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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - KJ demolishes Tharman's FT assertion</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>6:08 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>29244.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Kenneth Jeyaretnam demolishes Finance Minister Tharman’s assertion that foreigners help raise the wages of Singaporeans
February 26, 2010 by admin
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/26/kenneth-jeyaretnam-demolishes-finance-tharmans-assertion-that-foreigners-help-raise-the-wages-of-singaporeans/
Written by Our Correspondent
Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the Secretary-General of the Reform Party has written a comprehensive response to Finance Minister Tharman’s recent Budget speech, demolishing his assertion that the government’s foreigner policy has raised the wages of Singaporeans.
Mr Tharman substantiated his claim by quoting the rise in median income per household member, after adjusting for inflation, of 20 per cent in the period 2005 – 2008, using it to demonstrate the “success of the government’s policies.”
Kenneth, who graduated with double first class honors in Economics from Cambridge University, argued that “this could have occurred without any rise in the living standards of median Singaporean citizen.”
He explained that the discrepancy can be attributed to two reasons:
1. The use of “residents” to compute figures in all official data used by the government which includes both citizens and PRs. Over the past decade, the resident population grew by 15 per cent due to the influx of new citizens and PRs and as the majority of them do not have dependents, the proportion of working adults in the resident household would have risen thereby contributing to the increase in real median income per household member.
2. The figure excludes households consisting solely of non-working persons over 60 years of age which would have decreased due to the depressing of wages of senior citizens caused by the government’s pro-foreigner policy.
Kenneth added that Mr Tharman has painted an “exaggeratedly rosy picture of the government’s failed economic policies of the past decade while at the same time not even beginning to grasp the enormity of the transformation necessary in the economy.”
He also offered his own recommendations in the following areas of continuing education and training, growing globally competitive companies, boosting productivity and managing the inflow of foreign workers.
As expected, though the press release was made on 23 February 2010, it did not receive any coverage by the mainstream media which has been heaping generous praises on the Budget to give the false impression that Singaporeans are supportive of it.
Channel News Asia quoted a few PAP MPs singing in unison to lend their support to the Budget while the Straits Times put up a misleading article on Singaporeans posting comments supporting it on REACH forum when the majority of them are critical of it.
Though Kenneth’s initiatives are sound and good, they will never be highlighted by the pro-PAP media out of fear of putting its political master in a bad light.
Despite the lack of publicity, some of Kenneth’s suggestions may turn out “repackaged” in a different form a few months later as what happened to his call to boost productivity last year which is finally given due attention by the PAP now.
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February 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/26/kenneth-jeyaretnam-demolishes-finance-tharmans-assertion-that-foreigners-help-raise-the-wages-of-singaporeans/
Written by Our Correspondent
Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the Secretary-General of the Reform Party has written a comprehensive response to Finance Minister Tharman’s recent Budget speech, demolishing his assertion that the government’s foreigner policy has raised the wages of Singaporeans.
Mr Tharman substantiated his claim by quoting the rise in median income per household member, after adjusting for inflation, of 20 per cent in the period 2005 – 2008, using it to demonstrate the “success of the government’s policies.”
Kenneth, who graduated with double first class honors in Economics from Cambridge University, argued that “this could have occurred without any rise in the living standards of median Singaporean citizen.”
He explained that the discrepancy can be attributed to two reasons:
1. The use of “residents” to compute figures in all official data used by the government which includes both citizens and PRs. Over the past decade, the resident population grew by 15 per cent due to the influx of new citizens and PRs and as the majority of them do not have dependents, the proportion of working adults in the resident household would have risen thereby contributing to the increase in real median income per household member.
2. The figure excludes households consisting solely of non-working persons over 60 years of age which would have decreased due to the depressing of wages of senior citizens caused by the government’s pro-foreigner policy.
Kenneth added that Mr Tharman has painted an “exaggeratedly rosy picture of the government’s failed economic policies of the past decade while at the same time not even beginning to grasp the enormity of the transformation necessary in the economy.”
He also offered his own recommendations in the following areas of continuing education and training, growing globally competitive companies, boosting productivity and managing the inflow of foreign workers.
As expected, though the press release was made on 23 February 2010, it did not receive any coverage by the mainstream media which has been heaping generous praises on the Budget to give the false impression that Singaporeans are supportive of it.
Channel News Asia quoted a few PAP MPs singing in unison to lend their support to the Budget while the Straits Times put up a misleading article on Singaporeans posting comments supporting it on REACH forum when the majority of them are critical of it.
Though Kenneth’s initiatives are sound and good, they will never be highlighted by the pro-PAP media out of fear of putting its political master in a bad light.
Despite the lack of publicity, some of Kenneth’s suggestions may turn out “repackaged” in a different form a few months later as what happened to his call to boost productivity last year which is finally given due attention by the PAP now.
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