beuno99:

meesham: How about it's a safe place to live and raise kids, an easy going lifestyle, great summers, skiing in the winter, amazing landscapes, the cities and towns aren't overcrowded (coming from Singapore I'm guessing this will be a big plus for the OP) and those are just the reasons off the top of my head.

I'm originally from Australia and have been living in NZ for a few years, I originally just came here for a visit but I wouldn't live anywhere else now.

Singapore right now has an unbelievably large percentage of foreigners. Around 50% of the population is foreign now. I am pro immgration but what is worrying is that almost all the migrants here are from third world countries, we are not attracting first world migrants. And the overwhelming majority of them are illiterate or near illiterate, they cannot even speak or write to a Singaporean Primary one standard.

Many of them are Malaysians or Chinese and the informal sectors here is almost entirely Chinese speaking now. So you have the store fronts, menus, all in English but the waiter or sales assistant can't even speak a word of English. It is amazing really.  This immigration thing has gone very wrong, and they are still looking to import another 1 million immigrants without any mandating any English tests. Jeesh. We are giving out PRs and citizenship to migrants from third world countries who are not even literate to a local 5 year old standard.

New Zealand has immigration too, but at least migrants have to speak English and fit in, not the other way around. At the end of the day, Singapore is only 20km by 41km. It is always nice to have a change of environment for a few years, have some variety in life. I am sure NZ has lots of crappy things but at least it would be a change of scenery for a while.

As for salaries...NZ's salaries are not that much lower anyway. It is harder to find skilled jobs but I can make do with what I earn. I also don't mind paying more taxes if I get a social safety net and free healthcare in return.

chiefie: I have to agree with beuno99, Singapore and Malaysia are both bumiputera (multiracial) country and all different races and cultural are well mingled and been living and sharing in good harmony. Something that many countries are still finding difficulty to mix well.

Anyhow, I've been living in NZ for 18+ years, studying high school and university and tertiary study. And my work experience has only been in NZ, and never had the experience of working in Asia (market).

You have to be clear that Singapore and Malaysia are vastly different countries. One has English as its main language, is secular and has good law and order. The other has Malay as its main language and is less safe and orderly.


Racism has always been strife in Malaysia. You mentioned bumiputra, you might want to google that.