Someone asked for my views on what changes I would do, if I were the Prime Minister. Without the benefit of a $1.5 million salary (hope this is the right figure), I will review the following:
- Reduce the minister salary to an average of $500,000
- Health care: adopt a single payer system of South Korea and Canada, to replace the wasteful and fragmented system now used in Singapore.
- Public housing: Reduce the price to an affordable level, say 3 to 4 years of the average family income
- Public transport: take over the planning and fares, but outsource the operations to private operators for an agreed fee, i.e follow the London model
- Wages: Introduce a minimum wage, likely to be at least $8 an hour.
- Taxation: get rid of the wasteful GST and replace it with a payroll tax (with suitable relieve for low income workers); other aspects of tax will also be reviewed.
- Waste: Remove wasteful government processes that add to the cost and burden (there are plenty of them)
- Financial Sector: regulate the sector to give a fair deal to consumers for their savings.
- Attitude: create awareness that government leaders and civil servants have to serve the people, and are not the "masters:
I am confident that all of these measures can be done effectively, although they will not be easy. Some mistakes will be made along the way, and will need to be corrected.
3 comments:
Mr Tan, you have broadly given the current PM a wishlist that are on most Singaporeans' minds.
Will we ever see any of them initiated, partially, at least in this New Year?
I guess, much depends on the result of the By-Election result at Punggol East SMC.
Hi Mr Tan. Would you also like to share some ideas on how to grow Singapore's economy?
Personally, I feel that Singapore's heavy reliance on foreign investments is a major cause of the poor work-life balance in Singapore. GDP is substantially higher than GNP. Singaporeans work much harder than what they are paid for their efforts. I do not have a solution to this. Singapore has an inherent problem in having small land mass.
So far, the opposition parties and the public have offered lots of ideas on how to improve the quality of life for Singaporeans through a change in the re-distribution of the existing 'economic pie', slowing down the economic growth and tapping on past reserves.
I will be interested to hear suggestions on how to keep Singapore relevant to the world so that we can continue to survive and/or prosper over the long term.
Everyone: For your suggestions and comments, pls. Thank you.
One simple suggestion: "Do not allow the PAP government to involve in commercial business through the GLCs(Government Linked Companies) except in the field of Defence and Education."
"Conflict of interest and level of playing field" are the two(2) main reasons for disallowing that to continue.
"The engine of economic growth must be propelled by the private sectors". This way, it will greatly help to maximise the outputs; to minimise the costs as well - my humble comment.
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