TR EMERITUS

Why should a statutory board like SkillsFuture - arguably a white elephant - be helmed by a former Military General? I refer to the article 'Auditor-General finds SkillsFuture Singapore overpaid $4.22m, has yet to collect $43m in levies' (ST, 20 Jul). It states that "In its annual audit of government accounts, the AGO also flagged that SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) was lax in enforcing the collection of Skills Development Levy (SDL) funds from 2015 to 2020, resulting in an estimated $43 million owed to the agency as at April this year." Comment: Foremost, isn’t this 2nd time in 3 years that Skillsfuture cited for lapses by AGO? And isn’t this amount of $47 million is no small sum. Yet, we have yet to hear anyone taking punishment or responsibility on this matter. Looking deeper, don't you find it rather strange that the previous Chief Executive of the SkillsFuture was a one-star military general? What skills would he have as a former director of military intelligence that would enable him to run SkillsFuture well? According to the SkillsFuture Website, there are "more than 431,000 Singaporeans" who have claimed their credits? Don't you find this a rather low-take-up rate? Moreover, don't you find it rather out-of-touch that S'poreans could rely on $1,000 ($500 + $500) to 'upskill' themselves? In this connection, the then Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam mentioned back in 2015 that the initiative will cost $1 billion per year until 2020. To what extent has this $5 billion been well spent? As far as I understand it, there are also a variety of classes such as wine appreciation which perhaps add little to no value in upskilling the population except in rare cases. Is the SkillsFuture yet another 'white elephant' on the part of the ruling party that is costing taxpayers millions without showing much benefit?   Leong Sze Hian      Read More →

Yesterday I posted about the tragic case of the severely disabled senior citizen living in a one room rental flat whose full time carer son died suddenly in his sleep with only $6 left in his bank account. I highlighted the lack of support for people like her who through no fault of their own are unable to look after themselves. My research suggested that the only state support she could count on seemed to be $640 a month from ComCare and maybe an additional $200 per month under the Disability Assistance Scheme. This would hardly be enough to pay for a full time carer let alone her living expenses and the rent on her flat even if ComCare suffered a sudden fit of generosity and The PAP MP claimed that MFS and other government agencies were providing assistance with the immediate funeral expenses but when I read further on in the article this seemed to have been paid for by a Buddhist welfare organization and other charities. Today there was another case reported by LHL’s personal propaganda media monopoly corruptly paid for with your money, This involved a 46 year old single mum who collapsed with a brain aneurysm on 15 July and died the same day in hospital. State media reported approvingly that she had raised 3 kids, now adults, but was still supporting her elderly parents. Rumours are that LHL is considering issuing the woman with a posthumous Meritorious Service Medal as she was in life and now in death the perfect example for Singaporeans. She brought three children up by (over)working (probably) a 16 hour day without the benefit of any child support. The children are now adults and have to fend for themselves without Government help. The woman had the good grace to die almost immediately and did not linger on or become a drain on public funds. However she did not have time to complete her mission in life since she left behind her elderly parents who may now require support though their grandchildren can no doubt be forced to contribute. I made it a manifesto pledge of the Reform Party since the 2015 election to introduce a $300 per month per child payment and also a $500 per month old age pension. I costed this then at about $6 billion per annum which is only about 30% of the Government-determined Net Investments Returns Contribution. Even if it is slightly more than than that part of it will be recouped in GST and other taxes so the actual cost will be lower. If Wang Hui Hui, the unfortunate single mum, had been able to claim $900 in child support while her parents had $1000 in pension each month, she might not have had to overwork and might still be alive as a result. I have been repeating since 2012 that the Government needs to demonstrate why it needs such ostensibly massive reserves when it has run a surplus every year since the 1970s and probably before then. My calculations show the reserves to be potentially as much as $3 trillion, at least before the recent market sell-off. Even when the Finance Minister has claimed to run a deficit this may in fact be a surplus if we strip out the accounting tricks he uses and use a wider definition of Government in accordance with IMF rules. This is probably true even in 2020 when the Government claimed to have run a $50 billion deficit. Yet the Government tells us continually that taxes need to go up to pay for rising expenditures on health and education. I have raised serious concerns that these may be inflated in a fraudulent round-tripping exercise so as to mirror any rise in the NIRC and ensure that no actual money leaves the ”reserves”, whatever these ultimately prove to be. Consumption is less than 40% of GDP. The only purpose of such a high rate of investment is to give Singaporeans a higher living standard in the future. Yet simple comparisons show that the median Singaporean worker works longer hours, gets paid only about half as much per hour, and has to pay more for food and other essentials than workers in countries with much lower levels of GDP per capita and with Government net debt not huge net assets as our Government should have. Rather than being good Communist citizens and putting up with the lies of the PAP about the earthly paradise that awaits them around the corner, Singaporeans need to start demanding answers to these questions. It is high time we had a change of government to put an end to what appears to be blatant mismanagement and a failure to govern in the people’s interests. Say no to Lawrence Wong, say no to a continuation of the LHL dynasty!   Kenneth Jeyaretnam   I’m a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That’s why I’ve never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I’m quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don’t work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I’m a liberal. I’m not sure what the middle think of me. I don’t think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I’m a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I’m not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean.    Read More →

I met an elderly woman who wore a badge of "Service Ambassador" at the MRT station. She worked part time, 3 hours a day. I told her that I was probably the person responsible for many people like her, getting this job. In the early 2000s, Singapore was in a deep recession, following the bursting of the dotcom bubble. Many people were unemployed. I sent an email to the CEO of SMRT, Saw Phaik Hwa. I suggested that SMRT creates job for the people who lost their jobs. They can provide assistance to people at the MRT stations and also keep an eye on potential bomb threats. This was shortly after the terrorist attack in America on 11 Sept 2001. Saw PH replied immediately to me in a positive way. Within a few weeks, I saw many elderly people were employed at the MRT stations. I hold Saw PH with high regard over the years. I hope that many people who now work as service ambassadors know about her proactive approach. Many people spoke negatively about her for the problems in the poor maintenance of the MRT system. I do not share their negative views. I remember her for her positive attitude towards my suggestion. I see that the MRT stations still have the service ambassadors, 20 years after it was implemented.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →