她的眼泪

那一天，看见她流下眼泪，但是我却什么也没说出口。一句安慰的话，一个温暖的拥抱，我...只是静静的坐在她的身旁。不知道该说什么才好，不知道该做什么才好。也许我能够说的，就是对不起。如果我不是这样的我，也许一切还会如常。如果我没有来到这里，也许一切还会依旧。现在却让她伤心了，让她哭了，让她失望了。如果能够重来，也许我会处理得好一些，但是结果还是可能会一样吧。过去…让它过去。现在只要专心尽力的不让她再伤心，再流泪，那就好了。

iPhone 5s - From Funny Bunny Point of View

Okay, I wanted the Gold iPhone 5s so badly. But sometimes we just have to bow to faith. I can't get myself a gold one at launch, instead the Space Gray version was offered to me. After much consideration, I decided to just take it. And now I want to share some of my thoughts of this phone here... I'm not going to review deep down into the specs and etc, you can get all these else where. I'm just an ordinary user who is looking for a ordinary smartphone that can meet my requirement, and my requirement is fairly simple: a phone that's convenient to use in one hand, fast and fluent, don't crash or hang for no reason, doesn't need me to worry too much about it and just get all the job I throw to it done.

Why iPhone 5s... well, I had a great experience using iPhone 5 with iOS 6 last year, and I have given the phone to my girlfriend. Then I've been using Xperia SP until I started to fed up with Android once again, and I'm so eagerly want to dive back to the gated garden wall. Obviously, iPhone 5s is the only choice for "upgrade" and iPhone 5c is essentially the same as iPhone 5. Anyway, here I am, with my Space Gray 32GB iPhone 5s and its sexy RED leather case from Apple... and let my sharing begins!

First, let's talk about hardware. 5s is identical with 5 from the outside, and since I like the 5 pretty much, of course I enjoy holding 5s in my hand. Aluminium and glass, it just feels solid and premium in hand. Particularly, I like the size of the phone which is extremely comfortable to operate with one hand, and the earphone jack is at the bottom, the only logical place to have the earphone pluck in. I'd always dislike the existence of the home button, but this time around, I'm glad that it's there, because deep down lies the Touch ID sensor. I must say the sensor is freakingly accurate and useful. Unlocking phone with thumb print versus with passcode... I would say thumb print is a little faster, but not really something to wow about. The best part is you don't need to key in passcode or your Apple ID password over and over again and all these are simply replaced by a touch of your finger. Pretty cool, but yet practical. I certainly want to see this to be implemented in the future for mobile payment purpose. Previously the 5 can last me more than half a day under heavy usage and a day under normal usage, the 5s betters that by giving close to full day under heavy usage and almost a day and a half under normal usage.

Now, let's talk about the grey area between hardware and software. 5s comes with the industry leading 64 bit A7 processor, first of its kind. There are tons of articles about how good a 64 bit processor can be, but does it really live up to the hype? Running iOS 7 between 5 and 5s, you can easily notice that it's smoother on the 5s. Apple native apps are all 64 bit supporting by now, and all of them are running nicely with no issue under iOS 7. Third party apps however, is a different story. Some apps have updated to support iOS 7, while some are not. Those haven't will actually causing problem once in a while... those already updated to iOS 7 but still in 32 bit, it still need some time in order to make full use of the processor. And the M7 chip... looking forward to see how developer can make full use of it too.

Another feature that Apple talks about is the camera. Well, it is obvious that the camera in 5s is better than the 5, especially under low light condition. Not to forget as well on all the new feature such as larger sensor, faster aperture, dual LED flash, burst shot, slow-mo video, live photo filters and improved panorama shots. One thing I like about iPhone's camera, is that it is all auto, and the result is satisfying for most of the time. It's so easy, you just need to swipe to get into the camera app and start snapping. For me, this is how a camera should be for smartphone. I find it no point to actually allow the smartphone camera to have the ability to do all sorts of setting for ISO, aperture and shutter speed... I can use a pro camera when I want to have full control, smartphone camera is just not for serious shooting, it should be fun and simple! Image quality wise, no comment as I didn't really care about comparing to other phone, it's just a camera from a smartphone, what do you expect from them?

