FT 101- What the PAP does not want you to know

[Papsmearer]

On the eve of NDP, I thought this would provide some perspective on the propaganda and self back slapping that the PAP is shovelling on everyone.

Much has been said about the FT policies instituted by the PAP. They have waxed lyrical on the reasoning, logic and wisdom of their policy. However, the common man on ground makes no sense of these reasonings. We can talk forever about their excuses for bringing in so many FTs, but some of them are :

A) They are doing jobs that Singaporeans do not want to do. Although this is partly true, the PAP have not only brought these type of FTs in, they have also brought in FTs that take jobs that Singaporeans want to do, like PMET and other white collar jobs.

B) Out population is aging and that there will be a “grey tsunami” where the working population will not be able to support the seniors. Well, since when were they supporting the seniors to begin with? Certainly, the working population’s taxes were not used to provide services for elderly, as the PAP almost have no social programs in place. It also does not answer the issue of why other countries with graying populations like Japan are not importing 40% of their population.

C) We need FTs to boost the economy. It’s no good boosting the economy when native born Singaporeans cannot benefit from it. What kind of boost do you get went 1.8 million FTs repatriate $ billions of dollars out of your economy every month back to their families in their home countries?

D) We have declining birth rate, and hence we have to import FTs. Yes, we do need new people, but these FTs are not planning to stay around. They plan to make their money and then leave, and there is no way they will stick around and allow their precious sons to do National Service.



There are these above reasons more, but we will not delve into it. Instead, I want to attempt explain why these policies are being implemented.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part One – There is no financial disincentive for the PAP



The fact is that the massive numbers of FTs have displaced many Singaporeans from good jobs, and have resulted in layoffs and retrenchment for them. Employers want to hire cheaper FTs especially when they are not obligated to do NS. In most western countries, unemployment and underemployment result in a financial penalty to the govt. of the day. The govt. has to pay unemployment benefits, sometimes totaling over 50% of the unemployed workers prior wages, as well as pay for medical coverage that were formally the responsibility of the employer. In addition to this, the govt.’s tax base is reduced because it cannot collect income taxes from unemployed people. In Singapore, the lack of such social programs means that the govt. spends no funds on an unemployed person. In fact, the unemployed person is not even allowed to dip into their CPF. Singapore’s tax system is heavily front end loaded, so most of the taxes that the govt. will collect from an individual in his/her lifetime has already been collected within 5-7 years of working life. This allows the PAP to levy a nominally low personal income tax rate, so the lost of these revenues does not hurt the govt. at all. When I say that most lifetime taxes are front end loaded, I mean they are in the form of hidden and open taxes. For example, the purchase of a $400,000 HDB flat build by the HDB at a cost of $120,000 results in a onetime taxation of $280,000 to the individual. The same works if a car is purchased. Other hidden taxes include the payment of a low rate of interest on CPF deposits, while the govt. uses the same funds to make double digit returns. The lost opportunity to the CPF holder to make this double digit return is a tax. There are many other examples that I am sure readers will know.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part Two - There is a financial benefit to the Govt. by importing so many FTs



In fact, the financial benefit is huge.



Levies and Fees - Just from levies alone on Work Permits and S-Pass holders, I estimate the PAP is collecting $300 million a month. Yes, that’s one month. If someone knows the exact figure, feel free to let us know. Why would they cut off this golden goose laying a $300 million egg for them every month? Not to mention the taxes, and other charges related to the income of these 1.8 million FTs that the govt. can collect too.



GST- Since GST is charged on everything, the amount that you can collect from 3.4 million native born Singaporean is much less than what you can collect from 5.2 million people. Unlike in other countries where GST is not charged on food items and necessities (as a means to help the lower income people), in this case, it’s designed to collect from the lower income bracket and most of the FTs fall into this category.



Larger captive market for GLCS and Govt. goods and services – Everything in Singapore that is a must in your daily life is controlled or owned by the govt. SMRT, Taxis, airlines, power and water utilities, etc. Since all these organizations are set up as for profit organizations, the more profit they earn, the more the govt. will receive. Imagine how much income SMRT can earn if its ridership was 3.4 million native Singaporeans. Now imagine how much more profit they can earn if their ridership is now inflated very quickly by 1.8 million people to 5.2 million riders. Apply this 50% increase in customers across the spectrum to all govt. related enterprises, and you will see how much money they will earn. More people in Singapore results in more taxi passengers, and more airlines seats, more people eating in stalls that are owned by the govt.,etc. All this is money for the govt. Don’t forget to that all money eventually flows to Temasek and GIC, both controlled by Familee.



