Why Singaporeans Struggle when Migrating

I've seen many friends from Singapore move to Sydney over the many years living here. Some come here to study in the many excellent universities, and then make the decision whether to stay on or not. Some others are young professionals looking for a different pace of life. Some others come in their golden years for retirement.

Those who end up calling Sydney home, are those who truly exhibit the migrant spirit. This is the same migrant spirit which helped Singapore become a very prosperous country in less than half a century. From the mid 1800s to mid 1900s, many migrants from China and India moved to Singapore to seek work and a better life. You might have heard of stories of early settlers who worked as coolies unloading ships (苦力), housekeepers (妈姐), construction workers (红头巾), rickshaw pullers and rubber plantation workers. These people didn't have a comfortable life when migrating to Singapore, but they did make money to support their families.

Today, in Singapore, we see migrants working in professional jobs and semi-skilled labour in terms of working in construction, and as maids. There are others also who come to accompany their children who study in local schools. Some see these migrants as a threat to jobs, while some others see them as un-assimilated in mainstream lifestyle. But their contributions to the country is undeniable. They take care of our homes and children while we work, they build our homes, they bring diversity and new ideas in our professional workplace.

Singaporean migrating to Sydney have to face the same problems. In job finding, employers doubt our credentials. In the workforce, working 9 to 5 is much harder than it actually sounds. In child raising, we find it hard with childcare and education system. In day-to-day life, we struggle with changes in a very different lifestyle. In family life, even with technology, we yearn to see our families.

But those with the true migrant spirit of making things work despite how hard things are, and not giving up and going back would eventually learn to love Sydney and call it home. But unfortunately, many others struggle and call it quits and move back to Singapore.

The biggest problem with Singaporeans migrating is with the Singaporean government. I know I'm saying this much to the dismay of critics. The government provides for Singaporeans well. In fact, too well. And they do so to the point that most Singaporeans don't know what it means to go without basic needs any more. Yet, Singaporeans seem to have endless things to whinge about the government. Just FYI, I'm not a PAP supporter, nor am I an opposition supporter either. I'm a Singaporean who will vote for who I think will better the lives of the people living in the country.

In this post I would describe a series challenges which Singaporeans face when migrating to Sydney, Australia.

Housing

Migrants from Singapore often don't see this problem coming. This is largely due to the availability of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats with a controlled pricing, particularly for first time home buyers. For my Australian readers, HDB flats are government flats and over 80% of the population live in one. They shouldn't be mixed-up with our housing commission flats where only the needy are eligible for one.

The home prices in Sydney is largely controlled by supply and demand, interest rates and negative gearing laws. There isn't any tangible provisions to assist a first time home buyer purchase their first home. Over the last 10 years, due to the increasing population, there is a large demand as compared to supply of homes. This has resulted in sky rocketing of home prices.

Singapore	Description	Australian Equivalent
1 Room Flat	1 Room (bedroom, living room, dining room as 1 room)	Studio
2 Room Flat	1 Living/ Dining Room 1 Bedroom	1 Bedroom Unit
3 Room Flat	1 Living/ Dining Room 2 Bedrooms	2 Bedroom Unit
4 Room Flat	1 Living/ Dining Room 3 Bedrooms	3 Bedroom Unit
5 Room Flat	1 Living Room 1 Dining Room 3 Bedrooms

In the worst case scenario in Singapore, one will be living in a rented 1 or 2 room flat. But in Sydney, how many of us live in the equivalent studio or 1 bedroom flat? How many of us who own a 2 bedroom flat (same as 3 room HDB) can only dream of owning something bigger?

Work

The concept of getting a job based on your qualifications is almost a myth for most migrants. Even in cosmopolitan Sydney, there is still an underlying racism. Yes, most Aussies love food and festivals from all over the world. But when it comes to employment, Asians regardless if English is your first language, employers don't always recognize us for our skill and experience. There is an emphasis on local experience too. And if you're a Singaporean Chinese, it is very likely you will be clustered with others from China.

How many of us who have migrated to and survived they system have worked in menial labour or front line service jobs?  How many of us have worked in 'internships' for next to nothing before we land ourselves with something remotely decent? How many of us have been challenged by our Australian colleagues who are much more eloquent than us? Meritocracy doesn't quite exist sometimes, and it can be down right frustrating as work directly affects our finances.

Once you have work, it's adjusting to the 9-5 day. 9-5 doesn't mean less stressful. It does however mean you have to finish all the work you normally do in 8 hours. Inability to finish work by 5pm makes you look inefficient or incompetent. Don't even try staying back on a long-term basis, it only makes you look bad.

Food

In Singapore, despite the country not producing much food, there is never a shortage of affordable food. Even eating out can be affordable with the wide array of hawker foods. In Australia, eating out is a lot less affordable. It is the norm to make all 3 meals at home. This includes taking a packed lunch to work everyday.

In Singapore, fewer and fewer young people learn how to cook well when they are still in school. When Gen Ys and Zs migrate to Australia, most struggle with learning to cook, and it does feels like being thrown into the deep end of the water. For Gen Xs, the struggle is more around keeping up with cooking everyday. If you crave for something Singaporean, you either have to pay a lot ($10-15 for fish ball noodles), or learn how to cook it. The former isn't an option when you don't have a decent job.

Relationships

Most of my friends who have moved to Sydney and move back to Singapore cite family as their primary reason of migrating back. If you come from a close knit family, even with advances in technology (e.g. Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, FaceTime) nothing beats having a meal and hanging out with family.

During festivals such as Chinese New Year or Hari Raya, the sense of missing family and friends are even more acute, even when the same festivals are celebrated in Australia.

When parents or grandparents get older, the indoctrination of filial piety gets the better of most of us. It isn't as easy moving your folks over as what you like. Many return to Singapore to take care of their folks instead.

Childcare

Ever heard of how expensive childcare is in Australia? $120 per day! There isn't an option to get a domestic helper either. So coupled with not earning enough, many mothers end up being a stay-home mum till kids go to school. And school starts at 5 with Kindergarten (the equivalent of K2 in Singapore). There are no lower grades, just privately run pre-school.

This can be a challenging concept for Singaporean women. Most Singaporean women want a career, And child-rearing will mean a 5-10 year set back, which can be seen as quite detrimental to a career. And this is in addition in difficulties finding suitable work on the first place.

Public Transport

Might be hard for Singaporeans to phantom, but public transport is a lot worse in Sydney. Ever seen a bus schedule where the only bus leaving your home comes once every 30 minutes on a weekday, and once every hour on the weekend? Or the last bus is at 7pm? And public transport in Sydney doesn't come cheap either. Bus fares start from $2.10 and up to $4.50 Train fares start at $3.40 and up to $8.30.

Train track work is generally not done at night, but during weekends. This means for all weekend you've to swap your train for a bus, which could easily extend your trip by an hour. Train and bus breakdowns are something which happen nearly every week. No one really complains about it, they just hop on the next service.

One might say, why not get a car? There's no COE, and cars are quite a lot cheaper. If you are like most and work in the CBD, parking is definitely not cheaper. Weekly rates are around $150. Also, for a first car on a low budget, you would typically be looking for a car which is more than 10 years old. Traffic jams in Sydney are really amazing during peak hours. On some major highways, the flow into the city are typically less than 30km/h. A typical trip to work takes around 1 hour.

So how do Singaporeans actually manage to stay and survive in Sydney and call it home? Read on my next post.

NB: To my Singaporean friends back home, be thankful for a government which provides so well.

Related Posts
Surviving Migration from Singapore to Australia

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