Is grass greener on the other side?

[opulant]

" A series of racist signs calling for an end to Asian immigration have been posted prominently around Sydney’s northwest over the weekend.

Large handwritten posters saying Asians are “not the face of Australia” and railing against foreign immigration have been discovered around Top Ryde, including the busy streets of Victoria Road and Buffalo Road. "

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/rea...6e3008a72b5eb1

[tupai]

Thailand has the greenest grass for retirement kup...

[jan tomaswaki]

Back from Ozland last week, phew! the food is nice but @##$ expensive after conversion. There i have a meeting with both of my children whether they want to come back it's their choice, I told them of my life after completed schooling ,had to find work as family cannot afford anymore ,and today with a few properties in KL and Subang. If they to stay put ,they have to struggle just like i had many years ago, if they back home ,everything is provided like car, house and inheritance. You choose! Next week i be there again.

[opulant]

Back from Ozland last week ...There i have a meeting with both of my children whether they want to come back ..... If they to stay put ,they have to struggle just like i had many years ago, if they back home ,everything is provided like car, house and inheritance..

Why not buy properties and cars there oso ??

[jan tomaswaki]

Why not buy properties and cars there oso ??

no,no,i will miss you all especially Zing and his UBER services

[siewdanny]

Ah... a timely article write-up of a book on FMT by authors Ken & Michael Soong

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/cat...-ask-brothers/

[opulant]

Recently, I went to see an orthopedic in a hospital nearby to inspect any possible damage to my knee and meniscus due to decades long of running/jogging.

Initially, I was contemplating should I see this doctor because no appointment is allowed, first come first serve basis and the nurse said be prepared to wait for at least one hour even you register at 8am !! Anyway, I still went there as it is nearby. After MRI and other physio tests, I was given the greenlight that I can continue my routine running without any worry.

Back to the topic, the orthiopedic was trained in Sydney University, just like the cardiologist that I visited yearly. The reason they practise their profession here and still here speak volume about what they can get here vs what they can get in overseas.. They are also specialists who came back from UK to practise here...

[opulant]

The pay scheme from oil companies regardless of Petronas or Shell is peanut when compares to the oilfield service contractors. These oilfield contractors are companies which have proprietary know-how in specialized field.

Basic salary for fresh graduate who joined as JFE (junior field engineer) in oilfield service is much higher than other jobs. For subsurface logging and drilling, Schlumberger paid RM4800 per month for basic salary. JFE was also paid daily rig allowance like the oil company staff. So, their take home pay in the beginning is around RM6000-8000 depend on how many days they spent in rig. This was 30 years ago...

Field engineers don’t have fix work rotation. They are always at the rig until the job is completed. Sometimes, they have to spend more than 1 month in offshore. They also don’t have working hours, they work day and night if required, just have to find time to rest in between. It is a physically highly demanding job and constantly exposed to occupational and safety risk.

After 2-3 years slogging in the freaking rig, JFE will have the chance to become field engineer. As a rule of thumb, if one can’t make it to field engineer after 4 years, there is no chance he can remain there. The pay scheme for field engineer is a lot more interesting. They are still getting their basic salary (higher than JFE basic salary) and rig allowance, but they are now entitled to job bonus. Job bonus is where the serious money comes in. Generally, people don’t bother about their salary and rig allowance anymore once they are entitled to job bonus..

This is a job that Asian can’t work long due to work-family balance, in my opinion. Those who can continue above 40 years old and still in offshore are normally kwailoh... Most quit the job after 10 years, get a second degree like MBA and find a desk job.. but have to be prepared to get at least 50% less in income..

Just noticed we have a young lady minister who worked in oil field before albeit very short period.

" Not only in Turkmenistan, I also spent 3 months in Alexandria, Egypt and some time in Baku, Azerbajian for work related assignment during my 2 years in oil and gas industry."

Her 1st entry level salary already higher than most GM in town !!

" Being paid in a salary comparable to many general managers here in Malaysia, I managed to settle my bond with Petronas very quickly and saved some for myself. I was assigned to a country called "Turkmenistan" and the salary would allow me to pay up my Petronas bond in just a few months! "

http://www.yeobeeyin.com/2012/06/ent...ry-behind.html

[IanQ]

Pardon my ignorance as I am not from the oil and gas field. I did a google search on field engineer remuneration and the number that came back is around 70K usd per annum. While this pay number is decent, the work is hard and dangerous. Am i getting the right info regarding the remuneration? It would seem a normal electrical engineering job can earn around the same.

[opulant]

Pardon my ignorance as I am not from the oil and gas field. I did a google search on field engineer remuneration and the number that came back is around 70K usd per annum. While this pay number is decent, the work is hard and dangerous. Am I getting the right info regarding the remuneration? It would seem a normal electrical engineering job can earn around the same.

USD70k per annum....

It's about right if you are talking about salary when one is not entitled for job bonus yet...

