Dear All Singapore Stuff,
Please see the attached photo. PAP is celebrating Singapore’s national day and US Independence Day in August.
The guy on the National Day banner next to the PAP MP is wearing a shirt with the USA flag.
Grassroots leader forgot which flag is Singapore’s?
Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com
The latest scheme adopted by the NTUC to provide professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who are retrenched with financial assistance is a modified version of the SDP’s proposal launched 2010.
The PAP’s idea, called Returner Work Trial, will assist employers to offer job training for the individuals who have been unemployed for at least two years. The trainee, who must be 30 and above, will receive
The payout period for trainees is limited to six months.
Compare this to the SDP’s RESTART (Re-Employment Scheme and Temporary Assistance for the ReTrenched) programme where retrenched workers will receive:
The payout period is capped at 18 months and MOM will help match retrenched individuals with jobs. The job-seekers can only reject up to three job offers.
Read also SDP proposes RESTART to support retrenched workers
The NTUC’s idea is essentially an unemployment benefits scheme similar to RESTART but with the difference that under the Returner Worker Trial programme, a retrenched worker has to undergo training in order to get the financial support. There are many problems with the measure:
One, it is restricted only to PMETs. There are many retrenched workers who are not PMETs. They also face the same hardships when laid-off.
Two, the payout-training period lasts for only six months after which the employer has no obligation to offer the trainee a permanent job. This is especially salient as Singapore’s economy contracts with job vacancies continuing to fall.
Three, how are retrenched workers expected to survive if they have to remain unemployed for two years before they qualify for the scheme? A study found that 50 percent of households have little or no savings due to the high cost of living to tide them through difficult times.
In addition, why is the government using taxpayers’ money to subsidise businesses? Companies can use the scheme as a cheap source of labour. Also, will this not encourage companies to lay off workers and then profit by “training” others under the scheme at a state-subsidised rate?
Given such loopholes, Temasek Holdings needs to state how many of its Government-linked companies are participating in the scheme and the government needs to tell the public how much these GLCs will stand to benefit from it.
In the past, the PAP has also followed the SDP’s lead on minimum wage, universal healthcare, and employing Singaporeans first.
Source: http://yoursdp.org
Kementerian Pembangunan Sosial dan Keluarga (MSF) menyemak semula Skim Label Tempat Meletak Kereta.
Bermula bulan November ini hanya mereka yang menggunakan alat-alat bantuan pergerakan yang besar seperti kerusi roda dan alat bantu jalan atau ‘walking frames’ akan menerima label meletak kereta khas bagi golongan kurang upaya.
Ini bermakna mereka yang menggunakan tongkat yang layak di bawah skim sekarang tidak akan lagi layak menerima label itu apabila ukur tara yang lebih ketat berkuatkuasa.
Demikian menurut MSF dalam sidang media untuk mengumumkan perubahan-perubahan tersebut pada Khamis (27 Jul).
Menurutnya permintaan bagi label-label Kelas 1 dan Kelas 2 meningkat sekitar 30 peratus sepanjang lima tahun ini, dengan permintaan bagi Kelas 2 naik hampir 60 peratus dalam tempoh yang sama.
Label Kelas 1 adalah pemandu kurang upaya yang memerlukan penggunaan alat-alat bantuan pergerakan.
Ia membenarkan pemandu itu meletakkan kereta mereka di lot yang mudah untuk diakses.
Kelas 2 pula adalah untuk mereka yang membawa penumpang kurang upaya.
LABEL TEMPAT MELETAK KERETA DIREKA SEMULA
Sebagai sebahagian daripada perubahan itu, MSF juga mereka semula label tempat meletak kereta termasuk label yang lebih besar, hologram yang tidak boleh dirosakkan dan huruf lebih besar bagi membantu para pegawai penguatkuasa.
Label Kelas 2 juga membolehkan pemandu menunjukkan masa mereka tiba di tempat meletak kereta. Pemandu yang meletak kereta mereka lebih daripada sejam akan didenda sebanyak S$200.
MSF menyatakan pemohon baru dan sedia ada yang layak akan diberi label-label baru itu dari pertengahan bulan Ogos. Mereka yang tidak layak di bawah skim baru ini akan diberikan label baru sehingga tempoh penggunaannya tamat.
Kementerian itu menjangkakan jumlah pemohon akan merosot 10 peratus apabila skim baru ini dikuatkuasakan.
