Be responsible and accoutable please!

[Goh Meng Seng]

1. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has finally conceded what the National Solidarity Party (NSP) has been saying all along: that the government’s liberal immigration policy was poorly thought out, and has had an adverse impact on housing plans. In his comments reported by The Straits Times on 7 September 2010, SM Goh offers the implausible excuse that the government was “caught by surprise”.

2. Given that the government sets quotas on the number of foreign workers to be let in to the country every year, it is ridiculous for the government to claim that it was caught flat footed by a sudden surge in immigrants.

3. Mr Mah has said as early back as 2007 that Singapore is planning for a 6.5 million person population within the next 20 years. Apparently, as a Cabinet Minister, Minister Mah is well aware of the direction that this government is heading to. It is thus inexcusable for HDB, under Minister Mah’s charge, not to respond accordingly to the intended population plan. Minister Mah will have to be made accountable for such mismanagement of the housing planning by HDB.

4. SM Goh and the NSP are in complete agreement over one point: the National Development Ministry, helmed by Mr Mah Bow Tan, is the Ministry that should bear the responsibility for the housing bubble that resulted from this surge in immigrants.

5. On the other hand, NSP is doubtful of PAP’s policy of increasing the population size to 6.5million. The falling total fertility rate (TFR) of native Singaporeans means that the government’s race towards the 6.5 million figure will be spearheaded by a further influx of foreigners. Despite the government’s packaging of the 6.5 million figure as a “planning parameter”, Singaporeans will be justified in demanding reassurance given that previous planning parameters have been exceeded, as SM Goh concedes.

6. Singaporeans across almost every demographic have borne the brunt of this poorly thought out policy: low wage workers have seen their incomes decline as foreign workers depress wages, while at the other end young middle income couples have seen public housing continue to rise beyond their means. Every Singaporean taking public transport has seen the reality of a public transport infrastructure bursting at its seams.

7. In light of all of the above, the NSP calls on the government to urgently revise the 6.5 million person population target downwards, and commission an inter-Ministry study with the purpose of accounting to Singaporeans regarding how housing, transport, and social infrastructure can continue to be assured.

8. The NSP also reiterates our stand that new HDB flats should be sold at cost price to citizens. HDB should also consider selling new flats to PR at market price so to ease the demand due to unusual increase in PR population.

Goh Meng Seng
Secretary-General,
National Solidarity Party
On behalf of the National Solidarity Party
8 September 2010

 

[Ramseth]

Why you anyhow question your uncle? No big no small.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Why you anyhow question your uncle? No big no small.

In the eyes of Reasoning, there is no such thing as big or small.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Ramseth]

in the eyes of reasoning, there is no such thing as big or small.

Goh meng seng

子曰，长幼有序，敬老尊贤。

 

[clinton666]

In the eyes of Reasoning, there is no such thing as big or small.

Goh Meng Seng

You spastic maggot:oIo:

Stop replying to yourself, no one is interested in your retarded post which bores people to a slow painful death..

Since you are so pathetic, I will help to spice up your thread with the hottest singer in the histroy of music..

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kffacxfA7G4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kffacxfA7G4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[wonerman]

Dont waste ur breath with them lah. Since when the govt need to account for any blunder they made? Flood, they tell u once in 50yrs, mistakes make, they say letz move on. U make a mistake, they hound u like a bloodhound. Even if everybody vote against them, they will still be the ruling party man! U tink Commisioner of police will pledge allegiance to Low Thia Kiang or Chief of Defence Force will pledge allegiance to Kenneth Jeyaratnam?

In a nutshell, we can only choh choh them but to them, itz like an ant bite, tatz all.

 

[wonerman]

Ning Na Bay Eh Pua Chee Bye Siao Tiao Kia. Lim Pei Jio Lu. Kan Ning Nah Bay Eh Pua Chee Bye! Chow Piow Kia!

