TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent More and more needy Singaporeans are seeking help with their medical bills last year even though they are already heavily "subsidized" by the government. About 370,000 patients received "help" from Medifund in the year ended March 2009, $26,000 more in the previous year. "C" class patients can have their entire medical bill footed for by Medifund and they form the majority of the hospital inpatients who received help directly from Medifund last year. Medifund was set up to provide financial assistance to poor patients who are unable to pay for public healthcare. The exact criteria is unknown, but one must have depleted one's medisave as well as that of relatives in order to qualify for it. Needy Singaporeans who have difficulty paying subsidised hospital bills must undergo means testing and assessment by a medical social worker to confirm that they are truly in need. Singaporeans are allowed to tap on their medisave, part of their CPF savings to foot for hospitalization bills and outpatient bills for chronic disease like diabetes and hypertension. If they do not have sufficient medisave to pay for their medical expenses, their children's medisave will be used. Mr Gerald Ee, the Chairman of the Medifund advisory council reiterated MOH's stanace that no Singaporean will be denied access to good basic healthcare because of inability to pay. Though Singapore is a first world country, its citizens enjoy few social welfare benefits compared to other developed nations. One must be really poor and destitute to qualify for meager "aid" from the government. The "sandwiched" class of Singaporeans are especially hit because they are not "poor enough" to receive assistance from the government and yet not "rich enough" to afford public healthcare in Singapore whose costs have increased in recent years. A typical 7 day in a public hospital can easily incur bills for more than tens of thousand dollars especially if one is warded in the ICU. There is a common saying among Singaporeans that "one can afford to die in Singapore, but not fall sick." Despite public sentiments showing otherwise, the ruling party continues to insist that public healthcare is "affordable" to ordinary Singaporeans. There is no opposition in Singapore's parliament to check on the ruling party which has governed uninterrupted for 50 years continuously since 1959.  Read More →

By Lawrence Pek With the looming GE slated in 2010 / 2011, there are plenty of issues that need to be reviewed by any respectable Opposition Party. Playing the role of a Campaign Manager, I would like to add value with Election Strategies, rather than the issues itself. 1.          A Clear and Concise Message a.        Pick 3 to 5 Issues and Hammer Hard – People cannot remember so many things, 3 to 5 things will do, It is important to keep repeating these issues and use clear BUZZWORDS. People remember these key words. b.        DO NOT ATTACK THE PAP – 2 reasons here – 1stly, PAP will NOT attack unless provoked (because they want the moral high ground), with SPH (with all its newspapers and CNA) under their control, you cannot win this battle. 2ndly, If you attack the PAP, this will cause the electorate to deviate on your message. For this election, the PAP will be on the defensive, they will spend a lot of resources in explaining their unpopular policies. c.        Know the IN and OUT of these issues so that you will never be blindsided by any response from the PAP – Be ready with clear and strong responses from the PAP camp – “if they say this, we need to say this…” Let PAP attack you, then respond robustly, engage the issue. Make sure your audience gets these messages clearly. The MSM will have the burden to carry any Opposition responses, since it has to carry the initial attack from the PAP camp. 2.          Sympathy Votes: In Singapore’s political landscape, it is strange that none of the Opposition used this tactical advantage. If the opportunity arises, Opposition needs to play the Underdog card, a lot of swing or undecided votes can be curried over. 3.          INTERNET: The Opposition cannot depend on SPH (newspaper and CNA) to give you the same space and time support. You will need to expose your message to your audience via the various online platforms – you will need to choose carefully as choice of online platform will associate you accordingly i.e. you will be branded accordingly. a.        Videos and Audio – the strongest trend recently in political reporting is On Line Journalism –  e..g. “CNN’s I-REPORT” - have an armada of student activists that will record your rally messages, carry interviews from Opposition Leaders and Public responses (kopitiam comments are critical). b.        Time to Air – this is a critical strategy, you need to deliver your content faster than the PAP – usually, you can win mindshare faster and you will be seen more credible with 1st to Market. Put the PAP on the back peddle. c.        Create “Talking Heads” videos of key Opposition Leaders – video clips which will delivers key points about the issues, about their party and what is happening daily during the campaign period. Email these opposition supporters and make sure that they forward to as many people as possible. Stay away from traditional print media – they are too expensive and many legal issues. d.        Create a “Jingle” – similar to Buzzwords – easy and catchy. Create a simple jingle – this can be a simple 10 sec jingle to a full 3min song – which can reflect the entire the pissed off mood of the local Singaporeans. There is a song on you tube from Dick Lee that uses Billy Joel’s “we did not start the fire”…I thought that was catchy and sticks on people’s minds. 4.          Measure the responses from the ground: a.        Prior to the Election, even now, there are so many raw sentiments on the grounds – regarding the various issues.  What they think, Why they think that, and What should be done. Carefully, you need to understand that this is different from what YOU think, why YOU think that and what YOU think should be done. It is important to understand that it is NOT YOU, the Opposition Party against the PAP, but rather – it is the PEOPLE against the PAP. Carry the people’s messages effectively, and you will be OK. Position yourselves as the People’s Alternatives Voices. Summarize what they are thinking, saying and use key Buzzwords to position your summary. If possible, use local dialects to carry these responses effectively. If financial resources, it is important to do a simple poll for these issues and these buzzwords. b.        After each rally, it is important to know what the attendees think about the speeches, the speaker and most interviewees will be more than happy to provide their responses as well as their recommendations. Preparation is key – know what resources you have and how you can use them effectively, clear roles and responsibility should be assigned. Campaign Manager should not be just that, managing the resources as well as measuring the responses and tweaking the strategies. The election boundaries are such that period of campaigning will be short so effective use all avail resources will be key. Even though this is a given, my suggestions maybe more applicable to 2 major difference since the last election. The Internet as well as how much more pissed off the local Singaporeans is now with their policies. These 2 things create a potent mix that may spring a surprise on the ruling party. There are bound to be more strategies and I welcome lots more ideas to add or refine to mine, but rather than blogging about the issues, let’s consider specific strategies to win more and more votes. Let’s think differently. The Winds of Change is blowing….  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent PAP MP Seng Han Thong, who was set on fire last year by a resident of his constituency, has largely recovered from his injuries. He is now able to drive a car, read a book and write an email. In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, Mr Seng said he is trying hard to forget the day of the incident which happened on 11 January 2009. His attacker, a 70 year old man by the name of Ong Kah Chua was described to be mentally deranged by the media. He is now currently held in IMH at the President's pleasure. Instead of sympathizing with him, some netizens had gloated over Mr Seng's misfortune, prompting a strong rebuke from Minister of Information, Communication and Arts Lui Tuck Yew. One deputy police superintendent even threatened to take action against those who spread "rumors" on the internet. Mr Seng said he would be donating an undisclosed sum of money to the burns unit at Singapore General Hospital to thank their staff for their dedicated care during his one month stay there. He said some residents have approached him for assistance in various aspects such as getting a job and footing of medical expenses and he hopes he will be able to continue to serve them in the new year ahead. He would also try his best to help the new citizens integrate into local society. The pro-foreigner ruling party has recently unveiled a $10-million dollars Community Integration Fund sponsored by Singapore taxpayers to help the new citizens and PRs integrate into Singapore. A grassroots organization in Yew Tee had already tapped on the fund to organize free English language courses for its new citizens. It is not known what plans Mr Seng's constituency Yio Chu Kang has for the new citizens. News source: Lianhe Wanbao  Read More →