After running iOS 7 for some time, I find it to be a really nice upgrade from iOS 6. A big step forward for iOS user I would say. I still don't really like some of the new icons as they are too flat, anyway I can live with that. Overall I like the new font, and the new implementation of gestures in controlling the software is simply amazing. I wonder why all these gestures are added only until today... Apple claimed that iOS is the most advanced mobile OS in the world, for me, I think that claim is a little too much. It may not be the most advance in the world, but it is actually the best OS so far for mobile gadget, at least for me. 

Okay, I have covered most of the user experience of running 5s. Is it the ultimate phone to own by everyone? No. Is it the perfect phone to date? Hmm, yes and no. I would really prefer if Apple can stuck a 4.5" screen and make it as slim and sexy like the 5s, and they can use a screen with lower power consumption (IGZO screen has been rumoured for so long...) to prolong the battery life further. Optical stabilisation would be added advantage, and if they can get more developer to dive into the 64 bit ecosystem, iPhone or iOS to be precise, will get to the top of the world in no time. For those who really prefer to slap a large plastic over your face, you know who you should look to. Those who want to use only pirated software or not willing to pay for quality apps, please continue to stay in your open playground. Other than that, I can't seems to find a reason not to love the iPhone 5s.

To sum it all up, in terms of specs, indeed the 5s is the most forward thinking phone in the industry as of now. Apple doesn't throw in 10 bits of features into the smartphone just to find them as a gimmick in the end and none of them to be useful, they certainly done enough research and engineering to come up with a solution that "it just works". iPhone 5s can really be the future of smartphone, but still, it is not there... yet. When developer started to flood in and support the 64 bit OS, when apps are optimized for iOS 7, when all the tiny bugs have been ironed out by Apple... the iPhone 5s will undoubtedly become the future of smartphone.

A day with iOS 7

Updated my iPhone 5 (well, used to be my iPhone) to iOS 7 and spent a day with it. Been taking some calls, snapping some pictures, browsing some web and etc. with it and so far so good... Let's sum up a litle abou the good and the bad I feel about it:

The good:
1. Overall looks good in terms of graphic
2. Still smooth as usual, but a few glitches now and then which should iron out nicely in next update
3. Camera app is better than ever
4. Seems to be some improvement in terms of battery life
5. Hiding the spotlight search is a welcome move instead of wasting a page for it
6. Like the new font very much
7. Control center is very neat
8. Multi tasking is good too
9. New gesture of swipe really handy
10. The new safari is freakingly good

The bad:
1. No toggle for cellular on/off in control center!
2. The battery icon looks like condom at first glance
3. The animation takes longer time than expected, looks nice but I prefer something faster
4. Parallax effect... Who will so free to look at the home screen...
5. The bottom icon row is not as nice as the old glass effect one...

Well, these are my thoughts so far. Will share more when I use it more over time.

It's all about iPhone this September

People tends to classified me as Apple fanboy, while actually I'm not. I'm not iSheep that says "if only Apple make this, this will surely be better". Although I do own an iPhone 5, iPad mini and Macbook Pro Retina Display, but the reason I bought all these gadgets are simple: they suit all my needs and requirement, perhaps desire as well. 

It all started with the Macbook Pro. My first ever Apple product. I have been searching up and down for the ultimate laptop which doesn't feel cheap with plasticky build, not bulky, packs with great specs that I can use for my video watching and photo editing. During that time around, 1080p Full HD screen is still rare in the market. Ultrabook at that time is still pack with moderate spec but hefty price tag. In the end, I got my eyes on the Macbook Pro and after some deep consideration and try out, I decided to go for it. It's not an easy decision to make as I need to jump from Windows to OS X platform. But in the end, I must say I'm glad I have made the correct decision. For the price I paid, is well worth every penny of it. Nice retina display screen, great track pad that you will not find in any other Windows laptop out there, simple OS environment and etc has made me so into it and forget about Windows.

