Despite having the exact same qualifications awarded by a UK university as his Malaysian classmate, Singaporean Arasu Seran only earns S$1400 each month while his Malaysian classmate brings S$4000 home monthly, working in Singapore.
Arasu’s situation was shared online by blogger Gintai who claims to be or have been Arasu’s colleague. According to Gintai, Arasu presently works as a Train Officer with SMRT and has been with the transport operator for the past 5 years.
Arasu received a diploma and higher diploma in computer science in 2000 and 2002 respectively, awarded by UK’s Staffordshire University, after he spent more than $20,000 for the tertiary courses conducted locally by TMC Academy. Arasu successfully completed both programmes alongside his Malaysian classmate, Param.
Param, who was working as a factory operator in a manufacturing firm here, quickly received a promotion to an IT job in the same firm after he received his qualifications.
After a few years, Param subsequently moved to another company taking a job in IT as well. He has, to this day, remained in the IT sector and earns about S$4000 per month. According to Gintai, Param “lives in JB but commutes daily on weekdays to work here.”
Despite being nearly the same age as Param, having the same exact qualifications and working in the same country, Singaporean Arasu has not been nearly as successful as the foreign national.
Following his graduation, Arasu was surprised to find that the qualifications he had acquired at the local TMC Academy were not recognised by his former employer SATs.
To this day, Arasu has not managed to break into the IT sector as his higher diploma in computer science was still not recognised by his past or current employers.
Gintai also revealed that Param is fortunate to only work a 5-day work week while Arasu struggles with shift work. He concluded:
“When Train Officer (TO) Arasu saw me few days ago, he told me that his friend Param just called him. Again, his friend Param who is a Malaysian teased TO Arasu that as a ‘Singaporean’, working as a Train Officer is earning so much less than him. He is enjoying every weekend with his family in JB whereas TO Arasu is working on shift with rotating off days like a “Baduah!”
“As a Singaporean, his life is no better than a Malaysian even though they possess the same qualifications. It must be his bad karma or rather the Malaysian IT manager that opened up a valuable career path for his friend Param? Life is really full of little ironies as far as Train Officer Arasu is concerned. It appears that it’s better to be a Malaysian like his friend Param than a Singaporean. Really langgar!”
Read Gintai’s full post here.