Increase in Housing prices – The govt. owns 90% of the land in Singapore and 90% of the citizens are housed in govt. flats. If you want to increase the prices for your govt. flat, you must increase the demand. If you wait for the local population to grow by natural means to achieve this demand, you will wait for decades. But if you suddenly open the floodgates and allow the population to increase 50% in a few years, you will create this demand in a much shorter period, and also result in a much sharper price increase. As the govt. benefits handsomely from the sale of new flats and also from the sale of resale flats, this is absolutely acceptable to the PAP even if it results in hardship and acrimony for native Singaporeans.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part Three -There is no political consequence to the PAP for this FT policy



Unlike in other real democracies, where such an FT policy will result in summary defeat for the party that implemented it, the PAP correctly calculated that political backsplash from this policy will not damage or even weaken their rule over the country. They know that that the opposition is weak, not aggressive, divided, and in my estimation, they might even have infiltrated it. The electorate focuses on the popular vote in the last election, but in the Parliamentary system, it means nothing if it’s not translated into seats won. The PAP knows that in theory, it could win only 40% of the popular vote and still retain power by virtue of winning more than 50% of the 87 seats in Parliament. A fragmented opposition and their ongoing attempts to keep it divided will assure that no coalition opposition govt. can be formed against them. Hence popular opinion means nothing to them.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part Four –The PAP elites and in particular the Lee and Kwa family benefit from 1.8 million extra people.



The Lees and their cronies are some of the largest property owners in Singapore. A rising tide floats all boats. Any increase in the HDB flat prices mentioned in Part two results in a ripple effect and translates to rises in price for private condos and landed properties. This will result in capital appreciation in the billions of $ for them as well as higher rental income for their properties.



As well, Lees and their cronies control or own many of the larger law firms and banks in the country. More HDB flat sales translates to more legal work for them, and more mortgages for their banks. As well, they own many other businesses, including hotels and all will benefit from the increase in population. This increase helps all those who are already wealthy and own major assets and businesses, because it results in more customers for them. A tongue in cheek example is all the legal work that local lawyers have done for the various FTs that have committed crimes like sex with a minor, car fatal accidents, molesting etc. This is work that would otherwise not be available to them if there were no FTs in the country.



Don’t forget too that the PAP pay their politicians bonuses based on economic growth. How better than to open the floodgates and boost the economy (supposedly) by massive influx of FTs? It takes a real talent to growth an economy while at the same time having a zero population growth. But monkies can grow the economy by increasing the population by 50%.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part Five – The PAP has hidden a fundamental truth in the populations numbers, and needs to import massive numbers of FTs to hide this truth from the public



This truth is that although the stats say that the native population of Singapore (including PRs which I don’t consider native at all) is at 3.4 million, in reality there are not 3.4 million of them in Singapore. Every adult knows at least 10 friends, relatives, or ex colleagues who have migrated to other countries or who have moved to other countries for the long term or even permanently. A large number of ex-Singaporeans are now citizens or PRs of countries like the UK, Canada, Australia, and the US. These people have families in their new countries, and sons and daughters that by right should be Singaporeans too. In addition, many other Singaporeans work and reside in PRC, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. They even have spouse from those countries, and although they may not have taken up citizenship in those countries, they have in effect been lost to the Singapore economy and the Singapore society in general. I would estimate that at least 500,000 reside outside of Singapore permanently, and the number might be as high as 1 million. The PAP knows this and this number is one of the biggest secrets in Singapore.



As a result, the PAP has adopted a “if we throw enough shit at the wall, some of it will stick” policy for FTs. i.e. let in as many as we can physically accommodate, and some of them will decide to stay permanently. Even those that don’t stay permanently, as long as they stay 10 years or so, they will go in part towards making up the lost numbers caused by departing Singaporeans.

