I had written this article to show the real statistics as to how our finances in Singapore are being controlled and taken away from us. As I had mentioned in the first part of the article, I make no apologies to the critical tone of this article as the facts of the matter requires that I take a strong stance on this issue.

As I had also said in part 1, I will guide you through the charts, so that they will be easy to read and understand, so please take some time and come along with me. This article will only take about 10 to 15 minutes to read.

Part 1 of the article can be read here. I believe that if you could read this article from the top (from part 1), it would give you a fuller picture as to the financial circumstance of Singaporeans.

(3) Medisave Financing (Charts 19a to 22c)

In Chart 19a, you can see that the government had made us pay more and more into this thing called the Medisave Minimum Sum. According to the Central Provident Fund (CPF), “The Medisave Minimum Sum is the amount you need to retain in your Medisave Account, before any excess Medisave savings can be withdrawn.”

Chart 19a: Central Provident Fund

And in Chart 19b, the government had made us pay more and more into this thing they call the Medisave Required Amount – “The Medisave Required Amount refers to the amount you need to set aside in your Medisave Account after meeting the CPF Minimum Sum requirement.”

Chart 19b: Central Provident Fund

So, in Chart 19c, this is how much the government had made us pay more and more into this thing called the CPF Minimum Sum.

Chart 19c: Central Provident Fund

Confused? Don’t worry. I am too. What you need to know is that, in all of these, we are made to pay more and more. Where is the government’s contributions, you ask (or lack thereof)? We will explore this in just a bit.

According to Dan Ariely, if people are given too many choices or too complex a structure to understand, this will put them off and they would be more likely to simply stick to not acting on their choices, or perhaps even not use something given to them. The Singapore government has used this psychology to good effect – make the schemes so complex that people would find it so difficult to understand that they would abide by it unquestionably, and to make the schemes so complex that people would be put off from accessing it, and thus the government would be able to save on their expenditure.

Do you also know that according to the Ministry of Health, Medisave and Medishield covers mainly hospitalisation and has limited coverage for outpatient treatment, such as when you visit a doctor. According to a study, “Private General Practitioners dominate Public Healthcare in Singapore, providing around 80% of consultations and acting as gatekeepers. They receive no government subsidies and dispense their own medicines, with patients paying the full cost.” Also, the ministry says that, “if you have insufficient funds in your Medisave, you can use the Medisave of your spouse, child and parent to pay for your treatment”. But what if the whole family is poor? Does the government care?

The next few charts (Charts 20a to 21b) will look complex but let me take you through them – it’s easy to understand.

In Chart 20a, look at the purple line. This is the inflation rate – you can see that this growth is the lowest in the chart.

The government had kept telling us that they have to increase the Medisave Minimum Sum, Medisave Required Amount and CPF Minimum Sum because of inflation, right?

But actually, whatever they are forcing us to pay is increasing by a lot more than inflation. The yellow line shows you the growth in Medisave Minimum Sum and the orange line shows you the growth in CPF Minimum Sum in the orange line. You can see that they are both increasing at a much faster rate than inflation, right?

Chart 20a: Central Provident Fund, Department of Statistics Singapore Prices

In Chart 20b, again, the purple line represents the inflation rate. The orange line represents the change in Medisave Required Amount. You can see that the Medisave Required Amount is increasing by several times more than inflation rate!

Chart 20b: Central Provident Fund, Department of Statistics Singapore Prices

The government wants us to think that they are increasing these CPF and Medisave minimum amounts because of inflation. But why do they need to increase these amounts by so much more than inflation?

What is it that they are not telling us? Or what is the real reason that they are increasing these amounts for?

What do they need this money for? Are we subsidising for the low healthcare costs of the rich medical tourists, on top of having to pay for our own healthcare bills? Or are they using the money for something else?

Now, compare this to our wages again.

In Chart 21a, the pink line is the growth rate of our wages. Again, you can see that the Medisave Minimum Sum and CPF Minimum Sum are both increasing at a much faster rate than our wages.

Chart 21a: Central Provident Fund, Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income

So, the government wants us to pay more into our CPF and Medisave. But our real wages are not growing! Where do we get the additional money to pay? Not only that, the government says that we need to put more into our CPF and Medisave, because we need to have enough to see the doctor.

But the increase that they want us to put into CPF and Medisave is several times more the increase of our wages and inflation! If they indeed want us to put more into CPF and Medisave to top up for inflation, why do they make us top up so much more over and above the inflation rate? What is the money really for?

Chart 21b shows you that the Medisave Required Amount is also increasing at a significantly much faster rate than our wages.

Chart 21b: Central Provident Fund, Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income

So, all this while the government tells us – healthcare costs are increasing. You need to be self-reliant. You need to pay more for your own healthcare. So, you have to put in more money into your CPF and Medisave – this is even though the government had allowed our wages to be depressed.

But the government had allowed healthcare prices to increase, our wages to be depressed and yet, forced us to put in more money into the Medisave and CPF.

Two questions:

• Why doesn’t the government help us at all?
• Where does all the money we put into go?

In Chart 22a, you can see how the government doesn’t help us at all. While we are made to fork out our own money from our stagnant and depressed wages to pay for increasing prices, the government’s contribution to our Medisave has remained at 4%. It hasn’t increased and would be more likely to decrease in future.

Yet, all this while, the government is asking the people to put in more, while the government doesn’t also do so? Why? Self-reliance? Nah, read on.

Chart 22a: CPF Interest Rates

But where is the money going? Our CPF is borrowed by the government to invest in Temasek Holdings and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). In this discussion, I will focus on Temasek Holdings.

You can see in Chart 22b that Temasek Holding’s returns are very high.

Chart 22b: Temasek Review 2012

And how is this compared to the interest rate our Medisave earns? You can see this in Chart 22c.

Chart 22c: Temasek Review 2012, CPF Interest Rates

So, Temasek Holdings can borrow our CPF and earn interest rates of 10% to 15% (green lines) but only 4% is returned to our Medisave (yellow line)?

Where has all the interest earned from our CPF go to?

Granted that the interest earned is due to the diligence of the investors at the Temasek Holdings, why isn’t the government channeling more back into our Medisave – by even just another 1% or 2%? They can fully afford to do so! Why make the people shoulder the full burden, while the government, in this country which has become one of the richest in the world, cannot transfer some of the wealth back to the people?

In fact, when “the Economic Review Committee (ERC) was convened in December 2001 to review Singapore’s development strategy and formulate a blueprint to restructure the economy”, the committee had made some good recommendations to protect Singaporeans’ wealth, such as “to increase the contribution rate to the Special Account by an additional 1%-point as we restore the CPF contribution rate. This will increase members’ Special Account balances by about 20%, and enable an additional 10% of all members to reach the Minimum Sum by 55.” But was this taken up? It has been more than 10 years since the recommendations, and now what? You can read the recommendations here. I note that this committee was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and where Speaker Halimah Yacob is onboard as well. It is clear who my vote will go for.

And in totally unrelated news,

Credit: Demon-cratic Singapore’s Page

So, why is the government making us pay more and more into the CPF and Medisave when our wages are already depressed and when they don’t even increase their contributions? How fair or responsible is this government?

Not only that, the government tells us that the amounts in CPF and Medisave have to be increased because of inflation but these amounts are increasing by several times more than inflation!

It is too much to summarise at this point, but I think you get the gist so far:

• Our wages are depressed. I’ve explained why this is so in a previous article.
• Healthcare costs are increasing. The government spends lesser and lesser and we are made to pay from our own pockets for ever-increasing prices. We are squeezed here.
• The government forces us to pay more for the Medisave Minimum Sum, Medisave Required Amount and CPF Minimum Sum, even though these amounts are increasing over and above inflation and our wages are depressed, so we are squeezed here.
• The government wants us to increase our contributions but they do not increase theirs. We are made to shoulder the full burden of increasing prices and depressed wages, but which are caused by the government. We are squeezed here.
• It’s not too much of a stretch to say that we are being squeezed left, right and centre and left high and dry.

(4) Can The Poor and Elderly Afford Healthcare in Singapore? (Charts 23 to 26b)

In the next few charts, I will show you how what the government does actually hurt Singaporeans.

In Chart 23, you can see that the majority of the people who are admitted to the hospitals are our elderly.

Chart 23: Ministry of Health Singapore Hospital Admission Rates by Age and Sex 2011

But do our elderly have enough to use or see the doctor with?

Do you know that many of our elderly work because they need the money? – 62% of them work because they need the money (Chart 24a).

Chart 24a: State of the Elderly in Singapore 2008/2009

The government keeps telling us that the older Singaporeans want to work because they want to stay active. Truth is most of them simply do not have enough money and are forced to work. The government knows this. They were the ones who had conducted a study on this, but yet, what have they chosen to tell us?

In fact, do you know that in 1995, only 39% of the elderly had said that they had wanted to work because they needed the money. But in 2005, this increased to 62%! 62% of them were forced to work because they needed the money (Chart 24b)!

That was 2005. You can expect that in another 8 years – in today’s time, this would have risen to 80% or 90%.

Chart 24b: State of the Elderly in Singapore 2008/2009

Also, for the elderly who were looking for a job, 66% or two-thirds of them had said that they were doing so because they needed the money (Chart 24c).

Chart 24c: Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Singapore National Survey of Senior Citizens 2005

Can our elderly afford to see the doctor? You saw in the charts above that if you need to see the doctor, you have to fork out a lot of money – more than our peers in the other developed countries. And if you were to see a doctor at any clinic, you hardly receive any support.

Do you think our elderly can afford to see the doctor? When we hear of stories of how many elderly choose to fall sick and not see a doctor, until they absolutely have to, is there much truth to it? I think there is.

Our per capita expenditure may be low, but is it because many of our poor and elderly are not accessing care because they cannot afford to and have chosen not to seek care and treatment? Unfortunately, I do not have the statistics.

To give you more information, do you know that among our elderly, many of them work in jobs that we would classify as “blue-collar” jobs? Is this how we treat our elderly?

You can see this in Chart 25a. Among those who work as cleaners, labourers and related workers, 66% of them are the elderly. Among the plant and machine operators and assemblers, the elderly make up 56% of these workers.

Chart 25a: The Heart Truths (link which statistics was obtained from is broken)

If we look at how much the low-income earners, such as what the cleaners, labourers and related workers are earning, you can see that their wages have grown at a slower rate than the general population.

In Chart 25b, the red line is how much the cleaners’ wages have grown and the pink line shows how much the wages of the average Singaporean have grown. You can see that the red line is flatter – which also means that if our median wages, in real terms, have remained stagnant, that theirs would have declined over the years!

 

Chart 25b: Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income, Ministry of Manpower Singapore Report on Wages in Singapore 2011: Statistical Tables

Now, if we turn our attention to the low-income earners in general – do you know that the lower-income earners have to shoulder even more burden for healthcare, out of their expenditure?

You can see this in Chart 26a, where the poorest 20% of Singaporeans (red bars) fork out more from their monthly expenses to pay for healthcare. This has remained so over the years, even as the country grows richer.

Chart 26a: Ministry of Health Consumer Price Indices (CPI) & Household healthcare Expenditure

What’s more, if we look at how much the low-income earners earn in their lifetime, things look very bleak for them as well.

Not only are they paid low wages but across their lifetimes, if they work in a “blue-collar” job, their wages actually decrease as they grow older! You can this in Chart 26b.

Chart 26b: Ministry of Manpower Singapore Report on Wages, 2011

What this means is that for our low-income earners and elderly workers, they are stuck in a state of chronic poverty. The system simply doesn’t allow them to climb out of the poverty and entraps them in a state of poverty!

Already, healthcare costs are increasing and the government isn’t doing much to help us. Yet, the government is forcing us to put in more money into our CPF and Medisave, where if we don’t achieve the “minimum amount”, we would not be able to take the money out or use it.

Can you imagine how much worse it is for the poor and elderly, who cannot even put in enough into their CPF and Medisave? For whatever they are earning, they do not have enough to use, yet they have to put in money into the CPF and Medisave, which they cannot take out to use. They are losing money even faster than we are. I will show you more statistics on this later.

(5) Are We Paid Enough to Afford Healthcare in Singapore? (Charts 27a to 30d)

But first, I had shown you Chart 27a in a previous article. Do you know that even though we are among the richest cities, Singaporeans are paid the lowest wages as compared to the others? This is even so that Singapore’s GDP per capita is comparable to that of New York and Paris, but we are paid less than half or even only one-third of their wages! (Note: This chart shows a comparison of the cities as the report does not compare wages among countries.)

Chart 27a: UBS Prices and Earnings 2011

However, some readers weren’t previously convinced and had debated that Singaporeans aren’t paid the lowest wages in the developed world.

But there are more statistics. In the Global Wage Report 2012/2013 by the International Labour Organisation, you can see that the hourly rate of pay for time worked in manufacturing for Singaporeans is also the lowest among the developed countries. So, we have two reports here already which are saying the same thing.

