Dear Singaporeans,

Over the past year, we’ve become more politically aware and have become more vocal about political issues and what matter to us, as Singaporeans. This is a good thing, for we’ve learnt to see that all us have a stake in Singapore and that we should take an active role in shaping the Singapore that we want to see.

Over the past 6 months since I started my blog, there have been people who have at times, commented on my blog or on other new media websites and said that I’ve “sold myself” to PAP. At other times, they’ve said that I have been swayed by the ‘opposition’ parties. I do not have any political allegiance. To me, I want Singapore to be a better place. That’s all. You know, I’ve been called names since I was young. When I was in Secondary School, I had people called me, “Ah Gua”. It was hurtful. When people first started name-calling me, I didn’t understand why they would do so. To me, I was only a simple boy trying to be happy. Over the next few years, I’ve learnt to understand that as long as you stay true to yourself and continue to be who you are, people will learn to understand who you truly are, and gradually, they will accept you. And eventually, they did, and started talking to me. This is how I’ve chosen to live my life – to be true to myself and speak up for what I believe in.

I had first started this blog because once, PM Lee was comparing Singapore and the Nordic countries and he basically said that, Singapore cannot follow the economic pathway of the Nordic countries, as we are different. He brought out some statistics to illustrate how well Singapore is doing, but I felt that something was amiss and decided to research more. Then, I began to realize that even as the Nordic countries are rich, like Singapore are, their people are happier and enjoy a more equal living. So, I embarked on my journey, poring over the statistics, to have a deeper understanding of the actual situation that Singapore is in. Along the way, what I found shocked me to some extend, as I began to realize how the government has sometimes muddled the information, to prevent us from accessing the information, and having a clear idea of the state of Singapore - how they are earning so much more from our CPF but returning much less back to us or how there’s a growing number of low income earners in Singapore. To me, the fundamental question was – how can such a rich country like us treat the people at the ‘bottom’ in such a manner? Then, I began my crusade.

One day, a friend asked me – instead of going against the government, why don’t you write articles which are more balanced, so that you would be able to reach out to the PAP government and their supporters as well? And I thought to myself, that’s true. If I want change to happen, we should work with the government to get ourselves heard. And for a few months, I began writing on viewpoints which offer us a look into why the government had made certain decisions and how we could learn to understand the government better. And for the next few months, it did seemed that PAP was truly willing to engage us, what with the creation of Our National Conversation. At the same time, it seemed that the mainstream media had learnt to frame news in a way which was more favorable for Singaporeans. And I thought, perhaps there’s hope. There was also less unhappiness that people were voicing out online as well.

And then, the SMRT incident broke out, where the government clamped down on what they labelled as a ‘strike’ but what many of us understand as a legit attempt by workers who feel disadvantaged by their unequal pay, and which they have voiced out for months, but with no recourse. Yet, the very government which had slighted their concerns decided to turn on them as well. I was appalled. Over the next few weeks, the government showed itself to be uncaring, as it lost its ability to manage discourse against them. The Michael Palmer incident exposed the double standards that PAP has and the Aim and Aljunied Town Council episode dragged out even more bones out of PAP’s closet. And I became angry. And I became just like many Singaporeans, who feel frustrated at feeling slighted – by the very government which is supposed to take care of our needs.

But you see, at the same time, Singaporeans are very aware of the situation that Singapore is in – Singapore is a small country and we need to accumulate as much money as we can to ensure stability and influence. Unfortunately, Singapore is part of a capitalistic system that has been established over the past few centuries. Across the world, banks and corporations own the markets, and inadvertently the governments which have to pander to them – how else can the government ensure the country continue to maintain economic durability, unless it has the rich people on its side, which will then support them? For other countries though, the banks lord over the governments, and the government has to pretend to look out for the people. However, in Singapore, the bank is the government, which has made the job easier – the government just needs to pretend to the people.

To be fair, PAP hasn’t always been the antagonist that I’ve painted them to be. In the late 1970s, there was a time when the government had allowed our wages to rise by 20% every year for a few years, which uplifted the livelihoods of Singaporeans then. In the 1980s, the government reduced the CPF contributions of employees and increased the contributions of employers, giving Singaporeans more spare cash to use. Yet, in the 1990s, while the government reduced the contributions by employers, they allowed employees to contribute a significantly higher amount to their CPFs than the employers. And in 2000, all of a sudden, the profits of the Singapore companies owned by Temasek Holdings and the government started rising and kept rising, while the amount of money that Singaporeans withdrew from their CPF kept dropping.

You can see that from the 1990s, as the PAP government embarked on a course to create more wealth from Singapore, along the way, it got into their heads – such that since the mid-2000s, our real wages have started to decrease as inflation rose quickly, driven by housing and transportation, both of which the government could have controlled. A rising pool of low-wage workers emerged – now, tell me, for readers who are reading the blog – how many of you earn less than $1,000 every month? With the amount of branded goods and new products that we want to buy, to send our children to tuition, to employ a maid, how many of us can survive on less than $1,000?

Some commenters think that I’m unhappy with PAP and have thus tried to dig out statistics to malign them. The truth is this – I feel injustice when I see people being treated unfairly. The low-wage workers do not deserve to have their wages depressed. It’s simply not right. I had grown up in a 2-room rented flat. I was part of a group who was disadvantaged, but thankfully, I have always learnt to be happy, and strong. Fortunately, my parents had managed to buy a HDB flat in 2000, before housing prices went haywire from the mid-2000s onwards.

When I was in school, I had Malay and Indian friends, and sometimes, they sat alone. Then, I didn’t like that others were sitting alone, and I made friends with them and hanged out with them. Now, I begin to see how our policy of not allowing for discourse about racial and religious issues have not only covered up the discomfort that certain ‘races’ have towards one another, we are seeing more and more of people’s discriminatory beliefs rise to the surface.

To me, there are some basic things things that PAP needs to do. I’ve said many times before that if the government wants to make money, by all means, go ahead. Singaporeans are grateful that we have a money-minded government – how else do we now live in the world’s richest country? Singaporeans are grateful that with our currency, it’s very easy for some of us to travel the world. But at the same time, there are more and more unhappy people, who feel injustice done to them and who feel slighted by the government. We feel that we are not being heard and with no avenue for our frustrations to be expressed, we’ve learnt to suppress them.

And this is why I’ve become very upset with PAP. It’s not that the government doesn’t have a choice but to let prices rise and wages to decrease. The government has the ability to ensure fair and equal wages and fair treatment to the workers, but they have chosen not to – they are worried that this will eat into their profits. But whose profits? With a growing number of poor Singaporeans, the middle-class becoming a working class, and with Singaporeans not being able to voice out and not being able to take action to right what they feel has been wronged, it has become clear to me that all is not right in Singapore. And it has become clear to me that the government does not want to change its course, to start treating its people equally and fairly, and with respect.

You might say I am angry with PAP, because, yes, I am. PAP is the government. Right now, they are the only ones who can do what’s right, but they’ve refused to. The only other ways are if Singaporeans come together and reclaim what they’ve given up to PAP, and consolidate ourselves to demand for our rights to be returned. Otherwise, the able Singaporeans should join the other political parties and form the next government in 2016, so that then, Singaporeans have a realistic chance of working with the next government to pursue fairer treatment for Singaporeans.

The best case scenario, as I’ve said before, is if PAP realises that Singaporeans want to be heard, and they start addressing the inequalities that have been perpetuated onto Singaporeans. This also mean removing some laws and policies which impede on the rights of the people, and to put in place policies which will address the unhappiness that people have to undergo. PAP has been Singapore’s government for nearly 50 years, and that’s why many Singaporeans hope that they would be able to do the right thing, so that Singapore can continue to grow, while the people’s rights are returned to them.

But there’s also a growing pool of Singaporeans – in the last elections, it was 40%, and this could become 50% or more at the next elections – who have given up on PAP. They’ve seen for themselves what a life which can be economically stable and fair can be and they are sorely disappointed that the PAP has chosen not to act. And they’ve taken to the Internet and joined the other political parties, because they see these other parties as to where the future lies. I’m one of the people in this group. And the more I see it, the more I believe we have the ability to form the next government. We have 3 years to do it – we need more and more able people to join the political parties to form a credible government. At the same time, we have to continue to put up news and analysis, and we have to yearn to do it in a more balanced, fairer and respectable way. For the rest of us, this also means being more discerning in what we read and forming opinions not because we’ve absorbed what we’ve read and regurgitate them, but to also analyze what we’ve read and come to an informed decision about things because we’ve looked carefully at what’s been said and written.

What say you, Singaporeans? What would you do? In 2013, this is a perfect opportunity for us to have a fresh new look at things in Singapore and how we want to take the next step towards being involved in making the Singapore we want come to life.

Dear Singaporeans,

Have you been feeling that you don’t seem to be earning as much as you had been a few years ago? Have you been feeling that the value of your money seems to have lessened? Do you actually feel your finances are tighter and it’s harder to live on, even as it seems your salaries are increasing?

Do you sometimes get angry with the government but feel that you should perhaps not, because you do not want to wrong the government? Sometimes, you look around and Singapore looks like the perfect place to be – one of the best infrastructures around and the world’s highest GDP per capita! Why should we be discontented? We should learn to be happy?

Survey after survey shows that we are the world’s most unhappy people, so much so that we’ve become the people with the least ability to show emotions in the world. Why? We’ve learn to suppress our anger. We’ve learnt to suppress our unhappiness. We feel that there’s nothing we can do to change things because we cannot demonstrate, because we cannot speak up. And so, we’ve learnt to suppress our inner feelings, and our inner needs.

And we try not to blame the government – maybe it’s us. Maybe we need to learn to be happy. How can the government do any wrong, when it’s ranked one of the world’s least corrupt governments, you think?

But Singaporeans, you are right. But even if the government is corrupt, they’ve managed to effectively creat institutions to move their money around legally. So much so, that we’ve bought into it and we believe in their tales – the tales they’ve conjured to tell us why we need to privatized our public services so that we can become more efficient and competitive, and the tales they’ve conjured to tell us how without them, we won’t be where we are.

Well, look at us now, we are where we are because of them – manipulated, unhappy and unable to fight for ourselves – because of them.

Today, you will get all the facts you need to know about how they’ve done it to us. Today, know that you do not need to feel guilty anymore. No, you are not being angry with the government for nothing. They have been making use of us. It’s time you know how they are doing it, and it’s time we do something about it, together.

*****

One of the things that our government keep telling us is this – that they wouldn’t want to increase our personal income taxes because we wouldn’t be willing to pay. But is this the truth? The personal income tax is just one instruments they’ve kept stable. Do you know why they do it? The income tax is one of the most compared tools in the world, internationally. It garners a lot of attention, when it comes to global comparisons. So, this is one thing they do not want to touch, lest people notice what they are trying to do. So, they’ve created other localized instruments which only Singapore has, and they’ve kept changing how much we pay to these instruments. Without regular international comparisons to highlight these changes, the increases we’ve paid to these instruments go unnoticed, and we don’t realized that we’ve been had. Well, read on.

If you look at the growth in our real wages (Figure 1), you will see that in the last 4 years, our wages have grown substantially slower since 2001. Not only that, overall, our wages have actually dropped over the last 4 years! Well, but then, you might argue, but the economy has been doing badly, so perhaps that’s why our wages have stagnated. Well, look on at the other graphs below. Where the money is going back to the government, they’ve only increased over the past 4 years. If indeed the economy was bad, the government has not hesitated to keep taking ever more money from us. Also, Singapore grew by 14.5% in 2010, yet our real incomes actually dropped by 0.8% in the following year. Does this make sense?

Figure 1: Real Basic Wage Change
Source: Ministry of Manpower – Income

Also, according to the Global MetroMonitor 2011, Singapore registered the lowest income growth rate among 200 countries. In fact, we registered a negative growth, of -8.9%.

If you look at the number of Singaporeans who earn less than $1,000 in Singapore, this number has kept increasing since 2001. In fact, you can see from Figure 2, that between 2005 and 2007, there was actually a steep rise in the increase in the number of Singaporeans earning less than $1,000.

