TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent It is a story that has been repeated again and again ad naseum: that Singapore was a "slum" in the 1950s with many homeless people and it was the PAP and HDB which were responsible for building public housing to house them. Afraid that Singaporeans may forget about their "achievements", the PAP is sparing no efforts to send a timely reminder to them ahead of the next election that they "owe" the roofs over their heads to HDB. HDB will be launching a "travelling exhibition" soon to mark its 50th anniversary in the HDB heartlands beginning with Bishan, Choa Chu Kang, Woodlands and Tampines. The exhibition will be held at the MRT stations which will chronicle the "transformation" of Singapore's housing landscape from kampungs in the 1950s to the modern high-rise flats of today. As expected, the Straits Times wasted no time in selling the PAP's propaganda to unsuspecting readers. It interviewed a 59 year old Bedok resident Betty Wong who moved into a HDB flat 30 years ago: "At that time we were very poor, so we were very excited to move into government flats......It was so clean - not like the kampung we used to live in, which was dirty and always had a lot of mosquitoes," she said. The PAP has always portrayed itself as the "savior" of Singapore by building flats for Singaporeans and enabling them to "own" these assets. "Singapore has the highest homeownership in the world" is a recurring theme heard again and again at every general election. While the PAP has made some contributions to the progress and prosperity of Singapore, they are not miraculous feats. Japan was reduced to a rubble after World War Two and the Liberal Democratic Party took only a decade to rebuild Japan. Ten years after the war, most Japanese had a roof over their heads. South Korea was devastated by three years of war with North Korea between 1950 and 1953 after which its government embarked on a mass housing programme to provide housing for its citizens. And Taiwan was in a perpetual state of war with China, but that did not stop the KMT government from building public housing for the Taiwanese. The success stories of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are even more remarkable than Singapore's as these countries are situated in a volatile region where war can break out anytime. The ruling parties of these countries responsible for providing housing to its citizens have been booted out of office already, but life continues as before. Singaporeans should not feel indebted to PAP or HDB for building public housing for them - it is their duty to do so and they are paid for it. Had Barisan Sosialist won the general election in 1963, it would also have supported the building programs of HDB. Past achievements cannot be used as an excuse to cover up for present mistakes. With the prices of HDB flats spiralling out of control and ordinary Singaporeans being priced out of the market, it is quite obvious that HDB has now failed in its objective to provide cheap and quality public housing for the people. Unless Singaporeans send a strong message at the next general election that the present situation is no longer tenable or acceptable, they may have to wait till their parents pass on before they can afford to have a roof over their heads.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to help us exceed the number of fans on the YPAP Facebook page.   Related articles: >> PAP to upgrade 12,000 HDB households ahead of next election >> Mah Bow Tan: We do not want flat prices to go down >> Prices of resale flats to rise further as PR quota reached >> Taiwanese PR offers $50k COV for resale flat >> Mah Bow Tan: PRs have minimal impact on resale flat prices >> No empirical evidence to suggest that public housing is affordable in Singapore >> When will Singapore’s property bubble burst? >> Why HDB is unable to reveal break down costs of new flats now >> HDB to consider introducing rules to curb property speculation >> HDB blames Singaporeans for not selecting flats when given the chance >> Singaporeans worried about retirement after depleting CPF to pay for over-priced HDB flats >> Mah Bow Tan acknowledged that rising HDB flat prices has sparked “fresh concerns” >> PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats” >> COVs of resale flats shooting through the roof >> HDB resale price index hit record high in 2009 >> Singaporean wants PRs to live in rented flats instead of buying resale flats >> Singaporeans wants PRs to be banned from selling HDB flats at a profit >> Shanmugam: Singaporeans likely culprits for driving up HDB flat prices >> Mah Bow Tan: HDB flats remain affordable >> Means testing for PRs to buy resale flats >> Immigration and public housing: should the govt or people plan ahead? >> Grace Fu: hard to predict demand for housing >> Indonesian PR bought 4-room flat at $653,000 >> Mah Bow Tan asks home buyers to be realistic >> PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get a flat for not planning ahead >> Home affordability: HDB versus the public >> Demand vs supply: so many applicants, so few flats >> Number of applicants exceed number of flats >> HDB to increase supply of flats >> Mah: don’t compare with prices in the past >> ERA: 40 per cent of HDB flat buyers are PRs  Read More →

By Dickson Li from Straits Times AMID the depths of the recession last year, accounts executive Wayne Ng counted his lucky stars that he had managed to secure a job with one of the big four accounting firms. There was just one snag though - it was not a permanent job but a two-year contract. 'Obviously, I would have preferred a permanent job, but this was a chance to work with one of the most prestigious firms. It would perk up my CV... and I knew it would give me valuable exposure,' said Mr Ng. Human resource experts agree that working under such contracts is becoming the norm, especially as the concept of a 'flexible workforce' becomes increasingly in vogue. 'It is highly likely that contract employment is here for the long run, especially with an increasingly mobile workforce,' said Mr Dhirendra Shantilal, senior vice-president Asia Pacific, Kelly Services. Read rest of article here  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent More than a thousand Singaporeans flocked to Sengkang Community Club yesterday to attend a Healthcare Career Fair. The Straits Times added a spin that the huge turnout "showed a willingness in Singaporeans to try out for different jobs and undergo training for specialised occupations in the health-care sector." It quoted a Mr Munusammy who is keen to switch to the healthcare industry: "Among my generation, there are a lot of people with just N or O levels, so if organisations can give on-the-job training, that's better...I think it can help me a lot," he said. It is strange that Straits Times will jump immediately to the conclusion that Singaporeans are "willing" to try out different jobs when no surveys were done among the participants on their reasons for attending the job fair. In all likelihood, many of them may be unemployed for a long period of time and are desperately seeking a job. The same article reported a 52 year old Malay lady Madam Khamisah Osman who earns a miserable $200 a month as a part-time office cleaner who has been looking for a full-time job for more than a year without success. It is highly probable that she was unable to hold a full-time job due to the easy availability of cheap foreign labor in Singapore. Due to the PAP's liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, large number of foreign workers have flooded into the nation in recent years. Unlike other countries, the labor laws in Singapore are so ultra-liberal that no measures were put in place to safeguard the interests and ricebowls of Singaporeans who are expected to compete with foreign workers on an equal footing while remaining "cheaper, faster and better" at the same time. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers over the years has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living and led to an overall decline in the standards of living. The Labor Report 2009 showed a decline in the real earnings of Singaporeans by 3.2 percent even as PAP ministers are increasing their own pay by a hefty 8.8 percent. The impressive unemployment rate figures are highly unreliable as they lump both citizens and PRs together as "locals". For some strange reasons, the government has patently refused to reveal the exact unemployment and underemployment rates for citizens only which are likely to be much higher than the official figures. For Singaporeans like Madam Khamisah, they are continuously searching for jobs not because they are keen to undergo "training", but because they are in desperate need for a full-time job to feed their families. Unless the discriminatory and unfair labor laws are changed, Singaporeans will forever be on a losing end. The PAP doesn't seem to care much as their leaders continue to insist that a widening income gap is an "inevitable" consequence of globalization and the greatest "dignity" it can give Singaporeans is the "dignity" of having a job, never mind if it is sufficient to enable one to enjoy a decent standard of living in Singapore.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so and help us exceed the number of fans on the official YPAP Facebook page.    Read More →