Shereen, do you know about this? It is using Telediscount. If not, see http://www.telediscount.co.uk.

If you guys are reading this, you guys obviously do not understand Singapore anymore.Can’t believe you are now recruiting foreigners to tell us how to vote and decide our futures.

We have an e-mail petition going out with all these posts and we have already gathered more than 100 signatories.We are aiming for 5,000 by the end of the month.We shall show you our grassroots network.

To my fellow singaporeans, we will have a website up soon and would encourage you to sign up.Thanks for your support.

And for the opposition, you have our support.Watch the swing in electoral votes this election.My colleagues, there are 20 of us all voted for PAP last election and we are regretting.We talk about our votes and we don’t care if it is a secret.We don’t even care if the PAP decides to track our IP address to our office.

And we have received more than 100 votes of supports from our friends in just one day.We thank all the Pro Singapore posters here for educating us and expressing our heartfelt feelings about our country.

Continue the good work.Vote the PAP out.Vote for Change.

I myself am angry/annoyed over my NS years which I considered a big waste of my time but my anger is with the government which formulated the policies, not with a mother trying to figure out what’s best for her son.

She’s not responsible for your predicament so it is best to direct it somewhere else.

Of course the plus side is everything was free for me. Now that I am living in the US, my experience is the opposite. Everything is very fast. You get results asap but the down side is that everything is really expensive and overpriced. A simple blood test that cost SG$5 in Singapore would cost US$80. Even insurance doesn’t cover everything.

Whilst I get the fact that you have a huge issue with the way Singapore is governed, I do wonder if having so much pent up frustration inhibits your ability to be polite. I’m more than happy to accept constructive criticism and even advice, but if all you want to do is be insulting and launch personal attacks this really isn’t the space to do that.

And in response, a majority of my male friends who were more inclined to the ‘wild child’ lifestyle found NS to be beneficial for them and helped them learn discipline. However I am also grateful for Ju’s and Skeptic’s comments and the issues they have highlighted and consider them seriously.

Regards,
Shereen

Thanks for reading and also echoing the positive experience you’ve had with the NHS.

I have to be honest before I moved to the UK I had a negative view of any type of ‘benefits’ system.

But after 4 years I can see how the vulnerable groups are taken care of and like you I don’t mind paying tax and national insurance. I admit there has been ongoing abuse of the system but managing the UK with a population of over 60 million..these things do happen.

Our plan is to educate Iesu in Wales via the Welsh-medium schools which means I do need to pick up the language soon!!

Thank you also for the advice regarding NS and I will have a re-think about it.

Shereen

I just wanted to make it clear that I am not a member of PAP or Young PAP. I am Singaporean, Malay and I left Singapore 4 years ago and moved to Wales after I got married.

Nevertheless I still feel very much attached to Singapore because all my family and friends are here and I try to come back as often as possible.

I do believe Singapore as a nation has a lot to learn from countries from other parts of the world and I hope my entries could bring an insight into systems of what works and what doesn’t work in a different part of the world and maybe it can be modified to deal with issues here.

Like you I belief that politics only works if its clean and transparent. Any conflict of interest needs to be stated from the outset and those involved should not have a say in decision making that is related to them.

I have seen how a scandal like the UK’s MP’s expenses has crushed the trust of the electorate and I am shocked that such a list of directorships etc for our MP’s are not already available publicly.

I also think that there needs to be more nurturing of critical thinking skills amongst Singaporeans.

We need to be constructively critical about our government. In fact maybe we need to look at bold ideas on how to improve the balance of the opposition. There are systems in Europe that allow for the opposition to have a significant representation and I am happy to pen an entry about how that works in Wales.

I wish you luck with your research and hope that you will make that list available.

Shereen

I am so glad and excited to read your blog. Many Sporeans have been so misled by the mainstream media in Spore, esp the Straits Times. My family and friends were very impressed too after I told them what it was like when I had my son in England. More Spore women have joined me here and enjoying the ’special treatment’ that we will never receive back home.

The NHS had also offered me Amnio test (costs something like $500 in SG) and I took it without paying any additional penny. I really don’t mind paying the tax and National Insurance. What will also be very assuring is should your child become ill, you can take him to your GP as many times as you want. Everytime my neighbour’s child had a fit, the ambulance came to attend to her and took her to the hospital. Nobody hopes to have to use these services but it is so assuring to know that you have them for you.

My bad experience in SG was the incovenience of bringing my son out and about when I brought him to SG at age 14 months. There was no baby changing facilities even in posh places. The MRT had no lifts or ramps for pushchair, the buses do not cater for pushchairs. There was hardly any safe children playing facilities. This was about 10 yrs ago, don’t know how much have changed now.

My son is now in middle state school and doing incredibly well academically. His wealth of knowledge was accumulated through interest, curiosity and alot of thoughts to weigh up the facts. All these could have been stifled had he been educated in SG.

I am also so glad that I did not register him as a SG citizen. Some SG mothers got into trouble when the child turns 14. This is the time when the Govt wants some large sum of money to guarantee the child will return at 18 to serve NS.

I agree with skeptic that you should really think seriously what you are getting your child into. It might not be what he agrees when he is mature enough to think wisely. Not sure if you are aware, SG also does not allow dual citizenship, so you would have to give up one anyway. Why don’t you let you son come to SG like the PRs, without having to do NS? If you like him to do NS to toughen him, there are lots of activities and groups he can join to toughen him up in the UK.

From what I read about the things that go on inside the NS, there is no proper procedures of safety (concerns life & death), no accountability of officers and no complain procedure that works. And there were a lot of mundane work (like moving tables and chairs) which some intelligent young men find difficult doing for 3 yrs. Not all the time in the NS are fully used for military training.

Enjoy your motherhood while your son still needs you. There are so many things we can do with our young child in this country. The child needs all the nurtuing (body and mind) he can get at early age. It does not last long before he wants to go to school all by himself.

Best wishes and lots of luck.