Government is helping to address rising costs: PM Lee?

The PAP's solution is no solution.

No doubt they had spent the last five yeras creating new jobs and attracting quality investments, like what he said in the May Day rally... but to whose benefit?

6 in 10 jobs went to foreigners last year and the year before.
It's clear that the beneficiaries are not Singaporeans.

Also, it is one thing to create jobs and another to create quality jobs.
Would you rather have 30,000 more casino dealers than 30,000 teachers?

PM Lee, your party's policy of mass importation of foreign labour has inevitably depressed the wages of many Singaporeans.

According to the Ministry of Manpower’s Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics 2010 – Active CPF Members By Monthly Wage Level, there were, in 2009:
-       65,141 people earnings less than $400
-       146,080 earning less than $800
-        74,568 less than $1,000
-       128,611 less than $1,500.
Taken together, this means that there were a total of 464,400 or almost 30 per cent of all active CPF members, earning less than $1,500!
That by all accounts, is surely not reflective of a first world government or Swiss standard of living!

With your current policies PM Lee, do you really think ordinary Singaporeans can cope with rising costs?

SINGAPORE : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said Singapore's best long-term response to cope with rising costs is to ensure workers have jobs and enjoy steady increase in real wages.

He added that the government's strategy of creating new jobs and attracting quality investments here has worked.

Mr Lee was speaking to 8,500 participants at the May Day Rally on Sunday.

The increasing cost of living is a concern the government is keeping a close watch on.

That is why Mr Lee said the government will continue to invest in the people and continue to make Singapore attractive to businesses.

He said: "Ensuring good jobs, whether for present or future workers, is the first responsibility of any government, and this is what the PAP (People's Action Party) has delivered and will continue to deliver. And this is what voters must ask any political party seeking your support.

"How will you create growth and jobs for Singaporeans? Do not just say you will have prosperity. The civil servants will know how to do it. Permanent secretaries know what to do. If the ministers do not know what to do, you can be sure things will mess up and with the PAP, we make sure that ministers know what to do and we make sure we have a successful formula which provides good solution, good pay, and good jobs over the long term."

Aside from long-term plans, Mr Lee said the government also has short-term measures to help Singaporeans.

These include keeping the Singapore dollar strong, and targeting help to specific areas for groups who need it.

He added that the government is also making special efforts to help low-income workers through initiatives like Workfare, to top up salaries for older employees.

Mr Lee said: "Nobody knows what the world will be like. It will be a different world, full of challenges but also opportunities. It will be a bright future for us, provided we work hard together. So let us cooperate to strive for better jobs, better pay and better lives for our workers and for all the workers of Singapore."

Prime Minister Lee said Parliament has a significant number of MPs from the labour movement. They make important contributions like looking after the interest of workers and ensuring that government policies are pro-workers and pro-Singapore. He said the current slate of PAP candidates includes a good number from NTUC and he called on participants to support them.

To ensure that NTUC remains relevant and effective, Mr Lee announced the a development fund to raise S$50 million for the NTUC50 Development Fund.

This is to build a three generation membership base of 1 million and to develop future generation leaders in the labour movement.

Mr Lee said the labour movement needs to raise S$12.5 million and the PAP government will give a grant of S$37.5 million.

He added that this shows the government's support for the union movement and Singapore workers.

Meanwhile, in his speech in Malay at the May Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee noted that the Malay-Muslim community is benefiting from the country's success.

He said Malay workers are doing well and many have gone for upgrading.

They have also taken up better-paying jobs.

Mr Lee said growing number of Malay students are going to the university.

Many are in the polytechnics and in the ITEs picking up strong technical skills.

Mr Lee believes they will be able to achieve better lives for themselves and help uplift the community and take Singapore to even greater heights.

- CNA/ms

Alternative policies for Singapore- part 1

National Solidarity Party:

• Reduction of GST to 5% and exempt necessities totally
• Reudction of National Service to 15 months. They cited Taiwan, a country fraught with military tensions with China reducing their conscript service to just 12 months. Is Singapore in greater military danger than Taiwan?
• Mandating all new citizens to serve National Service
• Personal tax policy that taxes the high income earners (those earning more than 300k annual) more
• All elected MPs to quit full time jobs to serve
• All elected MPs to donate 35% of MP allowance to help the needy
• Meet the people's session 5 days a week
• Singaporeans first employment policy

Singapore Democratic Party:

• $60 billion dollars to refresh our economy
• Creation of more noble jobs like teachers, nurses, doctors
• Focus on creative services like IT, arts etc to help young people fulfill dreams
• Halving class sizes from 40 to 20, building 300 more schools and creating 30k more teaching jobs
• Reduction of National Service to 12 months
• Singaporeans first employment policy
• Reduction in transport fares for the elderly
• All elected MPs to donate 50% of MP allowance to help the needy
• Conversion of void decks to polyclinics to ease waiting time

I don't know about you but these look like policies that will greatly improve our standard of living.

Archbishop Nicholas Chia's Pastoral Letter for 2011 General Elections

Archbishop Nicholas Chia, leader of Singapore's 200,000 strong Catholics, has written a pastoral letter for GE 2011.
While he did not specifically mention sides, I'm drawing attention to two significant phrases.

"We must also ensure that the poor, the elderly and the marginalised in our society are cared for."
....
"Each one of us has a voice and can make a difference in the world in which we live through our choices in the election process."

To me, his message is clear. What do you think?

The Attack of the Youths

    Glenda Han

Pritam Singh





Gerald Giam



Nicole Seah

Jarrod Luo

Lee Li Lian

Spencer Ng

and then there is

GE: MM Lee cautions Aljunied voters of consequences of voting in opposition

As usual, the PAP is trying to paint doomsday scenarios if opposition gets voted.
Here's a line by line analysis of MM Lee's wise words.


SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has urged the voters of Aljunied GRC to exercise their vote carefully in the 7 May General Election.

This is because a wrong choice would mean they lose a strong team of office holders and ground parliamentarians. Mr Lee was speaking to the media after a visit to Tampines Central on Friday night.
"Strong team" to who? The people? or PAP?
What has George Yeo's team done?
Let me remind Aljunied voters that in 2008, Aljunied GRC was voted one of the dirtiest towns in Singapore. And George Yeo's strong team of office holders considered raising conservancy fees as a quick fix. Thankfully they made a u-turn in the face of a barrage of online criticisms.
You see, with more opposition in parliment, we will make the PAP think twice before passing unpopular policies.


Mr Lee's visit there was to support Mr Heng Swee Keat, PAP's new candidate in the Tampines GRC slate.

Mr Heng was once Minister Mentor Lee's principal private secretary during his career in the civil service. His last post before leaving for politics was as the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Mr Lee said: "He is the man who saw Singapore through the financial crisis and we recovered faster than other countries, but he's a potential Minister for Finance or Minister for Trade and Industry and we've got to have people like that in reserve."
MM Lee, is he also the man who oversaw our economy when we were the first Asia country to dip into recession when the crisis started?

So Mr Lee's advice to all voters and in particular those in Aljunied GRC is to look at the track record of the candidates and the programmes they have for the constituency.
We have looked into the track record. Unfortunately for your new PAP, it isn't particularly impressive considering that you have the most expensive ministers on the whole planet."During election time, all claims are made recklessly, but they are simplistic. Election rallies' slogans sell," he warned.

The Minister Mentor urged Aljunied GRC's voters to compare the property prices of their GRC with those in the neighbouring Hougang division, an opposition stronghold.

He said they would realise the prices are not the same. "You have the wrong government, you have your property prices go right down," he said.

Minister Mentor Lee went on to say: "If you are in Aljunied, ask yourself: do you want one MP, one non-constituency MP, one celebrity, two unknowns, to look after you? Or, have two ministers, one Speaker of Parliament, one very good ground worker (Ong Ye Kung) and Cynthia Phua to look after the place?
Isn't an elected government suppose to take care of ALL citizens, whether or not they are supporters?
Will Obama wash his hands off Texas because they are Republican?
So it shouldn't matter if the new team is made up of incumbent ministers or unknowns. We want to judge people on track record (yes I said it) and commitment to Singaporeans."What will happen to your property values and your own comfort, the drains and mosquitoes and so on in the five years? You have this celebrity, he has been away 30 years, he comes back, how does he connect with us?
We've given PAP nearly 50 years. Let's give this "celebrity" 5 years in office and then we will decide again. If he screws up, the voters will replace him in 2016. Let's not judge too early."It may well happen. If they win, in which case, the people of Aljunied live with the results. The only way people learn is when they have to pay a price."
And how do you know that? What if the lives of Aljunied Singaporeans actually get better? What will you say?Mr Lee was also unfazed by the large crowds at the opposition rallies, as he feels that does not translate into the final results on Polling Day.

Mr Lee also provided data to counter opposition's claims that foreigners in Singapore were taking away jobs from Singaporeans.

He said total employment in Singapore rose by 786,000 between 2006 and last year. That's a cumulative increase of 34 percent.

Last year alone, 115,900 jobs were added, with half going to Singaporeans.
Even if that were true, why are we creating 57,950 jobs for foreigners? Leave that to their own governments back home. I don't know of any country except UAE where the government creates as many jobs for foreigners. (Still, UAE citizens sit on top of the economic ladder so I hear. Not sure if it's the same here)

Preliminary estimates also show that total employment grew by 23,700 in the first three months of this year.

Mr Lee pointed out that the Singapore government has no reason to look after the interest of foreigners.
More foreigners means more spending on consumption no matter what. That will add to GDP de facto. Higher GDP growth means more bonuses for ministers. So there isn't any reason to look after the interest of foreigners?

He added that the PAP government has created more jobs than Singaporeans can fill.
That's because we have too many labour intensive jobs and exploitative MNCs on our shores. Move up the value chain, services chain-- Singaporeans are talented and hardworking and if given the chance, we can grow the economy by ourselves! Let our local run businesses thrive! Downplay the significance of MNCs.
I'm seeing ordinary foreigners taking away our PMET jobs when there are locals who can perform these jobs.
He said no country has done that except Singapore.

Mr Lee also released data stating that the overall unemployment rate was 2.2 percent last year.

The resident jobless rate was 3.1 percent, the second lowest over the period of 2000 and 2010.
Resident includes Singaporeans and PRs. PRs will have to be employed otherwise they will be out of this country. Stop skewing the statistics. Give us the jobless rate for Singaporeans only and we can judge.
Mr Lee added that foreigners are brought into Singapore to attract investments, in turn creating even more jobs for locals.

Some examples include how the equipment supplying company, Applied Materials, employs over 500 staff, and 85 percent of them are Singaporeans.
To be honest, I wouldn't expect any less. For every Applied Materials, there would be two Johnson & Johnsons or Citibanks.
And based on a construction manpower study done last year, which surveyed 1,000 contracting firms, two-thirds of professional, managerial, executive and technical positions are held by Singaporeans.

- CNA/ir

Sat 30 Apr rallies

28 April, 2011 SDP's election game plan

So what are the real issues at stake?

Ignore the party rhetoric, slogans and catch phrases. What is really at stake for the future of Singapore?

1) 6.5 million people.
I don't know about you but I already feel the strain of having 4.5 million people in this tiny country. Since the last GE, the PAP allowed about 1 million foreigners of all sorts into our land without consulting Singaporeans. They also failed to adequately expand the public infrastructure to accommodate them. Our facilities- public transport, malls, clinics, parks, hospitals, schools etc- are strained.
Trust me, we will get to 6.5 million if our political landscape remains status quo.

2) Cost of living.
Unlike many developed nations, the PAP doesn't subsidise basic necessities like food and utilities. Instead, these items are slapped with a 7% tax, which burdens the less fortunate alot more than the rich.
I'm sure we can make room for such subsidies by scrutinising our defence budget and minister salaries more closely.

In the last five years, the PAP heavily pushed medical tourism. Millionaires from all over the world flock to our island and use up valuable healthcare facilities. Yet the number of hospital beds hardly increased. So now we have foreigners + medical tourist + Singaporeans competing for medical infrastructure. Who should come first?
Why would a hospital allocate more "C" class wards for Singaporeans when surgeons can charge a member of the Brunei royal family $24,000,000 in fees?
The end result is that healthcare fees just go up and up. And I'm not sure if Johor Bahru is a viable option.

The notion of public housing is twisted beyond recognition. Public housing is no longer affordable when you need 25-30 years to pay off a loan. This leaves many Singaporeans with little retirement monies.
Ask yourself, how comfortably can you retire if things stay the same?

3) Education
The PAP has created a system that is focused solely on grades. Mission schools that used to place equal emphasis on academic and character development have also given into this system. Half of a typical primary 1 class is now foreigners. Our children have no choice but to compete with them from a young age. Our kids no longer learn but just study.
Our local students are finding it harder and harder to get into the courses of choice. Our unis set aside too many places for foreign students.

My dear Singaporeans, I see darker clouds over the horizon if nothing changes...

Workers' Party rally 2- Your vote is secret!