Chart 27b: International Labour Organisation Global Wage Report 2012/2013 

And now for a third report. In the Global MetroMonitor 2011 report, Singapore was ranked the city with the lowest income growth rate, among 200 cities. In the 2012 report, this indicator was taken out and not reported anymore.

Just like in the 2012 version of the UBS Prices and Earnings 2011 report, Singapore was suddenly omitted from comparison as well.

Why are we hiding from? Singaporeans?

Chart 27c: Global MetroMonitor 2011

So, you can see that there are 3 reports all saying the same thing – the wages of Singaporeans are decreasing and are one of the lowest, if not the lowest among the developed countries and top cities. In the UBS report, Singapore was shown to have a similar purchasing power as Kuala Lumpur, even though we are several times richer than them, in terms of GDP per capita.

So, our wages have grown the slowest and are the lowest, yet we are made to pay the fastest rising healthcare costs. All this while, the government is forcing us to not only pay more for the healthcare bills, they are also making us pay more into our pension fund – CPF, which they then use to invest in Temasek Holdings and GIC, of which the returns are not shared in proportionate ways.

And mind you, this is from a country which is very rich and one of the richest in the world, and yet, this government cannot do more for the people!

So, for us lay people, our wages have remained stagnant and it has become increasingly painful for us to afford to live an acceptable standard of living. But what of our politicians?

I am sure that they are trying their best to do what they can for us. I am sure that they are suffering, like we all are. Afterall, I am sure we have capable and empathetic politicians who will stand side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with the people, right?

In Chart 28a, you can see how much the politicians are earning. Chart 28a shows their annual salaries by each grade level.

Chart 28a: White Paper for Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government

High right? Wait, there’s more. In Chart 28b, you can see the change in their salaries over the years. Poor things. Even though they are obtaining million-dollar salaries, in some years, their salaries actually dropped below $1 million! It must be painful for them. Well, read further.

Chart 28b: White Paper for Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government

In Chart 28c, you can see the proportionate change in their salaries over the years. Wow, increases of more than 30% in some years!

Chart 28c: White Paper for Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government

Now compare this to us lay people. Look at the blue line in Chart 28d – this is how much our salaries have been changing. On average, the PAP ministers’ nominal salaries have been increasing by 5.64%, whereas for us lay Singaporeans, our nominal incomes have only grown by a lesser 3.82%.

Chart 28d: White Paper for Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government, Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income

So, while us lay Singaporeans become poorer and poorer, our PAP ministers who are paying themselves very handsomely continue to enjoy themselves. All this while, they devise policies to cut us down, while telling us to suck it in, that things will be fine – because sure, things are pretty fine for them!

Have you noticed the title of the white paper – Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government? I literally felt very uncomfortable when I saw the title – I kid you not.

So, after all the discussion, do Singaporeans have enough to save or retire? In Chart 29a, you can see that because the government has been increasing the Medisave Minimum Sum that we need to set aside, the proportion of Singaporeans who are able to meet the minimum sum at age 55 have grown slower and stagnated.

Chart29a: CPF Trends Medisave Scheme

In fact, over the past few years, there is actually a drop in the proportion of Singaporeans who are able to meet the minimum sum (Chart 29b).

Chart 29b: CPF Trends Medisave Minimum Sum

How about for the CPF Minimum Sum? Worse still, there has been a decrease in the number of Singaporeans who are able to meet the minimum sum (Chart 29c)!

Chart 29c: CPF Trends Minimum Sum Scheme

So, what does this mean for our retirement funds? Would we have enough to retire with?

In Chart 30a, you can see that among the developed countries compared in the Global Pension Index 2013, Singapore has the least adequate pension.

Chart 30a: Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2013

In another report, you can see that in terms of the gross replacement rates of our pension, which is the “share of individual lifestime average earnings”, you can see that Singapore scored the lowest among all the countries compared, and even lower than the developing countries (Chart 30b). This is even so that Singapore is the richest country among them all!

Not only that, you can see that the pensions for citizens of both genders are equal for most countries, but in Singapore, the men receive a higher pension than the women, even if both are very low.

 Chart 30b: Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2011

The previous chart had showed the pension funds for the average earner. How about for the “low earners”. You can see that in the other countries, their governments would do more to protect the low-income earners. Already, the low income earners are earning low wages and so their governments would step in to help them have more to retire.

But in Singapore? Our poor earn possibly the lowest wages as compared to anyone in the developed countries. Yet, their wages have been decreasing over their lifetimes. They are thus very much worse off not only compared to other Singaporeans, but as compared to the poor in the other countries as well. But when they retire, the government does not do anything for them. Their pension gross replacement rates are the same as the average earner (Chart 30c), whereas in other countries, the replacement rates are higher for the poor than the average earner.

Chart 30c: Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2011

If you look at the other comparisons (Chart 30d), you can see that in the second column block, the replacement rates for someone who is 30 now is even lower – which means we will have lesser retirement funds than the elderly today – and the gross pension wealth, which is the “size of the lump sum that would be needed to buy a flow of pension payments equivalent to that promised by the mandatory pension system in each country”, it is very low as well.

In all of these comparisons, Singapore fares the worse off, even when compared to developing countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines. Our pension is useless.

Chart 30d: Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2011

(6) Where Is Our Money Really Going? (Charts 31a to 31e)

But the question is, if our pension is so low, then where is all our money going? Very good question.

In Chart 31a, you can see that Singapore is one of the largest debt nations in the world. The government borrows the money from Singaporeans – via our CPF.

Chart 31a: The Economist The global debt clock

This means that, as shown in Chart 31b, Singapore also has one of the highest public debt per person – the government “borrows” one of the highest amounts from the people.

Chart 31b: The Economist The global debt clock

Now, where does the money borrowed go to? The government borrows our CPF and invests it in Temasek Holdings and GIC.

And how much money does Temasek Holdings and GIC has? A lot of money. Temasek Holdings is ranked 11th among the soverign wealth funds in the world. And GIC is ranked 8th in the world! You can see the ranking in Chart 31c.

GIC has assets of US$247.5 billion and Temasek has assets of US$157.5 billion!

Chart 31c: Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Soverign Wealth Fund Rankings

In fact, the official foreign reserves in Singapore has been rising rapidly, on the contributions of Singaporeans’ CPF (Chart 31d) – all this while, while Singaporeans are having great difficulty trying to even achieve the minimum amounts required in our CPF and Medisave!

Can you see how the increase in this chart is similar to the increase in the CPF and Medisave minimum amounts that we are being forced to pay?

Chart 31d: Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute

Finally, you can see in Chart 31e that Singapore has the highest reserves per capita – the money earned from Temasek Holdings and GIC goes into the reserves. But wait a minute, what about for Singaporeans??

Chart 31e: The World Bank Total reserves

Do you know what the government says about our reserves? According to the Ministry of Finance, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) manages S$304 billion and the size of Temasek’s portfolio was S$198 billion. The “Government’s funds managed by GIC that are not published. What has been revealed is that GIC manages well over US$100 billion. Revealing the exact size of assets that GIC manages will, taken together with the published assets of MAS and Temasek, amount to publishing the full size of Singapore’s financial reserves.”

Most importantly, the ministry says that, “It is not in our national interest to publish the full size of our reserves. If we do so, it will make it easier for markets to mount speculative attacks on the Singapore dollar during periods of vulnerability.”

Yet, if you see above, it is clearly stated that the GIC has assets of US$247.5 billion, which is about S$310 billion.

Now, mind you, this information is not available on the Singapore government’s website but why is it freely on someone else’s website? Why does the government deem it fit to restrict information to its own people but would share information with outsiders? What is the government trying to hide from the people? If the government would hide an information as important as the amount of our reserves, and the largest one no less, do you think that they will not hide other important information relevant to the lives of Singaporeans?

This is what it is – the size of GIC’s assets are very big. If you can do simple mathematics, you would be able to calculate that assets managed by GIC, Temasek Holdings and MAS would be at least $800 billion. What does that mean for a government which has so much money but continue to force people to be so self-reliant that it does not want to increase its support for its people, whilst reducing what the people are earning while still forcing the people to pay even more? And for what? For the reserves? Which are not coming back? For Temasek Holdings and GIC? For who? For whose pockets?

The people cannot know that we are using their CPF to grow our own money and that we are forcing them to retire on increasingly smaller amounts. And that’s why we have to hide the truth from them. That’s why others can know how rich we are so that we can attract the rich to come here but Singaporeans cannot know how rich we are. Otherwise, we would need to give more to the people, and we really don’t want that.

You’ve been had, Singaporeans.

Now, when the government doesn’t want to release statistics to us, do you know why? Always think about what they are trying to hide from you.

• Smallest pension for the people but one of the highest wealth funds in the world.
• Lowest wages in the developed world but the people have to spend the most out-of-pocket for healthcare.
• Lowest and fastest dropping wages among the low income earners and the highest proportionate expenditure for them – the poor and elderly.
• Lowest wages of Singapore workers in the developed world but highest ministers’ salaries anywhere in the world!

Doesn’t quite make sense, does it?

And so, I ask to the naysayers who fearmonger us to think that if we spend even that little from our reserves for the poor, that we will deplete our reserves, then I ask – even if we spend $3 million out of the $800 billion for the poor and elderly, this will amount to only 0.000004% of the reserves. Is this too much to ask for to help our poor? Will our reserves deplete overnight?

And if we have so much money and we are keeping it and not giving back to the people, what really is the government keeping it for?

The Singapore government is very, very, very rich. And the people are tremendously poor, for a developed country which is one of the richest in the world! We’ve put in so much hard work but we earn such miserly wages – the lowest in the developed world while our ministers earn the highest salaries in the world. Now, do you know why Singaporeans question the purpose of working hard? We don’t see the real returns of our hard work because what should rightfully be our money is taken away from us.

It doesn’t come back to us. It goes to the government and never comes back.

So, to be very clear:

• Singapore is one of the richest country in the world, but our people are paid the lowest wages in the developed world
• Our healthcare costs have been rising and we are made to pay the highest per capita expenditure on healthcare.
• Not only that, our real wages have thus fallen and because we simply do not have enough to save as we keep paying to, and for the government
• When we retire, our pensions simply are not enough for our retirement. We are the richest country but we have the smallest pension.
• Our government does not and cannot be bothered to do more for Singaporeans, so much so that our poor are kept in a state of chronic poverty, they simply do not have enough to retire.
• And our old, who many are working in low-income jobs, simply cannot retire and have to work for as long as they can, on even lower wages.

THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS SINGAPORE. This is the richest country in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the richest country in the world where the rich get richer – including our politicians and everyone else bites the dust.

(7) Do We Really Have Good Health? (Charts 32 to 38)

So, we might have very nice-looking health outcomes, but what what is our emotional and psychological health like?

In a survey (Chart 32) conducted this year by the Gallup Organization, only 58% of Singaporeans feel loved – just slightly ahead of South Korea.

Chart 32: Bloomberg Where Do You Stand in the Global Love Ranking?

And no wonder, when we do not feel that our government is taking care of us.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had calculated the work-life balance index of the OECD countries. According to the index, generally the countries which work the longest hours also have the lowest work-life balance. I do not know how to calculate the actual score for Singapore, but you would expect Singapore to have one of the lowest work-life balance, because we work the longest hours in the world (Chart 33).

Chart 33: OECD StatExtracts, Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics, 2012

You can see the work-life balance index in Chart 34, with Singapore’s estimated index ranking, which would be very low – this means that we have very poor work-life balance.

Importantly, we are as rich as countries like Norway and Denmark, but our work-life balance is way off the mark.

Chart 34: OECD Better Life Index Work-Life Balance

When we are not treated right by our government and where we have one of the worse work-life balances in the developed countries, is it any wonder why our people are the least happy people in the world (Chart 35)?

Chart 35: Gallup Positive Emotions Worldwide

And in yet another completely unrelated news:

Credit: Demon-cratic Singapore’s Page

So what if on the surface, we might look like our health outcomes are good when Singaporeans’ emotional and psychological well-being would most probably be one of the poorest in the developed world, and in fact, in the whole world? So what, if our people might not be able to afford healthcare, and thus cannot access it?

Interestingly, Singapore has one of the highest morality rate for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, after the United States (Chart 36).

Chart 36: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

According to the World Health Organisation, “The most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol.” Medical News Today had attributed cardiovascular disease to “a lack of sleep” and “stress” as well.

Is it any wonder there have been an increasing spate of Singaporeans suddenly dying from cardiovascular diseases?

Credit: Fabrications by Anntonii’s Facebook Page

You know, if you think that the government cares about you, think again. They don’t. Not even when you are dead. Look at Bukit Brown.

If you are not a big business, rich or a tourist with high spending power, you are as good as dead to the government.

Would you be able to see these charts or statistics put together in the way it had been in this article in our newspapers and TV? They wouldn’t be able to report on these, where otherwise the editors and journalists would lose their jobs. Which is no wonder why Singapore is ranked 149th in the World Press Freedom Index 2013, together with Bangladesh, Palestine, Iraq and Burma (Chart 37a).

