Tokenism

Tokenism This may become the new catch phrase to gripe about. A blogger said it last week and it has come true. Citizens will now enjoy a medical subsidy of 5-10% more than PRs. So citizens must now be happy and so do the PRs. If there is no National Service, maybe when the difference between a citizen and PR is neglible, a token like this may be acceptable. But does the govt really understand what it is like to serve NS and how much is that sacrifice that is demanded from its citizens? The little subsidy difference can be viewed very negatively by those who feel strongly that all their contributions to the country in NS and reservist liability is only worth that pittance. But there is another form of tokenism in the medical cost they are paying. A whopping 80% subsidy for C Class wards. Now that must really make the citizens happy. Really happy.

Singapore Incorporation or Singapore Inc

The term Singapore Incorporation was coined many years back as Singaporeans answered to the call to build up this country, nation building, sacrifices, tightening belt, national service, changing of mindsets to move into HDB flats, restraints in labour unrest and work stoppages. We have gone past those days and Singapore has prospered. We have GLCs and Temasek's list of Singapore owned companies to complement a huge bureaucracy of ministries. And today we boast of $200 billion of national reserves and invested to generate more wealth. And when the govt is running out of budget there are all the taxes to be raised from the people to finance whatever the govt decides is good for the people. Amidst all the wealth and well beings, a growing segment of the population is facing increasing hardship and are falling on the wayside. This brings to mind the wealth of the nation or of the people accumulated and invested over the years on one extreme and the poverty and hardship of Singaporeans on the other. What is the purpose of creating all these wealth for th nation while some citizens are crying for help? Who is benefitting from all these wealth? The nation or country is like a household and the citizens the members of the household. After the acquisition of all the durables, ie infrastructures, the savings and investments, the income or revenue generated must be for the citizens or family members to live a better life. The revenue from the country has been reinvested or ploughed back to the nation in many forms that benefitted the general public. Couldn't some of this be returned to the people who badly needed it to live their lives, to get by and be a little less stressful in their life struggles? Could the people see the returns on the govt's investments as a return on their investments and look forward to a little dividend annually, or bonus issues? Singapore Inc will make more sense when the people can see their welfare and well being, their relative prosperity being linked to how well our investments and revenue grows. For the moment the only people who are happy are the fund managers and those managing the investments. Not enough have trickled down to the poorer citizens. Choktong did briefly mentioned about a formula to share this wealth of the nation. Nothing comes from it after that statement. We have the Singapore Shares, the Economic Restructuring Shares etc which can be seen as moving along this direction. The people will be greatly heartened if a formula is announced that the people are genuinely the beneficiaries of the nation's wealth. Singapore Inc will then have a more tangible meaning and closer to the hearts of the average and below average Singaporeans. The people need to believe and see that they are really the co owners of this island state and that they will prosper and live a better life as the nation prospers. The sharing of the nation's wealth shall be carefully formulated and not given as a charity or in the form of ComCare. Such funds for the needy Singapore is a different issue and hopefully will be made redundant when the people can share the wealth of the nation in a respectful and systematic manner rather than to beg for it on grounds of poverty and hardship.

Being poor in Singapore

What is life like being poor in Singapore? For a start, you get to attend the best kindergarten classes provided by the PAP. And they are good. But the rich will have their children enrolled in enrichment and creative thinking classes for their precious offsprings, like Montesorri, Tumble Tots etc. Next comes schooling and the poor will have plenty of choices to attend neighbour schools. The rich too attend schools in their neighbourhoods. All is fair and the school system is based on meritocracy. Your results count. While the poor will have to help their parents selling kueh or chee cheong fan, the rich will have the best tutors to guide their children plus all kinds of artistic or musical classes to give them an all rounded education and be more sophisticated. It is a level playing field but they play in different fields in different neighbourhoods. And for housing, the poor should be glad that they can live comfortably with room sizes that are not more than 15 sq metres. And they can also expect to make do with 70 to 90 sq metres for a family of 4 to 10. And they are also encouraged to produce more children too. That will help to improve the household income. 5 adults working could mean $5000 monthly income. That must be rich beyond words. And of course the poor don't pay taxes, I mean the lower income, not necessarily poor, hardly pay any income tax. Isn't that heaven? GST is not income tax. Please do not be mistaken. It is just consumption tax. And because the poor consume less, they really pay lesser GST. Now that is equitable definitely. Now better still, with higher GST the lower income can expect to get more in return from the GST they paid. where else can one find such a great deal? As for personal hygiene, the poor are encouraged to bath with lesser water to save money on the expensive water bill. Better not to bathe at all. Then can save more water. And if there is any body odour, never mind. It will become a great advantage in the world class MRT that is expected to pack everyone in tightly like sardine. Now you see how advantageous it is not to bathe? At least people will try to keep clear of you in the train and you will enjoy more personal space. And then there are all kinds of help schemes for the poor, school bursaries, food vouchers, subsidies, doles etc. All they need is to report themselves and let them do a little means testing to qualify. And if hospitalised, don't worry, they will make sure that they get into the best ward befitting their income. All Singaporeans deserve to be put in better wards if they can afford it to receive better medical care. Only those who are really unable to afford it will be put into the lower class wards. As for their money or savings in the CPF, they will be carefully kept and managed for their retirements. Once they pass 62, they will be able to enjoy in comfort the monthly allowance returned to them by the CPF. All of them will retire rich even if they are not that rich when young. It is so good to be poor and to be taken care of from birth to death.

the singapore wonderland

Wow, Genting finally got the bid for Sentosa. It is a great achievement to win such a project among big time international competitors. They were all serious and wanted to bag this project for their companies. And it was really a tough call to pick out the best proposal. The iconic glass structure of Kertzner is really very impressive. And the effort to bring in all the big names to tie up with the equally innovative themes of 8th Wonders would make everyone salivate. Genting won the bid through a tested formula and the great themes of Universal for an all rounded family entertainment. Singapore should thank all the bidders for their faith and belief that Singapore is worthy of such a huge investment and their confidence in us. No doubt Kertzner and 8th Wonder would be feeling down but it was a close call and there can only be one winner. The transparency of the award and the methodology applied spoke well of Singapore especially when not a single Singapore company was among the winners. And and the high profile generated by the two IRs could spark more big players coming to our shores. It is a great transformation for us from a trading post to a land of fun and entertainment hub. And 30,000 jobs from Genting alone plus the Sands at Marina will do us well and see us through for the next 10 years.

malaysia, 1955 revisited

The non Malays in Malaysia is at a crossroad like 1955. It was then that the Malays, under the leadership of Jaffar Oon, stood up to fight for their special rights. And the non Malays, led by Tan Cheng Lock, backed away from the fight. And they lost dearly when Malay special rights was enshrined into the Constitution. Today, the Malays are exerting their right to be the dominant race in the nation, more than equal to the other races. Even the Malay ownership of wealth should even be institutionalised and raised from 30% to 70% if Khairy has his way. And the non Malays again behaved in the same way as in 1955. They backed off meekly. And this time they are going to pay twice as dearly than before. But then again, fighting the cause could lead to more bloodshed as the kris has been drawn and it is a matter of when will it be used. The writing is on the wall.