Figure 2: Number of CPF Members Earning Less Than $1,000
Source: CPF Board

But you might then say, but you would have to compare this increase with the total number of workers, shouldn’t you? I did – refer to Figure 3 – which made it even more shocking. Before 2005, there were less than 17% of Singaporean workers earning less than $1,000. Yet, after 2005, the number of Singaporeans earning less than $1,000 has increased and has never gone down to below 17% of the Singaporean workers. Firstly, why is there an increase when Singapore is getting richer? Why is it that Singapore is getting richer, but the number and proportion of poor has actually increased? Also, the increase in the number and proportion of workers earning less than $1,000 occurred from 2005, which is also the year that there was a corresponding increase in a jump in the number of foreigners coming into Singapore. Now, I’ve mentioned many times that this in itself – the increase in foreigners – isn’t the issue. The issue is that the government would have very well anticipated this, but has chosen not to put any policy in place to prevent the wages of Singaporeans from being depressed, but have actually allowed it to happen! Well, then, you might say that the wages of workers are affected by the demand and supply of the market, and it’s not something that the government can do, like the government has been saying. I’ll explain later on why this isn’t the case, and how it’s what the government is saying, to shift the responsibility away from them.

Figure 3: % of CPF Members Earning Less Than $1,000
Source: CPF Board

So, now that I’ve established that since 2008, our wages have on the overall decreased and since 2005, there are more and more people who earn less than $1,000 in Singapore, what else? If you look at our inflation figures since 2007 (Figure 4), they have been kept almost constant at above 2005, except for 2009. In fact, inflation grew at 6.6% in 2008 and 5.2% in 2011. So, you can see that, our real wages have decreased – even as it seems that our actual wages are increasing, we can actually afford to buy lesser things. But do you know that the reason why our real earnings have decreased and prices are increasing is because of the government?

Figure 4: Inflation Rate
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore

Actually, the highest increases in the prices of goods is due to two main factors – housing and transportation (Figure 5). More than 85% of Singaporeans live in HDB flats. The government has control over these prices. For transportation, the government of course has control as well. I will zoom in onto one thing – COE.

Figure 5: Consumer Price Index
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore

If you look at the COE premium (I’ve chosen to look at the Open Category), the COE premium has increased steeply since 2010 (Figure 6).

Figure 6: COE Premium
Source: Land Transport Authority

In fact, in 2010 (Figure 7), there was a more than 200% increase in the COE premium – a two-fold increase!

Figure 7: % Change in COE Premium
Source: Land Transport Authority

And if you look at the housing price index (Figure 8), there was a sharp increase in the prices of residential homes from 2007, and except for a slight dip in 2008, has continued unabated.

Figure 8: Housing Price Index
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore

The reason why inflation has been so high is due mainly to high housing and transportation costs – for both of these, the government is in control of the price increases. The government could have moderated the prices, but why didn’t they? I don’t have to bring out past articles but you would have read about the promises that the government had kept making over the past few years to slow down the increase in housing prices, none of which have actually materialized. In fact, just two days ago, we’ve read about how the am executive condominium, which is public subsidized housing, has been sold for $2 million – all this while our real wages have dropped and while there is a larger and larger pool of Singaporeans earning less than $1,000.

What this obviously shows is that our income inequality has increased as well. If you look at the Gini Coefficient, which measures the income inequality, the income inequality in Singapore has been increasing year after year (Figure 9). Yet, we continue to hear how Singapore is the richest country in the world – sure, for the rich. We are now home to the highest proportion of millionaires in the world. At the same time, we’ve become one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

Figure 9: Gini Coefficient
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore

But then, you say – well, look here, I’m sure the government is doing something to help Singaporeans right? I mean, our taxes haven’t increased. And the government is giving money back to us on an ad-hoc basis. For example, even if it wasn’t real money, the government had wanted to give our NS men vouchers which they can only use at Safra. Nevermind that Safra belongs to the government, so the government gets to keep the money among themselves, but they are trying to do something, right? Right?

Well, let me share more and you can decide what you want to think. As I had said, the government doesn’t want to increase taxes because it would be too obvious – you want to take money from the people in as discreetly a manner as you can. So, since 2004, the amount of money that we need to set aside for the Medisave Required Amount has been increasing constantly (Figure 10), even as even inflation has not increased by so much!

Figure 10: Medisave Required Amount
Source: CPF Board

If you look at the increase in the Medisave Required Amount, since 2008, the increased has average at over 20%. (Figure 11) Inflation would have averaged at less than 5%. What’s more, our wages have actually decreased over the same period! If indeed our wages would have dropped due to global economic fluctuations, why did the government continue to take money from us for the Medisave Required Amount, without reducing the amount or proportionate increase? The question you have to ask is – do they care? At the same time, the latest increase is $6,500! How many more years would the lower wage workers have to work before they are able to attain this minimum amount required before they can take their Medisave out? And if our real wages have actually decreased, why does the government still expect to fork our money to pay for Medisave, and not adjust to allow us to also manage for ourselves?

Figure 11: % Change in Medisave Required Amount
Source: CPF Board

Let me go on to talk about CPF. The CPF amounts to the other bulk of our money, which the government takes. For personal income taxes, the government taxes between 0% to 20% of our income, depending on our income range. For CPF, for workers below 35 years of age, we are expected to pay 20% of our incomes into CPF. If you look at Figure 12, the amount of CPF contributions that we are contributing on a yearly basis (green line) has been increasing. From 2006, the overall monies collected by CPF (red line) has also been increasing at a higher rate. Yet, how much is returned to us? The amount of withdrawals made by Singaporeans have actually decreased (look at the orange line).

Figure 12: CPF Balance, Contributions and Withdrawals
Source: CPF Board

If this is not obvious enough, look at the Figure 13. Here, you will see with complete clarity how even as we put in more and more into the CPF Board, we are getting lesser and lesser back. Why do you think the government has been coming out with all sorts of ways to keep our money inside, by telling us that we can only withdraw at a later age, and that they’ve come out with some great plan to release our money back to us in a more sustainable way? All this time, they’ve come out with reasons to tell us that they are creating new schemes so as to better our lives – what does the real statistics show? We are letting lesser back. Yet, how can this be? How can this be when there are more and more people growing old, and requiring their money from CPF. Well, how can this be? What does the government want the money for? For themselves?

Figure 13: CPF Contributions and Withdrawals
Source: CPF Board

As I’ve explained before, the government invests our CPF monies in the government bonds, which they say earn 1.55%. They say they will be nice and top up for our CPF returns, by giving us back 2.5% interest for our Ordinary Account, and 4% on our Special and Medisave Accounts. Do you know that the government doesn’t want to say explicitly but they’ve gone through a very convoluted way to explain that our CPF monies, which is invested in the government bonds, is actually then invested in Temasek Holdings and GIC? The annualized returns for Temasek Holdings and GIC is 17% and 6.8% respectively. Yet, the government bonds are only earning 1.55%? Shouldn’t the government bonds be earning a similar 17% or 6.8% interest? Then if that is the case, shouldn’t our CPF interest rate be at a similar range of 17% and 6.8% as well?

But, of course, the government has been saying how we should set aside money for the reserves so that we would have enough in the event that Singapore collapses. Sure, maybe that’s why they had needed to allow our wages to be depressed, and increase the prices of housing and transportation. And if we buy into what they say, we should bite the bullet and accept that our real wages are decreasing and that prices have to go up. You see, they’ve allowed our actual wages to increase, but they’ve also created a tight system of ensuring that the prices of housing and transportation increase at a faster rate, so that they can recoup the money they have given to us for our actual wage increase, and then more. Smart, eh?

If you look at the government revenue, it has been generally increasing (Figure 14). The government expenditure has also been increasing, but at a slower rate over the past few years. Also, there is always a surplus so that they money can be channelled back to the reserves. What I don’t understand is if the government has a surplus, why doesn’t the government try to direct some back, so that we can try to provide more for the poor and needy – this is considering that our surplus is increasing which is channeled into the reserves, and the reserves are also enriched from the high returns from Temasek and GIC?

Figure 14: Government Revenue and Expenditure
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore

Let’s not even talk about the poor and needy! Let’s talk about the common Singaporean. So, they’ve reduced our wages and they’ve increased the amount we need to pay into the Medisave Required Amount right? But do you know that as our health expenditure has been increasing over the past few years (decades in fact), we are made to foot even more of our own bill, while the government continues to decrease the proportion that they pay for the healthcare bills. If you look at Figure 15, healthcare expenditure has increased by a lot, especially in the last two decades preceding this, yet, the increase in spending is borne by Singaporeans. You can also see in Figure 16 that the proportion of government expenditure has been ever decreasing since the inception of modern Singapore. Is this right?

Figure 15: Trends in National Healthcare Expenditure
Source: Shifting the burden of health care finance: a case study of public–private partnership in Singapore. M.-K. Lim/Health Policy 69 (2004) 83–92

Figure 16: Healthcare Expenditure
Source: Shifting the burden of health care finance: a case study of public–private partnership in Singapore. M.-K. Lim/Health Policy 69 (2004) 83–92

And if you look at the World Health Statistics 2012 from the World Health Organisation, the general government expenditure on health as % of total expenditure on health has dropped from 51.4% in 2000 to 31.4% in 2009, and the Private expenditure on health as % of total expenditure on health has actually increased from 48.6% to 63.9%, which means we are paying more from our own pockets.

This, when our wages are decreasing and when the government keeps collecting from us for our Medisave Required Amount. And this, when the government also takes from us for other public services, such as transportation. This, when there are a larger pool of low-paid workers. This, when the government doesn’t return all the interests they’ve earned from our CPF – our money. Now, where is the government taking all this money to? Because they need that much money for? If not for us, then for who? For themselves? For our future generations?

If you look at our reserves, we would have anything from $600 billion to even $900 billion or more in our reserves. The government expenditure in 2011 is $35 billion. Which means with our reserves, we can go on for the next 10, 15 or 20 or even more years. So, meanwhile, while we take care of our future generations, the current crop of Singaporeans should suffer?

And I’m talking specifically about the Singaporeans now, whose wages have decreased and who are expected to pay higher and higher prices, which is in full control by the government.

As I’ve said above, our wages are determined by the government. Why do I say that? The government employs more than 100,000 Singaporeans in the civil service. Additionally, Temasek Holdings and GIC are both owned by the government and they in turn owns the majority of the richest Singapore companies in Singapore. If you look at the top 17 richest Singapore companies, 85% to 90% of them are owned by Temasek, and thus by the government. They employ thousands and thousands of Singaporeans.

The government gets to determined how much they are paid. Then, the question is, would the government want to do this – pay higher wages? This will eat into their profits.

Do you know that the profit margin of Temasek has grown by 17% since inception – largely more than 10% every year (Figure 17)?

Figure 17: Temasek Holdings’ Profit Margins
Source: Temasek Review 2012

Do you also know that the returns for GIC has also been growing and growing since 1985 (Figure 18)?

Figure 18: GIC Returns
Source: GIC Report 2011-2012

And if you look at the companies owned by Temasek and their performance, you will see how their revenue and profits have kept increasing. For convenience, I’ve illustrated the profits for Singtel (Figure 19), Capitaland (Figure 20) and our favourite, SMRT (Figure 21) here.

Figure 19: Singtel Revenue and Net Profits
Source: Singtel

Figure 20: Capitaland Revenue and Net Profits
Source: Capitaland

Figure 21: SMRT Revenue and Net Profits
Source: SMRT

What’s interesting is this – can you see that for Singtel and Capitaland, before 2001, Singtel’s profits have remained stagnant while for Capitaland, it was a few years of fluctuating growth which also dipped into the negative. This also coincided with when the amount of CPF monies withdrawn started dropping as well.

*****

Now, if you continue to dig out even more statistics, you will be able to piece together a complete picture of how the Singapore government is able to create an institutionalised and legalized system to channel our money to themselves. The current Aim and Aljunied GRC saga is one of them.

These are my questions:

Why has the government chosen to take the money away from the people and not return more to the people? The amount of CPF monies we are withdrawing has been decreasing. The proportion that the government is forking out for healthcare expenditure has been decreasing. At the same time, our real wages are decreasing and we are made to pay more for housing, transport, Medisave etc – all of which are within the government’s means to regulate. Yet, the government continues to allow the wages of Singaporeans to be depressed, such that there is a larger group of low-income earners, as compared to a decade ago and refuses to implement a minimum wage. All this while the country is now the richest in the world and has the highest concentration of millionaires in the world.