The next thing I got was the iPhone 5. I was hunting for new phone that time around when it was announced. I have been using Android phone from Froyo to Gingerbread, from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich. The phones I bought are from the mid range, and I must say I really fed up with the lag, hang & glitches of Android, not to say the lag of software upgrade and the same app can be so different in feel and usage between different devices. Talk about fragmentation. So with my good experience on Macbook Pro, I decided to get a try with Apple on the phone as well. And yes, once again Apple didn't disappoint me... well, maybe they did, but I can tolerate with that. Sure iOS has a lot of limitation, you can't customized everything, you can't easily get pirated apps, you can't do this and do that. But still, ultimately I'm sold to iOS for it's performance. Despite iPhone always carries lower spec that other competitor, it never fails me in terms of software operation. Everything is just buttery smooth, and those iSheep would say: "it just works!". Hardware side I'm also enjoying the thin, light and aluminium casing of the iPhone 5, although I do would comment like others: if only it can be slightly stronger in resisting to dent.

And I got myself an iPad mini as birthday present from my sister (thanks) in order to replace my Galaxy Tab 2 7". It's not a tablet with high end spec, so I must say I can forgive it to be a little slow at times. But once the Jellybean update comes to the tablet... everything starts to become broken, so broken that I decided to revert back to Ice Cream Sandwich through custom ROM. During that time of purchase, there isn't much choice for a table with 7" in size. So I force myself to live with it for about a year until I finally can't stand it anymore... and just nice for the timing when I get the iPad mini as present. This is not a perfect tablet either, but the build quality of the tablet and of course, iOS environment has made me forgive some of it's shortcoming (slow processor & low res screen).

Fast forward to today, I just gone through the Apple Keynote. I must say the presentation is boring. I can't feel any energy from what those guys from Cupertino delivered. But the new iPhone 5s indeed is a great phone on paper. Whether or not it will live up to expectation, I shall only be able to tell after being able to get my hands on one. Yes, I'll be getting one since I have given my iPhone 5 to my girlfriend. Currently using a mid range Android Xperia SP, I must say the more I use, the more I miss iOS. Yes, indeed there's a lot of so called "feature" in Android, but at the end of the day, with so much feature but the phone can't perform and live up to the standard... there's simply no meaning on it. Well, maybe because I have never own a high end Android phone before, but if you can only get the best with the best specs inside (just like running Windows PC), then I'll probably pass and stick with iOS, which can run smoothly and get the job done as well.

Like I said, I choose my preference based on my requirement and priority. And it happens that iOS is the better choice for me, so naturally I can only go for iPhone and iPad since no other things on earth run this software other than them. There are still many products from Apple which I think is not worth to get (yet) such as Apple TV (which I really hope they can do something about it, this is a device with such great potential but now it only has limited functions), Apple Magic Mouse multi touch is great but the design of the mouse is simply not ergonomic, iPod Touch is a bit "redundant" for me as everything it do, it can be done on iPhone... Maybe there will be some improvement in Android KitKat, but for now, I had enough of Android's buggy, laggy and sluggish operation and going back to my gated garden wall of iOS ecosystem...

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is my direct boss's last day... I just been working with her for almost 3 months, she is really a good boss. I still can recall the first time she interviewed me, I really thank her for giving her trust on me and short listed me for another round of interview, and ultimately giving me a chance to work in Singapore so soon. There are still a lot of things which I wish to learn from her, but too bad time is just too short. I do wish her all the best in her future endeavour.

This makes me think of last time when I first joined my ex-company, the guy who interviewed me also left, later follow by my direct boss also. Well, maybe I'm the one who carries a curse on those who interviewed me or those who are my direct boss... anyway, for all of them, I do enjoy working with them, and all of them are very knowledgable and how I wish I can spend just a little more time with them to learn more from them.

Anyway, life goes on. Just hope that when the new boss comes, he or she will be a good one, and I can continue to learn from him or her.

Making Sense on the "Smart Watch" Craze

Recently there has been a lot of hype regarding smart watches, first Sony released the Smart Watch 2, follow by Qaulcom and Samsung to release their own version of Smart Watch. Also there's Pebble which is a kickstarter project that turns out to be reality. Furthermore, Apple is rumoured to release their iWatch next year as well. Generally, all these smart watches are having functions such as reading SMS, email, facebook or twitter update, pedometer and etc. Sounds familiar? Yes, these functions are basically what you are having in your smartphone now.

