A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Panache1976 @ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:05:46 +0800

Panache1976 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:05:46 +0800

I find the last line of the article really funny. I hope when LKY said "Swiss current standard of living", he meant after adjustment for inflation.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Panache1976 @ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:59:21 +0800

Panache1976 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:59:21 +0800

Here's an old article regarding our falling per capita GDP ranking:

http://www.littlespeck.com/content/economy/CTrendsEconomy-050711.htm

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Panache1976 @ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:56:11 +0800

Panache1976 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:56:11 +0800

Ooops, sry! I meant the ranking. We are now at 28. Used to be 8 in 1997.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:24:00 +0800

eagle — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:24:00 +0800

Don't know leh... If you are talking about GDP per capita, this is what I got from your website:

Source

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Panache1976 @ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:34:38 +0800

Panache1976 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:34:38 +0800

Originally posted by eagle:

They no need to spend into the economy? Let's say $500 allowance for 8 years, that's $48k (excludes sch fees and plane fares). Most of this $48k will be spent in the Sg economy and the economy gets stronger due to the multiplier effect, Eventually, the money still lands in the government coffers through GST, income tax, petrol tax, ERP and COE if they buy a car, Airport tax when they fly back... So many ways to get back. Not to mention that a large portion of their salary also goes to renting or buying flats in Sg, food, transport, utilities... A lot of money are still kept within the Singapore economy, even though they might be working for MNCs within Singapore. And if they do well, the Sg economy gets even more money!

A economy functions best when people spend, not when people save. Bringing in large numbers of foreigners thus do help the economy, But this basically sums up what the government is thinking. The poor and old are still largely ignored...

As my teacher said, "It is the nature of the capitalist beast to exploit the poor for profits". How true...

True, if by helping the economy, you mean GPD growth. Unfornately, even though GDP has been rising, our per capita GDP has been falling every year since 1997. This can be mostly attributed to the government's policy of importing cheap FT to undercut Singaporean wages - and subsidizing them to do so!!

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=mr&v=67

Is it fair to use Singaporeans' taxes to lower our living standard, while providing freebies to encourage immigration? Besides, it takes 4 years for these students to graduate. By that time, we could be in another recession and more graduates won't be able to find jobs.

Basically, the government is treating Singaporeans like expendable employees instead of the shareholders that we really are...

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:40:55 +0800

eagle — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:40:55 +0800

Originally posted by Panache1976:

I wonder which highly paid minister(s) came up with this scholarship scheme. Don't know how to count leh. Say you spend $70,000 on each student. When they come out to work, their income tax each year is at most $2,000 per year average over the six years of bond.

Meaning that we give $58,000 of tax money away for FREE! WTF? Singapore really so short of graduates meh? Barely 5 years ago, 30% of sg graduates couldn't land any jobs. I know coz I graduated then!

They no need to spend into the economy? Let's say $500 allowance for 8 years, that's $48k (excludes sch fees and plane fares). Most of this $48k will be spent in the Sg economy and the economy gets stronger due to the multiplier effect, Eventually, the money still lands in the government coffers through GST, income tax, petrol tax, ERP and COE if they buy a car, Airport tax when they fly back... So many ways to get back. Not to mention that a large portion of their salary also goes to renting or buying flats in Sg, food, transport, utilities... A lot of money are still kept within the Singapore economy, even though they might be working for MNCs within Singapore. And if they do well, the Sg economy gets even more money!

A economy functions best when people spend, not when people save. Bringing in large numbers of foreigners thus do help the economy, But this basically sums up what the government is thinking. The poor and old are still largely ignored...

As my teacher said, "It is the nature of the capitalist beast to exploit the poor for profits". How true...

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Panache1976 @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:16:29 +0800

Panache1976 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:16:29 +0800

I wonder which highly paid minister(s) came up with this scholarship scheme. Don't know how to count leh. Say you spend $70,000 on each student. When they come out to work, their income tax each year is at most $2,000 per year average over the six years of bond.

Meaning that we give $58,000 of tax money away for FREE! WTF? Singapore really so short of graduates meh? Barely 5 years ago, 30% of sg graduates couldn't land any jobs. I know coz I graduated then!

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:04:04 +0800

eagle — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:04:04 +0800

Originally posted by fornax84:

Well, I can only say that you got to know wad is really happening behinds the scenes to know what sort of foreign talents we are letting into SG.