Why is this so? Is it because the government wants our Singapore companies to do well, so it looks like Singapore is doing well, and this will make Singapore attractive to investors? Is this so? Is that why the government has channelled money away from us and into the businesses, to remain attractive? How then is the money coming back to us? The profits from these Singapore companies actually go back to the shareholders. And even if they go back to Temasek and GIC, they aren’t returned back to us. They compute the interest rate of our CPF according to the bonds, which earn a misery interest rate, while they refuse to tell us what the actual interest rates are – 17% from Temasek and 6.8% from GIC. They continue to ask us to pay more for the Medisave Required Amount, even if they could increase the interest returned by just a bit to top up the amount. At the same time, they’ve created systems which prevents us from withdrawing from our CPF, such that the withdrawals have actually reduced, even if there are more and more older Singaporeans who would actually need to withdraw their money. This, when the heads of these Singapore companies earn millions of dollars while there continue to be more and more older Singaporeans working at our food centers as cleaners because while they continue to earn a low income and do not see their incomes grow, and while they are not able to take their money out from CPF, this is all they have – to continue working themselves out just to make ends meet and to pay for ever increasing healthcare costs, which they have to pay from their own pockets, because the government refuses to pay more.

Which is why I cannot convince myself that the government is doing this for Singaporeans. If they are, why are they allowing Singapore to be more and more unequal? Why are they allowing Singaporeans to be cheapened? Why do they let some Singaporeans suffer while those aligned to them continue to reap benefits in these Singapore companies? Do you know that when the multi-national companies come to Singapore, they continue to adopt the rights-based policies that their headquarters adopt as well? This means that they will pay their workers fair wages and treat their workers right. Do you know that even though women who are foreigners give birth in Singapore are not given maternity leave as mandated by the Singapore law, some of the foreign companies would still give the mothers maternity leave, and some by 6 or 8 months or more, much longer than what is given to Singaporean mothers! These companies don’t have to do this in Singapore, where they do not have to treat their workers right. But they continue to do so, because its basic human dignity and principle to do so.

Yet, our government does not have the basic decency to treat even their own Singaporeans right. Do you know why there are low taxes? Do you know why the CPF contribution rates for employers were decreased and is still taking such a long time to return to the rate of 20% (Figure 22)? This isn’t done because we need to remain attractive to foreign investors. This is done to ensure that our Singapore companies owned by the government can continue to profit. The multi-national companies which come will dispense more to their workers than what is required – they are willing to reduce their profits because they know what will make their workers happy and what will make their workers committed. They are willing to do what is right.

Figure 22: Employer and Employee CPF Contributions
Source: CPF Board
Source: CPF Trends and Highlights

The Singapore government doesn’t care. And that’s why we are so unhappy and that’s why we remain uncommitted to their work. Which begs the question – don’t they think about the long term future of Singapore? You want to ensure that your workers are happy and committed, and thinking individuals, so that they have a stake in this country, and they will want to work with you to ensure the success of Singapore. But this is not what the government wants. They want to make money – more and more money for themselves. This is what I’ve come to realize.

If you look at the charts above, you can tell that over the past decade, there were at least two points where the government has moved to profit over the people. One is around the year 2000 where suddenly, the Singapore companies were able to increase their profits by leaps and bounds, and where we were made to withdraw less from our CPF. The second was in the mid-2000s, where wages were beginning to depress, where there was an increase of low wage workers, and where prices of goods and services started increasing. This didn’t all happen by chance, or by some global interference. The government planned for this to happen. The government made this happen to increase their coffers. I couldn’t look at the statistics beyond 2000, so I couldn’t have a better sense of their strategy.

Over the past one year, anyone can see that they haven’t let up. In fact, they’ve been more aggressive and defiant in their attitudes towards Singaporeans. These past few weeks have only become even more dramatic – the clamping down of peaceful demonstrations labelled strikes, even suggesting to increase our bus fares and the Aim and Aljunied GRC saga. This is only the start of more things that will unravel. The government is out of control. They’ve gotten too much power and money into their heads that they’ve forgotten even basic courtesy and have started talking down to us with even less fear. At the same time, their collusion with money have obviously taken their sense of planning away from them, and we’ve been able to see more and more of the truths behind what they are really doing.

It is no wonder that people from different sectors are starting to open up on their criticism on the government. They know that if PAP fails, they need to form an alliance with the other political parties. Will PAP fail, you ask? I don’t know. But what I do know is that at this point, they are trying to earn as much as they can, so that in the event that they do lose control, they have enough to scot off with. The evidence is in the statistics. Unless PAP comes out and tell us their reason behind making so much money, and at the same time, repressing and decreasing the wages of Singaporeans, yet reducing what they need to pay for us – for basic essentials – and expect us to pay more, I cannot find a suitable reason as to why PAP is making all this money while neglecting the rights of Singaporeans

Singaporeans, it is not by chance or by your own inner discontent that you are unhappy and that you repress your emotions. You do so because you feel powerless to act. You do so because you feel that the government is walking all over you, and you feel that you can do nothing about it. You feel that since you cannot speak up or demonstrate peacefully, you choose to resign to what you think is your fate.

This is not true. What we should do now is to start joining the other political parties, to make ourselves heard, and to contribute to them. If you think you are someone who can lead and someone who can plan and strategize for Singapore, stand up and join the other parties, so that as a whole, we can form a credible team to run Singapore. The reason why the other parties haven’t been able to form a strong team yet isn’t because of the lack of capable people in Singapore. Rather, it’s because the capable people hasn’t come out yet. But now is the time. We are going into the new era and we have a very good chance of making things right.

The French Revolution began because the people were unhappy with their monarchy, which had all the power and only the rich benefitted. This was why the poor and working class rose up against them. The people in the Nordic countries were poor in the 17th century and because of that, they started to advocate for change, and for equality. This is why the Nordic countries are such egalitarian people, who have equality enshrined in their governing principles.

In Singapore, at this current point of time, because of the depression of our wages and the increase in the cost of living, there is a new group of working class Singaporeans who have developed, who feel disfranchised with the system. At the same time, there is a group of middle income Singaporeans who feel for the plight of these people. At some point, when you have reached a standard of living, you learn to empathize and feel for the people who are still trying to get there. There’s a group of people who are very unhappy that we are not able to have the basic rights as a decent human being, and who are beginning to realize that they need to get their rights back.

The time is now. Singaporeans, we need to act and we need to move. We need to show them and let them know that we are people who have rights, who want to be treated with respect and equality, and who are people who deserve to have the ability to think, feel and be happy. Our rights to be is not dependent on how much money they want to make, or the power they want to hold. We need to stand up for our rights and let them know it’s time – it’s time for them to listen, and listen carefully. For this is the time of the people.

Happy New Year and Happy 2013, Singaporeans. It is a new year and a new beginning. What would you do? Would you stand up and protect your rights, and the rights of your children and family?

After all this hoobalah over Aim and Aljunied GRC, we are no wiser as to what actually transpired behind what really went on.

Contrast this to PAP’s handling of the Michael Palmer incident and this Aim episode stands in huge contrast with how quick and efficient PAP had swiftly dealt with the whole Palmer incident and swept it right underneath the carpet.

Yet, with the Aim episode, why has PAP not been as swift in their actions? – because as much as PAP pride themselves as being able to anticipate and foresee future events, they haven’t actually anticipated the current Aim episode to occur.

You see, the Worker’s Party is a gentleman party, if you haven’t noticed by now. The Worker’s Party wants to be clean and they would rather have a ‘fight’ over facts than over dirty politics (or so this is how I have chosen to analyse – please feel free to rebut). And this is why PAP could have been willing to be underhanded in their dealings with the Worker’s Party. Who is going to rat on them anyway?

Right until now, we are still none the wiser as to why the town councils couldn’t continue to engage NCS, why NCS is so seemingly incapable that the town councils have to disengage their services, even if NCS has international contracts as well, why Aim was created at such a low startup cost, why there isn’t anyone actually hired to work at Aim, yet they are able to efficiently manage a system for all the town councils in Singapore. For all of these questions, only PAP is able to answer. Yet, in spite of the numerous questions being asked by concerned Singaporeans, they are not willing to give us answers at all.

Because truth is, we already have the answer. And they do not know how to answer, without revealing their dirty tactics. What’s new, right, since Singaporeans have always known how dirty PAP has played the politics, what with the shifting of the electoral boundaries. So, they stopped shifting the boundaries for the past two elections and have decidedly become gentlemen, we think, but no – underneath all that false pretence, they continue to manipulate behind the scenes. What’s ironic is how they were the ones who had created the current mess that they are in now, by again putting the Worker’s Party in bad light for the rating of the town councils.

And why is this episode made even more sensitive at this point? At this point, Singaporeans are now a lot more outspoken. We are now a lot more aware, with the amount of facts we are finally receiving and we are a lot more discerning about what we read, think and believe. The PAP could of course conveniently hide away from this, like they would have in the past, and Singaporeans could then go on in their daily lives. But they can’t – not with the current awareness that Singaporeans are developing. Of course, they could clamp down on us. If they do, what would this signal to the international investors that have sunk their money into an open and non-corrupt system, especially hard-pressed to be found in this part of Asia? And this where PAP has caught themselves – pants down.

So, here is what the issue really is about – PAP does not want to reveal why they had created Aim, and sold the town council’s software system to Aim. They cannot because whatever they say would mean admitting that we they have played real dirty, and at the same time, profited from it. They’ve killed two birds with one stone, in that sense – something they have perfected.

But then, you might ask, dirty politics occur with all political parties, so why make a fuss over this? – because with other political parties, their aim is to prevent the other party to become the government. People still have a right to choose. In Singapore, PAP is preventing any other party from entering the government. We won’t have a right to choose because it would seem that PAP should be the de facto party that we should choose from – which also means, we exist in a seemingly democratic system, where are rights are also a semblance of the imagination. This, we know, but this episode should make this a lot clearer to us.

What are the implications? At this juncture, PAP’s reputation has taken a hard hit. Singaporeans do not trust them, because over the past one year, any careful observer would see how they’ve not really addressed any of the issues we’ve raised. Sure, they’ve increased the costs to hire foreigners but do you know why that’s done? They had to quickly resolve our apparent anger with foreigners – this appears to be our unhappiness on the surface. But what truly is the problem is this – our unhappiness towards the foreigners is only due to bad government policy which has resulted in our wages being depressed. If PAP had not quickly nib the increase of the foreigners in the butt, we would soon realise what the root problem is and they would then be forced to increase our wages. And that’s why they had acted fast.

So, we’ve seen on many instances how PAP is able to act fast. But with the Aim episode, they seem incredibly handicapped in their responses. Again, if they reveal the truth, Singaporeans would be sorely disappointed with a party who claims to be white but is actually so muddily black. Coupled with the unhappiness we face, will we still vote for PAP in the next elections?

And if they reveal further truth, we will see how they’ve created a system to make money off the taxpayer’s money, even as they keep advocating that they wouldn’t increase our taxes to increase social spending – but they would increase their own coffers. Is this right?

On all levels, they’ve been underhanded and dirty. There’s no way they can get out of this but to hope that this whole episode will fade, and to also put out news in the papers to talk about how else they want to improve the lives of Singaporeans – have you read in the papers on Friday about how the government is thinking of increasing the proportion of governmental expenditure on healthcare, after reducing it by 15% from 2000 to 2009, where we now possibly have the lowest proportion of government spending on healthcare?

I want to find a reason to think that PAP has their reasons to do what they are doing and for every manipulation that they make and take advantage of Singaporeans, that there must be a decent reason why they do so. I cannot find one, and I’m beginning to think it’s because there isn’t one.

We are mules, we are sheep. Welcome to the truth, Singaporeans.

For now, PAP has to come clean. They wouldn’t. This would mean admitting to fraud, which would mean Singaporeans would then demand that PAP also reveal all the other forms of fraud that they’ve I institutionalised into the system – they would fall. They’ve put out many scapegoats over the past one year, who have each been party to corruption or a sex scandal linked to corruption of some form, so that by letting Singaporeans think that they are going hard on corruption, that it will take the attention away from how they are the biggest of them all.

And you know what, we won’t let them. Watch WP. They are playing a very smart game. Meanwhile, all of us responsible citizens who have been tired with not being able to obtain answers, have learnt to ask the right questions, and will not let the furore die down as well.

We know that if we keep up with this, this is the time for us to have the truth revealed. Everything will unravel from here. Behind Teo Ho Pin’s smile is a very, very worried man and a party who is desperate to not go into demise.

If there’s anything to sum it up for Singapore at this point, it’s this – there’s a lot at stake for Singapore and no one dares to make a move.

PAP doesn’t dare move because there are afraid of losing all they’ve built. They are afraid of losing their power. They are afraid that any move they make could also affect Singapore’s stability and our attractiveness to investors, and affect Singapore’s future.

