training wheels,
The CAAS exams are not as hard as people make them out to be, nor is the Form 32 base check, it leaves little scope for imagination on the part of the AFEs. Everything that has to be done is laid out for you in black and white. As far as I know OEI circuits in the aircraft is no longer required by CAAS these days, just 3 normal circuits.
Lots of MI pilots join with the experience that is being claimed, and even lower hours, normally on "local terms", the airline has its downsides, the main one being it is very "political" in terms of ethnic origin, persons of Indian descent tend to have the inside running.
If you have a 320 rating on a Singapore licence and a pulse, you can just walk into a job with just about any of the 3 operators at the moment, they are all short, its a catch 22, to get a Singapore licence you need to be sponsored by a Singapore carrier.
As for the figure quoted, I think it is a tad short, last I heard the bond with MI was closer to SIN$120,000, but it was a 5 year bank bond (bank guarantee), not an upfront fee.