I watched the National Day Rally speech by PM Lee over television as I was not able to get an invitation to the Rally.
PM Lee started with the challenges that Singapore has to face in the near future due to the debt crisis and possible economic slowdown in America and Europe. While we have to be prepared for the worst, I share his confidence that Singapore has the resilience to overcome these challenges. If the past reserves need to be tapped to meet the crisis, I ask the Government to adopt measures that will help the people directly in addition to the measures to help businesses.
I am encouraged by two key thrusts in his speech:
I have personal experience of sending suggestions to several ministries on public transport, work issues and red tape and, apart from receiving a polite acknowledgement, there was no further development.
I like to send best wishes to the PM Lee and his Government in dealing with these issues and will be interested to help the Government to find better solutions in the future, in whatever capacity I may be in.
Tan Kin Lian
PM Lee started with the challenges that Singapore has to face in the near future due to the debt crisis and possible economic slowdown in America and Europe. While we have to be prepared for the worst, I share his confidence that Singapore has the resilience to overcome these challenges. If the past reserves need to be tapped to meet the crisis, I ask the Government to adopt measures that will help the people directly in addition to the measures to help businesses.
I am encouraged by two key thrusts in his speech:
- He identified the important issues faced by the people, i.e. housing, jobs, education and health care and has proposed some measures to address them
- He reiterated his commitment towards a more open and consultative approach and welcomed the inputs from the people.
I recalled that some of these points were mentioned by PM Lee in the past years. It seemed that we had made only small progress in these thrusts and, in some areas, the situation appeared to have worsened. There must be some structural issues and obstacles in getting the inputs of the people.
I have personal experience of sending suggestions to several ministries on public transport, work issues and red tape and, apart from receiving a polite acknowledgement, there was no further development.
I agree with PM Lee that the government can benefit from the inputs of citizens who have put in much passion and effort to think through the issues and provided some possible solutions. We need a new approach towards listening and using these inputs. I hope that PM Lee will address the root cause of the challenges faced by his civil servants and ministers in working in the new environment.
I am contesting the Presidential election on the promise to be "the Voice of the People". If I am elected, I will be able to help the Government in the process of reforming our policies, using a more open, transparent and consulting approach.
I am contesting the Presidential election on the promise to be "the Voice of the People". If I am elected, I will be able to help the Government in the process of reforming our policies, using a more open, transparent and consulting approach.
I like to send best wishes to the PM Lee and his Government in dealing with these issues and will be interested to help the Government to find better solutions in the future, in whatever capacity I may be in.
Tan Kin Lian
My vision for Singapore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwOATWH5Bbk&feature=player_embedded
19 comments:
rex comments as follows,
Dear Mr Tan, there was one point made by PM which bugged me a lot, and i hope that with your wisdom of knowledge in financial matters you could share with me your views.
The PM said that singapore should never go towards welfarism, and in no uncertain terms the PM linked the current Greek debt crisis to the fact that greece had a welfare system which is generous to pay pensions etc. In other words, the PM warned singaporeans that if singaproe move towards welfarism in any way, singapore may suffer the fate of Greece.
Is this a fair statement? Was welfarism the main cause of greek crisis today? I searched internet a few times, and have not been able to figure out the greek crisis primary cause.
rex
Hi Rex,
Some countries are at one end of the extreme in implementing welfare for the people, at the expense of economic resilience. Singapore is at the other end of the extreme, where there is little welfare and high focus on economic resilience.
We can adopt a middle path. Actually, there are some welfare in Singapore, but it is administered in a complex way, i.e. "many helping hands" and ends up being quite wasteful and inefficient.
It is better to recognise the need for some welfare and find a good way to manage the abuse. There will be some abuse, but it is not a serious problem and can be managed - and it should not detract from the need for some welfare.
Dear Rex.
The key words were; Greece, generous pensions.
I think Gerard Ee is studying the issues. And will inform Singaporeans in due course after the Presidential Elections.
Mr Tan
I know you will not be a "dumb" President if elected but what happen if the PM and cabinet don't listen to or respect you and your views?
What will you do? Or what approach will you take?
Hope you can tell us now or else if you are elected you may not be able to tell us without Cabinet approval.
rex comments as follows,
thnks for the prompt response sir.
i am still very very curious to understanding why Greek suffer debt crisis, what is the primary reason. The 2008 financial crisis from usa i can understand it was due to subprime loan, overlending to people who cant afford to pay and when defuatl, system collapsed esp. bankers package the bad loans embed in CDO and innocent lehman bonds.