 

[Papsmearer]

Part Six – Old Goat is just a downright meany



Yes, we are dealing with one of the most egotistic, self serving despot the world has known. Old Goat has tried the carrot approach and that has failed, so now he is trying the stick approach. He and Wooden used to play the good cop bad cop routine, but it did not work. He used to entice Singaporeans to come back by perhaps offering dual passport, and when that did not work, Wooden would call them quitters. Old Goat cannot for the life of him understand why people would abandon the nice ship that he build for them. And also why over 1/3 of the population did not vote for him. He takes it personally as an insult, because this means that he has in the eyes of these “quitters” failed. Old Goat likes to announce in international forums what a success he has made Singapore into, but in the background people will always snigger “If you are so great and Singapore is so fantastic, why has 25% of the population moved away?” At this point in time, Old Goat treats singaporeans as ingrates, and he has adopted a “screw you” policy by making the citizens drown in a sea of FTs

 

[Papsmearer]

Conclusion

When looked at independently, not one of the reasons listed above explains completely the rationale for the FT policy. When taken together in context, they make sense to me. I am sure there are other reasons that I have not mentioned. But I will put on record that given what I can see so far, this FT policy will not change anytime soon. When it comes to the PAP, you just follow the money to divine their real plan. And in this case, their FT policies point towards big money for everyone involved. They don’t care if it benefits the local populace or not, as long as the money flows through to the 2 big piggy banks they control, that’s all they care.

 

[Papsmearer]

bumping up

 

[Cruxx]

But Singapore has an unemployment rate lower than 2%, the most iphones per capita, 3rd highest home ownership rate, 5th lowest homicide rate and the highest density of millionaires in the world. Surely this is incontrovertible proof that the PAP has done well for Singapore?

 

[cunnosieur]

PERSONAL INFO
Nationality: P R China; Singapore PR
Date & Place of Birth: 15/10/1964; Lanzhou, China
Gender Female

BLK 50x, #11-15x, CHOA CHU KANG STREET, SINGAPORE 68050x
PHONE x769 266x (R), x181 559x; e-mail: [email protected]

EXPERIENCE
Jan. 2002 ¡V Dec. 2005 Bank of China, Singapore Branch
Account Relationship Manager ¡V Corporate Banking Department
ƒÞ Liaise with arrangers on syndication loans deals;
ƒÞ Information gathering, assessing and analysing of macro economy, industry, multinational corporates etc.
ƒÞ Prepare and present of credit proposals;
ƒÞ Prepare annual review reports for existing portfolios;
ƒÞ Draft various reports to Head Office;
ƒÞ Draft, edit and finalise credit manual of the department in Chinese (over 120 pages)
ƒÞ Translate credit manual of the department into English.

Sep. 1998 - Dec. 2001 The Kwangtung Provincial Bank Singapore Branch
(KPB merged with Bank of China since1 Jan.2002)
Senior Officer ¡V China Business Department
ƒÞ to build and expand customer base;
ƒÞ to minimise problem loan facilities, increased interest income by 30% within year of 1999;
ƒÞ to go on business trips whenever necessary;

ƒÞ handling perplexing projects which involved in legal procedures;
ƒÞ to draft reports to Head Office;
ƒÞ to communicate well with senior managers and junior staffs.

May 1994- Jul 1998 Robert W H Wang & Woo/Raymond Tan & Co
China Project Supervisor cum Administrator
ƒÞ to oversee the legal procedures related to China Property Projects and to provide useful and helpful information to the customers;
ƒÞ to translante documents whenever necessary;
ƒÞ to manage 5 supporting staffs;
ƒÞ implemented on-the-job training for new staff.

Jan 1989¡V1992 Gansu Arts & Crafts Import & Export Corp. Lanzhou
International Trade Representative
ƒÞ Attending international trading fair, travelling overseas and within territary of China to negoticate with clients and suppliers on sales and purchse terms;
ƒÞ Expanded business to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, European and Middle East market;
ƒÞ Worked closely with suppliers to ensure the prompt shipment.
Sep. 1986¡VDec. 1988 Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou

Assistant Lecturer
ƒÞ Conducted essential English courses to 1-2nd year students and students from ethnic areas;
ƒÞ Conducted training courses to secondary school teachers from rural areass.

EDUCATION
1982¡V1986 Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
B.A., English Language & Literature.
1990¡V1991 Gansu International Trade Institute, Lanzhou, China

 

[laksaboy]

In Singapore, the govt is the business is the economy.

Suppose that fertility is not a problem and there are few or no FTs (10-15% of total population) among the 5-6 million population now. Sinkies have been merrily producing babies.

It still would have been overcrowded, and the money from HDB/estate upgrading and the building of new facilities, new malls and new condos would have still entered the pocket of the govt, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly (e.g. Capitaland).

Even many of the local businesses (which you can find in many malls) have the PAP's fingerprints on them.

