Is Singapore governed well?
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Is Singapore governed well?
No!
My observations:
1) Autocratic govt:
- NKF governance is a mirror image of SG govt: POOR governance and obvious bullying, lies, NO check/ balances. 10cents per dollar going to the needy- no one would have ever known except for the revelationÂ…
(http://happycitizen.blogspot.com/2005/12/only-10-cents-per-dollar-donated-goes.html)
- Reason: PAPÂ’s mistake in governance- a democracy with NO RESPECT for electoral freedom.
- 6-member GRC and Gerrymandering- well PAP has through their selfish political agenda turned elections into walkovers- lopsided ego trips of high stakes and high gains favoring the eliteÂ…
- Is a campaign period of 8 days after the sudden disclosure of election boundaries healthy for SG democracy?- No!- so much for a sense of belongingÂ… I feel no sense of belonging to SG this way- not even sure of my constituency, how to have allegiance to a country?
(http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/elections.html)
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2) Fertility rt is poor:
- Yr2005: Sg women bears 1.05 children/ lifetime- this is 3rd last out of 226 countries. (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html).
- This means that Singaporeans are not procreating- a worrying trend because this means that either Singapore imports citizensÂ… or else the Singaporean will soon be extinct with the population reduced by half every generation!- who then will pay taxes?
- Stress, worries about hunger/ poverty plagues every parent to be> who will pay if my child is abnormal/ cannot study- is abortion a solution?
- A high number of abortions/ divorces only points to a society that is mentally unwell and morally decadentÂ…
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3) Unfair remuneration:
- Singapore Prime Minister US$1,100,000 (S$1,958,000)
- But SGporeans remain poor: http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/poverty.html
- Households with monthly incomes of less than $3,000 was 40 percent in 1998 but increased to 42 percent in 1999.
- If assumed that the median income/ person could be $3k, then SG PM earns >54x what the average family might earn in 1 yr.
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4) –Property in SG is overvalued:
- Because the greedy PAP govt sold property at high prices to SGporeans: Ave HDB costs $400K +- this is equivalent to 11+year’s salary of the 42th % family in SG: and what about the high costs of living? – no wonder SGporeans are indebted to the govt.
- Note that property tax is NOT progressive in SG as well as the rampant upgrading schemes? : this is the PAPÂ’s way of covering up for overpricing of property in the 80/ 90Â’s- they donÂ’t want property prices to fall before the elections.
- The fact that estate duty is tax exempt S$9M but other assets are exempt up to $600K is indeed lop-sided- a cover up for HDBÂ’s over pricing of HDB flats to Singaporeans.
(http://groups.google.com.sg/group/soc.culture.singapore/msg/1a6b70584a7cd63e)
- In 2004 37,823 households could not afford to buy their own flats or rent homes in the open market.
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5) Poverty in Singapore:
- http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/poverty.html
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Complains of a developed country. It is even reported in US, so no big deal.
China's poor rich gap also widening, not only Singapore. The same for US.
NKF's incident doesn't reflect PAP's governance. Everybody, especially the top management and executive committee has a very big part in this saga. Even independent auditor PwC has a part in it. Two different independent auditors, auditing before and after NKF saga produces two different reports. Shows that PwC is careless somewhere.
And your sources are biased. Parties opposing PAP will not say good things about PAP. The blog source
is what the news reported. So doesn't really convince me. -
Bro ...
you're entitled to your own opinions of course,
but sorry, I just find your second point really funny ...
so ? ... are you saying that people not giving birth is the fault of the goverment ? ...
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Fertility rate low also PAP's fault. You very cute sia.Originally posted by bic_cherry:2) Fertility rt is poor:
- Yr2005: Sg women bears 1.05 children/ lifetime- this is 3rd last out of 226 countries. (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html).
- This means that Singaporeans are not procreating- a worrying trend because this means that either Singapore imports citizensÂ… or else the Singaporean will soon be extinct with the population reduced by half every generation!- who then will pay taxes?
- Stress, worries about hunger/ poverty plagues every parent to be> who will pay if my child is abnormal/ cannot study- is abortion a solution?
- A high number of abortions/ divorces only points to a society that is mentally unwell and morally decadentÂ…
If child is abnormal, is the parents who wants it. They have kids late, and as women grows older, the chance of having abnormal kids is getting higher. Nothing to do with PAP.
Singapore, right from the start, is dominated by foreign citizens, if you study our history well. High abortion rates also nothing to do with government. We have been taught moral education since young and before abortions, you will be shown a video of the disadvantages of abortions. The choice still lies with us. You can't blame the PAP for that.
Think of better points next time. -
yawns~
nope. -
The US complain about our govt? Why?Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:Complains of a developed country. It is even reported in US, so no big deal.
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Cmon man.. There are things that are better in Singapore also, ya know.. Our tax rate is at 5% GST. If you're going to live in Europe, taxes can even go up to 40% of your salary. The standard of living, although increasing rapidly, is still lower than some other countries too. And if Singapore's governance wasn't good, we wouldn't be where we are in a mere 35 years, from a rural port village to a cosmopolitan mega-city. That was because of good visioneries such as our Prime Ministers and so, Singapore's governance is pretty much alright. There's no corruption whatsoever, coz of proper checks in place, at least in governmental departments.