I tend to agree with a journalist who mentioned that every gadget/gear must have a clear and distinct usage of it. If not, it will just be a merely geek toys with no purpose. Smartphone exist for a purpose, and tablet exist for a purpose as well. You can live with a smartphone for general usage, and move to a tablet when you need more screen estate or more processing power (although smartphone nowadays are having advance chipset just like tablet). But smart watch? Something that's having smaller screen plus low end spec. Hmm.

After going through some readings, forums & articles, I must say that I really can't find a purpose for smart watch to exist, at least for now. Now they are having similar functions as smartphone, and they are being marketed as a "companion device" for your smartphone. Seriously, do I really need to carry two devices which are having the same functions? Some may argue that it is "convenient" that they can get something directly from the watch without the need to take out the phone. I'm not sure whether I should classify this as "lazy". Some may say their "phablet" is kept in the handbag and it is not convenient to take it out and put it back again and again. If that's the case, why don't you get a smaller phone in the first place?

When mind arrives here, all of a sudden I think I have found a purpose for Smart Watch to exist. Nowadays people tend to have a smartphone and a tablet. So people are going to have a smart watch plus smartphone plus tablet soon. Smart watch and smartphone are virtually identical in feature and functions, but not tablet. So my idea is simple: merge the Smart Watch and Smartphone together as one device, so in future people will only need to use a Smart Watch plus a tablet. 

The future of Smart Watch is that it will turn into something great that it can replace the Smartphone's core function, mainly calling, sms, email etc. When the screen size of Smart Watch is limiting, turn to a tablet, be it 7" 8" or 10" as long as you are comfortable with it. Of course in order to achieve that, voice control needs to beef up as you can hardly type using your watch. But if this is really going to be the future, I guess someone will be able to crack the seamless integration and usage between Smart Watch plus Tablet.

Since people are "craving" for larger screen nowadays, I guess Smart Watch + Tablet can really be a good direction to go for. But as for now, I would rather spend my cash on a high-tech looking conventional dumb mechanical watch than a half-baked & yet not so smart plus redundant watch. Looking forward for my prediction to come true someday.

ひまわりと子犬の７日間

It's been awhile since the last time I watched a good movie that's both touching & meaningful. Just watched this movie, "Himawari to Koinu no Nanokakan", it's a bit of slow pace movie, but it is very meaningful to watch till the end of it. 

It's a story about stray dogs that are being kept by the government agency. If they are unable to find a new owner in 7 days, those dogs will need to be put to sleep forever. One day a stray dog was found, and together there are 3 puppies in the wild. In order to save these dogs from being killed after 7 days, Shoji who work for the agency tried everything he can to tame the mother of 3 puppies, so that they can found their new owner and do not need to be killed.

If you owned a dog and you love your dog, this story will certainly bring you to tears. If you do not owned a dog but planned to own one, think twice before you decide. You must really commit yourself to be with it until the very end of it's life. And if you are planning to buy one, why not consider adopting from your local agency. Hope you will enjoy this movie as much as I do.

Working in Singapore Part 2

Generally there are two types of Malaysian working here, one being those who work here but continue to stay in Malaysia, and those who work here and stay here for as long as they wished. There are significant differences between these two types of people. Their life style, their needs and their problems are all different. 

If you plan to stay in Johor and enter Singapore everyday, you will probably need a car. And you will need to deal with the traffic jam as a lot of people doing the same. So you have to plan your travel time nicely. If you are driving Malaysia car, you will need to pay “entrance fee” everytime you enter into Singapore ($20 per day if I’m not mistaken). If you are PR and driving Singapore car, you don’t need to pay such amount, but you can’t pump RON 95 petrol back in Malaysia. The rest like ERP, parking should be more or less the same, doesn’t matter you are Malaysia car or Singapore car. 

Then if staying in Johor, the rent or installment for your house loan will definitely lower compared to staying in Singapore, as you are earning Singapore dollar and convert it and use it in Malaysia. Same goes to children’s education fee and etc. Sounds good right? That’s why there are many Malaysia staying in Johor and work in Singapore. 

I personally won’t do so as I just don’t want to waste time travelling everyday. Furthermore, Malaysia is simply not safe. I don’t want myself one day being rob or rape or shot by some one for no reason. So, I’ll most likely be joining the later group, those who choose to live in Singapore. 