The Worker’s Party (WP) is afraid to move. They’ve slowed down in envisioning themselves as a viable government because of the weight of their shoulders. You only have one election to make it right – it’s a make or break. If you don’t get it right, Singaporeans will vote PAP back in the next elections. For Singaporeans, they’ve learnt to feel comfortable in economic security and any upsetting of that, without complementary social or psychological balance, will make them go back into their comfort zone. So, the Worker’s Party will only form a government when they know they have enough people to take the lead for not only one, but two or more elections. This is why they would prefer to seemingly support PAP’s position for now, and argue for changes within, so as to maintain the stability of Singapore and continue to advocate for social changes. At the same time, the Worker’s Party is well aware that PAP is undoing themselves. They are hoping to silently build up their base and then wait for the right moment to strike.

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) thinks similarly to WP, in that they believe in supporting the existing structures, and yet advocating for social changes from within the government – to maintain stability. Yet, for now, there is a new team onboard and they need to build themselves up and establish themselves first before they can redefine themselves and take on a greater role. Meanwhile, at their renewed infancy, Singaporeans will tend to find them irrelevant, only because Singaporeans are yet not sure where NSP stand for, in representing Singaporeans.

For the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), they feel that they are ready to want to challenge the government. They have strategies and policies written out on their website. But SDP is too angry. There’s too much negative energy within, which the party is learning to purge slowly, with new members and new energy. And slowly, they are beginning to earn the trust of more and more Singaporeans. This is also because SDP represents the frustrations that Singaporeans have. They also have the right vigour within them to want for change in Singapore. But they need to be tempered, with patience. And it’s beginning to be seen within that they have the ability to do that.

I won’t talk about Reform Party and SDA because I am unclear of their direction as of now.

This is perhaps the lowest point for PAP in their entire political legacy, and it might possibly go down further. PAP has no soul nor mission. They’ve been bought over by money and capitalism that they’ve lost sight of what it means to govern. They’ve learnt to do very well as a capitalist corporation but that’s about it. And they sincerely believe they are now running a company. This is what has caused PAP to become irrelevant to the people. We no longer believe in them, because they’ve no longer believe in us – as the people. At this point, PAP will only continue to fall because even as they continue to purport what was said by the party’s founders, they no longer understand what it means or believe in it. What is meritocracy? What is ensuring we look our for the lower and middle income groups? To them, they know the words. But they do not know the meaning behind the principles of these words. They’ve lost their soul. They’ve lost their ability to be in touch with Singaporeans.

So, at this point the other parties – let’s not call them ‘opposition’ as this is a constructed term to sideline them, and render them as seemingly irrelevant – so at this point, the other parties have an advantage because they actually understand what Singaporeans want.

SDP understands precisely the frustrations that Singaporeans have towards feeling slighted by the government.

WP understands how the lower income groups and the Chinese-speaking Singaporeans feel about being neglected by the Singaporeans. The people in NSP are policy makers and planners. They understand strategically, and on the whole, what needs to done to improve Singapore socially, and at the same time, to maintain a balance.

So, you can see that the other parties have a much more refined and acute understanding of the needs and wants of Singaporeans and what can be done for Singaporeans, as a country and as a people. Yet, there currently lies a problem – they don’t seem to be talking to each other.

The other parties each have a unique advantage, that when we leverage on one another, can make this consolidated group a force to be reckoned with. Yet, all of them know that at this point, if they build up their base and influence, they can possibly have a chance at forming the next government by themselves as well – at the rate PAP is going. This is also why the parties are all playing their cards very close to their chests. Should they work with another party and take on the government together? Should they work by themselves and form the next government? There are still another 3 to 4 years before the next elections are held and they are not ready to make a commitment, whether to go it solo, or to go as a group. Many things can change in the next 3 to 4 years, especially in the current political climate. More and more Singaporeans might join the political parties in droves and each party might actually stand a very credible chance of forming the next government.

Is there a need for them to unite then? At this point, we don’t need an answer. But they would most probably need to think about it and if they decide to come together, it should be within the next one year, so that it gives them another two years to build up their image and rally Singaporeans together. However, if any one party is able to attract enough capable people to form a government, that might happen as well.

But if they do decide to form a party together, what are the advantages? As said, each of them have their natural advantages. WP has the experience and stability to run a government having more than 6 representatives in government now. They would nonetheless, be also training their members, using Aljunied and Hougang as a training ground. NSP has the experience in running the civil service and they have the strategic thinking abilities required to manage Singapore on a macro level. SDP is an interesting mix-bag, as it has people who are also planners and strategic thinkers, but their temperament is far heightened, as compared to the other parties. But this also mean that they would be able to bring in the energy required for the parties to have the grit and determination within them to take PAP together.

For now, there’s also a dormant not knowing among the parties of whether they are able to actually make it happen. But if anything, they are beginning to have a sense of hope. If anything, Singaporeans have started giving up on PAP to be able to represent them and to be able to make changes for them. The frustrations online are boiling over and it would only be a matter of time before people would take things in their own hands, and some of them would then join the other political parties.

One thing though needs to happen – we need a leader who has the charisma and attraction to be able to rally everyone together and present the hope that people can put their belief in. When Singapore first gained our independence, Lee Kuan Yew might have presented this. Whether or not we agree with his antics and how he has developed in recent years, he had presented that ‘hope’ and the older generation continue to buy into and thank him for the stable and prosperous Singapore that we are able to grow in today.

So yes, at this point, we do need another person who is able to infuse that hope and belief in Singaporeans, to let us have the courage and spirit to believe in where the other parties can take us into the future. Now, the different parties have to find a way, if they decide to come together, to create a branding around themselves, an image of strength and unity and dynamism that Singaporeans can see and believe in, to take them forward in Singapore’s next era.

To be sure, governance as we know it will change. No longer will any party have dominant hold over government and the people. Rights will have to be given back to the people and it will be a new era of shared power, between the government and the people, and where decisions will no longer be made unilaterally by the government but more and more so, by concensus. This is a challenge that the new government has to maneuver within, but also presents a new era of possibilities that Singapore and Singaporeans can go towards.

Of course, the best case scenario is where PAP decides to change its course, to start soul searching within themselves and to realise within themselves how they’ve lost Singaporeans and how they need to regain our trust, not just by words, but by actually changing, taking down and putting up policies which actually reflect the true aspirations of Singapore. They are currently showing resistance towards doing that. Whether they are able to take a bold shift towards doing what needs to be done is all up to them. They have the next one year to do it, which otherwise will give the other parties a very good stead to form the next government in 2016. Of course, if they make the right moves, even if incremental, they might be able to postpone their demise for another election, whilst making use of Singaporeans for another 5 years thereafter. So, it all depends on whether Singaporeans will buy into what PAP will offer in the next 1 to 3 years and how fast the other parties move to remodel themselves and become more influential.

It also depends on how aware Singaporeans will choose to be and how they are willing to go outside their comfort zone, and see the possibilities that the other parties can, to offer a better future for Singapore.

My dear Singaporeans,

Do you know the real reason why our government does not want to increase our personal income tax? Read on and make your own judgment.

Before that, the new year is coming up, so I would like to wish you happy new year! All the best for the coming year!

So, let’s proceed.

*****

Right now, our personal income tax is anywhere between 0% to 20%, depending on your income range. The reason that the government has kept giving us for not wanting to increase our income tax is because – they say – we won’t be willing to pay. Such a magnanimous government, you think?

Let me put it into perspective for you – if they increase our personal income tax, this would eat into their own profits. The real reason isn’t because they care for us. It’s because they need to maintain their high profits.

How does it work? You see, fundamentally, for a company to earn more and more, what they do is to keep the wages of their workers low, and to keep increasing the cost of the goods and services they produce. In Singapore, the prices of goods and services have been increasing constantly. You don’t need to be a scientist to tell you that, I’m sure. You can see it. You can feel it. Our inflation has increased by around 4% to 5% for the past few years.

Thus already, companies are already earning more from us, just by increasing the prices of goods and services that we are made to purchase. Also, it doesn’t take a scientist to also tell that our real wages haven’t been increasing. If you look at our real wages after CPF contributions, it has actually not grown, but in fact, decreased on average, by 1.2%, since 2008. So, what has happened is that our real wages have decreased and the prices of goods and services have increased over the past few years. Which means – our purchasing power have been severely eroded, yet we keep buying things, with the imagination that the economy is doing well, or was, and that we should spend more, when what this means is – we are increasing the profits of the companies, but reducing our own savings.

The government has come out with a very good plan, haven’t they? Our GDP growth was very high in 2010 (14.5%) and in 2011 (4.9%), yet our real wages dropped and prices increased. And we continued to spend. Something wrong here?

Then, you might ask, what does this have to do with taxes?

Simple. You have to understand this basic idea – speak to another foreigner who comes from a country where their taxes are higher than Singapore and they will tell you, that when they negotiate for their salaries, what they do is negotiate for a salary that will be higher, so that it will account for the higher taxes. What this means for us Singaporeans is this – if our taxes increase, we will then start to ask for higher wages, to account for the higher taxes.

And where will this have to come from? The companies will have to pay higher overall salaries. Now, here comes the interesting bit. Why did I say by increasing our taxes, it will reduce their profits? Here goes – if you just look at the top 17 Singapore companies, most of them (about 85% to 90% at least) are owned by the government, through Temasek Holdings and possibly, GIC. Temasek has majority shares in many of them.

What will happen then if they increase taxes? Our overall wages will increase and they fear this – they fear that their profits will decrease, which it will. Well, then you might say. But they are our Singapore companies! We should let them make money! I mean, since Temasek and GIC owns them, the money will come back to us right? Somehow, right? And since Temasek and GIC belongs to the government, they will channel the money back to us right?

Ok, let me give you more background. Together, these largest and richest Singapore companies earns hundreds of billions in revenue and billions in profits. Billions, mind you. Not only that, the heads of these organizations each earn millions of dollars in income. And where does the money accumulated by Temasek go to? The shareholders, of course!

Not convinced. Let me remind you yet again of how your money – the CPF – is being used by the government. The government says that our CPF monies is actually invested in government bonds. They will give us, for our CPF Special, Medisave and Retirement Account (SMRA), either the interest that the bonds earn, add another 1%, or 4%, whichever is higher right? So, currently, the bonds earn 1.55%. So our CPF SMRA still earns 4%. Now, even though our CPF monies is invested in the government bonds, for the CPF Ordinary Account, the government will give us an interest pegged to the bank’s interest rates, which is a lot lower – 0.21%. Now, wait a minute, if our CPF monies is invested in the government bonds, why are they giving us a much lower interest rate from the banks instead, and not the higher interest rates from the bonds?

Oh, but wait, this gets even more interesting. Do you know that the government then borrows from the government bonds (which the CPF monies is invested in) and invests the bonds in GIC and Temasek Holdings, which are both owned by the government? Now, GIC and Temasek earns returns of 6.8% and 17% since inception. But yet – yet! – of the 6.8% and 17% interests, how much of this interest gets channeled back to the government bonds? – 1.55%. Doesn’t make sense right? If you earn all that interest, the government bonds only earn 1.55%? Do they think Singaporeans are stupid. Well, they do. Because no matter how many times I’ve written about this, not many people are able to figure this out yet. Not only that, the government hasn’t rebutted the countless times I wrote about this, and that others have as well. And they are still continuing to do it – not return more of the interest to us! And we allow them.

So, there – if YOUR CPF money is being invested eventually and earning such high interest rates, shouldn’t it come back to you somehow? Then, you might ask, but we don’t need all the interest to come back. Some of it should go into the reserves! I mean, the government says we need a strong reserves because what if something happens to Singapore, then we will need to rely on the reserves! Well, absolutely, I agree with you!

Currently, based on government-released figures, our reserves should amount to somewhere around $600 billion (The Monetary Authority of Singapore manages around $200 billion, Temasek around $300 billion and GIC at least $100 billion). The thing is, the government doesn’t release how much GIC has but they say GIC has assets well over US$100 billion, which means our reserves would be significantly more than S$600 billion. It could be $700 billion, or $800 billion, or even $900 billion. Anyhow, for 2012, the government budget is around $50 billion. What this means is that our reserves should be able to last us for another at least 10, 15 or even 20 years or more! Great! Our future generations are saved! Yet, all this money sitting inside and have you ever seen any of it, especially when we need it?

