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CNA938 Rewind - Are Singaporeans driving up prices in Johor?

CNA938 Rewind - Are Singaporeans driving up prices in Johor?

CNA18-07-2025
Johor Chief Minister Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said prices of food and rent have increased compared to other parts of Malaysia, adding that thousands of Singaporeans cross the border, especially over the weekends, to do their grocery shopping. Hairianto Diman and Susan Ng speak with Phil Goh, a JB resident on the cost of living, and Lavanya Venkateswaran, Senior Asean Economist at OCBC, to find out how future developments like the SEZ and RTS Link would impact the cost of living there.
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‘Really buey tahan': NTU graduate says job opportunities are going to foreigners
‘Really buey tahan': NTU graduate says job opportunities are going to foreigners

Independent Singapore

time6 hours ago

  • Independent Singapore

‘Really buey tahan': NTU graduate says job opportunities are going to foreigners

SINGAPORE: A fresh graduate took to social media on Monday (Aug 4) to express his frustration with his job search, saying that many of the positions he is aiming for appear to have already been filled by foreigners In an anonymous post on the r/singaporeraw subreddit, he shared that he has followed the conventional path diligently. He enrolled in one of Singapore's top three universities, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), earned an engineering degree, did internships to build up experience, and graduated with Honours with Merit. However, all his efforts seem to have gone to waste, as most of the jobs he applied for were already taken by foreigners. 'So many companies that I interviewed for as well as interned at previously, along with info shared by my friends, all say that there are so many foreigners (Malaysians, Burmese, Filipinos, etc.) taking up the project engineering roles and managerial roles,' he said. 'Meanwhile, I'm still stuck here trying to find a job while getting pawned by other sinkies, who, at the same time, are calling me a lazy bum because I'm unemployed, or because my interview skills suck, my GPA is not good enough, etc. Really buey tahan. My asking pay was around S$3.5-3.7k for those wondering. Hot take: I don't see anything wrong with wanting to be more entitled as a Singaporean living in Singapore,' he added. 'Employer's CPF contributions are what make locals lose out in the industry.' In the discussion thread, many Singaporean Redditors echoed the fresh grad's frustrations. One wrote, 'I get what you're saying. In my current position (engineering degree), my colleagues are mostly Malaysians, Filipinos, and Indians. Only a few locals.' Another Redditor commented, 'FINALLY SOMEONE SPOKE ABOUT THIS!! So many software engineering jobs are being taken up by foreigners, and I'm wondering what the hell is going on.' On the other hand, a few others chimed in to explain why they think employers tend to prefer hiring foreigners over locals. One Redditor believed it had something to do with salary: 'Employer's CPF contributions are what make locals lose out in the industry. The 17% makes us more 'expensive' even if we're asking for low pay, so a salary of S$3.5k means they have to pay an additional S$595 to your CPF (Central Provident Fund).' Another, however, said it's because some locals have poor work ethics and attitude problems. 'I work as a network engineer. My team is full of foreigners. The fresh grads who join usually don't last long. They don't want to learn, don't want to carry equipment, saying things like 'I studied CS, why am I doing manual labour?' But they still want to ask for high pay. Really is simi lan jiao.' In other news, a 24-year-old woman has expressed her frustration on social media after her 30-year-old ex-husband left her with a mountain of debt totalling S$230,000. Posting on the r/singaporefi forum, she shared that in the early days of their relationship, everything seemed fine. 'Everything was okay,' she wrote. 'I had my own savings. I was happy.' Both of them were working; she was earning around S$4,000 after CPF, and they were living peacefully with their child at her mother's home. Read also: 'I feel stuck' — Singapore woman says ex-husband left her with S$230k debt

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