Dear The Real Singapore,
I am a Singaporean, born and bred in Singapore and in my 40s now. I take great pride in the achievements of my tiny Island nation. After almost 20 years of living abroad I decided to return to Singapore to a very lucrative job offer in 2011. I moved my family and my non-Singaporean husband with the intentions to make it a permanent move. We are both professionals with substantive earning capacity.
However, two months into our new life in Singapore, I realise it was a mistake. The Singapore I knew and love, no longer is. I looked around at my elderly relatives, friends and families, how they struggle to make ends meet. A great majority of the Singaporeans who have contributed so greatly to the growth of the city state are living on meagre income/pension or simply handouts from their children who themselves are struggling to pay for their own inflated mortgages. The government handouts which I heard exist for the poor (you have to be destitute to get any) have so many conditions attached to it that it is just not worth applying for them.
It takes too much energy to get any help for the poor. The city is overcrowded, the divide between those who have and the have nots are huge. Younger generations do not feel they can afford to have a child let alone two. Many people I know are supporting their elderly parents on top of trying to maintain their own family. In my opinion the Singapore pension system is a complete failure.
The city is overcrowded, extremely expensive, many of the people I have come across are impolite, crude and materialistic. The trains, busses, roads,malls, supermarkets, hospitals are overcrowded. When so many human beings are packed in such a small place, one can only expect poor standard of behaviour. The government is far from willing to help those who have not succeed.
There are numerous of citizens earning a wage of SGD$800 a month working a 50 hour week. You will notice so many elderly people in Singapore have to work at a time when they should be resting and enjoying their twilight years. How can anyone call Singapore the richest country in the world? Yes, it has a huge per capita GDP but the income is not being enjoyed by its original 2.7 million or so citizens whose sweat and vision built this great nation. As for me, despite of earning a good income by any standard, a year to the day since I stepped foot back in Singapore, I left and sadly I know now that going 'home' to stay is no longer an option for me.
Sad Singaporean