I am currently studying in a local uni and I have a fair share of interactions with the PRC students and got to know some intimate, seldom known facts about them. Nope, I am not degenerating this into a PRC bashing thread, but I feel that it is time to really let SGreans know what is really happening in our local uni............

Firstly, my forummers have already pointed out that these FTs are not from their first line unis. I will elaborate more. I have talked to this PRC guy before and he says that he comes to SG bcos he wants to "escape from reality". I was surprised and I quized him abt why he said so. He said back in PRC, even second tier unis are very competitive and students have to study day and night just to barely survive there. So being just an average student, he knows he cannot fight for better hons with the rest, so he decided to SG scholarship. Bcos, the branding of being an overseases scholar is gd enough to land u in any respectable white collared job. He told me that back in China, he was a third yr student and he came to SG to STUDY THE SAME COURSE BUT STARTING FROM YR1 AGAIN!!!! No prize for guessing why he did so well when u just left NS and is struggling to cope with civie live, this guy is coming here to study something he has done b4, while enjoying free education, food, lodging from our tax money. So I asked him what was his GPA back in PRC and what was the entry test to come here as a scholar. He said most coming here are 2nd lower to 2nd upper and the entry test here is just seeing your transcript and doing some basic IQ test, we oral English test. Then I asked him, where did the 1st class go, he said those that could not afford, stayed on, while those that are rich, left for western countries. He told me also that the SG govt has also a recent scheme that allows scholars to do PHD in SG unis as a form of paying back the 6yr bonds.

Now you tell me seriously, after hereing these will you be super duper du lan anot, tell me............

If what you said is true, I'm surprised by the number of "smart" PRCs here. Most aren't as smart as you think, especially when you factor in the amount of time they took to prepare for a module as compared to most Singaporeans. The main thing I can see is, they are extremely hardworking, more hardworking than the average Singaporean.

And for everyone's info, EU countries do hate PRCs coming into their country too. They are just all over the world nowadays.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:40:54 +0800

eagle — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:40:54 +0800

Originally posted by will4:

Is it true the Chinese national scholar given five hundred a month for their expenses? It seemed in NUS more n more foreign nationals studying in there.

NUS scholarships and any other local bonded scholarships all give $500 allowance a month to their scholars too.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by will4 @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:39:05 +0800

will4 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:39:05 +0800

Originally posted by fornax84:

Well, I can only say that you got to know wad is really happening behinds the scenes to know what sort of foreign talents we are letting into SG.

I am currently studying in a local uni and I have a fair share of interactions with the PRC students and got to know some intimate, seldom known facts about them. Nope, I am not degenerating this into a PRC bashing thread, but I feel that it is time to really let SGreans know what is really happening in our local uni............

Firstly, my forummers have already pointed out that these FTs are not from their first line unis. I will elaborate more. I have talked to this PRC guy before and he says that he comes to SG bcos he wants to "escape from reality". I was surprised and I quized him abt why he said so. He said back in PRC, even second tier unis are very competitive and students have to study day and night just to barely survive there. So being just an average student, he knows he cannot fight for better hons with the rest, so he decided to SG scholarship. Bcos, the branding of being an overseases scholar is gd enough to land u in any respectable white collared job. He told me that back in China, he was a third yr student and he came to SG to STUDY THE SAME COURSE BUT STARTING FROM YR1 AGAIN!!!! No prize for guessing why he did so well when u just left NS and is struggling to cope with civie live, this guy is coming here to study something he has done b4, while enjoying free education, food, lodging from our tax money. So I asked him what was his GPA back in PRC and what was the entry test to come here as a scholar. He said most coming here are 2nd lower to 2nd upper and the entry test here is just seeing your transcript and doing some basic IQ test, we oral English test. Then I asked him, where did the 1st class go, he said those that could not afford, stayed on, while those that are rich, left for western countries. He told me also that the SG govt has also a recent scheme that allows scholars to do PHD in SG unis as a form of paying back the 6yr bonds.

Now you tell me seriously, after hereing these will you be super duper du lan anot, tell me............

Is it true the Chinese national scholar given five hundred a month for their expenses? It seemed in NUS more n more foreign nationals studying in there.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by fornax84 @ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:13:28 +0800

fornax84 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:13:28 +0800

Well, I can only say that you got to know wad is really happening behinds the scenes to know what sort of foreign talents we are letting into SG.

