Congrats Joseph Isaac Schooling! Everyone in Singapore is so excited and proud right now! I watched it at Singapore Swimming Association and everyone is cheering like crazy!
I’m glad I asked MINDEF to let elite male athletes defer their NS. Both you and Quah Zheng Wen have used the deferment wisely and done us proud.
Team Singapore #oneteamsg #Rio2016
Source: Lee Bee Wah
Class is back.
Between the end of World War II and the late 1960s, leftist politics flourished, particularly among labour unionists, and high school and university students. Inspired by Marx and Mao, the language of class resonated here, especially its association with colonialism and exploitation, and jostled among competing visions of the future in the emerging independent polity of Singapore.
Gradually, as the People’s Action Party (PAP) government triumphed over leftist political parties as well as trade union and student organisations, the language of class took a backseat, though it never completely disappeared.
In its place was the language of meritocracy and equal opportunity. This was based on the PAP’s “democratic socialist” vision of Singapore, one that carried the promise of freedom from poverty and the prospect of social mobility in a vibrant, but not unbridled, capitalist economy for its people, many of whom were migrants who left China or India in search of a better life.
As is familiar history by now, a strong PAP government has delivered on its promise to provide jobs, healthcare, housing and education over its long, unbroken tenure. Singapore enjoyed sterling economic growth in the 1970s and early 1980s, home ownership grew and education expanded.
So successful was Singapore as one of the four Newly Industrialising Economies that social upgrading became the buzz-word. The Singapore Dream, encapsulated in the notion of the 5 Cs — cash, car, credit card, condo, country club membership — not only spelled the “good life”, but conveyed the comforting idea that class origin does not determine destiny. In the popular imagination, therefore, class, while present, does not quite matter. Some would in fact even mistake equality of opportunity for social egalitarianism or class equality itself.
The undeniable fact is that most Singaporeans were mobile, and visibly so, even if the range, degree, and probability of mobility were not equal for all. But during the past decade, the city-state has reached a mid-life crisis of sorts, with the re-emergence of a more class-conscious society because of income inequality and unequal relative social mobility — which persists despite the PAP government’s efforts at providing more income transfers and educational opportunities — amid greater turbulence and uncertainty in the global economy.
This has a significant impact on reshaping society and politics insofar as a large segment of the citizenry perceives that the Singapore Dream may increasingly elude them and their children.
MID-LIFE CRISIS
Clearly, as Singapore crossed into the 21st century, it faced some serious threats to the Singapore Dream: A mature economy; stiff global competition; low fertility; and a rapidly ageing population. With a growing middle class, most armed with tertiary education, with all aspiring to well-paying, high-prestige jobs and comfortable living standards, there was growing competition for the “good life”.
In recent years, the PAP government has shifted somewhat more to the left of centre. It provided significantly more help to citizens, without de-emphasising self-reliance, by introducing various new policies and measures, with different degree of success, to address the “hot-button” issues. These relate to cost of living, including healthcare costs, competition from foreign labour and migrants, dissatisfaction with public transportation and housing.
But the language of class is still bubbling up from those at the bottom and in the middle rungs.
Low-income Singaporeans are concerned about stagnant wages, the high cost of living and rising income inequality. Meanwhile, middle-class people worry about not being able to live the secure, comfortable life they believe they deserve from having been relatively successful in the mobility game. They are also concerned about their children not being able to live the Singapore Dream, given the rise in property and car prices over the past decade and uncertainties over whether a university degree can still guarantee a good career in future.
In addition, those in the sandwiched generation have concerns over their ageing parents’ healthcare costs, even as they fund the education of their children.
In the lead-up to the 2015 General Election, the PAP government introduced various schemes and measures, such as the Pioneer Generation Package, MediShield Life and SkillsFuture to address the above issues. These may have contributed to a large extent to the PAP’s impressive electoral performance last year, reflecting a flight to safety, and a return to the survival ideology, now as version#2.
