TR EMERITUS

By Voice of Citizens We, the Citizens, are not against Immigration Policy per se. We are deeply against the ill-conceived manner in which huge and rapid influx of FT/PR are admitted into our country recently. We are frustrated with the HDB policy and poor planning which does take into account housing needs of increasing population. It is inexcusable to say that HDB could not have anticipated such shortage. The effects of rapid accelerating growth in FT/PR and housing shortage have are severe impact on many citizens in terms of their housing needs and employment. What is the solution? What do we need to do re-define, refine and build a sustainable growth and Nationhood? Broadly for layman terms, the next steps forward will be: 1. “FT/PR” population growth impact /HDB housing shortage must be immediately resolved to dampen the intertwining vicious effects of escalating cost of housing and employment marginalization of citizens. 2. “FT/PR” policies must drastically reduce the quantum and growth of population attributable to foreign intake and allow moderate sustainable growth which; 1. will be consistent with the level of living standards of citizens 2. will not stifle livelihood and hopes of citizens, inducing stress and strain, fear of future cost 3. will allow a sustainable employment growth and alleviate many other concerns associated with it. 3. The “FT/PR” & Housing Policies must not put adverse pressure on services, amenities, housing and employment to the extent as felt now. 4. “FT/PR” & Housing Policy must consecrate within it the “Ten Commandments” of Citizen Privilege & Right. Simply said, the Policy must: 1. be discriminative to FT/PR to ensure maximum benefits of citizens 2. not be prohibitive to citizens, creating long-term housing debt, especially lesser privilege class, middle-class and singles. 3. be less disruptive to citizen livelihood and sense of hope and purpose 4. not be de-motivating to citizen drive to betterment in livelihood 5. not be depriving of citizen rights and privileges for affordable housing 6. not be constraining on citizen lives 7. not create inflationary-inducing, cost escalation inducing, speculative-inducing effect that are disruptive 8. not bias towards selective classes 9. not be politically motivated. 10. above-all be citizen-centric, Singaporean First 5. Resultant effect of reducing the intertwining impact of FT influx and housing cost must bring cost down to level for future sustainable trend, commensurate measured growth amenable to the citizen. 6. Polices must be in-place to limit PR purchase of Re-sales and cost escalation, increase the supply of HDB much more and quicker to bring housing cost at level not disadvantaging the middle, sandwiched, lower class. 7. HDB policy should de-peg new HDB price to Resales Value and provide cheaper land cost. 8. Immigration Policy must be in-place to limit FT/PR and have stricter criteria of selection for FT/PR. 9. Government must stop artificial inflation via monopoly of land and housing and refrain from exhortation of future price raises, giving way to speculation and false “wealth creation” for political motive or otherwise pandering to mass lemming instinct and greed. 10. Resale HDB must be for Singaporeans only and there must be distinctive and restrictive criteria for PR ownership of HDB housing which will not give way to runaway COV and escalating housing cost. 11. Cramping down on Resale asset valuation will bring about amenable and beneficial asset appreciation to all citizens in long-run: 1. For all-those who have seen “value” raise recently, they will be affected in the short to medium terms but they will still benefit in longer terms 2. For those are adversely affected by recent escalation, they have chance to buy without incurring huge debt 3. For those who upgraded to stay long-term they will still see appreciation in future. 4. On the average, more will benefit on the broader front and longer terms 12. Another beneficial effect is lower cost of business operation as rental cost goes down across-the-board, thus providing lower cost base for business operation as employers pay lesser to foreign staff for housing accommodation. 13. There will be “temporary” loss or reduction of National Reserve due to expenditure/sacrifice of reserve to bring cost down and capital reduction of asset value, but on the whole, with lower housing and other cost mitigation measures, the overall cost of business will go down as well as expectations of citizens. 14. Citizens will be prepared to take lower salaries since their basic housing and other needs are satisfied, amongst other concomitant savings as the result of cost reduction in other services, food and others. 15. The indirect result of having being able to satisfy much lower cost housing and employment needs in higher motivation to self-actualize for higher goals. 16. Re-engineering of productivity-based economy must come about with higher investment in citizen skills and upgrading, more and better sustainable industries. Once this is realized, more skill-based national productivity can be realized with manageable general trend of salary increase with higher living standard and manageable costs in longer term. 17. The initial period may see our National Reserve decline but it is worth-while effort as we pursue the course of re-engineering our economy to allow sustainable growth of selective industries, re-building a Nation utilizing our reserve productively such that every citizen has sense of hope and purpose in the Nation, not as a “sacrificial sheep” following the Lion, but a “beaver” in each individual, the clever, smart and hardworking maker of “dams”. 18. Together, we, “beavers”, will re-build the “dam of reserve” for future generation as our forefather did for the present generation. 19. The heavy-weight government machineries must be leaner and leaders show sacrifice, not speaking virtues with obscene pay. Only then can they hold hand in hand with the citizens to re-build a Nation. 20. There is no such thing as inevitability of rich-poor divide. “Divide” there is but surely there is way to close the” divide” by refining our policies. 21. With our excellent infrastructure, lower cost base for citizens with privilege and rights preserved, we can once again grow gradually to new heights with collective spirit of one Heart & Soul of Nation. 22. We need, now, to re-charge ourselves create impetus and drive from lower cost base start where cost of owning home and living is not prohibitive in citizen terms, not too prohibitive that it stranglehold their lives and dampen hopes and aspirations. 23. From here we aim forward to build better and affordable home for next generation, knowing each economic cycle of limits of growth and cost clearly over a projected frame, plan, anticipate and adjust accordingly without the disruptive burst of ill-conceived policies ramming down our throats, recently, in desperation. 