If one choose to live in Singapore, does it sounds like a bad choice? Not really. As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, the cost of living in Singapore is actually not as high as people are expecting. So if you are renting a room, taking public transport, basically you still get to save quite some money at the end of every month. If you need to buy a car, you will still be able to afford it, but your saving will be less. To own a house… you will probably need to take a little longer. If you are earning a lot, you can just buy private condominium. If not, try to get PR and then buy HDB which is much cheaper than private condominium. 

Why people choose to live in Singapore… well, I haven’t done enough study on this area yet. But based on my personal opinion, I would rather stay in Singapore as over here everything is more… organized, civilized, advanced… and so on. If you need to take care of old family members, the environment in Singapore is more suitable than Malaysia. Everything from clinic, mini market, food stalls are all within walking distance from your apartment. Basically one can virtually survive without even require to rely on public transport just to live the daily life. If there’s anyone who is disabled, again Singapore is friendlier in providing all sorts of support for them. 

If you have children, education system here should be far better as compared to what we have back in Malaysia. The quality is simply no match. So for the sake of development and future of my children, I would rather work harder to earn more money just to get them to school in Singapore than sending them back to Malaysia. Better public transport system, more quality life style (I can easily afford all those branded clothing and gadgets here, but not back in Malaysia)… 

Well, there are thousand of reasons to stay. And of course there are thousand of reasons for those who choose to stay in Malaysia as well. Either way, we are just an ordinary people who want to earn a better living in order to have a better life and improve what we have at the moment. So we have decided to work oversea. Both types of people have their own difficulties and reasons behind the scene that one may not know. To wrap up my 3 days ranting, we choose to work oversea because we want a better life & future. At the moment when we make the decision to leave, we simply have no choice, as there’s no such option in Malaysia at that point of time. So we left, but it doesn’t mean we don’t like our homeland. It doesn’t make any of us to be different from those who continue to stay and work in Malaysia. Ultimately, one should live his/her life to the fullest with no regret. With everyone’s requirement and goal set differently, of course people will get diversify. This is the beauty of human society. If everyone were the same, then it would have been too dull. 

Sorry if I offended anyone in these ranting posts. Sorry for my bad English as I just type whatever comes out from my mind without further thinking and editing. For those of my friends who are in the middle of deciding whether to leave or to stay, hope these posts can give you some help into thinking deeper and making your decision easier. There won’t be a perfect answer and solution. Just do what you think is right and appropriate. Listen to your heart’s whisper. And last but not least, all the best to everyone for your future endeavor.

Working in Singapore Part 1

There are many things I can share about when talking on working oversea. But since the obvious choice for Malaysian to work oversea will be working in Singapore, so I’ll talk a little bit on that. Again, this is just my point of view. You are welcome to disagree with any of it.

There are these myths regarding working in Singapore which people believe in, and ended up going against working in Singapore. So let’s try to clarify them one by one.

1. It’s not worth to stay away from your family 

If you are those who value family more in your life, yes, this statement can be true. But it is not to say that when I work in Singapore, staying away from home, it means I don’t like my family or so. Come on, it’s not that far anyway, if there’s anything one can always drive back or take a flight to get home in the matter of hours. You can always go home during the weekend if you wish. Otherwise, your family can pay you a visit once in awhile. The best of course would be getting your family to move in to Singapore and stay with you together.

2. You are not earning that much anyway 

This is the part that is a little “grey”. First, let’s talk about ringgit vs Singapore dollar. An ordinary Malaysian graduate engineer can at most get paid around RM2800 to RM3000 for their first job. For a school dropper without any qualification, who work in retail store as promoter can get at most $1500, which is around RM3900. See the difference? Of course this is unfair comparison, when talking about your earning, we should always view without looking into the currency rate. So, a typical Singapore engineer job can land you in somewhere around $2600 to $3000. So it seems like what you are earning is more or less the same anyway (considering earning RM3000 in Malaysia and $3000 in Singapore, without taken into account on currency factor). Let’s take a look on the next factor: living expenses.

