Yes, indeed.
Those young graduates at my workplace shared with me they are trying to simply work hard day by day as salaried workers. But ask them further about their plans for the future, many are clueless, mainly because they realize the cost of living here is way too high that their childhood aspirations to lead the "good life" (think mid-sized condo and a family car) in Singapore have to be thrown out.
Many of these grads I encountered did quite well in school, especially in Science and Maths, some even went to the top 5 JCs in Singapore. But unfortunately, they continued to study subjects in unis that won't make them money. I have even heard of new law grads these days being unhappy because they had to take a huge pay cut (not to mention the crazy long hours they are made to work). Everything here is now about how to make the most profits by cutting costs.
I thought the purpose of HDB and CPF were brilliant concepts. But only in the past. Along the way, especially in the last 10 years or so, the SG government seem to drastically change the way SG is being run such that many are wondering if the fundamental purposes of HDB and CPF are lost. The concept of building many HDB flats was to cater to the masses, less wealthy citizens for affordable housing. For CPF, it's to ensure everyone can retire well. But they no longer hold true for many.
I personally feel the mismanagement (can't find a better word!) of HDB flats by the government is unfortunate. For eg, for many years not too long ago, they did not build enough BTO flats even though they were expanding the population exponentially. Till today, I still don't know why this happened. There could be ulterior motives involved. They even once tried to make more money with the private developers by getting them to build HDB flats and pricing them close to $900,000! Puzzling move indeed. Whatever happened to the initial aim of HDB?
So HDB flat prices, if you remember, started to shoot up and it was common for sellers to ask for more than $100,000 COV. People even started to speculate on flat prices. Of course, to the older generation who were selling their flats then to upgrade, it was sweet news. All Mah Bow Tan back then could do was say, "Yes, HDB flats are still affordable! You don't have to buy a 5-room flat. Go look for a cozy 3-room flats and you take 30-year loan." Wow.... It was such a painful news to the young educated couples out there trying to get married and start families.
I feel that they could have done a better job in trying to segregate HDB flat pricing with that of private properties. A simple way back then was to build more BTO flats. This would have ensured the demand met supply and prevented the prices from increasing too much. Now those buyers who paid very high prices in the resale market for their flats have to suck thumb. Another way was to provide more incentives for flat buyers compared to those buying private properties.
As for CPF, clearly, for many commoners, plans for retirement have to be ditched, which means, they have to work even longer, likely past 65. It is often said the life expectancy here is increasing, so stopping work early is not such a good thing after all. I find this such a lame excuse to get citizens to work longer. It's an indirect way of saying, "Look, let's face it. Your present salaries you are earning for the next 20-30 years will never match up to the amount you need to retire."
People should have the choice to decide whether they want to continue working (for their own pleasure) or stop working (to enjoy the remaining years ahead). When there is no choice but to continue working, then alarm bells should be ringing that something is not right.
Now back to my young graduates at work.... Many have developed negative sentiments towards the government directly or indirectly. What with the "degree is not that important" slogan by PM Lee. Believe it or not, the annual pay increment for many employees in my field is only 2.8 to 3.5%. Which works out to be about $120 per annum!!! How to survive with this sort of increment?
There are some who say: "Ok, stop whining. Do something for yourself." I really don't know what they mean by this. "Do something" as in go setup some business to make more money or start investing in stocks, both of which carry much higher risks? It may work for some but for every 1 reported success story there are probably 9 unreported others who fail.
So I can empathize with the unhappiness and fears of this younger generation. Only those who are wealthy or have parents who will be leaving them with some legacy are not worried about the future here.
Is Iskandar the answer? Well, maybe.
But it's still too early to tell.
