Tag: Elections

Workers’ Party Lee Li Lian Mooted Idea Of More Aid For Single Mothers In 2013 By-Election Rally

Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin’s new agenda for his ministry is to put vulnerable children high on the priority list of those to receive help.

Currently, a review is being conducted by MSF so that unwed working mothers may soon get the same benefits as married ones.

This was revealed in an interview with Channel News Asia on July 29, 2015:

REVIEWING BENEFITS FOR UNWED MOTHERS

Besides vulnerable groups in society, Mr Tan also revealed that unwed working mothers may soon get the same benefits as married ones under a review being conducted by MSF.

It is the lament of unwed mothers that they do not get the same benefits as married mums. And that just because they are single, why should their children be penalised, is their argument.

Among the differences is how unwed mothers get eight weeks of maternity leave paid for by their employers, while married mothers get 16 weeks. Unwed mothers do not benefit from the Handicapped Child Relief, nor the Baby Bonus cash gift.

The minister asked for a review of current policies: “My sense is that the public understands and sympathises with single unwed mothers; I see it on the ground. When I came in, I asked my colleagues to see whether we can review some of these things. Some of the differentiation that exists, could we harmonise it?”

SINGLE PARENTS STILL NOT THE NORM

It has been a long-standing principle of the Singapore Government that policies should support and encourage parenthood within the context of marriage. But as traditional family structures change, policies too need to be re-looked, he said.

But Mr Tan said he is mindful about the kind of signalling any change in policy sends: “Is it an indication or signal that we condone single-parenthood? That is something that you bear in mind. I do believe that society is sympathetic to single mums but we also need to be careful not to appear to encourage it as something that you could do.

“We do see in other countries, individuals choosing as a matter of lifestyle: ‘It’s ok, I’m not married, but I don’t mind having a child.’ I don’t think we are there yet as a society. I’m sure there will be individuals and some who may disagree, but I don’t see that as a norm and I don’t personally feel that some of these changes would open the floodgates if you will, for that particular lifestyle to develop.

“But be that as it may, it remains one consideration. But recognising that single mothers do have vulnerabilities, how best do we support?”

Mr Tan said the review involves a whole-of-Government approach, bringing together agencies that take care of housing and manpower policies.

He said the help rendered needs to be holistic: “The support provided for single parents, single mothers, unwed mothers really isn’t just about that Baby Bonus – I know there are differences, but actually the help extended needs to be much more extensive.

“It’s about healthcare availability, it’s about education opportunities and the support that comes with it. So, on the one hand, while there are some differences that exist today the help isn’t just in those areas. Actually the more fundamental issue is that broader extent of help.”

For example, all mothers, including unwed ones are currently eligible for infant care and childcare subsidies. Government-funded education programmes are also extended to all children.

“I’ve not met a single child who is not going to school because they couldn’t pay school fees,” said Mr Tan. “Schools fees are provided for. Uniforms are provided for. School books are provided for. Pocket money. Consistently. And that has been really encouraging for me.”

Mr Tan did not say when the review will be completed, just that an announcement will be made soon and it will likely be before Budget 2016.

However, the idea that single parents should receive same benefits as married ones was mooted by Workers’ Party Lee Li Lian in 2013 during a rally speech for the Punggol East SMC by-election:

Our inclusive society has also forgotten the 2nd group, single parents, who are Singapore citizens and whose daughter and son will bear and nurture future generations as well as serve National Service.

Did you know that single parents can only purchase HDB BTO Flats only when they are 35 and above? Regardless of marital status, all parents love and want to provide their children with the best they possibly can. Some single parents need caregivers too, but they are excluded from working mothers’ child relief, grandparent caregiver relief and foreign maid-levy relief.

Babies from single parents are also not eligible for Baby Bonus.

While having children outside of marriage should continue to be discouraged in our society, children born to single parents should not be denied the benefits that children of married parents receive. The children are innocent parties and should not start life being disadvantaged. Single parents should receive the same parenthood benefits packages as married parents.

Allow me to quote our pledge, ‘happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.’ How can there be actual progress when stay at home parents and single parents are being left behind! We, the citizens of Singapore should move together as one people under one Flag!

Currently, the Parliament is made up of 80 PAP MPs vs 6 elected Opposition MPs. There is a great imbalance in Parliament right now. That is why there is an urgent need to vote more Workers’ Party candidates into Parliament.