3. Living expenses in Singapore is very high 

Again I remind you that we are comparing the value of living cost, not the currency conversion. First, let’s look at food: a simple chicken rice in Malaysia cost about RM4.00 (which is a price that’s already dirt cheap and you can hardly find it anywhere). In Singapore, they range from $2.00 to $3.50. I can get it around $2.50 at the stall near my office, which is not within the town center. Already there are savings here. Generally foods are cheaper in Singapore as compared to Malaysia.

Next, clothes or other daily living necessity. You can get long sleeve G2000 shirts at $19 in Singapore, in Malaysia after discount probably you will be getting one at RM40 or RM50. Iphone 5 cost RM2000+ in Malaysia while it is $1000 in Singapore. You can apply a general rule of thumb that the cost of daily necessity in Singapore is half of what you are paying in Malaysia (again, just focus on the value). So, more savings coming in. Sounds pretty good until now? Let’s look at the next big thing in our spending, house and car.

4. You can’t afford to buy house or car 

This is rather a “yes” and “no” question. You can’t afford to buy house or car… hmm, but there are a lot of Malaysians who buy cars and houses here. So it really is depend on your financial ability. It’s not like you can guarantee that you will be able to afford house and car loan in Malaysia anyway, so I’m a bit neutral in this regard.

For sure it is not easy to own assets in Singapore, as the government has tight law in controlling foreigner to purchase property here. Well, at least they care to protect their citizens. In Malaysia, the property price hike like crazy due to those rich fella buying and selling property like nobody business, and the government is doing nothing to control this kind of behavior. So if you really are looking into getting a house and settle down in Singapore, you really should consider getting a PR here (which again, is not that easy to get nowadays). Well, I can’t afford to buy it in Malaysia anyway, so I don’t feel that there’s any great impact on me for now. But for those who plan to have his/her own family and children in near future, this is something that should really be taken into consideration. Just for your record, I saw some advertisement recently for private condominium (outside city center of course) which cost $1000+ per square feet in Singapore, and the last time I saw a new development in Petaling Jaya was calling for RM1000+ per square feet.

So if you rent a room, how much will it cost? A room for two cost around $600 to $800, staying in normal HDB apartment (not within city center of course), usually inclusive of water, electricity, washing machine usage, internet and etc. Well, I don’t think you can get anything that is far cheaper in Malaysia also. So I would call it a tie here.

The price of car in Singapore is actually more or less same like in Malaysia (both countries having high tax for imported cars), just that you need to pay for the COE before you can own a car (which is expensive). So ended up the total cost of ownership is higher. And the tight loan policies making things even worse. Well, again this is something good and bad at the same time. The good is that people will only buy a car if they really can afford it, unlike in Malaysia, one can simply go in a showroom without paying a single cent for down payment and drive a car away in no time… The bad of course will be for those who really need a car but having financial difficulties, things will be almost impossible for them. Well, if you don’t have big head, don’t wear a big hat. I always believe in this Chinese saying and it is really true. I don’t really want to build my life on top of mountains of debt, well, I know it is unavoidable, but at least I want to minimize it as much as I can.

This will lead to another point: why bother getting a car when the public transport in Singapore is so reliable? So if your job does not really require a car for travel purpose, I would suggest you to live with the bus and MRT services. They are reliable, on time and cheap. You can get to almost anywhere within Singapore with them. As a contrast, in Malaysia the public transport is a total mess, rubbish, and yet still cost you so much just to get from point A to point B.

5. The food in Singapore sucks 

This is typically a point given by people (I strongly believe especially people from Penang who always think that whatever “Peneng” is always far superior) who either get themselves to the wrong place eating at the wrong food, or they are just plain picky on food. Generally food in Singapore is acceptable and ok. There are nice food here and there, you just need to find it out and enjoy it.

6. Singaporean kiasi and kiasu, their culture is bad 

Well, I can’t really comment on this, as I also found kiasi and kiasu people in Malaysia. In terms of culture, I would say people in Singapore are more demanding, work pace is faster, they value a lot in your work quality (and complain a lot at the same time, well, who doesn’t complain in this world anyway). So for Malaysian who are used to our “cincai la” or “minum teh” or “slow and steady” culture, you will find it hard to adapt into the working style in Singapore. Well, if you want to work in a “cincai la” way, of course you will get a “cincai la” pay.

