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Hawkers at Koufu Jurong West are not happy due to low traffic
- Thread starter ChinaCommunistSG
- Start date
Actually what is the point to have aircon food court in the heartland as low SES are poor and what they need is lower cost
It is nothing new in Singapore. The old littleThailand supermarket at Beach Road used to sell chilled 6-legged creepy crawlies all these years.Or you can eat insects, that's what the PAP technocrats and their Davos masters want.
Singapore to approve 16 species of insects like crickets and grasshoppers to be sold as food
Apr 7, 2023
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...ll-receive-sfa-green-light-to-be-sold-as-food
Certainly, there have been exotic, quirky snacks available.
But this time it's something new. It's a global political push orchestrated by some very wicked people.
Should get the MPs and Ministers to do the opening feast and watch them live on television. Otherwise, all talk cock sing song only.
Please remember Perfume is a luxury item De woh
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...ional-goods-perfume-overseas-holidays-3822431
Singapore
Mr Eric Chua (left), Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development, and Associate Professor Jamus Lim (right), Workers’ Party Member of Parliament, debating on items that are basic needs for lower-income households.…see more
Deborah Lau
05 Oct 2023 08:33AM (Updated: 05 Oct 2023 08:34AM)
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SINGAPORE: A debate on defining what is a basic need for households played out in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 4), as questions were raised about whether items such as perfume, jewellery and overseas holidays are essential for some segments of the population who are receiving financial aid from the government.
At the centre was a recent study done by academics on household budgets at a time of rising costs of living, with Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development, telling the House that the study’s findings went beyond reflecting the basic needs of lower-income households.
This was a point three governmental ministries overseeing social and family development, finance, and manpower had made last month in response to the same study.
The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) 2023 Report, released last month, was co-authored by Dr Ng Kok Hoe, who is head of the social inclusion project at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; and Associate Professor Teo You Yenn, who is provost chair in sociology at Nanyang Technological University.
Mr Chua highlighted how the MIS report had itself stated that it looked beyond “basic needs like housing, food, clothing”, to also account for “what it takes to enable a sense of belonging, respect, security (and) independence”.
“So quite clearly, even the MIS report itself has defined what (researchers) have found as going beyond basic needs. Hence, what they were describing was really about what is aspirational, what perhaps … families would like to have,” Mr Chua said.
“But as I mentioned in my main reply, what we cater for in ComCare — and in our subsidies and in our financial assistance schemes — caters for basic needs.”
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
ComCare, a financial assistance scheme under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), supports lower-income households with basic living expenses such as cash and assistance with utility bills.
The debate arose after Mr Ang Wei Neng, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC), filed a parliamentary question in view of the report’s findings, asking whether MSF would consider adjusting the financial aids it rendered to low-income families.
Mr Ang also asked if the ministry would consider conducting its own study — using various government data beyond what is publicly available — to determine the level of living wage required to support a basic standard of living.
In reply to Mr Ang’s questions, Mr Chua said that the ministry “regularly reviews” its assistance coverage, and that MSF “references data and information from different sources” during these reviews.
These sources include price data from the Department of Statistics, views from domain experts and community stakeholders, as well as academic studies and research commissioned by MSF.
Further challenging what constitutes a basic need or aspirational goods such as perfume, Associate Professor Jamus Lim, Workers’ Party MP for Sengkang GRC, said: “Of course, many Singaporeans will understand as well that in a hot and humid climate like our own, being presentable, smelling normal, would be something that many jobseekers would require in order to have some dignity when they go for a job interview or when they go to work.”
He then said that he was “somewhat puzzled” as to why ComCare seemed to have expanded its notion of needs to “relative needs such as mobile phone plans and the like”.
To this, Mr Chua said that the ministry assesses its “basket of products and services that are needed in a basic package for our ComCare families from time to time”.
“And we have included mobile data plans, because that provides for digital connectivity, which in turn provides for human connection, which is a basic need we assessed, and that’s consistent with what I said today.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...ional-goods-perfume-overseas-holidays-3822431
debates
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Singapore
Perfume, overseas holidays — basic needs or aspirational goods? Singapore parliament debates
- A study by academics about the minimum household income needed during inflation was at the centre of a parliamentary debate
- The study included items such as perfume and overseas holidays that pushed up minimum household income needed
- The finding was rebutted by the government previously when the report was released
- Parliament heard again that subsidies and financial aid disbursed to lower-income households catered only for “basic needs”
- Opposition MP Jamus Lim said that perfume can be considered essential when people are going for job interviews in humid weather
Deborah Lau
05 Oct 2023 08:33AM (Updated: 05 Oct 2023 08:34AM)
BookmarkShare
SINGAPORE: A debate on defining what is a basic need for households played out in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 4), as questions were raised about whether items such as perfume, jewellery and overseas holidays are essential for some segments of the population who are receiving financial aid from the government.
At the centre was a recent study done by academics on household budgets at a time of rising costs of living, with Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development, telling the House that the study’s findings went beyond reflecting the basic needs of lower-income households.
ADVERTISEMENT
This was a point three governmental ministries overseeing social and family development, finance, and manpower had made last month in response to the same study.
The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) 2023 Report, released last month, was co-authored by Dr Ng Kok Hoe, who is head of the social inclusion project at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; and Associate Professor Teo You Yenn, who is provost chair in sociology at Nanyang Technological University.
Mr Chua highlighted how the MIS report had itself stated that it looked beyond “basic needs like housing, food, clothing”, to also account for “what it takes to enable a sense of belonging, respect, security (and) independence”.
“So quite clearly, even the MIS report itself has defined what (researchers) have found as going beyond basic needs. Hence, what they were describing was really about what is aspirational, what perhaps … families would like to have,” Mr Chua said.
“But as I mentioned in my main reply, what we cater for in ComCare — and in our subsidies and in our financial assistance schemes — caters for basic needs.”
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENTSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
ComCare, a financial assistance scheme under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), supports lower-income households with basic living expenses such as cash and assistance with utility bills.
The debate arose after Mr Ang Wei Neng, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC), filed a parliamentary question in view of the report’s findings, asking whether MSF would consider adjusting the financial aids it rendered to low-income families.
Mr Ang also asked if the ministry would consider conducting its own study — using various government data beyond what is publicly available — to determine the level of living wage required to support a basic standard of living.
In reply to Mr Ang’s questions, Mr Chua said that the ministry “regularly reviews” its assistance coverage, and that MSF “references data and information from different sources” during these reviews.
These sources include price data from the Department of Statistics, views from domain experts and community stakeholders, as well as academic studies and research commissioned by MSF.
ADVERTISEMENT
Further challenging what constitutes a basic need or aspirational goods such as perfume, Associate Professor Jamus Lim, Workers’ Party MP for Sengkang GRC, said: “Of course, many Singaporeans will understand as well that in a hot and humid climate like our own, being presentable, smelling normal, would be something that many jobseekers would require in order to have some dignity when they go for a job interview or when they go to work.”
He then said that he was “somewhat puzzled” as to why ComCare seemed to have expanded its notion of needs to “relative needs such as mobile phone plans and the like”.
To this, Mr Chua said that the ministry assesses its “basket of products and services that are needed in a basic package for our ComCare families from time to time”.
“And we have included mobile data plans, because that provides for digital connectivity, which in turn provides for human connection, which is a basic need we assessed, and that’s consistent with what I said today.”
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