I was at the Workers' Party rally at Serangoon Stadium. Here are a couple of shots from my ordinary iPhone camera.
Like the first rally, I reckon there were about 50k people in attendance. Pretty amazing.
The key point that was driven home tonight is that your vote is secret.
1) You place your votes on poll day. Note that the serial number is just to make sure one does not vote twice.
2) Votes are taken to counting centres. Votes are counted by civil servants from different departments in full view of candidates from each contesting party.
3) Ballot boxes sealed and party members will sign on the seal. They are then taken to the vaults in Supreme Court and locked up for six months.
4) After six months, the sealed boxes and signatures are inspected by all parties and sent to the incinerators. Members of all political parties will be present to witness this.

There is no way your vote can be traced.
So you see, vote without fear!

An appeal to younger generation

Show your parents/grandparents the opposition side of the story. Play social media, youtube etc for them.

Local media content only tells the PAP story.
Remember while you can't yet vote, your parents/grandparents can and their votes will help shape your future.

You guys make a difference!

Who's actually dealing with tangible issues?

I must applaud the Straits Times for giving alot more coverage to the opposition this time round.
Suppose you need to when a combined crowd of about of 100,000 Singaporeans packed into opposition rally sites yesterday.

But I must also caution readers that no matter how objective our excellent, young journalists want to be, their hands would be tied by the powers that be. (Ex PAP Dr. Tony Tan is the Chairman of SPH)

That's why I woke up only to read a somewhat distorted view of the elections.
If you read front pages of today's ST, it would seem that only PAP is tackling the tangible issues while the opposition is merely trumping their own agenda.
This couldnt be further away from the truth. And I'll tell you why.

Firstly, I'm not sure what kind of moral compass PAP is using when the tangible issues of today's Singapore like cost of living, immigration, medical, housing, education etc were caused by..... them.
We can safely say so because the PAP has had half a century of uninterrupted rule.
It's like saying to someone I'm going to poision you and then claim that I'm are the only one with the antidote.

Secondly, the SDP did give credit to the old PAP, something which ST has totally failed to report. There's no doubt that we had men of courage and servitude like Goh Keng Swee, Lim Chin Siong and of course Lee Kuan Yew. For the latter, yes not everyone agrees with his hard-handed tactics but one can't begrudge him of his contributions to early Singapore. So I'm strangely happy that Tanjong Pagar GRC is a walkover so his legacy will be intact.
In actual fact, one can argue that pre Independence Singapore was already some sort of crown jewel in the region. The British built our policies and infrastructure and left Singapore in a very good state.
Should Gordon Brown come out and claim credit?

I think the point here is that Singaporeans have repaid the old PAP many times over with our hard work and sacrifices over the last 50 years. In any case, the role of the elected government is to serve the people, not the other way round.

So alot of the misgivings are with the current crop of PAP ministers..or the new PAP.
All of them are millionaires, some born with silver spoon. You seriously expect a bunch of sheltered millionaires to know that feeling of squeezing into stuffy MRT trains? Or feel any sort of pinch from 7% GST? Or understand the frustration of balloting for HDB and schools? Or fathom the agony of a 5 hour wait to see a doctor?

The PAP must realise that in the age of social media, they can no longer control information. A google search will reveal that Khaw Boon Wan did suggest sending the elderly to Johor and even to Batam.
A google search will prove that unpopular policies like COE and ERP were introduced during SM Goh's time as PM.

In fact, it is the opposition who are campaigning on tangible policies. Unlike the PAP, opposition parties today have a well balanced breed of scholars and doctors but also ordinary Singaporeans like small business owners and marketing executives. We all know that a political party solely consisting of government scholars may not produce the best ideas.
Imagine a football team with 11 Ronaldos or 11 Shiltons. There must be diversity to represent different interests.

Still, at the SDP rally (I will be the other parties rallies over the next week), there were some good ideas, needing fine tuning, that are worth considering.
1) Dr. Ang suggested bringing down class room size from 40 to 20. This will certainly benefit each child and also create more teaching jobs
2) Focus more on services sector- less labour intensive (hence fewer foreigners needed) and less land intensive
3) Donating half their MP allowance if voted in to set up a bursary for the less fortunate. I wonder if any PAP minister will do the same.

On the topic of housing, I suggest the opposition should talk less about high prices as general wisdom will dictate that high asset prices are good. And the PAP will drum this into voters everytime.
Try arguing that if PAP track record was so good and if they really have improved the lives of Singaporeans, then why is the ratio of those staying in public vs private housing (condos) nearly the same as 20 years ago.
I'm not aware of another developed country that has public housing for the masses. (Public housing in Hong Kong is rental housing for the poor, many Malaysians own private apartments)

SDP rally 1---- HOT!!!

I was at the SDP rally at Commonwealth this evening.
The atmosphere was electric and I guess there must have been a few thousand people in attendance.
This SDP team looks really strong.