Chart 37a: Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2013

And 153th in the Freedom of the Press 2013 report, below Iraq and just above Burma (Chart 37b). Our press is not independent. They are not allowed to report the truths about the government.

Chart 37b: Freedom House Freedom of the Press 2013

Two reports, same findings – In Singapore, our newspapers and TV are not able to speak the truth and the people are constantly kept in the dark on the truths. Welcome to The Heart Truths.

And why not? In the Freedom in the World 2013 report, Singapore is not even ranked within the top 90 democratically-freer countries – we are only a “partly free” country, where there “is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties”.

In The Economist’s Democracy Index 2012, we are ranked 81st in the world as a hybrid regime (Chart 38) – where there are “Serious weaknesses … in political culture, functioning of government and political participation. Corruption tends to be widespread and the rule of law is weak. Civil society is weak. Typically there is harassment of and pressure on journalists, and the judiciary is not independent.” We are ranked with countries that you would hardly have ever heard of.

Think there is no corruption in Singapore? It’s all about how to look clean, even when you are not.

Chart 38: The Economist Democracy Index 2012

Again, two reports, same findings. The Singapore government does not protect our basic and fundamental rights and freedom – point in case, look at how they have siphoned away our money and how we are left out to dry, unknowingly.

In another country which is democratic, we would be able to hold mass protests and demonstrations to demand for an answer from the government. Our newspapers and TV will investigate and report on the government, our judiciary will expose the government and hold them accountable and our academics will debate on these issues and expose the government of its corruption.

In another country, the government wouldn’t have dared to do what they do – they wouldn’t pay themselves so expensively, at the expanse of the people who earn so poorly, and all the while treating the people like “stupid”, while proclaiming themselves as patriots. Patriots, really? Perhaps – patriots to only the top 1% of rich individuals in Singapore.

But the government controls everything in Singapore – the media, judiciary, our educational institutions and civil service – they have every means and every way to cripple Singaporeans because who are our police, judges or lawyers?

This government has gone on a trajectory that no longer respects the people or treat the people right, beginning from 2000. It is also when a new batch of leaders had been inducted into the current parliament.

Do you feel sentimental about PAP politicians and the good that they have done for Singapore? Me too – I feel for the politicians who had watched and guided the transformation of Singapore from a “Third World” to “First World” country in the early days of Singapore.

But I have absolutely no sentimental feelings for this current batch of PAP politicians.

So what if they are also dress in the same frocks as the PAP politicians of fore when their white is tainted? None of them understand the ideals, values and beliefs that the forebearers of PAP had sculpted Singapore with. They can claim to represent Singapore and Singaporeans, and claim to care for the welfare of Singaporeans. But clearly, they don’t. Time and time again, everytime I look at the statistics, I am only shown with pristine clarity how the current batch of PAP politicians do not have Singapore and Singaporeans’ interests at heart.

I do not know who or what they care about. But clearly, it is not us. They have lost their moral leadership to govern in our country. Now, Singaporeans, if you are not still not convinced, then I will leave you your time to reflect and think about things for yourself. Some of you will try to take this article apart but no matter how you look at it, the statistics speak for themselves. And it’s not just one but several reports which are saying the same thing.

I do not care about this current batch of PAP politicians. I might be sentimental towards the PAP of the olden days but the PAP of now do not have the  honesty and heart of their predecessors. They do not at all.

Change is needed in Singapore. Change is needed so that we can protect our lives and the lives of our future generations. Change is needed to bring fore a new hope, new inspiration and new dynamism into Singapore, and allow us to make Singapore one that we can truly call our home. It’s time we stop calling ourselves workers in the Singapore factory and regain our rights as people in the nation of Singapore.

The current crop of PAP politicians are simply not capable to bring Singapore into the new era. And if you tell me that the opposition politicians do not seem to be capable as well, then do you think a group of PAP politicians who have mismanaged your incomes, pension and basically your life, deserve another chance at turning your life around when they haven’t done so after 3 elections?

For Singaporeans who fear a change in government, I say to you – it’s time you take up the responsibility to run your country as well. Our country is as much what we want to do with it as much as what we decide to not care about. No matter which government comes into place, it is our responsibility as the peoples of this country to create solutions for it. If we keep waiting for a “capable” government to take over, we can take another 3 elections with PAP and if the past 3 elections hasn’t shown themselves clearly to you, then by all means, go ahead.

But I know my choice is clear. I want a government that takes care of the people, that bows down to the people and protects the people. Not one that pays themselves so well while lying to the people about how good their lives are, while cutting down on their lives. It’s wrong. Plain wrong.

Key Points for Part 2:

• The government has been increasing the Medisave Minimum Sum, Medisave Required Amount and CPF Minimum Amount year-on-year, as they explained that this is due to increasing prices and inflation.
• However these amounts have been increasing by several times over inflation.
• Also, Singaporeans’ real wages have remained stagnant, and these amounts have been increasing by several times over the growth of our real wages.
• Yet, even as the government asks Singaporeans to increase their contributions to these amounts, the government maintains only a 4% interest rate on our Medisave account and hasn’t increased its contributions.
• Our CPF is borrowed by the government to invest in Temasek Holdings and GIC. However, even thoughTemasek Holdings earns 10% to 15% in interest but the interest returned on our Medisave is only 4%.
• Among the attendances to the hospital, most of them are the elderly. Healthcare is expensive for the elderly. 62% of the elderly work because they needed the money in 2005. This is as compared to in 1995, when only 39% of the elderly had to work because they needed to money.
• On top of that, the elderly workers form the largest bulk of the “blue-collar” occupations. And these occupations have seen their real wages decrease over the past few years.
• The poorest 20% households in Singapore spends the highest proportion of their incomes on healthcare.
• Across their lifetimes, the low-income earners also see their real wages drop as they grow older. Thus for the low-income and elderly, they are trapped in a state of chronic poverty.
• Singaporeans are paid the lowest wages in the developed world and we have seen the lowest (and negative) growth in our wages as compared to 200 top cities. Meanwhile, the ministers’ nominal salaries have grown by 5.6% since 2002 whereas the lay Singaporean has only seen their nominal incomes grow by 3.8%.
• Thus all in, even as the CPF and Medisave minimum amounts have been increasing, a smaller and smaller proportion of Singaporeans are able to meet the minimum amounts.
• This also means that Singaporeans have the smallest pension (CPF) amounts, as compared to the other developed countries, and also to other developing countries in the region. Women also have smaller pensions than the men and the poor are left with relatively smaller pensions that those of the other countries.
• Even though our pensions are the smallest in the world, GIC and Temasek Holdings, which uses the money borrowed from our CPF, is ranked 8th and 11th as the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. In fact, we have a rapidly growing reserves and the highest reserves per capita in the world. Yet, ironically, the people retire poorest in the world.
• Singaporeans are not protected by their government, we work the longest hours in the developed world and have possibly one of the worse work-life balances in the world. All in, this explains why we are also the unhappiest people on this planet.
• The reason why these issues have not been compiled and brought to our attention is because we have one of the lowest press freedom in the world and we are ranked lowly as a non-democratic country, where the people’s rights and civilities have been compromised.
• In Singapore, the government is not accountable to the people and has compromised the people’s livelihood and well-being. A change of government is necessary to bring Singaporeans’ livelihoods back to balance. Singaporeans need to play a stronger role in helping their future government shape the policy and future for Singapore.

Introduction

In this article, I would show you the real statistics of Singapore’s healthcare financing, retirement funds and wages to show you the truth about how our money is being used, or actually, being taken away from us. I do not intend to pretend that this article is neutral. It is not, because as I found out more information, I needed to take a stand.

I had initially started writing this article as an article on our healthcare financing, but as I dug out more information and started piecing things together, it went beyond my original scope. Thus the article would start off with some healthcare statistics, but will eventually reveal other statistics on our retirement funds, wages and money.

It is very easy to read this article. I will guide you through each chart, so that you can understand at one glance what each is saying.

I promise that you will go away from this article with more insights about the monetary situation in Singapore. Please have some patience to read this. It will only take you 10 to 15 minutes to read this article.

I have split this article into two parts, so that in case you might find the article too long, you can take a break before proceeding onto the next part. But please come back and read it. Do not close your browser as there is very important information that you need to know in this article.

The article is structured into 7 sections:

1. Healthcare Outcomes
2. Health Expenditure
3. Medisave Financing
4. Can The Poor and Elderly Afford Healthcare in Singapore?
5. Are We Paid Enough to Afford Healthcare in Singapore?
6. Where Is Our Money Really Going?
7. Do We Really Have Good Health?

Here goes. First, I will show you very quickly the achievements that Singapore has made in our health outcomes. This is the (only) rosy part of this article. If you want to skip to the ‘real’ insights, you can jump to Section 2.

For charts in the first half of the article, you can quickly identify Singapore by the red bar, red line or red dot.

(1) Health Outcomes (Charts 1 to 4b)

In Chart 1, you can see that Singapore has one of the lowest, if not the lowest infant mortality in the world.

Chart 1: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

Chart 2 shows that we have a reasonably low maternal mortality rate, and one of the lowest in the world. According to the recently released ‘State of the World’s Mothers 2013′ report, Channel NewsAsia had reported that, “Singapore is the safest place to be born and the best place to be a mother in Asia … (as) Singapore has the lowest first-day mortality rate in Asia.”

Chart 2: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

In Chart 3a, you can see that we have one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

Chart 3a: UNdata

In Chart 3b, you can see that our healthy life expectancy is lower-ranked than our life expectancy. The healthy life expectancy is the number of years we stay healthy.

Chart 3b: UNdata

You can see why this is so in Chart 3c – because we live slightly more unhealthy years than some of the other countries.

But more importantly, with more unhealthy years, is there affordable healthcare in Singapore to tide Singaporeans through these years? Read on to find out.

Chart 3c: UNdata, UNdata

In Chart 4a, you can see that the adult morality rate of Singaporeans is average and on par with the other developed countries.

Chart 4a: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

In Chart 4b, I had highlighted the morality rate for communicable diseases because it had stood out. This is perhaps not surprising because of our high population density.

The question then is that as the Singapore government plans for 6.9 million people by 2030, do we have adequate healthcare facilities to prepare for the high probability of an even higher morality rate for communicable diseases than we do now and do we have plans to structure the built environment to reduce this probability?

Chart 4b: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

So, generally, you can see that our health outcomes are quite good.

But things don’t look as good from here on.

(2) Health Expenditure (Charts 5a to 18c)

In Chart 5a, you can see that the number of hospital admissions had been increasing for the past 3 years.

(Note: I am not able to locate statistics for beyond the last 3 years on the Ministry of Health’s website. I am not sure why the government had chosen to only show statistics for the preceding 3 years and had chosen not to reveal the statistics prior to 2010. It does not allow Singaporeans to have a clear picture. It is in Singaporeans’ interest that the statistics are fully revealed. This is undemocratic and an intrusion into the rights of Singaporeans for free information.)

Chart 5a: Ministry of Health Singapore Admissions and Outpatient Attendances

In Chart 5b, you can also see that attendance to the accident and emergency (A&E) units had also increased.

Chart 5b: Ministry of Health Singapore Admissions and Outpatient Attendances

In Chart 5c, you can see that the hospital admissions and attendance to A&E had increased at a faster rate than the population growth in Singapore. This can be seen by how the blue bars are taller than the yellow-orange bars.

Chart 5c: Singapore Department of Statistics, Ministry of Health Singapore Admissions and Outpatient Attendances

This is where it starts to get interesting.

Even though there are more and more patients visiting the hospitals, the number of physicians per 10,000 population had remained the same (Chart 6a – data for 2011 and 2012 is unavailable).

Chart 6a: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

The number of hospital beds per 10,000 population had also remained the same (Chart 6b – data for 2012 is unavailable).

Chart 6b: World Health Organisation World Health Statistics

More importantly, if you look at Chart 6c, you will see that Singapore has the lowest number of physicians per 10,000 population.

Chart 6c: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Not only that, we also have one of the lowest number of hospital beds per 10,000 population (Chart 6d).

Chart 6d: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

But why do we have so few physicians and hospital beds per 10,000 population, when the number of patients to the hospitals are increasing at a faster rate than the population in Singapore? Shouldn’t we have more?

If you look at Chart 7, you can see that Singapore has the highest GDP per capita as compared to the other countries compared, and one of the highest in the world.

Chart 7: The World Bank Data

But when you look at Chart 8a, you can see that even though we are the richest (highest on the chart), we have the fewest number of physicians per 1,000 population (most left-to-the-side of the chart). By right, if a country is richer, shouldn’t it be able to provide for more physicians?

On the other end, you can see that Norway is similarly rich but have one of the highest number of physicians per 1,000 population. Even other countries which are less rich have more physicians per 1,000 population.