24. We must the citizens from the “Animal farm” claustrophobia and start teaming in an “open farm” belong to citizens where we once again “till the land” for the current and next generation. 25. In short, we need a period of economic re-engineering, convalescence at slower growth as we re-define and refine our Nation, starting from a lower cost base favorable to the Citizens. PAP must have the moral courage to say “SORRY” to citizens for not anticipating the adverse impact due to the intertwining effects huge foreign influx and ill-conceived HDB planning. The present policies of accelerating population growth will not work, without knowing clearly the impact of such rapid growth on the cost of living, housing and employment, the limits of strain and stress our Nation can take in terms of infrastructure, relation, space, individual livelihood and etc. The consequence to the Nation in future will be disastrous. Even now many citizens are feeling the limits of stress and strain. Will our great Ministers sign off their wealth on paper to the Citizens, as guarantee of their superb leadership in return for Citizens to entrust their stake in Nationhood in their hands? If NOT DO NOT CREATE false hopes that housing of Resales will sustain continuously uptrend, thus raising value of asset artificially across the board. Validity, inherent risks, potential pitfalls and limits of their rationale must be communicated earnestly, impartially and clearly to the citizens or lives of many innocents will be jeopardized. DO NOT DICE with citizen debt as they are NOT GOD. Good Government governs with citizen interest, NOT lead them into eternal debt. Current “wealth” of Rich & Powerful is always at the expense of others and next generation. They know it. So why create such a humungous cost to next generation with present housing policy and rapid foreign influx, knowing the adverse ramifications, if left unchecked? It is imperative a solution must be put in place as quickly as possible. This is the challenge to the Multi-million dollar Ministers. Voice of Citizen  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent 2 days after MM Lee gave a speech exhorting Singaporeans to "bear" with the overcrowding caused by foreigners, he is in the news again. The Straits Times carried a report about MM Lee calling on Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of Johor at the Istana Besar to express his condolences at the death of the latter's father, the late Sultan Iskandar Ismail, last month. Such news are usually not reported in other countries. What's more MM Lee is not the Prime Minister of Singapore, but he is making the headlines more frequently than his son. By his own admission, he is not doing "much work" except "forecasting". Why then is the state media giving so much publicity to him? As of this week, MM Lee has appeared in the papers at least three times while PM Lee only once which begs the question on who is really the leader of Singapore. A former Prime Minister of Singapore, the elder Lee has remained in the cabinet since relinquishing his position in 1990. While the exact role of a "Minister Mentor" remains unclear as it is the only position of its kind in the world, many believe Lee continues to wield a lot of influence behind the scene. Over the last few weeks, he has been busy defending the ruling party's misguided policies ranging from immigration, public housing, foreign affairs to even tourism, completely overshadowing the ministers in charge. Though he will be 87 years of age this year, he still show no intention of retiring when all his comrades such as Goh Keng Swee and Toh Chin Chye had already done so many years back. Singaporeans should not be surprised to see MM Lee contesting in the next general election. After all, he once said that he would "rise from his grave" should he find that something is not right about Singapore.  Read More →

OPINION There is much speculation about the number of foreigners working at the recently opened Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino which does not seem to correlate with the reality on the ground. Only a few days ago, Singapore's octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew claimed that the two Integrated Resorts (IRs) help to create job opportunities for Singaporeans, but till today, the exact number of Singapore citizens being employed by them remain a mystery. According to an official statement from RWS, 70 per cent of the staff are Singapore citizens and PRs. However, based on anecdotal accounts from visitors to RWS, it appears that a majority of its staff are non-Singaporeans, especially the card dealers at the casino. As early as 2008, Filipino President Gloria Arroyo revealed that 5,000 jobs in RWS will be "reserved" for Filipinos. She even led a delegation to Singapore to hold talks with the senior management of RWS. The Straits Times reported a few weeks ago that RWS has been putting up job ads to recruit fresh graduates from Taiwan. A reader who worked in RWS told us that the lessons for the new staff had to be conducted in Mandarin due to the large number of non-English speaking workers from China. The "70 per cent" figure quoted by RWS is meaningless as it does not tell us the percentage of citizens on its payroll. Furthermore, it can be artifically inflated by getting earlier arrivals to take up Singapore PR since PRs are lumped together with citizens. For the purpose of clarification, RWS should reveal the following statistics without delay: 1. The number of Singapore citizens, PRs and foreigners on S-passes and work permits currently employed by RWS. 2. A breakdown of the various positions held by Singapore citizens, e.g. dealers, cleaners, service staff, managers. 3. The number of PRs who were employed by RWS initially as foreigners. 4. The length of time for their PRs to be approved. To give a hypothetical scenario: X company can employ 5,000 foreigners before it is officially opened. 2,000 of them are able to obtain their PRs within a year. It proceeds to employ another 2,000 Singapore citizens and 3,000 PRs and so of out the total staff of 10,000 people, 7,000 or 70 per cent are "Singaporeans and PRs", but in reality, only 20 per cent are Singapore citizens. As RWS is making money in Singapore, it has a social responsibility to reveal the truth to the public - the longer it drags on, the more it appears that it has something to hide. Why can't it simply tell us straight in the face the number of Singapore citizens on its payroll and pussyfoot here and there to obfuscate the matter with obscure figures? Are the IRs really benefiting ordinary Singaporeans or the ruling elite whose salaries depend on the GDP growth figures generated partly by the IRs?  Read More →