But the greek crisis, what really is the major factor?
Internet search produced only this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEVqeaFHsHE
In that video, nothing is mentioned that Greek crisis is caused by welfarism and generous pension. The video claimed that it was because the greek government overborrowed becaue interest rates were low. At least that is the impression i get from the video, it was not due to the government providing too generous pensions for many years, was it?
For me this is a very crucial point. Our PM literally took a swipe at Greece and said that Greece is down and out today, due to their welfarism policy.
Now if i am the greek ambassador to singapore, would i accept this as a fair analysis?
This issue, is very important to me, because PM used greece as a lesson for us to learn, and of course if the lesson is true we must truly learn it well.
rex
Hi Rex,
Like the USA, Greece has a budget deficit which has to be financed by borrowings. The budget deficit is caused by insufficient government revenue to pay for their expenses, which includes salaries to public servants and welfare payments.
So, PM Lee is probably right - that the problem is caused by generous welfare.
The situation is different in Singapore. The government has healthy revenue, from income tax, corporate tax, GST, land sale, COE, ERP, levies, etc. So, the Government can afford to be more generous in welfare payments, to the poor and elderly in our society.
reply to 9:56 am
If the government does not cooperate with the President and make life difficult for the President, even though the President has been elected popularly by the people, one course of action is for the President to resign the office. Let the people elect another President.
I wish to avoid such an outcome, as it will look bad for everybody - but it is probably the last resort.
A better outcome is for the President and the Government to work in a cooperative and constructive manner to find solutions that are best for the people.
So, I will be speaking as "Voice of the People" to convey their concerns to the Government and the ministers.
Hi Rex, more info on why Greek in trouble:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13798000
@ "I ask the Government to adopt measures that will help the people directly in addition to the measures to help businesses."
Yes I think this would be "Singaporeans First". In the past it had been more of "Corporate First" not only just to attract MNCs but also because of the numerous GLCs.
E.g. Past CPFs cuts and wage re-structuring policies were all tilted towards "Corporate First"...and with cost saving measures such as employing more foreigners and with a muted NTUC ... all ended up embedded and lost in "globalisation" woes.
And with the Govt refusing to admit its own mistakes on matters closely related to rising cost of living issues, etc, the anti-FT stance got worse while Singaporeans' basic problems are not addressed with "Singaporeans First" policies but "Corporate First" and "Singapore Inc First" aims and objectives.
The average Singaporeans were left behind while our Govt leaders had advanced themselves by leaps and bounds. When there is little welfare ... and many "policies"... people are frustrated when things are carried and dealt with at the extreme ends of the spectrum.
We need a middle ground like what Mr Tan Kin Lian suggested.
I note as reported in the papers today, Minister Shanmugam had again play with words again - {Presidential hopefuls "changed stance"}. Our consitution can remain this and that way he argued it, but the real problems on the ground will remain as it is for a long time to come the way it deserves to be dealt with, not necessarily the "way" they are presented or argued to be resolved.
Is our Govt still a pragmatic one, or does it really believe in pragmatic politics? Or ... Voice of the People?
The govt always talk about welfarism is bad, but they don't walk the talk.
Taking so much from the nation coffers in the way of huge ministers pensions, salaries....is just another disguise form of welfarism,worse it benefits only a select few at the expense of the people.
rex comments as follows,
thanks to anonymous above, i now have two clues why Greece went bust.
The link from bbc explained that greece went bust because it went on a spending spree on "Public Sector WAGES" and also on "olympic games project some years ago".
Now this sounds familiar. Public Sector Wages. The wages of public sector employee, in Singapore, notably Mr N., Mr L. and Co. is the highest in the world. Should we not learn the lesson from greece? IT IS NOT WELFARISM because if it had been so, the bbc report would have highlighted it. The BBC report clearly spelt out it was public sector WAGES. I hve never seen a single internet report mentioning Greece went bust because of the reason whcih PM Lee gave us on national TV last night!!
IN my opinion, although perhaps greece was providing pensions, the amounts were not huge enough to create the huge problems. BBC would have explained it more so, if such were the case.
The second reason Greece went bust is because of the Olympic Games which it hosted some years back. Greece apparently overspent on the back of cheap loans and maybe some other political factors. Now, didnt Singapore overspent by 200 times on YOG expenditure as well? We are in trouble?
