TR EMERITUS

Our CPF is now a national treasure. They shifted the goal post many times to withhold our hard earned savings. Computation now includes inflation rate. This means that the minimum sum will increase every year. We may never be able to utilise our savings even if we get sick. Good jobs for Singaporeans. Of late, our foreign workforce keeps increasing in numbers. There is no capping the number of foreigners to work in Singapore. Any increase in number, is a job lost for locals while we battle unemployment and under employment. Utility bills keep increasing. SP group makes million of dollars annually. The latest hike of 30% surely is unjustified when many people are unemployed and retrenched. Let's put back hearts in governing our nation. Capitalist mindset has served its purporses. We need a government who can empathise with the people. Vote for Singapore People's Party.   Khan Osman Sulaiman Singapore People's Party      Read More →

I was asked about my experiences in empowering vulnerable Singaporeans and realised how much more we need to do together. It starts today. The Future is Now. * Ms Raeesah Khan is on Facebook.  Read More →

So, did I hear Lawrence Wong accuse Paul Tambyah of Paul's assessment of the PAP's handling of #COVID19. Well, let's look at the PAP's mistakes. There are many. Simply put, the PAP 4G politicians mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is the first time Singaporeans can assess the PAP 4G politicians, and the verdict is clearly, that they failed. Here's a detailed list of their missteps: My question is simple. The PAP says they have called this election for a mandate for #COVID19. OK, then let's look at how the PAP has managed COVID-19. Can we say we can trust the PAP to manage the pandemic? While countries like Taiwan and South Korea were recommending face masks, the PAP say masks are not needed unless one is sick. They made an about turn only after 2 months to finally recommend mask use. PAP told us in February that they are ramping up mask production. But until now, we still don't know what the plans are. Parents were asking to close schools as early as February. But the PAP refused. They only made an about turn after 2 months. And when new COVID-19 cases were discovered in schools, the PAP initially suspended schools for one day, only to find more cases cropping up, before they eventually realized they had to shut schools for 14 days - basic policies that Taiwan was already implementing in February. Even in March, Singaporeans were asking for a lockdown. PAP refused until April. Yet, during the lockdown, the PAP decided to cut down MRT train services because of financial reasons, resulting in the trains being crowded again, and putting Singaporeans in danger. Why is it in the midst of a pandemic, financial considerations still come first before health and science-based decisions? Then, the PAP told us they were conducting 3,000 a tests a day, then they say they have the capacity to conduct 8,000 tests a day. But then, when people started looking at the testing figures, they realized the PAP wasn't even testing 3,000 people when they said they were. What's up here, PAP? In early February, when a migrant worker at a dormitory was tested positive for COVID-19, PAP says workers living with him can still go back to work. When employers wanted to send dormitory workers for COVID-19 testing in early February, PAP threatened them if they did. As a result, today, Singapore is one of the top 35 countries with the most number of cases in the world, because the PAP mismanaged COVID-19, over and over and over and over and over again. And so, Singaporeans told the PAP, don't hold the election now, wait until cases go down to as close to zero as possible. But the PAP refused. It insisted on holding the election. And Singaporeans said slow down on the opening up. Why are we going into Phase 2 too quickly, because cases are still in their hundreds? But PAP refused. It wanted to open up quickly. Then, we can hold the election. And now, in the midst of the election, we are seeing cases rise again. Yet, the PAP insisted on putting themselves and their own ministers on the multi-ministry taskforce to manage COVID-19. But where are the doctors? Public health professionals? Epidemiologists? Why do we have so many ministers with economics backgrounds managing the COVID-19 response? Are we handling a health crisis here or are we using this crisis to make more economic opportunities? Because growth at all costs? Simply, PAP has the wrong priorities right from the start. This is a health crisis. Not something to think about how to make money out from. We should have put in experts to lead the pandemic. Also, now that Singapore has called for an election, and there are technically no ministers, then who is running the show now? Not only are their wrong priorities, the PAP didn't bother to listen. They didn't listen to Singaporeans who warned then about mask use, didn't listen to parents who warned that schools should close. Didn't listen to Singaporeans who tell them we should undergo a lockdown, and not open up so quickly. Every step of the way, even until now, PAP kept refusing to listen, kept doing things wrong, even as Singaporeans kept giving them good ideas on what needs to be done. They denied science, denied evidence, and wanted to do things their own way, because we need to focus on the economy, we need to hold the elections. So, right now, the PAP tells you, give us the mandate to manage COVID-19. Hello? They want us to give them a mandate to keep ignoring us? To keep ignoring science? To give ignoring evidence and experts? We gave them half a year to deal with this pandemic, and because of all their missteps, Singapore is still seeing cases in the hundreds, and cases have again increased during this election period. We told you not to hold the election, right, didn't we? We told you to focus on managing the pandemic, instead of trying to use the pandemic to win an election, didn't we? Today, Taiwan, also an island state but much, much bigger in size than Singapore, has seen more than 80 days without locally transmitted infections. How did Taiwan do it? Because it believed in science, it put public professionals to lead the