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.
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