TR EMERITUS

作者:冀居·谢 人民对政府移民政策的不满，张元元事件最虚无，而组屋议题最实际，目前已经闹到马宝山(Mah Bow Tan)的国会席位面临挑战这份儿上了。 不过，张同志也不是全无贡献，反而是形成一个临界，把虚无的话题转为直接的利益争取，政府也不得不让步。“政府不急于举行大选”，除了经济层面的问题之外，还面对建国以来一个全新的课题，就是大量移民 (immigrants) 增加人口的后遗。 过去为了加快利用移民来增加人口、补充教育/人文缺失、带来财富等目的之外，唯一没有考虑到的就是本地人民的福祉其实正被这些人侵蚀，大量政策对他们倾斜。而随着他们的人口比例不断地增加；本地目前大约已经有25%的外来人口，增加至650万的时候，他们可能会占了一半有多，到时究竟是糖溶入水，还是水被糖吸干？咱们就骑驴看唱本——走着瞧。 在经济奇差的情况下，组屋价格却节节攀升，这是违反规律的，唯一的可能就是有人掏外国的钱包来这里买屋，而能够购买二手转售组屋的外国人，除了成为最低门槛的PR——永久居民，则别无他法。可是部长却不承认这个事实，他说“永久居民购转售组屋，影响市场走势不显著”——是睁眼说瞎话，要不然建屋局怎么会考虑“组屋区可能实行新移民配额制”？这个就是把新移民当作第五种族（数量上必然可观）而要遏制他们“群居”……问题来了，我们搞到最后竟然是“一国两华”？ 许文远要收回之前慷慨发放给他们的住院和医药津贴，所以说要“明年起分阶段减少”， 因为在2007年10月之前，永久居民和新加坡人是享受一样的医药福利。许部长的部门却不敢立马执行，怕因此影响那些新近成为公民的大陆新移民的心情，从而影响PAP的铁票。这个所谓阶段性减少据说是为了让他们适应，表面看起来颇有人情味，但是仔细想起来却不合情理，因为生病和住院不是经常重复发生且控制不了的事，不像水电费、交通费那样需要逐渐适应。生孩子至少也得相隔十个月，患癌就得马上化疗或者电疗，一个人生命垂危乃至死亡，这都是没得适应的事。 马宝山说，他接到组屋转售市场可能出现投机的传闻，因此要了解市场是否被虚构的需求撑起，导致价格推高。这些人买组屋可能不是为了自住，而是“快速转手”（flipping）发财，或出租组屋赚取租金。这些财路都是因政府宽松的移民政策所开，不是吗？最后还是拿本地人开刀、被骂的还是本地人，丢※§☆！ 来源：大马论坛  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent More and more Singaporeans are becoming homeless, but there is no direct evidence to link this with the financial crisis, said the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. As of last year, 253 homeless people were picked up by MCYS officers, up from 123 in 2007 with more than half of them found sleeping in the void decks of HDB blocks. Most of them were sent to destitute homes where they get free shelter, food and clothes with curbs to their freedoms. The actual number may be higher. Homeless Singaporeans, especially the elderly are ubiquitous throughout the HDB flats in Singapore. One need only take a tour at night to find them sleeping at the void decks, parks and even in the open: [imagebrowser id=49] The increase in the number of homeless people in Singaporeans coincided surprisingly with its high growth rate of between 5 to 8 per cent over the last decade which is fueled largely by the relentless influx of cheap foreign labor. At the same time, the median wages of ordinary Singaporeans have remained stagnant at $2,600 monthly and the income gap between the rich and poor have widened. Singapore now has the highest income gap among the thirty most developed nations in the world. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the ruling party's liberal immigration policies have depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing, lowered labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standard of living. (read article here) While the poor has become poorer in Singapore, Singapore's ministers have given themselves a big pay rise for their managing of the Singapore's economy. A significant proportion of their multi-million dollar salary package is pegged to Singapore's GDP growth - the higher the growth, the more money they take home. When asked about the widening income gap in Singapore during a ministerial forum last year, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew dismissed it as an "inevitable" consequence of globalization and that it "matters little" so long the government continues to create jobs for Singaporeans. Though Singapore is the second richest country in Asia after Japan and its two sovereign wealth funds Temasek Holdings and GIC can afford to lose millions of dollars overseaas, its citizens enjoy few social welfare benefits from the government. Kishore Mahbubani, the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy wrote famously in 2001: "There are no homeless, destitute or starving people in Singapore. Poverty has been eradicated, not through an entitlements program (there are virtually none) but through a unique partnership between the government, corporate citizens, self-help groups and voluntary initiatives. The state acts as the catalyst-matching financial support, sponsoring preventive and social care, and ensuring that basic needs are provided for." (read here) It is about time he retracts his statements and re-orientate himself to a new reality in Singapore.    Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has lambasted the opposition for "focusing" on him in the next general election and claimed that only he can do the "best" for Singaporeans. The Straits Times had earlier reported on a few opposition parties which have expressed their interest in contesting in Mr Mah's Tampines GRC in the next general election due to his unpopularity among Singaporeans. Mr Mah was widely blamed for his failure to control sky-rocketing prices of HDB flats which is imposing a great financial burden on ordinary Singaporeans. The report prompted Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew to describe Tampines residents as being "daft" if they were to cast a protest vote against Mr Mah. (read article here) "A general election (GE) is not about me, an individual minister or an individual MP. It's really about the residents themselves. I offer myself up for election because I believe that I can do the best and the most for them. But ultimately it's for the residents, the people to decide," Mr Mah said in an interview with Straits Times. Though he acknowledged that some people may be "adversely" affected by the housing policies, he is adamant that they are beneficial to Singaporeans as a whole: "There's no question that our policies are designed for the good of the people. While there may be certain parts of the policies that are not favourable, overall, I think these policies are for the well-being of the people and are good for the country." Mr Mah did not elaborate on the inadequacies of the policies and how they can be fine-tuned to better suit the needs and interests of the people. The astronomical prices of today's flats are contributed partly by a limited supply of new flats and rising demand fueled by the relentless influx of foreigners. Only slightly more than 11,000 flats were built between the years 2006 - 2008 when the rate of immigration is at its peak. Mr Mah has still not explained to Singaporeans why so few flats were constructed during this period:   [Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009] Despite rising frustration, resentment and anger on the ground over the increasing prices of public housing in Singapore, Mr Mah and other HDB officials continue to insist that they are “affordable” to ordinary Singaporeans. Mr Mah even chided first time home buyers for being “choosy” and said that “the onus is on Singaporeans to play their part by buying a home within their means.” Quoting the affordability benchmark of 30 per cent used frequently by HDB to show that HDB flats remain affordable to ordinary Singaporeans, Mr Mah said a family with a monthly income of $3,000 can buy a flat worth up to $250,000 and spend only 30 per cent of their income every month on the mortgage. “Similarly, a family with a monthly income of $4,000 can afford to buy a new flat worth up to $333,000 without spending more than 30 per cent a month on the mortgage. This means they can comfortably buy any of the flats offered in the latest BTO projects this month,” he added. However, Mr Mah fails to take into account the bank interest rates and inflation over the years which will lead eventually to the family spending more than 30 per cent of their monthly income on the mortgage as pointed out correctly by Mr Kang above. Furthermore, after depleting their entire CPF for these over-priced 99-year leasehold HDB flats, they will have little or no savings left for their retirement. Mr Mah is the highest paid National Development Minister in the world earning about $2 million dollars a year, or more than 4 times the annual salary of U.S. President Barack Obama.   Related articles: >> Singaporeans worried about retirement after depleting CPF to pay for over-priced HDB flats >> Mah Bow Tan acknowledged that rising HDB flat prices has sparked “fresh concerns” >> PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats” >> COVs of resale flats shooting through the roof >> HDB resale price index hit record high in 2009 >> Singaporean wants PRs to live in rented flats instead of buying resale flats >> Singaporeans wants PRs to be banned from selling HDB flats at a profit >> Shanmugam: Singaporeans likely culprits for driving up HDB flat prices >> Mah Bow Tan: HDB flats remain affordable >> Means testing for PRs to buy resale flats >> Immigration and public housing: should the govt or people plan ahead? >> Grace Fu: hard to predict demand for housing >> Indonesian PR bought 4-room flat at $653,000 >> Mah Bow Tan asks home buyers to be realistic >> PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get a flat for not planning ahead >> Home affordability: HDB versus the public >> Demand vs supply: so many applicants, so few flats >> Number of applicants exceed number of flats >> HDB to increase supply of flats >> Mah: don’t compare with prices in the past >> ERA: 40 per cent of HDB flat buyers are PRs  Read More →