Let me put things into further perspective for you. As I’ve shared, our inflation rate has been rising at around 4% to 5% every year in the past few years, our real incomes have dropped over the past few years. Not only that, when it comes to footing for our medical bills, the proportion that the government spent has dropped from 51.4% to 36.1% from 2000 to 2009! This is a 15.3% drop!

So, in simpler terms, the profits of the Singapore companies have kept increasing, at the expense of what we earn and what we have to keep paying. The government owns the investment companies which are major shareholders of these companies, where the profits are given back to the shareholders and to the government, and a very minimal amount is returned to us for our CPF. And yet, the government further reduces how much they pay for our basic necessities, such as healthcare, and expecting us to pay more out of our pockets, with our dwindling incomes. Are you following so far?

So, at this point, tell me, do you think it’s all well that the government keeps the money in the reserves, or gives the money back to the shareholders, and not back to Singaporeans? – when our real wages are dropping, prices of goods and services that we pay for, including essential services are increasing, and yet, they reduce by so much what they should also assist to pay for our essential services. Now, can you tell me that it’s all fair that they keep the money in the reserves and not give even 1% or 2% more to increase the interest earned for our CPF? What I’m saying is this – by all means, earn from us. Earn because you need to increase our reserves and protect our future. And earn because you are a government operating in a capitalistic environment. All governments which are capitalistic want to profit from the people. So, by all means, do that. We can sacrifice. But when we keep sacrificing, and so little come back – what do you take us for? You keep taking and taking and then you give a small token back. Do we look like beggars to you, or do we look quite dumb? Well, obviously we do!

Let me give you even more background, if at this point, you are still of two minds. You know the schemes that the government has created which we can use to pay for our medical and healthcare bills right? – Medishield and Medisave. Do you know that this year, we have to pay more for both of Medishield and Medisave? For Medishield, we are required to pay a higher premium, for lesser coverage for each dollar paid. For Medisave, we have to increase the Medisave Required Amount by about 20% to $38,500. In fact, our Medisave Required Amount has been increasing by around 20% every year for the past few years – or cumulatively by 114% since 2008. Thing is, inflation has increased by around 4% to 5%. So, why does our Medisave Required Amount have to increase by 4 to 5 times the inflation rate? If healthcare costs increase by 4% to 5%, why are we made to pay more for our Medisave – 4 to 5 times more – than any expected increase? Add to that, our real wages have not grown, so WHERE ARE WE GOING TO GET THIS INCREASE IN MONEY TO PAY FOR THE INCREASE FOR MEDISHIELD AND MEDISAVE? Why are we paying 114% more to the Medisave Required Amount when our real wages have fallen? So far, you get the drift, yeah?

Then the ultimate question is this – why are we made to pay more for Medishield and Medisave, at many more times the inflation rate (much more than necessary), when our real wages are not increasing?? And at the same time, why are the profits of the Singapore companies increasing and increasing and the interest earned doesn’t get channeled back to CPF? Why can’t the government channel just 1% or 2% of the interest earned back, to cover for any increase for Medishield and Medisave, so that we don’t actually have to pay from our own pockets, when it means eating into our (decreasing) real wages further? Why? This is a simple, basic and very obvious question.

Do you see what they are doing? To me, it’s plain obvious that at this point, they are trying to earn as much off Singaporeans as they can. You see, the government is the largest employer of Singaporeans. At the are time, the companies that Temasek owns (and by extension, the Singapore government) owns, also employs a bulk of Singaporeans. Who determines the wages of Singaporean workers? The government says they leave it up to market demand and supply forces to determine how the wages grow, or not. Who determines the market demand and supply forces? I don’t think it take a genius to tell you the government determines our salaries. Now, if the government determines our salaries, why are they letting our real wages decrease???

Do you see what they are trying to do? They reduce our real wages, increase prices, increase their own profits, channel it back to themselves, reduce what they need to pay for our essential services such as healthcare, and make us pay more into CPF, Medishield and Medisave – FOR WHAT? If its not already obvious to you, I don’t know what is. Some commenters have already noted how they are very much taken aback by how PAP can be so unscrupulous to let Aljunied GRC languish without their own IT system, simply because PAP doesn’t want the Worker’s Party to succeed. And because they don’t want Worker’s Party to succeed, they are willing to let go of the needs of the thousands of Singaporeans living in Aljunied, all because they want to keep themselves in power? This is not new – they’ve been doing this to Hougang and Potong Pasir long before this. It’s basic decency to treat your people well, whether you are playing politics or not. So, people are starting to question – does PAP actually care for Singaporeans or do they only care for themselves? At this point, it’s very, very obvious to me. Not only that, do all they care about is our money?

In order countries, the banks and the rich control the government and the government bends backwards to them, while trying to balance the needs of the people at the same time. In Singapore, the government is the bank, the government is the rich. And the government doesn’t need to bend backwards to Singaporeans because they’ve effectively silenced Singaporeans. Not happy. Well, take whatever cake you have and stuff it down your throat. And we will go on steamrolling you over. Eat your cake and keep quiet, you ungrateful brat. Sounds like Cinderella, doesn’t it?

So, let me come back to the taxes again. So, why doesn’t the government want to increase our taxes? It’s not because we are not willing to pay. In fact, we might be more than willing to pay. If you look at the government revenue and government budget over the past few years, the government spends about as much as it collects in revenue. This means that whatever taxes we pay gets returned to us – in the form of government spending for healthcare, education etc. So, if we pay more taxes, it will just keep coming back to us. Not only that, because when we negotiate for our salaries, we will account for the tax increases, our purchasing power can still be maintained. There will be some adjustments in the short term but in the longer term, it will balance out.

Also, if taxes are increased, the government will spend more to subsidise for healthcare, for eduction etc. this means we pay less out of pocket. If you look at the other countries with higher taxes, this also means that healthcare or education can be at much lower costs or can be free.

Before I go, a friend pointed this out – I had previously written an article about how, if we include the proportion of our salary that is cut for taxes and CPF, the actual ‘tax’ we are paying is between 20% to 40%. This is actually comparable to some of the countries with high taxes. We are already contributing a high proportion of our salaries to the government – why isn’t it coming back to us in terms of higher social spending, or actually in terms of higher returns into our Medishield or Medifund, instead of having us to pay out of pocket?

The question of why some countries with higher taxes might be seen as not being sustainable is mainly because of this – they are not able to spend efficiently, or simply put, wisely. So, the question isn’t about how much taxes are collected, but how we spend the taxes collected. Right now, we are made to pay the same amount of taxes, but healthcare expenditure by the government has actually decreased. This doesn’t make sense, right? We are still paying the same percentage for our taxes. Also, with more people working, the overall income tax revenue should be increasing, shouldn’t it? Then why is healthcare expenditure by the government reduced? (Aside, we should pressure the government to give us an answer).

For me, it is clear that if our taxes increase, the government should then ensure at least a fixed percentage of (high) subsidy that they provide for essential basic services for the people, or even provide them for free. Currently, the government creates too many systems that Singaporeans have to maneuver just to claim their healthcare expenses, for example – through Medishield, Medisave and Medifund. (The creation of cumbersome and complicated systems is itself a method to prevent people from accessing the services, and thus reducing their claims, which in turns, maintains the monies inside the coffers.) It only then makes sense that the government gives a clearcut percentage of what they will foot the bill for, and let Singaporeans have a peace of mind when they pay from their own pockets, by knowing that it will be a much smaller amount, and also, by not creating complicated systems which we have to maneuver around, doesn’t it? This is very clear and direct, isn’t it? So, why does the government doesn’t want to do it?

If the government increase taxes, they have to increase our overall incomes. This will eat into the profits of their companies. They have absolutely no interest in doing that. They would rather let us think that we aren’t willing to increase our taxes because (they want us to think that) our incomes will drop, so that with this illusion in our heads, they can continue to profit from us inadvertently. Let me add to this – you know the Nordic countries have one of the world’s highest taxes, right? Yet, at the same time, they also have one of the world’s highest per capita GDP and personal incomes. Does having high taxes mean that our incomes will drop? I don’t think I need to explain further. Why does the government come out with the rhetoric that they cannot increase our taxes because our incomes will drop?

Why then, do you ask, is the government so fervent in their need to increase their coffers? Simple. The government knows its time is running out. Rather, PAP knows that its time of keeping people dumbed down is fading away and their mechanisms for blatant control is weakening. They want to make as much money as they can off us while they can, so that when indeed they have to compromise on their power or if they lose power, they would have siphoned off as much money as they can, by then, for themselves. And hopefully, because it might take us a few years to figure out the systems that they’ve created, we might not even figure out how they’ve done it. So, you can expect that for the next two to three years before the next election, the government will continue with this strategy – reduce wages, increase prices and increase our contributions to CPF, Medishield and Medisave. And in their minds, they feel that they’ve created an undefeatable system where we are not able to expose them, or to take them down, and they can continue in their unremorseful and defiant ways of manipulating us.

The question then is this – what will you do now that you know all these? Will you continue to sit and mop and say – I can’t do anything anyway. My government is in control of everything anyway. I don’t have power anyway. Are you going to say all these? Are you going to keep giving up on your rights?

Do you know why I started this blog? I had initially started this blog because I wanted to paint a fairer picture of what the government puts out. I want to show Singaporeans the other side of the picture. Then, as I started learning more and finding out more information, I began to understand why the government does certain things. So, I tried to paint a more balanced picture as to why the government does certain things, to let Singaporeans understand that perhaps, just perhaps, the government has its reasons. But as I, yet again, learnt more and looked at our government’s appalling treatment to its workers and people, by denying our rights and depressing our wages, then I realized that something is very, very wrong. The government keeps talking about its principles of governance – we should believe in meritocracy, we should have compassion towards one another. And yet, when they jailed workers who have been airing their grievances for months without recourse, and when they deny our voices, I began to realise how Our National Conversation is a just a sham to pretend that they are listening and they have no real want to listen or to figure out what they should do for us. They have it all figured – they will make as much money off us as they can, while they can. And time is running out for them.

For the longest time, PAP has also kept saying that the other countries will invade Singapore if PAP is no longer in government? Do you really think they actually will? Malaysia and Indonesia are major trading partners of Singapore. They have a lot of investments in Singapore. They rely on Singapore to thrive at this moment, so that they can thrive with Singapore. Do you think they would want to attack Singapore? Would you, in your right mind, launch an attack your bank, when all your money is inside and you are letting the bank earn interest for the money you’ve put inside? We live in a capitalistic world, whether it be good or bad – countries’ fate are too intertwined for them to want to do anything to cause another to fail, not when they are next to each other and rely on one another. And, let’s say, if one day, Singapore does indeed languish. Do you think Malaysia or Indonesia will want to attack Singapore? They wouldn’t be bothered to do so by then. Singapore has nothing worth fighting for. No resources, no land. Why would they waste they money fighting us to achieve nothing?

If the military isn’t created to protect us from external forces, what else is the military built for then? I’ll leave it up to your own conclusions. I only hope that if one day the government decides to use the military against its own people, that our men will have the smarts and honour not to turn the guns on our fellow Singaporeans.

New Year’s Day is coming in a few days. What’s your New Year’s Resolution going to be? For me, I’ve already started on a journey of speaking up, doing what’s right and sharing what I know. But I cannot do it alone. The many Singaporeans who are also doing it cannot do it just by ourselves. it’s time you do more than just reading and commenting on blogs and on social media platforms. Singaporeans, we need to come together, we need to be united. We need to be strong and come out with a plan together. Otherwise, we will continue to be run over and over again, not knowing what hit us, yet again, and again.

For 2013 onwards, what will you do? How will you speak out? How will you be involved? How will you take a stand? And how will you make what you know and believe in, known, so that together, we have a voice – one voice – and we will demand what is ours back to us. We have a right to be treated with respect. We have a right to speak out and demand for what is ours. We have a right to live in dignity.

What say you, Singaporeans? Will you rise and will you be heard and let our voices be known? The time is now. Our eyes are opened. YOUR EYES are opened. What will you do? Let’s do it.

My name is Roy Ngerng. I am the author of this blog.

I want Singapore to be a better place for ALL, and not just for a few. This is why I am writing this blog. 

The current saga focused on the relationship between Aim (Action Information Management) and PAP.

However, we need to look deeper to see how the relationship is intertwined further.

According to The Straits Times (Tuesday, December 25, 2012):

1) The computerised management system of PAP’s town councils (TCs) “was developed by National Computer Services (NCS).

2) The PAP TCs apparently decided not to extend NCS’s contract and called an open tender.