Source: http://mothership.sg

July 31, 2015
11 Years My MP Never Visit Me, Now They Appear As Elections Looms

Am from Tanjong Pagar GRC Cantonment Close. Have lived here since 2004 and never had any MP visited our block in this 11 years.

Last Sunday was the first time we had an MP come visit us and it was made into a big event, announcing in lifts and even with a big poster downstairs. Elections really coming, me and my neighbors thought…

Well, today I got a big surprise when I saw this giant poster in the name of “SG50″… With the slogan, “our residents, our inspiration”. If we really do inspire you, house visits should be a little more often than one in eleven years?

Oh, and looking at today’s giant poster… Cannot help but wonder again… Hmmm…. Has campaigning started already?

Albert Chan
A.S.S. Contributor

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

July 29, 2015
Opposition Supporters Slam DPP For Attempting Multi-Cornered Fights

Prior to the 2011 Presidential Elections, the last multi-corner electoral fight occurred took place in 2001 in the then Bukit Timah SMC. A 3-way contest saw the PAP eventually securing 77% of the valid votes, while independent Tan Kim Chuang lost his deposit with a ‘mere’ 4.92% of the votes.

Given that such multi-cornered fights work to the advantage of the PAP due to the splitting of opposition votes, alternative political parties such as the NSP and SingFirst have called for unity to avoid such scenarios. Working out a common ground, however, seems to demand a different level of commitment.

Brinkmanship occurred in the 2013 Punggol East by-election where the SDP had publicly offered the WP a deal: the SDP would send its elected MP to parliament as an alternative voice while the WP would manage the town council. In the absence of a reply, the SDP stood down altogether.

The SDP thus deserves some credit to its name even though it may seem to have acted conceitedly. Had it pushed ahead with its proposition, the opposition votes may very well have been split into those who preferred a more radical alternative in the form of SDP and a more moderate alternative in the form of the WP.

Reassuringly, the voters gave their support to the WP by an astounding margin causing both the RP and SDA to lose their deposit. Taken together with the Presidential elections 2 years earlier, the electorate has shown a new found maturity when it came to 3-cornered contests: only want alternative parties who act reasonably will secure votes.

Yet, it would seem that multi-cornered fights seem to have inevitably emerged again in a hotly contested atmosphere of increased resentment towards the PAP. The DPP, for example, have stood up to contest in the Mountbatten, Hong Kah North, Potong Pasir, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Tanjong Pagar constituencies.

As a likely scenario emerged, even netizens from the core opposition group have been quick to condemn the actions of the DPP with one saying on TRE: “Guaranteed to lose terok terok if you enter into a 3-cornered fight. Don’t tiew Lian ok”

Another said: “fly-by-night parties that ‘wake’ up during GEs gunning for multi-cornered fights better understand their own strength before they jump. Opposition supporters will vote for only credible and viable candidates, not the more vocal or those with dubious track record.”

Despite an absence from the electoral scene, this is not the first time the DPP has done so. In 1997, a 4-cornered fight in Chua Chu Kang SMC saw DPP’s Tan Soo Phuan lost their deposit with a mere 1.9% of the valid votes. This set a new record for the lowest share of popular votes until 2013 where SDA had less than 1% of the votes.

Will 2015 prove to be Déjà vu?

Source: http://mythoughtsinafewparagraphs.net/

July 29, 2015
No Outright Opposition Claims For Four Out Of 29 Constituencies

Ahead of a meeting scheduled for Friday (Jul 30) in which Opposition hopefuls will seek to avoid three-corner fights, the Opposition parties have already declared they will contest 25 of the 29 constituencies laid out for the coming General Election.

Only four – Holland-Bukit Timah, Jurong and Sembawang GRCs as well as Bukit Panjang SMC – have not been laid claim to. Of the four, three were contested in the 2011 GE by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), while one saw the National Solidarity Party (NSP) take on the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

Dr Chee Soon Juan’s SDP last contested in Holland Bukit-Timah, Sembawang and Bukit Panjang in 2011. But so far, since the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report was released on Friday (Jul 24), the SDP has only said that they are “considering contesting in the same areas as it did in the last election”.