Some highlights:

James Gomez rocked the crowd with his "Send Khaw Boon Wan to JB" battlecry. This is an obvious jibe at Khaw for suggesting that Singaporeans could send their elderly to cheaper nursing homes in JB.
Some in the crowd suggested Bintan or Batam, drawing spontaneous laughter.

Dr. Vincent got the biggest cheer.
I thought he was extremely intelligent in how he downplayed the "gay video" incident and even wished Vivian the best. He touched on immigration, HDB and YOG with the usual eloquence.

Tan Jee Say positioned himself as the team's economist and he certainly has the credo for it. He also explained how PAP misconstrued his suggestion of focusing on the services sector saying that land intensive manufacturing industries may not be the best use of scarce land resources in Sinagpore.

Dr. Ang Yong Guan had the last slot. As a psychiatrist, he called himself the "software" of the team.
He spoke very passionately about a variety of issues and was able to excite the crowd with salient and witty remarks.

Overall, you could feel the heat and excitement on the ground. There seems to be alot more passion this time round, candidates and supporters alike.

I think the PAP has a big fight on its hands.

$10 an hour

That's what PAP is apparently paying friends/relatives of grassroot leaders to attend ralllies, clap, wave flags and what not.
Just a wild guess but the money would be taxpayers' no?

So expect to see lots of white coloured drones at Sengkang tonight.

PAP track record: Bukit Panjang SMC Teo Ho Pin

As coordinating chairman of town councils, he allowed town councils to gamble and lose millions of residents' money in minibonds.
These councils amass hundreds of millions in resident conservancy fees while many struggle to cough out $66 every single month.

Then there's the NorthWest CDC civil servants getting 8 months bonus saga.

He also failed to stand up for residents in the Fajar wet market incident.

How he got 77.2% of the votes last time round is a mystery....

SM Goh names economic growth and jobs as top voter issue

Or so it seems. That's another ivory tower view from PAP.
Top voter issues in my opinion are standard/cost of living and immigration.

Yes economic growth is important but we all know that with this should come real wage growth or wages adjusted for inflation.
MAS reported that wages grew 5.6% for all of 2010.
Our inflation rate for most of Q1 this year is about 5%.

Again, due to the lack of transparency, we don't know the actual wage growth for Singaporeans, excluding PRs and foreigners.
And as you know, alot of these foreign PMET "talents" are actually paid quite well because there are qualifying salary thresholds for different employment passes and these thresholds have gone up.
So actual wage growth could very well be skewed higher.

Another unique characteristic of the Singapore growth story is that when GDP is strong and more jobs are created, more foreigners are hired into our shores because of our open immigration policy.
My company actually got an EP approved for a generic job position in about one hour!
So the actual net effect of economy led jobs growth on local Singaporeans could be minimal.

Therefore, wage growth should not be the only yardstick that measures standard of living. With prices of food, utilities,education, medical care etc relentlessly going up, many voters are left wondering when this "Swiss standard of living" mooted by SM Goh 20 years ago will arrive.

PAP track record: Tanjong Pagar GRC Chia Shi Lu

None whatsoever.

PAP track record: Aljunied GRC George Yeo

In a word, WikiLeaks

His inept response to the leaks may cause rifts with neighbours and could one day compromise our nation's security.
Perhaps that's why they need 200,000 reservists to be a standby.

Our Foreign Affairs Minister also let that Romanian diplomat escape.

PAP track record: Moulmein-Kallang GRC Yaacob Ibrahim

My fellow Singaporeans, and Malay brethrens, he recently said we should teach Malay as a foreign language instead of mother tongue.

As Environment and Water Resources Minister, he oversaw the flooding of Singapore's premier shopping belt and claimed these things happen once in 50 years.
However, we all know that it flooded a few more times after that. Some sightings in Jan 2011.

And yes, I suppose the water pacts with Johor are under his purview? We all know how those negotiations went. I guess that leaves us with err... new water.

PAP track record: Tampines GRC Baey Yam Keng

He has spoken about pressing issues such as creating a food museum, length of women's skirts and Edison Chen's scandal.
I dont blame him when there are so many frivolous issues like cost of living, immigration and the sandwiched middle class.

Oh did I forget to mention that he was the ex army chief?

From Temasek Review http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/16/baey-yam-keng-sexually-harassed-by-women-wearing-low-cut-dress/

PAP track record: Choa Chu Kang GRC Gan Kim Yong

He's our Manpower Minister. One of the key issues is immigration.

There you go....