I am currently studying in a local uni and I have a fair share of interactions with the PRC students and got to know some intimate, seldom known facts about them. Nope, I am not degenerating this into a PRC bashing thread, but I feel that it is time to really let SGreans know what is really happening in our local uni............

Firstly, my forummers have already pointed out that these FTs are not from their first line unis. I will elaborate more. I have talked to this PRC guy before and he says that he comes to SG bcos he wants to "escape from reality". I was surprised and I quized him abt why he said so. He said back in PRC, even second tier unis are very competitive and students have to study day and night just to barely survive there. So being just an average student, he knows he cannot fight for better hons with the rest, so he decided to SG scholarship. Bcos, the branding of being an overseases scholar is gd enough to land u in any respectable white collared job. He told me that back in China, he was a third yr student and he came to SG to STUDY THE SAME COURSE BUT STARTING FROM YR1 AGAIN!!!! No prize for guessing why he did so well when u just left NS and is struggling to cope with civie live, this guy is coming here to study something he has done b4, while enjoying free education, food, lodging from our tax money. So I asked him what was his GPA back in PRC and what was the entry test to come here as a scholar. He said most coming here are 2nd lower to 2nd upper and the entry test here is just seeing your transcript and doing some basic IQ test, we oral English test. Then I asked him, where did the 1st class go, he said those that could not afford, stayed on, while those that are rich, left for western countries. He told me also that the SG govt has also a recent scheme that allows scholars to do PHD in SG unis as a form of paying back the 6yr bonds.

Now you tell me seriously, after hereing these will you be super duper du lan anot, tell me............

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Daddy!! @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:21:56 +0800

Daddy!! — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:21:56 +0800

likewise, only people who are equally ignorant think that an anti-PAP would not choose to remain in Singapore even if he could afford to emigrate.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Daddy!! @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:18:51 +0800

Daddy!! — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:18:51 +0800

only people with tunnel vision and lack of social circles think that only anti-PAP emigrate.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by fishbuff @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:08:46 +0800

fishbuff — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:08:46 +0800

Originally posted by eagle:

Not going... Too far, and got many things to do... which includes projects, homeworks, sports, social life and hobby/self-things. Not to say I'm too far from going... I can't foresee holding up 85kg logs at all.

Since you are based in Australia, and likely to be permanently, I might have some things to ask you about certain products there after I do some more extensive research. Will pm u more details when I finish my thesis write up, likely to take some time...

no worries.

ask me about oz, i will see what i can do.

i send u another site, this one u can search for alot of stuffs that u might be keen on. + another idea.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:10:53 +0800

eagle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:10:53 +0800

Originally posted by fishbuff:

not bad. that is good enough. i remembered pulling my 400lb deadlift after training for 1 year too.

say, tmorrow is the sg strongman contest, why dont u pop in and take a look?

www.hometeamns.sg

u perform much better than those weak hypocrites; on one hand ask for emigration details, but publicly profess he is a pap supporters. i dont direct my response to that kind of person with such character flaw..

Not going... Too far, and got many things to do... which includes projects, homeworks, sports, social life and hobby/self-things. Not to say I'm too far from going... I can't foresee holding up 85kg logs at all.

Since you are based in Australia, and likely to be permanently, I might have some things to ask you about certain products there after I do some more extensive research. Will pm u more details when I finish my thesis write up, likely to take some time...

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by fishbuff @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:08:33 +0800

fishbuff — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:08:33 +0800

Originally posted by eagle:

I can only manage 286 lbs for 2~3 reps only That's abt 1.7 times body weight though after 8 mths of training.

not bad. that is good enough. i remembered pulling my 400lb deadlift after training for 1 year too.

say, tmorrow is the sg strongman contest, why dont u pop in and take a look?

www.hometeamns.sg

u perform much better than those weak hypocrites; on one hand ask for emigration details, but publicly profess he is a pap supporters. i dont direct my response to that kind of person with such character flaw..