Chart 8a: UNDP International Human Development Indicators

But no wonder we have such a low number of physicians per 1,000 population (lowest on the chart) because even though the Singapore government is very rich, it spends the least proportion of GDP on healthcare (most left-to-the-side of the chart) (Chart 8b). This is why we do not have enough doctors and hospitals beds.

Chart 8b: UNDP International Human Development Indicators

(Note: From charts 9a to 16b, I would be showing dual-comparison charts of the (1) year with the latest information and the (2) trend from 1996 – so there would be two charts which will present the same information differently.)

Indeed, in Chart 9a, you can thus see that our government spends the lowest proportion of GDP on healthcare.

Chart 9a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

In fact, our government had consistently spent the lowest proportion of GDP on healthcare for the past two decades, at least (Chart 9b).

Chart 9b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

What’s more, even though Singapore is the richest (highest on the chart), our government spends the least on healthcare (most left-to-the-side of the chart) (Chart 9c).

Chart 9c: UNDP International Human Development Indicators

It is even more glaring when you look at Chart 9d – we have the largest amount of reserves (highest on the chart), but yet we spend the least on healthcare (most left-to-the-side of the chart).

Chart 9d: UNDP International Human Development Indicators

And for our healthcare bills, how much does the government contributes? – The government only spends 31% on our healthcare bills (Chart 10a) – the lowest among all the developed countries, and one of the lowest in the world.

Chart 10a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

In Chart 10b, you can see that not only does the Singapore government spends the lowest proportion on our healthcare bills, the proportion has fallen rapidly over the past two decades to the lowest ever in the past few years.

If you look at the other countries, most of them have maintained the same proportion since 1996 and some have even increased the government’s proportion of expenditure, but the Singapore government has chosen to go the other way and deny its support to the people.

Chart 10b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Again, you can see in Chart 10c that even though Singapore is the richest country (highest on the chart), our government spends the least for our own healthcare bills (most left-to-the-side of the chart).

Yet again, all the other countries which are less rich (lower on the chart) spends more on their people as well (more right-to-the-side of the chart).

The Singapore government had recently announced with fanfare and grandeur that they would increase the government’s proportion of healthcare spending to 40%. So, what, Singaporeans? So, what? It will still be the lowest.

Chart 10c: UNDP International Human Development Indicators

So, what does this mean for YOU and your own spending on your healthcare bills?

This means that Singaporeans spend the highest proportion on our healthcare among the developed countries (Chart 11a) – the Singapore people are faced with the highest burden on healthcare among peoples of the developed countries – even though our country is the richest!

Chart 11a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

You can also see that the burden on Singaporeans has been increasing drastically since 1996 in Chart 11b.

Yet, in other countries, their people need to fork out for a smaller proportion for their healthcare bills at a consistently low proportion, and for some, the proportion has fallen.

But our government is unable to do more for us – or rather, is unwilling to.

Chart 11b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

It gets even more glaring in Chart 12a. You can use insurance to pay for your healthcare bills. But you can see that even after deducting for insurance, Singaporeans have to pay the highest proportion of our healthcare bills out of our pockets, whereas the insurance would help to heavily reduce the bills for our peers in the other developed countries.

Chart 12a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

The picture becomes so much clearer in Chart 12b when we look at the trend over the past few years.

As the richest country in this comparison, the government cannot do more for its people but expect the people to shoulder the burden by themselves – and increasingly so over the years!

Chart 12b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Why then are we buying insurance if the insurance does not provide us with adequate coverage? What are the insurance companies really earning?

In Chart 12c, you can see that Singapore has one of the lowest growths in insurance claim payments among the developed countries.

Chart 12c: OECD Global Insurance Market Trends 2012

Now, let’s turn our attention from the proportionate expenditure to the actual amount of money spent.

In Chart 13a, you can see the per capita expenditure on healthcare. Apparently, Singapore has the second lowest per capita expenditure on healthcare. Sounds good, right? Healthcare must be really cheap in Singapore!

Chart 13a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

So, the per capita expenditure on healthcare might have remained low in Singapore over the past few years (Chart 13b).

Chart 13b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Yet, to be able to have a clear understanding of why per capita expenditure on healthcare is low, we would need other statistics such as whether people would see a doctor once they feel unwell or if they would delay seeing a doctor for other reasons (such as the inability to pay, for example). Unfortunately, I am not able to locate these statistics.

However, are Singaporeans fortunate that per capita expenditure on healthcare is low? And can people afford to pay to see a doctor in Singapore?

Read on to find out.

In Chart 14a, you can see that in terms of actual dollars and cents, our government spends the least among all developed countries on the per capita expenditure on healthcare. This is even so that we are the richest country and the government can afford to do more for the people.

Chart 14a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

In Chart 14b, you can see that whereas other governments had increased the actual amount that they spent on healthcare for their people faster, our government had increased their contributions at the slowest rate. You can see this from how much flatter the red line is, as compared to the others.

The governments of other countries have been providing more and more for their people, while the Singapore government had turned the other way and provided comparatively lesser and lesser for the people.

Chart 14b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

So, what does this mean as to how much Singaporeans have to pay? Obviously, if the government is paying lesser, we will have to pay more, right?

Then, you might say – thankfully we have a very low per capita expenditure on healthcare in Singapore, so even if we have to pay more, it won’t be that high an amount right?

That’s where we are so wrong. Because we pay the highest proportion on our own healthcare bills, even with the one of the lowest per capita expenditure on healthcare, we actually pay the highest amount on our healthcare!

You can see this in Chart 15a.

Chart 15a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Isn’t this shocking? We have one of the lowest per capita expenditure on healthcare but our people have to pay so much more than people in the other developed countries! How does this even work?

Not only that, if you see in Chart 15b, you can see that the increase in our private expenditure is very steep – the steepest amongst all the countries compared.

Chart 15b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

So, our government had allowed themselves to increase their contribution to our healthcare bills at the lowest rate, but they had forced us to pay more and more for our own healthcare bills at the fastest rate, so much so that from being comparable with the other nations, we have outstripped them.

This is from a country where the country is so rich that the government can afford to give back to the people but the government wouldn’t.

If you look back at Chart 7 again, you will see that Norway also has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, so it is as rich as Singapore. And the Norwegian government also forks out the most to pay the people’s healthcare bills (Chart 10a and 14a). The Norwegian government is responsible and knows that it has to share what the country earns – because of the people’s efforts – with the people.

In Singapore, this is not the case. The government asks us to contribute to the(ir) economy, and then keeps the money for themselves. Well, is it coming back?

In Chart 16a, you can see that after deducting for insurance, again, it’s even more glaring. We fork out the most money out of our own pockets to pay for healthcare bills, almost twice that of the next country.

Chart 16a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Again, in Chart 16b, you can see how this has shot up dramatically. Dear Singaporeans, welcome to legalised daylight robbery.

Chart 16b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

Has our government taken self-reliance too far? According to a study, “Co-payments remain central to healthcare funding in Singapore in keeping with its philosophy of “shared responsibility” between government and the public, and there is evidence that Singapore’s funding model exacerbates inequity.”

Earlier, I had asked – is our healthcare affordable? What do you think of it now?

We are one of the richest countries in the world. Yet, our government spends the least on its people and even though on paper, we have one of the lowest per capita expenditure on healthcare, we are forced to fork out, out of our pockets, the highest amount among the other countries to pay for our own healthcare bills. So, even though initially, it looks like healthcare is affordable in Singapore (before we breakdown the bills), is it really?

Do you know why the per capita expenditure on healthcare is low? This is because the government wants to keep healthcare prices relatively low in Singapore to grow Singapore as a medical tourism destination. However, while we keep costs low for the rich who can afford to travel to Singapore for healthcare, our own people are then forced to take on the burden of shouldering the increasing healthcare costs in Singapore – are we subsidising the healthcare costs of the rich medical tourists?

Amidst all these, where is the government? It has conveniently thrown our market open to attract more tourists to earn from them – ‘Your Singapore(ans)’ are so “shiok” to take advantage of, and whilst they keep the money earned, very little comes back to us.

Why are we made to shoulder the burden, while the government cuts its support for Singaporeans, at the expense of rich tourists?

There’s even more. Can the government do more? It can but it doesn’t want to. Let me show you.

In Chart 17a, the blue line shows, as had been discussed, that the overall per capita expenditure on healthcare has risen steeply. The red line shows how little the government had increased its expenditure – the line is almost flat.

So, you can see that the per capita expenditure is rising steeply but the government’s contribution hasn’t risen as fast.

Chart 17a: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

In Chart 17b, the green line is how much we have to pay out of our own pockets. Again, as compared to what the government pays (red line), we are made to pay much more.

Chart 17b: World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

But do you know how much our wages have been increasing?

Chart 18a shows the growth of the median gross monthly income. (Note: Data from 2005 and 2006 is unavailable.)

Chart 18a: Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income

In Chart 18b, I compare the growth in our income (pink line) to the increase in per capita healthcare expenditure (blue line).

Chart 18b: Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income, World Health Organisation World Health Expenditure Database

You can see that healthcare expenditure is rising faster than our wages. In other words, what we need to pay for healthcare is increasing faster than our wages. This means that with the slow growth in our wages, we have to fork out more and more to pay for our healthcare bills, which means we would have lesser to save every year.

Now, do you know why it looks like our savings haven’t increased over the past few years? But this isn’t the only reason, as we will see later.

In Chart 18c, you can see that the proportionate change in the real median gross monthly income. This means that after accounting for inflation, our wages had remained stagnant.

Chart 18c: Ministry of Manpower Singapore Income

Why is this important? Read on.

In the next part, I would share with you where else we are forced to pay for rising healthcare costs. Also, we would see that our wages are not growing on par and then find out where our money is really going to.

You can read the next part of the article here.

Key Points for Part 1:

• On the overall, Singapore’s health outcomes are good.
• However, with an increase in the hospital attendances which is faster than population growth, this means that we would require more doctors and hospital beds.
• However, Singapore has the lowest number of doctors and one of the lowest number of hospital beds per 10,000 population among the developed countries.
• This is even so that Singapore has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, but we spend one of the lowest proportion of GDP on healthcare, which explains the low number of doctors and hospital beds as well.
• For our healthcare expenditure, the government also spends the lowest proportion among the developed countries, which leads Singaporeans to spend the highest private and out-of-pocket expenditure on our healthcare bills.
• When we look at the actual dollar spent, Singapore has the second lowest per capita expenditure on healthcare among the developed countries compared.
• Yet, our government spends the lowest expenditure per capita on healthcare.
• Because Singaporeans pay the highest proportion on healthcare bills, this means that even though we have the second lowest per capita expenditure, Singaporeans spend the highest private expenditure and fork out the highest amount out of our pockets for our healthcare bills – which means Singaporeans pay the most for healthcare as compared to the developed countries.
• Per capita healthcare expenditure has risen rapidly over the past few years but the growth in the government’s per capita spending on healthcare has been significantly slower.
• Per capita healthcare expenditure has also been rising faster than the growth in the wages of Singaporeans, which means that Singaporeans have to fork out even more out of their stagnant wages to foot the growing healthcare bills.

Picture credit: Singapore Kindness Movement Singa Resigns

Subject: Open Letter to Singapore – I Quit

Dear Singapore,

I quit.

Do you know what a mascot is? Oxford defines me as, “a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular organization or event.” Merriam-Webster calls me a “symbolic figure”.

You see, I need a long break, especially from the government. You know what a “symbolic figure” is? Fake one, fake! That means, I am a fake. You see, I’ve been doing this for 30 years. On the surface, it looks like I am your mascot for kindness. But really, I am just “supposed to bring good luck” to “a particular organization” – PAP. They had hoped that if I had pranced around enough and make you kind, or maybe make you their kind, or actually, make you kind to them, that you will feel that the problems that they create will disappear.

But, it’s been said that kindness shouldn’t be a campaign. That people in authority – the government – should lead by example. So, you had said, “fix my problems first, then we can talk about being kind.” So, that’s what they tried to do – they went around fixing the opposition. But now, the problem has come a full circle and now they tio “AIM-ed”.

It’s not that kindness is not innate in all of us. It is just that it’s not innate in our politicians because “gang rape, after all, is democracy in action”. When you say, “We have so many problems. How can we be kind?” I also say. Is kindness for the good times? Can we rise even in challenging times? But I understand how you feel – we have been in bad and challenging times for more than 10 years now. Singaporeans work the longest hours in the developed world and are also paid the lowest wages. Our wages have also remained stagnant and for low-salaried workers like me, wages have dropped. Yet, the government keeps telling me that they will increase my wages with the ‘Progressive Wage Structure’, ‘Workfare Income Supplement’ and the ‘Wage Credit Scheme’. Simi Lai eh?! Just increase my pay already, can?  Talk so much for so many years and my pay is still only as good as the Malayan tiger.

