cohort of human batteries are getting one (though our Matrix Masters will only subsidised (via OUR tax money) less than 20% of each cohort). To outshine his peers, a human battery must go for a masters degree, and the best place to do so is overseas using up the last bit of one's savings, if need be. Secondly, work experience in an international (which basically means western) setting is important for career advancement nowadays, especially on this Matrix Island which pride itself on serving western commercial interest.
The above 2 points means that somehow, one should spend a few years overseas studying and/or working. After that, new friends would be acquired, familial ties maintained (and parents getting used to that), and in any case, emigration is no longer a quantum leap, but merely a procedural affair of changing from one visa type to another. When viewed in this way, emigration is not really very daunting.
"I'm not very sure how to emigrate, but even IF I do, should I? My aged parents, friends are here".
Whether one should or should not emigrate for the sake of one's aged parents depends, again, on asking oneself a simple question: "If, due to some unforseenable circumstances, I am not around to take care of my aged parents, do I see a future for them at 80 yeas old on this Matrix Island"? Again, we can have a glimps of the answer by looking around to see what current 80 years old ah gong and ah ma are doing - enjoying golden age or cleaning tables at hawker centres?
So, if one answers in the negative, then one should take care of one's parents by helping them emigrate! Self emigrate based on employment -> parents emigrate based on family ties (but Australia will only grant long-term social visit pass, not PR, to people above 45 yrs old) -> parents enjoy social welfare as PR in case one cannot take care of them due to unforseenable circumstances -> filial piety! Of course, aged parents may not like the ang moh food, culture, language etc. But then, I don't think they p prefer cleaning tables at hawker centres at 80 years old, right?
And now comes the part that you will say I am "scolding" and "insulting": you know what? I suspect many aged parents will reject the course of action I highlighted in bold! Like the youth in the survey, many of them will whine about how they wish they can leave the Matrix island instantly, yet when the above viable course of action is presented to them, they will not follow through it - they wont support their children leaving, nor would they want to endure the food/culture overseas when it is their turn to join their children overseas. They would rather take a bet that perhaps they would have better luck than the 80 years old grandmas that they see cleaning up their tables at the hawker centre, when they themselves turn 80!! In other words, old or young, it is the same: An entire nation of....!
My msg is simple: Talk the talk and walk the walk! If one's "talk" is "This is my country. It is the Matrix Masters who should be booted out, not me. Why should I leave?", then fine. So be it. My "scolding" is not directed at these people. But if one's "talk" is along the line of "I am dying to get out of this place", then one should walk the walk! If we all walk the walk, this would exert a strong enough pressure on the Matrix Master, and he would have to take us seriously lest a total brain-drain that no FT can replace, occur! And that's my msg.
It seems that you are a whiner like your fellow batteries. They whine about a lack of options and you whine about their lack of initiative.
What's wrong about whining? Shouldn't we be entitled to whine? Is that not an issue of personal choice? Perhaps you should respect these whiners' decision to stay in sg and not migrate. People are known to say one thing and do the other.
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