So after collecting taxes from hougang residents for all these years,in the end if elected,they are not going to use those taxes and PAP will ask the rest of the singaporeans to "chip" in an additional amount for it.Really Pay and Pay.Is this fair? Why should the money not come from the tax coffer?
Except from the article
Turning to Hougang, Mr Goh said the estate was over 30 years old and residents have to decide whether they want it to "refresh and revitalise" over the next five to 10 years. Based on a survey carried out by PAP's Hougang candidate Eric Low, Mr Goh said that upgrading is "one of the estate's top concerns".
If elected, Mr Goh also pledged to help Mr Eric Low increase his social service fund from $12,000 to $500,000. The money, he said, would be raised from donors across Singapore, and not from the PAP and Government's coffers.
Full article
Tuesday • May 2, 2006
Leong Wee Keat
[email protected]Tasked by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to win back the Opposition-held wards of Hougang and Potong Pasir, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has been getting lots of feedback from residents on local municipal issues.
But in a rally yesterday at Hougang Avenue 4, Mr Goh said this election is also about "the future of Singapore, its government and its future generations".
Mr Goh urged Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Kiang to come clean on whether his party had a "hidden agenda". Mr Goh made the comment after reading the first line of the WP manifesto which stated that the party had ambitions to be the ruling party in the future.
While acknowledging that all political parties should have an aim of being in power, the Senior Minister questioned the three proposals WP raised in its manifesto — the scrapping of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system, grassroots organisations and the Elected Presidency.
Mr Goh argued that the scrapping of the GRC system and the grassroots would allow WP to capture seats faster in the short term. If the Elected Presidency is eliminated, the WP can then spend the country's reserves and "make all sorts of empty promises" with regards to education, health care, medical and transport matters, he argued.
But Mr Goh was quick to caution, "People will support this kind of populist government, but where is WP going to get all the money?"
While WP candidate James Gomez has dominated headlines recently over the submission of his minority candidate forms, Mr Goh said he was not distracted by that issue. Instead, he took WP chief Low to task for his "deafening silence" over not being able to name three to five names for a shadow cabinet among the numerous new and young candidates on its slate.
Mr Goh argued against voting for Opposition candidates just for the sake of opposing the Government.
"Be careful of planting seeds of Opposition in the Parliament as a tree may grow out of it," he said.
"What kind of tree? No one knows."
At a separate rally yesterday, Mr Gomez said that his party was not averse to working towards an alternative government and that the PAP had become "irrelevant" to Singapore.
Turning to Hougang, Mr Goh said the estate was over 30 years old and residents have to decide whether they want it to "refresh and revitalise" over the next five to 10 years. Based on a survey carried out by PAP's Hougang candidate Eric Low, Mr Goh said that upgrading is "one of the estate's top concerns".
If elected, Mr Goh also pledged to help Mr Eric Low increase his social service fund from $12,000 to $500,000. The money, he said, would be raised from donors across Singapore, and not from the PAP and Government's coffers.
In turn, Mr Eric Low has promised Hougang residents he will work hard for the residents and stay for the next ten years if he is elected. Mr Low, 58, also "promised to make the estate as beautiful as Aljunied".
Other PAP members such as Lim Biow Chuan, Lui Tuck Yew, Lim Hwee Hua, Zainul Abidin Rasheed and George Yeo also spoke up for Mr Low. Foreign Minister Yeo said he and his fellow Aljunied GRC members are exploring various ways to help integrate services and transportation between the two wards.
"It is difficult to build bridges to connect two places under different administrations," Mr Yeo said.
"If we are one, there are many things we can do for both sides in terms of business and transportation. Property prices here may also go up."
