Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Treat people equally

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Treat people equally

DPM Teo Chee Hean is quoted to have said, "A company that does not discriminate against any particular age group or gender will naturally have access to a large pool of potential hires".

I agree with this concept of non-discrimination and ask that it be applied to all aspects of Singapore life. We should treat people equally in respect of the following (just a few examples):

- school fees
- medical fees at government facilities
- income tax relief for children
- contribution to CPF

We are so used to being differentiated according to our residential status, employment status, educational level, education level of our mother, year of birth and other factors that it becomes part of our daily lives. It is not only unfair to those in the wrong groups - it also makes life complicated in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian

9 comments:

symmetrix said...: George Orwell said in Animal Farm:-

"All men are equal, but some are more equal than others."

I don't want to sound cynical but this has been happenning here for decades. I hope the minister means what he said, and S'pore evolves into an "Equal Opportunity Employer" like the USA.; April 08, 2010 9:26 AM
Anonymous said...: If you are not choosy about the type of food to eat, you would have wider choice too. So, why be a vegetarian, or refrain from pork or beef?

Can he explain the policy of SIA girls?; April 08, 2010 9:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Discriminating against any particlular age group or gender is not enough. DPM Teo has forgotten that we must not discriminate against anything and that includes Nationality, pregnant mothers, disabled people or people with NS liability. Unfortunately there aren't any laws that seem to be effective to prevent that.; April 08, 2010 10:42 AM
Anonymous said...: To VS Lingam,

The quote from your post shows only the 2nd half of the Animal Farm.

In the Animal Farm, after a successful rebellion by the animals to drove out the humans, the pigs wrote a seven commands of Animalism and one of them is "All animals are equal".

In the beginning, every animal worked hard and share the food of their labour. However, when the pigs grdually took control of the farm, the pigs pushed the other animals to work harder but their food rations were reduced despite good harvest. The lion's share of the harvest went to the pigs.

After the pigs gained full control of running the farm and using the dogs to instill fear in other animals, the pigs changed the original seven commands one by one to their own advantage.

In the end, the pigs behave just like the humans. Hence to distinguish themselves as the elite from the rest of the animals, the pigs changed the original command "All animals are equal" to “All animals are equal, But some animals are more equal than others.”

Merlion; April 08, 2010 11:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Cont'd...

LKY's quotes on Equality taken from http://leewatch.info/

“There are some flaws in the assumptions made for democracy. It is assumed that all men and women are equal or should be equal. Hence, one-man-one-vote. But is equality realistic? If it is not, to insist on equality must lead to regression.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Create 21 Asahi Forum Tokyo, Nov 20 1992

“The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to do with culture. The whites score on average 100. Asians score more … the Bell curve authors put it at least 10 points higher. These are realities that, if you do not accept, will lead to frustration because you will be spending money on wrong assumptions and the results cannot follow.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

“I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that’s the most unlikely thing ever to have been, because millions of years have passed over evolution, people have scattered across the face of this earth, been isolated from each other, developed independently, had different intermixtures between races, peoples, climates, soils… I didn’t start off with that knowledge. But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I’ve come to.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

“If I tell Singaporeans – we are all equal regardless of race, language, religion, culture. Then they will say,”Look, I’m doing poorly. You are responsible.” But I can show that from British times, certain groups have always done poorly, in mathematics and in science. But I’m not God, I can’t change you. But I can encourage you, give you extra help to make you do, say maybe, 20% better.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Success Stories, 2002; April 08, 2010 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: PAP's view of equality has been corrupted for a long long time already. Their view is no longer just a "view" but has already become their genetic DNA i.e. second nature reflex, sub-concious, no need to think.

Below are LKY's quotes over the past few decades on Equality taken from http://leewatch.info/

On EQUALITY

“It is essential to rear a generation at the very top of society that has all the qualities needed to lead and give the people the inspiration and the drive to make it succeed. In short, the elite.. Every society tries to produce this type. The British have special schools for them: the gifted and talented are sent to Eton and Harrow.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, August 1966

“The human being is an unequal creature. That is a fact. And we start off with the proposition. All the great religions, all the great movements, all the great political ideology, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, from a speech during the 1960s, Success Stories

“We must encourage those who earn less than $200 per month and cannot afford to nurture and educate many children never to have more than two… We will regret the time lost if we do not now take the first tentative steps towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a large number of the physically, intellectually and culturally anaemic.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1967

“If you don’t include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society…So what happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation. That’s a problem.”
-Lee Kuan Yew in 1983 National Day Rally

“The successful, whether you’re a scholar, a Mandarin or a successful businessman or successful farmer, you had more than one wife. In fact you can have as many as your economic status entitles you or can persuade people to give their daughters up to you. In other words, the unsuccessful are like the weak lions or bucks in a herd, they were neutralised. So over the generations you must have the physically and the mentally more vibrant and vital, reproduce. We are doing just the opposite. We introduced monogamy. It seems so manifestly correct. The West was successful, superior. Why? Because they are monogamous. It was wrong. It was stupid.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Population and Development Review, Vol. 13 No.1, 1987

Cont'd on next post...; April 08, 2010 12:41 PM
Vincent Sear said...: In the US declaration of independence, "all men are equal" is understood in a humane sense, not in the material or endowment sense. There're many very rich and many very poor in the US as well, with even more somewhere in between. But they all understand what's meant by being equal.

It's not a measure of one's status, wealth or power. It's a measure to ensure all men regardless of status, wealth or power are equal under the law.

However, whether in the US or any country proclaiming this in its constitution, it's also understood that within the country, certain privileges apply to citizens only. Otherwise, there's no meaning in citizenship and patriotism.; April 08, 2010 2:17 PM
Anonymous said...: All those elites may not believe all men are equal. Nevertheless, GOD does make all men equal.; April 09, 2010 11:07 AM
Anonymous said...: My Fellow Singaporeans.
We are a meritocracy ... as long as we do it HIS way.

Just trust and obey,
For there is no other way,
To be happy in Singapore
You just gotta trust and obey.; April 10, 2010 8:10 AM