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it depends on what your social status is.
the poor and rich will think differently. -
because u need to climb the "ladder" then u become richer.
so the govt say we all have equal chance to climb the ladder.
i think thats true, but takes alot alot of hard work. -
It's partly fault of government as the cost of bringing up a child is too high now compare to the last time.Originally posted by Fatum:Bro ...
you're entitled to your own opinions of course,
but sorry, I just find your second point really funny ...
so ? ... are you saying that people not giving birth is the fault of the goverment ? ... -
We have to compare apple to apple. 40% taxes come with alot of benefit. I think that is not the way to compare.Originally posted by alex_dta:Cmon man.. There are things that are better in Singapore also, ya know.. Our tax rate is at 5% GST. If you're going to live in Europe, taxes can even go up to 40% of your salary. The standard of living, although increasing rapidly, is still lower than some other countries too. And if Singapore's governance wasn't good, we wouldn't be where we are in a mere 35 years, from a rural port village to a cosmopolitan mega-city. That was because of good visioneries such as our Prime Ministers and so, Singapore's governance is pretty much alright. There's no corruption whatsoever, coz of proper checks in place, at least in governmental departments. -
Not very well.
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About Fertility:
Let me say it this way; if you keep a chicken coop full of hens to lay eggs for you, you would do well to keep your hens well fed, nourished and stress free.
Why look, electricity tariff just went up again! What a add on! -
You are one of the few who has sex with the lights on?Originally posted by ShutterBug:About Fertility:
Let me say it this way; if you keep a chicken coop full of hens to lay eggs for you, you would do well to keep your hens well fed, nourished and stress free.
Why look, electricity tariff just went up again! What a add on! -
hmmm....
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In NKF's case, every $1 donated, only 10cents goes to the patients.
In Singapore, can the tax man explain: of the tax collected, how many % actually benefits Singaporeans? How much goes to 'nurturing foreign talents' offering them scholarships, housing, airtickets, allowances, jobs....... -
Education and defence take up the lion's share of the annual budget, I believe.Originally posted by taurian:In NKF's case, every $1 donated, only 10cents goes to the patients.
In Singapore, can the tax man explain: of the tax collected, how many % actually benefits Singaporeans? How much goes to 'nurturing foreign talents' offering them scholarships, housing, airtickets, allowances, jobs....... -
For 40 years, government only knows how to tax and recover costs to the fullest - sometimes to the fullest market price to create surpluses and build reserves.
Despite the struggles faced by the people, the government has not been listening and only keeps increasing its fees and recovering all costs to create the reserve? It is not that the government needs to have more monies in increasing such fees and charges. It is running a system like the NKF only to benefit either in more extravagant spending on the 7 wonders or increasing the salaries and bonuses of government ministers and civil servants like the NKF CEO has done.
People are not happy with such high level of surpluses and reserves as expressed in NKF reactions to revelations of high reserves and extravagance.
If reserves are used to create jobs or lessen cost burden in medical or as temporary unemployments, that will be supportable. But reserves are increasingly being used to increase spending on extravagance and beneifting the ministers' salaries etc. These are all major concerns of citizens.
These are issues and problems thrown up in the NKF saga. Will government ever change its past system of taxing and recovering all costs to create reserves?
Will it learn from the NKF case? These are the issues people are most concerned with. -
Would you like to have children when you wouldn't have enough money to provide them with food, clothes, etc ... Every child in the family makes the life more expensive. The other reason - people are busy with working and earning to survive, thus less time for kids.Originally posted by Fatum:Bro ...
you're entitled to your own opinions of course,
but sorry, I just find your second point really funny ...
so ? ... are you saying that people not giving birth is the fault of the goverment ? ... -
Nope, I don't mean that. I mean it also happen in the US.Originally posted by SilverPal:The US complain about our govt? Why? -
frankly jobs are getting scarce and living costs has spiralled out of control.
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Well, I believe our gov wil only start to change when eventually they began to lose substantial votes for them in the decades to come.
Like I've said many times; NOTHING man made can last forever. -
Absolutely true !!! Many leaders have passed away who were at first invincible due to military powers like Qin Shi Huang, Hitler, Suharto, Sadam, Macos..Over time what were wrong will always be wrong. There will be truths, citizens' sense of values and social equity and call of judgment.Originally posted by ShutterBug:Well, I believe our gov wil only start to change when eventually they began to lose substantial votes for them in the decades to come.
Like I've said many times; NOTHING man made can last forever.
Right or wrong it is for people and then eventually history to judge not imposed top-down through books written by oneself or merely media hypes or self-adulation, Good-looking justifications and presentation alone will be last. Powerful propaganda will not last. True worth last because it stays in the heart and mind of citizens much longer. -
Ultimately, the average people only cares what ends up in their pocket for their family at the end of a day of hard work. But sad to say, a lot of our fellow singaporean still struggling hard for a bowl of rice for their family.
We should all work towards the goal of ZERO singaporean left behind just because of their education, age or other factors. The reason why US army fight for the country is that it is a policy in US Army not to leave a single behind. -
What about healthcare? Shouldn't something be done about spiralling costs?Originally posted by dakkon_blackblade:Education and defence take up the lion's share of the annual budget, I believe.