You spastic maggot:oIo:

Stop replying to yourself, no one is interested in your retarded post which bores people to a slow painful death..

Since you are so pathetic, I will help to spice up your thread with the hottest singer in the histroy of music..

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kffacxfA7G4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kffacxfA7G4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[clinton666]

Ning Na Bay Eh Pua Chee Bye Siao Tiao Kia. Lim Pei Jio Lu. Kan Ning Nah Bay Eh Pua Chee Bye! Chow Piow Kia!

You spastic maggot:oIo:

I know there are stragglers in the Human Evolution but you are so far behind, even the Orang Utans are more evolved than you!

Shouldn't you be studying for your third sitting of the PSLE:oIo::oIo:

 

[cass888]

This post by Mr Goh (not SM Goh but MS Goh) reflects his intellectual dishonesty and unfitness to be a leader.

1. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has finally conceded what the National Solidarity Party (NSP) has been saying all along: that the government’s liberal immigration policy was poorly thought out, and has had an adverse impact on housing plans. In his comments reported by The Straits Times on 7 September 2010, SM Goh offers the implausible excuse that the government was “caught by surprise”.

The truth is that Mr Goh acknowledged that the surge of immigrants in 2007 and 2008 caught the Government by surprise. But the Government had not stopped them from coming because the booming economy needed workers. In other words, the Government was happily caught by surprise. This may have an impact on housing prices but it does not mean that it is necessarily an adverse impact.

2. Given that the government sets quotas on the number of foreign workers to be let in to the country every year, it is ridiculous for the government to claim that it was caught flat footed by a sudden surge in immigrants.

Again, it was not caught flat footed. It felt the economy needed a certain number of foreigners. It did not expect to achieve the numbers, but it did. In other words, it was more successful in achieving its goal.

3. Mr Mah has said as early back as 2007 that Singapore is planning for a 6.5 million person population within the next 20 years. Apparently, as a Cabinet Minister, Minister Mah is well aware of the direction that this government is heading to. It is thus inexcusable for HDB, under Minister Mah’s charge, not to respond accordingly to the intended population plan. Minister Mah will have to be made accountable for such mismanagement of the housing planning by HDB.

The policy at that time was to achieve an increase in the value of what is the only asset to most Singaporeans - the HDB flat. And that was achieved. However, the government is noticing signs of overheating and is taking steps to prevent the property prices from creating a bubble. That doesn't mean that there was mismanagement.

To give you a concrete example - the Fed reduces interest rates to boost the economy. When the economy starts to overheat, the Fed increases interest rates. Does it mean that the Fed mismanaged the economy by lowering interst rates in the first place?

4. SM Goh and the NSP are in complete agreement over one point: the National Development Ministry, helmed by Mr Mah Bow Tan, is the Ministry that should bear the responsibility for the housing bubble that resulted from this surge in immigrants.

This is outright dishonest. SM Goh says that we have to prevent a bubble from forming. NSP claims that there is already a bubble. If Singapore had listened to NSP all this while, the HDB flat values would never have been enhanced, and the older Singaporeans whose house space needs have reduced (since their children have moved out) will not have had an asset to cash in on.

5. On the other hand, NSP is doubtful of PAP’s policy of increasing the population size to 6.5million. The falling total fertility rate (TFR) of native Singaporeans means that the government’s race towards the 6.5 million figure will be spearheaded by a further influx of foreigners. Despite the government’s packaging of the 6.5 million figure as a “planning parameter”, Singaporeans will be justified in demanding reassurance given that previous planning parameters have been exceeded, as SM Goh concedes.

The jury is still out as to whether 6.5 million is a bad thing. True, there may be some overcrowding, but is overcrowding a bitter medicine? Tokyo is overcrowded with pushers actually having to pack people into trains like sardine cans. Does anybody deny that Tokyo is much more successful that other cities that do not have this problem?

