Reform Party 5 immediate pledges if elected
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Government Curtails Question Time
In a sign of just how disingenuous the government is when it says it says it wants to answer the public’s desire for more non-government voices in Parliament, the Standing Order Committee of Parliament has proposed that the time given to MPs to make their speeches or ask questions is to be cut from 30 minutes to 20 (see link below):
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_601460.html
Parliament meets infrequently enough as it is. Not content with perfecting a system where more than half the electorate is deprived of the chance to vote and 34% of those able to vote largely unrepresented in Parliament, the PAP want to ensure that there is less scrutiny and accountability of their Ministers and policies by limiting Question Time. Despite introducing innovations to a deeply flawed and undemocratic system to allow for more NCMPs, who are unable to vote on any issue of substance, the government appears to want to severely curtail their one useful function, which is to be able to ask questions and compel Ministers to answer.
The Reform Party urges Singaporeans not to be taken in by the charade of the NCMP scheme and to remember that without electing sufficient numbers of RP MPs there is no chance of seeing any changes to the disastrous PAP policies of the last ten years.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind you of our five immediate pledges if we are elected to government:
1. Implement a stricter immigration and foreign worker policy
2. Introduce a minimum wage
3. Ensure housing affordability and quality
4. Reform CPF and return control of savings decisions to individuals
5. Give Singaporeans a direct stake in Temasek and GICThe remaining 19 other policy pledges can be found at www.votingrp.wordpress.com, including proposals to improve town council management.
Vote RP! It’s time to take your country back!
This is taken at :
http://votingrp.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/government-curtails-question-time/
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National Service
The only concrete initiative was to reward NS men with a grant of $9,000. Few details were provided other than to say that it could be used to pay for further education (which the Reform Party would make free for NS men) and for housing (where sky-high prices are the result of deliberate government policy in restricting the supply of land and growing the population at an unsustainable rate).
The Reform Party believes that $9,000 in a restricted account does not come close to reflecting the economic cost Singaporean NS men face with two years of lost earnings. Furthermore, the PM said that future education fees will have to rise, presumably to cover this additional expense.
The Reform Party continues to propose, in this regard:
- Lower taxes for NS men
- Obligation on foreign students on Singapore scholarships wishing to work here to serve NS
- Cutting the NS period down to a year at maximum within 5 years
- A target for zero death in training
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I am sure parents with boys will love to vote for you if your point as above can be achieve. That is reduction to 1 yr of ns. No parents would want to see their boys serve 2 yr ns. They want them to come out quickly and work to compete in the soceity.
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Enforce control on foreign worker? What a joke, then who drive e public tpt? Who going to sweep ur corridor? Land prices will only go up. So Philip J is still thinking we have land to use? Dreaming or we go back to kampong era. Everything cheap, no iPhone, no high speed Internet. As if there is no cost. As for NS, talk so much. Then who going to defend the country? As for deaths, sometimes is a joke. As if army has no safety risk like that.
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We do need foreigners workers to built road, planting, housing.
That one cannot siam one.
Also look around you, the estate also man by blangla workers too.
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Originally posted by sbst275:
Enforce control on foreign worker? What a joke, then who drive e public tpt? Who going to sweep ur corridor?
Land prices will only go up. So Philip J is still thinking we have land to use? Dreaming or we go back to kampong era. Everything cheap, no iPhone, no high speed Internet. As if there is no cost.
As for NS, talk so much. Then who going to defend the country? As for deaths, sometimes is a joke. As if army has no safety risk like that.
You do it!
Philip? Is that Philip or the brother? You have no correct info about the RP.
This post is for? -
U dun even know who runs RP. Seriously I dunno how the ideas on NS came abt, when survival become a political game to use for attack. Dun forget how come SAF was formed - national security over water
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YOu are talking you don't know who runs RP.
RP was formed by Mr Jeyaratnam, now taken over by his eldest son.
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BTW, I dun get it one thing. How can RP form a government (Or any other opp) because most likely they are avoiding 3 corner fights and neither of them is going to send like 50 candidates or so.
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If they can get a seat, they can fight for the issue that promise by them in the parliament. But I doubt so they can do anything in parliament.
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For people who are still unsure, please vote wisely so that this country can be saved, cast off all cynicism, fear and apathy to save our homeland. Please be reminded that if people think that politics is only for the elites, that's only partly true.
