TR EMERITUS

Last Saturday (24 May), NSP held its 27th Anniversary Dinner at the Yan Palace Restaurant in Hong Lim Complex. Many members of the other opposition parties were present at the dinner. They came to lend support to NSP as well as participate in NSP's 27th anniversary celebration. At the dinner, the opposition parties whose leaders came, include: Workers' Party (WP) Singapore People’s Party (SPP) Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Singaporeans First Party (SFP) Altogether, over 400 people attended despite scant publicity. Although this is a modest number compared to some of the dinners organised by PAP grassroots organizations, the camaraderie exhibited at the dinner was strong. A reader told TRE, "The respectable turn out could well be a reflection of the ground sentiments today demanding for more alternative voices." "The inclusion of all opposition parties to this auspicious occasion with their leaders in attendance signaled a sliver of hope in opposition solidarity and must be music to the ears of the populace in their unequivocal cry for opposition unity," the reader added. The reader also urged all the opposition parties, "Set aside all intra and inter party differences in ideologies. You all can be on different paths to the mountain top united in purpose to serve the nation. Only when all of you reach the mountain top then can you begin to climb and then can you truly sing and dance." Prominent blogger Uncle Chua Chin Leng aka redbean was at the dinner. He met Tan Jee Say, leader of the new political party, SFP. Uncle Chua was apprehensive that with more opposition parties being formed, opposition votes may be split, thus weakening the opposition’s position. However, Jee Say assured Uncle Chua that SFP will not be a vote spoiler. Uncle Chua reported [Link]: Jee Say was quick to allay the fears of more splits and dilution of votes. He would not be a spoiler to create confusion and three corner fights. He will work closely with the other opposition parties in a united front, or at least would not undermine their common cause... The fact that Jee Say attended the NSP fund raising dinner could be seen as a positive sign that he was willing to play ball and be a team player. Uncle Chua added: For Low Thia Khiang, Sylvia Lim and Gerald Giam to attend the function was a good way to dispel the impression that the WP is aloof and want to go it alone, ignoring the other opposition parties as inconsequential. For the opposition leaders to be seating together in the same table is a promising start, that at least they are willing to talk, to eat and drink together and be friends. Opposition solidarity is the key to fight a successful battle in the next GE. If the opposition parties are unable to come together, or at least not to split and fight among themselves, the task to unseat the incumbent party would be that much harder. At the dinner, NSP Secretary-General Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, gave a rousing speech [Link]. She said that as Singapore reaches her 50th birthday, the cry for a new consensus grows. "Times have changed," she said. "Last time, policemen wear shorts.” Parliament needs more colour She noted that since Singapore's independence, our Parliament has comprised a super majority of MPs from a single party. "A dominant ruling party might have been what Singapore needed in the past, but is that still good for Singapore?" Jeannette asked. She brought up the point that when the GRC proposal was debated in Parliament in the 1980's, there was only 1 opposition MP in Parliament at the time - Chiam See Tong. "He alone spoke for one side of this heavily tilted debate. Was that good for Singapore?" Jeannette again asked. She noted that under Singapore law, the Constitution can only be amended by a two-thirds majority. She said, "Since 1965 to date, I counted at least 37 acts of parliament to amend the Singapore Constitution. More importantly, Singapore’s electoral system has been amended at least four times since 1984, each of these amendments coming into effect shortly before general elections." "If Parliament is dominated by one party with a super-majority, how sure are we that decisions are always made in the best interests of Singaporeans, and are not motivated to perpetuate the dominance of the incumbent?" she queried. Jeannette feels that our Parliament is very dull and monotonous, and needs more colour than just white. She concluded: Yes, we can change the game. My friends, you can be an agent for change. You have a vital role to play. With your support, you can enable some of us here tonight to scale the fortress, penetrate the monochrome gates – and enter the House, so as to refresh it with lots more colour. By doing so, you will author the change in the destiny of Singapore, for the betterment of Singaporeans. At the last general election, 40% of the electorate also thought that our Parliament is dull and monotonous painted mostly white. Will the next election break this white taboo? What do you think? NSP Dinner NSP Dinner NSP Dinner NSP Dinner (with PKMS members) NSP Dinner NSP Dinner  Read More →