I know, might as well be a foreign talent, right? At least I get treated better than in my own home. You can just take a look at the parrot, I mean, “patriot” and you can see. So patriot that he asked me to retire in his home country. When we retire, we have the most kiam siap pension among the developed countries and even among the ASEAN countries. You might have heard that my resignation is just a joke and that I am “staging a comeback”. What comeback? Actually, I wasn’t joking but I just realised that if I retire now, I won’t have enough money to use, so no choice lor. The government just says that I have a lot of free time and don’t know what to do. They say what, say lor. I also lan lan.

If we can only be nice if other people are nice to us first, who will start the ball rolling? This is true, because the government will never roll their ball. I know – we have been asking them to increase our wages, reduce prices, reduce stress and give us more subsidies for healthcare and education, but they still don’t want to roll the ball, right? Nowadays, I don’t even dare to see the doctor because we have to pay the most for healthcare in Singapore. And so, I have decided to buy pants to wear so that I can keep warm. Thank you, mrbrown for noticing.

When they ask you to hold their balls, if not they will kick you in your balls, how to be kind, right?

A final word before I go. We can go online and be rude to others, but let’s not think it “doesn’t count” because it’s anonymous. Otherwise, learn from the PAP MPs – delete comments you think “doesn’t count”, or ban people from commenting. So gracious, right? Or you can be Like Lee Bee Wah – now her Facebook page looks like an advertisement for Dynamo.

Actually, let me tell you a secret. Do you know what the kindness campaign is for? We can let our anger and disagreement dictate the kind of people and society we want to be, or we can decide to be gracious, even when frustrated. That is why the PAP has decided to dictate the kind of people and society they want you to be. You cannot protest and when they say that they will let you, they will get their undercovers down with state-of-art cameras to film you.

We are responsible for the sort of society we encourage and create. It is our choices that determine who we are. I know what choice I will make at the next general elections.

All the best, Singapore. You really need it.

Your friend and fellow slave,

Singa

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister without any portfolio Lim Swee Say made some bold claims on May Day this year. (The real reason for not having a named portfolio is because it would be ironic to have a Minister for Unions, wouldn’t it? The government shouldn’t be interfering in union affairs, rightfully!)

A look at the statistics will bulldoze their claims.

Mr Lim laid claim to his famous tagline of how workers should be ‘Cheaper, Better and Faster (CBF)‘. Imagine this coming from the person who is supposed to head the labour union – precisely the person who should be protecting us and helping us fight for higher wages. But no, he wants us to be cheaper. (Dear readers, please also see at the bottom of this article a clarification on Mr Lim’s definition of CBF.)

So, let’s take a look at the statistics to see if Mr Lim’s CBF is statistically sound.

Now, come with me as we go through the following charts. They are very easy to read. I’d written simple, direct statements describing the charts and have linked them up, so that they form a story. Focus on the red bars – these represent where Singapore stand.

Mr Lim says cheaper workers are better. Is that so? In Chart 1, you can see that Singapore workers are paid the lowest wages in the developed countries. Indeed, we are damn cheap.

Chart 1

(Source: UBS Prices and Earnings 2011 Report)

How do we measure, “better”? I looked at productivity. According to Mr Lim’s logic, we should be better – so, highly productive, right?

Chart 2 shows the labour productivity of the developed countries. You can see that Singapore has one of the lowest productivity rates in the world.

Chart 2

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS))

Cheaper and better? Not really. Mr Lim’s claims go up in smoke here.

How about “faster and better”? Maybe Mr Lim will get it right here. In Chart 3, you will see the average weekly work hours that workers put in in the developed countries. Do Singaporeans work faster?

Chart 3

(Source: OECD StatExtracts, Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics, 2012)

In Chart 3, you can see that Singaporeans are made to work the longest hours in developed world. Hardly the fastest that Mr Lim claims. Chart 2 shows that Singapore workers are also one of the most unproductive.

Faster and better? Again, Mr Lim makes a very bold claim, which cannot substantiated by the statistics. In fact, the statistics go the other way of Mr Lim’s claims.

If you look at the countries with higher productivity, they are the countries that will they pay their workers higher wages and have shorter hours.

Mr Lim’s SBF holds no water at all and is erroneous. To be better, we need to be dearer, not cheaper. And faster? Definitely – which means the government needs to shorten work hours. Will they do it? Go ahead, laugh.

Now, if you remember in May Day last year, PM Lee had made the claim that if Singapore workers are able to increase productivity by 30%, the government will let wages go up by 30%.

Look at Chart 2 again. Singapore’s productivity is very low. Chart 1 shows our wages are the lowest.

PM Lee had said himself that our productivity growth has slowed down decade-on-decade over the past 3 decades. It is unlikely that Singapore’s productivity will go up. So, why in the world did the government tell us that they will increase our wages if Singapore’s productivity goes up? They know productivity won’t increase so why make a promise which they know they cannot fulfill and won’t come true?

So, since their productivity promise didn’t come true, this year, PM Lee has tried a new tack, so he had said – to grow our wages, we should grow the economy. Laughable.

I’ve written about this before [link] and I will illustrate it here again.

In Chart 4, you can see that Singapore’s GDP per capita is the highest among the developed countries.

Chart 4

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS))

In Chart 1, you’d already seen that Singapore workers are paid the lowest wages. So, grow the economy to grow our wages right? Our GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world – is our wages similarly one of the highest? In the past decade when there was economic growth, our wages never grew with it. In fact, our wages remained stagnant and the real worth even decreased for some.

Grow the economy to grow our wages. It has never happened before – the government wasn’t interested to do so. What makes you think the government will do it in future?

So, why did the government make another claim, knowing yet again that it’s one that they won’t be able to keep, or won’t be interested to keep?

In fact, when you look at the countries with the highest GDP per capita, they are also more likely to pay their workers higher wages and let them work shorter hours. But why didn’t Singapore? Our country is the richest and the people are the poorest.

Why didn’t the government return the money to the people?

It is thus unsurprising that Singaporeans have become the least happy people in the world, as you can see in Chart 5.

Chart 5

(Source: Gallup)

We are made to slog long work hours at terribly low wages, even as we help our country earn so much.

Is it any wonder why Singapore’s productivity is so low? When you have such unhappy people who are made to work long hours and paid such low wages, they feel so demoralized that they are not motivated and committed to their work. Do you even need to be a rocket scientist to understand this?

Shelley Prevost, director of happiness at Lamp Post Group, said it best when she said that, “the happiest workplaces are the ones that seriously honor the humanity of their people. “When you ‘get’ that employees are human beings first and worker bees second, you say something about their worth. Companies with happily engaged employees laugh at the rules that are more about upholding policy than caring about the well-being of others. They hire people with a capacity to care for one another, foster connectedness at every level of the company, give an inspiring vision not laced with b.s. platitudes, but about real possibilities. You want to work in these places because they make you feel purposeful, connected, and valued.”

So, when we talk about how Singaporeans are discontented, is it understandable? Chart 6 shows that we have one of the developed countries’ lowest life satisfaction. I’m not surprised.

Chart 6

(Source: Human Development Report 2013)

The sad state of affairs is that the government doesn’t care. In Chart 7, you can see that before taxes and transfers, many developed countries have higher income inequality than Singapore.

Chart 7

(Source: OECD StatExtracts, Key Household Income Trends 2012 report)

Yet, after taxes and transfers, Singapore becomes the most unequal (Chart 8).

Chart 8

(Source: OECD StatExtracts, Key Household Income Trends 2012 report)

Why is this the case? Because as you can in Chart 9, the government does the least for its people. It helps us the least, even though its arguably the country best able to help its people.

Chart 9

(Source: OECD StatExtracts, Key Household Income Trends 2012 report)

Already, you’ve seen in Chart 4 that we are amongst the richest countries in the developed world, so the government is very capable of helping the people.

And in Chart 10, Singapore has the world’s highest reserves per capita and at a staggering amount! Yet, why is the government not interested in helping the people more?

Chart 10

(Source: The World Bank)

To be clear, the government is more than willing to help – it’s not whether they want to help. It’s who they want to help.

In Chart 11, you can see that the government pays themselves the highest salaries in the entire world.

Chart 11

In per capita terms, the magnitude of the richness of the salary is even more stark (Chart 12).

Chart 12

Which explains why Singapore’s in me inequality is so wide. The huge divide is caused by the government and our politicians themselves.

So, we are made to pay one of the highest prices in the world (Chart 13).

Chart 13

(Source: UBS Prices and Earnings 2011 Report)

And our purchasing power is thus the lowest in the developed world (Chart 14) and comparable to that of much poorer countries.

Chart 14

(Source: UBS Prices and Earnings 2011 Report)

But even as the government gives us very low wages and prices goods above the value of our wages, they continue to spend very little on our aspects of our basic necessities.

Our government spends the lowest proportion of GDP on health among the developed countries, and indeed among the lowest in the world (Chart 15).

Chart 15

(Source: World Health Statistics 2012)

Not only that, the government spends the lowest proportion for our healthcare bills (Chart 16).

Chart 16

(Source: World Health Statistics 2012)

And on top of our low wages and low purchasing power, we are made to foot the largest proportion of our healthcare bills by ourselves – the highest among the developed countries and one of the highest in the world (Chart 17).

Chart 17

(Source: World Health Statistics 2012)

We don’t even have enough doctors (Chart 18). No wonder waiting times at the hospitals have become so long!

Chart 18

(Source: World Health Statistics 2012)

All these when Singapore is one of the richest country, where we have the highest reserves per capita and where our government deems that it has earn enough to pay itself such staggering high wages but that it doesn’t have enough to give to the people.

Worse still, housing prices are one of the highest in the world (Chart 19).

Chart 19

(Source: Global Property Guide)

And even as our country is so rich, our people have one of the lowest pension index, which means that our pension “has major risks and/or shortcomings” (Chart 20).

Chart 20

(Source: The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2012)

Is it any wonder why we are the world’s people with the least emotions (Chart 21)?

Chart 21

(Source: Gallup)

We’ve learnt to suppressed our inner feelings. We are being cheated and squeezed left, right, centre.

We are given the lowest wages and made to pay the one of the highest prices. We thus have so little to save for our retirement and all these while the rich get richer, our ministers become richer and the poor becomes poorer.

All these while the many other responsibilities in our lives such as housing and healthcare continues to be so expensive, where we receive so little support and our government expects us to pay out of our own pockets, from the already meager wages that we are forced to receive.

Is it any wonder why Singapore has the world’s lowest fertility rate (Chart 22).

Chart 22

Would we dare bring a child into this world when we do not even have enough for ourselves? How would we expect the child to fend for itself in a Singapore where our government has become so heartless, and where they continue to expound a meritocracy that benefits themselves and helps themselves, all this while telling the people that the people should rely on themselves and shouldn’t expect the government to help them. All this self-reliance bull when the government helps itself.

It all falls into place, doesn’t it? Rich country but low wages and long working hours. Which results in people being unhappy and thus have low productivity. Very high income inequality where government pays itself handsomely while refusing to help the people, making them pay for basic necessities, thus giving the people such dissatisfaction in their lives. With little left for themselves for their retirement and after spending so much on housing, and all these add together, people aren’t really in the mood to reproduce. And Singaporeans have thus learnt to suppress our oppression at the hands of PAP so much so that we’ve learnt to either not express ourselves, or burst out, like many of the drivers on our roads nowadays. It’s very clear what’s happening in Singapore, but why doesn’t the government want to do anything about it?

Singapore is in a very sad state. We have a government which wants the people to live in a make-believe world where they believe that the government has the interests of Singaporeans at heart. Sure, the government has the interests of Singaporeans – not all, not some but only a few who continue to help each other in their small elitist world, while the rest of us slog to help them earn a good living, while the rest of us continue to allow ourselves to pretend that all is fine, while we are being cheated and robbed the living daylights out of us.

The statistics speak for themselves. I don’t know how else or what else I need to say to convince Singaporeans of the truth. Some Singaporeans continue to fear – we live in a fear that the government tells us to believe in and we make it so real that we don’t dare to question them because we are scared as to what might happen to us.

But what we don’t realise is that when we question, we will only make things better for ourselves.

Many Singaporeans still don’t realise that it is because of what people like us – civil society, bloggers, online commenters, Facebook administrators etc – that have forced the government to change so that Budget 2013 was decidedly more helpful for Singaporeans, ever so slightly. I can bet you that if not for the Singaporeans who question and force the government’s hand, prices will continue to spiral this year and we will continue to feel stifled by our stagnant wages.

Why else would the government try to keep coming out with new ways of telling us that our wages will increase. They are panicking! Yet, they still haven’t offered any real solutions. What are progressive wages? What is the Workfare Income Supplement? Will these actually work? What will really work are minimum wages and strong independent unions. Ask the 90% of the countries in this world with minimum wages and the Nordic countries and Switzerland which have strong unions.

It cannot be that Singaporeans are still waiting for the government to make things better. I’ve shown you the statistics! What more do I need to show you? We keep giving away our rights to the government. I still hear people say – why are you thinking or questioning so much? Or people who believe in thinking in a self-defeatist mode – but the opposition isn’t good enough, they say.