So greece went bust NOT BECAUSE OF WELFARISM. The Prime Minister may be using an unfair example to insist that singpaores should not go for welfarism. It wasn;t a good speech after all, but for a while i sat in fron of the tV listening, i was almost conned.
rex
Hi Rex,
Ask a professor of economy if "welfarism" is a concept of economy.
Rex I think the crux of the matter is that the Greeks had issued a lot of bonds (Debt instruments) and they are unable to pay the principal on the bonds at maturity because their government revenue is insufficient to repay the bonds.
The reason why they don't have enough money is partly because of the government overheads and expenditure is high. I don't know how generous their pensions are, but it seems that a lot of rich greeks do not pay their taxes and this adds to the problem of the government not having enough money to repay its loans and at the same time fund its operating budget. A third problem is that the Greek economy is not very robust. It's economic output has not generated sufficient returns on the money that has been borrowed.
Actually welfarism should not be a dirty word. There is even one economist who received the noble price for his work on welfarism.
I think welfare is necessary to ensure that all citizens are provided with enough nourishment, a roof over their heads and that they can live in a safe and healty environment. The purpose of welfarism is to structure the economy in such a way that everyone can be easily provided with such goods and services either by way of employment or the utilisation of public goods. Our PAP leaders will always cite the extreme examples practised in some countries to stiffle calls for greater welfare.
Sorry Our Prime minister is not exactly right in blaming welfare.
Greece is bankrupt because Goldman Sachs allowed Greece to join the Euro zone by using creative accounting and exacerbate the problem by using creative accounting when Greece is part of the Euro Zone. This allowed the Greece government to run into huge budget deficits for all kinds of programs like defence and also paying their public workers high pay etc. Moreover, as they share the same currency Euro, they could not devalue their currency to boost their exports. If one wnat to place the greatest blame is the Goldman sachs bank that allowed much more credit to be lent to Greece without due course.
See this article : http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,676634,00.html
What Singapore should learn is to be careful of all the banks from overseas that have ulterior motive in lending you free money they borrowed through the yen or us carry trade.
PM Lee is not honest in his assessment of Greece going bust. It's not welfarism, it's high expenditure in the form of public spending, and that includes high pay and generous benefits for its civil service, spending for its Olympics Games expenses, and not much GDP receipts from export industries, other than tourism and maybe some olive oil exports.
He's just making use of Greece as a convenient whipping boy to illustrate PAP's disdain for welfarism, swinging to the extreme left, and paint all forms with one single brush.
With the ever increasing Ministers pay and bonuses, already the highest in the world, as pointed out by someone, this is also welfare expenditure, not on the citizens, but on themselves.
LHL should forget his father's mindset that Singaporeans are that daft to take in anything PAP Govt wants us to believe in. We could check up on his words from the Internet, and form our own analysis.
PAP Govt should stop fibbing, it dun reflect good on them.
rex comments as follows,
hi suresh,
thnks for your opinion.
So the Greek government issues bonds. Now, bonds is just a high class word for I.O.U. In reality, the greek govt issue these iou's for some specific purpose, for example build a gold plated olympic stadium etc., or build a railway to nowhere for show to prove how great they are (reminds of singapore musuem buyin 12 million dollar Dinosaur from USA).
Therefore, because of frivolus spending (as implicated specifically in the BBC website) on unnecessary PROJECTS with POOR RETURNS the greek govt became unable to pay the bonds to the bond owners and greece became bankrupt.
Again and again, i do not see the concept of HIGH PENSIONS. WELFARE. which is wrecking the Greek Economy. The bonds are not related to high pensions, surely. I have not seen a single internet article pointed in this direction, after months of searching.
I strongly belief that PM Lee should not use Greece as a bogeyman to tell singaporeans that Singapore will die if the govt start a more humane welfare system. It is an old school philosophy started by LKY that welfare is BAD for a country... it might be true in the 1960's when the singapore future was extremely uncertain. But today, how is it possible that we can afford to pay 87 MP, President, PM etc many times more than rich countries, and yet we claim we cannot afford Welfare? Ridiculous and unfair example to use Greece as bogeyman.
rex
Can Mr Tan explain to us how is it that welfare is bad for lesser mortal mortals but for PAP cronies it is good ?
It is really unbelievable and shameless that this govt can tell the world that giving extraordinary salary and welfare is a cure for corruption while giving welfare to the public must be avoided.
9:28 You should ask PM Lee or the Government to answer your question, not TKL. I do not agree with the PAP approach.
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