TR EMERITUS

Even before I had entered politics when I was still teaching at NUS, I had been calling out the harm that streaming does to children and education system. Since then, SDP has repeatedly called for the practice to be scrapped: “Under the SDP’s education plan…students entering secondary school will not be streamed. 30 years later, the PAP finally has its eureka! moment when Educational Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament this week that streaming would be done away with by 2024. (Actually, Ong Ye Kung announced this in 2019 but added that students will be grouped in bands instead. Same difference. But it's a matter for discussion another time.) The point is that they’ve repeatedly played catch-up in policy formulation that would prepare Singapore for the future. Intellectual heft among its leaders? Not much there. The one thing that the PAP has going for it is enormous state resources that it taps into to propagate the myth that it is a party of the future. Don’t fall for this, Singapore.   Dr Chee Soon Juan      Read More →

“Lao Lan, we have a problem.” Without looking up from his mobile, Lao Lan mutters, “What?” “The EU is going to implement CBAM.” Lao Lan doesn’t seem interested, “Is it some kind of continental ballistic missile?” KY rolls his eyes, “No, you idiot! It’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.” “Carbon what!?” KY is glad to have gotten Lao Lan’s attention. He takes a deep breath, “The EU is going to impose a tax on all imports from countries with carbon tax lower than theirs.” “Whatever for?” Lao Lan ask. “Because they can. They have green alternatives like hydro, wind, bio-mass, geo-thermal, nuclear and what-not.” “And?” Lao Lan is now all ears. “They can impose a high carbon tax in their jurisdiction and their businesses and people can cope by switching to green alternatives,” explains KY. “Good for them, but why impose a tax on all imports?” KY continues, “They think it’s only fair and a good example for the world to follow to save the Earth. Besides, they don’t want their factories shifting to countries with lower carbon tax.” “Will we be affected?” Lao Lan asks. “Of course! Of all the ASEAN countries, we are their biggest trading partner and our carbon tax is a fraction of theirs! Our exports will face very high tariffs unless we impose a very high carbon tax ourselves.” Lao Lan is perturbed, “Ok…..I will tell the boss.” Later, in the boss’s office. “Boss, we need to ram up carbon tax, big time.” The boss looks visibly tired. “Why?” Lao Lan clears his throat, “The Europeans have passed a law to impose a carbon tariff on imports. It will kick in around 2026.” The boss frowns, “Go on” “Exporters here will have to pay the difference in carbon tax between our country and the EU, making our exports less competitive,” Lao Lan explains. The boss goes straight to the point. “What’s the carbon tax rate currently?” “Ours is $5 a ton and theirs is more than a $100!” “Which sectors will be affected?” “For starters, those in the high carbon emission ones like iron and steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizer, glass, paper, heavy chemicals and energy production. They are also looking at downstream products in the future.” The boss looks out the window. It doesn’t take him long to make a decision, “Ok, increase our carbon tax. Match their rate ASAP. Announce it at the budget but make it sound like we are doing our part to fight climate change.” “But boss, will businesses be able to cope with the sudden increase?” “You can always creatively rebate the tax to trade-exposed businesses right, especially those exporting to the EU?” Lao Lan nods, “Sure thing boss. What about businesses selling locally?” “Let them decide, but I suppose the bigger ones will pass the tax to the consumers.” “Won’t the people protest?”, Lao Lan asks timidly. The boss looks at Lao Lan, “We have prepared the ground for climate change quite a while now, carbon tax is a natural extension. No one will openly protest lest they be labeled socially irresponsible.” At the budget announcement, Lao Lan boldly declares that we are very committed to doing our part in the global movement to tackle climate change. As such, we will raise our ambition to achieve net zero emissions by or around mid-century rather than the later half of the century, and will push decisively to raise carbon tax in the next few years, reaching $50 to $80 per ton by 2030 from the current $5 per ton. He clarifies that the government does not expect to derive additional revenue from the increase in the carbon tax. Some of the revenue will be used to cushion the impact on households and businesses. A large part will be used to support a decisive shift towards decarbonisation through investments in new low-carbon and more energy efficient solutions. This story, of course, is a figment of my imagination, but it is based on actual events including the introduction of CBAM by the EU in July 2021 and our government’s rather abrupt push to raise carbon tax aggressively. Readers can decide for themselves if the government is more concerned about mitigating the EU carbon tariff or fighting climate change. They can also decide if the government is again helping big business at the expense of the people.   Foong Swee Fong      Read More →

