SINGAPORE: A young student who is a permanent resident and has lived in Singapore for 14 years recently shared her worries on social media after her parents proposed relocating to Malaysia for her education.
Posting on the r/SGexams subreddit, she shared some background about her family, explaining that they are originally from Malaysia and have an above-average household income. However, despite being financially comfortable on paper, they live modestly in Singapore due to the high cost of living and education.
“I am going on to J1 soon so my school fees would be more expensive this year,” she said. Worried about the increasing school fees and the financial strain they would cause, her parents suggested that the family move back to Malaysia, where she could continue her education at a lower cost.
She recalled a conversation with their father, who questioned their educational choices. “My father asked me, ‘Is it guaranteed that you can go to a local uni after going to JC? If you don’t make it there, you’re just wasting your time. If I send you back to Malaysia and you study in the school I send you to, you can get a degree in three years in your business course, better than you spending two plus four years just to get a degree in a Singapore university.’”
Moreover, her father also spoke about the lifestyle advantages they could enjoy in Malaysia. He said to her, “We can live in luxury in Malaysia. Bills are not that high, etc.” Although the student understood her parents’ perspective, she confessed that she felt torn about leaving Singapore behind.
“My family is already planning to move back. My brothers are fine with moving back and it’s just me left — I don’t wanna move back to Malaysia,” she wrote. “He [my father] says I’m being a burden I mean true I guess but I really consider Singapore my home, having lived here for 14 years. I get what he means, I can “waste” less years studying in Malaysia and JC doesn’t even guarantee a path to university sometimes and if some people fail in JC and choose other pathways like poly etc. that’s like wasting more years.”
Ultimately, she asked the community for advice, saying, “So what should I do? I really don’t want to move back to Malaysia, especially since I don’t even know Malay!”
“It’s better to study at a private uni in Malaysia”
The comments on the Reddit thread were split. Some favoured moving back to Malaysia, agreeing it might be more financially practical.
One user said, “In terms of value for money, unless you can get into NTU and NUS, I agree with your dad; it’s better to study at a private uni in Malaysia like Monash, etc. The reason is I’ve worked in a few MNCs in SG; there are many Malaysians from their public uni and some from their private uni. But I’ve never met anyone from SG local uni other than NUS, NTU… so why spend so much to end up in the same place as someone who pays less?”
Another shared, “Here pressure cooker lah, I was same situation as you, regretted not moving back earlier, never made it to SG local U and in the end, also moved back as did not wanna go NS, wasted $$ and years.”
Others, however, sympathized with the student’s attachment to Singapore. To help, some users offered advice on how she might persuade her father to let her stay in Singapore.
One user wrote, “Stay in SG, promise to work very hard and then work here. This way you can benefit from the 3.2-3.3x exchange rate also. Maybe can tell your father this.”
Another added, “Tell your dad that if you give up your PR, chances are you will never ever get it back. No issues coming back to Singapore to work as a foreigner under employment pass, but not having a PR significantly increases your cost of living.”
In other news, a Singaporean man took to social media to vent about his father repeatedly asking him and his sister for money—this time, to give out angbaos during Chinese New Year (CNY) to “save face” in front of relatives.
Posting on the r/askSingapore forum, the man shared that every Chinese New Year, his father insists on playing the role of a generous elder despite having no money.
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)