To : Dear Forumers'
It would appear that despite many failures to solve problems, they are not acknowledged or solved.
The government seems to be concerned with its own narrow one-side views of achievements and has stopped to govern the country for the greatest good of the greatest number.
The entire Feedback process seems to be full of hypocrisy and supported by look-good media propaganda.
Ministers have the habit of not acknowledging real problems e.g. high costs of living due to corporatizations of essential government services and double-charging on lands and fixed assets through creative accounting etc.
There has been persistent dragging of feet over the past 10-20 years and there remain real and major problems as posted here and to the Feedback Unit.
In the light of such persistent unresponsive governance, I have written private emails to our leaders on such failures and inactions as reproduced below for general information:-
Date of email to Dr. Amy Khor: 8.12.2006 c.c. PM Lee Hsien Loong, MM Lee Kuan Yew, MP: Lui Tuck Yew
Dear Dr. Amy Khor,
Thank you for your invitations to participate in forums on various new government policies and initiatives.
In the past 6 years or so, I have actively participated in various feedbacks to the Feedback Unit. At one time some of the forumers were even treated badly with Feedback administrators trying to control the forumers' views and deleting their posts and reporting accidental exchanges to the police as reported in the New Paper. There were migration of forumers due to such negative attitudes towards feedbacks of truths and objective opinions.
So do you honestly think that Feedback Unit or Reach could try to gross over such problems and give a good image by changing the moribund feedback process to a new name like Reach and get Singaporeans with good and sincere hearts to work for the government in getting real feedbacks from the masses, professionals, civic citizens and those who have really good practical ideas.
By gerrymandering the feedback process in the manner that has been happening the general population does not see the real problems but the country gets set back for another and another 10 years and could not succeed in motivating citizens to solve real problems with the country and economy.
Today problems like those we are still grappling with could have been solved 10-20 years back like the "Wee Shu Min type of elitism", "Disaffective divide of society", "Poverisation of citizens and losing of our economic competitiveness due to taxing and recovering in the name of avoiding welfarism until the costs are pushed up too high", "Low birth rates", "Foreign-oriented investment and job policies at the expense of supporting local entrepreneurship", "Failure to upgrade the economy to value-adding model despite three recessions and all the ERC recommendations", "Shackling of the press freedom to report real causes of problems as happened in Nicol Highway and NKF.
It looks like government has the power to control the press and with that power it is still overly interested only in entrenching the above-stated problems as posted by me to Feedback Unit in the thread "20 Major Government Policy Errors". Since 1970s,there were a lack of real result-getting ministers but only those who keep entrenching the past policies which fail to work. We need two or three result-oriented ministers who are fully focused in restructuring the economy to the Korean model -technology-start-up-and-mass-knowledge-application-targeted.
If Reach honestly wants to solve problems like getting real practical solutions from those who know and have good ideas, it will have to reinvent itself, stop gerrymandering and start to interact with people who care about the country and results.
Reach should advise the whole government on the real problems - lack of participation by people who know because such people have been ignored or spurned all the time whenever they suggested something. My various articles on process management and revision of constitution etc to decentralise responsibilities and hold ministers accountable for major policy errors were witheld from publishing by the Straits Times and Today.
I ask you to consider this major issue - do you study the principal causes why government policies do not get widespread support. Do the ministers address them courageously.
This is a more important issue and problem to address at this juncture of the development of the country Singaporeans could be made to be proud of.
The key words are : "..honestly, feedbacks, from the masses, professionals, and those who have really good practical ideas..."
What are the causes of apathy? Is it not that Singapore does not have practical talents of the like of Dr. Goh Keng Swee or Lim Kim San. Such people do not have the avenue to even pass the first test of consultations because they are too often ignored in favor of the elites, high-flyers etc.
Honestly, just look at the number of times my proposals to Feedback Units were ignored to change the past elitist educational streaming, in favor of mass participation and practical knowledge applications and the need to undo and unscramble Mah Boh Tan type of policies of taxing and recovering every cost through corporatization schemes and creative accounting.
If my past feedbacks on such major mistakes in the past policies are not even acknowledged how could you ask people like me to take part in giving you more feedbacks through the hype of REACH again.
Go to www.managefranchise-blogspot.com or www.sgforums (market) to gather more practical ideas how to solve problems with the fullest support of the people.
Robert Teh Kok Hua
>From:
[email protected]>To:
[email protected]>Subject: Share your Views with us on Budget 2007
>Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:58:22 +0800
>
>Dear People's Forum Member
>
>
>Share your Views with us on Budget 2007
>
>Budget 2007
>
>The Budget Statement for FY2007 will be announced in February 2007. The challenges of globalization and an ageing population will become more eminent as we enter into the next fiscal year. As a small country with an open economy, we are vulnerable to external pressures and will need to foster a stable macroeconomic environment for our businesses, investors and our workers, in order to remain competitive. At the same time, we need to protect our social fabric and address the demands of an ageing population. These challenges will combine to exert immense pressure on our fiscal resources in the next few years.
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>How has public spending benefited you and contributed to the healthy development of our economy and society? Are there areas that you feel require more attention? What more can be done to balance the needs and priorities of different groups in our society?
>
>Workfare to be fixed part of social safety net
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>Pledging a commitment to extend permanent help for the low-income group, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced recently that the Workfare bonus for low-income workers would be here to stay. It will join the CPF, the 3Ms of healthcare (Medicare, MediShield and Medifund), and the home ownership scheme, to form the fourth pillar of our social safety net.
>
>What do you think of the move to make Workfare a permanent form of assistance to the lower-income group? What other ways can the government help the lower-income group?
>
>'SM's call to recognise Singaporeans'
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>Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has recently made a call to initiate recognition of the pioneers, philanthropists, social workers, leaders and others who had made a difference to the lives of Singaporeans, citing that many Singaporeans knew little of Singapore's first generation leaders who had recently passed on.
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>What are your views on this?
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>GST will be raised to tackle widening income gap
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>Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in Parliament that the Goods and Services Tax will be increased to 7 percent, up from the current 5 percent. He said this was necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets needed to help the lower income group. He added that the offset package the Government will offer, will be more than enough to offset the rise in GST.
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>Do you think these will be an effective strategy tackle the widening income gap? What are your views?