The support for survival ideology version#1 has helped to propel Singapore from Third World to First World. Hopefully, the support for survival ideology version#2 will help Singapore stay the course in an era of high expectations engendered by years of experiencing an upward trajectory of improving living standards and social mobility attributed primarily to a capable, paternalistic government — one that has staked its legitimacy on enhancing the human capital of citizens, creating sufficient well-paying jobs and enabling a majority of Singaporeans to climb the social ladder.
This is not to suggest that the economy, with a 2 per cent annual growth rate, is in poor shape.
However, the threat of job loss remains. This produces a sense of insecurity and fear of downward mobility, together with anxieties of not being able to meet financial commitments, especially among middle-aged, middle-class Singaporeans. Yet they continue to harbour an unrealistic expectation that things would quickly return to “normal”, coupled with a strong dependency on the government to help get them back on track.
The journey ahead would, however, be more hazardous, making it more challenging for the PAP government to deliver the “good life” that an aspiring middle-class society expects. This could lead to a heightening of class consciousness, resulting in a stronger clamour for more handouts, which would be unsustainable.
Should this occur, the PAP government would have to work out a new social compact with Singaporeans — one where its legitimacy shifts from delivering the good life to a “good enough” life, as it nudges citizens to focus on constant skills upgrading and living within one’s means.
It is hoped that this will prevent class-based tensions from appearing. But the process requires that Singaporeans understand the risks, uncertainties and disruptive effects of global competition and technological advancement, as well as the cost of supporting an increasingly ageing population. Ultimately, they have to get a reality check on their unrealistic expectations and stay resilient for the long haul.
Source: TODAY Online
Sekarang ini menjadi lebih penting bagi warga Singapura mengambil langkah-langkah menggalak keharmonian antara agama dan menangkis ideologi radikal.
Ini lebih-lebih lagi dengan beberapa penangkapan dan serangan pengganas di rantau ini dan merata dunia.
Ia termasuk penangkapan enam orang di Batam yang dipercayai merancang melakukan serangan roket ke Marina Bay Sands.
Timbalan Perdana Menteri Teo Chee Hean berkata demikian di majlis jamuan Hari Kebangsaan di Pasir Ris-Punggol, malam semalam (7 Ogos).
Berucap di majlis jamuan Hari Kebangsaan ini, DPM Teo berkata masyarakat Islam Singapura sedang mengambil langkah melindungi diri mereka daripada pengaruh radikal dan keganasan pelampau.
DPM Teo turut memberi jaminan kepada warga Islam Singapura, mereka akan dilayan dengan adil dan saksama.
“Pemerintah menghargai usaha-usaha masyarakat Melayu-Islam untuk menentang idea-idea pelampau. Sebagai contoh, pemimpin agama Islam dan asatizah melangkah ke hadapan untuk memulakan Kumpulan Pemulihan Keagamaan (RRG) pada tahun 2003. Pada Mei lalu, mereka melancarkan aplikasi untuk memerangi radikalisasi.
“RRG juga mempunyai telefon hotline dan laman web untuk menentang ajaran salah yang disebarkan oleh kumpulan pelampau. Kita mesti membina daya tahan sosial kita, supaya kita dapat bangkit semula sebagai sebuah masyarakat yang bersatu padu sekiranya serangan berlaku,” menurut DPM Teo.
DPM Teo juga berkata beliau menyokong aspirasi masyarakat Melayu/Islam untuk menubuhkan sebuah kolej Islam di negara ini.
“Saya menyokong cadangan-cadangan ini demi membangunkan kepupayaan asatizah dan para pemimpin kita. Dengan memahami dan menghargai konteks pelbagai bangsa dan agama di negara kita, mereka boleh membantu mengekalkan keharmonian sosial yang kita nikmati hari ini,” tambah beliau.
Beralih ke isu-isu lain, DPM Teo menarik perhatian ekonomi sejagat sedang mengalami kesulitan.
Pemerintah, katanya, akan memainkan peranan membantu syarikat-syarikat dan warga Singapura.