response, and it listened to the public. What's more, Taiwan's government today was in the opposition prior to 2016, and 2016 was the first time the current Democratic Progressive Party took power for both presidency and parliament. And yet, this government which was previously the opposition managed to do a much more steady job than the PAP. The PAP has 60 years and it cannot even compare with a new government previously in the opposition. But oh, I forget, this PAP is no longer the PAP of the past. The PAP today simply doesn't have the same capability as the PAP of the past. Taiwan's government was able to do its job well because it knows voters have very high expectations of it, since it is new in government. And so, it is kept on its toes. Everyone in Taiwan is talking about how, if it was still the previous ruling party in charge, that COVID-19 cases would have escalated. The old government and ruling party would have been complacent, Taiwanese say. And this is exactly the state that the PAP is in. They have become so complacent. They think they can still focus on the economy, even when there is a new pandemic. They think they can still take their time to plan, they can take their time to look at science. So, mask use, the evidence isn't there yet. Let's take our time. Closing of schools, evidence is not there yet. Let's take our time. Lockdown, let's take our time. But election, let's rush. Attack the opposition, let's rush. Personal attacks, let's drag it out. Mandate, let's ask for it even though we don't deserve it. Because Singaporeans are blind, the PAP think. Wrong, wrong, wrong priorities. And all they know is to use old tactics to win elections. There isn't any ounce of humility to respect the needs of Singaporeans, to listen to Singaporeans. There is simply no urgency, no sense of duty, they took Singaporeans for granted. And now, as the pandemic continues to rage on, it is Singaporeans who have to cover for the PAP's mistakes. Singaporeans' taxes that go into paying for the PAP's missteps. Singaporeans who still have to worry over whether the MRT trains are too crowded. And why? Because the PAP did not build enough public transportation infrastructure to deal with Singapore's population growth. In fact, this issue was talked about until the cows come home all the way back since 2011 - two election cycles ago, when Singapore saw the worst MRT breakdowns. Yet, today, the MRT trains are still crowded. And what's more, the PAP reduced the number of trains during the pandemic. And the PAP want Singaporeans to give them a mandate, when they still cannot properly deal with a problem after 10 years? Mandate for what? To make more mistakes? It is very easy to loosely throw around the word, mandate. We want a mandate from you, the PAP says. But what mandate? We want a mandate to continue making the missteps and taking all the wrong actions we did. Please give us a mandate to keep making mistakes, so that Singaporeans will continue to be angry with our mismanagement, and continue to live in fear because we mismanaged. I really do not know what mandate they want from you. I also do not know what mandate you can give, or whether this is a mandate you want to give away to the PAP so freely. Basically, the PAP has proven themselves very inept at handling the crisis, they could not even muster a basic response to COVID-19. I will be very worried if we give them whatever mandate they want. What I want to see is the opposition politicians go into parliament to question them, not only of their past handling of the pandemic prior to the election, but also to hold the PAP accountable if they keep making mistakes, and if they keep ignoring science and the advice of Singaporeans. What I want to see is the opposition ask the PAP important questions in parliament, to keep the PAP on its toes, so that the PAP won't keep mismanaging the response. And so, yes, we do need to give a mandate. And this mandate should be given to the opposition to hold the PAP accountable, and to ask important questions to keep the PAP on their toes. This mandate should be given to the opposition to make sure the PAP does not mess up again. And finally, it is very clear that the PAP thought COVID-19 was an opportunity for them to showcase their 4G politicians, so they put all their 4G politicians into the multi-ministerial taskforce to handle the pandemic. My god, have they messed up. And COVID-19 has finally shown us, that when made to handle a crisis for the very first time, the PAP 4G politicians simply do not have the quick thinking and flexibility to manage a crisis that requires them to think on their feet. We are talking about people like Lawrence Wong, Chan Chun Sing, Ong Ye Kung, Josephine Teo, and even Heng Swee Keat who is actually the advisor to the taskforce. And if this is the kind of 4G politicians the PAP have to run the country, I really don't know what to expect. For them to run the country into the ground? So now, the PAP doesn't want us to focus on the 4G, to make no distinction between them and the 3G politicians. Fact is, they have performed so poorly, they have shown us that the PAP today simply cannot be compared to the PAP of the past. The PAP today and the PAP of the past are two very grades. If you want to compare, the PAP of the past is an iPhone. And the PAP today is a Symbian phone. What is a Symbian phone, right? No one uses them anymore. How can there be such a downgrade of quality from the PAP in the past to the PAP today? After 60 years, has the new PAP become so complacent and so entitled that they have forgotten how to govern, or do they even know how to govern? Oh, but I forget, the PAP today isn't even the same people as the PAP of the past. In fact, 33.3% of the PAP candidates are new. And more then 95% of them only entered politics after the year 2000. This new PAP politicians are really a fundamentally different grade of people from the old PAP who were tested, held accountable and fought hard for Singaporeans. The new PAP today, they have shown from how they mismanaged COVID-19 so terribly, that they cannot be taken seriously. Mandate, they say. Ha. If we give them a mandate, I do not know how else they will continue to mismanage.   Roy Ngerng      Read More →