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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - YPAP: Budget show that PAP cares for SGs</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </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>9:02 pm </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>30076.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>YPAP activist: Budget shows that government “cares” for Singaporeans
March 14, 2010 by admin
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/14/ypap-activist-budget-shows-that-government-cares-for-singaporeans
Written by Our Correspondent
A YPAP activist Ibrahim Hassan has published an article on the official YPAP website heaping generous praises on the Budget unveiled lately by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. (read article here)
The key message in this year’s Budget is to boost the productivity of the Singapore workforce which had declined consecutively for the last three years due to the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers into the country.
Mr Ibrahim praised the Budget as one which enabled Singaporeans to “help themselves”, repeating a classic PAP rhetoric used over the years to instill a sense of “self-reliance” in the populace:
“When you consider the fact that many are expecting this to be an election year, there was some expectation of the government to deliver some goodies – namely a cash handout. Instead of delivering goodies, the government decided to focus on something far more important – helping Singaporeans to help themselves. This budget is all about teaching people to fish rather than giving them the fish.”
He called on Singaporeans to work “smarter” and “harder” to compete with other developing nations like China and India:
“The main theme of this budget was ‘productivity.’ The more cynical of us might see this as a drive to get Singaporeans to worker harder for less……With increasingly ‘hungry’ nations like China and India pushing for higher growth, it is essential for Singaporeans to work smarter as well as harder.”
Mr Ibrahim described the hike in foreign worker levy as “an example of how the government strives to create less dependence on foreign workers.”
However, the increase is not substantial at all and employers can easily passed the extra labor cost back to the workers and consumers themselves.
There are no wholesale changes in the dependency ratio for the employment of foreign workers which lump citizens and PRs together as one category – “resident workforce”.
Mr Ibrahim ended his article by declaring that the government “cares” about Singaporeans:
“Clearly, this budget shows that the government cares about Singaporeans. It offers us opportunities to invest in ourselves rather than to expect direct aid from the government. This budget is about sustainability and empowerment. It is about teaching us how to fish in the new economy.”
Singaporeans never expect direct aid from the government. What they want is a level playing field for them to compete directly with the foreign workers.
No matter how smart or hard Singaporeans work, they can never compete with foreigners in terms of cost and the males are further handicapped by their mandatory reservist obligations.
Mr Ibrahim Hassan seemed ignorant of the reality on the ground that many Singaporeans are suffering because of the discriminatory policies being promulgated by the PAP.
He offered nothing new or insightful other than parroting the usual rhetoric spewed forth by PAP leaders – that Singaporeans should be self-reliant, not depend on the government for aid and compete directly with cheap foreign workers while being “cheaper, faster and better” at the same time.
Though Singapore is the richest nation in Asia after Japan and can afford to lose billions of dollars of reserves in failed overseas investments, Singaporeans enjoy few social welfare benefits from the government.
The state is obscenely rich, but not the ordinary people who have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among the Asian Tigers according to a UBS report released last year.
With such sycophantic, unimaginative and one-dimensional articles, it is little wonder that the YPAP website is becoming a ghost-town.
At last check, it does not even have an alexa traffic ranking based in Singapore due to low readership. The Temasek Review is ranked 168 and has a higher readership than some SPH and Mediacorp-owned websites.
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March 14, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/14/ypap-activist-budget-shows-that-government-cares-for-singaporeans
Written by Our Correspondent
A YPAP activist Ibrahim Hassan has published an article on the official YPAP website heaping generous praises on the Budget unveiled lately by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. (read article here)
The key message in this year’s Budget is to boost the productivity of the Singapore workforce which had declined consecutively for the last three years due to the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers into the country.
Mr Ibrahim praised the Budget as one which enabled Singaporeans to “help themselves”, repeating a classic PAP rhetoric used over the years to instill a sense of “self-reliance” in the populace:
“When you consider the fact that many are expecting this to be an election year, there was some expectation of the government to deliver some goodies – namely a cash handout. Instead of delivering goodies, the government decided to focus on something far more important – helping Singaporeans to help themselves. This budget is all about teaching people to fish rather than giving them the fish.”
He called on Singaporeans to work “smarter” and “harder” to compete with other developing nations like China and India:
“The main theme of this budget was ‘productivity.’ The more cynical of us might see this as a drive to get Singaporeans to worker harder for less……With increasingly ‘hungry’ nations like China and India pushing for higher growth, it is essential for Singaporeans to work smarter as well as harder.”
Mr Ibrahim described the hike in foreign worker levy as “an example of how the government strives to create less dependence on foreign workers.”
However, the increase is not substantial at all and employers can easily passed the extra labor cost back to the workers and consumers themselves.
There are no wholesale changes in the dependency ratio for the employment of foreign workers which lump citizens and PRs together as one category – “resident workforce”.
Mr Ibrahim ended his article by declaring that the government “cares” about Singaporeans:
“Clearly, this budget shows that the government cares about Singaporeans. It offers us opportunities to invest in ourselves rather than to expect direct aid from the government. This budget is about sustainability and empowerment. It is about teaching us how to fish in the new economy.”
Singaporeans never expect direct aid from the government. What they want is a level playing field for them to compete directly with the foreign workers.
No matter how smart or hard Singaporeans work, they can never compete with foreigners in terms of cost and the males are further handicapped by their mandatory reservist obligations.
Mr Ibrahim Hassan seemed ignorant of the reality on the ground that many Singaporeans are suffering because of the discriminatory policies being promulgated by the PAP.
He offered nothing new or insightful other than parroting the usual rhetoric spewed forth by PAP leaders – that Singaporeans should be self-reliant, not depend on the government for aid and compete directly with cheap foreign workers while being “cheaper, faster and better” at the same time.
Though Singapore is the richest nation in Asia after Japan and can afford to lose billions of dollars of reserves in failed overseas investments, Singaporeans enjoy few social welfare benefits from the government.
The state is obscenely rich, but not the ordinary people who have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among the Asian Tigers according to a UBS report released last year.
With such sycophantic, unimaginative and one-dimensional articles, it is little wonder that the YPAP website is becoming a ghost-town.
At last check, it does not even have an alexa traffic ranking based in Singapore due to low readership. The Temasek Review is ranked 168 and has a higher readership than some SPH and Mediacorp-owned websites.
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