Breadtalk's Directors

Chan Soo Sen

Ong Kian Min

 

[cunnosieur]

PRC Bank Exec
(Originally posted by Funguy in Sam's Forum
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Happen to be at waterloo street doing some bank transaction yesterday lunch time, was told by the counter staff to wait for 15min to half an hour. Went out for
a quick puff and saw this gal leaning on my car talking on her phone. The moment she lift up her head, I was WOW..... Not bad leh. She smile back and say
sorrie, I told her to carry on leaning in a joking way. We chatted awhile and got to know that she just arrived 3 weeks ago working at the Bank which I just went.
So I try to date her out for a drink and she say OK (My Lucky Day).
Pick her up after her work at 5.30pm and we went downtown for dinner. I was trying my best to test water (NO LUCK). We headed to Boat Quay for a drink after
dinner and I told myself this time DIE DIE also must ask. All of a sudden, she burst into tear (ALCOHOL EFFECT), saying she misses her parent. I try to console
her and told her not to think so much. Time passes and we are now more open up, I pop up the question to her:

Me: Why dun you try to earn more money while you are in SG?
She: How to?
Me: Do part time lor.
She: What is part time?
Me: Must I go into detail, then you can understand.
(Slient for a while) and (Burst into laughter)
She: How much am I worth in your eye.
Me: Hard to say, depends on how good are you.
She: How much do you want to give me, if I say OK to you.
Me: 250 lor (Man Ego).
She: If I am good to you, you give me more is it?
Me: Let see how good are you.
Me: How???
She: Can try. Is it now?
Me: Now lor. If not when?
She: Where?
Me: I bring you there.

10.45pm we check into a hotel at chinatown and the rest is story.....
Name: Txxx Xxxx
Age: 25
Look: 7.5 (Young office exec look)
Stats: 34B / 24 / 34 (I think so)
BBBJ: Yes for me
FJ: 9 (good moaning)
Painting: Yes for me
CIM: No
AR: No
AJ: No
Attitude: Very anticipating
Damage: 250 / 1shot
Overall: Good
RTF: Yes for sure (Bonking a Pretty Bank Exec)

 

[cunnosieur]

A) They are doing jobs that Singaporeans do not want to do.

D) We have declining birth rate, and hence we have to import FTs. Yes, we do need new people, but these FTs are not planning to stay around. They plan to make their money and then leave, and there is no way they will stick around and allow their precious sons to do National Service.

http://www.sammyboyforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

 

[Sarcastic]

PRC Bank Exec
(Originally posted by Funguy in Sam's Forum
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eh CB OKT. You resume your PRC chicken nonsense again. This time i will remove your power.

 

[cunnosieur]

The Breast of Times
By May Yip. The Straits Times Publication Date: 20-04-2006

Cleavages are bustin' out all over Singapore, it seems. Take the recent Miss Singapore Universe pageant. From tabloids to
blogs, eye-catching bust-lines were what made headlines, with water-cooler talk revolving around the generous cup sizes of this
year's winner.

Miss Singapore Universe
And on a daily basis, images of cleavages juggle - or should that be jiggle - for the attention of passers-by on billboard ads,
covers of magazines and on the small screen.
Not that straight men with healthy libidos are complaining, but you would be excused for thinking that once-conservative

Singapore is turning into one breast-obsessed nation. [View of an Ah Tiong Banker]

"I thought this year's Miss Singapore Universe (Carol Cheong) won because of her boobs," says Joshua-Uriel Leong, a
banker from BOC in his 30s who admits that he is a "boob man" and is drawn to a woman's breasts ahead of her other
physical attributes.

And "Yes, yes, yes - size does matter", he adds.

According to Doy Teo, director of the Singapore operations of lingerie brand Triumph International, the number of women going
up to a bigger C cup has surged from about 10 per cent a decade ago to 18 per cent.
The lingerie industry here is estimated to be worth S$100 million (US$62.58 million), says Teo. The brand now even carries a
line of fuller-figure F-cup bras, and these whoppers have been enjoying brisk sales.
Another favourite among shoppers here is the push-up bra. Foong Yen, a spokesman for home-grown lingerie brand Ero, says
70 per cent of sales come from its Skin.Cool range of push-up bras.

 

[cunnosieur]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_qgE2yrmJpE?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hyderabad | 25th November 2011


The CBI Special Court on Friday directed the Chanchalguda Jail authorities to provide special class prisoner status for Koneru Prasad, the key accused in the Emaar-APIIC scam.

The special court, after hearing the arguments of the petitioner's counsel, that Koneru Prasad is a "highly-educated" and "high-profile" man and deserves special prisoner status, directed the authorities concerned to make arrangements to provide him facilities.