Wrap up: 

I haven’t really touch about other cost such as entertainment and etc. Well, generally they are more or less same like in Malaysia, some maybe slightly higher, some maybe lower (depends on what you are interested in), but all in all, they are considered to be acceptable.

So, do I still need to do the math for you on how much you can earn and save working in Malaysia and Singapore? I think you already have a basic idea on it. Please bear in mind that I’m not trying to portray working in Singapore is superior as compared to working in Malaysia or the other way round. I’m just trying to give you a brief idea what you need to consider and start calculating if you are thinking of leaving Malaysia and work in Singapore. As everyone will have different goal in life, different requirement and needs, so in the end one have to factor in everything and make the best decision for himself/herself. And if you don’t plan your financial well, you will end up with nothing, doesn’t matter you work in Malaysia, Singapore, or even you own the Bank Negara Malaysia.

After clearing most of the myths, next time I’ll share a bit on the concerns you need to taken into account before making your decision.  

Working oversea, why?

Recently there are many friends of mine who asked me why I decided to work oversea. Some asked me on some details and they are considering doing the same. Some debated the reason to work abroad. So I decided I’ll just scribble something in my mind here. What I say is just my point of view, it is not a fact or something that one must follow. I just hope at least by sharing what running in my mind during this period of time may helps others to think and decide on their future. 

I must say I’m blessed to be able to work in so many different places in the world for the past 3 years of my career. I’ve been to Italy, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, China, Papua New Guinea and etc for short term business trip, while also working in Dubai for 1 year and now I’m working in Singapore. It’s not hard to find that people works oversea. You can find a lot of Indians working in Dubai, Philippines in Papua New Guinea, Chinese in Pakistan and so on. For some, there isn’t enough job opportunity in their country, so they got no choice but to work elsewhere. For some, they simply need to earn more money to support their family living, and that amount of money will only be possible to be earned if they work somewhere else. 

Spending time talking to them and to understand them during my previous travel really opens up my eyes and mindset. Me, as a Malaysia, there’s enough job back in my homeland, we are not considered to be poor or rich, but at least we are able to earn a living to continue our life. But why many of us choose to work elsewhere or live elsewhere, and we never look back? 

I personally fed up with the politics in my homeland, and with all the ridiculous policies going on which drains all my hard earned income for no reason (actually there is a reason, which is to fill up “their” pockets), I decided to escape from it once and for all. For others, there are reasons such as currency exchange rate, better job opportunity, better offer, better life for their family and etc. Reasons, there’s always one when you need it. But deep into our heart, who doesn’t want to stay and work in their homeland? But we have chosen to do the opposite, this may sound ridiculous to you, but really, we got no choice. 

Of course it is not as easy as it says for someone to decide working oversea. There’s a lot of consideration going on. For single, mainly one will need to juggle between his current commitment (car loan, house loan, parents and family) in his homeland and what he really wants in the end. For those married or planning to married and start a new family in near future, there are more consideration to be taken in. Other than the usual commitment, they’ll need to think about their children’s future as well. It’s not cheap to raise a child, doesn’t matter where you are in the world. 

I’m a single man, currently without any commitment (car loan cleared and I can’t afford a house in Malaysia anyway) other than insurance, my family is not depending on me to survive the day, and I’m not planning to start a new family with children in near future. Therefore, my point of view is simple. I want to work for different jobs, experience different culture and gain as much work experience as possible while I’m still young, energetic and able to do so. When I’ve gained my experience, and I’m comfortable with the place and job I’m in, I will settle down and focus in growing further on my career, and perhaps starting my family. Owning a house is certainly not in my priority list for the moment. 

Some may argue that you won’t get to high position without staying in a company for long enough. This is “yester-year outdated” thinking. Nowadays, seniority is nothing in most company. If you are capable, you will be hired. It’s that simple. Considering the currency factor, this is the time where I can really work hard to earn and save money for my future usage. If I do come back to Malaysia one day, at least my hard earn money will be more valuable. If I don’t come back to Malaysia, at least I’m sure that I’m living a life with better quality elsewhere. 

So, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, I set off on a journey in pursuing what I want in my life, and what my homeland can’t offer. I’ll talk more specifically about working in Singapore next time.