3) Aim was apparently the only company which bidded, and won. “Five companies took the tender document” but we have no evidence or proof of who they are.

4) “After getting the deal, Aim engaged NCS to maintain and further develop the system.”

Here are the key questions:

1) Why did the PAP TCs initially felt that NCS wasn’t good enough and thus decided not to engage their services?

2) Why did Aim engage NCS? If the PAP TCs had decided not to extend NCS’s contract, then it would mean NCS isn’t capable enough? Why didn’t the PAP TCs oppose Aim for engaging NCS?

3) NCS is a company by itself. Is it so incapable that it had to be managed by another company – Aim? Or were the PAP TCs so incapable that they couldn’t manage NCS by themselves and had to bring in Aim to manage NCS?

4) What are the key reasons the PAP TCs decided not to engage NCS?

5) What are the key reasons for awarding the job to Aim and why did the PAP TCs not recall the tender (an obvious question, of course)?

6) Why did Aim decide to engage NCS again if the PAP TCs had decided not to engage their services?

7) Did Aim not have the required expertise to do the job and they thus had to engage NCS? If so, why did the PAP TCs award the job to a company which has no relevant expertise?

8) What is Aim’s role then? To manage a system for the PAP TCs? But this wasn’t what the PAP TCs had called a tender for initially. They had called a tender to either “leverage on the existing system or develop a new one.” Aim had to engage NCS to do it. They did not have the relevant skills apparently. So why did the PAP TCs not simply extend the contract with NCS to do it?

9) The PAP TCs wanted to give the job to Aim even though they did not have the relevant expertise and skill sets. And they closed a blind eye to Aim engaging NCS even though the PAP TCs had not wanted to extend the contract to NCS. Why was Aim given a job which they did not have the capability to manage?

It is quite obvious that on all levels, that the PAP TCs, NCS and Aim were all incapable and have inadequate skills for their jobs:

1) The PAP TCs are not capable of good decision making and awarded a job to a sole bidder, without checking on their relevant expertise and skill sets.

2) When Aim engaged NCS, the PAP TCs did not disapprove of this arrangement even though they did not want to extend NCS’s contract. The PAP TCs are incapable of enforcing their decisions.

3) NCS is a company on their own. The PAP TCs engaged Aim to manage NCS. Does this mean NCS is an incapable company? NCS had many contracts internationally. But yet, they are incapable and had to be managed by Aim.

4) The PAP TCs could not manage NCS on their own. They had to engage Aim to manage NCS. Does this mean the PAP TCs do not have adequate management skills?

But this is the real story:

1) In 1981, “the Singapore Government … established the National Computer Board (NCB), now the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). National Computer Systems Pte Ltd (NCS) was born then as the IT arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of NCB.“

2) “NCS was restructured in 1996 to a commercial entity … (and) fully privatised the following year (to) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SingTel Group.“

3) “As at 20 April 2012, Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited remained the largest SingTel shareholder with 54 per cent of shares.“

4) “Temasek … Is wholly owned by the government.”

5) Aim’s three directors are “former PAP MPs”. You can read more at The Real Singapore.

In this whole story, all the companies involved either belong to the Singapore Government or are government-linked. NCS is created by the government and then privatized and owned by Singtel, which was also created by the government and then privatized but now owned by Temasek, which is own by the government. Aim is a company owned by 3 ex-PAP MPs, who worked for the government.

PAP has been in power in the government since 1965 for 47 years.

Merry Christmas, Singapore!

If you weren’t at Orchard Road today, you’ve missed it! It must be one of my most favourite Singapore’s greatest moments.

The thousands of people who were in Orchard Road today were in complete disarray – not in a bad way – they were spraying foam and what not at one another and were screaming, shouting and letting loose.

Today, Singaporeans partied the Christmas eve away and together at Orchard Road, we cheered as the clock counted down to Christmas and more people continued spraying foam at one another.

It didn’t matter whether you know each other, whether you are young or old, Chinese, Malay or Indian. It didn’t matter whether you are a local or foreigner or whether you are staying here or a visitor. It didn’t matter today. Today everyone enjoyed themselves and partied like they never did before.

And you know what – this is it. No matter who we are, we all want to have fun in Singapore. We want to belong to our country and we want to be part of it, and to be able to express ourselves and share the joy with one another.

No matter who we are or what we do in society, it doesn’t matter. We are all part of this country, committed to working for our country, and committed to making things work. We all do our part, in our different but very important ways to make Singapore the place that we want to be proud of. We want to enjoy ourselves as we make things happen in Singapore.

And we can.

My government, today, I thank you. I thank you for giving us this mess, for letting things be so disorderly and be comfortable with it, or at least let it be. Sometimes, Singaporeans need to let loose and sometimes we need to have fun. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we want for Singapore, so that at the end of it all, we can continue to build a Singaporean together?

As the police or security officers stood by today, their role wasn’t to police the people. Instead, they were showing directions to people as to where to go and to ensure the safety of the people. Today, I give them my respect.

You know, Singaporeans, we might think that security guards and cleaners do not play a significant role in Singapore. But they do. Today, the security officers stood by to ensure that we can party and enjoy ourselves as we count down to Christmas. And now, after all the fun has settled and we’ve strewn our rubbish all over, the cleaners will work the night through to clean Orchard Road up so that tomorrow, it will be business as usual, Singapore will become once again the clean and green city we pride ourselves on. Tonight, they do all these while we go back to our homes and sleep or go to Clarke Quay to dance the night away. Today, while Singapore celebrates Christmas, our security officers and cleaners are hard at work making Singapore look good.

Singaporeans, our security officers and cleaner s and people who hold blue collar jobs – all of them play very important and integral roles in making Singapore the place we know today. Because of them, we have a semblance of peace, we are able to live in this cleanliness. Today, because of them, Singapore can be a shining beacon of example to the world – a clean and safe city. We must know and acknowledge this. And we must treat them fair, and treat them with respect.

As two girls came up to the security officer to enquire how to get to the other side of the road, she smiled and directed them politely.

When the cleaners started cleaning up, I started to also pick up the cans and bottled and threw them into the rubbish bag one cleaner was holding. He thanked me but he looked like he wanted to do the cleaning by himself. He took pride in his job and he is paid to do the job. He is paid for his job and he wanted to be responsible.

A group of Indians who looked like foreigners, just walked by and started shouting cheers. Around them, the Singaporeans started cheering and shouting along as well – after all, we are all people in this together. We are all in Singapore, who have a stake in Singapore, one way or another. Singaporeans, when we realise this, we will learn to show respect and concern to our fellow people who live here, and not just here, but from all over the world. Sometimes, when we think that life gets hectic, we get angry and we start finding fault with others and we start blaming others. Sometimes, it’s very easy for us to be upset with the foreigners. They didn’t come to take our jobs. They came to help us with our economy. But we need to treat them fair. And perhaps, we feel that there’s injustice that we feel we face, and so we’ve learnt to heap injustice on them as well. But when we are able to look beyond our own emotions, we can look beyond and appreciate the contributions that they can and have given to Singapore. And we know that if we work together with them, we can create more possibilities for Singapore. And we will know where to focus our energies on – on the solutions for Singapore and for making Singapore a better place.

The cleaners are now cleaning Orchard Road, as the whole street is littered with cans, bottles, caps and other pieces of litter. I only wish that we could have taken the responsibility and know that if we want to have fun and party, we also need to know that we need to share in the cleaning up and keeping the place tidy.

But anyhow, this is the first year that I’ve seen Orchard Road burst into such life and energy and perhaps, everyone got lost in the energy of it all that they did not think about keeping the streets clean. But there’s always next year. And when we learn to reclaim our voices back and when we learn to have fun, loosen up and find ourselves, we will learn that within all these, we know that we want to play our part to make where we live a better place, and we will do what we can to do it.

And truly, this is possibly one of the first few times that Singaporeans are able to let out and have a go at things. For the first time in my recent memory, Orchard Road became a mess, and what a mess that people enjoyed. It reminded me of Thailand – the life, the vibrancy, the energy of it all. Today, once again, our government showed courage and belief in knowing that a bit of fun is good for Singaporeans and they let us let it out. And today, I thank our government.

Of course, some might say, the government has done so because if we learn to enjoy and let it out, we will forget our anger at them. But this is another matter. If we are unhappy, like today, we can let it out, and find ways to make things click for us. We can find ways to have fun, and create new solutions and possibilities.

For some today, it’s one of the first times they let to let out. And for some, they decidedly let it all out. When a people feel repressed, when they do let out, they do not hold themselves back. Sometimes, the worry is that we might hurt others in the process. But this is a journey that we go through. If you learn to let people come out and express themselves, it’s a journey that they have to go through to learn to take upon this new opportunity to express themselves and as they do so, learn to manage it better. And as a people, we will learn to do better and better. This is a start and the government can do more. They can continue to allow us to have spaces to express ourselves So that we can learn how to express ourselves in ways that do not hurt others and in ways that can get the message across and yet, continue to enjoy the process and enliven Singapore. And my government, we can, and you have to trust that we can. If not, guide us along like you’ve always have.

Today, at Orchard Road, I smiled to myself. It’s a mess. It’s chaotic. But you know what, we had fun. We enjoyed ourselves. We let it out and tomorrow will be a better day – not least because it’s Christmas and a day of joy and celebration for us and our family and friends.

So, Singaporeans, today, we have our joy. Today, we’ve expressed ourselves. Let’s keep this momentum going. Let’s reignite our spirits and our hope and let’s continue to work together, come together and make ourselves heard. Let’s continue to express ourselves and know that we have it within us to make Singapore a place that we can be proud of, because we belong here and we will make Singapore one that we belong to proudly and confidently.

Merry Christmas once again, Singapore!

Dear Singaporeans,

It’s time you know the truth about the our government. Here goes. Our government is complacent, self-centered and self-serving. Bold statements? Read on to make up your own minds.

For almost 50 years, Singapore has been having only one party in government. The question you need to ask is this – is this healthy? PAP have tried convincing us that it is in our interests to ensure that there is only one government so that it will create stability, and will then attract investments. They’ve tried to convince us that if PAP is no longer in power, Singapore will crumble and fall under the opposition’s leadership. For the past many years, we’ve believed in it. The fear that they’ve ingrained in us have caused us to buy into their ideas and we continue to vote fervently for PAP because we indeed fear that what they say would happen. But would it? Have they explained to us clearly how their logic works?

For the first part, I will look into the fear-tactics that PAP have used and address the rationality of them.

Busting the Singapore Myths

Myth #1: If PAP is no longer in power, Singapore will crumble because the opposition is not experienced enough to do the job. FACT: The elected government makes up less than 100 people in Singapore. This 100 people are not the people who do the actual job. The actual job is performed by the thousands of people in civil service who will continue to do their jobs, regardless of who is in government. These thousands of people will continue to drive strategies and will continue to function effectively – unless you are telling me that they are not already effective and they need to be spoon-fed by the government, which is why we need a group of 100 elected government leaders to lead strategies? I think we know better than that. Singapore will still go on, regardless of who is in power.

Myth #2: If we do not keep a strong military, other countries will invade Singapore. Singapore will lose investments and we will all perish – this is another fear that the government has created in us. FACT: The countries in the region have their investments in Singapore as well. They depend on Singapore, just as much as we depend on them to survive. Do you think they will want to attack Singapore? And in the event that they do, what is there in Singapore that they want to attack? The region will lose its stability and investments won’t come in anyway. The countries in this region won’t do anything drastic to upset the balance – not when we are all tied into the capitalistic market and we need each other to survive. You are only attacked when you do not pander to the capitalistic market, then this is when other countries will want to attack you, because you do not allow them access to your markets and your resources, of which, Singapore has none to speak of, so then, what is there to attack? The countries won’t bother wasting their resources attacking us when there are better things to do. In any case, the military that is built up is meant more to ward off any rebellions from Singaporeans, rather than from external forces.

Myth #3: We need a large amount of reserves, so that we can save up enough such that in the event of uncertainties, we have a large pool of reserves to rely on. FACT: Currently, Singapore has hundreds of billions of national reserves – possibly $600 or $700 billion, or maybe more than $800 billion. Each year we spend about $50 billion for the national budget. Our reserves can thus last us for the next 10, maybe even 15 or 20 years. But we would never know because the government does not want to let us know how much we have for ourselves. But they tell us that we cannot increase our spending, especially on social spending, because if we do not have enough in the reserves, that’s it for us. And this is the reason why they continue to pay millions of dollars to the heads of the major Singapore-owned companies, which the government had privatized from the public services, which then become the portfolio companies of the GIC and Temasek, which are government-owned. Do you see where the money is going? To the management and shareholders who benefit. So, indeed if we do need to keep a large pool of reserves for national security, why are we paying millions to the heads of these companies? And why are they earning billions and billions in revenue and profits? Really, our reserves are that important that we can afford to let private companies earn that much, at the expense of goods and services which are essentially public services which the government had privatized. For whose benefit? This is what you need to ask.

