Tag: PAP

Singapore Has Done Relatively Well In Social Mobility

As part of its move to build a fair and inclusive society, and enhance social mobility, the Government has made a deliberate tilt towards supporting the lower- and middle-income group over the past five years, through a progressive tax system, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as he wrapped up the Budget debate in parliament on Thursday (Mar 5).

This is where higher income earners contribute the bulk of taxes, the lower-income group receives the most benefits, and the middle-income group receives more than they used to.

SINGAPORE HAS DONE ‘RELATIVELY WELL’ IN SOCIAL MOBILITY

Mr Tharman said that social mobility is the defining challenge of every advanced country today. But he said that Singapore has done relatively well, staying more fluid than most other countries.

In the US for example, among those who were in their mid-20s and early 30s, and who started off in the bottom 20 per cent, only 7.5 per cent eventually moved up into the top 20 per cent of the population. In contrast, Singapore saw 14 per cent of those who started off in the bottom 20 per cent, move up to the top 20 per cent of the population.

But Mr Tharman acknowledged that with each decade, it gets harder to improve social mobility. The Government has introduced a range of measures to address this. These include investing in education, diversifying pathways and promoting home ownership.

There have also been “significant moves to temper inequality”, such as the introduction of Workfare and the progressive wage model to raise the salaries of low-wage workers.

Mr Tharman added the Government has also shifted significantly to permanent schemes such as GST vouchers and the Silver Support Scheme. In fact, he said 90 per cent of transfers last year comprised permanent schemes.

PROGRESSIVE TAX SYSTEM

The progressive tax system also means that most benefits flow to those who truly need it.

To illustrate, he said that the top 20 per cent of households pay 55 per cent of all taxes and receive 12 per cent of benefits. The middle 20 per cent pay 11 per cent of all taxes, and receive 20 per cent of benefits. Correspondingly, the lowest 20 per cent of households pay 9 percent of all taxes, largely through GST, and receive 27 per cent of all benefits.

Said Mr Tharman: “The system is not just about redistributing from the rich to the poor. It is also about the middle income. The middle income group in Singapore are net beneficiaries of our system and there has been a significant increase in the amount the middle-income group has received over the last 10 years.”

He said that for every dollar of tax paid by the middle-income group, they now get back S$1.70 – a sum that has been increasing over the years. That is much more that what the middle-income group in countries like Finland, US and Britain gets back in benefits.

Mr Tharman said: “The benefits that our middle income get are not what you see like in the Scandinavian countries or the UK or many other advanced countries. Some of them have free healthcare, free tertiary education, free many things. But they are paying for it. It is not free, it is never free.

“And in most of these societies, with the Scandinavian countries being the classic example, in fact their tax system are not particularly progressive. They rely mainly on the VAT and high income tax for everyone to be able to flow back the benefits. Everyone is paying for the free benefits that they are getting.”

STRENGTHENING VALUE OF FAIR, INCLUSIVE SOCIETY

But while the Government is playing a more active role in redistribution, Mr Tharman noted that what is important is how it goes about strengthening the value of a fair and inclusive society.

He said: “The key to building a stronger society is not how much we are doing to redistribute, it is about how we strengthen the values that undergird and sustain a fair and inclusive society. It is not how much we are doing but how we do it, and whether how much we are doing strengthens the value of a fair and inclusive society.”

He said the Government is seeking to build a stronger social compact, where personal and collective responsibility go hand in hand. And it is doing so by empowering people and aspirations as well as rewarding responsibility throughout life.

“Our whole approach therefore is to avoid a zero sum game between personal and collective responsibility and get a compact where personal and collective responsibility reinforces each other,” he said.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

March 6, 2015
Tan Chuan-Jin: Single-shift Drivers Can Earn More Than $3,000 A Month

Responding to a parliamentary question about the salaries of taxi drivers, Manpower minister Tan Chuan-Jin said that a driver in 2014 earned an average of $3,173 for single-shift drivers while those working double-shifts could earn an average $5,933 a month.

He explained that about 98,000 Singaporeans held a current Vocational License in December 2014 and about 56,000 were presently registered with taxi companies.

In terms of the demographics of taxi drivers, over 80% of them were aged over 50 years old. In terms of their educational qualifications, 90% of drivers possessed at least a secondary school education.

MP Irene Ng had asked specifically about how many were former PMETs but Mr Tan said that they do not have such data.

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

March 6, 2015
5 Reasons Josephine Teo’s Service To Singapore Should Be Measured In Dollars And Cents

In a post-budget 2015 forum on Feb. 26, 2015, Minister of State Josephine Teo was asked if national servicemen should be paid more.

She said she noted the importance of giving NSmen recognition, but service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Here are 5 reasons why only Josephine Teo’s contributions to Singapore can be measured in dollars and cents:

1. She is from the PAP.

Only dollars and cents apply to them.

2. It is a privilege for Singaporean Sons to serve National Service. Being a Minister of State, on the other hand, is a thankless job.

Only money can be used as compensation.

3. Because National Service is its own reward.

And because serving Singapore as a Minister of State is not its own reward.

