Singapore

I visited Singapore basically because my neighbors two brothers Wong Kam and Wong Peng went to work and study there. We were buddies because we did not have much of an age difference and there was no generation gap. There were also attractions in Singapore then, for example the ease of job opportunities and also the night life where transvestities were first in public display in the back lanes of Singapore etc. Malaysia was still relatively a more conservative society then.

I happened to bump into one of my very distant cousin from KL Salak South garden many years ago in the busy China town street of Singapore after that I never meet him again when he married and has his own family. Just imagine how popular a destination Singapore was for the Malaysians, every body was going to Singapore, be it for a short visit,shopping or looking for a job. At that time, the imported fruits such as oranges, apples, pears etc were very cheap in Singapore and most Malaysians brought back big bundles across the causeway to Malaysia. As students we used to go to Peninsula Plaza to buy our scientific calculators which were also very cheap there. Customs were very strict then and they checked every single bag of the visitors coming back from Singapore. A lot of the things were cheaper in Singapore than Malaysia. At that time, Penang island was probably the only free port in Malaysia. Only at later part, the free port status of Penang was abolished and then Langkawi was announced as the new duty free port by Dr. Mahatir.

After my HSC A level examination, I went to Singapore and started to give tuition classes. I was earning a fair living without asking money from my parents for my own expenses. Subsequently after about half a year I left Singapore for further study back in Malaysia and passed on the students to my buddy Yau Peng Long. I still could remember a few of my favorite students include the related cousin brothers of Ah Tiong from Indonesia and also Singaporean Chay Yong. I had never seen them again after that and probably even I see them now I would not be able to recognize them at all. At that time a lot of the rich Indonesian Chinese bought bungalows with swimming pools in Singapore and they also sent their children to study in Singaporean schools. And I believe they had also moved and deposited a lot of their money into the Singaporean banks. At that time Indonesia was not that stable politically. Singapore was a finance center, shelter and a refuge haven for these rich Indonesians, a very near contingency destination in case anything happened in Indonesia.

Singapore is a very clean city and everything is well arranged, people are well disciplined and even the trees are very straight! The straight trees were something I really dislike the most of Singapore because it did not give me that feeling of being natural, it seemed to me everything was so artificially arranged and even the trees were not spared. The roads were ever ready to be turned into a runway for fighter planes. That was the impression I had for a very efficient Singapore.

I left Singapore with a heavy heart and I did not know that thereafter I would never have a chance to go back to work or stay in Singapore. Only once when I met someone from a reputable computer company ALR , and on my way back from Taiwan I went to Singpoare for an interview but the deal did not cone through. I only passed by Singapore Changi airport for transit once a while and visited Wong Peng one or twice and that was it!

For many years in my very personal opinion, cars and apartments in Singapore are far too exorbitant in prices compared to Malaysia, even I could earn double the amount in Singapore than in Malaysia, I would not be in my right mind to work and live there. What I did not realise and expect were that, Singapore CPF contribution is 20% from employers and also the currency appreciated more than double over a short period of time! That was the time period where Singapore economy grew by leaps and bounds and I missed that boat! All my friends and classmates went to Singapore at that time now become rich!

That was only an incident of my life that I think back after so many years. Even I did not go to Singapore for good but I went overseas and stayed and worked in a few countries for many years. Sometimes life is not our own arrangement, it is God that is behind everything. And I believe God puts us in a place for a reason, one fine day we would be able to find out the reason why!