If we do not elect people who can represent us and expect the PAPist to do what they like then good luck to everyone. Today their policies might suits you, tomorrow, their policies might destroy you, do you have any recourse or redress means?
What we the citizens can do is to elect people to navigate through bureaucracy and red tape, to help us, the people who mostly do not have any access or more in depth working knowledge of governance to participate in the running of this country. We the commoners partipate in politics at ground level while our elected will help us represent our concerns.
If people did not feel that they have a stake in this country, that's also partly true. We can ask ourselves why is it, only the people that is feeling the pain of job losess, high cost of living and most importantly of all, a bleak future that destroyed people hopes and, pardon me, lowered the driving hormones of everyone desires to start a family in such a hopeless state. Why, why, is that so? Who are the ones now, falling aleep in parliament, having pay increament despite not solving the problems of the citizens, who are all these people living it up in pleasure while we, the people suffered. Who are those dogs?
We partly ceded our citizens participation, through the loss of adequate opposition people to represent our citizens, partly also due to the PAPist suppression of oppositions through decades to render us unable to be active participants of this country.
People will have to understand that in the grand scheme of life, there are actually a paradox of choices and non choices, this paradox causality will still come crashing down with events that might harm you whether or not you have done anything to avert it. So why do it? We have to answer to our duty bound birth rights as a citizen of this country to do our best, whether if to adopt a stoic, happy or frightened state of mind to set this country free.
We don't have to care about the eventual outcome, we care about whether have we fufill our duties as a citizen of this state or not. The outcome can only be good or bad, which I'm sure no one is afraid of the latter. What we should be afraid of is whether did we throw in the towel even before the fight bell has rang. It ain't over til the fat lady sings.
Now is our time, if we still do not reclaim what belonged to us, are we so hopelessly weak willed and poisoned by this Matrix not to chose the red pill to smash this ring of oligarchy traitor bastards that betrayed all citzens for their own cowardly party survival?
Fight and fight we must, not through the trigger of a rifle, not through the forestation, not through mindless marching drills, not through section movements or FIBUA, we fight our own cynicism, our own aparthy, our own fears to fight for a future for this country and our fellow country men. Fight we must and fight, we will, for our will deserves a more noble endeavour
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Originally posted by sbst275:
Enforce control on foreign worker? What a joke, then who drive e public tpt? Who going to sweep ur corridor?
Land prices will only go up. So Philip J is still thinking we have land to use? Dreaming or we go back to kampong era. Everything cheap, no iPhone, no high speed Internet. As if there is no cost.
As for NS, talk so much. Then who going to defend the country? As for deaths, sometimes is a joke. As if army has no safety risk like that.
Control does not equate to no foreign workers, don't worry.
Can get Singapore bus drivers and cleaners, they just have to increase the salary to entice Singaporeans to work in these areas.
Housing affordability probably refers to public housing, once you restrict the foreign workers & immigrants, there will be less demand on housing and housing prices will stabilise. When PAP open the doors to foreign immigrants in the hope of increasing Singapore's population to 7 million, the increased demand for housing drove up prices. Think again, Singapore's income level is less than Australia, but why are the public housing prices so inflated, it's not supported by the current income level.
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Yup.. I agree with beta. We do need foreign workers.... (in construction and cleaning)...
Service industry, transportation, we just need to add more perks and increase salaries of these workers to entice Singaporeans to work.
At this rate we are bringing in foreigners, our wages will eventually get depressed till the stage where we cannot even afford a 3 room flat.... dun even mention having a family... you cant even afford 3 meals on your own (that is with 7 million).
Then comes social problems.... Do you want Singapore to be full of robbers and conmans? -
Actually most Singaporeans think that it's impossible to have services cheap, which is quite true if it's under the PAP regime.
Why?
Most of the land they sell to you is priced under market rate, so citizens like us who have an inalienable right to live on this land has to compete with big corporations for land use. At the end of the day, the PAP government profits from these land sales and keep it in their coffers for empire building, all at the expense of her citizens. Most of these land cost to corporations (when they paid for the land) is passed on to consumers like you and me. So how can we ever have cheaper cost of living? With such high reserves, they still insist on coming up with more taxes, increasing retirement age, higher CPF minimum sum, lowering COE quota (to get higher bid prices).
