Category: Singapuraku

MND Plan For Integrated Multi-Religious Building May Cause Problems

Small religious group to share places of worship will create more problems

Very soon, small religious groups could find themselves sharing places of worship. In a land scarce country like Singapore, it seems just a matter of time.

No doubt that you have guessed correctly, this idea came from the Ministry of National Development (MND) to accommodate several places of worship of the same religion in a multi-storey building, sharing common facilities. The purpose is to help these groups to cut rental costs. Off one glance, it seems like a fantastic idea for religious groups as they depend greatly on offerings and donations. Furthermore, every penny counts in one of the highest cost of living like Singapore.

However, sadly to say, I hardly see this will be good for the religious groups in other areas. They will not have autonomy in operations over the place. This disempowered them in having the opportunity to be exposed to operations management and this will hinder them from moving to permanent place in future. More unforeseeable by MND, restriction in autonomy does more in depth damages. Small religious groups are impaired from building or maintaining their unique identity. For example, these could be decorations and extended worship services. Due to these, believers whether existing or new loses their sense of belonging. This bodes badly on small religious groups not only on struggle to keep the existing worshippers but also attracting new ones as well.

In terms of proximity, religious groups will prefer sites of worship to be near from MRT / bus interchange and neighborhood malls due to convenience for their worshippers. But this is unlikely to be so as the MND announced that the facility is likely to be located within or at the fringe of industrial areas.

Disruption to their worshippers’ plans will likely to reduce their attendance rate to these inconvenience sites. Poor attendance rates could be attributed to the timing of worship services. Instead of the regular worship timings, religious groups rents the facility based on a first-come-first served basis and many could find themselves with less prime timings. Fixed timings could also creates barriers as too often; worships can be longer than usual depending on the “holy” touch.

The MND can also consider building a integrated facility building comprising meeting rooms, children’s play room etc. so that the spirit of bonding and communal are not sacrificed at the expense of cost. Come to think of it, since the community clubs are long established since post-independence, can’t they be used for religious purposes. This can also create inter-religious bonding indirectly too.

As much as MND wants to save up the precious land for “others” developments, a discussion is needed between the MND and the various religious groups to sort things out as I believed any outcome will be much better than the one proposed by MND.

Aaron Chan

*The author wishes to write regularly for TRS and he hopes to write for a better Singapore.

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

December 16, 2014
More Flexible CPF Minimum Sum System In The Future?

Factoring in one’s income level, gender and marital status in setting the Minimum Sum for different individuals could be one way to inject flexibility into the Central Provident Fund (CPF) system for different members. In addition, contribution rates and ceilings should also be tweaked to ensure retirement adequacy, said experts, in response to the Government’s consideration to move away from the one-size-fits-all format.

If members are free to choose how much they want to save based on what they think they need in their later years, it may result in the state having to give out more in public assistance for vulnerable groups or make the CPF system even more complex, they added.

“Giving them too much choice isn’t necessarily good because we can’t ever predict the future for ourselves,” said Institute of Policy Studies research fellow Christopher Gee, who specialises in policy implications on retirement adequacy, housing and healthcare.

In an interview last week, Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin hinted that the advisory panel set up by the Government to review the CPF is mulling the introduction of varying levels of Minimum Sum and payouts because “actually, people do have different needs and people are looking at different requirements”.

The panel is expected to submit its preliminary recommendations to the Government in February.

Yesterday, experts interviewed welcomed the idea of moving away from a common Minimum Sum for all CPF members.

The Minimum Sum is the amount each member has to meet at age 55 to be able to make withdrawals. It is set at S$155,000 now, but will be increased to S$161,000 next July.

Pointing out that the Minimum Sum could be set at a “more realistic” level for lower-income groups, Nanyang Technological University economist Walter Theseira said: “It is extremely difficult for them to have any chance of meeting the Minimum Sum. But we have to accept that if we want to give them more flexibility to withdraw their money earlier, we probably have to help them more in retirement.”

Assistant Professor Theseira suggested that one’s gender and marital status could come into play, noting that other countries have retirement adequacy systems that are conceived on a family basis, unlike Singapore’s CPF system, which is more individualistic.

“Under the United States’ Social Security system, the state gives additional benefits to married households. You can claim half of your spouse’s benefits (from the state) or all of your own, depending on which is higher,” he said. “It is extra income just for being married. Our system is not like that.”

Associate Professor Hui Weng Tat from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy noted that a higher Minimum Sum for the middle-class group would provide a more comfortable retirement. But the “relatively low” contribution ceiling of S$5,000 now would have to go up in tandem, he noted.

