LIVING in Johor Baru and commuting to Singapore on very workday take a lot out of anyone. Muhammad Khairul, a Malaysian who travels to Singapore for work, knows that.
He has shared the struggle of his daily hustle. His day starts at 4.30am when he quickly refreshes himself before preparing to join the army of other Malaysian workers on the Causeway at 5 am.
His journey to work lasts two hours. He arrives at 7 am and works a full eight hours until 3.30pm. Then he immediately departs and is stuck on the road for two to two-and-a-half hours.
By the time he arrives home, he will only have about three hours or so of free time.
As Khairul says: “You need to be physically and mentally strong to overcome the struggles of working in Singapore. If not, just forget about experiencing it”.
So while the earning potential of Malaysians in Singapore is potentially great as you’re earning in SGD, it does require a lot of hard work and it may deteriorate any notion of “work-life balance”.
According to Khairul, he can only work such a schedule as he only works for eight hours, “What about those working 12-hour shifts?” he adds, as those extra four hours of work would take away any notion of free time in a day, and he would probably have to come to work sleep-deprived.