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Originally posted by βÎτά:
Control does not equate to no foreign workers, don't worry.
Can get Singapore bus drivers and cleaners, they just have to increase the salary to entice Singaporeans to work in these areas.
Housing affordability probably refers to public housing, once you restrict the foreign workers & immigrants, there will be less demand on housing and housing prices will stabilise. When PAP open the doors to foreign immigrants in the hope of increasing Singapore's population to 7 million, the increased demand for housing drove up prices. Think again, Singapore's income level is less than Australia, but why are the public housing prices so inflated, it's not supported by the current income level.
sounds so easy
increase wages, fare hike... ppl kpkb no matter wat.
Eh. Foreigners can't own HDB flats at all. Not to mention landed property.
It ought to have been condo tat's affected - leading to more DBSS..
Somewhere the equation created by Singaporeans isn't right - OMV
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Originally posted by hielo de fuego es perra:
YOu are talking you don't know who runs RP.
RP was formed by Mr Jeyaratnam, now taken over by his eldest son.
What's is his son's name? -
Originally posted by βÎτά:
Actually most Singaporeans think that it's impossible to have services cheap, which is quite true if it's under the PAP regime.
Why?
Most of the land they sell to you is priced under market rate, so citizens like us who have an inalienable right to live on this land has to compete with big corporations for land use. At the end of the day, the PAP government profits from these land sales and keep it in their coffers for empire building, all at the expense of her citizens. Most of these land cost to corporations (when they paid for the land) is passed on to consumers like you and me. So how can we ever have cheaper cost of living? With such high reserves, they still insist on coming up with more taxes, increasing retirement age, higher CPF minimum sum, lowering COE quota (to get higher bid prices).
first thing how much land do we have?
Sounds like you got consipracy theory. Now you say the car dealers par kak w/ govt to jack up COE prices indirectly le you know
Also more COE quota, more cars on the road later you kpkb jam
then wat on earth do you want?
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Originally posted by sbst275:
first thing how much land do we have?
Sounds like you got consipracy theory. Now you say the car dealers par kak w/ govt to jack up COE prices indirectly le you know
Also more COE quota, more cars on the road later you kpkb jam
then wat on earth do you want?
The land wasn't enough for 3-4 million Singaporeans that we have to import another 2-3 million?
When economy took a downturn in 2008-2009, COE prices dropped to below $10,000, they realised that there is no point for them to release more COEs as they are not getting good profits, so the reduce the COE by half and Voila, prices for COE went up by 2-3 times their $10,000 levels. One sure way to influence the price is to control the supply, which was what they have done when COE plummeted. Of course they can come up with umpteen "valid" excuses for the drastic cut in COE quota, but we all know the ultimate motive behind it.
Since when I said conspiracy theory between car dealers and government? You ran out of good points and making up your own points to retort me?
If they had known that high COE quota would increase traffic jams, they should have reduced the quota years or even decades in advance and not when COE prices dropped to under $10,000. They could also build more roads. Ermmm..., let me guess, increasing the population by 30% would have no dire effect on the car population. A result of their own policy.
I want the best for Singapore citizens irrespective of which political party is in control, I have no past loyalty to any political party, it's the political party which can provide the best living for Singapore citizens that matter.
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It's like they create a problem, then they find ways to solve the problem by increasing punitive cost.
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I'd rather newbie mods don't edit my post for no reason.
Post by newbie mod was deleted.
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I just want to add that all those 5 immediate pledges are formulated by all those walkabouts that the Reform Party has been conducting for the past few months. The Reform Party has been gathering citizens' concerns and responded with those 5 immediate pledges. Those pledges are not something that they formulated over at a kopitiam in one night over a few beers but is a result of HEARING, not deaf to what citizens' concerns are.
Of course, if they do not have a majority in government, they might not be able to push til fruitation for some of these pledges, but at least they will make sure that citizens' concerns are being conveyed and a degree of importance to it attached as well.
We cannot turn away now even at the sight of this PAPist invincible Monstrosity, we cannot and will still be chased down and earmarked for eventually destruction, no matter what we try to ignore, to endure or to just resign ourselves to it. Our only weapon is still ourselves, and if we try hard enough, and we want it hard enough, things might happen.The goliath can be defeated.