If you haven’t realised by now, it doesn’t matter who is in government. As long as people in government have power, the politics they play will deny us our right. If you want your lives to be better, then you make it better. You speak up and you tell the government what to do. You help the government run the country. It really doesn’t matter who is in government. What matters is a government where all parties work together and where we make sure the government works for us.

It’s time we realise this and not wait until the cows come home. Because the cows are never gonna come home. This is not New Zealand.

If I cannot convince you with these statistics, then you have to get out of your own fear. It’s time we take power into our own hands and remake our destiny, as our forefathers had made theirs in 1959 and 1965. It’s about time.

You know, I miss Mr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S. Rajaratnam and Mr Toh Chin Chye. None of the current PAP politicians have the moral integrity, courage and non-corruptibility that these great leaders of fore who had truly built Singapore for what it is today had.

We need a new batch of leaders among our Singaporeans now to lead Singapore into another truly memorable chapter, one that we will all share together.

Addendum: Dear readers, I have received feedback from the comments on this article and on Facebook that I have misunderstood Mr Lim’s definition of CBF. Please see below a comment that a reader had sent to me on Facebook:

“Roy sweetheart. Great article but started on the wrong footing. Cheaper Better and Faster does not refer to the workers, and definitely not salaries. If you’ll give the man a chance, you should watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUfq4IoVtM&feature=player_embedded “

Another person had also shared the following on Facebook:

Source: Ang Teck Huat’s Facebook page

You can read more about Mr Lim’s clarification of CBF here.

I apologise for the misinterpretation of Mr Lim’s concept of CBF. The misinterpretation had arose as I was unable to have a complete understanding of CBF from the articles that I have read online.

Please note however, that the content of this article remains relevant, as aside from the misinterpretation, it remains that workers’ wages in Singapore are lowest among the developed countries, that Singapore has one of the lowest productivity and that Singapore workers work the longest hours among the developed countries.

In the pursuit to be “Cheaper”, it can be worrying to workers’ wages can inadvertently be compromised.

The Straits Times had reported that, “Mr Khaw declared in Parliament last month that he wanted new flats in non-mature estates to cost four times the annual median salary of a buyer – down 30 per cent from the current 5.5 times. This would return prices to what they were before the property bull run of the last six years, he said.”

Mr Khaw had said that, “BTO pricing will be brought down to four times annual median incomes “quite soon” … It’s not something for the next century.”

The Straits Times had also reported that, “The cheaper flats would have to come with restrictions to differentiate them, so that current flat owners would not see their values plummet overnight.” The Straits Times had reported on possible restrictions such as by, “Selling a cheaper class of flat on a shorter lease such as 60 years, as opposed to the current 99 years (which) would be the easiest way,” “extend(ing) the number of years that a buyer has to stay in his new flat before he can sell it” or by selling the flats back to HDB.

First, I applaud the move to reduce the price of new flats from 5.5 times the current annual median salary to four times.

However, I disagree with the approach – why do flat owners have to put up with “restrictions” for new flats, to purchase new flats which are finally more priced at a more appropriate level, than when they were overpriced at 5.5 times?

The government had (somewhat) admitted that they had pursued flawed policies over the past few years, when they had “used a market-based approach to price its Build- To-Order (BTO) flats … (which) resulted in soaring new flat prices as the resale market spiked 80 per cent over the last six years.”

But why should Singaporeans bear the costs of inappropriate pricing policy pursued by the Housing & Development Board? If “restrictions” are put in place to reduce the worth of the flat, what difference would it make to reduce the prices of the new flats?

The inherent problem is that prices had ballooned, because of two factors – first, over-speculation and second, wages which did not grow in tandem with the rise in housing prices. In terms of over-speculation, the government took too long to put in effective policies to curb the growth of prices.

However, for the purpose of this article – why did the government not address the lack of growth, or the stagnation of wages, in the discussion of housing prices – when they have pegged the housing prices to median incomes?

Below, I will show you 3 charts. In Chart 1, you can see that the Housing Price Index had grown immensely from 2001 to 2011. (I couldn’t locate the link for this chart on the government’s website anymore, but could locate it on my previous article.)

Chart 1

In Chart 2, you can see that the HDB Resale Price Index has also grown immensely from 2002 to 2012. I am not able to locate the housing price index for new flats.

Chart 2 (Source: Department of Statistics Singapore)

Now, take a look at Chart 3. You can see the change in median gross monthly income. There wasn’t much growth.

Chart 3 (Source: Ministry of Manpower Income)

In Chart 4, you can see the change in annual wages. Again, growth plateaued.

Chart 4 (Source: Ministry of Manpower Income)

The charts speak for themselves. Whereas housing prices grew tremendously, wages remained stagnant.

Back to the question – why should the people shoulder full responsibility for housing prices which inflated because of bad government policies? Why should the people have to bear with “restrictions”? The people have been warning the government of ballooning housing prices for years, but this has fallen on deaf ears, or if they were heard, the government had reacted far too slowly.

Granted that some Singaporeans and other residents in Singapore were party to the growth of housing prices, due to their price speculation of private and resale housing prices. But the flaw in this was that the government allowed HDB prices to be pegged to private housing and to be dragged upwards.

What the government should have done was to have clear markets, and ensure that the prices of public housing was not led astray. The government did not responded when it needed to.

And now, the government expects the people to bear the brunt of the government’s mistakes.

But more importantly, if indeed housing prices are to be brought down from 5.5 times that of the annual median salary to four times that, why is it that the government has only devised the solution to “restrict” the type of housing we are able to buy?

Why didn’t the government devise the solution to uplift our wages instead?

Problematically, our wages were left to be stagnant while housing prices soared. Not only that, our wages were eroded in their value by inflation. Most worryingly, as I had written previously, Singapore’s wage levels and purchasing power is the lowest among the developed countries, even as we are one of the richest. This is preposterous.

There is a lot of room for our wages to grow, because they have been forcefully deflated. And if the government is not willing to pursue this, then it is in no position to force Singaporeans to have to compromise with “restrictions” forced on us.

Prices of public housing have to come down, either through pushing prices down, increasing wages, or a combination of both. But until both approaches are used, the government should not force Singaporeans to compromise on their standard of living simply because of poor government planning and the chronic depression of wages.

How to read the chart:

Why Are Singaporeans’ Wages So Low?

(1) The Government Owns Some of the Largest Singapore Companies

1. By some estimates, the government owns 40% to 60% of the Singapore economy.
2. Some of the largest companies in Singapore are Singapore companies. (http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20120423-341447.html)
3. The government owns Temasek Holdings. Temasek Holdings own majority shares in these Singapore companies.
4. Singapore is the main market for the Singapore companies (their international forays haven’t been very successful).
5. To maximise earnings, Singapore companies need to earn from the people in Singapore.
6. To maximise earnings, companies need to increase prices, and SUPPRESS THE GROWTH OF WAGES.

(2) The Increase in Prices is Faster than the Growth in Wages

1. Prices increase faster than the growth in wages, so the real growth in wages is lower, or stagnated (source link).

(3) Singapore Workers Have No Collective Bargaining Power for Their Wages

1. The government controls unions in Singapore. Unions are not independent.
2. Unions do not protect Singapore workers. Singapore workers do not have collective bargaining power.
3. THUS NO ONE FIGHTS FOR WORKERS’ WAGES & WORKERS’ WAGES REMAIN LOW.

(4) Government’s Policy Sets Low Wage Limits to Employ Foreigners

1. The minimum wage limit for companies to employ work permit holders, S Pass holders and Employment Pass holders is $800 (for the Singaporean worker), $2,000 and $3,000 respectively. This is the de facto minimum wage for workers with lower qualifications, diploma holders and degree holders, respectively. The wages of Singaporean workers are depressed to this level.
2. Companies will choose to employ foreigners who are willing to accept a lower wage.
3. SINGAPOREAN WORKERS WILL HAVE TO ACCEPT A LOWER WAGE to be competitive and employed.
4. This is also why wages have not increased beyond this level.

(5) The Real Reason Why the Government Wants to Increase the Number of Foreigners

1. The government wants to increase the number of foreigners to increase the size of the market – double the market size.
2. This will increase their revenue and profits.

(6) CONCLUSION

1. The money earned by Temasek Holdings go into the reserves.
2. But do we really know where all the money goes to?

WHY IS IT OUR GOVERNMENT PAYS THEMSELVES THE HIGHEST SALARIES IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD?

AND WHY IS IT OUR GOVERNMENT PAYS SINGAPORE WORKERS THE LOWEST SALARIES IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD?

You can also share this chart on Facebook here.

Straits Times Says Salaries Are Low Because of High Inflation

The Straits Times on Saturday carried an article which wanted to convince Singaporeans to believe that the reason our starting salaries have remained stagnant is because of inflation.

The article stated that, “rising prices, more so than competition from foreigners, are to blame for starting salaries flatlining in recent years.” Really, what do you think of this, readers?

For readers who have been reading this blog, you would know that I do not believe that we should think that foreigners are the cause of this country’s problem, nor should we blame them. As I’ve explained several times, the reason is with bad government policies, so rightfully we should blame the government.

I’m not one to believe in blaming, but for the intention of this article, let’s look at who we need to blame.

Why Did The Straits Times Write The Article?

First, what is the purpose of Straits Times’ article? When I read the article, the glaring question in my mind was – why did The Straits Times even put out this article? What was its purpose?

There was no clear conclusion at the end of the article. Sure, so now we know that The Straits Times claimed that inflation is the main reason for stagnating salaries, what does The Straits Times believe the government should do? What plans are there for the government to ameliorate rising inflation, or who should we blame?

As I’ve said, if the reason for stagnating salaries would be attributed to the influx of foreigners, rightfully, we would need to blame the government for bad policies. However, if the reason is due to rising inflation, who should we blame?

For the rest of the article, I hope to ask the reader some questions, so that we are able to have a better self-understanding to the most pertinent issue that surrounds Singaporeans at the moment.

But Who Caused Prices to Increase?

Think about it – what are some of the greatest rises in prices? Housing and cars? Who caused the prices of houses and cars to rise? The rich people? Ok, fine – but rising prices are finally starting to slow down this year, so why can prices suddenly slow down? Very obviously, because of new policies introduced in Budget 2013. So, who then caused prices to come down? – the government. Can you still blame the rich people for causing prices to go up? They are still buying the houses and cars, but why are prices coming down (slightly)? Because of government intervention which has introduced additional costs to purchase housing and cars, which has driven down price speculation. So, we should thank the government right? My question is this – the government had known that costs were ballooning out of control for the past few years now – if they could intervene to control the rise in prices, why did they not do so earlier? And if they did not do so earlier when they could, who is in fact the cause of the high inflation in Singapore?

Prices did not just start to rise out of nowhere. The prices rose because the government wanted to invite the rich to come to the Singapore. The government wanted the rich to come and spend on big budget items – housing and cars – so that the government can earn revenue from them. And in order for the government to be able to earn from them, the government wants prices to keep rising. Is there any surprise why the government didn’t want to introduce decisive policies to prevent price speculation, until this year when they were finally forced by the people to do so, and only because ordinary Singaporeans were priced out of buying housing and cars?

The Real Reason for Suppressed Salaries – Companies Did Not Want To Give Higher Salaries

Now, back to the article – The Straits Times had wanted us to believe that inflation was the cause of our salaries which have stagnated. If it was true that inflation is the main cause, who then is to be blamed for high inflation? Yes – the government.

But this is all on the premise that the assumption that the article made was true – that inflation caused stagnating salaries. If you look at the article and the chart below that The Straits Times had created, you can see that for the lowest growth in starting pay, the salaries had remained the same in 2008 and 2012.

Now, if salaries had stagnated because of inflation, how does this chart even explain how that has happened? Logically, if salaries had stagnated because of inflation, what The Straits Times should show is that salaries should have increased from 2008 to 2012, and then show in a third column how the increase in inflation has thus eroded the starting pay, shouldn’t it?

But what The Straits Times had shown is that salaries had remained the same in 2008 and 2012! Even without factoring inflation into the equation, any lay person can tell you this – salaries stagnated because salaries remained the same! Companies did not want to give higher salaries, simple as that.

What was The Straits Times trying to do create a false impression that inflation was the cause of stagnating salaries? What formula or calculation did The Straits Times use to prove that stagnating salaries are more likely due to inflation than other causes? I don’t see any. Was The Straits Times pulling fast one on us? Obviously.

Companies Did Not Want To Give Higher Salaries Because The Government Allowed Them Not To

Next, the question I want to ask is – do you know why companies did not want to give higher salaries? In the article, Kelly Services’ Mark Hall explained why – “By increasing the minimum salary of a Q1 Employment Pass holder, graduates may gain some bargaining power.” Amidst the truth that The Straits Times wanted to brush over, we are back to the real cause – companies wouldn’t pay Singaporeans higher salaries because they don’t have to – the policies were set at a bar where they need not increase the salaries of Singaporeans. They could simple employ someone else who would be willing to accept a lower salary, so Singaporeans were forced to accept lower wages.

