TR EMERITUS

What if someone jumped this queue? I was at the basement level of Beach Road Hawker Center and wanted to order a cup of sugar cane. The Indian stall operator was not at his stall as he went to send an order to a customer, so I waited in front of his stall. An Indian customer came and waited behind me. What shocked me was that when the Indian stall operator returned, the Indian customer just simply told him in Bangla his order and I was totally ignored. I asked the Indian stall operator why he chose not to take my order when I was in front and the other guy was queueing behind me. He abruptly just told me off.... "What's the big deal, brother?" I was so perturbed that I just walked off n I saw both of them sniggering. So I was wrong? I don't know about you but it certainly irked me and I would like to ask TRE readers whether it is a common thing to be discriminated upon and having same skin color to be served first. The Bangla customer was firstly rude to have ordered first, knowing jolly well that I was there earlier, but the stall operator could clearly see that I was in front. Next, what did he mean 'What's the big deal?' It certainly is a big deal when one is being race-discriminated. Is this a big deal? What do you think? Patrick Lam *  Submitted by TRE reader.  Read More →

5 Ways to Interpret Lim Swee Say’s latest CPF Gobbledegook Lim Swee Say Minister in the PMO and Labour Chief Lim Swee Say's latest statement about CPF has been feeding the flames of Mount Facebook since it was reported yesterday evening. His easily-misinterpreted statement, delivered off-the-cuff on the sidelines of a Singapore Model Parliament event, has left many fuming, some puzzled, and others scrambling to defend the man. The specific quote in question: "Instead of thinking about whether you can spend your savings in the CPF at the age of 55, I think we should think about how can we help our Singaporeans to continue to remain employed, to continue to earn a good living, continue to have good jobs, and at the same time to continue to contribute to the CPF because the more money they have in CPF, the longer they defer the use of the CPF -- this will mean they will have more for retirement." Mr Lim made a daring grab for the mantle of Captain Obvious from NMP Eugene Tan by, among other things, saying that people who put more into their account (by working past the 'retirement age') will have more money for retirement. There was also this nearly pointless quote: "You have your money, you have the account, and you receive the statement, the account on a regular basis. So, you know how much money you have in the CPF". Here are five ways we can interpret his overall statement as reported: 1) You probably won't have enough money in your CPF to retire, so it's best to defer retirement. Ditch that pipe dream. If this is true, that's pretty much in-your-face. While I personally agree that retirement is a myth these days, Mr Lim is known for making bizarre and confusing statements like "Cheaper Better Faster", which took months for NTUC to clarify and is still being misinterpreted today, the "Little Frog" story from GE 2011, "better, betterer, betterest", and of course, "I feel so rich", the legendary proportions of which doubtless will colour every statement about CPF Mr Lim will ever make. 2) Those who don't have enough money to retire should continue working. Blunt, but true, if that's what he meant. It doesn't bode well coming from the mouth of the labour chief, though. This corroborates with the fact that some 50% of CPF Members today cannot meet their Minimum Sum and will not have enough to retire on. 3) Don't spend your CPF savings on other things (like housing and education) so you have enough for retirement. If that's what he was trying to say, then it's terrible advice. This interpretation, however is a little far fetched, although the reporter's opening line "The best way for Singaporeans to prepare for retirement is to use less of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) money when they are young, said Labour Chief Lim Swee Say" lends some weight to this. 4) Specifically saying that younger Singaporeans should stay employed and earn more to have more for retirement. It's good advice, and a friend in NTUC tried to use this as a defence by bringing up the example of someone she knew who was out of a job for several years before he was 40. This, however, doesn't seem to be what Mr Lim is talking about at all. 5) People should plan to continue working and leave monies in the CPF account between 55 to the Drawdown Age (currently 63), even though they can, by right, withdraw monies in excess of their Minimum Sum at age 55. This is possibly the best interpretation for Mr Lim, should he want to come out and clarify his statement. It makes sense, is sound advice, and doesn't sound prescriptive. Too bad he totally botched the delivery, as he often does. Here's the kicker: in the same interview, Mr Lim was also reported to have said that "the labour movement has been watching the debate closely, and wants to ensure that what is discussed does not create confusion among workers and union leaders." Looks like he's got some catching up to do. Daniel Yap * The author blogs at Signs of Struggle.  Read More →

Teo Ser Luck Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry event jointly organised by Ang Mo Kio Merchants' Associations and SME Centre @ Ang Mo Kio, Minister of State for the Ministry for Trade and Industry, Teo Ser Luck, said the Government is conducting more stringent checks in the application process of 2 SME schemes: Productivity and Innovation Credits (PIC) scheme Innovation and Capability Vouchers (ICV) scheme The PIC scheme gives tax breaks or payouts to firms who invest in any of 6 qualifying activities, including R&D, staff training and purchase of IT and automation equipment. In the case of the ICV scheme, SMEs can apply for up to 8 vouchers, worth $5,000 each, to implement productivity and innovation solutions. Steps are now being taken to reduce fraudulent activity in the 2 SME schemes. Mr Teo said, "We have tightened our controls and once we find out that some applications are abusing the system, we actually will tighten it further." "I think it necessary to be fair to all the applications and in order to be fair to all the applications, you also want to make sure that our due diligence system is also tight and foolproof,"  he added. Addressing the issue of rising business costs, Mr Teo said the government is looking to assist SMEs. Mr Teo said, "The cost of doing business - one part we have to look at is commercial rental and that has been brought up quite a few times. What is the impact of an increase in rental by a landlord to a tenant in a certain cluster of locations? How does it impact the rest?" About 3 months ago, a reader wrote to inform TRE that some businesses were trying to scam public money through the PIC scheme ('Businesses using PIC to scam public money'). The reader received the following email: It shared about how anyone can exploit loopholes in the PIC scheme to make money. All one had to do was pay $20,000 to buy a business, of which 60%, or $12,000, could be claimed. Then the PIC would pay up to $15,000 on the $20,000 paid. So, by adding $12,000 to $15,000, one could get back $27,000 on one's initial $20,000. In other words, anyone could start a company, pay $20,000 and make a profit of $7,000 from IRAS with "100% success rate", according to the email. The reader was deeply troubled by the email. "Taxpayers’ money should not be scammed like this," he said. Let us hope Mr Teo is smarter than these business con men so that our taxpayers’ money is safe.  Read More →