In 2011, an SDP team which included future presidential candidate Tan Jee Say and civil activist Vincent Wijeysingha ran against Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. The Opposition team garnered 39.92 per cent of the vote.

In Sembawang GRC, an SDP team led by academic James Gomez secured 36.1 per cent of the vote against Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan and his PAP team.

Film-maker Alec Tok was the SDP representative against the PAP’s Teo Ho Pin at Bukit Panjang SMC four years ago. He took a third (33.73 per cent) of the vote.

Similarly, the NSP have not yet laid claim to contesting Jurong’s five-member GRC, where it won 33.04 per cent of the vote in 2011 against a PAP team anchored by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

On Tuesday, NSP Acting Secretary-General Hazel Poa told Channel NewsAsia that the party can only confirm that it is looking at areas it contested in 2011, but added that a clearer picture would emerge after a meeting this Friday the party has called between Opposition parties.

The Workers’ Party, the party which has the largest share of seats in Parliament after the ruling PAP, on Sunday declared its intention to field candidates in 10 constituencies – 5 GRCs, 5 SMCs – in the coming GE. This will see the WP contest a total of 28 out of the 89 available seats.

“I think we still want to try and avoid any three-corner fights if possible,” said WP chairman Sylvia Lim, confirming that her party will attend the Friday meeting.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

July 28, 2015
Analysts: Multi-Cornered Fights Unlikely

Although several opposition parties have staked their claims to the same constituencies, the political analysts TODAY spoke to said multi-cornered fights are likely to prevail only in constituencies the Workers’ Party (WP) does not gun for. Multi-cornered fights, they said, hold “grave consequences” for other opposition parties that do not have a branding as strong as the WP’s.

Singapore Management University law don, associate professor Eugene Tan, said the WP is in a “healthy bargaining position”, and unlikely to concede the places it staked a claim to.

“In a case where there is nothing much to differentiate between the two or more opposition parties, voters may not know where or on whom to pool their votes. And this is where we are likely to see votes being split,” he said.

WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang on Sunday (Jul 26) announced his party’s intention to contest in Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC — the former being a ward contested by the National Solidarity Party (NSP) in the 2011 polls and the latter, a part of it until electoral boundaries were redrawn last Friday.

The NSP has called for a meeting this Friday among opposition parties to hammer out deals and avoid multi-way fights.

MULTI-CORNERED FIGHTS MORE LIKELY IN WEST, CENTRAL PARTS

With the WP’s plans to expand eastwards, Assoc Prof Tan and former Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong felt multi-cornered fights are more likely to happen in the western and central parts of Singapore. Said Mr Siew: “I think most other opposition parties will be hesitant to challenge the WP.”

Added political analyst Derek da Cunha: “The other opposition parties have yet to concretely demonstrate that they are on the same level as the WP in terms of voter appeal.”

The analysts also cited the Punggol East by-election in 2013 as an example of why opposition camps should avoid multi-cornered fights that involve the WP. Ms Lee Li Lian from the WP won the single seat with 54.52 per cent of votes, while the PAP’s Dr Koh Poh Koon garnered 43.73 per cent.

The Reform Party’s Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Singapore Democratic Alliance’s Desmond Lim raked in 1.2 and 0.57 per cent, respectively, and both lost their election deposits.

National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologist Tan Ern Ser said the prospect of multi-cornered fights means opposition parties have to work harder. “They would have to try hard to differentiate themselves from one another, such as with more well-thought-out criticism of the ruling party and better ideas, better programmes that resonate with voters. Maybe even better candidates.”

NUS political science associate professor Bilveer Singh suggested that fighting in single-member constituencies would be “more economical” for opposition parties, especially “the new ones that have no ground record”.

CROSSOVER OF CANDIDATES

An issue that may muddy the parties’ claims to contest for various seats is the crossover of candidates between parties since the last GE.

For instance, Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, who contested for the Mountbatten seat in the last election as part of the NSP, has announced her intention to fight for the same seat again, now under the Singapore People’s Party umbrella. She left the NSP earlier this year.

“Many a time, they move because of bad blood, unhappiness. So, that makes the ability to make concessions, to give and take, somewhat more challenging,” said SMU’s Assoc Prof Tan.

“We do not know if the trust and confidence among the opposition parties is strong enough for them to come up with a deal, where everyone would feel they have not been shortchanged.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

July 27, 2015