Menurutnya perubahan-perubahan tersebut dibuat selepas berunding dengan orang-orang berkepentingan, termasuk golongan kurang upaya dan penjaga mereka. “Terdapat kata sepakat untuk memperuntukkan lot-lot meletak kereta yang mudah diakses kepada mereka yang memerlukan ruang untuk naik dan turun kenderaan mereka,” menurut kementerian itu.
SUBSISI TEKSI DIPERTINGKAT BAGI GOLONGAN KURANG UPAYA, TERMASUK KERETA SEWA PRIVET
MSF juga mengumumkan lebih ramai warga Singapura dan Penduduk Tetap yang kurang upaya boleh menggunakan khidmat teksi untuk pergi ke kerja dan sekolah bermula bulan depan selepas perubahan terhadap Skim Subsidi Teksi. Mereka juga boleh menggunakan subsidi tersebut untuk membuat tempahan bagi khidmat kereta-kereta sewa privet yang berdaftar dengan Penguasa Pengangkutan Darat seperti Grab dan Uber.
Bermula 1 Ogos, keluarga yang mempunyai pendapatan per kapita sehingga S$2,600 akan layak menerima subsidi di bawah skim ini. Kini, hanya keluarga yang mempunyai pendapatan per kapita S$1,800 sahaja yang layak.
Dengan peningkatan ini, MSF mengatakan mereka yang menerima subsidi akan bertambah daripada 80 kepada 300 menjelang tahun 2021.
Pemerintah juga akan menambah subsidi perjalanan, dari 50 peratus kepada 80 peratus. Contohnya, rakyat Singapura yang mempunyai pendapatan per kapita sebanyak S$700 akan mendapat subsidi tambang teksi sebanyak 80 peratus. Di bawah skim sekarang ini, subsidinya berjumlah 50 peratus.
Bagi seseorang dengan pendapatan per kapita S$1,800, jumlah subsidi naik kepada 50 peratus tambang teksi bulanan, berbanding 20 peratus sekarang ini.
“Peningkatan ini menyokong Pelan Induk Pengupayaan Ketiga, untuk memudahkan pergerakan golongan kurang upaya supaya mereka boleh ambil serta dalam kegiatan kemasyarakatan,” menurut MSF dalam kenyataannya.
Dengan peningkatan tersebut pemerintah akan membelanjakan S$2.5 juta sepanjang lima tahun akan datang, peningkatan sebanyak S$700,000 setahun.
Skim ini dilancarkan pada Oktober 2014, yang membolehkan golongan kurang upaya yang layak, menerima semula tambang teksi mereka secara bulanan.
Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg/
An electric scooter reportedly left to charge overnight in a Housing Board flat in Chua Chu Kang sparked a fire, with three people fleeing the unit.
The fire broke out at 3.50am on Friday (July 28) at a 10th-floor unit in Block 230, Choa Chu Kang Central 1, the Singapore Civil Defence Force told The Straits Times.
A woman who lives in the flat, who declined to be named, told Shin Min Daily News in a report on Friday that she was sleeping when she heard a loud explosion.
It was followed by a burnt smell, coming from a room. She went to check and saw that the battery charger of the e-scooter inside was on fire.
ST understands that SCDF officers had to conduct forcible entry into the unit, and that the fire was started by a portable battery charger attached to the e-scooter.
No one was injured.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
The Speaker of Parliament, Halimah Yacob, should not run for the elected presidency, even if she is by law qualified. There are several reasons why Mdm Halimah’s candidacy would not be in the best interests of Singapore.
But before we get into the specific arguments on this, let us recall what, fundamentally, the Elected President (EP) scheme was supposed to do.
It is, basically, to be a check on the government of the day. Although still largely ceremonial in its functions, the EP is also endowed with various specific powers designed to hold the government to account.
These powers include being the so-called second key to the nation’s financial reserves; having a say in the appointment of key members of statutory boards and public institutions; and the ability to instruct the CPIB to carry out investigations.
The EP, it is to be noted, is advised by the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA), whose members are experienced in various fields and industries.
Mdm Halimah, as the Speaker of Parliament, qualifies under the Presidential Election Act to contest the elected presidency, even though she has little financial experience. This, some have pointed out, does not put her in good stead to oversee the financial reserves, which run into the hundreds of billions, and how the government spends these, which in itself is a complex matter.
Although Mdm Halimah has some experience in handling public funds in her roles as a Member of Parliament for her constituency, and as a Minister of State previously, the elected presidency is an entirely different ball game altogether.