Myth #4: If Singapore increase taxes or if we impose a minimum wage, companies won’t invest in Singapore because we will become too expensive for them. FACT: The companies that Singapore wants to attract are multinational companies (MNCs) and big global businesses. These businesses have accustomed themselves to ethical ways of working, such as providing for minimum wage and paying higher taxes in other countries. To them, this is a norm. Sure, lower taxes might be more attractive, but ask any company and they would tell you, taxes and wages are only one portion of their consideration of whether to locate their companies here. Who are the low taxes and the unwillingness to impose a minimum wage really meant to benefit? Other than the MNCs, the other major businesses in Singapore are the Singapore-owned companies which the government has a stake in. And together, they account for hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. If taxes are increased and a minimum wage is imposed, other than the MNCs, who else do you think will be affected? No prizes for the right answer. And if MNCs are able to adjust to it because they’ve been able to do so in other countries, then who truly benefits from not having higher taxes and a minimum wage? Who are they really trying to protect? Again, no prizes for guessing. And if you own the majority of the businesses in Singapore, would it be in your interest to ensure that you continue to profit? Well, yes, of course. Now, if you can see beyond their rhetoric, you will see for yourself how their reluctance to increase taxes and implement a minimum wage is not because we won’t pay. It’s because they do not want to eat into their own profits. Aside, and in relation to this, do you know why there is no concerted effort to groom SMEs in Singapore? SMEs take away the profits that the big government-linked businesses can make. If you are in power and you’ve managed to create a system where the major money churning companies are all owned by you, you will make sure that if any other companies benefit, they should also be under you. The growth of these SMEs which do not belong to them take away their profits. They have no incentive or want to let SMEs grow. They have no incentive to groom these SMEs.

The Lack of Competition Breeds Political Complacency

See, Singaporeans, half a century of rule by one party had breed complacency and disinterest in the livelihoods of the people. It wouldn’t be as bad if there is intra-party competition which allows the party to continue to regenerate and grow. But there isn’t. There is a party line that PAP politicians have to toe. So, the PAP has grown accustomed to making decisions, based on what they think is best – they say it’s for the betterment of us. You think? Why do you think there are no large-scale independent surveys to gauge public sentiment? Why do you think the PAP gets to set the discourse? Everything is controlled by them, even what we should believe. What compounds the issue is this – PAP has run the country primarily on a capitalistic stance. This in itself, isn’t necessarily bad, as we belong to a capitalistic global economy and unfortunately, we have to play by the rules of the global market. But more than 40 years of operating a country on capitalistic tones and you necessarily compromise on the social growth of the people.

In other countries, you have at least two parties – one which usually takes on a more capitalistic stance and the other, a more socialist stance. Both parties get a chance to form the government now and then, which allows the people’s social well-being to at least be looked into and taken care of once in a while. In Singapore, we only have PAP. PAP doesn’t believe in catering to the social and welfare needs of the people and thus our social and welfare needs are sidelined and in fact, become irrelevant. This is the state of Singapore as it is now – a country where the people are the most unhappy in the world and feel the least engaged because they’ve been robbed of their autonomy to be, while we are expected to work and toil for the capitalistic government.

The problem is this – there is only one party in government. There isn’t competition for them. You need competition so that whoever is in power is kept on their toes and who will not be complacent in their decision making. Of course, then you might ask, is it good to have a multi-party system? Won’t it create more tensions, like in America? Well, then it depends on how honest and sincere the government leaders are. Look at the Nordic countries then. They’ve handled themselves admirably even if they work on a multi-party system. Also, competition need not come just in the form of another party. A friend suggested that it can be in the form of civil society groups or even Singaporeans. Well, true but see, the voices of civil society groups have been robbed as well, and Singaporeans aren’t allowed to demonstrate and make our voices heard. When we go online to speak up, the government can choose not to report about what is said online, choose to sideline it or choose to twist the information said to purpose it for their own use. Thus the voices of Singaporeans are robbed as well. In effect, there’s no effective counterbalance and competition to keep the government in check.

What’s more – they’ve created a system whereby they own the big businesses in Singapore. They’ve privatized the public services and have made them into companies which generate hundreds of billions in revenue and have become some of the richest companies in Singapore. There is interest for them to continue helping these businesses earn more money. And when that is their goal, whose rights will then have to be compromised? The rest of the Singaporeans.

And the thing is this – we allow them! We allow them to take our rights away! We buy into what they say. In the past, this is due to a well-oiled PR machine where they were able to say what they say, and because we did not have the Internet to check things up so effectively, we blindly believed them. And then, even when we disagree, we do not have an effective platform to speak out nor are we allowed to demonstrate, so everyone is led to believe that whatever PAP says is the truth. But things are different now. We have the Internet. And we are more aware of how we can find out information. With this, we’ve been able to analyse on a broader level and dissect what they say more effectively. We are learning that we don’t have to believe what they say, and in fact, they don’t make a lot of sense as well!

Then, finally, the question is this – why do they create or falsify so much information? What are they trying to prevent us from knowing or disrupting? Why do they want to dumb us down? Why do they not want us to know their secrets? If you ask me, they’ve created a system where they’ve formed a group of people who are then party to this system where they will create and keep wealth for this selected group of people. Whatever decisions they make is thus aimed at securing the wealth and security of these individuals. Ultimately, is it because we need our a solid reserves because of national security? Do we need a strong military because of national security? I’ve realized that national security is just an affront. What is it that they are truly concerned about? Well, it’s pretty clear by now what I’m trying to say, isn’t it? And if you’ve been following my line of reasoning and my past few articles, you can see for yourself that the logic is quite clear.

What are the alternatives then? PAP need to have the humanity and conscience to look within themselves to remember who and what they should be really working for. Otherwise, our government might have corrupted themselves by pandering to a capitalistic system, which they realise can also pander to their own needs, and thus they’ve entrapped themselves in the system. So, if PAP is not willing to reflect and introspect to think about what truly needs to be done for Singaporeans, then a change of government and political party is in order. We would need to put new people in place who will have the conscience to do what is right for Singaporeans – people who are able to look out for our needs and where we will then have the power to hold them to their responsibility to do what is right for us.

I’ve tried to paint a picture of how we are being told stories of fear so that we would allow our rights to be robbed and so that we would not dare choose any alternative than PAP because we’ve been told a story by them that makes them look good and are the only ones that can be our saviour. Of course, they paint the story – they can make even the smelliest poop smell like a rose. And we’ve allowed ourselves to believe in it because when we lived in a rural pig sty, that’s all we saw – poop. And then we were moved into the city and then we starting seeing what roses really are like. And we started thinking to ourselves – wait, all this while, they told us poop was rose? And we are starting to open our eyes.

So, Singaporeans – the question is now at your feet. What would you do? Will you continue to be blinded because you actually allow the fears they propagate to play out? Or would you do something about your own rights, your children’s rights and the future of yourself and your family, to do what is right for Singapore? It is time we look beyond our own self interests and start looking our for our neighbour and our friends, and realise that we need to do our part to help one another along. We need to see beyond the rhetoric that the government puts out to realise that we need to create our own destiny. Singaporeans, the time is now. We have to do our part. We have to act. We have to take our destiny in our own hands and create change. Because we own it to ourselves to be happy, and to create a future that will make us happy, and not allow ourselves to be trapped in fear and dogma, created by a small group of people who no longer have our interests at hearts, but have only their own pockets at heart.

What say you, Singaporeans?

Singaporeans, do you want to know the real reason why we are ranked as the people with the least emotions and least positive emotions?

Here’s why.

The fact is this – all countries manipulate and make use of their people. In a world where governments operate in a capitalistic system, governments themselves have become capitalistic. So, no government would be completely honest to their people. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to make money in the economy, because they wouldn’t be connected into the system. The other countries in the system which have been corrupted by a monetary system that keeps financing itself through the manipulation of others to gain more requires that you play into their game. A government which needs to make money, either for itself or for its people, will start becoming corrupt because they need to survive within a cutthroat world economic system. You are either in or out.

Let’s be clear about another thing. Democracy as it is practiced in the modern world is meant to create an illusion that the people think they have power. The people don’t. Period. Banks do. People who own the banks do. Governments which own the banks do. Governments which are the banks do – like Singapore is. This is now more and more well-known. The reason why Singaporeans feel so powerless is because the government is the bank and which is the economy and which is the law – our government has deeply integrated itself within the key economic and political institutions of Singapore and are thus able to enact control on us holistically. The government lets people go to elections. It feels that each of us have a voice when we each cast a vote. We don’t. Whatever decisions the governments make later on, even as they are ‘democratically elected’ to represent our views, becomes a game of politics. The people are the pawns. We are told we work in democratic environments where we have rights and power. We don’t. We are pawns and they continue to have the power.

So, with this backdrop, let’s come back to understanding the Singapore situation. To be fair, all governments manipulate their people, not just the Singapore government. But what makes another country different? The difference lies in this – in other countries, the people get to publicly demonstrate. The demonstration in itself isn’t what is different. Rather, it is the ability of the people, or the perception of their ability to be able to get themselves heard, and to think that they are able to enact changes because they are able to make themselves heard. So, here is the crux – all governments make use of their people, but if they are able to allow their people to be heard, or pretend to let their people feel that they are heard, then the people will be more appeased. When people feel that they are heard, that the people’s grievances are addressed, they feel that they are in more autonomy, that they have more power of their lives – this makes them express more positive emotions and make them happier.

So, the key reason why Singaporeans show the least positive emotions and are not happy is because of this – we feel that we are oppressed and we feel that we are not heard. We feel that we have no control over our lives and whatever decisions the government makes run us over. Then you ask, Singapore is such a rich country, the government makes its people rich – what else do the people want? They get to have everything they want! But you see, if you’ve bought into the concept of money, you are a capitalist which have allowed yourself to be bought over by money. Money is not a basic need of human beings. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Concepts such as being respected, being valued, being loved – these are what people want. When Singaporeans were still relatively poor, to us, we needed to satisfy our basic needs for food and water. Thus money was important in this larger scheme of things – we need money to survive. But to be clear – money in itself didn’t bring joy. The fulfillment of the stomach brought joy. And because whether we could fill our empty stomachs were determined by how much money we have, we’ve learnt to attach value to money – but the true value lies in whether we had food and water, and not in whether we have money. Yet, because we’ve learnt to perceive value superficially in money, the Singapore government has learnt to buy our desires over with money.

But up to a certain point, when our basic need for hunger is met, then we realise that we have more than we need. This is when the capitalistic world system has created a consumerism culture where we’ve learnt to spend our ‘extra’ money on goods and services that they continue to churn out. Now, we think that these goods and services become essential to us and become one of our basic needs – a mobile phone, the Internet etc. But what is really happening is this – as human beings, we want to have identity and we want to belong. In a country where we do not feel that we belong and where we do not have a sense of identity, we’ve learnt to create it through the purchase of goods and services which we think will define who we are. So, we learn to attach value to goods and services, even though what we really value is a sense of identity and belonging. What is happening here is that we’ve learnt to attach value to the obvious and physical – money and goods and services, rather than understand the innate and underlying values that actually drive our desires.

A few years ago, Singaporeans began to realise this – so what if I attach value to money? So what if I attach value to goods and services? Why do I still feel empty inside? Why do I still feel unhappy? This is because the goods and services that we’ve bought might give us a false sense of identity. But take all of that away and what are we left with? We don’t think that we have an identity and we don’t feel that we belong. We become hollow.

And this is one of three powerful strategies that the Singapore government to contain the minds of people, and actually all capitalistic governments have created – keep churning out goods and services to tie you into a cycle of buying goods to create a sense of identity, albeit a false one. But at some point, people start realising – but I’m still not happy – because I don’t feel a sense of identity. This is where Singapore is at now.

