PM Lee: We are all in this together

The Parliament has passed the White Paper for 6.9m population in 2030 with all 77 PAP MPs voting yea. And Hsien Loong proudly said, 'We are all in this together.' Do the people have a say or a choice not to be part of this madness?

I think Hsien Loong forgot to complete his sentence, 'We are all in this together, all 77 of us.' Did he know that the opposition MPs and the NMPs +NCMPs are not in this together? Did he know that the majority of the citizens are not in this together with his 77 MPs? According to the mini poll conducted in this blog, 97% were not together with him. And this can be confirmed by the number of people that have indicated that they will be attending the protest rally on 16 Feb at Hong Lim Park.

The attendance in this rally is probably one of the most important event in the history of this island. The cramming of additional 2m people into the island in the last 10 years went on sneakily without the consent of the people. The influx of foreigners were allowed in by the Govt and causing a lot of hardship, dislocation and disruption on the lives of the citizens. High cost of living, high property prices, high COEs, congestion, competition for space and services and straining of the infrastructure, transport systems and facilities, are getting on the nerves of the people. The patience of an otherwise very kiasu, kiasi and kiachenghu people has reached a BTH state, beh tahan liao.

And Hsien Loong said 'We are all in this together.' Really? This statement is going to rile more angry protestors. We are all NOT in this together. Wait for the voices of the people at the protest rally to be heard.

Gilbert Goh, the organiser of the protest is overwhelmed. He thought it would be the usual 200 crowd. Now the feedback is not even 2000 but many times more. The news of a massive turnout has wetted the interests of the international media and all the big guys will be there to report on this event.

The Singapore Spring has finally arrived, prompted or initiated by courtesy of the Govt through the highly unpopular White Paper.

77 MPs voted in favour of the White Paper

The very unpopular White Paper on future population in the island was passed yesterday with 77 for, 11 nay and 1 abstained. At least two PAP MPs were not present, LKY and Inderjit Singh. PAP has 80 MPs in Parliament. 79 PAP MPs were counted, 77 +2. Who is missing? All opposition MPs and NMPs voted against except for the diplomatic Eugene Tan who chose to abstain. The house is divided with PAP against the others on this population issue.

It is clear that the only way for a PAP MP not to vote along party line is to be absent with valid excuses, like LKY and Inderjit. Those who are present in Parliament would have to vote accordingly no matter if they agree or disagree with the motion or even spoke against it. Is this enough to confirm that no PAP MP can be an independent MP, to vote according to his belief and conscience, or be his own man or woman, to take a stand against the party position?

The fate of this island having 6.9m population is sealed. We are going to get more foreigners into the country to maintain a strong Sinkie core. They are here for the good of Sinkies. ‘We are doing it for Singaporeans…’ I got goose pimples hearing these words spoken by politicians.

The attractiveness of Singapore as a production and business centre

Singapore is what it is today not just because of cheap labour. There are many factors that make Singapore a very attractive and business friendly country. Thanks to the Govt, we have a very pro business climate, good infrastructure, good govt rules and regulations, ease of doing business with negligible corruption, transparency, good labour, govt and business relations and a highly educated workforce. English is the common language for govt, business and social activities. The legal system is based on the British model that many developed countries are familiar with. There is hardly any restriction on the transfer of money, ease of transport and communication system, good international connectivity and a very safe and clean and liveable environment. It is so easy to just move in and live in this city. The tax rate is about the lowest in the world.

With so many advantages, even the high cost of living is not too much an issue. We have full employment. There is really no need to create more employment unless the Govt is thinking of increasing the population/workforce which means more jobs are needed. If the population is more or less capped at the present level, even with some leaving, the employment situation is unlikely to be seriously affected. Any company that leaves will likely to be replaced quickly by more productive and higher value added companies. 

The Govt could use this opportunity to restructure the economy, allow the less productive and labour intensive companies to leave. Those that need cheap labour and could not live without them can also leave. Those companies that think they could operate in this city will still come. With our highly educated workforce, the high value added companies would not have problem fitting in to benefit from all the first class facilities and advantages this country is providing. The country should keep upgrading, keep the population at the current level without straining on the infrastructure and resources, and raising the income level of the workforce at the same time.

There is no need to keep relying on cheap labour industries that are not paying well. That is an area that the country has moved away from and should not return to. The jobs and pay they are creating are worthless numbers that we can do without. Whatever residual companies, let them be, and if they are not competitive, let them move to neigbouring countries to tap on their cheaper workforce and infrastructure if they find it difficult to get cheap labour. 

We need to attract good quality companies with high paying jobs for our graduates from the universities and tertiary institutions. Otherwise these graduates will be competing for lower and cheaper jobs with cheaper PMETs with lower quality papers and qualifications. We have world class universities churning out quality graduates not to be cheap labour.

By keeping the population at this level, many of the land and facilities can be improved without straining them and without incurring huge infrastructure development cost. The large reclamation of land and housing may not be necessary or less will be needed. This is also in a way a chicken and egg situation, one feeding on the other.

Singapore is a very attractive place to live and do business without being cheap. We don’t have to sell this country as cheap and good. We are good and very good. Many rich and famous would want to be here and live here. Let’s throw away the mantra of CBF. Lets be expensive and good and high paying. We are already expensive in many ways and the businesses are still coming. We can be selective, not grabbing the cheap and less productive ones. Does this argument make sense?

What do you think?

Hong Lim Park Protest

I just like to have a feel on how many people may be attending the Hong Lim Park Protest on the White Paper. The rally is on Sat 16 Feb 13 at 4.30 pm. The Poll is on the right.

And also click the advertisement for my breakfast. Thank you.

Redbean

What makes a citizen Singaporean?

This has never been an issue, but it is now. The amount of privileges and public money given to new citizens as subsidies and national bonuses, the priority in housing when some true blue Sinkies are not even allowed to buy, is becoming a big pain in the neck for the real citizens of the country they built and they sacrificed for. What the fuck is happening to my country? Why are citizens, the original citizens being treated as second class citizens, being disadvantaged by new citizens and even PRs and foreigners? Does the Govt know this, or does the Govt know that it is the cause of all these unfair treatments against its very own citizens it is supposed to look after?

The facetious remarks made by some MPs and Tan Chuan Jin are rude and offensive to Singaporeans, I mean the true blue Singaporeans. The examples raised of Amy Khor, Chen Show Mao and some ministers were selective examples that evade the angst and anger of the people. Don’t evade the main issue, the real pain the people are feeling. It is the new citizens that the people are fed up with when they are given so many privileges at the expense of the true blue Singaporeans.

You are not a citizen like one of us if you don’t serve NS when you could. You are not a citizen when you evade NS. Don’t come up with craps that you are saving babies and helping the economies by working in your profession. NS is the rite of passage to citizenship for male citizens. NS is the badge of honour, the common path that all male citizens will have to take as their contribution to nationhood. Do not degrade and abuse NS as something else when you have not donned the uniform, to train, to defend and to be maimed or die for this country.

All new citizens, using an arbitrary figure of 5 or 10 years, must not receive the same subsidies and handouts as true blue Singaporeans. All male citizens that are eligible to do NS but did not is not deserving to be a citizen and must not be allowed to hold senior positions in public office, especially to be seated in Parliament.

Our little island is now flooded with millions of new citizens and the number is going up. If we do not make a difference between the new citizens and true blue citizens, we will be short changing ourselves, selling our rights away.