TR EMERITUS

Why should Singaporeans bother to procreate? - Having a kid is, perhaps, as good as buying a piece of landed property in Singapore. To be precise, it is the equivalent of owning a semi-detached house in either the Eastern or Western states in this diminutive country. Nonetheless, it also depends on how much you, as a parent, are willing to spend on your child’s education and substantial needs to ensure him/her a bright future. This can be an extremely costly affair to bear in the long run...as many parents would definitely, want to provide their fledglings with the best environment for their personal growth. If you were to sum up all your accrued expenses, you will be bewildered to learn just how much money has been spent on nurturing your fledging up to adulthood. Besides, even before your child is born, much money needs to be spent on assessing, and determining your child’s gender, health, and date of delivery. Sans the need for antenatal classes, as well as your cost for all other essentials your unborn child needs before he/ she steps out into this world. Plus, not forgetting to sum up your monthly household and parental expenses, the amount of money spent is on par with buying an exquisite 3 or 4 storey semi-detached house that could last you for more than 5 generations... In the meantime, as Singapore’s cost of living continues to escalate, many locals are forced to forgo marriage and starting a family over career success, for they are fully aware of the benefits an established career or business bestows unto them. If not for the sake of a promising future, it is little wonder why young Singaporean couples would choose to either have 1 or no child. Prior to their already hectic work life, both husband and wife would prefer to have a child so they could provide him/ her with the very best they can afford with the limited time they have. Similarly, women of today are well-educated as compared to their elder sisters of yesteryear and would choose to front the workforce instead of staying home to care for their fledglings. Gone are those days where men rule the roost and women have no choice but submit themselves to their husbands; should they choose to remain single throughout their lives, it is for the benefit of their ourselves. Likewise in Singapore today, it is impossible for a parent to support an entire family of four, or more given our high cost of living. Give and take, its either you choose between starting a family to an established career. To add, the Administration has to share part of the blame for being totally absorbed with increasing its Gross Domestic Profit instead of putting much effort to care for her countrymen. All the more, it makes utter sense to not cave in to the Administration’s continual sweet talk of having a family. Not unless the ruling Administration could show that she truly and sincerely cares for her present countrymen, why should Singaporeans heed its advice and hump for that bump to claim its packaged bonuses? Just my 2 cents, but there are definitely better ways to get about the dwindling birth rates issue through strategic resource management instead of encouraging young couples (regardless of marital status) to hump around like rabbits.   Joyce  Read More →

The disastrous Youth Olympic Games may have ended already, but its litany of comical screw-ups continue, much to the embarrassment of the organizers and the embattled PAP regime which had touted the games as a showcase of the "Singapore Spirit". The YOG was blighted by complaints of mistreatment of volunteers, a mass food poisoning outbreak, spelling mistakes on YOG merchandise and the unfortunate arrest of a young man by the Singapore police for criticizing PAP minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan over his handling of the YOG on Facebook. Given the tremendous amount of efforts and time put in by the YOG volunteers who were forced to work for long hours often without rest, the very least the organizers can do is to acknowledge their contributions. Unfortunately, an unforgivable printing error occurred on more than 45,000 certificates, an indication of the scant disregard the organizers and the PAP regime have for the YOG volunteers. According to the Straits Times, the certificates carry sample signatures instead of actual signatures of the chairman of the YOG Organizing Committee Ng Ser Miang and President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge. In a terse press statement, the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) explained: "The sample signatures were used as place holders in the design of the ceriticates which were sent to the printing firm by mistake due to an oversight in the checking process." As usual, nothing was heard from the PAP minister in charge of the YOG Dr Vivian Balakrishnan who tried to divert public attention from his mismanagement of the YOG by halting the free shuttle bus service to Sentosa abruptly without warning. Neither did his two sidekicks Teo Ser Luck and Ng Ser Miang made any public statements. A subordinate was "arrowed" to be the fall guy and "apologize": "We are sorry for the error and the inconvenience caused to our participants and volunteers. We appreciate the contributions of the various individuals towards the success of Singapore 2010 and we seek their understanding on this matter," said Mr Goh Kee Nguan, CEO of SYOGOC. In the meantime, questions continue to be raised on how the YOG came to be besieged by so many problems and mistakes when we have spent an astronomical $387 million dollars (or more) on it. It is completely unacceptable for such a juvenile and laughable mistake to occur. The organizers should have double check the certificates before sending them to the printer. Who will foot the bill for the reprint of these 45,000 certificates? Needless to say, it will be Singapore taxpayers who will pay for yet another "honest mistake" again on behalf of the PAP regime.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

The majority of Jurong residents are unconvinced by the latest "wayang" put up by PAP Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to better "differentiate" Singaporeans from foreigners in order to placate rising public disgruntlement at his unfair pro-foreigner and ultra-liberal immigration policies ahead of the next general election. Some of the measures unveiled during his National Day Rally speech include a $9,000 National Service Recognition Award for existing NSmen and a reduction in the intake of foreigners from 100,000 to 80,000 this year. According to Reform Party activist Justin Ong who participated in a walkabout at Jurong West last night, many residents he spoke to were unhappy with the PAP's lax immigration policies and were not reassured by the recent policies announced by PM Lee to soothe frayed nerves: "The majority of the residents in this estate was largely inviting and greeted us warmly when we presented ourselves. Many bore the usual gripes about the cost of living constantly rising while wages weren’t keeping up as quickly. Other complained about immigration policies being too lax in allowing foreigners into the country, while others commented that they were not comforted by the recent policies announced by the PM to differentiate Singaporeans from non-Singaporeans. A couple of households also noted that the recent measures to cool the property market did not solve problems of HDB flats being unaffordable to new buyers. " (read more here) With the next election looming ahead, the PAP regime is on damage control mode to ensure its political survival and hegemony. The Reform Party has been working hard on the ground in the last few months to reach out to as many Singaporeans as possible. It is expected to contest in Hong Kah, West Coast and Choa Chu Kang, provided that the electoral boundaries remained unchanged. The elections are usually called only after the electoral boundaries are confirmed and announced by the PAP-controlled Electoral Review Committee which never explained its decision for the boundary changes, some of which can be pretty incredulous and unbelievable.   Related articles: >> Reform Party to contest in Hong Kah and West Coast GRC >> Reform Party to give its volunteers mooncakes  >> Angry old man cursed about CPF  >> Reform Party celebrates Hari Raya at Joo Chiat >> Jurong West resident voiced out against rising number of foreigners during RP’s walkabout >> Reform Party to wish Muslim Singaporeans a Happy Hari Raya >> Reform Party leader: We have an oversized govt for a small country >> Reform Party walkabout at Jurong West, 05/09/2010 >> Kenneth Jeyaretnam asks netizens to step forward to fight for democracy >> Netizens express support for Reform Party >> Reform Party leader voices concerns over police harassment of netizens >> Favorable response from Toa Payoh residents to RP/SPP walkabout >> Reform Party’s response to PM Lee’s National Day Rally speech >> Reform Party calls for a more rational labor policy >> National Day message from Reform Party >> Kenneth Jeyaretnam: 45 percent of Singapore’s GDP goes to foreigners >>Proposed strategem for Reform Party for next 10 years Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →