My life history as such, I left Hong Kong at the age of 17 and have studied in UK for a good 6 years. Fell in love with a Singaporean girl and I have decided to settle down in Singapore. Truth been told, in my days in UK, I fell in love with the various cultures of the Southeast Asians – the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Thais, and the Singaporeans. To me, Singapore is the logical place to be. Within 3 months, I have become a permanent resident (PR) of Singapore. My then girlfriend and I did not work out (which by the way, I am truly happy that she has established a family with her and her husband and her kid) but I persisted on my own and have become a Singapore citizen 3 years after becoming a PR of Singapore. Sang the national anthem without the presence of any of my friends. If not for my overseas assignments, I would have been a Singapore citizen much earlier.
Since then, I have met my Indonesian wife Cynthia during my overseas trips in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and have happily settled in Singapore. Recently I have come across a job opportunity in Hong Kong that has everything I dreamed for, except that I have to relocate to Hong Kong. It is very enticing indeed. I have had an interview with the regional CEO and had an phone interview with the managing director of China. I am pretty sure if I give it all that I have, I may have a chance to land my dream job.
But then again, what would happen to my life in Singapore? Cynthia is now having her overseas trip in Jakarta and she called me just to tell me that she can’t live without me. And my frequent lunch with Mark? Movie trips with Tong Kiat? Drinks with my Singaporean friends? And how about my band and my legendary guitarist Jason? All of sudden, I realized how much I am rooted in Singapore.
Singapore is not perfect. There are policies that I may not agree with. But having said that, Singapore is my home and I am blessed with all my friends here who accept this “foreigner” as one of them.
Love y’all (and I do love Singapore too)!
9 replies on “I Do Realize How Much I Love Singapore, My Home”
I vote Wilfrid for President! Just make sure you trickle down some of those millions that will be made. (Hmm… did I just described a possible scenario in Singapore?) LOL. Glad you’re staying put though.
hi wilf!
i am truly happy for you that you found such a great opportunity but i would be truly sad if i could not have that drink or two with you!
i have to say you are the most singaporean singaporean i know! most people just don’t really like to be here generally (now that i am in japan, i suspect it’s the weather that is cranking everyone up!)
take care! talk to you soon!
G! Since you are in Japan, get off that Internet! Ha ha ha … kidding. Thanks for the visit and comments. Certainly looking forward to hearing those exciting stories from Japan.
Mark … if I become the next president of Singapore, I will implement the following policies.
1. Abolish GST. I mean … look at Hong Kong, don’t everyone love shopping there? Liquidate some of the stocks from that big investment powerhouse that begins with T.
2. Combine the roles of MM, SM, PM, and President into one. First of all, these roles take home a combined paid of more than 10 millions. I will only take half.
3. No 2 MPs should be paid the same (are they now? I thought so). I mean the Ministry of Transport, for instance, shouldn’t be awarded the same as some others. Look at the traffic jam in CTE! Look, ERP is not working.
4. Break the ruling party up into smaller parties (like PAP-1, PAP-2, PAP-3 …) and let them fight amongst themselves! So all of a sudden, foreigners can’t poke fun at us saying that we don’t have oppositions!
And that is just the beginning! 🙂
I second Mark’s proposition!
Wow, that’s a lot of hardwork for you to implement those policies as the president. In that case, I better propose a further pay increment for you as the president! Coz the current pay package of S$3m entails only handshaking during Istana open-house days. 😉
Ha ha ha … I read somewhere in The Straits Times forum that the president of Singapore gets paid more than our PM and he argues that auditors of a firm never get paid more than the CEO himself. Interesting.
Anyway, I think Mark got the idea from our favorite comic book and now major PC game character Max. Click here for Max’s presidential website and don’t miss the video on “Saving the Economy”. Super funny.
Dude, I think you need an advisor as President. The rule of thumb for the President (and Government in general) of Singapore is – implement the ones that require the least amount of effort, yet most profitable (least risky ones as well).
1. GST is already in effect. Make the most of it! An increase in 2-3% each time will generate billions of dollars! More money more power!
2. More positions in the cabinet means you can get more from the treasury collectively! Money = Power! Anyway, if you want to combine MM, SM and PM, even before you utter the word, you’ll be stripped of your post first without the citizens knowing.
3. You cannot pay your Ministers based on performance. Otherwise, they’ll all end up being paid like partime Secondary school kids for the types of policies they come up with. Then there’ll be corruption in the country because they will need to get paid somewhere else.
4. Cannot split the party! If you do that, you will have to redraw the boundaries of the GRCs, then there will be risks of the Opposition sneaking in a victory.
Sorry for messing up your blog, but these are hypothetical haha…
Oh dear … I knew I can count on you as my trusted advisor. I do have some few replies for you but knowing that our government scans our blogs and jail bloggers who jeopardize the “harmony” of the society, I better keep quiet … till I have become the president of course!
Ha ha ha!
i would think its a good opportunity… so go for it, do it with your beloved cynthia..
yes u had everything here, but we need to move on for the experience in life isn’t it ?
Take the chance laid there for you…
Thanks Leen for you comment. Under a different circumstance things would have worked out different. Seems to me that I have been moving around since young and now I get to stay put in one place. But who knows what the future will bring?