Moving from Johor Bahru to Singapore

March 30th, 2010 admin

In our earlier post in OCT 2009, we wrote about Singaporeans relocating during tough economic times to Johor Bahru. Conversely, there had been Johoreans who had relocated to Singapore, some eventually taking up Singapore citizenship.

In his post below, Andrew Ho shares the thought process he went through before deciding to convert his citizenship to Singaporean, and about life as a Singaporean now.

 
Most Chinese in Johor Bahru grew up watching Channel 8 (and nowadays Channel U as well). I still remember the good old days when SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation) was showing 飞越银河, 青春123, 迷离夜and the list goes on.. While most of the dramas which fascinated me were fiction in nature, these serial dramas relate to people in both Singapore and Johor Bahru – they were touching, heart-warming, simple yet leaves a lasting memory.

I continued watching these serial dramas even all the way through to college, when I was studying in NTU. Life was carefree and I return to JB every weekend to be with my family, where my father would come into Singapore to pick me up. The trip was grueling due to the usual bad Friday jams but it was also a time for me to have a chat with my father.

As I stepped into my final year in NTU, trips to JB became less due to my final year projects where I had to meet up with my project mates over the weekends. My parents too, encouraged me not to head back to prevent time “wasted” while traveling. On Saturday and Sunday nights, I would occupy my time in hall watching SBC and subsequently Mediacorp dramas.

One of those late Saturday nights when I had nothing to do, I started switching on the TV again and while I can’t remember the name of the drama, it had something to do about a group of career young adults in Singapore. I looked at the scene of familiar CBD and started to realize how different Singapore and Malaysia had developed since the SBC days – there were MRTs, air-conditioned libraries, township developments and even a new Supreme Court building in the pipeline. Contrast that with Johor Bahru – there had been no central initiatives that would improve the infrastructure of the city. Neither was there any convincing master plan on how the city or nation would progress (back then, Iskandar Malaysia was still only on the drawing board).

And then, there was the issue with the Bumiputera policy.

Before the readers argue, please note that I do not dispute anything about Bumiputera policy in Malaysia. If the land had belonged to the natives (or sons of the land) in the first place, it might be fair that some policies be created to accord them more privilege. However, as a Chinese, this actually disadvantaged me. Agreeing that the Bumiputera policy should exist does not mean that I agree to live with the policy. Too often had I heard that just to get a deal from the central government, a Bumi partner had to be roped in for namesake and without doing anything, gets a cut of the revenue. If there was nothing I can change with regards to this policy, the least I could do is to plan ahead and give myself an environment with a more level playing field. And I do not have to look too far.. there is this land just across the causeway for me.

Agreeing that the Bumiputera policy should exist does not mean that I agree to live with the policy.

From that moment on, I began to put more thoughts into my future – what I am going to do after graduation and beyond that, where I should start my family (my girlfriend back then was also a Johorean). Immediately after graduation, I applied for Permanent Residency (PR) and 1 year later, got married with my wife. That was in year 1997. Shortly after, we converted to Singaporeans – we even had some tickets to NDP parade given by ICA. Our first child was subsequently born in Singapore as a Singaporean, followed by the next 2 years later.

I had the same common grouches as most Singaporeans about the Singapore Government – they had their shortcomings but I noted that no governments will be able to satisfy everyone with their policies. What I do appreciate through is a transparent, well-debated government in Singapore which takes pain in trying to improve and serve its people better – taking nothing for granted.

There had been the thought of getting our parents over to join us as well. However, this proved difficult as my parents had already been used to life in JB – their friends were all there, they had been used to the market and hawker centers, slow pace of life and more importantly, they are contented. The “wants” between the generations couldn’t be more obvious – what I want is an opportunity to make more than S$10k/mth, an environment when my children can receive decent education and a place when I can set my mind at ease even if I am out late past midnight without safety concerns.

Not to say I dislike JB though. I make a point to pack my whole family up and go back to JB every weekend. It helps that my wife is also a Johorean who can also visit her family as well. Weekend is spent relaxing in JB, chit chatting with relatives where my kids play with my sisters’s kids etc..

And on those occasions, nothing seemed to have changed despite me relocating to Singapore. At night, the whole family comes together to watch Channel 8 dramas with a fruits plate in the middle, just the when I was growing up as a child in Johor Bahru.

/ah

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