During the three prolonged recessions during the period 1997-2001, the leaders were in despair over many problems e.g. high costs of living, anti-business environments, anti-business pro-foreign investments and job policies. (Read various feedbacks posted to Feedback Unit).
Singapore has become uncompetitive as compared with competitions whether from China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan , Korea or even Vietnam.
Many Singapore's SMEs and domestic sector companies have closed shops and many continue to go under due to high costs.
The old economic strategy and other major government policies since 1970s did not work. The pro-foreign and the same tax-and-recover system of government could not produce competitiveness.
Government has been charging double on lands and triple on vehicle ownership amounting to some $500,000 - $800,000 per household life-cycle to build reserves without any corresponding plan to benefit the people in using these reserves to lower costs of living or creating a value-adding technology-driven new economy. The private sector suffers from squeeze of liquidity and losses of economic and social vibrancy. Such old policies did not change driving away our people's entrepreneurial spirits.
The following are 20 major policy errors as posted to the feedback unit demanded urgent solutions :-
(1) Bureaucracy in civil service.
(2) High costs of essential government services e.g. medical, utilities, housing, transportation, education, etc, etc
(3) Failure of Growth Triangles
(4) Affective divide causing a general apathy in political participation.
(5) Persistent Work site safety problems (Despite all the commissions of inquiry such as the Hotel New World and Nicol Highway collapse)
(6) Failure to Deliver the Swiss standard of living
(7) Asset enhancement scheme fiasco
(8 ) Unit trust investment fiasco
(9) Foreign relation fiascos
(10) Failure to implement value-adding economic restructuring strategy
(11) Double-charging on lands (already acquired under Land Acquisition Act and paid by taxpayers) and triple charges on vehicles.
(12) Meritocratic policy over-emphasising on academic talents causing neglect of practical talents and mass participation - brain drains of thousands
(13) Mother tongue fiasco - CL1 admission criterion causing major brain drain.
(14) No sign of reaching World Cup soccer league by 2010.
(15) Losses of CPF retirement nesteggs in various schemes by senior citizens.
(16) Goh Keng Swee wage-push doctrine for ministers and civil service resulting in over-inflation of public sector wages posing a burden to the economy.
(17) Non-implementation of good corporate governance based on accountability and transparency e.g. pro-foreign job and investment policies investments of surpluses in overseas investments.
(18 ) Loss of economic competitiveness due to high costs of living and doing business.
(19) Neglect in promoting entrepreneurship
(20) Neglect in nurturing domestic sector of economy.
These major policy errors were still so far not admitted or seriously addressed. If Singapore is truly run by talented people which are world-class then these should be admitted and solved urgently.