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.
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