It is good if everyone can make more money. The govt makes more money, the people make more money, everyone else make more money, including the foreigners. Making a lot of money is not a bad thing. It is good, really.
The trick is making more money from who and for who. Our govt has made plenty of money and a huge reserve. Who are the main beneficiaries of this wealth? Why are the people feeling the pinch and some calling for mercy? Obviously they are not benefiting from the prosperity of the country. I am not commenting on who the HDB is making money from, if they are making money at all, as they recorded something like $1b or $2b loss a year ago, I think. It was in the papers. Likewise the other ministries and stats boards and their money making policies, and who they are making money from.
I am fully behind the govt for making money as their top priority. The whole country must be restructured to make money, but not solely from the people. We can import more foreigners too, if they can help us to make more money, subject to how many our little piece of land can take.
The next most important priority is to make sure the Citizens benefited from all the wealth created. Let the Citizens be the ruling class. The wealth of the country must filter down more to the Citizens, not $10m for you and $1k for me.
Redesign and re prioritise
The govt can redesign the benefits of citizenship and make citizenship a very special class of people, the owners of the land, and not be given to any Tom, Dick and Harry. Make citizenship a privilege class, even an entitlement class, with the right to a share of the nation’s wealth and cheap housing and facilities. Isn’t that what a govt is for?
The country has already set aside a huge reserve. The reserve needs lesser top ups from the profits of the country’s future investments. A bigger portion of the profits can be returned to the Citizens.
The PRs, the foreign workers and professionals can work and live here, to contribute to our wealth. That is the whole purpose of their presence in our land. Let them work for us, treat them well, but don’t forget that this is OUR Country and we own this piece of rock. We provide them with the opportunities to work, to make a good decent income, safety and security, and a good place to stay. We must be rewarded for that. If they think they have a bad deal here, and have no choice but to come here, they can go elsewhere. You have to pay to visit Disneyland! What more if they even allowed you to make a good living here?
If the wealth and benefits of the country are well filtered down and shared by the people, there will be less anger and more pride and commitment to the country and govt.
Make Singaporeans the ruling class of their homeland. They are not daft. Many policies of citizenship/population must be tweaked to accommodate a new system and priorities in favour of the Citizens. Singaporeans be the master, the owner and main beneficiary to this paradise that we have created. There must be a distinction between a Citizen and others. In Rome, not everyone is a Citizen. Don’t throw away our citizenship like casino chips if they are really worthy.
PS. We already have a very exclusive ruling class.
This Article got to be mailed to the President and All the Political Heads of the various political parties in Sin. As it is the most ideal arrangement any good stable country CAN and MUST ADOPT, all political leaders must work towards its' actualization.
ReplyDeleteAs is manifested to date, only a small percentage of people are enjoying the fruits the people(majority) have laboured to achieve.
As Mr Chua has put it here, it is a most simple and equitable arrangement for the WELLBEING OF ALL, both the people(citizen and non citizen) and the Rulers. It will result in sharing peace, prosperity, woes and whatever as in a good marriage.
Be rich alone is not good enuff, one ought to be kind and generous and be willing to share. It is the ideal of any human society.
This Article got to be mailed to the President and All the Political Heads of the various political parties in Sin. As it is the most ideal arrangement any good stable country CAN and MUST ADOPT, all political leaders must work towards its' actualization.
ReplyDeleteAs is manifested to date, only a small percentage of people are enjoying the fruits the people(majority) have laboured to achieve.
As Mr Chua has put it here, it is a most simple and equitable arrangement for the WELLBEING OF ALL, both the people(citizen and non citizen) and the Rulers. It will result in sharing peace, prosperity, woes and whatever as in a good marriage.
Be rich alone is not good enuff, one ought to be kind and generous and be willing to share. It is the ideal of any human society.
SINGAORE RESERVES
ReplyDeleteFrom official public data:
1. MAS S$285bln
2. Temasek S$185 bln
3. GIC (in excess of US$100bln).....most international analysts guess about US$200bln to US$400bln... let's say S$385bln (Old Man should be managing biggest amount....common sense guess)
Estimate total then S$855bln.
Actually if we keep our population small..2.5mln Singaporeans....we can enjoy our work, work hard but not mad, relax..students, parents, etc.
"Chia Buay Liou" cannot eat finish.....father, son, goh must be "seow" for money.
cheers
Their problem and decline is a poor moral leadership issue. In fact it is the greed of money replacing honor. Your suggestion may make even more people heartless. Good relationships not profitable transactions are what make us contented. All the best things are free. Green grass, blue sky, soft rain, white clouds, beautiful kois in the ponds, etc. Cheers & have a nice day Mr. Chua.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways to narrow the income gap. I wrote to
ReplyDeleteREACH and mypaper but letter was not published. My idea is, bonuses shld not be solely based on months. Instead of giving 3 months bonus for all, it would be better to have a "2 months plus $6000" (example). In this way, the lower income will get a fatter bonus, thus narrowing the gap. A person earning $2000 would get a $10,000 bonus, compared to $6000 if it were a 3-month bonus, while a person earning $20,000 would get $46,000 instead of $60,000. And just like the ministers who get super-high pay, there shld be a cap on the bonus too, say $50,000, to prevent another abuse of a 8-month bonus!!
I get your point and it's an attractive idea. Unfortunately what they look for are people who can make more money for the country. These are the sort that they want to socially engineer our country towards to. A nation of hungry go-getters who can earn a lot and of course pay more taxes. If that isn't the case, well, it sure feels like it.
ReplyDeleteThe ancient Roman society consisted of two distinct classes , the Patricians and the Plebeians. The exclusive ruling class called the Patricians had all the priviledges and controlled all the wealth of the state. The vast majority of the country's folks called the Plebeians had no citizenship rights but all the same had to work and slave and pay unnecessary high taxes for the pompous and luxurious lives of the Patricians.
ReplyDeleteWe Singaporeans should not allow our elected government to have the audacity to base our society on the ancient Roman model. Why should the government keep hundreds of billions of dollars in reserve and pay themselves (ministers and MPs and related parties)insane high salaries of millions of dollars while large section of the people live in want and suffering, and still at the same time continue to exploit the people with high taxes viz high PUB bills, GST, ERPs , COEs, high HDB price and myriads of other bills and charges. Singaporeans need to put a stop to the greed and insanity of this government. sg
The object is to make all citizens Patricians and enjoy the fruit of being citizens. And stop throwing our valuable citizenships away. The rest can be plebians and work here, as PRs, EPs or WPs. But they must not be given citizens so freely.
ReplyDelete