......After 2-3 years slogging in the freaking rig, JFE will have the chance to become field engineer. The pay scheme for field engineer is a lot more interesting. They are still getting their basic salary (higher than JFE basic salary) and rig allowance, but they are now entitled to job bonus. Job bonus is where the serious money comes in. Generally, people don’t bother about their salary and rig allowance anymore once they are entitled to job bonus..

Also, it depends entirely on where you get to work - offshore or onshore and whether the geographical location is entitled for another income - hardship allowance. The take home pay can vary significantly between offshore North Sea and a land rig in Indonesia due to the location coefficient. Bear in mind, if the FE is a home based (like an US citizen works in Texas), he is not entitled for location coefficient. A malaysian FE who is assigned to offshore North Sea can expect location coefficient of 1.5, and if you are "lucky" to be assigned to Siberia, it can be 1.75 (this mean 75% extra on top of basic salary).

Also, the nature of the job. Field job is a general term, it covers a wide variety of specialized jobs from the early stage of drilling and logging the subsurface data to the final stage of completing the well. The pay is different as certain jobs are highly risky and uncertain (being in the early exploration stage) and other jobs are more predictable and kind of routine.

and yes, the work rotations also impact the pay cheque. Some jobs allow FE to have a nice rotation like 5 weeks on/2 weeks off, some have to work like a dog without rotation until the job is done and as such will have different package.

So, the total income is different depending on where you end up, and some people get lucky and others "get screwed."


p/s : I think the salary survey you goggled is based on US local staff.

[IanQ]

Thanks opulant for the explanation. Yeah, google returned results from the states side, which I think is a good benchmark given US is still a dominant economy, hence my curiosity.

I think the main issue is Malaysia's low income situation, or rather the gross income of the country skews too much to the companies/capital holders, while majority of laborer didn't get our fair share (when compared to the more developed countries). Its almost all professions are paid better in developed countries, while we here suffer almost close to developed countries living costs.

[opulant]

...I think the main issue is Malaysia's low income situation, or rather the gross income of the country skews too much to the companies/capital holders, while majority of labourer didn't get our fair share (when compared to the more developed countries).

True... the crux of the problem is low income.

... Its almost all professions are paid better in developed countries, while we here suffer almost close to developed countries living costs.

If you look at net income after tax and mandatory levy, I find once you are above certain income bracket in Malaysia, take home pay is higher here vs the developed countries. The tax rate is low and although basic living cost seems to be higher but it is a small percentage vs the income.

From my experinece, I found developed countries (Europe and Japan) are kind of skew towards "socialist state" in which average income group or even below average income group can still have a relatively decent living. The above average income group and higher income group over there actually subsidised others’ living expenses thru high tax rate.

[IanQ]

Concur. Once a person earns above a certain amount, standard of living in Malaysia becomes quite decent and on par with developed countries. I like the example of Japan for comparison. Once the person earns say above RM 300K pa, if the person visit Tokyo, he or she will not find Tokyo expensive.

Then again, I highly suspect it is because the at RM 300K pa, that works out to be around Yen 7 mio, which is like double of Japan’s average pay? It is still all about being above the average.

So one solution for Malaysia, which exporters will not like, is to improve on our exchange rate.

[opulant]

Just noticed we have a young lady minister who worked in oil field before albeit very short period..

Her 1st entry level salary already higher than most GM in town !!

" Being paid in a salary comparable to many general managers here in Malaysia, I managed to settle my bond with Petronas very quickly and saved some for myself. I was assigned to a country called "Turkmenistan" and the salary would allow me to pay up my Petronas bond in just a few months! "

http://www.yeobeeyin.com/2012/06/ent...ry-behind.html

Today Sin Chew (Sunday Special) published an interview article about her.

The bond with petronas is RM90,000 and she managed to settle the amount with her salary from an oil field service company within a few months. She worked as international staff with an American oilfield services company and later she studied master degree in chemical engineering at Cambridge University.

The interesting part is she revealed that she couldn't converse in English before 18 years old as she came from Chinese school...

This is a stark contrast to some people who like to blame it on language and conveniently overhyped the importance of English during primary and secondary school. Some simpletons think migrating to an english-medium country is an assurance for good education for their offspring..

I guess it's the brain that matters..

[Mat Bruce]

Concur. Once a person earns above a certain amount, standard of living in Malaysia becomes quite decent and on par with developed countries. I like the example of Japan for comparison. Once the person earns say above RM 300K pa, if the person visit Tokyo, he or she will not find Tokyo expensive.

Then again, I highly suspect it is because the at RM 300K pa, that works out to be around Yen 7 mio, which is like double of Japan’s average pay? It is still all about being above the average.

So one solution for Malaysia, which exporters will not like, is to improve on our exchange rate.

How many people are earning $300k per annum here? This is CEO salary here. In Australia, this is about $100k, a lot of people will reach this Aud100k . This is senior manager salary.