TR EMERITUS

Here are my 2 quick thoughts on Budget 2021. 1. Drawing on past reserves In the last General Elections, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) had proposed to suspend GST till end-2021, pay retrenched workers 50% of their last drawn salary for 18 months & provide a $500 monthly retirement income for lower-income seniors aged above 65. In response, the PAP kept harping on our source of funding & accused us of bankrupting the nation. On the other hand, they have no qualms in tapping our reserves (the principal or the fixed deposit sum) for their Budgets whereas the SDP’s proposals do not. Instead, we have suggested that 50% of the unused portion of Singapore's net investment returns (NIR; ie. interest on the principal or fixed deposit sum) should be set aside to fund our social programmes. We are not even touching the principal sum at all. We believe in putting the money directly in the hands of the people- for that laid off air stewardess who can use the retrenchment benefits to put food on the table for her family & for that uncle who can use the retirement income to have that extra cup of coffee in the hawker centre. Therein the multiplier effect kicks in & the money gets recirculated in the local economy. This also means that the PAP’s twisted argument that retirees will splurge their savings in Batam can no longer hold water in this pandemic. As one of our Young Democrats rightly pointed out, the Budget should not be used to bail out or prop up the GLCs. Indeed, we need a serious rethink on our labour & social policies. 2. Impending GST hike The PAP’s convenient excuse for the 2% GST hike is the “rising recurrent spending needs, especially in healthcare”. However, a look at the underwhelming MediSave & Medishield payouts has proven that the our complicated 3Ms healthcare system has not quite fundamentally & adequately addressed the issue of rising healthcare costs: Hence, increased healthcare spending can no longer be used as a motherhood excuse to ask for more taxes. If we want the people to spend & spend more during hard times to keep the economy going, giving out consumption stimulants such as cash vouchers on one hand while taxing them on the other doesn’t quite solve the problem. Whilst we understand the need for consumption tax, it is only logical that the GST should be suspended till the end of this year. Instead of reminding everyone that the hike is imminent & unavoidable, wholehearted effort & time should be spent on providing sufficient breathing space to firms & consumers in order to help them find their feet on this road to recovery. Ease their financial burden by suspending the GST.   *Facebook post by Bryan Lim Boon Heng.        Read More →

