December 6, 2009
A Malaysian doctor by the name of Chen Jiayi who had chosen to return to Malaysia after working for a number of years in Singapore wrote in the Malaysian Chinese newspaper Sin Chew yesterday that Singapore should be grateful to the Malaysians for its success today.
Dr Chen did not reveal the reason behind his return except that “the answer would be revealed in time to come.”
When he first came to work in a Singapore government hospital as a house officer, Dr Chen soon realized that he was working with many of compatriots, some of whom are his highest level superiors. Even the Singapore Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan was a former Malaysian citizen.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the press that half the number of medical specialists at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital are Malaysians during his recent visit to Singapore to attend the APEC Summit.
The exact number of Malaysians doctors working in Singapore is not known. About 5 to 10 per cent of the each year cohort of medical students are Malaysians.
While some Malaysians graduated from NUS, others like Dr Chen join the Singapore public healthcare service after they finished their studies overseas when they are lured here to work.
Dr Che was told by colleagues that Malaysian talents were the most sought after in Singapore and it not a surprise as due to cultural similarities between the two nations, Malaysians find it easiest to assimilate themselves into Singapore society.
During his years of working in Singapore, Dr Chen noticed that young Singapore doctors are encountering difficulties communicating with the older generation of patients due to language barriers.
“Due to their educational system, the younger generation of Singaporeans are proficient in English, mediocre only in Chinese. For Malay language, they are largely outsiders; as for Chinese dialects, that will have to depend on whether their gandpas and grannies are still around.
As such, young Singaporean doctors face communciation problems when they encounter aged patients, resorting to hand language at times just to get their messages across,” he wrote.
As a result of a chronic shortage of doctors in the public sector, the Singapore Ministry of Health has turned elsewhere to recruit foreign doctors.
The polyclinics employ many doctors from other countries like the Philipines, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Indonesia, some of whom are unable to speak Chinese or Hokkien, the lingua franca of elderly Singaporeans.
Most Singapore doctors will leave the public sector upon the completion of their mandatory 5-year bond if they are local graduates unless they decide to specialize further.
The meagre pay, long working hours and job satisfaction are often commonly cited as reasons for their departure and yet little has been done to retain senior medical officers within the public sector over the years.
Dr Chen ended his letter with a smug remark that Singaporeans should be grateful to the Malaysian (doctors):
“The more successful Singapore has become, the more I feel proud of my Malaysian compatriots who have crossed the Causeway to serve in the Lion City.
But sometimes I would have this perverted idea: You Singaporeans need to be grateful to us, the “Made in Malaysia” yet forsaken lot, for what you have achieved!”
As a matter of fact, Dr Chen should be thankful to Singapore for giving him an opportunity to succeed in life. Had he not come to Singapore, he would have to serve his internship in a Malaysian hospital which is much busier before being packed off to a remote corner to serve a rural community for three years.
After working in Singapore for a number of years, Dr Chen will probably be able to retire in his homeland with little financial worries for the rest of his life like many of his compatriots who enjoy the best of both worlds by being a Singapore PR and Malaysian citizen at the same time.
haha.
another toopid msian.
they nit to wake up their bloody ideas.
"their gahmen" asked "them" to f*** off, so "they" came here
one whole group of "ungrateful" buggers.
If spore nvr open its arm to welcome you, will you return home being a hero?
"they" came here, yayapapaya
this article is also published in lian he zao bao
some really contribute to our economy, i thank you here.
but there are many more other fuckers who come here and suck money only. In and out i hear these PRs curse and swear at the govt just becoz they get less benifits than the singapore citizen, their BN aint better. sad to say they are merely 2nd class citizens on both sides.
i am thankful...only for a specific minority of malaysians.
oh infact, singapore must be thankful to almost every country that helped us in any way.
LKY: thATS THEIR PROBLEM!
December 5, 2009
By Chen Jiaqi from Sin Chew Daily
I met up with some old classmates several times since my university graduation, and discovered that over half of my Form V classmates had gone to study, work, or even settle down in Singapore.
I knew many of the top talents from my school ended up in Singapore, but I was not aware that the number could be so big.
Those secondary school classmates of mine were among the most brilliant in school, and Singapore was more than happy to bring these independent Chinese secondary school students there so that they could get the opportunity to advance their ambitions.
Still on my internship at a government hospital here, I had a mixed bag of feelings, and to my own disbelief, I joined their rank several years later.
Only a few days in Singapore, I was told by my superior that there were plenty of my compatriots around me.
Indeed, beginning with my colleagues and looking upward level by level, I found that many of my highest level superiors were Malaysians.
They were doing their work conscientiously and had contributed significantly towards the success of the tiny city-state.
I suddenly had that feeling of pride that Singapore owed much of its success to the contributions made by Malaysian citizens.
I was told by colleagues that Malaysian talents were the most sought after in Singapore.
Due to cultural and geographical proximity, we are actually that group of foreigners who can best assimilate themselves into the Singapore society.
This can’t be more true, as the two countries were forced apart by nothing but politics!
Due to the nature of my job, I came to know many patients. Singapore is a multicultural, more so a multinational country. To these migrant workers, fundamental communication is never a problem: Chinese Malaysians are well versed in three languages plus an array of Chinese dialects.
Not all Singaporean doctors have this linguistic gift! Due to their educational system, the younger generation of Singaporeans are proficient in English, mediocre only in Chinese. For Malay language, they are largely outsiders; as for Chinese dialects, that will have to depend on whether their gandpas and grannies are still around.
As such, young Singaporean doctors face communciation problems when they encounter aged patients, resorting to hand language at times just to get their messages across.
To Singapore, Malaysian talents are what they are most avid to tout for.
Singapore’s meritocratic system knows no skin colours. But if it does, I could have bagged in more perks.
I later decided to return to my country. Many have asked me why I wanted to come back to Malaysia, which is filthy, messy, hard to make a good living, and plagued with partial government policies.
Why did I make such an unnatural decision? Perhaps the answer would be revealed in time to come, I was thinking.
The more successful Singapore has become, the more I feel proud of my Malaysian compatriots who have crossed the Causeway to serve in the Lion City.
But sometimes I would have this perverted idea: You Singaporeans need to be grateful to us, the “Made in Malaysia” yet forsaken lot, for what you have achieved! (By Chen Jiaqi (reader)/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)
Republished from Sin Chew Daily on 5 November 2009
another sucker from malaysia!!!yessss u are the best ...come come into spore...u are talented...hahahahaha....
thats the same thing when i went to thailand....gals were telling me that too on the roadside.
malaysians should be the one thanking us, we give them the opporunity to work here. we allow them to come here and rob us of seats in the medical faculty of NUS.
in simple we should be grateful to each other.
To certain malaysian working here....dont be yayapapaya over your sporean colleagues. We loon loon only, if we explode, we make sure you pack and forever cannot step into spore to work.
Be humble and dont act proud.
Originally posted by dragg:in simple we should be grateful to each other.
but still we are more successful than them. so those "scholars" came to sg to work for a better life. I then don't want to goto malaysia to work. like wise
Seem like no matter what, sporean will be always better than our neighbours.
what a sick idea
they are the one who disallowed talented chinese and indians to go unis and fill up top gahmen posts
are they saying we got success because of their failures?