志异 Draft by Drama box July 2014 (english) | Page 22

causeway between Malaysia
and Singapore daily in their
motorcycles and cars (even to this
day) just to make a living. Almost
all our relatives have someone at
home who does this. They work
in factories, in renovation and in
the kitchens. Some live in rented
apartments in Singapore. The
better among them obtain student
loans to study in a Singaporean
university and settle down as whitecollar employees after graduation.
This last scenario is what families
hope for the most, especially as
the Singapore dollar continues
to grow stronger against the
Malaysian ringgit and the income
divide between the two countries
widen. Singapore provided a living
reference of what life could have
been. How is it that two nationstates that started out on the same
footing have become so disparate
in so many aspects?

books. The train chugged along
sleepily on a single track, with older
trains stopping by the side to give
way to the express trains plying the
north-south route. The terminus at
Tanjong Pagar, with its mud-yellow
walls, wa