Coming to think of it what is wrong with welfarism?
If people have been asked to sacrifice in paying all kinds of fee increases in the form of tax-and-recover corporatization for the past 41 years and as a result government has built up a surplus of S$300 billion, what is wrong with using their own monies to provide some forms of social or unemployment safety net?
Is it not their own monies people that they will be using ? Why must people who are using their own monies be guilty of any welfarism or free lunches. I will rather regard self-reward of mulit-million dollar salaries to ministers or durai as free lunches but not people's using their own monies for some unexpected contingencies like sickness or unemployment.
The correct term to use is people is drawing on their own retirements and unemployment endowment funds squeezed from over-priced HDB flat purchases or over-taxed vehicle ownership levies.