On the minister’s point that the advisory panel is also studying having payouts that increase progressively to mitigate the effects of inflation, Assoc Prof Hui said the change would require the returns on special government bonds (which CPF monies are invested in) to be inflation-indexed or inflation-protected.

Such a practice is already common in overseas bond markets, Assoc Prof Hui pointed out.

Asst Prof Theseira also noted that rising payouts means purchasing power is preserved over time and not that one can consume more goods as one ages. “(It means) I can buy the same basket of food today as I can 10 years from now,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Gee suggested that contribution rates and ceilings should also be tweaked to boost retirement adequacy.

As employer contribution rates decrease with age, “there’s less incentive for employees to continue working and this goes against the idea of encouraging people to work longer”, he said.

Allowing withdrawals only when an individual retires — instead of from age 55 as is the case now — could be an option. “The reality is that people are living longer. The average Singaporean could retire at 55 years old and live for another 30 years,” Mr Gee said.

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 16, 2014
11 Classmates We’ve All Encountered

Most of us spend at least 12 years in school. In that amount of time, we meet all sorts of people. You may even be one of those that other classmates remember:

1. Classmates who claim that they don’t study

2. The one who comes to school 15 minutes early for only ONE reason…

3. The one who never lets people copy his homework

4. The class belle/hunk

Behind every class belle / hunk…

is you:

5. The one who brings all his books everyday even if he doesn’t need them

6. The smart aleck who pretends to know everything

7. The rebel / joker who talks back to the teacher all the time

8. The super classmate

9. The teacher’s pet / sabo king / troll

10. The bully

Nuff said.

11. The Pao Toh Kia

*Bonus* The Dua Kang Kia / Big Cannon Fairy / King of exaggeration

Source: http://mothership.sg

December 16, 2014
Chee Soon Juan In Wall Street Journal: A New Vision For Singapore

Singapore has made great economic strides over the 50 years since independence. With a GDP per capita of $55,000, the island state is, by this measure at least, the most prosperous country in the world. Yet rather than being proud of their country’s achievement, measures of social harmony and happiness indicate that Singaporeans are far from pleased with the status quo.

Looking behind the numbers, it seems that Singapore’s economic success has wrought havoc on less measurable, but no less important, aspects of life: Freedom, compassion and equality. It is the degradation of these values that has contributed significantly to Singaporeans’ disenchantment with the current system.

Even before the Reagan-Thatcher era of neoliberal economics, Singapore adopted a market-driven approach in which even value systems and social life were commodified. When the government wanted fewer births in the 1970s, it paid women to undergo tubal ligation. When it changed its mind and wanted more births, it gave tax incentives to couples to have more babies. When it wanted the children to demonstrate strong character, it rewarded their desirable traits with cash.

Monetizing things that we shouldn’t—especially under circumstances where societal values are involved—leads to harmful outcomes. It causes citizens to abrogate moral responsibility and devolve decision-making to market norms set by the elite few.

We need to fundamentally rethink how we pursue wealth and, more importantly, to what end. We need to ask that all-important question that Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel so trenchantly posed: What price do we pay when we cede our values to market mechanisms?

Unfortunately, without democracy Singaporeans cannot have a national debate on the future direction of our country. Talk about political freedom and the rights of the people is eclipsed by government threats that democracy undermines GDP growth.

And yet Singapore is in danger of being left behind. A survey of countries around the world reveals a distinct shift towards more democratic forms of governance. Many such political transitions have yielded greater, not less, prosperity. Adaptation to change is necessary for societies to keep themselves relevant in the global community. Singapore is no exception.

The island republic needs an alternative vision, one that will confidently usher Singapore into the next phase of development: Privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises, instead of state-owned conglomerates, need to be the prime drivers of growth; the wage structure should ensure that the working poor don’t see their real incomes shrink even as the number of billionaires rise; the elderly should not have to work menial jobs just to feed themselves; the media must be free from state control; and, most importantly, the political system needs to change to allow truly free and fair elections, where the political freedoms of Singaporeans are respected.

Singapore is at a crossroads. How the country moves forward will depend on the choices that the people and their leaders make today. The incentives that those in power build into the system will determine whether the country progresses or stagnates. To that end, the ability of Singaporeans to question authority and to build a capacity for collective reasoning and debate is essential.

It is shameful that we live in a state where market values guided by an authoritarian system trump moral ones guided by a democratic process. The danger is that we become blinded by the things we want and ignore the things we really need. Ultimately a nation’s success is not measured by the size of its GDP but by the number of minds it unfetters, the number of young lives it gives hope to and the number of poor it empowers. It is this kind of wealth, the kind that really matters, that Singapore must accumulate.