The counsel also said that Prasad has been suffering from health problems of a serious nature, and that that is why he needs better facilities.

Earlier, the counsel of the Central Bureau Of Investigation objected to granting the Special Class prisoner status to Koneru, saying that that he had earned his money through illegal means.

Special Class prisoners get a cot, a mattress, a table, a chair, newspapers, mosquito nets, and a stove for cooking food. They also get more food than other prisoners, and can even ask for food items of their choice. In addition, there are no restrictions imposed on visitors to these prisoners. (INN)

 

[cunnosieur]

World turns disapproving eyes on Singapore banquet

The Age, 9 Sep 2009, Eric Ellis

World turns disapproving eyes on Singapore banquet

WERE every high school as wonderful as Singapore’s United World College.

Each morning, a convoy of chauffeur-driven Mercedes, BMWs and SUVs sweep up to the expansive campus, dropping well-shod students dangling all manner of modish teenage bling; mobile phones, computers, designer this and that. The sumptuous grounds are more suggestive of a five-star resort than a secondary school.

With yearly fees of more than $40,000, UWC is where Singapore’s well-heeled foreign residents send their kids. That’s the common or garden expat professionals on an Asian posting, as well as Tay Za, regarded by Washington as bagman to the Burmese junta. Tay Za’s teenage boy Htet is dropped off in a chauffeur-driven Lamborghini, as his father evades US sanctions.

Some teachers are disquieted by all this but Singapore seems to subscribe to a ”don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on where money comes from. In recent years, Singapore has actively sought to become Asia’s Switzerland, the discreet depository of the super-rich, however they made their money. That led to a boom in private banking, with an attendant boom in property and high-end services for this monied elite, including education.

While the vast majority of Singaporean depositors are squeaky-clean, as anywhere, some are not. The Burmese junta banks in Singapore and the money of some of North Korea and Zimbabwe’s potentates is widely thought to be salted away here.

The big money comes from Indonesia, whose tycoons have regarded Singapore as a refuge from volatility at home. The two countries have no extradition treaty and there’s good reason for it to remain that way. Merrill Lynch estimated a third of Singapore’s 60,000-odd millionaires were Indonesian, making the city-state Jakarta’s affluent northern suburb. Re-elected on an anti-corruption ticket, Jakarta’s Yudhoyono Government suspects a good few of its countrymen in Singapore have salted away tarnished money there.

But while markets were roaring, no one really much cared.

Singapore’s private client relationship managers (RMs) were pushing high-margin exotic derivative products created by their investment banks, and the rich got richer. The atmosphere was perhaps best exemplified by the appearance of UBS executive director James Tulley, known to friends as ”Tulley Tubby”, in Singapore Tatler magazine boasting about his 30 pairs of spectacles and 100 pairs of shoes.

 

[Papsmearer]

In Singapore, the govt is the business is the economy.

Suppose that fertility is not a problem and there are few or no FTs (10-15% of total population) among the 5-6 million population now. Sinkies have been merrily producing babies.

It still would have been overcrowded, and the money from HDB/estate upgrading and the building of new facilities, new malls and new condos would have still entered the pocket of the govt, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly (e.g. Capitaland).

Even many of the local businesses (which you can find in many malls) have the PAP's fingerprints on them.

Yes, but in this case when the captive market was shrinking, they took drastic steps to increase the target market and hence their profits.

 

[Papsmearer]

I invite Old Goat to read this thread. Than maybe he will shut up and don't bother trying to smoke people. We are on to him now, and we know the the root causes for the low birth rate.

"Enormous" problems if Singaporeans don't procreate: Lee Kuan Yew

By S Ramesh | Posted: 11 August 2012 2156 hrs



SINGAPORE: Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has expressed concerns over Singapore's low fertility rate.

He was speaking in Mandarin and English at the Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru National Day celebration dinner on Saturday.

Mr Lee said Singapore's birth rates have been steadily declining.

He stressed that Singaporeans are not reproducing themselves.

Giving some simple statistics, Mr Lee said the Chinese reproduction rate is 1.08 - with two Chinese becoming one in the next generation.

For the Indians, the rate is 1.09, and for the Malays - 1.64.

"If we go on like that, this place will fold up, because there'll be no original citizens left to form the majority, and we cannot have new citizens, new PRs to settle our social ethos, our social spirit, our social norms. So my message is a simple one. The answer is very difficult but the problems, if we don't find the answers, are enormous," said Mr Lee.