I was in the spanking new state of the art Court No. 32A of the State Courts on 15 February 2021 where Jolovan Wham was sentenced to pay a total of $8000 or in default 32 days in prison. It was utterly absurd and incredible that he should be penalised so heavily for peaceful acts of civil disobedience which in any other country, including developing countries, would not have batted an eyelid. It was even more bizarre listening to the prosecution baying for blood, and the judge taking in everything as gospel truth. Jolovan was charged for organising an “unlawful assembly” in 2017 on trains running along the North South line. A small group of young people held the book ‘1987 SINGAPORE’S MARXIST CONSPIRACY 30 YEARS ON‘ during their train rides. They were photographed standing or seated with or without blindfolds made from black plastic strips of trash bags. At some point in time, two A4 sheets were scotch taped to a glass panel of a carriage. The words on the papers were “MARXIST CONSPIRACY? #notodetentionwithouttrial” and “JUSTICE FOR OPERATION SPECTRUM SURVIVORS #notodetentionwithouttrial“. These papers were immediately removed when they left the trains. What is so wrong with such an activity on our trains? Are commuters not permitted to read or perform on trains? They were not inconveniencing anyone even though the prosecution and judge would like to believe that they had inconvenienced some commuters. Jolovan and his friends were clearly inspired by the survivors of Operation Spectrum who had a few weeks earlier, commemorated the 30th Anniversary of the 1987 incident with the launch of the book. The book was published to place on record what actually happened in 1987. The book contains essays about the incident written by survivors, their friends, and supporters. The Government may wish to forget the grave injustice done to 24 people in the 1987 incident. This incident is not in its official history. Unfortunately, many of the victims are still alive and well today. They have managed to arouse the curiosity of young people like Jolovan and Seelan Palay who not only did their own research about the incident but took upon themselves to publicise it so that it is not erased from the collective memory of Singaporeans. They have paid the heavy price of going to jail. I can think of no country in the world where peaceful assemblies and protests are disallowed by law on the pretext that such assemblies would result in chaos and bloodshed. What is even more deplorable in Singapore is the law that even one person is not permitted to stand with a placard or perform in public without a police permit (which incidentally will never be granted), and certain areas in the city are out of bound to any person who wish to publicise a cause. When the law disallows peaceful expressions, and the judiciary’s duty is merely to administer such a law, what can a person do to bring attention to his cause or unhappiness? Hold a placard in the middle of government sanctioned Hong Lim Park? Pushed to a corner in colonial India, Mahatma Gandhi found a solution. He organised peaceful disobedience to unjust laws. He perfected civil disobedience, and contributed to gaining independence for his country. He concluded: “Civil disobedience is not only the natural right of a people, especially when they have no effective voice in their own Government, but that it is also a substitute for violence or armed rebellion.” The judiciary in India sent Gandhi to jail several times. Martin Luther King Jr, who was inspired by Gandhi, led huge protest marches against racial discrimination. He too was sent to jail several times. Reflecting on civil disobedience in Birmingham Jail, he wrote: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” It is to be noted that while in India and America, people were and are allowed to march and protest peacefully, in Singapore we do not have such a right. The Public Order Act, like so many recent laws passed by the People’s Action Party (PAP) government are unjust laws. Our judiciary has time and again ruled that laws, including unjust laws are to be obeyed, and it is their duty only to administer such laws. What then can a person, especially a citizen do if he wishes to champion a cause or voice his unhappiness over any matter? Disobey the laws or support the unjust system with silence? We may have splendid buildings for the administration of justice, but what justice can we receive? Jolovan is presently serving a 22-day prison sentence for organising an unlawful assembly and vandalism. He paid the fine of $2500 for the charge of failing to sign a statement made in the course of police investigation. Under the law, the police have a discretion to insist that the person sign such a statement, and if he refuses to sign, our colonial master and the PAP government can send him to jail. In solidarity with Jolovan Wham, Function 8 is publishing a Solidarity Edition of ‘1987 SINGAPORE’S MARXIST CONSPIRACY 30 YEARS ON‘. Details of this publication will be released soon.   Teo Soh Lung      Read More →

I read with bewilderment that Kranji woodland was cleared by mistake; NParks investigating. ( ST 17 February 21, page B3). I take strong issue with the way the news was presented in the Straits Times. "..a JTC spokesman said that the land was erroneously cleared by its contractor before the completion of environmental assessments'. Erroneously cleared by the contractor? Wow! ST further reported that "NParks is investigating the unauthorised clearing of the site". "We take a serious view of unauthorised greenery clearance and will not be hesitated to take the appropriate enforcement action"- NParks. I welcome NPark's investigation into the destruction of the 70ha woodland. Until the investigations are completed and its findings are make public, we don't know for sure what, where, why, who and which have gone wrong but I do know a few things. I know that contractors are not a bunch of eat full nothing to do people. Contractors who were involved in the Kranji woodland clearance job must have been awarded the job and taken instructions from certain government bodies/agencies to do the job and were paid for their efforts and services. Moreover, such clearance job wasn't a one week or two weeks project. It is totally reasonable to assume that there were serious lapses of communications or at best, miscommunications between or among the various government agencies and bodies that have resulted in the vast woodland being destroyed. Even though NParks now says that it is investigating, it still cannot absolve itself from its failure too. It has been sleeping all those times when Kranji woodland was been stripped bare then until only now, it has awaken. It is good that this fiasco in the pap government is not covered up or strongly argued, defended and wriggled away by the relevant authorities but made public. I applaud the pap government for its transparency in this matter. Now that this news have "picha lobang", I hope that those responsible and their superiors are appropriately dealt with and not push and push the blames and faults away to some junior people to shoulder and senior people got away scot-free again or employ their No Blame Culure grandmother story again. By the way, JTC comes under Ministry of Trade and Industry. Such green lungs are very precious national assets contributing in their own quiet ways to mitigating global warming and generate oxygen in our little island and to the benefits of all its inhabitants. It takes decades and decades to nurture such vast, collection of national greenery and woodland and it is now gone. Think.   Simon lim      Read More →