Di peringkat akar umbi, DPM Teo berkata pasukannya sedang berusaha menjadikan Paris Ris-Punggol sebuah kediaman lebih baik dengan kemudahan baru dan peningkatan sistem pengangkutannya.
Encik Teo menambah banyak kemajuan dicapai sejak pilihan raya yang lalu tetapi masa depan seterusnya adalah mencabar.
Singapura, kata beliau, bernasib baik dapat menghadapi cabaran-cabaran itu sebagai sebuah negara yang bersatu dengan pemerintah yang kukuh.
Beliau menyeru warga Singapura agar terus bekerjasama.
Source: Berita MediaCorp
The National Arts Council (NAC) has defended the high fees paid to consultants of a centralised refuse collection project in the Civic District, saying it was “not a simple bin centre to build”.
There were many technical challenges to consider, as well as the need to ensure traffic nearby was smooth and the buildings were conserved, it said on Government website Factually, which aims to correct misinformation posted online.
The $410,000 it paid for a study on the project alone is nearly 90 per cent of the cost of actually building the bin centre, which was another $470,000.
The bin centre stands above the basement of the Asian Civilisations Museum’s (ACM) outhouse and is for the rubbish from Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall as well as the nearby ACM and Old Parliament House. Previously, each had its own bin centre.
The issue drew sharp criticism, particularly online, after the Auditor-General’s Office singled out the high consultancy fees in its annual report released last week.
Responding, the NAC acknowledged and accepted that the cost assessment for building the centre should have been more robust.
The council, which comes under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, said that in future, it would decide whether consultancy fees were reasonable by looking at the quoted fee as a proportion of the project’s construction cost.
It had not used this method for the bin centre when seeking approval for funds to pay the consultancy fee. Instead, it compared the quoted fee against fees for other complex projects. This was the reason it was not clear that the consultancy fee was exceptionally high, said the AGO report.
The report also said NAC had directly engaged the Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall consultants to provide these additional consultancy services. It did not call for a separate tender.
NAC said this was because the consultants – who were not named – were selected based on an open tender for the project as a whole.
The NAC, in its reply, also said there could be some misunderstanding about the reasons for building the bin centre. It was not a standalone project, but part of the redevelopment for the Civic District, which the NAC said was “an important cultural and heritage area for Singapore”.
Building the bin centre would improve operations and enhance the area’s aesthetics, it said.
It also said the construction cost was less than 1 per cent of the development cost of the Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall.
The project, it said, was complex for several reasons.It involved structural and reinforcement works as it was above the ACM basement.
Mechanical and electrical services had to be accounted for, and existing underground services had to be diverted. The project also had to include ventilation so that foul smells would not escape from it as the bin centre stands next to the ACM offices.
Other considerations included preserving the aesthetics of the historic area, and studying the impact of the bin centre on the ACM loading and unloading bay.
“Consultancy services were necessary because of the complexity of the project,” said the NAC.
The consultancy services included a feasibility study taking into account the various requirements of the three buildings, which house three separate institutions.
Source: The Straits Times
The AGO job is to flag the financial irregularities. The onus is upon the Ministries and Stat Board flagged to come clean and explain what happened. Already we have Grace Fu trying hard to justify the gross 410K expertise NAC engaged for a Rubbish Bin design.
The root cause is about genuine check and balance, safeguards and transparency. Its a chronic reality that begins from the very top when a culture of non-transparency on public money is justified for bigger sums like our CPF, reserves, and the like.
In Parliament, MPs (especially opposition) have the privilege of demanding the Ministries to come clean on these financial lapses. Sadly the parliament is severely lopsided. Thus allowing the continuation of bad practices and lack or transparency on our public money to continue.
Ultimately, its about democracy and parliamentary representation for the people to truly be able to voice their concerns. These are severely undermined by the current GRC system which allow for systematic demographic manipulation thru redrawing boundaries justified by irrelevant basis of ensuring minority representation.
Bigger things r at stake for Spore. Singaporeans sadly r easily distracted.
Source: Damanhuri Abas