This goes back to our initial point. How can people feel that they have an identity? How can people feel that there is meaning in who they are and what they do? Well, find meaning in what we do! This means doing what we love and are passionate about. This means championing for causes we are passionate about. This means speaking up about issues we are concerned about. This means finding solutions to issues that crop out and being able to resolve them. This means having the autonomy to create solutions. This is what is missing in Singapore. There are people who are able to live their lives in Singapore, doing what they are happy with, but this is a select group of people. For most others, we’ve bought into a system where we are told to study maths and science and become engineers and bankers. All fine and well, but what are we passionate about? What do we want to act on? To have money and lots of it, you say? We’ve established that money is a means to an end but it is not the end itself – money is not what gives people joy. Money is a means to get to joy and when we latch on money in itself, we won’t get to joy if we do not understand this.

So, the next powerful strategy that the Singapore government has created is to create a system whereby our minds are focused on churning out money, and we are told that with money, we will become who we are. And we’ve bought into the plot. We believe in their rhetoric. This is the state where those who are allied to PAP and those who continue to support them fervently are at. They are still able to be bought over by money and thus their allegiance is still sold. But just wait until they have a mind to question the purpose of money and how they’ve allowed themselves to be sold to the plot.

This is where the third powerful strategy that the government has created to keep people happy – or so they think they’ve managed to. If people are no longer happy with money, and if people are no longer happy to just keep buying things to define who they are, you know that they’ve started to grow minds of their owns and they are starting to think beyond the plot you’ve created – to use money to entrap their minds so that they will continue to focus on money and help you grow money. But many people are starting to question the real value of money and whether this plot is something they actually believe in. And when this happens, they will start to think about what they truly want – what is really of value to them? They will start thinking about their passions, what they enjoy, what causes they believe in and what they want to speak up for. For a long time, if you are interested in any causes in Singapore, you are not allowed a space to speak up on your causes. International organizations which speak out on causes aren’t allowed to set foot in Singapore. Unions are owned by the government. There are no spaces for demonstrations, albeit peaceful ones. This is all well, if the people do not start to question. But once they do, as a government which knows how to control it’s people, you create spaces for them to do so, so that you continue to create an illusion for them.

The Singapore government knows the evolution of the mind and has planned for it. So, they’ve created The Speaker’s Corner – a space set aside specifically for sanctioned demonstrations. So, they’ve tried allowing for diverse media platforms – they had created a new TV station and created more news platforms. They’ve allowed for contained discussions on socio-political issues which are moderated. And recently, they’ve created Our National Conversation. So, this is the third strategy that the government has created to contain the people – opening up carefully managed spaces to satisfy people’s needs to pursue causes or passions they find meaningful and want to speak out about.

But is this working? Among all the three strategies, this is the one that the government had implemented that is the least successful. Why? Making people slaves to money and the buying of goods and service is easy. You give them more money. No matter how little you give them, it still feels like something to them. But allowing for spaces for the mind to think – if you create half a space and people don’t get to fully express themselves or to think, sooner or later, they are bound to know that the craving is still there and hasn’t been fully met – they still want to express themselves but they know that they actually can’t. How do you demonstrate at The Speaker’s Corner when you know that no one pays attention to it, where you know people don’t take it seriously, and where you know you won’t get heard and change won’t be enacted anyway? The reason why people want to demonstrate isn’t because they have spare time and feel like demonstrating. The reason why they demonstrate is because they want to be heard and they want what they voice out to be acted on. The Speaker’s Corner is created specifically by the government for people to think that they are able to act on something they believe in and then silence them there and then, with minimal media coverage, and thus minimal hope for their voices to be heard and acted on. It’s a good containment strategy by the government to silence voices. But it isn’t good enough to address the inner need that people have to express themselves.

This is similar to creating the illusion of having an union which fight for people’s rights. Once people realise how repressed their rights are, they will fight back. And in this case, we had to rely on external forces to do so – the China and India workers. Why do you think the Singaporean bus drivers are raising funds for their China co-workers? Because the China workers had spoken up, not only for themselves but also for the other lowly-paid bus drivers, and actually, for the other lower-wage workers in Singapore who have been systematically disadvantaged. And you say, we have an organization which is able to manage migrant worker’s issues – HOME. And then the government got threatened and they created MWC, under the arm of the union run by the government, so that they can silence criticism, as they are doing now. There are strategies in place to silence feedback, even if righteous.

Which is why people are unhappy and which is why are emotions are so muted. We’ve learnt to be angry at not being able to have our voices heard or to be able to enact changes. We’ve learnt to let it simmer and let it boil over internally, and then get angry at someone else – at a foreigner, at the elderly, at the kid who is crying loudly on the train. We’ve learnt to direct it at those we can, because we cannot direct it towards the government. And so, there is strong underlying tension in Singapore where there is simmering anger and tension that everyone has in feeling oppressed, in some way or another, and where their means of expressing is to direct it at the person next to them, who then direct it at the person next to them and so on. You can see how as a whole, we are a nation of people with strong underlying desires and emotions which are are kept repressed, boiling, and where we let out steam bit by bit at one another, and at everyone else – which has led us to where we are – a nation of people who do not know how to be happy because we cannot express ourselves and be heard, a nation of people who are angry and direct our anger at one another. We’ve created a nation of people who have become discriminatory because our own inner needs aren’t met, and we’ve learnt to outwardly find scapegoats for this unmet need.

What saddens me is the government allows this to happen. Can the government come in and mediate things, by educating Singaporeans and foreigners, by educating the young and older, for example? The government can. But what good will it do for the government? It doesn’t. Then we will remember that our anger has arisen primarily because of the government’s lack of concern for us in the first place! It isn’t that bad if the government fixes things on their end, then we will all be good and happy. But they won’t do that. They feel that if they allow for people to speak their minds and create spaces for this speaking of their minds, it will create instability in the economic system. They think that it will reduce profits, slow down efficiency and then Singapore will collapse. Do they actually believe in this fear-based scenario that they’ve created? I’m not so sure if they actually do. But this fear is what they operate on and propagate to scare us, and what we know they do. And what we’ve allowed ourselves to buy in.

Then, the next question that you ask me is this – if all is so bad, what can be done? Nothing? There is nothing that can be done? The government won’t change. We should leave Singapore then? There is. It’s a matter of principle – of how we govern. It isn’t even a matter of what needs to be done but a shift in thinking. Because if the government shifts the principles of governance, it will know immediately what needs to be done for Singaporeans. Right now, the government, whether they do or not, buy into a fear-based motivation where they feel that if people are given a space to express themselves, it will unsettle the economy and we will fail. The government needs to stop propagating this rhetoric to itself. We won’t. They know we won’t. You know, my government, if you want to earn money and you want to keep money within yourself, that’s fine. We have no issues with that. Humans are selfish and we understand if you want to be selfish and earn as much as you can for yourself. We are fine with that. I mean, the real reason why you create a fear-based environment is so that we will continue to fear and will work mindlessly to earn money and so that we will mindlessly trust you to work for us, while you are able to earn more for yourself. And look, we are fine with it. What we are saying is this – treat us with a bit more respect and treat us more humanely. Give us spaces to express ourselves. Give us spaces to operate. The other capitalistic governments are able to do that, and still amass money for themselves. And so can you. You can still get rich at the expense of us, even when you give us our rights. If you want to manipulate us, you still can. There are ways to manipulate people while letting them think they have their rights. America is able to do that successfully.

What say you?

The CPF Board has announced that, “from January next year, the Medisave Required Amount (MRA) in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) will be raised to S$38,500 from the current S$32,000.

The CPF Board also said that, “the requirement for members to set aside the MRA in their Medisave Account is to enable them to have enough savings to meet their healthcare needs during old age.

The CPF Board said that, “CPF members will also continue to enjoy a risk free interest rate of four percent on their Special and Medisave Accounts (SMA) for the next three months, from 1 January to 31 March 2013.” According to the CPF Board, “savings in the SMA currently earn either 4 percent or the 12-month average yield of 10-year Singapore Government Securities (10YSGS) plus 1 percent, whichever is the higher… Since the average yield of the 10YSGS plus 1 percent, from 1 December 2011 to 30 November 2012, works out to be 2.49 percent, the SMA interest rate payable to CPF members from 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2013 will be maintained at the current floor of 4 percent.”

As Singaporeans, we need to demand to the government to halt this increase of the MRA for, $32,000 to $38,500. This is an increase of $6,500 – or more than 7 or 8 months the pay of the lowest wage workers in Singapore. This means that for the lowest wage workers, they wouldn’t be able to withdraw from the MRA if they don’t meet the new balance of $38,500 for the next few months. Accounting for their expenditure, it would take years for them to meet this new balance.

WE NEED TO DEMAND TO THE CPF BOARD TO HALF THE INCREASE OF THE NEW MEDISAVE REQUIRED AMOUNT BASED ON THE FOLLOWING:

1. Why has the MRA been increased by $6,500, from $32,000 to $38,500? What is the exact formula to calculate this increase? What is the exact breakdown of what this increase of $6,500 is meant to cover? We demand to know the formula and the exact breakdown of this increase, and how this increase is obtained.

2. How is the lower income earners expected to be able to raise this amount of $6,500 for their MRA? How long is it expected to take for the lower income earners to be able to meet the new MRA amount of $38,500? We demand to have information of how the lower income earners are expected to be able to find the financial capacity to meet this increase of $6,500 to the MRA and when they will be able to withdraw from their MRA.

3. The MRA was last raised from $27,500 to $32,000 in January 2011. This is an increase of $4,500, or 16%. Within a year, the government is raising the MRA again by another $6,500, or 20%, from $32,000 to $38,500. From 2010, the MRA has been raised by 40%! In fact, the MRA has been increased year-on-year for the past few years. In 2010, it was increased by 22%. In 2009, it was increased by 25%. In effect, it was raised by 114% from $18,000 in 2008! From 2008 to 2011, the real income growth of Singaporeans had only increased by less than 2%, or even have negative-growth, which means our wages have in fact not increased! Why are Singaporeans expected to pay for an increase of 20% on their MRA, from 2011 to 2012, when their salaries most likely grew at less than 20 times the rate? Why are we expected to pay from an increase of 114% from 2008 to 2012 on the MRA, when our real income most likely grew at less than 100 times the rate? Where does the government and the CPF Board expect us to obtain our income increase from to top up the MRA? We demand that the government is transparent and accountable, by letting Singaporeans know the exact formula which is used to calculate the MRA and the exact breakdown of the increase of $6,500 in 2012, and in every other year preceding.

4. Have healthcare costs risen by 20%, such that Singaporeans are expected to increase their MRA by 20%? What is the increase in healthcare costs in 2012? We demand that the government give us a breakdown of the increase in healthcare costs to let us know how this has affected the calculation of the increase to our MRA.

5. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2009, the general government expenditure on health as a proportion of total expenditure on health is 36.1%. This actually went down by 15.3 percentage points from 51.4% in 2000. Why has the government expenditure on healthcare gone down, while the government expects Singaporeans to pay more out of their pockets? Why has government expenditure went down by 15.3% from 2000 to 2009, and yet the government expects Singaporeans to increase what they have as a minimum in the MRA by 114% from 2008 to 2012? Many other developed and developing countries had increased the proportion of government expenditure on healthcare from 2000 to 2009. Why has the government decided to reduce its responsibility, and to such a low proportion? We demand to know why the government has reduced its proportion of healthcare expenditure to Singaporeans. We demand to know why the government expects Singaporeans to pay more out of pocket, even when their real wages have stagnated or have negative-growth.

6. The overall CPF monies are invested in the Singapore Government Securities, which are then borrowed by the Singapore government to be invested in GIC and Temasek Holdings, which had reaped interest rates of 6.8% and 17% respectively. Where do these returns go to? Why is the government’s recourse to ask Singaporeans to pay more to increase the MRA balance instead of to channel the interest earned back into the CPF monies? We demand to know why the government did not inform Singaporeans clearly of the investment of the Singapore Government Securities into GIC and Temasek, when announcing the increase in MRA. We demand to know that if GIC and Temasek earns an interest of 6.8% and 17% respectively, why is the Singapore Government Securities only earning an interest of 1.49%, if the securities are invested in GIC and Temasek. We demand to know why the government did not channel the interest rates earned from GIC and Temasek to top up for any increase in MRA.

Singaporeans, we have a right to know. And we demand that the government provides us with this information to be transparent and accountable. We demand that the government halt this increase and provide us with this information, before Singaporeans make a decision as to what is a viable increase, when we are able to make an informed decision with all the facts and information available. The CPF is our money. We have a right to know how it’s used and how we are made to contribute to our CPF monies. We have a right to know how any calculations to increase the minimum sum in our CPF is made, with our full knowledge and agreement.