Now more than ever, we need a genuine conversation about Singapore’s future. Indeed, we need a bold new vision for the country.
* Written by Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Source: http://online.wsj.com

December 6, 2014
Perbankan Islam Tumbuh Pantas Tetapi Masih Boleh Diperluas

BANK Islam tumbuh lebih pantas daripada bank konvensional tetapi ia terlalu tertumpu dalam beberapa negara utama sehingga terlepas peluang membangunkan sektor perbankan Islam sejagat, menurut satu laporan firma runding cara sejagat, Ernst & Young.

Bank Islam di enam negara utama iaitu Qatar, Indonesia, Arab Saudi, Malaysia, Amiriah Arab Bersatu (UAE) dan Turkey menguasai AS$625 bilion ($812 bilion) sehingga akhir tahun lalu atau 80 peratus daripada pasaran kewangan Islam sejagat.

Jika mengambil kira Bahrain, Pakistan dan Kuwait, perkongsian pasaran mencecah 95 peratus.

Laporan itu menganggarkan aset perbankan Islam dalam enam negara utama dijangka mencapai AS$1.8 trilion menjelang 2019.

Ia tumbuh 1.9 kali lebih pantas daripada bank konvensional dari 2009 hingga 2013.

“Apabila Turkey dan Malaysia meningkatkan lagi rentak pertumbuhan dan bank-bank Saudi meneruskan rombakan bagi banknya agar mematuhi syariah, kami jangkakan perkongsian pasaran negara-negara utama itu akan mencapai 80 hingga 90 peratus daripada pasaran sejagat,” kata rakan kongsi Pusat Kecemerlangan Perbankan Islam Sejagat Ernst & Young, Encik Ashar Nazim.

Beliau menambah bahawa industri juga akan meraih manfaat apabila lebih banyak negara seperti Mesir, Pakistan, negara-negara Afrika Utara seperti Tunisia, Algeria dan Maghribi menembusi sektor itu.

“Namun, tanpa rombakan undang-undang dan sokongan pemerintah yang kukuh, rentak pertumbuhan industri perbankan Islam dijangka sederhana,” tambah Encik Ashar.

Kekurangan pakar dan kurangnya kesediaan meneroka pasaran luar negara juga boleh menjejas pertumbuhan industri itu di samping menyekat pertumbuhan keuntungan bank Islam.

Secara purata, pulangan terhadap ekuiti (ROE) bagi 20 bank Islam terbaik di dunia adalah 11.9 peratus bagi tempoh lima tahun sehingga 2013.

Ini berbanding pulangan terhadap ekuiti sebanyak 14.5 peratus bagi 20 bank konvensional, tambah laporan itu.

Bank Islam mempunyai saiz satu perempat daripada saiz bank konvensional.

Walaupun Singapura tidak mempunyai penduduk Muslim sebagai penduduk majoriti, Penguasa Kewangan Singapura (MAS) berkata potensi pertumbuhan bagi kewangan Islam di Singapura amat kukuh, dengan lebih banyak bank luar negara menawarkan produk mereka.

Penolong Pengarah Urusan MAS, Encik Ng Nam Sin, sebelum ini berkata MAS komited mengembangkan “sektor penting ini”.

Malah, dengan permintaan daripada masyarakat Islam dan pelabur bukan Islam, kewangan Islam kini sama menonjol sejajar dengan khidmat kewangan konvensional.

Beberapa bank Timur Tengah pula, seperti Qatar National Bank, bank terbesar di rantau itu, difahamkan berminat mengembangkan khidmat kewangan Islam di sini.

“Potensi pertumbuhan bagi kewangan Islam di Singapura kukuh dan MAS komited mengembangkan sektor penting ini dalam industri khidmat kewangan,” ujar Encik Ng.

Beliau menambah bahawa matlamat MAS ialah menggembleng kekuatannya dalam perbankan borong, pengurusan aset dan pasaran modal bagi mengembangkan kewangan Islam.

Menurutnya, pendekatan serampang tiga mata dilaksana MAS bagi mengembangkan industri itu di sini.

Pertama, ia memastikan medan permainan sama rata bagi kewangan Islam dan kewangan konvensional.

Kedua, ia akan juga mempromosikan pembangunan bakat karyawan kewangan Islam di sini.

Ketiga, MAS akan turut serta dalam memupuk piawaian antarabangsa bagi industri itu dengan menjadi anggota majlis Lembaga Khidmat Kewangan Islam (IFSB).

Source: http://beritaharian.sg

December 5, 2014