Mega makeover for housing estates in the east?
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extracted from ST forum.
Better spend the money on needy.
Having lived in 'The East' for over four decades, your front-page article - Makeover plans worth $800m for estates in the east - could be expected to make those of us in the 'Eastern Bloc' happy, even proud, for getting such a huge contribution in keeping with the promise of the government's upgrading programme.
It must however be the height of irony that the article appeared alongside the other 'It's harder for kids with no computers'(ST Nov 2
which highlights that 140,000 lower-income households cannot afford even a used computer.
It is probably a reflection of our priorities that the cosmetic facade of the various constituencies seems to be of greater importance than providing facilities for the less affluent of the next generation.
There must be many more like myself staying in 'The East' who would happily sacrifice such mega makeovers for the more urgent priority of helping the really needy, like those profiled in your Upfront article.
One can easily pre-empt the official rebuttal that there are already plenty of avenues open for deserving cases like the 11-year-old John Ng mentioned in the article. But your report suggests that this problem is not being tackled with the same zeal as improving the housing estates.
Narayana Narayana -
posted b4 lah
butthen dun think my block will get
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extracted from ST forum.
When is ComCare ready to give speedy aid to the needy?
I refer to the article 'Faster aid to needy, thanks to data bank' by Yap Su-Yin (ST, Nov 25).
The ComCare database currently has records of 74,000 households that have approached the Community Development Councils, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore and 18 family service centres that disburse the School Pocket Money Fund.
If each needy household has on average four family members, the number of needy Singaporeans in the database todate may be around 300,000 (74,000 x 4 family members).
There are plans to rope in more partners for the database, such as the Citizens' Consultative Committees, voluntary welfare organisations and government agencies.
Presumably when the database of these organisations are incorporated into the ComCare database, the total number of needy Singaporeans on record may increase even more.
Although the setting up of the database is timely, it begs the question why this was not done earlier? After all, the cost was only $350,000.
With 240,000 Singaporeans earning less than $1,000 a month, are there any statistics or estimates of how many Singaporeans are in financial distress?
An example of the plight of needy Singaporeans was recently reported in the media. In one primary school, there were about 10 Primary Six students who were in difficulty paying their school fee arrears, resulting in the PSLE result slip of one student being withheld.
With about 39,000 HDB households in arrears for their service and conservancy fees, if in one primary school alone about 10 students in just one level (Primary Six) can't pay, how many students in schools at all levels are in arrears for their fees?
The ComCare Fund has given out $8.7 million to 13,700 low-income households in nationwide assistance programmes in the first three months of operation.
Separately, some $660,000 out of the $4 million set aside under the CCC ComCare Fund has been disbursed to 5,400 needy Singaporeans. This works out to an average of about $212 per month given to each of the 13,700 low-income households and $122 given to each of the 5,400 needy Singaporeans.
Does this mean that the rest of the 60,300 needy households which have been given or are currently receiving assistance have yet to receive any assistance under ComCare?
Or does it mean that only about 19 per cent of those who have been given or are currently receiving assistance are eligible for ComCare assitance?
Or does it mean that most of these households do not need assistance anymore?
The number of households (5,400) which have received assistance under the CCC ComCare Fund also seems to be quite small. The above represents about 81 per cent of the 74,000 needy households in the database.
If we add the databases of the other organisations to ComCare's, it may appear that assistance is taking a long time to reach needy Singaporeans. Why is this so?
I would like to suggest that the process be expedited if possible because any delay can only prolong the sufferings of those in need. To echo the questions tabled by several MPs on the plight of needy Singaporeans, is there any estimate or timeline as to when ComCare will be able to assess and deliver assistance to all the needy?
The recently announced $500 million East Coast Park upgrading, which has attracted some debate in the media as to its necessity, raises the question of the need to reconsider our national expenditure for needy Singaporeans.
Leong Sze Hian -
i strongly agree that they should spend the money on helping those in need than doing these silly upgradings.