TR EMERITUS

Recently there are many articles and comments on working past 62 year young, I was thinking why all the negativity about working past 62 years old, it is not like the company we retired from is paying our pension?? We are still paying our own pension from our money forcedly siphon into CPF, CPF would still payout our own stipend once past 60 year young once they confirmed that you had genuinely retired. Regardless of CPF rules, today the old and the poor still have to work to their bones past 62 year young (look at all the old people selling tissue and collecting recyclable to understand the magnitude of our problem), the age is irrelevant when you are trying to feed yourself and pay for a roof over your head. Our problems are unsustainable policies that could render a lot of the current and next few generations (me included) to a life of high indenture with limited social support and guarantees. Our current government mentioned many times that having too many social supports and guarantees will bankrupt the administration and potentially destroys the lives for future Singaporean, but their behaviors are as outrageous as the banking/insurance chiefs of paying themselves exorbitantly high salary and bonuses when the economy went bad and try to weasel through with weak statements. Season corporate raider don’t have it as good as our ministers, they will get the boot if deals goes south, and our ministers can easily brush off their incompetency with ease.   Uniquely Singapore  Read More →

Hi to all the true blue Singaporeans, Is about time for the opposition to be united for this coming general election with one main GO,thus is united to win this coming election. My suggest theme line for the opposition when they campaign for the general election,simply ask all true blue Singaporeans whether they BETTER OFF after two general elections under the rule of the pappy? We need to jolt and wake up everyone to reality and cast their votes to the opposition parties before it is too late!   Derek Lim  Read More →

First, the obvious. During his 14 years as PM, Goh Chok Tong became a very well-liked politician. And, arguably, the most popular one from Singapore. How did that come about, especially when the odds were stacked against a deputy who was not his boss’ first choice to take over, a rising leader who was vilified publicly for his “wooden” personality and a man many considered to be a seat warmer? Now, the not so obvious. His most notable achievement as PM was his ability to move Singapore away from one of the most-jealously guarded philosophies of Lee Kuan Yew and his “Old Order” welfarism. Just three weeks into his administration, Goh was already announcing plans for a $5 billion fund to give handouts to students who could use the money for enrichment activities. Over the years in office, he also introduced other semi-welfare measures like Medifund and Medisave top-ups and upgrading of HDB flats. Even bolder was the giving of money in the form of shares to Singaporeans in 2001. The philosophy of these moves, especially the last one, was a stark departure from the “Pay and Pay” culture that the PAP has often been mocked for. With the intellectual weight, political might and national track record of a man like Lee hovering over this island state, how did Goh become his own man? A long-time friend of his said: “Many people don’t know the real Chok Tong. He is a quiet achiever. Behind that personable exterior is a rebel, one who builds his case persuasively and wins over people with his sincerity.” In foreign affairs, the quiet rebel popped up again. He stepped out of Lee’s shadow and developed a special relationship with India. Lee’s distate for India has been well documented. He considered the South Asian giant a lumbering and bickering elephant sacrificing economic growth for noisy democratic ideals. At a time when China was the flavour of the day, Goh gambled on India, saying that he wanted to create an Indian fever in Singapore. The Indian gamble turned out to be a sweet bet for Goh, with Lee acknowledging in 2005: “I will have to change my views on India in my memoirs.’’ There were a couple of disappointments, though. One local, the other foreign. Just a year into his prime ministership, Goh wanted to test his leadership’s popularity with the electorate. But during the elections in that year, his party lost two more seats and the share of votes dipped to 61 per cent, the ruling party’s worst performance since the early 1960s. In foreign relations, Goh’s exuberance in rushing into a fresh start with Malaysia crashed, with relations between the two neighbouring hitting new depths of acrimony and mistrust. Leave these setbacks aside and Goh shines as a politician who has left behind a social compact that even his successor has institutionalised. You need not look further than the workfare and jobs credit schemes that Lee Hsien Loong have introduced in the last five years as Singapore’s third PM. The genesis of these moves goes back to the Goh Chok Tong era. The former PM not only introduced welfarism, Singapore style, he also entrenched it. And he did it in his own quiet way.   by PN Balji Source: The Malaysian Insider   * PN Balji is a veteran Singapore journalist. He is now director of Asia Journalism Fellowship. It is an initiative of Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University.  Read More →