Would she be able to understand the complexities of how the reserves are used and spent?
The second reason why Mdm Halimah should not throw her hat into the ring in September is that even today, 28 July, she is still undecided if she would run in the elections which will take place in less than 2 months.
One would have thought that anyone who is serious about taking on the highest office in the land would have given it much thought over an extended period of time, and would have already made up her or his mind at this point.
And for someone who is a member of a political party, she would also be expected to resign from her party post and membership, so that there is some distance between her resignation from the party and her candidacy in the election.
Remember that the EP is supposed to be politically neutral, and to stand above party and partisan politics.
If Mdm Halimah decides to run for election, she would have to resign from the People’s Action Party (PAP) in very short notice, and almost immediately submit her name for the September contest.
Former PAP MP Inderjit Singh was also apparently concerned about this, and wrote about this on his Facebook page on Friday:
“While the constitution is open about having a current sitting government politician standing for the PE, some Singaporeans have expressed concerns on the prospects of a current government MP, still in parliament, resigning as an MP and immediately standing for the PE. The spirit of the Elected President is independence of office as intended by Mr Lee Kuan Yew when the idea was mooted. While I have no question about how each person will do his or her duty to serve the office they are elected to serve, public perception is also important. While Mr Ong Teng Cheong also did the same in 1993, I sense people are increasingly uncomfortable with this.”
Given that Mdm Halimah has also been a PAP MP since 2001, it is questionable if she will be able to fulfill the independent role required of an EP.
Can you suddenly resign from a party you have been with for decades and then claim to be independent of it, overnight? One may perhaps be able to do so technically, but it is not unreasonable to expect that emotionally and personally, this may not be the case.
If, as would be expected, the PAP or its ministers, or any government-affiliated organisation (such as the NTUC), come out to endorse Mdm Halimah, it would further raise doubts about how independent she would be, if she needed the support of government ministers and organisations. Would she be able to be a check on them if she becomes the EP?
The third reason why Mdm Halimah should not opt to run is that there have been questions raised about her “Malayness” to be a candidate in a Reserved Election for the Malay community.
The significance of this first Reserved Election to elect a Malay president can not be understated. All candidates must be accepted as Malay, otherwise the office of the President loses its credibility and respect from the community and from Singaporeans in general.
Questions about Mdm Halimah’s race were raised because her late father was an Indian-Muslim. Does that not make her an Indian and thus disqualified to run?
While the law may in fact be on her side (for it gives the Community Committee the discretion to accept a candidate’s declaration of his or her race), there is also another pertinent question, as Inderjit Singh pointed out:
“The concept of “Malayness” has also become a debatable issue. Questions about how Mendaki and SINDA classify who is a Malay and who is an Indian do not seem to be aligned with how a Malay or an Indian is defined for the purposes of a GE or a PE. For now, it is critical that the leaders of the Malay community and the government come out and make this position clear and hopefully this position will apply to all aspects of life in Singapore. I hope this can be resolved before the formal process of PE 2017 starts.”
It is doubtful that such an intensely controversial issue would be resolved in a matter of weeks (before the election takes place). One suspects there will be even more debates, and perhaps even court challenges filed with regard to this.
What is “Malay” and who is a Malay are now important questions given that different Government organisations have defined it differently, as some have pointed out.
As president, the person must not be seen to have been treated differently from other ordinary Malays in society.
It it thus of paramount importance that the question of what makes a “Malay”, in law, be set out clearly, and that the presidential candidates be held to these same standards and definitions.
You cannot have Mendaki saying an Indian-Muslim does not qualify for its assistance schemes, and then say that an Indian-Muslim can contest in a Malay-only Reserved Election.
And lastly, Mdm Halimah’s candidacy would leave her residents in Marsiling-Yew Tee without a minority-race MP to represent them. This would be an affront to the very idea of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system. Her Malay residents would be left without someone whom they could look to for help.
Minister Chan Chun Sing has indicated that the Government will not call a by-election to elect a set of new MPs for Marsiling-Yew Tee if Mdm Halimah should leave to contest the presidential election.
With all of the above unresolved issues and questions surrounding Mdm Halimah, it would be best if she does not contest the September polls. If she does contest and wins, it will leave the elected presidency opened to all sorts of criticisms.
And for an institution which is supposed to be a symbol of unity for all Singaporeans, that would be most regrettable indeed.
Source: https://publichouse.sg