6. Singaporeans across almost every demographic have borne the brunt of this poorly thought out policy: low wage workers have seen their incomes decline as foreign workers depress wages, while at the other end young middle income couples have seen public housing continue to rise beyond their means. Every Singaporean taking public transport has seen the reality of a public transport infrastructure bursting at its seams.

Middle income couples have also seen their incomes increase. Sad to say, most graduates in your cohort are earning real money and have a household income equal to that MP pay you are dreaming of. New graduates actually worry about their household income exceeding the $8k parameter before they get married.

7. In light of all of the above, the NSP calls on the government to urgently revise the 6.5 million person population target downwards, and commission an inter-Ministry study with the purpose of accounting to Singaporeans regarding how housing, transport, and social infrastructure can continue to be assured.

NSP has a habit of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The solution is to increase the infrastructure (read more construction, more activity, more economic GROWTH), not keep the population low and condemn Singapore to a possible stagnation of its economy.

The government has projected that Singapore needs at least 6.5 million people to keep its economy vibrant. The NSP has to date not refuted this statement but has instead chosen to focus on the bitter medicine that comes with the growth. It is easy to make such an argument when you are dreaming of being an opposition MP earning $13k a month. At the government level, it has to weigh the pros and cons i.e. the benefits of a 6.5 million population with the bitter medicine which comes with it.

8. The NSP also reiterates our stand that new HDB flats should be sold at cost price to citizens. HDB should also consider selling new flats to PR at market price so to ease the demand due to unusual increase in PR population.

HDB flats are still cheap compared to what the couple can sell it for (with the exception of those who bought the flat from HDB around 97-99). And it is this opportunity of asset enhancement that permits the couple to upgrade faster from their 4-room flat to a 5-room flat or their 5-room flat to a condo. NSP's policy will shatter the dreams of the very middle income people he is claiming to cry out for.

In a nutshell, Mr Goh is trying to buy votes with a popularlist agenda. Fortunately, most Singaporeans will not fall for it. But while expounding policies which do away with the medicine, he offers no alternatives to deal with the very evil the medicine was intended to cure.

 

[Sideswipe]

D U tink Commisioner of police will pledge allegiance to Low Thia Kiang or Chief of Defence Force will pledge allegiance to Kenneth Jeyaratnam?

our civil servants are not pro-pap. like most countries, they just serve or are lackeys of whoever are in power.
same for police commissioner and army chief.

 

[clinton666]

This post by Mr Goh (not SM Goh but MS Goh) reflects his intellectual dishonesty and unfitness to be a leader.



The truth is that Mr Goh acknowledged that the surge of immigrants in 2007 and 2008 caught the Government by surprise. But the Government had not stopped them from coming because the booming economy needed workers. In other words, the Government was happily caught by surprise. This may have an impact on housing prices but it does not mean that it is necessarily an adverse impact.



Again, it was not caught flat footed. It felt the economy needed a certain number of foreigners. It did not expect to achieve the numbers, but it did. In other words, it was more successful in achieving its goal.



The policy at that time was to achieve an increase in the value of what is the only asset to most Singaporeans - the HDB flat. And that was achieved. However, the government is noticing signs of overheating and is taking steps to prevent the property prices from creating a bubble. That doesn't mean that there was mismanagement.

To give you a concrete example - the Fed reduces interest rates to boost the economy. When the economy starts to overheat, the Fed increases interest rates. Does it mean that the Fed mismanaged the economy by lowering interst rates in the first place?



This is outright dishonest. SM Goh says that we have to prevent a bubble from forming. NSP claims that there is already a bubble. If Singapore had listened to NSP all this while, the HDB flat values would never have been enhanced, and the older Singaporeans whose house space needs have reduced (since their children have moved out) will not have had an asset to cash in on.



The jury is still out as to whether 6.5 million is a bad thing. True, there may be some overcrowding, but is overcrowding a bitter medicine? Tokyo is overcrowded with pushers actually having to pack people into trains like sardine cans. Does anybody deny that Tokyo is much more successful that other cities that do not have this problem?