But more importantly, do you know why the government isn’t interested in setting a policy that would increase the salaries of Singaporeans?

The Government Doesn’t Want To Increase Salaries Because They Own Singapore Companies

Because of this – do you know which are the largest and richest companies in Singapore? Do a search – you will find that most of them are Singapore companies.

Next, do you know who controls these companies? Do a search again – go look up the annual reports of these companies. You will find that Temasek Holdings has, directly or indirectly, majority stakes in them or that these companies have stakes in one another. And who owns Temasek Holdings? The government.

Now, do you know why the government doesn’t want salaries to increase? The largest companies in Singapore are owned by the government – these companies’ main market is in Singapore. They have hardly made significant inroads into the other international markets, so for the large part, they still rely on the Singapore market for their revenue and profits. Now, who makes up the Singapore market? You got it – Singaporeans (who for now, make the majority).

How Do Companies Increase Revenue and Profits?

If you are a company, what are two ways you increase your revenue and profits? First, you increase prices. According to The Straits Times, inflation has been going up faster – so prices are increasing.

And what is the other way to do it? Reduce, or suppress salaries.

Now, if you follow the logic here, the Singapore companies’ main market is in Singapore, so really, they can only earn from Singaporeans. So, as a Singapore company, you need to increase prices and you need to suppress salaries. If our salaries are being suppressed, who is doing it? Who controls these Singapore companies? Who employs the largest group of Singaporeans in Singapore? It doesn’t take too much time to draw two and two together, does it?

In an article that I’ve published on Saturday (link), I presented charts which showed that even though Singapore has the one of the highest GDP per capita in the developed economies, our people have the lowest wages among the developed economies, but not only that, we have one of the highest prices! – What this means is that even though we are one of the richest countries in the world, Singaporeans have the lowest purchasing powers in the economically developed countries. How can that be?

That can be because the government wants it to be that way. The only way that the government can, and know how to earn money, is from Singaporeans – since the Singapore companies haven’t made significant inroads into the international markets. So, Singaporeans have to be on the chopping board.

THIS IS WHY OUR SALARIES HAVE REMAINED DEPRESSED – BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT HAS DEPRESSED IT.

At the end of The Straits Times article, I found myself scratching my head as to why The Straits Times would want to write that article. When I told my friend about this article, he remarked – the government wants to say this, so that they can employ more foreigners. And he’s right.

Why Does The Government Wants Foreigners?

Now, do you know why the government wants to employ more foreigners? If you cannot bring your companies into the international market to earn more from other people, what do you do? Right – you bring them into your country. We are talking about another 2 to 3 million people, on top of the Singaporeans – the market size will double.

If Singaporeans are not creating enough babies to increase the size of the market, then we need to import people in to increase the size of our market.

This is the reason why the government needs foreigners – it needs revenue and profits. Not only that, it needs rich foreigners who are able to spend.

It’s very sad indeed that in Singapore, the people are looked at as two things by the government. We are either workers who should produce for the Singapore companies, or consumers who should spend for the Singapore companies. Amidst all these, we aren’t really seen as citizens – and this is why the government is so resistant towards providing social welfare for the people – because there are no citizens in Singapore. Providing support for the poor simply does not generate enough revenue back for the government, they think. There are only workers and consumers. There is no democracy. There is only capitalism. We’ve only gotten one of the two ideologies of freedom, and not the one that would benefit us. We got the short end of the stick.

Singaporeans Are Not Against Government. We Just Want To Be Treated Fairly

But no one is telling the government that they cannot earn so much money. Fine and well, earn enough as long as we know that whatever we are helping to produce for the economy, we get the returns back. In another article (link), I’d presented charts to show how we aren’t – where income inequality in Singapore is the highest among economically developed countries and where our government subsidises the lowest proportion of our healthcare bills as well.

Not only is the government increasing prices and suppressing our salaries so that they can earn more from us, they are also limiting how much they need to give back to us, so that they can save more for themselves.

Singaporeans are not against the government earning money. What Singaporeans want is that the government share with Singaporeans the wealth so that for what we’ve put in for the country, we can at least receive an acceptable standard of living back. If the government wants to keep saving for a rainy day, then when does the government want to give the money back? 2080?

This government is horrendously rich – they are hundreds of billions of dollars rich. What are they saving for? So that when the PAP MPs retire, they are able to live in big bungalows while Singaporeans still fear if they are able to buy their own housing?

What is the government keeping the money away from us for? I can think of no reason except for this – greed.

The Straits Times reported yesterday that PM Lee Hsien Loong had said that, “for incomes to rise, the economy must grow … Everyone would like their lives to become better and one important way of doing that is to make sure your pay goes up, especially with low-income workers. And for the pay to go up, the economy has to grow.”

The Straits Times also said that this made “clear the centrality of economic growth which has been disputed by some who are worried about foreign workers and inequality.” Essentially, what is being said is that Singaporeans should prioritise Singapore’s economic growth, and put aside our concerns of over-crowding and income inequality.

• So, should we stop thinking that Singapore’s income inequality is that high, and that we should stop asking the government to increase our wages?
• Is it true what PM Lee had said that as long as the economy grows that we will have higher wages?

Let’s take a look.

In the charts below, I will compare the following:

• GDP per capita
• Wage levels
• Price levels
• Domestic purchasing power

I will compare these indicators with two different sets of countries (developed vs developing economies). Note that except for GDP per capita which is based on the countries, the comparison is based on the cities. I am unable to locate the GDP per capita for the cities.

The data source for GDP per capita is taken from the Human Development Report 2013. All the rest are taken from UBS Prices and Earnings report. The 2012 report did not include Singapore in the report but I had managed to locate the 2011 report, which did include Singapore. You might perhaps understand why Singapore was omitted in the 2012 report after reading this article.

Comparison with Other Developed Economies

In this first set of comparison, I will compare the indicators with a select group of developed economies.

Chart 1 shows the GDP per capita of the developed countries. You can see that Singapore has the highest GDP per capita.

Chart 1

Now, according to PM Lee, if the economy does well, so will our incomes right? So, let’s take a look at Chart 2. Chart 2 shows the wage levels of the cities, with New York = 100.

Chart 2

You can see that even though Singapore’s economy is doing very well and we are the richest country, we actually have the second lowest wage level among the cities compared!

So, when PM Lee says that, “for incomes to rise, the economy must grow”, is that even true? Obviously, not.

In Chart 3, you can see the price levels. What is shocking is that even though Singapore has the second lowest wage level, we actually have quite a high price level – we have the fifth highest price level.

Chart 3

Which means that if you look at Chart 4, because we earn such a low wage and prices are so high in Singapore, we actually have the lowest purchasing power, as compared to the other developed economies.

Chart 4

In sum, what you can see here is that even though Singapore is the richest country and has the strongest economy, by per capita, we earn comparatively much lower wages, and because prices are so high, we have a severely eroded purchasing power.

Comparison with the Developing Economies

In the next set of comparison, I will compare the indicators with a select group of developing economies.

In Chart 5, you can see that Singapore has a much higher GDP per capita than all the other countries.

Chart 5

In Chart 6, you can see that our wage level is higher as well, but more importantly, even though Singapore’s GDP per capita is nearly 4 times higher than the next highest country and 7 times higher the third highest, our wage level is barely twice as high as the second and third highest city!

Chart 6

In Chart 7, you can see the price levels of the cities. Note that price levels in Kuala Lumpur is actually half that of Singapore.

Chart 7

Finally, and more importantly, when you look at Chart 8, you can see that Singapore’s purchasing power is similar to the next highest city – Kuala Lumpur. This is even though our GDP per capita is nearly 4 times higher than Malaysia!

Chart 8

Singaporeans, We Are Being Cheated

What’s going on here?

• Even though Singapore is the richest country in this comparison, we are paid the lowest wages among the developed economies. Among the developing economies, their peoples are paid comparatively higher wages even though the country is much poorer.
• Even though Singapore is the richest country, we have the lowest purchasing power among the developed economies. Not only that, when compared to the developing economies, our purchasing power is the same as that of Kuala Lumpur.

What the F is PM Lee Hsien Loong talking about when he says that, “for incomes to rise, the economy must grow”?

If this is indeed the case, what has happened to the past two or three decades of economic growth? Where has all the supposed wage growth that PM Lee is presumably talking about gone to? Why is it that even though Singapore’s economy was growing so strongly and that we are the richest country, that our wages are the lowest in the developed economies (as compared to countries in this comparison)?

Not only that, why is it that even though we are the richest country, we have the lowest purchasing power among the developed economies and our purchasing power is almost on par with that of the other developing economies.

For a country so, so F-ing rich, why are we able to afford only a standard of living which is only on par with the developing economies?

Behind all the glamour and blink-blink, have we been had, Singaporeans?

Last year, the government said that they had hoped to increase productivity by 30% in the next 10 years so that our wages will increase by 30% as well. As I had written previously, this proposal was doomed to fail because:

1. Singapore’s productivity growth did not even reach an average of 2% annually over the past decade. In fact, Singapore’s productivity growth had been dropping decade-on-decade for the past 3 decades. How did the government intend to miraculously grow productivity by 3% annually for the next decade?
2. Also, Singapore’s wage growth had never kept pace with productivity growth in the past decade so even if productivity growth did miraculously grow by 30%, our wages wouldn’t have grown by as much.

So, after one year of telling people that we need to grow our productivity, so that wages will grow – knowing how it will not work at all – the government has finally changed tack and said, well, we would need to grow the economy.

Of course, when you increase productivity, you would be able to grow the economy. So, is PM Lee saying one and the same thing? Well, he could be.

Old Wine In New Bottle: Still Not Interested to Increase Our Wages

More importantly, the government is trying to repackage what they had been saying. The government would be thinking – you know what? People might not understand what productivity growth means and if we keep saying that and they don’t see results, they will know that we are lying to them. Let’s say something else. Maybe let’s say if the economy is growing, their wages will grow? Maybe they will buy into that?

And wa-la – economic growth for wage growth. Whereas last year, the government came out with some statistics, no matter how erroneous, thrown together to explain how productivity growth will lead to wage growth, I don’t see any statistics this time.

Perhaps PM Lee will show some statistics on the May Day Rally on Wednesday, but I wouldn’t think too much of the statistics, if there were to be any. The statistics that I have presented here are already very clear. Whatever the government wants to show us, you can trust that it is not going to work, because it didn’t.

As I had discussed before, the government gets to decide how much wages can grow. When the government comes out with fanciful concepts of how if we grow this, wages will grow, or if we do that, wages will grow, it will not. The only way wages will grow is if the government DECIDES to grow our wages. It’s all in the government’s hands.

So, it’s a matter of whether they want to or not. They have insisted that they do not want to implement a minimum wage. As said, Singapore is one of the few countries which still does not have a minimum wage. All the Asian Tigers and even Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have minimum wages to protect their people.

There are a few countries without the minimum wage law but which pay their workers well – the Nordic countries and Switzerland – but this is because they have very strong and independent unions which fight for their workers’ wages and are not lackeys. You can read more about it here (link).

I have also discussed here (link) before that Singapore has the highest income inequality among the economically developed economies.

So, what is PM Lee trying to tell us when he knows jolly well that even if the economy grows, that our wages wouldn’t grow in tandem. And what is The Straits Times trying to tell us when they tell us not to focus on income inequality but on economic growth, when our income inequality is so dire! (Please read the link)

Holding Singaporeans Ransom to Our Wages

Do you know what the government is doing? The government is holding us ransom. Essentially it is this, the government is saying – you know what, you want to have higher wages? Well, we don’t feel like it. We will pay ourselves high wages but you can stay as low as we want you to be. And you know what, if you want high wages, well we can raise it. But – only if you increase productivity for us. Can’t do it? Well, we know. Guess what, let’s try growing the economy. You know what, if you can do it, we will increase your wages. How about that?

So, you might say – but you have the power to increase our wages if you WANT to!

But, the government would say – precisely, I have the power. So, now what? Do you want to work hard for us or not? If you don’t, you will not get any increase. If you do, well, let’s think about that when we come to that, shall we?

The Straits Times reported today that, “heritage experts say Tuesday’s vandalism of the Cenotaph points to a growing disconnect between Singapore’s younger generation and the significance of national monuments. This is understandable, considering that the public’s consciousness of national monuments fades with time … (and that) it gets harder passing down memories after two or three generations.”

Photo credit: The Straits Times

Certainly, there is historical significance to which we need to value our country’s culture and history. However, let me ask three questions:

• What is our government doing to retain Singaporeans’ sense of rootedness to our history and culture? How many historical buildings or monuments has the government demolished? 
• What are our schools’ priorities? How relevant is conserving the students’ sense of value and appreciation to our culture and heritage, as compared to the strident focus on excelling academically and in CCAs?
• How has the government chosen to rewrite history according to their political legitimacy and hegemony, such that our understanding of history has become severely impeded and fundamentally changed?

