9/13/2010

Feeling betrayed

From the conversation of a group of Yuppies, one cannot help but get the sense of betrayal. Yes, they felt being betrayed by their own govt and govt policies. They were young, talented and upwardly mobile, earning good money, too good that it becomes a liability. There are many young professionals who are earning more than $5k pm, some much more. They served their NS diligently and dutifully without expecting anything. It was just a service to the country as expected of every healthy young man. Their sin was not to find a partner and get married sooner. They delayed their matrimonial pursuits to carve a niche in their professions. And when property prices shot through the roof, they found themselves out of the HDB scheme and must pay a robber’s ransom for a small private flat. Some tried, but because of the small supply and slow down in building programme, they ended without a flat, and their salaries exceeded the HDB ceiling. And they are the local talents, the future leaders and captains of their industries. Many ended up renting and paying through their noses because govt policy forbids them from buying HDB. They could buy private but why pay so much for so little? Private properties may be peanuts to some but terribly expensive to the prudent. What would happen to them? Is it unnatural for them to feel betrayed? Where other Singaporeans are given two bites of the cherry, when new citizens are also entitled to two bites of the cherry, why are they not even entitled to one? They are the talented children but feeling unwanted and becoming victims of the system. Is this how we reward our very own children?

13 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

It could be a blessing in disguise for the high earner Yuppy.

Buy now and prices may go up further.

Like shares, cannot pick the top or the bottom mah.

No point tearing one's hair out. Just think of some work arounds bro.

Anonymous said...

Mobile ? Clever ? Highly qualified ?

Then why remain in a place to be made suckers and cry foul ??

Show your talents, prove you're wanted and appreciated.

If you cant survive or live happily here and have nowhere to go or are not needed or wanted elsewhere then your talents are only good for a peasai.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

All good things must come to an end.

When an apple is ripe it must fall. If not, it will be infested with worms and rot.

Anonymous said...

As in the 'Banana Republic of America', people used to buy and sell houses and make so much money, they could afford to spend and spend without working.

Now that the merry go round is over, those caught with the properties they could not afford are now suffering. Not only that, the whole country is not able to get back on its feet.

The bad mortgage loans given by the lenders are still swimming in the books of the big banks, some bought over and are now held by the Fed using public money. It is still there and will remain there as long as the property market is still in the dumps. With the jobless rate given officially as 9.6% (and as much as 18% realistically), will the American property market see a revival?

Now the anana Republic of America' is starting to realise that only by producing things for export, rather than flipping properties and gambling on the stock marketis, can real wealth be created to bring back the country to reality.

But it could be too late because the competitors are far ahead in manufacturing capacity and are able to produce goods more cheaply than before.

Sorry for going astray, but that is the same road we are heading if we stay fixated on properties and the stock market.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

You are absolutely right. America is our role model. Whatever America did we copied. Whatever America told us is good, we accept.

Our banks are also in the quick money. They are no longer interested in the minicule income from interest rate. They don't even encourage the children or poor people to save their few dollars in the banks.

They want to speculate and make quick bucks quickly. Then they can pay everyone crazy.

As for the yuppies, some are leaving. Maybe that is another reason why the need for foreign talent. You chase away your own and replace with foreigners. You don't treasure your own except for some. That's how I see it.

Anonymous said...

What big deal is this tiny dot to a talented or highly qualified person ?

Anonymous said...

Right, the young and mobile and talented will see the world as their oyster and will move out.

Then they will be replaced by the not so talented from the third world and pass around as foreign talents, to make up for those who have left.

Anonymous said...

Sad to say, the real talents that we wanted here to help create jobs did not come here. Instead we have all the wrong talented people proliferating in the vice trade, immigrants competing with native Singaporeans for jobs in food courts, retail outlets, coffee shops, etc. Jobs that the lower income are in sore need and which those retrenched desperately sought.

So, do these so called talents, that we have so far imported, really hep to create jobs or take away jobs?

How could those blind and deaf people in their ivory towers not see the reality, and where the hell did they get their twisted feedbacks from?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

You fail to see the bigger picture.

Heightened emotions (negative especially) make people more vulnerable to manipulation and influence.

Hip pocket squeezes and life-security (job) issues are hot buttons which tend to make people angry, panicky and frozen with uncertainty and dread.


A crisis like this should be welcomed by the smart, ruthless politico: people are scared, and angry. Which means you can take over their minds and souls, if you know how to do it.

I do, of course, and am for hire :-)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Matilah, though I disagree with your proposal for open door policy, and I opposed it, this is actually the policy of Singapore for many years. They just do it, without any fanfare.

How this policy will play out in the future is yet to be seen. We may not see it. But there will be merits and consequences.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

> But there will be merits and consequences. <

No, there'll just be consequences.

When you make a value judgement like "merits" -- merits for WHOM?

Your stance is that S'poreans are somehow -- just because they can call a specific geographical territory "their country" have rights above other humans.

Therefore you are saying citizens have "rights" above foreigners. I completely reject that. And there is no OBJECTIVE justification for your position. Subjective justification -- sure you have plenty.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Yes man. As citizens of this piece of rock, we pledge to defend it with our lives. It is our piece of rock. The citizens must have special rights and privileges over non citizens.

If the non citizens don't like it, please don't come. But if the citizens allow the non citizens to have more rights than them, that is the citizens own funeral. They asked for it if they give their rights away without questioning.

We are the citizens of Singapore....

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

A shitty argument, no surprise:

> If the non citizens don't like it, please don't come <

This is similar to the argument put forth by xenophobes and racists in Australia: "You don't like it, don't come here or get the hell out".

What shit.

What the "immigrants" don't like is the racist treatment and xenophobic attitudes leveled at them by stupid and ignorant people.

The immigrants like the country and coming to it -- for whatever reason.

It's like going to a restaurant -- you like the restaurant, you like the food... you just can't stand the party next to you -- talking loudly, using coarse language, yelling into their cell phones, picking their noses and loudly clearing their throats (i.e. haaaarrrrrkkkk!)

You have a quiet word with the party requesting them to turn it down, and you are told: "Kaninah, You not satify, you leave lah! I pay money what!"