4. Because Full-time National Servicemen get paid such a miniscule derisory amount it doesn’t even matter.

Unlike what she gets, which can be counted easily because it is so much.

5. She is the bulwark against any invasive force.

She is not part of Total Defence. She is Total Defence itself.

She can singlehandedly defend Singapore’s sovereignty by herself. That’s why only her contributions can be quantified in dollars and cents.

Source: http://newnation.sg

March 5, 2015
Intan Azura Mokhtar Saran Agar Yuran Peperiksaan Di Madrasah Juga Dimansuhkan

Langkah untuk menghapuskan yuran peperiksaan-peperiksaan nasional untuk para pelajar rakyat tempatan disentuh dalam perbahasan Belanjawan di Parlimen, hari ini.

Anggota Parlimen GRC Ang Mo Kio, Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar menyarankan agar langkah itu diluaskan meliputi juga para pelajar madrasah.

Dengan cara itu katanya, ini dapat memastikan tiada warga tempatan yang akan ketinggalan dalam mendapatkan pendidikan.

Dr Intan menyarankan agar pemerintah memberikan pelepasan yuran peperiksaan sepenuhnya, bukan sahaja untuk semua pelajar warga Singapura yang menuntut sepenuh masa di sekolah-sekolah aliran utama, tetapi juga sekolah swasta.

“Contoh tertentu adalah bagi para pelajar kita di madrasah sepenuh masa. Ini adalah antara keprihatinan para Anggota Parlimen Melayu Parti Tindakan Rakyat dan juga masyarakat Melayu/Islam kita.

“Usulan ini sama seperti peruntukan dana Edusave untuk semua pelajar warga Singapura. Saya percaya tiada di antara para pelajar warga Singapura kita harus ketinggalan dalam mengejar impian mereka melalui peluang pendidikan,” ujar beliau.

AP GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh Zainudin Nordin turut menyokong usulan Dr Intan itu. “Ini adalah dasar masyarakat yang inklusif yang digalakkan oleh pemerintah. Saya amat berharap agar idea ini akan diterima pemerintah,” ujarnya.

AP pembangkang Muhd Faisal Abdul Manap pula menyarankan agar ia dilanjutkan juga kepada semua pelajar sambilan di politeknik dan Institut Pendidikan Teknikal (ITE).

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

March 5, 2015
Singapore Needs To Look Beyond ‘Swamp To Skyscraper’ Narrative

It’s good for a country to look back on its history once in awhile. Good to stop and take stock of how far we’ve come, how much more we’ve got to go. It makes sense that we’re doing this on a massive scale during Singapore’s Jubilee year, but there’s one myth that really, really needs to be busted: the narrative of “fishing village to sparkling metropolis”.

A recent BBC article framed Singapore’s growth as “swamp to skyscrapers” – a narrative most Singaporeans are familiar with by now. It’s a story we were told in schools, reinforced by numerous National Day Parades and referred to so regularly that it’s often left unquestioned.

Yet it doesn’t take very long to find the flaws in the story. Colonised by the British in the early 1800s, Singapore was a major hub of entrepôt trade. It was an important wealth-spinner for the colonial masters; they would never have left it primitive and under-developed. Infrastructure needed to be built to support all the administrative and commercial activities that came with establishing a major port, and build it they did.

In fact, the British were only the latest – and most remembered – to have carried out significant activities in Singapore. Textbooks in schools have been revised to go beyond the 1800s, so as to better reflect the richness of Singapore’s history. They now include, for example, Singapore’s role as a trading post in the 1300s – over six centuries before Singapore became a sovereign nation-state.

The importance of dismantling the “swamp to skyscrapers” myth is not just about correcting historical accuracy. It’s also about politics.

This narrative – with all its connotations of “swamps” being rough, poor and undesirable, while “skyscrapers” are modern, wealthy and impressive – suggests that Singapore had nothing when we were first required to stand on our own two feet in 1965. If we accept that premise, it then follows that everything we have today came from the efforts and genius of the political leaders who governed this country.

By the time we get to this point of the story, the politics of gratitude and obedience would have already kicked in. Implicit behind all this is also that fearful, anxious voice, whispering: “How easily all this can be lost, if we make the wrong move, if we vote for the wrong party, if we allow too much dissent!”

There’s no denying that, for better or worse, the PAP has had a huge impact on Singapore’s development. That our political leaders – especially those in the early years of independence – have accomplished a remarkable feat of forward-looking city planning.

But to buy into the “swamp to skyscrapers” or “fishing village to metropolis” narrative is to fail to see the full story. It’s to fail to see that by the time Singapore achieved full independence it already had an established legal system and penal code, with administrative centres and even Southeast Asia’s first air-conditioned skyscraper (as pointed out on Twitter). It’s to fail to see that Singapore is, and has always been, far more than the PAP, far more than the colonial masters, far more than any partisan politics or economic philosophy or political ideology we have ever encountered.

That’s a perspective I find far more honest and exciting than the that of sudden transformation from tropical swampland to glass-and-steel megacity. It’s the idea that Singapore has endured, can endure,will endure far beyond what we can conceive for it – and that leaves us with so much more space to dream, to imagine, and to dare.

Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger, journalist and filmmaker. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

March 2, 2015