Was having a beer with the guys who have rented my spare room last night, when they suggested that I watch PK, a lovely Bollywood sketch staring Amir Khan as the titular character, PK an alien that ends up stranded on earth. The crux of the story is simple. The alien gets stranded on each and finds out that “God” is the only person whom earthlings look to solve their problems. So, in order to solve his problems, he ends up looking for God by practicing every religion in earnest so that he can meet God and ask God for help. The alien’s spiritual journey brings him into conflict with the head of a large Hindu sect who labels him a “Muslim Extremist.” Every time the “Holy Man” talks about doing miracles, the alien tells him that he is “dialing the wrong number to God.” One of the best scenes in the entire movie comes when he gets people to dress up in different religious costumes and challenges to the Holy Man who identify them. When the Holy Man fails to identify people correctly, the alien shows us that when we see a man with a turban, we assume he’s a Sikh, then when the turban is removed, that man is a Hindu and when his moustache is removed, he becomes a Muslim. The scene can be seen below: [LINK] The alien in the movie makes the point that many of the labels of religion and politics that we used to identify ourselves with, are in fact man-made. There is even a scene in the movie when he he’s caught in ward looking for the label of religion on a new born baby. After discovering that the baby does not have a label to identify itself as belonging to a certain religion, he challenges people to strip naked to see if they have a label that compels them to be followers of any particular religion and he comes to the conclusion that the religious leaders are using fear to get people to donate to the “God created” by the religious leaders rather than the “God that created humanity.” The alien in the movie keeps calling the “Holy Man” for “dialing the wrong number to God.” This is probably one of my favourite Amir Khan movies in as much it makes a very valuable social point through comedy and the phrase “Dialing the wrong number,” makes me wonder if we are consistently dialing the wrong number. Furthermore, instead of questioning whether we’re dialing the right number, we insist on carrying on the conversation instead of checking if we’re in the right conversation in the first place. The most prominent example of this always comes up during budget day, especially when there’s the imminent prospect of an increase of a tax of sorts. The standard conversation that the government has is that it needs to increase tax in order to pay for welfare programs. Our current finance minister, Mr. Lawrence Wong has repeatedly stressed that any increase in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will not hurt the poor because they will receive all sorts of subsidies. The opposition will then point out that the government is has plenty in the reserves and does not need to raise tax. This is, in fact the wrong conversation on the topic. I believe that the right conversation should be on whether people should be receiving any subsidies in the first place. Unfortunately, if we started on that conversation, we may get plenty of answers that would make people uncomfortable – saying you are giving a subsidy to help people is just so much easier to say than the fact that you’re encouraging employers to look for the cheapest possible option when it comes to salaries and admitting that the poor might be bearing a higher brunt of the tax burden than the well to do. As the alien in the movie points out – fear of the unknown is a very powerful tool in keeping people in order. Think about it – we accept certain truths without questioning them because a world without those truths can be frightening. Let’s look at another constant in Singapore – namely the reminder of the benefits of one-party rule or “why a two-party system won’t work in Singapore.” Let’s just look at who is using this line and question why they’re using this line. It's been comfortable sticking to “the conversation” on many of the hot topic issues of the day. However, between the internet and Covid, we’re signs that we’ve been dialing the wrong number and been indulging in the wrong conversation. However, instead of admitting that we’ve dialed the wrong number, we’re carrying on in the wrong conversation. Look at our traditional model of looking at pay. When it comes to white collar work, we pay top dollar for people like politicians, bankers, stock traders and so on. We argue that it’s all about attracting talent. However, when it comes to people like street sweepers and rubbish collectors, the argument as that we can’t pay more because it would be uncompetitive. Covid showed us that we need people to collect rubbish. It also showed us that having the world’s billionaires buy expensive property didn’t really make life better for the rest of us. We should have known that we had dialed the wrong number. However, the only admission that we’ve dialed the wrong number has been the formation of government committees to look into raising the wages of poor people. Questioning established norms isn’t unpatriotic. Its common sense. Constant questioning is how you ensure that the path you’re on is the right one and if you’re not, how do you get on the right one. Let’s stop sticking to the wrong number and look to get the right one.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →