SINGAPORE: A man from Malaysia who recently had his Singapore citizenship approved wrote in an anonymous post that he was very thankful.
He added that both he and his entire family had their citizenships approved. “I’m from Malaysia, although many complaints about Singapore but I’m thankful to be here. I’m thankful for the safety, stability, opportunity to save and for having my hard work being paid off here”, he wrote.
The man added that where he grew up, he was robbed on three different occasions and had to work two to three jobs to be able to cover his expenses. “Always needing to drive and get stuck in bad traffic, constantly on a lookout for potential dangers that are around, the list goes on and on. To a point where I just felt really tired. So, 10 years ago, I decided to come over here to see if things were different. Indeed, it has been an eye opening experiences”, he wrote.
He explained that many had told him it was a mistake to have the entire family become Singapore citizens instead of leaving at least one person as a Malaysian citizen, “but we actually think about this very hard and feel that Singapore is a good place for old people. Everything is assessible and elder friendly. All we need to do is make sure that we plan our finances well, buy whatever insurance we need and save for our retirement. This place is also safe for young children” he added.
“I wish that Singapore will continue to prosper. Thank you Singapore!” the man wrote.
Here’s what netizens said:
Last month, in a thread that went viral, a Singaporean Reddit user admitted to thinking that Malaysia isn’t “all that bad,” adding that Singapore’s only advantages are “public transport and cleanliness and ‘less corruption.’”
Other than that, “there’s really nothing more to Singapore than just another westernised city,” opined the netizen on r/Malaysia on Saturday (Feb 18).
He not only wrote that “Malaysia is a proper sized country with things to do, and the people here are suprisingly warmer and friendlier and the country actually has a culture,” but added that “Singapore just feels like a hollow city compared to Malaysia.”
The post author further explained that the “Only downside of Malaysia is low income. Only upside of Singapore is high income,” and that the “best of both worlds” would have been to have Malaysian citizenship and Singaporean PR.
He mentioned that surveys have lately shown that “half of youngsters here having anxiety and depression” and that “Singapore is so small and claustraphobic.”
The point of his post was not to hate on Singapore, but to look at the countries’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as, for the author, “this whole idea of ‘Singapore is just better all the time’ kind of needs to stop.”
The post author later added that he was shocked that so many people agreed with him.
https://theindependent.sg/this-whole-idea-that-singapore-is-better-than-malaysia-needs-to-stop-says-singaporean/