Barely a day after the first letter, refer the post before this, someone posted this letter.
First of all, I would like to remind Brazil that Singapore is indeed a fantastic place to be born. Acco ‘The Economist’ Intelligence Unit's 2005 Quality of Life survey ranked it the best country to live in Asia. In fact, in global rankings Singapore did better than the US, Japan, France, Britain, Germany and a host of developed, wealthy countries. Singapore is wealthy, peaceful, progressive and spared of natural or manmade disasters.
Malaysia falls behind Singapore in almost any meaningful measure - per capita GDP (nominal or PPP), average wage, quality of life, standard of living, human development, productivity, efficiency, economic freedom, ease of doing business, you name it.
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Can you then blame Malaysians for looking enviously at their next door neighbour? We were equals just a 40 years ago, but look at the differences now!
I am not saying that Singapore is without its problems. Indeed, there is no one perfect country in this world. Every country from the war-torn Muslim countries to the wealthy West, all have their own set of problems to deal with. However, some countries are clearly doing better than others.
Singapore is clearly doing better than Malaysia who is in turn doing better than Indonesia. It is then almost insulting for someone from a rich and advanced nation to gripe about their issues and envy their poorer counterparts.
I don't think any sane Malaysian would complain about our government to friends from Iran. We shut up and listen to their complaints, for no matter how bad we are, we are clearly better off than them. In the same sense, I don't think any Singaporean should tell a Malaysian how Singapore isn't really much better.
Perhaps the most telling evidence of our relative strengths are the immigration patterns. How often do you see Singaporeans permanently migrating to Malaysia (for reasons other than retirement?) Contrast that to the thousands who make Singapore their permanent home yearly.
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It angers me that Malaysian politics revolves around ethnic rights (Umno, Hindraf etc) when in reality the only right we should have is the right to work smart, work hard and be duly rewarded for it.
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I currently work for a decent wage and I believe I do my job fairly well. However, if someone else came to compete for my job, would I demand to keep it based on my nationality, gender or race? I won't. I will double my efforts and show my employer why I am better than anyone else.
Failing that, I will happily cede my position to whoever is better than me. There is absolutely no reason why my nationality should even be an issue to consider!
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My hope is that Brazil recognises just how lucky he/she is to be born in Singapore and how priviledged it is to share one's country with the rest of the world. True, Singapore like any country is not paradise. But it certainly is much better than most parts of the world.
full text- here.
I think i agree with this letter more than the previous one, but grass is always greener on the other side, no?
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