Tan Kin Lian's Blog: A suggestion to treat citizens better

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A suggestion to treat citizens better

Dear Mr. Tan,

The PM talked about treating Singapore citizen better, as compared to PR. I will recommend them to do this:

a) portion out our assets from Temasek holdings and GIC (not all of GIC as some are our own CPF money)
b) do a proper mark-to-market
c) unitize it (and call it Singapore Thank You Fund)

Each singapore citizen will be given shares based on the following:
a) number of years as citizen
b) number of kids he/she produced
c) done NS and reservists

So, the older citizens who has provided the nation with kids will be getting a larger number of shares as compared to a newly converted citizen who is single.

Add up all the shares and match them to the units of the Singapore Thank You Fund. Citizens will be given the units of the Fund in their CDP account. They can sell the units only back to the government. The government will provide transparent reporting of the values of the underlying assets so that the unit price can be calculated. Based on certain predetermined criteria, citizens can sell the units at a discount (depending on the age of the citizen)

Criteria will be something like this:
a. prolong joblessness
b. prolong sickness with no money to pay for
c. calamity in the family (sudden loss of a spouse)

I hope the old citizens (especially the poorer ones) will be able to benefit from Singapore's growth in the past 50 years, before they die.

Heng Chee Meng

8 comments:

"r" said...: very interesting suggestion

frankly im piqued by the fact that foreigners were able to get citizenship so easily for the past few years - zero ns liabilities and full privileges as citizens. now thats an even better deal than the great singapore sale!; September 16, 2009 11:19 PM
Anonymous said...: The problem is Government does not think and treat the reserves to belong to the people. I think, if i recall correctly, this was once mentioned in parliament (it belongs to the Government not the people). This is the issue many Singapore people do not and will not understand. How can something which is not yours be shared with you? (unless there is a catch) Many people have yet to truly understand our Government's real nature. I believe many people will ultimately be disappointed, sad to say.; September 17, 2009 12:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Don't dream lah. This will never happen under the current government. Just look at the recently launched CPF LIFE, the govt do not even want to take care of a very very small group of citizens who lives beyond 85 years old. The govt push this responsibility to be shared by all CPF members thru' CPF LIFE policy.; September 17, 2009 11:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Anon 11.12 am

Hard to say. Those who will be 85 years or older in 20 years time may be a large group, not very, very small.

Nowadays people have better food and better medical care throughout most of their life. So life expectancy may be longer in future.

In the 19th century life expectancy was said to be only 50 to 60 years, mainly due to poor medical care and epidemics, wars, etc compared to now.; September 17, 2009 2:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi 2:21.
Life expectancy in Singapore presently is around 78. So far the govt did not use statistic to convince us that elderly citizens live beyong 85 is a major problem. Another issue is ; can you survive with S$ 600-750 per month in 20 years later.
CPF Life cannot solve the problem, it is another wayang show to con Singaporeans.; September 17, 2009 7:20 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: @7:20 AM

The life expectancy for a male is 78 at birth. But at 65, the life expectancy is 18 years (making 83). Life expectancy has been increasing over the past years. So, if you reach age 65 in 30 years time, you may find, you may find that the life expectancy has increased to 23 years (making a total of 88 years).

The life expectancy of females is about 4 years longer than males.; September 18, 2009 9:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Mr Tan,
Is there any official statistic showing no. of citizens live beyond 85 years in: 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008,; against the total population.
It will be more convincing to look at these data rather than knowing some old and rich politicians and businessmen living beyond 85 years.; September 18, 2009 11:15 AM
Anonymous said...: What will be the quality of life at age 82 and over for an average Singaporean in 20-30 years time? Besides worrying about money to meet bread and butter issues, will we, future octogenarians have dignified twilight years? Will we be able to earned the respect of the younger generations as people who had contributed to the NATION? Or will we be viewed as just a liability to the family as well as the Nation. That sense of appreciation for elders must be inculcated from young. We should have a State Budget for organising of campaigns to address this issue. Will there be plans for activities available to us to "mingle" with the younger generations? Just drilling into our heads to "save up to meet your own needs" is so hurting and so embarrassing.; September 18, 2009 10:12 PM