Middle income couples have also seen their incomes increase. Sad to say, most graduates in your cohort are earning real money and have a household income equal to that MP pay you are dreaming of. New graduates actually worry about their household income exceeding the $8k parameter before they get married.



NSP has a habit of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The solution is to increase the infrastructure (read more construction, more activity, more economic GROWTH), not keep the population low and condemn Singapore to a possible stagnation of its economy.

The government has projected that Singapore needs at least 6.5 million people to keep its economy vibrant. The NSP has to date not refuted this statement but has instead chosen to focus on the bitter medicine that comes with the growth. It is easy to make such an argument when you are dreaming of being an opposition MP earning $13k a month. At the government level, it has to weigh the pros and cons i.e. the benefits of a 6.5 million population with the bitter medicine which comes with it.



HDB flats are still cheap compared to what the couple can sell it for (with the exception of those who bought the flat from HDB around 97-99). And it is this opportunity of asset enhancement that permits the couple to upgrade faster from their 4-room flat to a 5-room flat or their 5-room flat to a condo. NSP's policy will shatter the dreams of the very middle income people he is claiming to cry out for.

In a nutshell, Mr Goh is trying to buy votes with a popularlist agenda. Fortunately, most Singaporeans will not fall for it. But while expounding policies which do away with the medicine, he offers no alternatives to deal with the very evil the medicine was intended to cure.

My sentiments exact. Those points you have highlighted are exactly what I have been trying to get through to Fatty Goh.

Goh Meng Seng SUXXXXX!

 

[CCBcsj]

My sentiments exact. Those points you have highlighted are exactly what I have been trying to get through to Fatty Goh.

Goh Meng Seng SUXXXXX!

When taken point for point, MS Goh's silence is deafening.

 

[halsey02]

Dont waste ur breath with them lah. Since when the govt need to account for any blunder they made? Flood, they tell u once in 50yrs, mistakes make, they say letz move on. U make a mistake, they hound u like a bloodhound. Even if everybody vote against them, they will still be the ruling party man! U tink Commisioner of police will pledge allegiance to Low Thia Kiang or Chief of Defence Force will pledge allegiance to Kenneth Jeyaratnam?

In a nutshell, we can only choh choh them but to them, itz like an ant bite, tatz all.

The only way is to vote oppositions into parliament to hold them accountable for their actions, talking, groveling, complaints, no use.The problem is, do most have a chance to vote??

Why have they ever admitted their mistakes, generations of ediucation 'lab rats' with their every changing education policies , have produced generation of half baked students, and we are still paying a price, they can't compete with FT's despite SINGapore having one of the best educated work force, their 'successful' stop at two policy, have created a shortfall in replacement of SINgaporeans ;exacerbate by a brain drain of SINgaporeans to other countries by their stifling policies of mother tongues having to have a mother tongue as a passing mark to enter higher institution of learning and many more..

Have they every said, "we made a mistake"..even with the recent over flowing of drainange (flood), God got the blame...

 

[Sideswipe]

The only way is to vote oppositions into parliament to hold them accountable for their actions, talking, groveling, complaints, no use.The problem is, do most have a chance to vote??

pap wouldn't bother responding to the oppositions questions now. it's a different scenario if those oppo are mps.
if all seats are contested, oppo wouldn't win new seats and would fare worse than 33% votes.

 

[halsey02]

pap wouldn't bother responding to the oppositions questions now. it's a different scenario if those oppo are mps.
if all seats are contested, oppo wouldn't win new seats and would fare worse than 33% votes.

You are right on this. That is why we need more real voices in parliament to make them accountable for their actions, The oppositions have to work very hard to convinced the portion of the 66.6% who are not beholden to the PAP.

They must be made to realize that, what they decide today ( to vote) will have an impact on their lives, not only for today; but for their generations that will remain here.