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by fishbuff @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:03:52 +0800

fishbuff — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:03:52 +0800

Originally posted by eagle:

I would be 7 years old at that time. But most people around your age didn't have a uni education I believe. My parents didn't.

there are but not as many as today. back then, getting a degree was a big deal. the govt then also practise elitism to allow only the best of the best to have access to tertiary education. which resulted in a lower population of graduates vs the non-technically trained.

when the economy changed in the mid 90s, all were caught off-guard, technology demands surge at astronomical rate and i remembered that time around 97, there are very few indians nationals here and we seemed to oooh-and-aaah at their presence.

There were two polys and NUS wasnt even offering degree in information system yet. the whole past of elitism and population segregation by IQ and school results, backfired. so near the 2000 millenium bugs, the SCS and NCS import huge number of FTs to support the industry demands.

i was wondering why, if my peer and i are given the equivalent opportunity to study at the local uni, we could support the industry well. but for someone at the top's mistakes, the whole population paid the price.

if your parents have access to tetiary education, i strongly absolutely believe they will have no problem in becoming highly qualified consultant or management by now. that is what really piss me off.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:56:07 +0800

eagle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:56:07 +0800

Originally posted by fishbuff:

who cares...

if u cant deadlift 500lb, dont bother talk to me. ;-)

I can only manage 286 lbs for 2~3 reps only That's abt 1.7 times body weight though after 8 mths of training.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:55:25 +0800

eagle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:55:25 +0800

Originally posted by Daddy!!:

while u are struggling with your 8 to 9% mortgage rates, i am enjoying your 8 to 9% fixed deposit rates. Within this picture, i am the winner even though i dont deadlift 500lbs. So dont show off your run down house which only proves to the world that you cannot afford a nicer and newer house given the current situation of high interest rates rates and high house price.

Ok la, you win and fishbuff lose. Everyone happy happy ok?

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:52:53 +0800

eagle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:52:53 +0800

Originally posted by shinta:

i noe some ppl from prc.. they had difficulties with the english parts, but no such difficulties with their maths.. they were doin an engineering diploma when i met them.. one of them was bagging As n distinctions for maths-related modules... so the doin any subjects in english was bullshyt lor.. note ar.. her english wasn very good.. she came to sg after finishin her high school in china... she went in to ngee ann poly straight.. and i think her parents paid for her passage over here.. and she was doin part time also..

I was still referring to the very young PRCs :(

The secondary schools maths questions are so full of "essays" that I know quite a number of people who do badly for maths because they just don't understand the questions. It happens to some of my ex-tuition students too, those whose English are not as good.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by eagle @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:50:01 +0800

eagle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:50:01 +0800

Originally posted by fishbuff:

that was around 1990. i think u are around 2-3 years old at that time.

and D-ddy!! wasnt born yet.

I would be 7 years old at that time. But most people around your age didn't have a uni education I believe. My parents didn't.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by HyuugaNeji @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:24:59 +0800

HyuugaNeji — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:24:59 +0800

Originally posted by teraexa:

july 2010.

o.O i thought you are a girl but turned up you are a guy who needs to serve NS.

But i thought NS is now 2 years. So i think you can starting your course in Jan 2010 instead.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by Daddy!! @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:47:48 +0800

Daddy!! — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:47:48 +0800

while u are struggling with your 8 to 9% mortgage rates, i am enjoying your 8 to 9% fixed deposit rates. Within this picture, i am the winner even though i dont deadlift 500lbs. So dont show off your run down house which only proves to the world that you cannot afford a nicer and newer house given the current situation of high interest rates rates and high house price.

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by shinta @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:16:04 +0800

shinta — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:16:04 +0800

Originally posted by eagle:

Have you ever tried studying any of your subjects in any other language other than English? Say for example, in Chinese? Most likely no right? And do you know all the basic technical maths terms in chinese?

i noe some ppl from prc.. they had difficulties with the english parts, but no such difficulties with their maths.. they were doin an engineering diploma when i met them.. one of them was bagging As n distinctions for maths-related modules... so the doin any subjects in english was bullshyt lor.. note ar.. her english wasn very good.. she came to sg after finishin her high school in china... she went in to ngee ann poly straight.. and i think her parents paid for her passage over here.. and she was doin part time also..

A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! .... replied by fishbuff @ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:04:35 +0800

fishbuff — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:04:35 +0800

Originally posted by Daddy!!:

i was testing u, snakebluff.

fyi, i am enjoying the high interest rates and currency gains. guess which one?

who cares...

if u cant deadlift 500lb, dont bother talk to me. ;-)

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