Vote for changes, vote for the future of Singapore, crush the PAPist and wipe their smug smiles off the surface of Singapore forever, we do not want money grabbing thieving traitors.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
National Service
The only concrete initiative was to reward NS men with a grant of $9,000. Few details were provided other than to say that it could be used to pay for further education (which the Reform Party would make free for NS men) and for housing (where sky-high prices are the result of deliberate government policy in restricting the supply of land and growing the population at an unsustainable rate).
The Reform Party believes that $9,000 in a restricted account does not come close to reflecting the economic cost Singaporean NS men face with two years of lost earnings. Furthermore, the PM said that future education fees will have to rise, presumably to cover this additional expense.
The Reform Party continues to propose, in this regard:
- Lower taxes for NS men
- Obligation on foreign students on Singapore scholarships wishing to work here to serve NS
- Cutting the NS period down to a year at maximum within 5 years
- A target for zero death in training
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am sure parents with boys will love to vote for you if your point as above can be achieve. That is reduction to 1 yr of ns. No parents would want to see their boys serve 2 yr ns. They want them to come out quickly and work to compete in the soceity.
How can they achieve the point as stated if you do not vote them in?
You must first vote them in, for them to work to achieve this, correct?
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If you are reaching the age of 55 or have already passed this juncture, you may be now wondering where all your hard-earned CPF money has gone to over the years. Unfortunately, you are not alone.
Many other Singaporeans are waking up to the fact that the Central Provident Fund, which they depended on for retirement, will fail to meet their basic daily living needs in the decades ahead. If you are beginning to realise being employed during your retirement is the only way to survive, you are not alone in this, either. Our government has said so plainly – Singaporeans cannot afford to retire.
This chilling truth was confirmed by a study (conducted by Mercer Consulting), which covered 214 cities across five continents, measuring the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is acknowledged to be the world’s most comprehensive survey on the cost of living. It revealed that Singaporeans’ ability to replace their last earned salary at the point of retirement by accessing their retirement funds (CPF) is ‘particularly low.’ This highlights what many Singaporeans have discovered for themselves: our present CPF Scheme cannot provide a retirement income that can replace what we were earning while in the workforce.
Cast your mind back, and you will probably be able to pinpoint the exact time when our CPF Scheme lost its direction. In an attempt to subdue increasing resentment from voters reacting to the government’s authoritarian high-handedness and the fact that it seizes 40% of our incomes, a major change occurred. The government raised the amount of CPF funds that could be used to purchase first HDB flats and then private properties from 80% to 100%. This caused the prices of homes to skyrocket overnight. The situation was made worse by the government’s conflict of interest as the owner of 80% of the land (through the SLA), provider of 90% of the housing (through HDB) and provider of housing finance (CPF). It meant they had every reason to not to take steps to rein in the growing bubble in property prices. This was exacerbated by their decision to expand our population at an exponential rate starting in the 1990s which put further pressure on the already limited supply. The rise in HDB prices the resale index is up 342% meant that Singaporeans committ themselves to decades of using their CPF contributions to pay for housing which started out as budget homes meant to house a young population in a developing young country. Furthermore most of household wealth ended up tied up in property. This resulted in a situation where the government has to keep prices rising if they are to avoid the kind of housing bust we have seen in the US, but on an altogether bigger scale. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the government continues to encourage massive immigration to Singapore because the implications of an end to their deliberately engineered boom are too horrendous to contemplate.
In addition the government CPF usage to allow certain shares and equities to be bought and sold, medical bills to be paid for, and even children’s tertiary education to be financed, all with CPF money. No long-term planning was done for the health problems of an aging population with the result that we face a situation where ordinary Singaporeans will quickly exhaust their Medisave and Medishield accounts to pay for medical treatment and may have to go without the treatment they need, receive substandard treatmentor face potential bankruptcy and the loss of their housing.
Underlying all this was a gradual erosion of the bond between the government and people which had been created by the government thanks to its “High Pay For Government Ministers and Top Civil Servants” talent pricing scheme, and using the liberalisation of our CPF funds as a cure-all to placate Singaporeans’ anger and sense of outrage. In simple terms, the CPF was compromised by a need to stay in power at any cost.
Today, Singaporeans are paying the price for that decision – two incomes tethered to thirty-year mortgages, skyrocketing HDB prices which are out of reach for most and retirement becoming a luxury for the minority of generously paid Singaporeans.