Acting Minister for Culture, Community & Youth Lawrence Wong wrote on his Facebook page, that, “The defacement of any National Monument is unacceptable and the Police are currently investigating the matter. This is a disrespectful and deplorable act.”

Mr Wong had also said that, “Many have come out to strongly state our disapproval against the act.” Indeed, The Online Citizen (TOC) had also released a statement which stated that, “the very act is an insult to those who have shed blood, sweat and tears to liberate our nation from oppressors. The Cenotaph commemorates those who lost their lives during the World Wars.”

TOC added that, “This action is nothing short of defacing the graves of our pioneers, those who have given up their very lives for the people of this nation. Under no circumstances is it excusable.”

I find this very ironic. Mr Wong might call the “the defacement of any national monument” as being “unacceptable”, “disrespectful” and “deplorable”. When TOC talks about how this “is nothing short of defacing the graves of our pioneers”, doesn’t this bring to mind how “the government is planning to drive a highway” through the Bukit Brown Heritage Park. To paraphrase TOC, here at Bukit Brown are also “the graves of our pioneers … who have given up their very lives for the people of this nation”.

Thus when Mr Wong called on the “defacement” as being “deplorable”, can the same be said about how the government’s plans to “deface” Bukit Brown, or how the government has “defaced” many of our heritage in Chinatown, Kampong Glam and the demolishment of many other buildings with historical significance in Singapore?

Of course, in pragmatic Singapore, we have learnt not to hold too much sentimental value to historic buildings. Otherwise, where do we put our Gucci or Prada shops? Or the Mercedes car showroom?

But the larger question is this – why do some people get to define what heritage is, and what can be considered a national monument, whereas some people have to suck their thumb at seeing their heritage be demolished? Who gets to define what is defacement? Is the scribbling of the word, “Democracy”, on the Cenotaph considered to be a more dire defacement than the mass “defacement” of Chinatown into a tourist destination, losing nary a sense of what its history was at all about?

It is unfortunate, as well, that The Straits Times had chosen to frame this incident as a “growing disconnect between Singapore’s younger generation and the significance of national monuments”. The Straits Times had perhaps conveniently neglected the expression of the word, “Democracy”.

True, Singaporeans have a growing disconnect with our history – but this is to be expected of a government which is party to this in its blatant focus on economic growth, having selectively prioritised the preservation of cultural heritage with economic value and neglected the rest. This brings to mind how the government “is preparing for a bid for the Singapore Botanic Gardens to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site” even as Singaporeans are calling for a greater discussion as to what other heritage should also be considered, such as Bukit Brown and Tiong Bahru.

Another interpretation to this episode is that the “vandal” had felt that the sacrifice of the soldiers in World War I and II to free Singapore so that we could achieve statehood and democracy has come to nought, as this country is now ruled by politicians who are economic plundering from Singapore anyway. Have we truly been freed?

Indeed, on two large plagues at the Cenotaph, it reads, “they died so we might live”. One wonders if they have died in vain, and what they had wanted us to live for and if we truly have lived.

Do you remember when Member of Parliament (MP) Seng Han Thong who in December 2011 had been asked about the SMRT train breakdowns that he had remarked, “I noticed that the PR mentioned that some of the staff because they are Malay, they are Indian, they can’t converse in English good, well enough, so that also deters them, from (sic) but I think we accept broken English.”?

According to Yahoo Singapore, “Under Singapore’s Sedition Act, among other things, it is an offence to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government; and to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.”

Now, take a look at one of the two comics below, that Demon-cratic Singapore’s Leslie Chew had been arrested for.

Credit: Demon-cratic Singapore

Which expression would you consider to be more racist and which would be more likely to “promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore”? I will leave that judgment to you.

But I would venture to ask this – if both expressions are considered to be of similar gravity, why wasn’t MP Seng arrested? Why was only Chew arrested? Or, if you would consider MP Seng’s offence to be more serious, why was he not arrested and why was he let off?

In this article, I would like to look into the approaches taken to address MP Seng’s and Chew’s expressions.

Apparently, a mysterious person had filed a complaint “about one of Chew’s cartoons”, though he was eventually investigated for two. It is still not known what the complaint was about, and why two cartoons were investigated, since only one was filed a complaint on. So, this is all we know about Chew so far.

Is MP Seng Han Tong Above The Board, Above The Law? 

What about MP Seng? According to AsiaOne, “Mr Zaqy, MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, posted on Facebook: … ”I certainly agree that the comments were unwarranted and I was personally disappointed that Malay and Indian SMRT staff were singled out. Having read the transcript, I think he meant to paraphrase someone else and that the first postings online omitted that fact … However, I don’t think this changes the fact that it was said and that we should be more sensitive especially in public forums.”" AsiaOne added that, “Mr Zaqy told The Straits Times that Mr Seng could have been more understanding towards the sensitivities of the Malay community, which had recently recovered from racially-fuelled incidents.

According to Yahoo Singapore, “MP Halimah Yacob said that … she was ‘disturbed by the remarks which are inappropriate and unfair … I can understand your anger and frustration at such a simplistic and insensitive articulation of the probable cause for the communication failure that had occurred,” she said, addressing the public at large.”

What do you think? Should MP Seng’s expression be considered seditious and should the disaffection voiced out by others warrant his arrest?

Yet, instead of arresting MP Seng for investigation and questioning as Chew had been, other MPs stepped up to try to explain MP Seng’s actions. Xinmsn had reported that then Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam had, “said (that) he has known Mr Seng for many years, adding that he works hard on the ground and helps everyone. Mr Shanmugam said it’s unfair to label Mr Seng as racist.” AsiaOne had reported that another MP, “Mr Zainal Sapari, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, defended Mr Seng, saying in his Facebook post that it was not in his nature to make such comments.”

MP Seng also released a statement of apology on his Facebook page, which says that, “In my interview with blogtv.sg, I made a regrettable mistake in my language, which may be misconstrued as me saying that people speak bad English because of their ethnicity. I sincerely apologise to all Singaporeans, who have been offended by this error. 

“Singaporeans of all ethnicities and backgrounds speak varying standards of English. My own Chinese-educated background gives me a special empathy for the non-English-speaking sections of our society. We should all be tolerant of people of different standards of linguistic ability.

“The point I was trying to make is that this should not prevent people from trying to communicate, especially in times of emergency.

And the matter was then considered closed.

Chew vs MP Seng: Different Stokes for Different (Normal) Folks

Was MP Seng arrested? The intensity of uproar and disaffection generated by MP Seng’s comments had definitely overwhelmed that which Chew had thus far been able to only feebly muster. Yet, there were vastly different responses as to how the they were treated.

• Chew was arrested on one mysterious complaint. MP Seng was not after an ensuing uproar. 
• Chew was investigated. Other MPs spoke up for MP Seng.

Similarly, if there were other individuals who spoke up for Chew, can the matter be considered closed as well?

Is The Singapore Government Practicing Double-Standards?

Inherently, these are the following problems that can be seen from a comparison of these two expressions:

1. Are politicians above the law? Why was MP Seng not arrested but why was Chew so quickly arrested such that at one point, 10 policemen were searching in his home? 
2. What can be considered seditious and what can be considered to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government; and to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.” Did only Chew’s comics bring about feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes” and was thus arrested, and did MP Seng not have, and was thus not arrested? Certainly, we would disagree with the outcomes of the events.
3. What does it say when MPs are allowed to speak up for one another and let the matter go, when the state would come down heavy-handedly on individuals?

I don’t think I need to elaborate further on this, because many of us would have come to our own conclusions.

Power Over The People

It is sickening and appalling that the law can be used as subjectively as it is – it all depends on who you are, to determine whether you can use it, and who you are to determine whether it should or should not be used on you.

Quite obviously, this hasn’t been the only issue of double-standards from our government and of our law. You would still remember when in the Punggol East By-Election 2013 that The Straits Times had conducted an election poll, even though, “according to the Parliamentary Elections Act, no person is allowed to publish exit polls between the time that the writ for an election is called until the close of Polling Day. (according to Yahoo Singapore)” Yahoo Singapore had also mentioned that in contrast, “in 2011, Joseph Ong Chor Teck was arrested for conducting an exit poll on the then-Temasek Review Facebook page.” Yet as had happened in the past, an individual would be arrested but larger establishments seemed to be let off. Yahoo reported that, “the Elections Department has confirmed an ongoing police investigation into … The Straits Times”, but until now, nearly 4 months later, The Straits Times had still not been brought to justice. Meanwhile, it seemed again that an apology would work – “Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez on Sunday apologised for the lapse and said the paper would cooperate fully with the police.”

In fact, do you see a trend here?

• If you are an individual, for whatever small ‘offence’ that the state ‘considers’ you to have made, you will be arrested.
• If you are the government or part of the larger establishment (which is linked to the government), your peers from the establishment will speak out for you, you can apologise and the matter will be laid to rest.

What does this reek of?

ELITISM: Meritocracy to Protect the Elites

ELITISM. This is what our meritocracy is about.

So, what happens if you have power?

• If you are in power, you will be protected.
• If you are in power, you are above the law.
• If you are in power, you can apologise and your apology will carry A LOT, A LOT of weight.
• If you are in power, you have friends in power who will speak out for you and what they say will carry A LOT, A LOT of weight.
• If you are in power, we don’t really want to get you into trouble. We will protect your ass.
• If you are in power, you can do whatever you want and we will have your back – because we are in power together.
• If you are in power, we have the intellectual to discuss issues and come to a logical, sensible understanding and you shalt not do wrong (because, hey, that’s what we say and you know what, we are in power together).
• If you are in power, you are a human being with complexities and we need to understand who you are before we make any judgment about you.
• If you are in power, it is easy for you to use the law against someone.

And what happens if you are an ordinary Singaporean?

• If you are ordinary, you will be arrested for every little thing you do, as long as we constitute it as ‘wrong’.
• If you are ordinary, when you do what we constitute as wrong, you are horribly wrong – you will lose your personality and be known as silo-identity criminal-like person.
• If you are ordinary, you do not have the intellectual capability to discuss issues – ordinary Singaporeans should not discuss racial and religious issues. You won’t be able to handle it. We can. Not you.
• If you are ordinary, does it matter who speaks up for you? Do you have friends like us who can speak up for you and let the matter rest?

The list can go on and on.

“Based on Justice and Equality”? No. Based on Elitism and Meritocracy 

Basically, what this episode has shown is that in Singapore, the government has a lot more power than the people. The government practices double-standards. If you are in government, you can do wrong but you will be spoken up for, you can apologise and you will still be in power.

But if you are a normal-stream Singaporean, the government gets to decide whether you are wrong and will arrest you. You don’t get to decide.

There really isn’t any fairness and equality in Singapore. So what if our pledge says, “based on justice and equality”? The government doesn’t believe it. They kept insisting on pledging on a principle of meritocracy that isn’t even enshrined in the pledge.

And in Singapore, meritocracy breeds elitism. You are in the express-stream. Elitism breeds people who let power get into their heads and think that they can do whatever they want and twist the law to protect themselves.

Basically, the law in Singapore is there to protect their power. We know this – the law is intentionally loosely-worded so that when convenient, the law can be used against ‘normal’ Singaporeans who threaten their power.

What I am saying is not new. Can the government and the courts use it against me? Well, they can. And they might win and have a high chance of winning. But what can I do? I can fight my case. I can plead my innocence.

But I will be at the mercy of the elites. They have the power so they get to define what is right or wrong.

Our Government Has Lost Its Bearings. It Has To Change.

Now, for some of you, you might still want to think – don’t malign our government. Don’t malign our courts. Sure, our government and courts has done what is right. They have and sometimes, I am proud of them.

But in times like this, they have not. And it is their responsibility to uphold themselves to the rule of law. As someone on my Facebook had questioned, “rule of law, or rule by law”?

Our government is not above the law. Politicians are not above the law. They are elected by us to serve us. They are elected by us to listen to us. What this means is that we should be asked to speak, so that they would be able to listen and to facilitate our needs – not to deny our right to speak, not to repress our expressions and not to prevent us from thinking in ways that are different.

And if the government cannot hold themselves responsible, then it is up to us – Singaporeans – to hold the government responsible. At the next general and presidential elections, we need to vote to ensure that we have a representative government who will abide by the following:

• Protect and enshrine our individual rights, whether you are a ‘normal’ Singaporean or a politician 
• Do not go overboard and abuse their power
• Encourage a diversity of opinions – this will generate more ideas to propel Singapore forward
• Listen to the people and facilitate people’s needs

Again, there are many more that I could write. But I would need to detail each and every act that the government would need to do only because the government has lost its bearings, and we would need to hold them by the rein. If our government has the principles of justice, equality and fairness held up in esteem, we won’t need to teach them these. They would know what is right.

Unfortunately, this government has proven itself unworthy. It has to change.