We refer to the article “Govt plan to engage public on ageing issues” (Straits Times, May 28). National action plan on aging? It states that “A NATIONAL action plan to help Singapore’s seniors’ live meaningful lives as they age is expected to be ready by next year. This “coherent national agenda” will include helping them learn new things, getting the workplace to be more welcoming, and making it easier for them to live with their families. These measures will not just allow seniors to remain active, but also to have “their days filled with excitement”, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday. This “Nation for all Ages” action plan he announced in Parliament will also cover employment, volunteerism, urban infrastructure, health care, retirement adequacy and research into ageing. Mr Gan, who also chairs the Ministerial Committee on Ageing, said there will be a series of public consultations, starting from the middle of this year, to find out what people want. He said: “Ageing is a conversation that involves all of us – our aspirations for our silver years, how we hope to live our life to the fullest, how we wish to relate to peers and younger persons, and the kind of society we wish to live in when we age.” What Mr Gan wants to see is a shift in people’s mind sets – “from worrying about the challenges that come from ageing to celebrating longevity.” Ignoring the obvious, important issues? In our view, the most obvious, important and urgent issue that many of our senior citizens face, is the large number of elderly Singaporeans working for very low pay. So many low-pay elderly workers? For example, how many of the more than 110,000 full-time local workers earning less than $1,000 (before the employee CPF contribution) are elderly Singaporeans? We believe it may be the majority of them. Anecdotally, just look at the cleaners at the food courts and hawker centres, toilets, road sweepers, airport trolley handlers, etc. Real wages drop from age 37 to 20% less than when they were age 25? Also, according to the study on retirement adequacy (“ADEQUACY OF SINGAPORE’S CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND PAYOUTS: INCOME REPLACEMENT RATES OF ENTRANT WORKERS”) commissioned by the Government in November 2012 – the graph on page 6 – the real growth in wages at the 30th percentile of income male workers – starts to decline from around age 37 until by age 65 – they are earning about 20% less than what they were getting at age 25! ADEQUACY OF SINGAPORE’S CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND PAYOUTS: INCOME REPLACEMENT RATES OF ENTRANT WORKERS. November 2012 Widespread age discrimination? Are there any countries in the world that has such “pathetic” statistics indicating age discrimination in jobs and pay? The reality vs the rhetoric? Instead of nice sounding words like “from one of worry to one of celebration” and “to have their days filled with excitement” – shouldn’t we be at least talking about or addressing the widespread age discrimination in Singapore that may have lead to so many elderly Singaporeans working very long hours for very low pay? This may be especially so now that we are mooting the extension of re-employment from age 65 to 67. Still singing the same song? In this connection, perhaps as long as we keep saying things like “‘S’poreans first’ hiring not good for economy in the long term” (Straits Times, May 28) in Parliament – the continuing influx of cheap foreign labour may continue to depress the wages of elderly Singaporeans who may not have seen any real growth in wages for almost 15 years now, other than ever longer working hours. SY Lee and Leong Sze Hian  Read More →

[An open letter to NUSSPA asking why Reform Party were not invited to the Young Guns Forum 2014.] 15th May 2014 Mr Aw Yong Zhi Yong Vice President (Projects) NUS Students’ Political Association National University of Singapore Dear Sir, It has come to my attention that you organised an event on 29 January 2014 entitled Young Guns Forum 2014. Four parties were invited: the Workers Party, the PAP, NSP and SDP. No invitation was extended to the Reform Party. This was despite the fact that we fielded 11 candidates in GE2011 and our share of the national vote was slightly more than 4%. As the theme of the forum was new arrivals on the Singapore political scene then as the first new party in Singapore to contest an election for decades we were surely the perfect fit. More importantly we are a new party with young blood and seriously new ideas, which have never been advocated before in Singapore. These include giving HDB owners the freehold of their property and listing Temasek and GIC publicly and distributing shares to Singaporeans. We were the first to point out the hollow nature of the so called Singapore economic miracle and how it is driven by a massive increase in population without any underlying rise in productivity. Reform Party was the only party that was prepared to send a Young Guns team to Ang Mo Kio in the last election to take on the PM, in the interests of democracy. Despite the relative inexperience of the team and the lack of previous grassroots work, our contesting that constituency provoked the PM into spending close to the maximum allowed under the Parliamentary Elections Act. AMK is in the history books as being the constituency with the biggest spend of any party in GE 2011 all caused by our young guns. A real competition can only have a positive effect in encouraging new ideas. Since GE 2011 we have remained one of the most politically active parties. Our Youth Wing is very active, not just in cyberspace, but on the ground. What is remarkable is that they reach out across the generational divide, helping both old and young victims of deliberately callous and shortsighted PAP policies. Given the above, it is only reasonable that you provide a satisfactory explanation for why Reform Party was excluded from the forum. This is particularly important given that NUS is a government-funded state university. The PAP government already censors us in every possible way and imposes a blackout in the State media on our ideas. It would appear that they are using their power over funding to deny us a voice in the national university as well. Jim Sleeper voiced his concerns in the Huffington Post in 2012 (see link) over the new Yale-NUS liberal arts college and lack of political freedom on campus: “My suspicions only intensified as I conversed online with Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary general of Singapore's small opposition Reform Party, which is constrained and sometimes harassed by the slick, duplicitous, and steely ruling People's Action Party…He [Jeyaretnam] also recounted that when he was invited last year to speak at candidates' forums at the National University of Singapore and other Singapore universities, each invitation was rescinded at the last minute. Would that happen again, I wondered, now that Pericles had spoken?” Jim Sleeper now has his answer. As far as debate on campus is concerned, it is the same old same old story and We the Reform Party and our Youth have been excluded as usual. Yours faithfully, KENNETH JEYARETNAM Secretary General Reform Party  Read More →