What has made life worse is that amidst all that, our incomes have mostly stagnated or have even been reduced, resulting in our contributions to CPF lagging far behind the rising cost of living and inflation. The end result? Out of the 700,000 Singaporeans who were aged between 55 and 80 years old when invited to join the CPF Life Scheme, only 30,000 signed up. I believe this is because Singaporeans have lost faith in the government, its policies and its direction. What’s more – a large number of Singaporeans will be retiring from work with insufficient savings in our CPF. A whopping 30% of us will not have the Minimum Sum of $40,000 in our CPF when we reach the age of 55, and thus, will be automatically excluded from the CPF Life scheme.
In response, our government tries to assure us that our assets have appreciated in value, we are richer than we were before and we are even better off than our neighbours. I do not believe this to be true. I see it as a case of asset inflation, where we pay a lot more for the biggest ticket item, leaving nothing for having or even bringing up children, starting a business or making retirement a possibility.
The Reform Party is convinced that nothing short of an overhaul of the CPF Scheme and a return to providing low cost housing to the average Singaporean by the HDB is going to solve the problems created by the indiscretionary depletion of our CPF funds. We propose keeping the growth in the prices of HDB flats pegged to the growth in median incomes by increasing supply, so that if we earn more, we can have better homes, and not vice versa. In the longer term we want to give the private sector a much bigger role in providing housing for the majority of the population so as to improve affordability and quality through competition. We propose that part of CPF be augmented converted into a Basic Pension Scheme, in which every Singaporean who has worked in Singapore and paid CPF for twenty years or more is entitled to a pay-out. Part of the funding for this could come from our plan to give our citizens a stake in Temasek and GIC. We also want a basic universal health insurance scheme to be funded out of CPF to replace the current inadequate Medisave and Medishield schemes. After providing for these two requirements the Reform Party believes that savings decisions should be an individual decision and not determined by the government.
The Reform Party also intends to restore your ability to withdraw the employee contributions portion of your CPF savings at 55 if you so wish while still providing incentives to persuade you to buy an annuity.
However when making any decision we have to be sensitive to the decisions of the incumbents which have created a situation where most of our household wealth is tied up in property. At the moment most of people’s CPF contributions is used to service their housing loans. Any attempt to divert part of CPF into paying for basic pensions may result in people being unable to service their loans and a precipitate fall in property prices. This could create a serious recession along the lines of what has occurred in the US. However the Reform Party believes that such a scenario grows more likely with every year that this government continues to stoke an unsustainable property boom. Our steps to reduce the rate of increase of prices and peg it back to the same as or less than the growth in median incomes are designed to achieve a reallocation of resources without causing any adverse consequences for the domestic.
If you have been feeling that your worst fears are coming true lately, you are not alone. We at The Reform Party feel the same way. So do many Singaporeans. The time to rescue ourselves from a bleak future is now. Vote us into Parliament, so that we can achieve a better Singapore for you confidently. Support us and ensure that we Singaporeans are heard, loud and clear. We want our CPF back to what it was meant to be: saving, day by day, so that when the time comes, we can stop working, look back and not have to feel as if our life’s work has all been for nothing. The time has come for us to stand up for a better Singapore.
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By Alec Tok
* The writer is a member of the Reform Party who will be standing for the upcoming Singapore general election
Taken from the brave, Temasek Review"
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/11/26/whither-our-cpf/
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Originally posted by tranquilice:
How can they achieve the point as stated if you do not vote them in?
You must first vote them in, for them to work to achieve this, correct?
Ya, I agreed.Vote them in and fight it out.
But wll not be easy to get implemented.
Even in parliament, what can ltk do against a marjority lead pap gangs?
Opposition party must be voted in, not the present 2 seats, but at least 4 to 6 seats.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
Ya, I agreed.Vote them in and fight it out.
But wll not be easy to get implemented.
Even in parliament, what can ltk do against a marjority lead pap gangs?
Opposition party must be voted in, not the present 2 seats, but at least 4 to 6 seats.
4 to 6 seats is not enough. Must be at least one third opposition. Question is, do Singaporeans want to vote in one third opposition into parliament? The answer is still a NO. -
Originally posted by tranquilice:
4 to 6 seats is not enough. Must be at least one third opposition. Question is, do Singaporeans want to vote in one third opposition into parliament? The answer is still a NO.time will tell.